<p> Christian school education is unique in nature. Integrating faith into academics led many families to choose an environment for their students that aligned with the faith, morals, and doctrinal beliefs they held as essential pieces in raising their children. The partnership with the school in instilling a strong foundation of faith for students set Christian schools apart from public and non-religious private schools. </p><p> Because families purposely choose Christian schools based upon like-minded values and beliefs, it was essential that the school seeks to fulfill its mission in practice and vision. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the congruency of mission and practice in one Midwestern, pre-kindergarten through 12th grade Christian school, as evidenced by program evaluation. The researcher utilized surveys and interviews to collect data from three stakeholder groups (then-current staff members, then-current senior class students, and alumni) to investigate how, if at all, Mission Driven Academy (pseudonym) fulfilled its mission. Data was analyzed and organized by emerging themes into the school&rsquo;s five foundational components, referred to as the Pillars of Excellence. The qualitative data revealed that Mission Driven Academy was successfully fulfilling its mission to equip students with a Christ-centered education, empowering them to impact the world for the glory of God.</p><p>

<p> As four-day school weeks continue to gain popularity among school districts across the United States, determining the potential impact associated with the unconventional school week has become increasingly important (Johnson, 2013). The four-day school week has been credited with producing a number of potential benefits and consequences, but there is currently a limited amount of research available to determine the overall worth of the practice compared to the five-day school week. Some purported impacts of the four-day school week include shifts in teacher and student attendance, changes in achievement, financial adjustments, decreases in dropout rates, and improvement in morale (Plucker, Cierniak, &amp; Chamberlin, 2012). This study involved investigating the system-wide impact of the four-day school week by examining attendance, ACT scores, and dropout rates before and after implementation in participating school districts across Missouri. Additionally, the school climate perceptions of Missouri administrators and teachers who work within the four-day school week were collected. Interview responses were then analyzed using coding methods to identify common phrases, key words, and themes, while the quantitative data were treated to examine pre- and post-implementation patterns. The findings of this study revealed the four-day school week produced a statistically positive significant impact on attendance, whereas ACT scores and dropout rates were not influenced. Furthermore, the perceptions of administrators and teachers indicated the four-day school week was beneficial to the school culture.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine doctoral students&rsquo; reasoning for completing the required course work for their degree, but not completing their dissertation and thus the degree. There had not been formal research conducted on the students at Lindenwood that had not completed the doctoral program and the variables behind their not completing their degree. In order to gain a better understanding, the research looked at four categories of students: completed (achieved doctoral degrees); actively pursuing (on target to graduate in the allotted time); delayed completion (returned to the program or have needed extended time); failure to complete (quit the program). In each category, the research determined the variables that impacted the path of the student. This research may help Lindenwood University in its efforts to determine the reasons behind the success and failure of its graduate students.This looked specifically at the doctoral program and the status of students who were, or were at one time, all but dissertation (ABD), to uncover the barriers to completion. </p><p> This study could help drive the decisions and direction of the doctoral program. The personal investment of the student and the university included a considerable amount of time and dedication. Universities invest in their programs through doctoral seminars, hiring high quality professors, and creating a highly rigorous graduate program. Graduate students invest a large amount of money, time, and trust into the university. The two work together to achieve the ultimate goal of a doctoral degree.</p><p>

It is well-known that meaningful differences in development exist among children, adolescents, and adults. However, to what extent do evaluators adapt their approach, designs, and methods to be responsive to a youth population? This study used an experimental simulation in which practicing evaluators designed an evaluation of a hypothetical tutoring program and were randomly assigned to the program serving children, adolescents, or young adults. Results indicate that evaluators were less likely to be participatory—both in the evaluation overall and in data collection—when the participants of the program were children than when they were adults. These findings suggest that evaluators, even those with experience conducting evaluations of youth programs, do not consider age as a meaningful cultural context and may need additional training in conducting developmentally appropriate evaluations.

<p> This study employed a mixed methods approach to evaluate the meaning and value of grades within a traditional grading system. Teachers&rsquo; grading and assessment practices were examined in terms of clarity, consistency, and to what extent assessment guided instruction. Teachers from a high-performing suburban high school in the Northeast responded to an electronic survey and participated in focus groups regarding their grading and assessment practices. Gradebooks were analyzed to triangulate teacher practices and perspectives regarding the meaning of student grades. Clark and Estes (2008) Gap Analysis Framework was utilized to assess knowledge, motivational, and organizational influences on teachers&rsquo; grading and assessment practices. The findings of this assessment revealed that teachers possessed knowledge about assessment and the motivation to apply it, but faced organizational barriers implementing effective practices in a traditional grading system. Responses indicated that teachers understood and used formative assessment during class, but also included it in students&rsquo; grades to elicit effort and ensure sufficient graded assignments to justify student performance. Organizational constructs such as marking periods and online grading systems, in addition to an overall lack of organizational support and training, were found to be substantial obstacles to teachers achieving the stakeholder and organizational goals. The findings of this study emphasized the need for enhanced training, collaboration, and communication on grading and assessment. The development and implementation of an effective plan to address these organizational issues could shift schools from using traditional grading systems to rank and sort students to assessment programs that promote student learning.</p><p>

