Previous studies in the area of parental involvement in the education system were based on inconsistent parameters or definitions of the construct (Baker and Soden, 1997). The present study seeks to more clearly define and quantify parental involvement and examine the reduction of academic risk factors for economically disadvantaged students through a program of parental involvement in the educational setting. This study compares the academic achievement (ITBS scores) of 70 students enrolled in 1st thru 5th grades at an elementary public charter school in relation to the level of documented parental involvement (PI). Data indicate that in comparison to students enrolled at two neighborhood traditional public elementary schools, students at the charter school are 1.2 to 1.7 times more likely to pass the state mandated TAKS test in grades three through five. However, statistical analyses did not support the hypothesis that level of parental involvement was associated with academic achievement.

Previous studies in the area of parental involvement in the education system were based on inconsistent parameters or definitions of the construct (Baker and Soden, 1997). The present study seeks to more clearly define and quantify parental involvement and examine the reduction of academic risk factors for economically disadvantaged students through a program of parental involvement in the educational setting. This study compares the academic achievement (ITBS scores) of 70 students enrolled in 1st thru 5th grades at an elementary public charter school in relation to the level of documented parental involvement (PI). Data indicate that in comparison to students enrolled at two neighborhood traditional public elementary schools, students at the charter school are 1.2 to 1.7 times more likely to pass the state mandated TAKS test in grades three through five. However, statistical analyses did not support the hypothesis that level of parental involvement was associated with academic achievement.

Over the past twenty years, there has been an enormous financial investment in technology for K-12 schools to help bridge the digital divide between high and low socioeconomic (SES) students. These investments have included hardware, software, professional development, and research studies on the effectiveness of technology in the classroom. This dissertation explored the essential conditions for the integration of technology, access, student-centered learning environment, and teacher use in the curriculum. Florida's elementary schools were divided into quartiles based on free and reduced lunch to investigate differences between the top quartile of high SES schools (n=400) and the lower quartile of low SES (schools n=396). The first research question investigated students' access to technology by specifically concentrating on their access to computers in high and low SES schools. A statistically significant difference was found between students' access to modern computer labs and modern laptop computers. However, there were no significant differences in access to modern classroom computers. When looking at software on student computers, a statistically significant difference between high and low SES schools was found in the availability of both basic tool-based software and robust tool-based software. These data mirrored the statistically significant difference for frequency of use for tool-based software at high and low SES schools. Data on the teacher use of technology in the curricular framework of the classroom showed a statistically significant difference in the curriculum-focused use of technology, between high and low SES schools. This study is a building block for further examination of the digital divide that exists between high and low SES schools. This divide appears to include low expectations for students in low SES schools through regular exposure to drill and practice software, while students in schools with high-SES populations have more opportunities to utilize tool-based software.

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Though the benefits of physical activity are numerous and well-known, very few adolescents are meeting physical activity recommendations. Moreover, past research shows that physical activity declines with increasing age with this decline beginning in adolescence. One approach to promote physical activity is through mobile technology such as a mobile phone. Since mobile phone ownership is relatively high (77%) and there is no digital divide by race/ethnicity or socioeconomic status, mobile phones may be suitable for physical activity promotion. Few studies have promoted PA using a mobile phone and those studies showed increased physical activity outcomes. However, more research is needed to explore the effectiveness of mobile phone physical activity promotion especially in more health disparate populations.  The purpose of this research was to develop and test smartphone game application for physical activity promotion in adolescents. The first study included various user-centered approaches (e.g. qualitative data, idea sessions) to get feedback on what was desired from the adolescents in terms of game development and design. The second study examined the degree to which mobile health studies reported on internal and external validity indicators. The last study evaluated the smartphone game applications through a mixed-methods approach. The results of this research showed that physical activity while playing smartphone game applications can yield moderate physical activity intensity. Moreover, adolescents had moderate perceptions of the games and recommended specific changes to the games. Likewise, the data suggest that smartphone physical activity game applications can be enjoyable if they are aesthetically appealing, easy to use, and foster social peer interactions. Overall, this research demonstrated that smartphone games that were developed and designed based on adolescents\' preferences and persuasive technology design principles could increase physical activity in adolescents and provides a tool for further exploration. / Ph. D.

