Thesis (Ed. D.)--Lehigh University, 2003. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-137).

<p> Students&rsquo; low academic performance in high-poverty schools has been a prevalent problem in the United States. Educational leaders have curricular options for underperforming students to make academic gains, particularly in Title I schools. Student performance accountability is part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, which was reauthorized as No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). NCLB mandates stipulate students attain academic proficiency. The purpose of the current quantitative, retrospective, quasi-experimental, static group comparison study was to determine if an increase occurred in reading achievement of 10^th grade students with implementation of a school-wide, interdisciplinary reading literacy plan intended to increase student performance on the state&rsquo;s high-stakes examination. This study used multi-year, successive 10^th grade cohorts from an urban, public Title I high school in Arizona. Academic achievement data were archived and retrospective from Arizona&rsquo;s high-stakes, criterion-based examination scores. A two-sample, one-tailed <i>t</i>-test was conducted to find differences in mean value, standard deviation, and variance between two cohorts. Statistical analyses revealed a significant statistical difference on the reading portion of the state&rsquo;s high-stakes examination scores between cohorts, revealing the control group outperformed the treatment group, thus challenging existing results from successful school-wide literacy plans in public Title I schools. Results indicated implementation of a school-wide, interdisciplinary reading literacy plan does not increase achievement for students on the reading portion of the state&rsquo;s high-stakes examination at a Title I urban high school in Arizona.</p>

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<p> English Language Learners (ELLs) are no longer a part of specific areas of America. They have crossed all classroom boundaries of the United States. This means as ELLs have integrated into the classrooms, educators are becoming versed in methods and strategies to help ELLs learn and achieve proficiency on standardized assessments. The purpose of this study was to determine if ELLs learned enough to be proficient in English to do well on a standardized test as their non-ELL peers. The Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) and the Assessing Comprehension and Communication in English State to State (ACCESS) were the two exams used to compare proficiency results. The MAP is the standardized test given to Missouri students beginning at Grade 3. The ACCESS is a language achievement test developed by the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) Consortium to track levels of English in students beginning in Kindergarten. Students in Grades 3 through 8 were the focus for this study. The exam results of ELLs who took both the MAP and ACCESS were analyzed and compared to their non-ELL peers. The results showed that ELLs who meet academic proficiency on their ACCESS test also have as much English comprehension to do as well on the MAP as the non-ELLs. All groups of students, Grades 3 through 8, showed that if ELLs have reached a level of bridging, or Level 5, they are capable of working with grade level material in English.</p>

<p> The purpose of this project was to develop a grant proposal and identify a potential funding source for the purpose of expanding a cross-age mentoring program to increase school participation and decrease dropout rates of students in one high school and middle school in San Antonio, Texas. The program is designed to target and strengthen non-academic factors such as family connectedness, community involvement, and self-esteem which have been shown to contribute to school dropout rates. An extensive literature review increased knowledge about dropout rates among Hispanics and individuals who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and provided information about evidenced-based mentoring programs that the grant writer then used to design a best-practice program. A search for potential finding sources via the internet resulted in the selection of Kronkosky Charitable Foundation as the best funding source for this project. A grant was then written to support the expansion of a cross-age mentoring program at Harlandale High School and Harlandale Middle School in San Antonio, Texas.</p>