<p> The primary purpose of teacher evaluation is to improve teaching practice, which results in increased student achievement. In practice, however, evaluation systems have been generally used as sorting mechanisms for identifying the lowest performing teachers for selective termination. The school system in this study, like others, aspires to have all of its teachers consistently performing at a highly effective level. The problem of practice faced by the school system is the inability of a large number of teachers rated &ldquo;effective&rdquo; to summarily improve their practice over time and move to the &ldquo;highly effective&rdquo; rating. In essence, how does a teacher evaluation metric maximize the chances that those who remain in the profession become accomplished practitioners? This research triangulates teacher evaluation, self-reflection and their roles in improving teacher quality. The prevailing thought is that teachers who willingly engage in more formalized self-reflection and self-assessment yield higher degrees of teacher effectiveness as measured on a local teacher evaluation. The central focus of this study will investigate tenured teachers&rsquo; perceptions of the effect of their teacher evaluation tool on teacher quality and other factors that contribute to a teacher&rsquo;s improvement of instructional performance over time. The researcher would also like to investigate the extent to which teacher cohorts&mdash;differentiated by demographic data&mdash;engage in formalized practices of self-reflection about their own teaching practice. Lastly, the researcher would like to determine whether or not tenured teachers who are evaluated with the local teacher evaluation tool actually improve their teacher effectiveness over time. </p><p> This study was conducted in a public, K-12 school system with 1420 teachers employed&mdash;39 of which are National Board Certified. This schools system is located in a rural/suburban school system and has utilized its current teacher evaluation system since 2000. </p><p> The findings of this study indicated that the majority of teachers&mdash;disaggregated by demographic teacher cohort&mdash;viewed their local teacher evaluation system somewhere along the continuum of neutral to satisfactory as a tool for building a teacher&rsquo;s effectiveness over time. The overwhelming majority of teachers embraced the post-conference as the most impactful part of the entire evaluation process in building teacher quality; the least impactful was the pre-conference. Additionally, teacher respondents&mdash;agnostic of demographic&mdash;opined that while the local teacher evaluation system was perceived to be a both quality control and a compliance factor for teachers, less than half of all respondents believe that the system, assists teachers <i> formatively</i> as a tool for professional development. Per the respondents, it should be noted that the teacher evaluation system elicited the strongest reactions&mdash;both positive and negative&mdash;in teachers having experienced more than 20 formal observations. The research also conveyed that most teachers reported that there was much more embedded self-reflection in the evaluation system than hypothesized; most prominently, teachers cited that <i>audio-taping, reviewing student performance data, completing a self-reflective checklist, and engaging in unstructured self-reflection</i> were a few of the assorted self-reflective activities were facilitated by the evaluation system. Moreover, the data clearly demonstrated that all teachers engage in high degrees of reflection regardless of demographic cohort and a majority of teachers claim to already know how to &ldquo;self-reflect.&rdquo; In other words, the highest self-reported degree of reflection were those teachers already rated as &ldquo;highly effective&rdquo; in the local evaluation system. A prevalent trend in the data was that degrees of self-reflection matter and build more pronounced levels of teacher effectiveness over time. In essence, the fact that teachers participate in reflection does not seem to impact teacher quality; rather, the degree and amount to which one reflects is actually what matters in building instructional capacity in teachers. Other noticeable trends in the data were as follows: more years of teaching experience was inversely related to the degree to which a teacher self-reflects; over 30% of teachers with more than 20 years of experience reported that they do no self-reflect at all; the non-NBCT teacher cohort out reflects the NBCT cohort; NBCT teachers had the highest average evaluation rating out of every teacher cohort; and, teaching experience seems to mute any lack of reflection in a teacher&rsquo;s evaluation rating; The other noticeable trend was that more formal observations for teachers did not translate into higher evaluation ratings over time. Overall, the two most impactful professional development activities cited by teachers were the following: participation in professional learning communities and peer coaching and mentoring, respectively.</p><p>

