Spelling suggestions: "subject:"middleschool education"" "subject:"middleschools education""
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Leadership that promotes teacher empowerment among urban middle school science teachersHoward-Skipper, Joni 25 September 2014 (has links)
<p> In this study, the focus was on determining leadership strategies that promote teacher empowerment among urban middle school science teachers. The purpose of the paper was to determine if leadership strategies are related to teacher empowerment. The emphasis was on various forms of leadership and the empowerment of teachers in context in restructuring the democratic structure. An effective leadership in science education entails empowering others, especially science teachers. In this regard, no published studies had examined this perspective on empowering teachers and school leadership. Therefore, this study determined if a relationship exists between leadership strategy actions and teacher empowerment. The significance of the study is to determine a relationship between leadership strategies and teacher empowerment as a positive approach toward developing successful schools. Empowerment is essential for implementing serious improvements. Empowering others in schools must form a major component of an effective principal’s agenda. It is becoming clearer in research literature that complex changes in education sometimes require active initiation. For this study, a quantitative methodology was used. Primary data enabled the research questions to be answered. The reliability and validity of the research were ensured. The results of this study showed that 40% of the administrators establish program policies with teachers, and 53% of teachers make decisions about new programs in schools. Furthermore, the findings, their implications, and recommendations are discussed. </p>
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The use of common planning time in ABC Middle School academic teamsStephenson, Jerard 20 June 2014 (has links)
<p> The purpose of this mixed-methods action research study was to examine the use of collaborative common academic team time at ABC Middle School. A review of the literature indicated that effective middle school academic team meetings allow for interdisciplinary team teachers to collaborate on curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Additionally the literature indicated that the frequency and productivity of these meetings have a correlation to student achievement. In seeking to understand how academic team time is spent, the following three research questions were analyzed: (1) To what extent do middle school academic teams focus team meetings on curriculum development and integration across content areas? (2) To what extent do middle school academic teams focus team meetings on the sharing of instructional ideas and strategies that will improve student learning? (3) To what extent do middle school academic teams focus team meetings on assessments that will enable students to show that they have learned? The findings and recommendations from this study will assist district administration, building administration, faculty, parents, and students in the planning process for school activities, curriculum, instruction, assessment, programs, scheduling, and professional development.</p>
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Therapeutic Art Practices and the Impact on the Middle School Visual Arts ClassroomCarpenter, Leah Marie 25 June 2014 (has links)
<p> This study takes place in a Mid-Atlantic public charter school over the course of a semester with eight seventh- and eighth-grade students in a visual art painting class. The author aimed to discover whether the integration of art therapy techniques within her curriculum might increase the self-efficacy students felt towards art-making. The study employed the ethnographic method of action research to allow the researcher to implement the study within regular classroom instruction and routine. This method also allowed more in-depth and cross-sectional analysis by the researcher due to regular exposure and established relationships with the subjects. Four exercises, modeled after commonly-used art therapy exercises, were inserted into the beginning of classroom instruction along with immediate individual reflection. Along with the student artwork, four other bodies of data were analyzed including: field observations, one-on-one interviews, written responses and an initial benchmark survey. Thematic analysis allowed the researcher to identify themes that would gauge levels of student engagement, compare content of the work and recognize student affect. Results from analysis confirmed the hypothesis as evidence revealed an increase in self-efficacious behaviors and attitudes towards art-making for students. This study confirmed adolescent artistic developmental stages as well as developmental tendencies towards gaining and displaying control. These findings correspond to the need for differentiated teaching to adolescent students and the importance of educator awareness and consideration of developmental needs. This study also highlights the possibility of enhancing the student experience when the practice of art education and techniques of art therapy are carefully and intentionally combined. It provides a model of an empathetic approach to curriculum for the purpose of providing a holistic art education. </p>
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"True to me"| Case studies of five middle school students' experiences with official and unofficial versions of history in a social studies classroomKnapp, Kathryn Anderson 13 June 2014 (has links)
<p> This qualitative study addressed the problem of students' lack of trust of and interest in U.S. history and focused on students' experiences with official and unofficial versions of history in the middle school social studies classroom. A collective case study of five African American students was conducted in an eighth grade classroom at Carroll Academy, a public, urban charter school in Ohio. Interviews, questionnaires, observations, artifacts, and logs were collected and analyzed with a critical, interpretivist lens. </p><p> The findings included: (a) the students were suspicious of the official historical story in the form of their textbook and teacher; (b) they shared similar rationales for the perceived motivations behind the dishonest accounts in their textbooks, and the rationales changed in similar ways throughout the course of the project; (c) although they had limited experience with unofficial history before the project, they preferred to use unofficial historical sources with the condition that one eventually corroborates accounts with official sources; (d) the experience of studying family histories created race-related instances of contradiction between unofficial and official accounts in the classroom, and (e) students developed productive forms of resistance to the grand narrative in U.S. history by the end of the study. </p><p> The findings of the study offer implications for teachers of social studies. By using family history projects, teachers can engage students while helping them learn critical and historical thinking skills. They can provide a more inclusive social studies curriculum and can better understand their students' backgrounds and historical knowledge.</p>
