No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

<p> The phenomenon of the disproportionate representation of students of color in special education programs has been a concern amongst educational scholars over the last four decades; especially in the category of emotional disturbance. Qualitative research that explores actual districts as well as the programs they implement is needed to assist practitioners within the nation's TK-12 districts. The purpose of this study was to investigate what policies and procedures districts have revised or implemented to reduce referrals for special education placement, as well as compare state required improvement plan documents across participating districts. This study focused on California TK-12 districts that have been identified as significantly disproportionate in one or more disability categories by the California Department of Education. In-depth interviews of directors of special education were used as the research design approach to gain an understanding of the root causes of disproportionality as well as explore policies and procedures to reduce inequitable referrals. The findings were analyzed through the researcher-created conceptual framework of factors that reduce disproportionality. These factors include: access to effective instruction, sufficient resources, culturally responsive schools, equitable referral procedures, proper use of tests, and trained teachers. </p><p> Clear themes emerged around the conceptual framework. The findings revealed that inequitable referral and assessment procedures, cultural incompetency, inconsistent pre-referral interventions, and a lack of accountability were contributing factors that led to disproportionality for the participating districts. The study also revealed that ongoing and frequent professional development and inter-district collection of referral, suspension, and intervention data has a positive effect on monitoring disproportionality. Recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners aimed at developing cultural responsive practices that provides support for students of color prior to referrals for special education assessment.</p>

<p> The term <i>management by walking around</i> (MBWA) has been used in the business setting by chief executive officers as a method of checking in with their employees and monitoring the continuing work of the business. President Lincoln practiced this same theory by getting out of his office to see the troops. The classroom walk-through is an educational technique used to monitor instructional teaching practices and curricular decisions by teachers. This mixed-methods research project was designed to study the effectiveness of a walk-through process to improve instruction through the perceptions of building administrators and classroom teachers. The walk-through program studied was Look 2 Learning (L2L). L2L is nonevaluative and collects data from talking with students about their learning rather than through the observation of teachers. Data are collected by teachers and building administrators and cumulative data are shared through a reflection process. Perceptions of L2L were collected through a Likert-scale survey, an open-ended question, and interviews from elementary and secondary educators. The data were collected from elementary teachers, secondary teachers, elementary building administrators, and secondary building administrators from two large school districts in the western states. Generally, educators were positive about L2L. Elementary educators were generally more positive than secondary educators. All groups agreed that classrooms were visited more since the implementation of L2L, data from L2L were used to discuss instructional strategies, most teachers were open to other teachers visiting their classrooms, and professional development activities had resulted from the implementation of L2L. Elementary building administrator, secondary building administrator, and elementary teacher perceptions were positive that the implementation of L2L had increased their knowledge about instruction.</p>

<p> This research study was conducted to determine the impact of determine the perception of classroom teachers and building principals as to the effectiveness of required Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum in both core and non-core subject areas. Both core and non-core classes are presently required within the study school district to incorporate reading and writing strategies in their content areas. The researcher wanted to study the process to prepare administrators and teachers to work successfully with the advent of required common core standards for curriculum development. Strategies used in the study will help gather information to inform the preparation of administrators and teachers who adopt the Common Core State Standards in the area of Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum. This research study was conducted to determine the impact of determine the perception of classroom teachers and building principals as to the effectiveness of required Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum in both core and non-core subject areas. Both core and non-core classes are presently required within the study school district to incorporate reading and writing strategies in their content areas. The researcher wanted to study the process to prepare administrators and teachers to work successfully with the advent of required common core standards for curriculum development. Strategies used in the study will help gather information to inform the preparation of administrators and teachers who adopt the Common Core State Standards in the area of Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum. </p><p> This report was meant to extend the discussion between the effectiveness of reading and writing strategies in middle schools and preparing teachers for the Common Core State Standards. The author used a mixed method research design to find answers to her questions.</p>

