The Canfield Instructional Styles Inventory and the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory were used to identify the teaching styles of business instructors and the learning styles of their students. The study purposes included determining if a match existed between students' learning styles and instructors' teaching styles and determining if relationships existed between style match and student success as indicated by course grades and final exam scores and between style match and student evaluations of instructors. The participants were 5 business instructors and 99 students from two community colleges in Southwest Virginia. The ages of the student participants ranged from 18 to 62 with the average age being 35. The instructors favored the Organization, People, Direct Experience, and A-Influence scales of the Canfield Instructional Styles Inventory, implying that they present material to their students in a clear, logical, and organized manner. Opportunities are created for students to interact in activities that relate to real-world experiences. Their least preferred instructor scales were Competition, Numeric, Reading, and D-Influence. On the Canfield Learning Styles Inventory, the student participants favored the Organization, People, Direct Experience and B-Expectation scales, implying that they like clearly organized and meaningful course work that requires hands-on or performance situations. Additionally, they like interaction with the instructor and classmates involving activities closely related to real-world experiences. Their least preferred scales were Independence, Numeric, Reading, and D-Expectation. In this study, 36% of the students' preferred learning styles matched the instructors' preferred teaching styles. The outcomes of the analysis of variance revealed that there was no significant relationship between learning style/teaching style match and student success as indicated by course grades and final exam scores. Furthermore, there was no significant relationship between learning style/teaching style match and higher evaluations of instructors. However, there was a significant relationship between course grades, final exam scores, instructor evaluations, and GPA as would be expected. Students who were categorized as high achievers according to GPA scored higher on course grades and final exam scores and evaluated instructors higher than those categorized as low achievers. / Ph. D.

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The primary purpose of the present study was to evaluate the impact of Utah's prereferral intervention policy on the numbers of mildly handicapped students receiving special education services. Associated with this purpose, the study was also designed to identify the (a) types of prereferral intervention procedures available in school districts, (b) extent to which the procedures were implemented by schools, (c) effectiveness of the prereferral intervention procedures for maintaining students with handicaps in regular education, and (d) degree of prereferral intervention inservice training. In addition, LEA officials' perceptions regarding the prereferral intervention process were also examined. It was expected, in light of previous research, that the prereferral intervention mandate would decrease the numbers of students classified (a) mildly handicapped, (b) learning disabled, (c) behavior disordered, and (d) intellectually handicapped. Because there was no information to suggest otherwise, it was also expected that the mandate would fail to have a differential effect on rural and urban school districts and on the numbers of students classified as severely intellectually handicapped (control variable), whereas the degree of prereferral intervention inservice training provided teachers was expected to exert a systematic influence on the outcomes. Results of the evaluation showed that the prereferral intervention mandate failed to impact the numbers of students classified (a) mildly handicapped, (b) learning disabled, (c) behavior disordered, and (d) intellectually handicapped, and (e) severely intellectually handicapped (control variable). The mandate also failed to have a differential effect on rural and urban school districts. In addition, the results of the survey indicated that LEAs have implemented a variety of prereferral intervention procedures. However, within school districts, the number of schools implementing the procedures varied. LEA officials were uncertain whether the prereferral intervention procedures were effective or whether they should be maintained. LEA officials also indicated that teachers fail to benefit from their participation in the prereferral intervention process. Furthermore, they were uncertain whether the process is a bureaucratic hurdle and whether it should be maintained. (116 pages)

The intent of this study was to systematically investigate the relationship between African American disproportionality in school discipline which is the overrepresentation of students for exclusionary discipline practices (i.e., out-of-school suspensions and/or expulsions) - and student performance. Utilizing official disciplinary records and performance data obtained from the Colorado Department of Education and a single urban school district within the same state, a series of quantitative analyses that included correlations and logistic and multiple regressions, were conducted to determine how out-of-school suspensions and expulsions impact African American students. The premise upon which the present study is based relies heavily on the tenets of Critical Race Theory as it applies to education, which in part asserts that American schools are permeated by racism and that White privilege is used to preserve school inequities through the use of stratification. Given this, it is argued that out-of-school suspensions and expulsions have been used, or rather misused, to perpetuate the disproportionate exclusion of African American students from the classroom for relatively minor offenses; which in some ways, can explain why this group typically suffers from poor student performance. This dissertation was guided by two separate, yet interrelated studies, which posed the following research questions where the first study asks; What factors are important in predicting the likelihood of being suspended and/or expelled from school? and Are suspensions and race correlated? Here, the interest is in exploring the influence of race, class, gender and other possible demographic characteristics, such as school level and behavior role, on exclusionary discipline practices. The second study asks; How does the overrepresentation of African American students for exclusionary sanctions impact student performance? The interest, here, is in identifying the relationship between school suspensions and/or expulsions and its impact on the dropout rate, graduation rate, and performance on high stakes tests. This dissertation study produces two findings that are not only unprecedented; they are cutting-edge and provocative. First, female and elementary students were found to be more likely to face suspension and/or expulsion in comparison to male and secondary students, respectively. Second, by increasing the number of suspended and expelled African American students, school districts improved their overall student performance on high stakes tests. With the contribution of these findings, a paradigmic shift in research and discourse on disproportionality in school discipline is both fitting and warranted.

