<p> This qualitative multisite, multiple case study examined teacher tutor experiences and the supports and challenges they encountered while they supported and guided students with the essential skills needed to pass the end-of-the-year standardized test. Four elementary teacher tutors from three northern Georgia school systems participated in the study. The teacher tutors were chosen by using recommendations from the system&rsquo;s Title I leader or the individual school principal or the after-school program coordinator. Once the four participants were chosen, a timeline of interviews and observations was established. Vygotsky&rsquo;s zone of proximal development (ZPD) formed the foundation of the conceptual framework for this study. This centered on determining the appropriate level of instruction for cognitive development in order to assist students to move beyond what they process themselves with guidance from a more capable person. Three interviews and six observations were completed for each of the four participants. Field notes were taken during observations and lesson plans were collected. Information obtained through interviews with the participants revealed three overall themes: teaching experience commonalities, a place for standardized testing, and a need for after-school tutoring programs. Findings suggested that all four of the participants felt supported as they implemented their after-school tutoring sessions with the goal of making each one of their students more successful learners in all aspects of their lives, not solely for the end-of-the-year standardized test.</p><p>

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Esta pesquisa analisa o processo de introdução das temáticas ambientais no currículo chileno no Segundo Segmento do Ensino Fundamental entre os anos 1996 e 2002. Foi considerado como início do processo de elaboração de um novo currículo (1996) a transformação da disciplina Ciências Naturalez em Estudio y Comprensión de la Natureza. O foco desta pesquisa está centrado nos Quinto, Sexto, Sétimo e oitavo ano de Ensino Fundamental, dirigido a alunos de 10 a 13 anos de idade. Defendo que incorporação do discurso da educação ambiental se insere no processo mais amplo de apropriação de discursos internacionais e dos novos objetivos do país retornando à democracia, com uma nova política de modernização. Para tal, foram investigados os decretos curriculares 40, 240, 232, os Objetivos Fundamentales (OF), Contenidos Mínimos Obligatorios (CMO) e Planes y Programas de estudio dos anos citados, revistas, páginas web e diversos documentos que permitiram entender a circulação de discursos referentes às temáticas ambientais e de modernização do país de volta à democracia. Como apoio às investigações feitas, foram entrevistadas, no atual país de residência o Chile, algumas pessoas relacionadas com esse processo de mudança, como Cristian Cox, Jacqueline Gysling, Jaime Cornejo, bem como foram investigadas organizações que tiveram influência nesse processo como a ?Casa de la Paz? e a Revista de História Natural. Foram utilizados os aportes teóricos de Ciclo de Políticas de Stephen Ball em relação ao processo de produção de políticas, com privilégio para a investigação dos Contextos de Influência e de Produção de Texto. Igualmente foram utilizados os aportes de Ivor Goodson referente à construção social das disciplinas escolares e à importância do contexto político, econômico e social e sua dinâmica gerada para a criação de determinadas políticas. Concluo que, ao mesmo tempo em que foram desenvolvidos objetivos integradores na nova disciplina, foi incorporada a demanda relacionada à renovação pedagógica, buscando centrar o processo de ensino na aprendizagem do aluno, privilegiando suas inquietudes e conhecimentos prévios, e tornando a disciplina mais ativa e exploratória. Nesse sentido é que defendo que a incorporação das temáticas ambientais, tanto evidencia o projeto de modernização do ensino, legitimado por discursos internacionais, como demonstra um tratamento local dessas questões: um desenvolvimento transversal e interdisciplinar, defendido por distintas comunidades disciplinares. / This research analyzes the process of introducing environmental issues in the Chilean curriculum of the Basic Education Second Stage, between 1996 and 2002. The transformation of the discipline Ciencias Naturales (Natural Sciences) into Estudio y Comprensión de la Naturaleza (Studying and Understanding Nature) was considered the beginning of the elaboration of a new curriculum (1996). This research is focused on the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade of basic education, directed at students from 10 to 13 years old. I argue that incorporating the environmental education discourse is inserted into a broader process of appropriating international discourses, and the new objectives of the country returning to democracy, with a new modernization policy. To this extent, we investigated curricular decrees number 40, 240, 232, the Objetivos Fundamentales (Fundamental Objectives), Contenidos Mínimos Obligatorios (Obligatory Minimum Contents), and Planes y Programas de estudio (Study Plans and Programs) of the mentioned years, journals, web pages, and several other documents. They enabled us to understand the circulation of discourses related to environmental and modernization issues in the country returning to democracy. To support the investigations, some persons connected to this process were interviewed