This study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of alternative middle school programs utilizing a longitudinal, mixed methods design and was driven by research questions which analyzed trends in attendance, discipline, and Standard of Learning test pass rates in history and science for 8th, 9th, and 10th grade. It also examined student perceptions concerning preparedness for high school, skills previously taught, transition to high school, and relationships with peers and adults. Data on attendance, discipline, and SOL scores were collected from 34 students from the 2009-2010 8th grade cohort who attended one of two alternative middle schools. Attendance data indicated a decrease in the number of absences each year from 8th – 10th grade, ranging from two days to 53 days per student. Discipline data reflected a drop in discipline referrals, each year, from 8th to 10th grade. The greatest improvement in discipline, indicated by a decrease in per student referrals, occurred between 9th and 10th grade. History SOL results indicated a pass rate that remained between 70% - 71% for grades 8-10. The test results for the science SOL showed a drop in number of students passing from 8th to 9th grade and increasing from 9th to 10th grade. An analysis of interviews with twelve students found that they perceived their alternative middle experience as having a positive effect on relationships, both with peers and adults, and a desire to graduate. They attributed an improvement in relationship skills and ability to select positive relationships with alternative middle school attendance. Students consistently noted small class size, as experienced in the alternative middle school, as an influence on both behavior and achievement. Students previously considering dropping out of school felt their alternative middle school experience had contributed to their changed mindsets and goals. Overall this study indicated that students attending the alternative middle school for 8th grade perceived their experiences as providing greater social rather than academic preparation for high school. In addition, best practices are similar for high school and middle school alternative programs.

<p>While the number of graduate students from different parts of the world in the United States is decreasing, the trend in Latin American populations is the opposite. Nonetheless, the current lack of information regarding the reasons behind this tendency, in terms of English language proficiency and cultural aspects, affects all parts involved: graduate students do not know what type of opportunities they can make use of; American universities do not have enough information to provide Latin American students with a sheltering environment; and Latin American governments are unable to make policies that encourage the application and facilitate admission to graduate school in American universities.</p> <p>The aim of this study is to establish a starting point for understanding the linguistic and cultural complexities of the Latin American population in graduate school in the United States. To do so, surveys and interviews were carried out to explore academic experiences, cultural influences and socioeconomic patterns that influenced the admission of Latin American students to graduate school. Mixed methods were used to describe the patterns of the survey responses quantitatively while leaving room for confirmatory quantitative analysis using the information of the interviews. The participants of this study were graduate students from Purdue University, one of the American universities with the highest number of Latin American graduate students. </p> <p>The results of this study underscore the importance of effective English language instruction during college years for reaching the graduate school admission scores, especially in cases when English language training during school was not possible or had little impact on the functional proficiency of the learner. Also, there is a large body of evidence indicating that undergraduate research internships could be one of the opportunities with the highest potential to recruit graduate Latin American students, regardless of their socioeconomic background.</p>

The purpose of this correlational study, which took place in a Central Florida school district, was to investigate the relationship between the quality of the early childhood education (ECE) programs and students' kindergarten readiness scores. Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, which states that a child's environment, culture, and language are related to academic and social development, was the theoretical framework for this study. Many ECE centers have been rated using the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS). Additionally, some children in those centers have been rated for kindergarten readiness using the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) developed by the Florida Department of Education (FLDOE). The sample included 55 ECE centers that had an ECERS rating with students who had FLKRS scores. This study addressed whether FLKRS scores were positively correlated with ECERS ratings. Data were analyzed using the Pearson product moment correlation. Results indicated a positive and significant correlation between ECERS ratings and FLKRS scores. A white paper was prepared to raise awareness regarding the availability of quality ECE centers to young learners. Implications for social change include an increased number of quality ECE programs in local neighborhoods as well as increased awareness of the importance of an environmental rating scale to monitor program quality.