<p> The well-documented achievement gap between English language learners (ELLs) and their native English-speaking peers (e.g., NCES, 2012) has prompted nationwide efforts to ensure that the growing population of ELLs in the U.S. meet academic proficiency standards and graduate from high school. Missing from educational studies on ELLs is an investigation of those students who succeed beyond minimum standards, defying the achievement gap. The research study presented in this paper contributes to this area by examining the experiences and understandings of five middle school ELLs who have demonstrated linguistic and academic success. These students are former ELLs who once were in need of language support but have now exited from ESL instructional services and are currently enrolled in advanced coursework. </p><p> A basic qualitative approach (Merriam, 2009) was employed, and both social constructivist (Vygotsky, 1978) and critical (Sol&oacute;rzano &amp; Yosso, 2003) theories guided the study. Four data sources from students were collected and analyzed: life history interviews, classroom observations, post-observation interviews, and photo-elicitation interviews. In addition, two of each student's teachers were interviewed individually for the purposes of triangulation. Descriptive data on district and school-wide ELL enrollment and achievement trends in advanced courses in the school was also analyzed to inform the findings. Yosso's (2005, 2006) model of Community Cultural Wealth served as a conceptual framework that informed data collection, but to the extent possible, all data was analyzed inductively (Creswell, 2007). </p><p> The results of this study shed light on the experiences and perspectives of successful former ELLs. In general, findings indicated that these ELLs experienced schooling as <i>social, "not that hard," busy,</i> and <i> technological.</i> In analyzing the ways students understood their schooling, themes emerged in two interrelated categories: external agents and <i> individual characteristics.</i> Within <i>external agents,</i> data indicated the importance of <i>role of family, peer interaction, and institutional support.</i> The <i>individual characteristics </i> included the themes of <i>negotiating agency, commitment to heritage,</i> and motivation. Each theme is discussed with affiliated sub-themes that illuminate the various ways the themes were expressed in different students. </p><p> This document concludes with broad interpretations drawn from the study based on findings and their relationship to existing research. The discussion emphasizes the complexity and heterogeneity of successful ELLs while also illuminating points of intersection in students' experiences. Lastly, implications are provided for raising expectations for ELLs and ensuring ELLs have equitable opportunities to realize academic success. These recommendations are specified for educators in the arenas of policy, practice, and research.</p>

<p>This quantitative study examined the role that metacognition and self-efficacy, through goal-setting practices, play in increasing English proficiency of middle school English learners. </p><p> The problem addressed was middle school English learners' lack of awareness of the need to be English proficient before entering high school if they want to be qualified for the A-G college-bound coursework. </p><p> A 20-question online survey was used. Students at both schools were given a preintervention survey. This was followed by an intervention at one school, which concluded with a postintervention survey at both schools. Analysis of data gathered from surveys, along with standardized assessment, culminated the study. </p><p> A McNemar test was completed to compare each variable between the pre-survey and the post-survey to test the statistical hypotheses of this study. Additionally, percentage comparisons were performed to examine relationships between pre- and post-survey responses with both Likert-scale and time options. </p><p> Findings of this study indicate that, for the experimental group, there were substantial percentage increases between pre- and post-surveys, statistically significant findings in more than one area, and a larger percentage increase in English proficiency. </p><p> Findings indicate that, for the control group middle school English learner students who did not participate in the cognitive learning intervention, there was little or no difference between the pre- and post-survey results. These findings demonstrate the critical need for metacognive and self-efficacious experiences for Latino middle school English learner students. </p><p> The overall positive trends and the statistically significant findings for the experimental group can have a direct implication for strategies used in the education of middle school English learner students. In an age-appropriate manner, cognitive learning interventions, to include increased awareness and goal setting, can be implemented for all Latino middle school English learners. </p>

Purpose: To compare selected food /nutrient consumption between families that educate their children at home with those that educate their children in the public school system. Methods: The study sample included 112 children aged 7-11 years in Fayette Co Kentucky. The children were divided into groups according type of education. There were 65 home-schooled children and 47 children who attend public school. Subjects recorded their dietary intake for one week. The data were analyzed using Nutrition Data Software for Research (2006). Comparisons were made for the intake of selected nutrients using two tailed independent sample t-tests. Results: The public school students had a lower intake of Total Energy (calories, P=0.01), Total Fat (P= 0.02), Total Carbohydrate (P= 0.04), Total Protein (P= 0.004) and Total Dietary Fiber (P= 0.02) and selenium (P= 0.000) than did their home-schooled counterparts. Conclusion: Interpretation of the statistical analysis indicates that differences for consumption exist between the groups. The results of this study indicate that the public school children consumed less fat, protein, carbohydrates and sucrose than did their home school cohort.

