<p> Over the past several decades there has been a continuous stream of government mandates aimed to improve equity, access, accountability, transparency, student performance, and/or expand the responsibilities of public schools. These externally mandated school reforms have largely excluded the voice of teachers and administrators both in problem definition and in the modifications needed to address them. Further, reform literature is predominantly focused on improving or addressing urban school challenges, so little is known about the challenges and needs of suburban schools. The gaps in the literature related to teacher voice and suburban contexts in high school reform form the basis of this inquiry. Therefore, this study examines suburban teacher perceptions of four specific, popular reform ideas being introduced in high schools across the United States. </p><p> This exploratory mixed methods study gathered data from 165 suburban public high school teachers working in 20 different high schools in Massachusetts using an anonymous survey instrument. Three findings emerged from the study: 1) successful suburban teachers welcome consensus high school reform ideas that they believe to be favorable for student learning, growth, and development though they note significant challenges in regard to time; 2) suburban teachers experience anxiety when reforms alter structures or methods that they rely on to ensure all students meet high school outcomes for graduation and college entrance requirements; and 3) suburban teachers&rsquo; perceptions of consensus high school reform ideas are shaped by the ways in which the reforms impact academic disciplines. This study found that suburban public school teachers view the four reform ideas presented in this study as likely having a positive impact on teaching and learning in their school; however, they noted several implementation challenges that would need to be considered to ensure the efficacy of those reforms.</p><p>

<p> Teachers today are spending more time with problem behaviors and less time with instruction. Problem behaviors can affect students&rsquo; learning as well as teachers&rsquo; instructional time. In contrast to traditional disciplinary practices, this study explored teachers&rsquo; perspectives from all three educational levels regarding the efficacy of positive behavior interventions and supports. Many programs and approaches are available to improve student behavior in schools. Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is designed to help schools create and sustain effective behavioral supports for students. This study was focused on the perceptions of teachers after the implementation of a program of positive behavior support in districts within the state of Illinois. Forty-five school districts were randomly chosen from each region and educational level. The research that guided the study related to the perceptions of teachers on the efficacy of the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports system. The research was inconclusive, as teachers reported that the behavior system was needed, but it did not change the behaviors of the students who displayed challenging behaviors. This study was significant as it added to the body of research of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports.</p><p>

<p> This quantitative descriptive comparative study compared test scores from the Ohio Achievement Assessment of students who were taught reading in ability grouped classrooms with those who were taught in non-ability grouped classrooms. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive comparative study was to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between reading scores on the Ohio Achievement Assessments Test (OAA) of third grade students who are ability grouped and third grade students who are not ability grouped with regards to gender and ethnicity. The theories examined for this quantitative descriptive comparative study were the constructivist theory and the theory of multiple intelligences. The primary research question was whether or not there was a significant statistical difference in student test scores for the Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA) in reading in ability grouped and non-ability grouped classrooms, with regard to gender or ethnicity. This study was a quantitative descriptive comparative design using archived data from the Ohio Department of Education and a school district located in Ohio. The study consisted of 334 student test scores, ability grouped males, females, White, Hispanic, and Black students and then the same groups for non-ability grouped students with regard to their gender and ethnicity. Descriptive statistics (standard deviation and the mean) were used to analyze the variables that were under investigation and to answer the hypotheses. Data analysis was completed using independent samples t-test to determine statistical significant difference among ability or non-ability grouped students with regard to gender. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine if a statistical significant difference existed between ability grouped and non-ability grouped students with regard to ethnicity, this resulted in a post-hoc test. It was determined that a statistical significant difference did not exist between males and females, regardless of their grouping status for reading on the Ohio Achievement Assessment. When grouping students by ability, there was a statistically significant difference in Hispanic students increase in achievement, when being compared to Black and White students. When non-ability grouped students were compared, there was not a statistically significant difference in OAA scores with regard to ethnicity. Further research is needed to provide holistic recommendations for grouping strategies across curriculum, types of schools, and age of students. </p><p>