The low test scores on third graders' Illinois State Assessment Test (ISAT) is a concern in the Allgood Elementary School community. Thirty percent of third graders are retained because they do not meet the standard on the ISAT. A technology-assisted reading program, Study Island, was implemented to increase reading proficiency. The purpose of this study was to determine if there was an improvement in standardized test performance after the implementation of Study Island for the academic school years 2009-2012. Dewey's theory of experience provided the theoretical framework for the study because when students are engaged in hands on experience in education it reflects a meaningful learning experience. A correlational study was conducted to examine whether the computer-based program had an effect on student reading performance on the ISAT. The sample consisted of students in two third-grade classrooms (N = 305) enrolled during these years. Archived ISAT scores were used to compare student performance. A one-way ANOVA determined whether statistically significant differences existed in the mean scores of students who did and did not use the Study Island reading program. The results show, ISAT scores were significantly higher only after the second year of implementation of the program. The findings, presented in a white paper, can promote social change by helping school officials make informed decisions on implementing Study Island, ultimately to improve reading outcomes for students and help them become critical thinkers in society.

Submitted by Cristiane Shirayama (cristiane.shirayama@fgv.br) on 2011-08-20T18:45:12Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT_ROGERIO BIANCHI SANTARROSA.pdf: 360667 bytes, checksum: 058eb45becdcdf8d90fb3a3a2991cabc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel (gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2011-08-22T12:14:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT_ROGERIO BIANCHI SANTARROSA.pdf: 360667 bytes, checksum: 058eb45becdcdf8d90fb3a3a2991cabc (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Gisele Isaura Hannickel (gisele.hannickel@fgv.br) on 2011-08-22T12:26:30Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT_ROGERIO BIANCHI SANTARROSA.pdf: 360667 bytes, checksum: 058eb45becdcdf8d90fb3a3a2991cabc (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2011-08-22T12:39:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DISSERT_ROGERIO BIANCHI SANTARROSA.pdf: 360667 bytes, checksum: 058eb45becdcdf8d90fb3a3a2991cabc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-17 / This paper attempts to estimate the impact of conditional cash transfer on students’ proficiency in Brazil. Conditional Cash Transfers literature has already showed significant evidence about the impact of those kind of social programs on school enrollment. However, we know very little about the impact of these policies on final capital human measures, such as proficiency. Furthermore, this paper relates to the literature about the impact of public policies on test scores. We find important relationships between program selection and basic characteristics of eligible group. Eligible group has generally less favorable social and economic features and lower test scores. We take advantage of a unique student’s panel to estimate causal effect. We explore fixed effect and difference-in-difference estimators and extension, such as triple difference and difference-in-difference combined with reweighting based on propensity score estimators. In general, results show that is no impact of those kind of programs on proficiency level in math and language. / Este artigo propõe estimar o impacto dos programas de transferência condicionada de renda sobre proficiência dos alunos no Brasil. A literatura de transferência condicionada de renda já mostrou bastantes evidências do impacto desse tipo de programa social sobre acesso e matrícula escolar. Porém, muito pouco se sabe sobre o efeito dessas políticas sobre medidas finais de capital humano como proficiência. Além disso, esse estudo também se insere na literatura de avaliação de impacto de políticas públicas sobre proficiência. Nós diagnosticamos em nosso trabalho importantes relações que envolvem a seleção desse tipo de programa e as características descritivas básicas e distintas do grupo de recipientes. Os recipientes do programa geralmente possuem características socioeconômicas menos favoráveis e notas de proficiência mais baixas, mesmo quando controlado por características socioeconômicas observáveis. Para estimar o efeito causal, fazemos uso de uma oportunidade única de construção de um painel de alunos. Exploramos modelos de estimadores de efeito fixo, diferença em diferença e extensões, como diferenças triplas e diferenças em diferenças combinada com reponderação baseada no propensity score. Os resultados, em geral, apontam que não há impacto desse tipo programa em notas de proficiência de matemática e português.

Participating in this study were 251 decorator consultants. The decorator consultant position is a direct sales position. The primary objective of this study was to demonstrate that a relationship existed between decorators' selection test scores and their job performance. The SRA Verbal Form, the EAS Numerical Ability Test, the EAS Space Visualization Test, and the Sales Attitude Checklist were evaluated as potential selection tests. Behavioral criteria and managerial ratings were used to assess job performance. Correlational analyses revealed that all the tests but the SRA Verbal Form were significantly correlated with two or more criteria.