<p> The Role of Research Consortia through the Eyes of Principals No Child Left Behind legislation calls for educational leaders to use evidence to inform practice. Principals are charged with improving student achievement by adjusting resources and policies based on most recent evidence and research available to them. A research consortium is an institution that partners with a school district to engage in ongoing research for the purpose of improving practice. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to understand principals' perceptions of research consortia associated with their district and to discover how principals used evidence produced by consortia. The overarching question of the study was "How do principals learn about and utilize evidence produced by research consortia associated with their district." </p><p> To address my research question, I interviewed 22 principals in two school districts that work with research consortia. The participants included 10 Baltimore City Public School principals and 12 Chicago Public School principals. The Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC) is associated with Baltimore City Public Schools. The University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) is associated with Chicago Public Schools. </p><p> Using an interpretivist interview design, four major findings emerged from this study: (1) principals, who are aware of the evidence produced by research consortia, use it to inform practice and decision-making, (2) principals do not have many direct interactions with researchers in the consortia and do not see a pathway to connect with researchers in the consortia, (3) principals who knew about the research consortium in their district have positive perceptions of it, however some principals are skeptical of survey data regardless of the source, and (4) principals in this study explained that consortia do address the evidence to practice gap, but principals did not see an opportunity to contribute to research design.</p>

<p> The focus of this study was to examine a high school online learning experience. This study used Hattie's (2009, 2012, 2014) four levels of feedback to determine the most frequent levels of feedback provided to online learners. This study also determined if a correlation existed between students' perceptions of the amounts and levels of feedback they received from their instructor and overall course satisfaction. The four overarching questions addressed in this study were as follows: What levels of feedback (task, process, self-regulation, personal) are an online teacher using when responding to student work? At what level are students satisfied with the quality and quantity of feedback they are receiving from their online teacher? At what level are students satisfied with the online course? What correlation exists between satisfaction with feedback quality and quantity and overall course satisfaction? This study yielded findings that most online teachers in this particular high school online learning program provided the lowest levels of feedback: level one (task) and level four (personal). This study also showed a positive correlation at a statistically significant level between students' perceptions of the <i> amount</i> of feedback they receive and overall course satisfaction, as well as a positive correlation at a statistically significant level between students' perceptions of the <i>levels</i> of feedback received and overall course satisfaction. This study revealed there was a stronger correlation between students' perceptions of the <i>amount</i> of feedback they received and overall course satisfaction than the <i>level </i> of feedback they received. Overall, it was determined there is a need for continued professional development in the area of navigating between different feedback levels.</p>

There is no abstract available for this thesis. / School of Physical Education

The purpose of the study was to assess the effects that labeling a person has on his/her self-esteem, self description and behavior. Two conditions of labeling were studied: the valence of the label (positive vs. negative) and the focus of the label (personality vs. behaviorally focused label).Ten hypotheses were developed from three theoretical schools: labeling theory, social learning theory and the self-esteem protection process.A total of 95 undergraduate male and female college students volunteered to participate in a study they were led to believe was aimed at understanding the correlation between ESP and personality. Of these, 66 participated in the entire study. Subjects were given tasks to perform, supposedly related to the ESP study. Completion or non-completion of these tasks was the basis for assigningthem to the positive or negative label conditions. Subjects were randomly assigned to the two focus conditions. The labels "dependable" and "undependable" were used in this study.Subjects completed the Tennessee Self Concept Scale and an Adjective Checklist both before and after the labeling manipulation. These served as the dependent measures of self-esteem and self-description, respectively. The dependent measure of behavior consisted of another task that was requested of subjects, following the labeling manipulation. The data were analyzed using three different statistical techniques: multivariate analysis of variance, multivariate analysis of covariance, and chi square analysis.The results indicated that the valence of the label did have a significant effect on subject's self description. There was a significant difference at the .027 level on the posttest measure of self-description between subjects in the positive and negatively labeled conditions. Subjects labeled "dependable" described themselves as significantly more dependable than did those subjects labeled "undependable". Changes in self-description and self-esteem from pre to posttest proved non-significant. No significant effect on behavior was found. Additionally, the focus of the label did not prove to have any effect on the dependent measures.It is possible that self-description is the first area upon which labels have an impact. This study looked at only the immediate effects of labeling. It is possible that changes in self-esteem and behavior result from long-term effects of being publicly labeled time and again. Future research might use a case study, longitudinal approach to study these possibilities.