in Chile, such as Cristian Cox, Jacqueline Gysling, and Jaime Cornejo. Likewise, organizations that influenced this process, such as ?Casa de la Paz? (Peace House) and the Revista de Historia Natural (Natural History Journal) were also researched. We used the theoretical contributions of the Policy Cycle by Stephen Ball related to the process of policy production, focusing on the investigation of Contexts of Influence and Text Production. We also used the contributions of Ivor Goodson related to the social construction of school disciplines and the importance of the political, economic, and social contexts, and the dynamics generated for developing certain policies. I conclude that integrating objectives were developed in the new discipline, while at the same time the demand for pedagogical renovation was incorporated, seeking to focus the teaching process on students? learning, and privileging their concerns and previous knowledge, thus, making the discipline more active and exploratory. To this extent, I argue that the incorporation of environmental issues shows evidence of the teaching modernization project, legitimized by international discourses; it also demonstrates a local treatment of these issues ? a cross-cutting and interdisciplinary development supported by different disciplinary communities.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether there was a relationship between pressure to perform on state mandated, high-stakes tests and the rate of student escape behavior defined as the number of school suspensions and absences. The state assigned grade of a school was used as a surrogate measure of pressure with the assumption that pressure increased as the school grade decreased. Student attendance and suspension data were gathered from all 33 of the regular public high schools in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. The research questions were: Is the number of suspensions highest in the third quarter, when most FCAT preparation takes place for each of the 3 school years 2007-08 through 2009-10? How accurately does the high school’s grade predict the number of suspensions and number of absences during each of the 4 school years 2005-06 through 2008-09? The research questions were answered using repeated measures analysis of variance for research question #1 and non-linear multiple regression for research question #2. No significant difference could be found between the numbers of suspensions in each of the grading periods nor was there a relationship between the number of suspensions and school grade. A statistically significant relationship was found between student attendance and school grade. When plotted, this relationship was found to be quadratic in nature and formed a loose inverted U for each of the four years during which data were collected. This indicated that students in very high and very low performing schools had low levels of absences while those in the midlevel of the distribution of school performance (C schools) had the greatest rates of absence. Identifying a relationship between the pressures associated with high stakes testing and student escape behavior suggests that it might be useful for building administrators to reevaluate test preparation activities and procedures being used in their building and to include anxiety reducing strategies. As a relationship was found, it sets the foundation for future studies to identify whether testing related activities are impacting some students emotionally and are causing unintended consequences of testing mandates.

This study examined standards-based mathematics reform initiatives to determine if they would improve student achievement on the part of low-performing students. New curricula, the Carnegie Learning Cognitive Tutor®, were provided for algebra and geometry students. The new instructional strategy relied on both the teacher-led instruction and the use of computers to differentiate instruction for individual students. Mathematics teachers received ongoing professional development to help them implement the new curricula. In addition, teachers were provided with ongoing support to assist them with the transformation of the learning environments for students using standards-based practices. This quasi-experimental (nonrandomized) study involved teachers in two matched urban high schools. Analyses (ANCOVAs) revealed that the experimental group with an appropriately implemented program had significantly higher learning gains than the comparison group as determined by the students' 2007 mathematics Developmental Scale Score (DSS). In addition, the experimental group's adjusted mean for the second interim mathematics assessment was significantly higher than the comparison group's mean. The findings support the idea that if the traditional curriculum is replaced with standards-based curriculum, and the curriculum is implemented as intended, low-performing students may make significant learning gains. With respect to the teaching practices as observed with the Classroom Observation Protocol (COP), t-tests were conducted on four constructs. The results for both the algebra and geometry teachers on the constructs were not significant. The COP indicated that teachers in both the experimental and comparison groups used traditional instruction strategies in their classrooms. The analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) on the use of technology revealed no significant main effects for computer use.

