The purpose of this study was to develop a profile of the student who is most likely to fail one or more CLAST communication subtests two or more times. The study was limited in scope to an examination of the Chipola Junior College students who, through March of 1989, had failed one or more of the CLAST communication subtests two or more times, a total of eighteen students. / Information gathered included (1) demographics of the Chipola Junior College district; (2) the name, sex, race, high school, and high school graduation date for each student who failed one or more CLAST communication subtests two or more times; (3) high school transcript information on each of these students; (4) whether the student was in a writing enhancement program, college preparatory class, or Teacher Advisement Program; and (5) the college transcript information on each student. / The results of the study indicate that the Chipola Junior College student who is most likely to fail one or more CLAST communication subtests two or more times is a white male from a small town or rural high school within the five-county Chipola Junior College district. He took more terminal track than college track courses in high school, was not in a writing enhancement program in high school, did not take college preparatory courses in high school, did not participate in a Teacher Advisement Program in high school, had an overall high school GPA of 2.62, had a high school English GPA of 1.91, had an ACT English Usage Standard Score of 9.63 and had an ACT Composite Standard Score of 9.3. / At Chipola Junior College he took college preparatory writing, but not college preparatory reading. He made a C in English 1101 and a D in English 1102, but he did not take any additional writing courses. His overall Chipola GPA was 2.26, and he failed the reading and essay subtests the first time he took the CLAST. He passed the reading subtest on his second attempt, but not the essay. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-07, Section: A, page: 2253. / Major Professor: Dwight L. Burton. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 36-04, Section: A, page: 2111. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1975.

This research study was concerned with how a testwiseness training program impacts on students' test taking behaviors and reading comprehension subtest scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test. The testwiseness training used test taking strategies independent of the test constructor (Millman et al., 1965) and a practice test, the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE). / The study sample was comprised of 104 subjects of diverse backgrounds who were enrolled in a community college educational setting. The testwiseness training program was the independent variable and the dependent variables were the subjects' test taking behaviors and posttest scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Comprehension and Rate subtest. / The control group was not given any formal test taking instruction. However, they were provided a practice-test experience identical to the experimental group. / Analysis of covariance was used to determine whether the mean scores of the experimental and control groups differed significantly on the posttest and to control for possible differences in the subjects' posttest scores by using the pretest and the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test as covariates. Keeping the alpha level at.05, the analysis of covariance did not demonstrate a statistically significant effect on the posttest scores of the experimental group, F (1,100) = 3.96. / Three methods were used to facilitate the measurement of the subjects' test taking behaviors: time used at the midpoint of the pre- and posttests, identification of guessed responses, and a survey about their test taking activities. / The experimental group demonstrated improvement in each of the fourteen test taking behaviors addressed in the study whereas the control group exhibited improvement on ten of the behaviors. The improvement in the experimental group's test taking behaviors varied from five to 59 percent on the posttest and the control group's ranged from two to 22 percent. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-10, Section: A, page: 3587. / Major Professor: Richard H. Kraft. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

The concern of this study was the inadequacy of present methods for collecting and analyzing sociometric data. The purposes were to develop a flexible system for collecting and analyzing sociometric data which would produce computer-printed reports in such form that the sociometric information could be effectively utilized by both classroom teachers and researchers; to demonstrate that the system was flexible enough to meet a variety of user needs; to demonstrate that the computer program could be installed, with minimum changes, at computer facilities with certain differing characteristics; and to demonstrate that teachers could use the computer-printed reports to gain specific information.

<p>This study examines the educational history of African Americans since their arrival in America in 1619. From milestones to major turning points in educational history, various Supreme Court decisions, and federal educational legislation, this study highlights the development of the African American system of education. This paper also examines the creation of the first legislation governing education of blacks in the 1700s and then evaluates the modern legislation pertaining to the education of blacks in America?s schools. Next, this paper examines the academic progress of African Americans by reviewing their performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics assessment. Lastly, this study offers remedies for the current state of academic affairs for African Americans.

Latent class analysis is a useful tool to deal with discrete multivariate response data. Croon (1990) proposed the ordered latent class model where latent classes are ordered by imposing inequality constraints on the cumulative conditional response probabilities. Taking stochastic ordering of latent classes into account in the analysis of data gives a meaningful interpretation, since the primary purpose of a test is to order students on the latent trait continuum. This study extends Croon's model to ordered latent class regression that regresses latent class membership on covariates (e.g., gender, country) and demonstrates the utilities of an ordered latent class regression model in educational assessment using data from Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The benefit of this model is that item analysis and group comparisons can be done simultaneously in one model. The model is fitted by maximum likelihood estimation method with an EM algorithm. It is found that the proposed model is a useful tool for exploratory purposes as a special case of nonparametric item response models and cross-country difference can be modeled as different composition of discrete classes. Simulations is done to evaluate the performance of information criteria (AIC and BIC) in selecting the appropriate number of latent classes in the model. From the simulation results, AIC outperforms BIC for the model with the order-restricted maximum likelihood estimator.