Pre-school education improves cognitive and non-cognitive skills of children, and the positive effects persist to adulthood. The literature provides rich ev- idence of beneficial effects of pre-school, some of them even causal. However, most studies come from the US, and the research lacks a comprehensive pic- ture of European countries concerning pre-school education. I contribute to the research by providing a comparison of European countries regarding pre- school attendance, pre-school skills, and test scores in fourth grade. In Section ??, I focus on the Czech Republic. The results show that more educated moth- ers are more likely to send children to pre-school. In most countries, children with stronger pre-school skills achieve higher results on standardized tests in fourth grade, which supports the idea of the existence of the Matthew effect. In the Czech Republic, pre-school attendance may increase fourth-grade test scores by 0.3 SD. The most important pre-school skill is the ability to read, which is associated with an increase in fourth-grade math achievement of 0.2 SD. The results contribute to the literature on pre-school education in Eu- rope; however, they should not be interpreted causally, as they are essentially a description of the pre-school context in Europe. 1

In this educational study, the research problem was that each semester a variable number of community college students are unable to complete an introductory computer applications course at a community college in the state of Mississippi with a successful course letter grade. Course failure, or non-success, at the collegiate level is a negative event for students and is a factor that leads to high attrition but does not always receive much research (Haynes Stewart et al., 2011). The purpose of this study was to see if a relationship existed between ACT scores (i.e., English, reading, mathematics, science reasoning, and composite) and student success in a computer applications course at a Mississippi community college. The first research question examined to see if the ACT composite test score was a statistically significant predictor of success in a computer applications course at a Mississippi community college. The second research question studied the ACT sub scores in English, reading, mathematics, and science reasoning to see if they were statistically significant predictors of success in the same course. Demographics of the sample were gathered from a multi-campus Mississippi community college along with the ACT scores and final grade in the computer applications class of the sample. Descriptive statistics were run and reported on the demographic data while bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were utilized to examine predictability of the ACT scores in relation to course final grade. The time period covered by this study was from fall 2010 through spring 2012 excluding the summer semesters. The study showed that while the ACT scores were excellent predictors of inclusion in the success category, the ACT scores did a very poor job of predicting non-success. The study concluded with a summary of the findings as well as limitations of the study. Also discussed were recommendations for practitioners and policy makers to include making the information available to students, teachers, advisors, and administration as an advisement tool when deciding to take the computer applications class. As well, recommendations for future research include treating withdrawals separately, examining multiple schools for differences, and increasing internal validity.

This mixed methods study examined relationships between third, fourth, and fifth grade teacher attendance as well as teacher and administrator perceptions of teacher attendance during the 2005-06, 2006-07, and 2007-08 school years. Third, fourth, and fifth grade student test scores on the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement test given in the spring of 2006, 2007, and 2008 were also examined. TCAP score data for this study were gathered electronically, with published data from the Tennessee Department of Education. Teacher attendance records were collected using Siesta, a teacher attendance tracking program. Teacher and administrator perceptions were gathered through surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The population for this study included five K-5 schools and two K-8 schools in a small, rural, public school system in Tennessee. All students in grades 3 through 8 take the TCAP test each spring. Students must take a total of 4 subtests. Quantitative variables were analyzed using descriptive statistics including t tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Mann Whitney U, and Pearson correlations. Qualitative data including interviews, focus groups, surveys, documents, handbooks, and school calendars were analyzed to better understand teacher and administrator perceptions about teacher absences. The results of this study were mixed. Teachers and administrators who participated in this study agreed that teacher absences do affect student test scores, but the quantitative data did not support this. The null hypotheses were retained in all courses and grades except third grade Math. This means there was no relationship between teacher absences and student test scores.

This study analyzed the correlation between students' third grade reading ability and sixth grade reading ability. The data were collected from an urban school district, and the participants were students whose records contained information from their third grade school year and their sixth grade school year. The Utah English Language Arts Criterion-Referenced Tests (ELA-CRT) administered in third and sixth grade were used to determine reading ability. Additional demographic data, including race, gender, special education identification, free/reduced lunch, and English Language Learner (ELL), was assessed and controlled for in the data analysis and provided important information concerning the overall findings. Analysis revealed that third grade reading scores had a strong predictive value on sixth grade reading scores. Certain demographic variables carried statistically significant correlations with sixth grade reading performance including race, special education identification, free/reduced lunch, and ELL identification. However, when analyzed together and considering the statistical weight each other, only third grade reading performance, free/reduced lunch, and ELL identification held significant correlations.