Current reform initiatives recommend that school geometry teaching and learning include the study of three-dimensional geometric objects and provide students with opportunities to use spatial abilities in mathematical tasks. Two ways of using Geometer's Sketchpad (GSP), a dynamic and interactive computer program, in conjunction with manipulatives enable students to investigate and explore geometric concepts, especially when used in a constructivist setting. Research on spatial abilities has focused on visual reasoning to improve visualization skills. This dissertation investigated the hypothesis that connecting visual and analytic reasoning may better improve students' spatial visualization abilities as compared to instruction that makes little or no use of the connection of the two. Data were collected using the Purdue Spatial Visualization Tests (PSVT) administered as a pretest and posttest to a control and two experimental groups. Sixty-four 10th grade students in three geometry classrooms participated in the study during 6 weeks. Research questions were answered using statistical procedures. An analysis of covariance was used for a quantitative analysis, whereas a description of students' visual-analytic processing strategies was presented using qualitative methods. The quantitative results indicated that there were significant differences in gender, but not in the group factor. However, when analyzing a sub sample of 33 participants with pretest scores below the 50th percentile, males in one of the experimental groups significantly benefited from the treatment. A review of previous research also indicated that students with low visualization skills benefited more than those with higher visualization skills. The qualitative results showed that girls were more sophisticated in their visual-analytic processing strategies to solve three-dimensional tasks. It is recommended that the teaching and learning of spatial visualization start in the middle school, prior to students' more rigorous mathematics exposure in high school. A duration longer than 6 weeks for treatments in similar future research studies is also recommended.

The Jacobson Sinai Academy is a Liberal Reform Jewish Day School, in North Miami Beach, Florida. When the Academy was started over 18 years ago it was designed as a K-6 school. This was in keeping with the existing model for Reform day schools at the time and met the needs and desires of the early founders. The philosophy of the school addressed meeting the needs of the individual child as well as the fostering of Judaic values and traditions in an academically nurturing and experiential setting. Upon graduation, students moved from the Academy to a variety of public and private options, all of which served the needs of the families at the time. In recent years, due to numerous factors within the community, parents voiced concerns as to where their children would continue their education during the critical middle school years. As a result of these concerns, and through the efforts of a dedicated group of parents and lay leaders, the decision was made to add an upper school component to the existing elementary configuration. This study is a qualitative case study which chronicles the organizational change effort that was undertaken for this purpose to determine facilitating conditions and impediments leading to the change. The analysis serves to inform others wishing to advance such an undertaking. Results of the study indicated that certain conditions are necessary for the successful implementation of any change effort. The culture of the organization must be acknowledged and is a primary factor to be considered when advancing change. Collaboration with those committed to the enterprise must occur, and this in turn can lead to an agreed upon philosophy which expresses the diversity of needs and values of all of those involved. Resistance, while expected from certain individuals within the organization, can be overcome through the efforts of key players who assume leadership positions that are transformational in nature. Additionally, the rationale for middle schools, and the need for this one in particular, are factors which led to the success of this initiative.