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This ethnographic study of emerging inquiry-based science instruction in an urban, low socioeconomic elementary school science lab was designed to gain insight into the perspectives of the teacher and students. The study involved a Central Florida elementary school whose population was over 80 percent African-American. In this six month study, the researcher examined the classroom setting of a science lab teacher and her fourth and fifth grade students during a six month period of time. Data sources included interviews, field notes, reflections, and student work , which were used to identify the emerging themes and patterns in the study. The emergent themes were grouped into two categories: the perspective of the teacher and students in the inquiry environment and the microculture of the teacher and students in that environment. The teacher’s perspectives on instructional strategies, standard based instructional guidelines, and the realities of teaching in an urban low socioeconomic setting were the major emergent themes. The students’ perspectives into environment and sense-making of elementary school students were the other major emergent themes. Chapter I provides background and the significance of the study. Chapter II provides a research of the literature surrounding inquiry-based instruction in science education. Chapter III describes the methodology, specifically the ethnographic approach to this study. A metaphoric journey down the river of perspectives in science lab classroom sets the tone for Chapter IV. This chapter provides a "view from the shore," an introduction to the general background of the elementary school. Chapter V explores the teacher perspectives, and uses vignettes to analyze instructional strategies, questioning, assessment, standards state and district guideline and the realities of teaching. Chapter VI discusses the student perspectives, and uses vignettes to analyze behaviors and actions, responsibility of learners, assessment, and ways of knowing. Chapter VII pulls together conclusions, implications, and recommendations for further research.This study contributes to the total body of research of science education in two ways: 1. It provides student and teacher perspectives on science in an urban, low socioeconomic elementary school. 2. It provides research with a teacher and student perspective of inquiry-based science instruction.

The purpose of this study was to identify which school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia have equitable representation of Culturally Linguistically Economically Diverse (CLED) students in gifted programs within their schools. Existing literature on CLED students was reviewed. Three years of data (school years 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019) obtained from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) were analyzed to determine whether equitable representation exists within gifted education programs in each of the 132 Virginia school divisions. Furthermore, the researcher used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to acquire longitudinal gifted data from each school division 2016-2019. The Relative Difference Composition Index (RDCI), Equity Allowance Formula (EAF), and Representation Index (RI) formulas were used to determine, which schools have equitable representation within their gifted programs. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1. What school divisions have proportional representation of economically disadvantaged students? 2. What school divisions have proportional representation of Black or African American students? 3. What school divisions have a proportional representation of Hispanic or Latinx students? At the conclusion of the data collection process, the researcher examined (1) which school divisions have equitable representation of gifted students in their gifted programs in schools using the EAF, and (2) What schools have equitable representation utilizing the RI. The analysis revealed the majority of the school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia had equitable representation when the EAF was applied to the economically disadvantaged students. When the EAF was applied to the 2016-2019 school years data for the Black or African American students and Hispanic or Latinx students the range of 33%- 42% were proportionately represented. The English Language Learner students were not proportionately represented when the EAF was applied. When the RI formula was applied to the data, none of the school divisions had perfect proportion in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2016-2017, Halifax school division had a score of .86 which translates to proportionate representation when the EAF and RI formula were applied to the data. The findings of this study provide educational leaders with relevant research toward equitable representation for CLED students in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The VDOE and school leaders could offer professional development regarding equitable representation for teachers and staff that work with CLED students to resolve disproportionality. School divisions could benefit from the implementation of equity allowance goals to help reduce inequitable representation of CLED gifted students. / Doctor of Education / The underrepresentation of students with low incomes in gifted education is a persistent problem (Ford, 2013a; Hamilton, McCoach, Tutwiler, Siegle, Gubbins, Callahan, Brodersen, and Mun, 2018). In recent times, researchers have started to discuss educational access and outcomes for low socioeconomic students (Goings and Ford, 2018). According to VanTassel-Baska and Stambaugh (2018), there is a need to address economically disadvantaged for students who attend public schools in the United States. In particular, there are problems formally identifying economically disadvantaged students for gifted services (VanTassel-Baska and Stambaugh, 2018). Researchers seldom focus on gifted students that live in low-income households. The purpose of this study was to identify which school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia have equitable representation of Culturally Linguistically Economically Diverse (CLED) students in gifted programs within their schools. Existing literature on CLED students was reviewed. Three years of data (school years 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2018-2019) obtained from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) were analyzed to determine whether equitable representation exists within gifted education programs in each of the 132 Virginia school divisions. Furthermore, the researcher used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to acquire longitudinal gifted data from each school division 2016-2019. The RDCI, Ford Equity (EAF), and RI formulas were used to determine, which schools have equitable representation within their gifted programs. At the conclusion of the data collection process, the researcher examined (1) which school divisions have equitable representation of gifted students in their gifted programs in schools using the EAF, and (2) What schools have equitable representation utilizing the RI. The analysis will reveal which school divisions have equitable representation within the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The development of children’s language skills during the preschool years plays a crucial role in subsequent reading and school success. Some children may enter kindergarten with oral language skills that lag behind their peers’. Two such groups are children from low-socioeconomic status (SES) families and those who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). Study 1 considered parents’ linguistic input during interactions with their Head Start pre-kindergarten children in two conversational contexts. The first, shared storybook reading, has featured prominently in early language interventions but proven less efficacious among low-SES samples. The second, shared reminiscing, offers a theoretically promising setting in which to promote child vocabulary skills but lacks empirical support. This study examined features of parental language known to relate to children’s vocabulary, including parents’ quantity of speech, lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, and intent to elicit child language. Parents’ and children’s expressive vocabulary knowledge was also considered. Forty parent-child dyads’ conversations during storybook reading and shared reminiscing were audiorecorded, transcribed, analyzed, and coded. Paired t-tests revealed that, while parents talked more during book reading, they used greater levels of syntactic complexity and language-eliciting talk during shared reminiscing. Parents’ own vocabulary knowledge was related to their children’s but not to linguistic input in either context. Study 2 considered the oral narrative skills of DHH preschoolers relative to language-matched hearing children. School-age DHH children often experience delays in the development of narrative skills compared to their hearing peers. Little is known about the narrative abilities of DHH children during the preschool years. This study examined 46 DHH and 58 vocabulary-matched hearing preschoolers’ overall language production, lexical diversity, syntactic complexity, and narrative comprehension skills. DHH children produced a similar number of words and demonstrated similar levels of narrative understanding compared to their hearing peers. However, DHH children’s narratives contained significantly less complex syntax. Gains in lexical diversity differed by group, with DHH children demonstrating less growth over the course of the school year despite making more gains on a standardized measure of vocabulary. Implications for instruction, assessment, and future research are discussed for both low-SES and DHH children.