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A case study on the relationship between oral language and digital writing in an 8th grade classroomJohnson, Melissa Leigh 16 January 2015 (has links)
<p> This yearlong study in an 8<sup>th</sup> grade classroom explores a blogging literacy event that illustrates how reading, digital writing and oracy work together to better support student learning, reasoning and dialogue. While many studies separately confirm the role of talk and writing in promoting learning, few studies address how writing informs talk practices, and no known studies examine how purposeful, individual blogging about literature promotes productive classroom dialogue. </p><p> Students within this eighth grade classroom are expected to write and participate in a blog with their classmates about literature they select and read independently. Students then discuss the literature and their blogs in small group conversations with their classroom teacher, leading to rich, meaningful discussions. Focal data consists of student blogs, video recorded small group conversations, audio recorded student and teacher interviews, written student reflections, observation field notes and photographs of student artifacts. </p><p> This study explicates the potential of writing acting as a springboard to further student reasoning through conversation. It documents the flexibility of teacher talk to take student contributions and align them in meaningful ways with educational language and purposes. Even within the confines of regimented curriculum agendas, the study illustrates how teachers can play a variety of roles in which they employ a repertoire of skills and strategies, making decisions in the moment to build on what students bring to the classroom and engender a classroom environment of risk-taking, meaning-making and learning. </p>
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A Regression Study| Middle School Literacy Leadership Practices in VirginiaPinello, Craig S. 30 January 2015 (has links)
<p> The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported that, in 2013, only 35% of Virginia's eighth grade students tested at or above the proficient level on the grade level assessment for reading (National Center for Education Statistics, 2013). The Virginia State Report Card, published each year by the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE), reported that during the 2012-2013 school year, 29% of all tested eighth grade students failed to meet expectations in reading (VDOE, 2014). The Alliance for Excellent Education (2011) reported that a large number of students leave high school every year without the necessary skills to succeed and that reading and writing instruction across all grades must be addressed. Students are failing to graduate on time, and postsecondary and career goals of young students are suffering. This study looked specifically at how middle level principals might address the literacy needs of their schools and students. </p><p> Several experts in the field of education have developed literacy leadership models to address the demands currently facing school leaders (Guth & Pettengill, 2005; Irvin, Meltzer, & Dukes, 2007; Phillips, 2005; Taylor & Collins, 2003). Based on a thorough examination and analysis of four literacy leadership models, five literacy leadership practices common to all models were identified. Survey data were collected in the following areas: literacy action planning, data-driven decision making, capacity building, instructional support, and resource allocation. Through descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis, this nonexperimental study assessed the extent to which middle school principals in Virginia employed the identified literacy leadership practices and the relationship of those practices to student achievement as measured by the Virginia Grade 8 Reading Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment. Although principals across the study identified that they did, in fact, employ the identified practices, the regression analyses resulted in nonsignificant findings at all levels.</p>
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A study of the implementation of a professional learning community in one middle school in GeorgiaUnderwood, Jana Maria Hodges. January 2007 (has links) (PDF)
Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2007. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." Education Administration, under the direction of Barbara J. Mallory. ETD. Electronic version approved: December 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-203) and appendices.
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Middle school students' perceptions of their school counseling programGuth, Katy M. January 2007 (has links) (PDF)
Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.
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A comparison study of Montana's intermediate and k-8 schools with regard to student performance on a criterion referenced test, incidence of at-risk behaviors, and perceptions of educators from both grade configurationsWatson, Robert Jeffrey. January 2009 (has links) (PDF)
Thesis (Ed.D.) -- University of Montana, 2009. / Title from author supplied metadata. Description based on contents viewed on June 11, 2009. ETD number: etd-03262009-143435. Author supplied keywords: at-risk behavior ; criterion referenced ; grade configuration ; intermediate school ; K-8 ; middle school. Includes bibliographical references.
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Teacher perceptions regarding the influence block scheduling has on student learning as compared to traditional scheduling in middle schoolsDunham, Rhonda, Roberts, Ruth Ann. January 2009 (has links)
Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 25, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Dissertation advisor: Dr. Ruth Ann Roberts. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.
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