<p> Research on professional values in radiologic technologists&rsquo; is practically nonexistent. Though learning professional values is important, professional values have not been identified and articulated by the radiologic technology profession. The purpose of this study was to determine radiologic technologists&rsquo; perception of professional values and determine if radiologic technologists feel it is important to articulate professional values. No original research study evaluating the perception of professional values of practicing radiologic technologists was identified. The purposeful, convenience sample of 716 American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) members represented a cross sectional view of radiologic technologists. The Radiologic Technologists&rsquo; Perceptions of Professional Values Scale (RTPPVS), adapted from the Professionalism in Physical Therapy Core Values Self-Assessment developed by the American Physical Therapy Association, was used to collect quantitative data regarding the importance of professional values from a radiologic technologists&rsquo; perspective. Results indicate that professional values are important to radiologic technologists.</p><p> The RTPPVS revealed that radiologic technologists perceive the seven professional values, accountability, altruism, compassion/caring, excellence, integrity, professional duty, social responsibility, as important. Overall, altruism indicators were chosen as the most important professional value and social responsibility was chosen as the least important professional value. A sample of American Society of Radiologic Technologists members perceive it is important for the profession to explicitly articulate professional values. </p><p> This research did not demonstrate a statistically significant difference among the demographic characteristics. There were no differences in perceived importance of professional values based on gender, age, state of residency, education level, years of experience, or job title. Implications for practice indicate a need for the profession to adopt and articulate professional values. </p><p>

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Esta pesquisa analisa o processo de introdução das temáticas ambientais no currículo chileno no Segundo Segmento do Ensino Fundamental entre os anos 1996 e 2002. Foi considerado como início do processo de elaboração de um novo currículo (1996) a transformação da disciplina Ciências Naturalez em Estudio y Comprensión de la Natureza. O foco desta pesquisa está centrado nos Quinto, Sexto, Sétimo e oitavo ano de Ensino Fundamental, dirigido a alunos de 10 a 13 anos de idade. Defendo que incorporação do discurso da educação ambiental se insere no processo mais amplo de apropriação de discursos internacionais e dos novos objetivos do país retornando à democracia, com uma nova política de modernização. Para tal, foram investigados os decretos curriculares 40, 240, 232, os Objetivos Fundamentales (OF), Contenidos Mínimos Obligatorios (CMO) e Planes y Programas de estudio dos anos citados, revistas, páginas web e diversos documentos que permitiram entender a circulação de discursos referentes às temáticas ambientais e de modernização do país de volta à democracia. Como apoio às investigações feitas, foram entrevistadas, no atual país de residência o Chile, algumas pessoas relacionadas com esse processo de mudança, como Cristian Cox, Jacqueline Gysling, Jaime Cornejo, bem como foram investigadas organizações que tiveram influência nesse processo como a ?Casa de la Paz? e a Revista de História Natural. Foram utilizados os aportes teóricos de Ciclo de Políticas de Stephen Ball em relação ao processo de produção de políticas, com privilégio para a investigação dos Contextos de Influência e de Produção de Texto. Igualmente foram utilizados os aportes de Ivor Goodson referente à construção social das disciplinas escolares e à importância do contexto político, econômico e social e sua dinâmica gerada para a criação de determinadas políticas. Concluo que, ao mesmo tempo em que foram desenvolvidos objetivos integradores na nova disciplina, foi incorporada a demanda relacionada à renovação pedagógica, buscando centrar o processo de ensino na aprendizagem do aluno, privilegiando suas inquietudes e conhecimentos prévios, e tornando a disciplina mais ativa e exploratória. Nesse sentido é que defendo que a incorporação das temáticas ambientais, tanto evidencia o projeto de modernização do ensino, legitimado por discursos internacionais, como demonstra um tratamento local dessas questões: um desenvolvimento transversal e interdisciplinar, defendido por distintas comunidades disciplinares. / This research analyzes the process of introducing environmental issues in the Chilean curriculum of the Basic Education Second Stage, between 1996 and 2002. The transformation of the discipline Ciencias Naturales (Natural Sciences) into Estudio y Comprensión de la Naturaleza (Studying and Understanding Nature) was considered the beginning of the elaboration of a new curriculum (1996). This research is focused on the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade of basic education, directed at students from 10 to 13 years old. I argue that incorporating the environmental education discourse is inserted into a broader process of appropriating international discourses, and the new objectives of the country returning to democracy, with a new modernization policy. To this extent, we investigated curricular decrees number 40, 240, 232, the Objetivos Fundamentales (Fundamental Objectives), Contenidos Mínimos Obligatorios (Obligatory Minimum Contents), and Planes y Programas de estudio (Study Plans and Programs) of the mentioned years, journals, web pages, and several other documents. They enabled us to understand the circulation of discourses related to environmental and modernization issues in the country returning to democracy. To support the investigations, some persons connected to this process were interviewed in Chile, such as Cristian Cox, Jacqueline Gysling, and Jaime Cornejo. Likewise, organizations that influenced this process, such as ?Casa de la Paz? (Peace House) and the Revista de Historia Natural (Natural History Journal) were also researched. We used the theoretical contributions of the Policy Cycle by Stephen Ball related to the process of policy production, focusing on the investigation of Contexts of Influence and Text Production. We also used the contributions of Ivor Goodson related to the social construction of school disciplines and the importance of the political, economic, and social contexts, and the dynamics generated for developing certain policies. I conclude that integrating objectives were developed in the new discipline, while at the same time the demand for pedagogical renovation was incorporated, seeking to focus the teaching process on students? learning, and privileging their concerns and previous knowledge, thus, making the discipline more active and exploratory. To this extent, I argue that the incorporation of environmental issues shows evidence of the teaching modernization project, legitimized by international discourses; it also demonstrates a local treatment of these issues ? a cross-cutting and interdisciplinary development supported by different disciplinary communities.