This thesis analyses induction programmes in low-socioeconomic New Zealand primary schools. A review of the literature indicates that effective induction is integrated and has four main components: pedagogical development, socioemotional support, professional agency, and structured balance. In addition, New Zealand’s induction programmes are reported to be strong by international standards. Literature is synthesised to create a framework of low-socioeconomic schools as induction experts. Although there have been large-scale analyses of New Zealand induction programmes, there has been no research on the integrated induction systems found in low-socioeconomic primary schools. A mixed-methods approach was used to investigate the support provided for beginning teachers (BTs) in these schools. Methods included a nationwide survey of BTs in low-socioeconomic primary schools, which was mailed to 467 primary and intermediate BTs (44% response rate). Additionally, from all 156 low-socioeconomic primary schools, five exemplar induction programmes were selected and visited throughout the 2007 school year. Survey analysis, success case methods, discourse analysis, and grounded theory methods indicated that induction in these schools is integrated and strong by international standards. Findings indicate that induction programmes in low-socioeconomic schools are pedagogical, supportive, and well structured; however, not all schools focus on enhancing the professional agency of teachers. Exemplar practices such as peer coaching, university partnerships, on-site BT support groups, curricular leadership roles, and formal programme evaluations were found at case study sites. Analyses of factor themes, cluster graphs, frequency-utility matrices, documents, events, and transcripts of meetings and interviews reveal several key findings. First, the Hauora model—a Mäori concept of balanced pedagogical, spiritual, socioemotional, and physical development—may be applicable to induction in the New Zealand setting. Second, analyses indicate that low-socioeconomic schools have relatively strong induction programmes. Third, some teachers—particularly those beginning after the start of the school year or older teachers in their second year of teaching—may receive varied support. Findings from this research may provide framing for induction programmes in New Zealand as well as for international longitudinal studies of teacher induction models.