Knowledge management is a response to the growing realization of knowledge as the deliverer of organizational success. Because much attention has been given to the private sector, knowledge management initiatives in educational settings seem to be lacking. Considering that knowledge activities – capturing, creating, sharing, applying and storing – are important activities in education, particularly schools, the failure to fully appreciate the potential of managing knowledge within education is surprising. A review of the literature suggests that factors such as management, technology and culture contribute differently to managing knowledge in many organizations. The management factor, for example, was a catalyst in providing a conducive work environment, whereas technology provides the mechanism as an enabler for knowledge management initiatives. Culture was important for the knowledge context and could play a significant role in the uptake of managing knowledge. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between these contextual factors – management, technology and culture – and the knowledge activities. The study took place in Malaysian secondary schools and highlighted the Smart School Project as one of the seven flagships of Malaysia Multimedia Super Corridor. A mixed method approach was used as a strategy of inquiry in order to explore the knowledge management contextual factors in relation to knowledge activities. The quantitative method focused on collecting data based on a survey instrument. There were 1313 respondents and Smart Schools and non Smart Schools participated in responding to the questionnaire. As for the interview method, the study focused on 21 individuals who were purposely selected based on their special implementation roles in the schools – school principals, information technology coordinators and teachers. The survey data were analysed by using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. There were three types of statistical application used, namely the descriptive statistics, the t-test and regression, whereas the interview data were analysed manually by looking and searching for noticeable patterns to be connected to the research framework. The findings suggest that although there is no explicit knowledge management system used in managing knowledge in the educational sector, there are a lot of elements and positive practices of knowledge management already in place that could help schools to develop and encourage activities such as knowledge sharing. As far as the contribution of the contextual factors to knowledge activities, technology was an important instrument in all of the knowledge activities, but it was certainly not the only or the most prominent one. The culture factor played a more significant role in all knowledge activities particularly when knowledge sharing was considered as a social and spiritual obligation in the communities of practice. Despite this, there were also barriers in the uptake of knowledge management initiatives in schools which seemed to limit knowledge activities due to time constraints and teacher workload.

<p> In the past few decades, parental involvement has increasingly become more noted in a child's educational journey. More administrators and teachers are recognizing the value of parental involvement. Parental involvement benefits include increased student achievement and stronger school-family partnerships. Implementing parental involvement practices is often required for schools to receive federal support such as Title I funds. Although there is supporting research that shows the positive effects of parental involvement in elementary school settings, there is limited research as to how it can affect students at the middle school level. In addition, other effects of parental involvement that stretch beyond student learning, such as multicultural awareness, have received much less attention. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not parental involvement at the middle school level has an impact on students' multicultural awareness and learning. Quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed to identify statistical significance and emerging themes to be used to enhance classroom practices at the middle school level. An instrument adapted from the Civil Rights Project (CRP) was used to collect data from middle school students to measure multicultural awareness. Four and five-point Likert scales were used to measure respondents' levels of awareness. A researcher-created summative assessment was used as an instrument to evaluate student learning. Additionally, qualitative questions were used to elicit students' perceptions regarding culture and family involvement. </p><p> Quantitative findings from this study did not reveal statistical significance between the control and parental involvement groups regarding student learning and multicultural awareness. Practical significance was shown in two of the survey questions, which indicated small to medium effects between group and time and small to medium effects of interactions. Practical significance was also evident in the interactions between groups based on grade level in three of the survey questions. Qualitatively, the majority of middle school students felt they were open to learning about cultures different from their own. Most students believed their parents would enjoy hearing about what they learn in visual arts classes. Other themes emerged including the misconception that culture is exclusively related to peoples of the past and the notion that cultural topics are only discussed in terms of the oppression of others. The majority of fifth and sixth grade respondents believed that art class was a venue for learning about different cultures and could recognize the benefits of learning about people from different parts of the world.</p>