<p> Abstract Despite favorable job-growth predictions for many engineering occupations(NSB, 2010), researchers and government agencies have described a crisis in education in the United States. Several simultaneous events have conspired to sound this alarm. First, when compared to other countries, the United States is losing ground in educational rankings, and research and development output and expenditures (NSB, 2014). Second, within the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) the ranks of engineering education have been identified as one of the most unwelcoming, inequitable, and homogeneous (Johri &amp; Olds, 2014). Third, engineering educators at the university level has historically been select individuals from the dominant culture considered to be content experts in their fields, but having little or no background in educational theory (Froyd &amp; Lohmann, 2014). Researchers and government agencies have recently claimed the changing demographics and need for more engineers in the United States signal a need for revolutionary changes in the way engineers are prepared and the need for a more welcoming and collaborative environment in engineering education (Jamieson &amp; Lohmann, 2012; NSF, 2014). Understanding how to improve the culture of engineering education is an important and necessary ingredient for addressing national concerns with engineering and innovation. </p><p> My study seeks to explore the manifestation of the culture of engineering education in the experiences of five long-time engineering professors, who enrolled as part of a STEM PhD cohort, in a School of Education at a large research university in the northeastern United States. The overarching problem I will address is the persistent culture of engineering education that, despite decades of rhetoric about reform aimed at increasing the number of those historically underrepresented in engineering, continues to promote a hegemonic culture and has failed to take the necessary systemic steps to become more welcoming and more effective for all learners. This research involves the story, and the history, of an engineering education culture quick to identify the haves and the have-nots and dismissive of those individuals &ldquo;not cut out&rdquo; to become engineers. </p><p> My study is driven by the following research questions: (1) What are engineering educators&rsquo; perceptions of teaching and learning? (2) In what ways, if any, have participant experiences with constructivism and social constructivism influenced espoused beliefs, perceptions, and enactments of teaching? (3) What may be potential strategies for shifting the culture of veteran engineering educators toward reflective teaching practices and equitable access to engineering education?</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine online community college student completion and the effectiveness of student learning in online courses, which was measured through the anticipated final online course grade using the Community of Inquiry (CoI) theoretical framework. The researcher collected completion rate data for both online and face-to-face courses from the 10-day roster to the end of the semester. Surveys consisting of questions from the CoI survey, demographic questions, and the student&rsquo;s anticipated final course grade were administered by the Illinois Easter Community College (IECC) district to online students near the end of spring semester. The first research question examined the difference in completion rates for online and face-to-face courses. There was a statistically significant difference with students less likely to complete an online course in comparison to a face-to-face course. Three research questions assessed the relationship between the three components of CoI and a student&rsquo;s anticipated final course grade. There was no statistically significant correlation between social presence and the student&rsquo;s anticipated final online course grade. Cognitive presence and teaching presence both had a positive statistically significant relationship with the student&rsquo;s anticipated final course grade. The final three research questions that guided this study used multiple regression to examine a predictive relationship between the social, cognitive, and teaching presence and a student&rsquo;s anticipated final course grade. Cognitive presence was the only component of the CoI model that had a statistically significant predictive value on the student&rsquo;s final course grade. Based on the findings from this study, the IECC district and other community colleges should focus more attention on completion efforts on online courses compared to face-to-face courses and develop and teach online courses that enhance the cognitive presence and teaching presence in an online course.</p><p>