<p> Research demonstrates that problem-based learning (PBL) teaching strategies raise student achievement and skills needed for the 21st century. Research also found that educators enjoy using PBL, students enjoy learning through PBL, and PBL motivates students to succeed in science classrooms. The descriptive, comparative study focused on science raw scores obtained from two schools in the Southern region of the United States and presented an analysis of the difference between two groups of sixth-grade students&rsquo; science scores. One group of scores was from classes whose teachers implemented PBL and the other group was from classes whose teachers did not implement PBL. The study addressed one central research question: Is there a statistically significant difference in raw state exam scores when implementing PBL teaching strategies instead of non-PBL teaching strategies among sixth-grade science students in two schools located in the Southeastern United States? The researcher analyzed archived data of 357 fifth- and sixth-grade students from two schools in the Southeastern region of the United States. The study used descriptive statistics, an independent <i>t</i> test, and a Levene&rsquo;s test to identify the significance between the two sixth-grade groups using 2014&ndash;2015 school data. Descriptive statistics showed that students taught using PBL scored an average of 15.48 points higher on the assessment than students in a non-PBL classroom. The independent <i>t</i> test found a two-tailed significance value or <i>p</i> value of 0.000. Results suggest that students taught using PBL teaching strategies score significantly higher on the sixth-grade science state exam assessment than students taught using non-PBL teaching strategies.</p><p>

<p> Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) tools are used widely to assess students&rsquo; progress within different stages of the Response to Intervention (RTI) process. Despite the wide-spread use, little research has identified the efficacy of reading CBMs in predicting secondary student outcomes on high-stakes assessments. High-stakes assessments are being utilized to determine outcomes for not just students, but teachers, administrators, and districts. More research is needed to determine if reading CBMs are useful tools for the populations of struggling secondary readers. The current study was a secondary analysis of existing data, which attempted to gain an understanding of this through examining the predictive validity of CBMs and high-stakes pre-assessments on end-of-year outcomes. The population included struggling, seventh grade readers who had not demonstrated proficiency on previous state tests and who attended urban schools representing low socio-economic status and high ethnic diversity. Results identified previous year state tests and norm-referenced tests as significant predictors of end-of-year outcomes, both individually and in combination. Though the reading fluency CBMs accounted for some variance in the regression equation, the amount was negligible. Student ethnicity and group status (i.e., whether received intervention) were not significant predictors of end-of year outcomes. These results indicate that CBMs may not provide additional valuable information in the prediction of student outcomes for secondary struggling readers. This finding is important for educators to weigh with other concerns, such as ease of use and time constraints, as existing pre-assessments (i.e., state tests, norm-referenced screening tools) may provide enough information without the additional use of CBMs.</p>

<p> The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the impact of teacher attitudes and to discover other factors that have an impact on the implementation of a standards-based grading program. This descriptive phenomenology features interviews of 25 educators from Georgia as well as other states and two foreign countries in order to collect their perspectives of the lived experience of the implementation process. </p><p> The findings of this study suggest that the attitudes teachers have regarding the implantation process of a standards-based grading program do have a significant impact on the process. Those participants who described themselves as having a positive attitude towards the transition tended to also describe experiencing a more successful implementation of the program. The converse was true as participants describing their experience as being controlled by a negative attitude towards the transition experienced less successful transitions to the standards-based grading program. The findings of this study suggest that school leaders play a vital role in creating a successful implementation process and that other factors such as the quality of professional development and the element of time impact the process.</p><p>

<p> This doctoral project was developed to evaluate the validity and reliability of a spiritual growth assessment tool that the author created for his ministry in Southeast Asia called the Bridge or BRIDGES. This tool called the BRIDGES Spiritual Growth Questionnaire (BSG-Q) is helpful for church leaders who intend on implementing The Bridge&rsquo;s 7-Stage Discipleship Strategy in determining the spiritual stage of their church members. Fifty volunteers at the Bridge were recruited to complete the BSG-Q. To study the validity of the BSG-Q, the three basic and traditional components of validity (criterion-related validity, content validity, and construct validity) were applied. Nine small group leaders at the Bridge were recruited to help assess the criterion-related validity by completing a criterion assessment form. Five experts concerning the Bridge&rsquo;s 7-Stage strategy were recruited to help assess the content validity by completing a content assessment form. Construct validity was assessed by referencing published authors. To study the reliability of the BSG-Q, the test-retest method and the split-halves method were applied. The accumulated data from all the questionnaires and tests and the analysis of the data confirmed the hypothesis of this project: &ldquo;The BSG-Q is a valid and reliable tool in determining a person&rsquo;s level or stage of spiritual growth within the 7- Stage strategy.&rdquo; This project also enabled the author to make some critical discoveries in how to interpret the scores of BSG-Q participants resulting in important recommendations for church leaders who intend on using this tool.</p><p>