<p> Practitioners have agreed that service-learning programs or curricula guide students into developing a more robust connection to the community in which they live as well as amongst other members of that community (Eyler, Giles, Stenson, &amp; Gray, 2001). However, what isn&rsquo;t known extensively is <i>how</i> these outcomes have been generated (Kiely, 2005a). Based upon Milne&rsquo;s (2000) <i>reflective artmaking</i>, this arts-based ethnographic study introduces the terminology <i>reflective artmaking service-learning</i>, demonstrating how the coupled learning processes of reflective artmaking and service-learning respond to the call for research. The Capacities for Imaginative Learning (Holzer, 2009) facilitated my ethnographic analysis, providing specificity towards deconstructing the underlying mechanisms of processing and filtering. Conducted in Texas among Christian homeschool students, this study inquires, how does reflective artmaking coupled with service-learning help to make the underlying concept of &ldquo;community&rdquo; visible? This ethnographic study focuses on the educative (Dewey, 1938) value of an arts-infused program with Christian homeschooled youth (ages 11-17) in Texas. Significant findings include the ways in which experiential learning based on a constructivist epistemology and a focus on the self was a suitable, but yet limiting, theoretical framework. Suggestions include ways to use reflective artmaking coupled with service-learning to enhance the authenticity and applicability of projects and thus to enhance student interest and ownership. This study provides a broad set practitioners in educational programs and public, private, and home schools with practical, innovative, substantive, and customizable methods of incorporating arts-based reflection on civic engagement within their teaching practices.</p><p>

No description available.

<p> The purpose of this study was to develop an effective instrument to measure student readiness in online learning with reliable predictors of online learning success factors such as learning outcomes and learner satisfaction. The validity and reliability of the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) instrument were tested using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and reliability analysis. Twenty items from three competencies, i.e. social competencies, communication competencies, and technical competencies, were designated for the initial instrument based on the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) Model as a new conceptual model. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed that four factor-structures of the instrument of student readiness in online learning explained 66.69% of the variance in the pattern of relationships among the items. All four factors had high reliabilities (all at or above Cronbach's alpha> .823). Twenty items remained in the final questionnaire after deleting one item which cross-loaded on multiple factors (social competencies with classmates: five items, social competencies with instructor: five items, communication competencies: four items, and technical competencies: six items). The four-factor structure of the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) has been confirmed through this study. Educators can use the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) instrument in order to discover a better understanding of the level of freshmen college students' online learning readiness by measuring their social, communication, and technical competencies. In addition, this study was looking at two factors of social integration in Tinto's SIM and has introduced the Student Online Learning Readiness (SOLR) conceptual model with the purpose to extend Tinto's social integration to online learning environment. </p>

<p>The Personalized Integrated Educational System (PIES) design theory is a design recommendation regarding the function and features of Learning Managements Systems (LMS) that can support the information-age learner-centered paradigm of education. The purpose of this study was to improve the proposed functions and features of the PIES design theory such that it is compatible with the technological needs of the information-age, learner-centered paradigm of education. Four schools or educational systems that embodied all or some of the characteristics of the learner-centered, information-age paradigm were selected through a purposeful, theoretical sampling process. They were selected based on how useful they would be in extending and improving the design recommendations for PIES and the extent to which the naturalistic cases had transitioned into the learner-centered, information-age paradigm of education. Research participants within these schools were chosen through a non-probability sampling method. Twenty teachers agreed to participate and were interviewed and observed. Data collected in the form of interview transcripts and observation notes were analyzed to reveal functions and features that could be added and removed from the PIES design theory. Data were analyzed to also reveal factors that encouraged/discouraged technology use, implementation, and policy. </p>