Field trips are a basic and important, yet often overlooked part of the student experience. They provide the opportunity to integrate real world knowledge with classroom learning and student previous personal experiences. Outdoor guided field trips leave students with an increased understanding, awareness and interest and in science. However, the benefits of this experience are ambiguous at best (Falk and Balling, 1982; Falk and Dierking, 1992; Kisiel, 2006. Students on an outdoor guided field trip to a local nature park experienced a significant increase in their understanding of the rock cycle. The changes in the pre-field trip test and the post-field trip test as well as their answers in interviews showed a profound change in the students’ understanding and in their interest in the subject matter. The use of the “student’s voice” (Bamberger and Tal, 2008) was the motivation for data analysis. By using the students’ voice, I was able to determine the mechanisms that might influence their understanding of a subject. The central concepts emerging from the data were: the outdoor setting; the students’ interest; the social interaction. From these central concepts, a conceptual model was developed. The outdoor setting allows for the freedom to explore, touch, smell and movement. This, in turn, leads to an increased interest in subject matter. As the students are exploring, they are enjoying themselves and become more open to learning. Interest leads to a desire to learn (Dewey, 1975). In addition to allowing the freedom to explore and move, the outdoor setting creates the condition for social interaction. The students talk to each other as they walk; they have in-depth discourse regarding the subject matter -- with the teachers, each other and with the guides. The guides have an extremely important role in the students’ learning. The more successful guides not only act as experts, but also adjust to the students’ needs and act or speak accordingly. The interconnections of these three concepts-- the outdoor setting, the students’ interest, the social interaction - worked to provide the mechanisms by which the students increased their understanding of the rock cycle. / text

The purpose of this study was to attempt to enhance performance in the Australian Mathematics Competition of a group of Western Australian Year 9 students, to a level beyond that which they might have been expected to attain, through the use of a heuristic-based intervention technique using Vygotsky's zone of proximal development principle.Since 1978, students of mathematics in Australian high schools have been meeting the challenge of the Australian Mathematics Competition. This national competition aims to provide students with a sense of achievement in mathematics and to emphasise the importance of this subject in the high school curriculum.Vygotsky's zone of proximal development refers to the difference between a student's actual developmental level and the student's potential developmental level given adult assistance. In effect, this means that while students may achieve to a plane commensurate with their actual developmental level, they will progress into their zone of proximal development with assistance and their level of achievement will rise. Vygotsky's concept of Intervention coupled with Siegler's concept of heuristic-based strategy learning provided a methodology suitable for enhancing and maximising developmental effects in this study.The study involved three distinct stages: the preparatory phase, the treatment phase and the concluding phase.In the preparatory phase, student's actual developmental levels were determined based on their performance in the 1979 Junior level Australian Mathematics Competition paper. This data facilitated identifying the paths that learning should follow in order that students' problem solving skills should improve. During this phase, students also attempted an Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) test entitled 'Test's of Reasoning in Mathematics' (TRIM). This measure was used to monitor expected development ++ / in mathematics reasoning ability for students over the period of the study.The treatment phase involved the students in over 35 hours of instruction which exposed them to a heuristic-based intervention technique designed to enhance their performance in problem solving. Students practised various problem solving techniques and the Australian Mathematics Competition ittself became the focus for improved performance.An index of improvement was provided in the concluding phase of the study by scores obtained from the treatment group on the 1982 Intermediate level Australian Mathematics Competition paper. Scores were significantly higher than the national average of either the Year 9 or Year 10 groups. The second ACER 'TRIM' test verified that the students achieved their expected development in mathematics reasoning ability during the study.The implication of this result is that the practice of restricting students to year groups or courses on the basis of age should be examined in the light of the Vygotskian principle.