<p> As the method, instrument, and reliability of teacher and principal evaluations has come under extreme scrutiny since the Education Reform Act of 2010, school systems across the nation have examined and refined the evaluation process for teachers and principals. Studies have shown the integration of peer evaluation as a model of teacher evaluations can have a positive impact on the teachers and their performance that participate in peer evaluation as well as the potential for an increase in the academic achievement of students. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers&rsquo; overall perceptions of peer evaluation and of how the use of peer evaluation could improve their teaching practice. The goals of this study were to determine the level of sharing of instructional practices among their peers currently, and whether or not they perceived an increase in the amount of time spent sharing of best practices would occur as a result of incorporating peer evaluation into the current model of a formative evaluation. Further, teachers were asked to identify potential benefits as well as any potential challenges they see as a result of implementing peer evaluations. This study used an online survey to gather data from participants. </p><p> This study was conducted in a suburban school district in Maryland. A total of 34 teachers participated in the survey questionnaire. One elementary, one middle, and one high school were selected to participate in the survey. Data were collected through an online survey conducted in September 2017. </p><p> This study provides some evidence that teachers do welcome the possible integration of peer evaluation and perceive that peer evaluation may result in an increase in the amount of time spent sharing instructional strategies among other teachers. The findings also reported potential benefits such as increased sharing of best practices of instructional strategies, more timely and relevant feedback, and reduced feelings of isolation could potentially occur as a result of incorporating peer evaluation in the current model of formative evaluations. This study further identified potential challenges such as lack of time to complete peer evaluations, personal bias, and a perceived feeling of needing to add yet another task to the busy professional day of a teacher.</p><p>

<p> This study is a review of the Learning Acceleration Program and the impact it has on student academic success in the Rural School District (pseudonym). This mixed-methods study used qualitative and quantitative data analyses to identify the impact that the Learning Acceleration Program has on the overall attendance and graduation rates for the district. The study also provided an understanding of the impact the Learning Acceleration Program has on perceptions as it pertains to the program. Data for this study were collected for the period of three academic school years on attendance, graduation rate for each year, and surveys completed by participants who have first-hand knowledge of the Learning Acceleration Program. The participants in this study were high school principals, one assistant principal, high school counselors, and Learning Acceleration Program personnel. The findings exhibited statistical significant difference in attendance or graduation rates on district. Furthermore, the findings from the survey highlighted the ability to meet the needs of each individual on an individual basis and provide future recommendations. </p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to explore the noncore secondary teachers' lived experience with Georgia's Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES) evaluative feedback. This descriptive phenomenological study examined Georgia's noncore teachers' use of evaluative feedback from TKES to inform and impact classroom effectiveness. The essence of the experience of receiving evaluative feedback is revealed through in depth interviews with 30 noncore secondary teachers from three districts in Georgia. </p><p> The findings in this study suggest that TKES evaluative feedback has the potential to support a positive change in the noncore classroom provided appropriate time and resources are dedicated to implementing the evaluative process with fidelity. Traits of effective feedback that resonate throughout the literature review and study findings are the need for feedback to be specific, timely, ongoing, and linked to professional development. The need in the noncore classroom for teachers to receive content-specific feedback was uncovered. Additionally, the need to build additional time and resources into the school year to ensure evaluative feedback has the potential to accomplish the goal of teacher growth and become a positive part of the teaching profession was uncovered. The findings of this study allow an opportunity for the voice of the noncore teachers' experience with TKES evaluative feedback to be heard, generating a pathway to improved feedback and growth in their classroom.</p><p>

<p> Colleges and universities worldwide are competing with one another to provide undergraduate students with top-tier learning experiences to increase and retain enrollment. Many institutions are developing living-learning communities to maximize non-academic learning, promote social development, and facilitate interactions among students, faculty, and staff. This study was a mixed-methods, single case study of a living-learning program at a top-tier, Midwestern university. The purpose of this study was twofold: to explore the effectiveness of an undergraduate residential living-learning community at a top-tier university in regards to student satisfaction and interaction, and to investigate elements of staff job satisfaction and long-term retention of housekeeping and mechanic employees. Data collection involved surveys, one-on-one interviews, and focus group interviews of key stakeholders. Three research questions informed the purpose of the study. The first research question asked whether the living-learning model provided an environment that encouraged learning and personal growth. Both the qualitative and descriptive findings supported that yes, the model does encourage learning and personal growth, but that there is still room for improvement, especially by contributing to students&rsquo; social development. The second research question asked whether the higher level of staffing among stakeholders resulted in a greater sense of safety, security, and satisfaction. Again, both the qualitative and descriptive findings supported that the model does so effectively, especially for housekeeping and mechanic employees. The third research question asked whether the model supported job satisfaction and long-term retention among housekeeping and mechanic employees. The surveys of these employees indicated that yes, the living-learning model, and especially having a permanent building assignment, contributed to job satisfaction and retention. To improve the program in the future, assessment should recognize housekeeping and mechanic employees as stakeholders in the living-learning community; the physical space should be continually and strategically updated to meet the mission and goals of the program; housekeeping and mechanic staff should be recruited and retained strategically. In order to ensure future prosperity, program leaders should continue to assess how effectively the mission and goals are being met.</p><p>