<p> In this dissertation, I describe a study examining institutional policy documents for statements related to the implementation of openness. The purposes of this study were to explore the current state of policies related to the implementation of openness in higher education, and to provide guiding recommendations to higher education institutions looking to address the issue of implementation of openness in their own policies. Policy plays a critical role in the implementation of innovations such as openness. The policy environment is complex and potentially confusing. Technology enables the proliferation of openness, and higher education institutions are now facing a number of challenges associated with the implementation of openness. Not much is known about the stance of higher education or the state of its response to openness. As a result, there was not much guidance available for institutions looking to address the implementation of openness in their institutions. </p><p> This dissertation involved a descriptive study that follows summative content analysis methodology. The research design was a qualitative dominant sequential mixed methods model, meaning that I focused primarily on the qualitative elements of the study and provided limited descriptive quantitative analysis derived from the qualitative data. </p><p> Five major areas of openness affecting higher education institutions were drawn from the literature. These are Open Access Research, Open Content, Open Teaching and Learning, Open Source Software, and Other, less pronounced, areas of openness. I searched the Faculty Handbooks, Strategic Plans, and Technology Plans of a stratified random sample of research-intensive higher education institutions for keywords related to the major areas of openness. I then evaluated the resulting statements based on the directness with which they address openness and on their policy role as enabler, barrier, or neutral toward the implementation of openness. </p><p> I provided 45 idealized policy statements as well as the best-found policy statements from the study. These statements were intended to be used as recommendations for guiding institutions in crafting their own policy statements to address openness through policy. The idealized statements were intended to fit in the three policy documents (Faculty Handbook, Strategic Plan, Technology Plan), serve each policy role (enabler, barrier, and neutral), and address area of openness (Open Access, Open Content, Open Source Software, Open Teaching and Learning, and Other Areas of Openness). Five major findings emerged from the study. These include the realization that openness is really a human-centered approach, and the discovery that openness is not commonly addressed in higher education policies. Additionally, I found that there was wide variance in how institutions actually address openness, that Open Access is addressed more than other areas in policy, and that content analysis is an effective method for obtaining information related to higher education policies. I provided my reflections and conclusions on the study in Chapter Five.</p>

This thesis defines both design and the role of a designer, and includes an exploration of the differences between art and design. Additional topics covered are the history of design education, the principles of design, and the expectations for design education held by students and the design industry itself. From my own research and experiences as a professional designer and design instructor, I have outlined a curriculum on how to produce students who can create good designs, as well as know how to act as professional designers.

There has been a continuous push among industry, educators, and accreditation organizations to infiltrate all levels of engineering education with design skills development instruments. At Texas A&M University there was the unique opportunity to modify a manufacturing and materials laboratory with this ideal in mind. Prior to 2001 the materials and manufacturing laboratories were independent initiatives. Recently, these courses have been combined into one entity. It was proposed that if these two courses integrated fully under the umbrella of one project, that the students would better understand the nature of product development in design and that this simple change would result in a higher level of learning. The proposed manufacturing and materials selection project was a 1/8th scale replica of a 12 lb. Civil War Napoleon Cannon in a field mount. The product was selected due to its ease of manufacture and potential for addressing a sufficient variety of materials during development. The development of the product followed a simple timeline. Initially, students took an existing model and used it to develop working drawings. Next the barrel material was selected by examining the performance of two materials using common testing methods. Selected materials were then subjected to heat treatment. Once the material processing was complete; Manual Machining, CNC Machining, Welding and a novel Rapid Manufacturing approach were used to produce the cannons. The cannons were then tested and destroyed for metallographic examination. A quasi-experimental two by two factorial design was used to evaluate the effects of the innovative laboratory treatment compared with the effects of standard laboratory treatment. Assessment was performed using two instruments. These instruments consisted of three student surveys and two open-ended qualitative essays graded for depth of learning using analytic rubrics. Preliminary results indicate that the students are highly enthused by the new class. Analysis of the open-ended qualitative essays indicate that the students in the treatment, or project-based, laboratory performed at an equal level to those in the non-treatment, or control group.