Critical thinking skills have become an important part of current educational practices. However, there is little empirical evidence comparing the effectiveness of the programs teaching these skills. In addition, there are questions as to whether the skills should be taught within the class content or separate from the class content. This study assigned students attending labs as part of an educational psychology class to two experimental conditions (content-based and content-free) and a control condition. Measures were scores on lab papers and test scores for the class. In addition, an attitude survey was used to assess student attitudes to each condition, and the overall quality of the labs was assessed. An analysis of variance was performed on the data. Results indicated little difference between experimental and control conditions.

There has been much excitement over the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards; especially with regard to improving student achievement. Are Nationally Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) performing better than their non board certified counterparts? Does achieving National Board Certification mean that a teacher is "highly qualified?" What are the tangible effects on the achievement levels of students of Nationally Board Certified teachers? Much research has been conducted in the past few years to try to answer these questions. Currently, the results of much of this research are ambiguous at best. Most studies report little in the way of significant impact on student achievement by NBCTs. However, many studies show teachers self-reporting a strong positive impact on their own teaching and their feelings of efficacy. The state of Florida and the federal government have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade in pursuit of expanding the NBPTS as a means of ensuring highly qualified teachers for every student. This study aims to discover whether or not there is any definitive association between teachers who attain the national certification and higher student achievement on standardized tests specifically the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) in a local central Florida school district. The researcher attempted to determine if students assigned to classrooms of nationally board certified teachers outperformed students of comparable backgrounds that were assigned to classrooms of teachers that were not nationally certified. To accomplish this, the researcher looked at reading and math test scores of third grade students in nationally board certified teachers' classrooms and compared them with those of students assigned to non-nationally board certified teachers to determine if the gains made by one group were statistically significantly different from the other. Recommendations were made for further exploration of the link between NBCTs and student achievement.

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent student performance has been influenced by historical events, legislative mandates, and accreditation processes. This study consists of comparing the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation processes with those of the Association of Christian Schools International. In completing this qualitative study, the following procedures were implemented: Related research was used to provide a background of the role that historical events, legislation, and accreditation processes have on student performance; data were collected to establish time line shifts in an historical perspective. The data collected included assessment, accountability, high school drop out rates, high school graduation rates, academic readiness for higher education, standardized testing, grade inflation, acceleration of dual enrollment and advanced placement courses, and national SAT and ACT averages. Data were also collected from historical record of accreditation processes, which included standards, teacher certification requirements, committee responsibilities, visiting team responsibilities, and self-study materials. As a result of content analysis, the researcher decided to focus on three key areas that were integral to the study. The three categories identified in the review of literature were used to analyze the content of these events and processes. The categories were: (a) Student Performance, (b) Historical Events, and (c) SACS and ACSI Accreditation Processes. The following results were obtained from this research. Findings indicated that a criterion-based accreditation process potentially results in more consistent student performance outcomes than an open-ended process.

Through distance learning, the community college system has moved beyond geographical boundaries to serve all students and provide educational opportunities at a distance to individuals previously out of reach of the college community. With the inception of the Mississippi Virtual Community College (MSVCC) in January 2000, Mississippi’s public community colleges have experienced unprecedented growth in online enrollments and online course offerings to include the laboratory sciences; however, transfer of online lab science courses are problematic for individuals who wish to gain admittance to Medical, Dental, and Pharmacy schools in Mississippi. Currently online lab science courses are not accepted for transfer for students seeking admission to Mississippi Medical, Dental, or Pharmacy schools. The need for this study, the statement of the problem, and the purpose of the study address transfer issues related to the transfer of online lab science courses in Mississippi and the impact of such on the student and community college. The study also addresses existing doubts regarding online course delivery as a viable method of lab science delivery. The purpose of the study was to investigate differences between online instructional delivery as compared to traditional face-toace delivery with the following research questions to: 1. Investigate the perception of quality of online courses as compared to traditional face-toace courses. 2. Investigate the difference in student performance in online transfer lab science courses as compared to student performance in traditional face-toace lab science courses. The results of this 13 semester study show significant differences in both perception of quality and student performance between online instructional delivery as compared to traditional face-toace delivery. The findings demonstrate a need for Mississippi Dental, Medical, and Pharmacy schools to re-examine the articulation agreement between IHL and Community and Junior Colleges and consider accepting online lab sciences courses taken at the community college as transfer for admission to Medical, Dental, and Pharmacy schools. Conclusions are included in the study; however, additional studies are needed to address the issue of student performance in the online lab science classroom.