The focus of this study is to determine the relationship between a Career and Technical Education (CTE) Information Technology (IT) teacher's self-assessed level of technology proficiency to the level of technology integration into the classroom, the prior work experience in the information technology field, the years of teaching experience, and the stage of adoption of technology. Participants were CTE IT teachers who were members of an IT teacher listserv that was established by the UNT Grant for Educational Excellence from the Texas Education Agency/CTE and teaching in Grades 9-12 in the state of Texas during the 2015-2016 school year. The study utilized a quantitative survey methodology to gain a perspective on the correlation of the variables. Three validated self-report instruments were administered via an online survey. The three instruments utilized were the Technology Proficiency Self-Assessment for 21st Century Learning, Concerns-Based Adoption Model-Levels of Use (CBAM-LoU), and the Stages of Adoption of Technology.

Using static forms of assessment with learners who have an additional language (AL) as the language of learning and assessment (LoLTA), especially those that have been identified and labelled low achievers, could do more harm than good. Many people neglect to take account of the complexity involved in learning a second language and often wonder why learners who have an AL as the LoLTA take so long to acquire it at the level of cognitive academic language proficiency. This study investigated the use of dynamic assessment (DA) as a method of assessing learners who have an AL as the LoLTA in mainstream education, focusing on Lagos, Nigeria, in the empirical research. The study looked at ways in which DA could contribute to a solution for the assessment of AL learners, specifically how DA influenced the assessment and performance of AL learners. The study, in addition, sought to establish how static assessment and DA affect the attitude of AL learners towards assessment and their own performance. Finally, the study explored avenues through which DA could be used without it becoming an undue advantage for AL learners. The research was a qualitative study within the interpretive paradigm that sought to understand the subjective experiences of AL learners with assessment. Within a multiple case study, it resembled action research. Eight participants from two schools in UBE 8 (Grade 8) took part in the study, which involved observation of the participants during continuous assessment (CA) cycles, with debriefing and language-related mediation of assessment skills thereafter, in the subjects Business Studies (BS) and Integrated Science (IS). The data collection covered four phases: three CA cycles and the examination of the first school term. Subsequent to Phase I, mediational assessment papers, a glossary and spelling list were used. The findings suggest that DA had a positive influence on the AL participants’ performance and affect during assessment, although to varying degrees. Individual learning potential and context appeared to play a crucial part. Once the participants’ individual challenges were apparent, mediation could be directed at providing appropriate strategies to bridge the gaps. Due to the severity of the AL challenge, some participants seemed to require focused learning support in the AL, as well as mediated assessment sustained over a longer period. DA seemed to effectively provide guidance and feedback to the participants and improved their attitude towards assessment as well as the emotions experienced during assessment. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Educational Psychology / unrestricted

This study investigates the syntactic complexity of the example texts used as guides forassessment in the national tests of the Swedish upper secondary school courses English 5 andEnglish 6. It is guided by two research questions: (1) Is there a progression of increasedcomplexity between the grades assigned to the example texts, and, if so, is any specificmeasure of syntactic complexity more strongly linked to a higher grade than the rest? (2) Isthere a progression of increased complexity between the two courses, and, if so, how doesthis progression manifest itself? A set of 14 quantitative measures of syntactic complexity asidentified by the L2 Syntactic Complexity Analyzer (L2SCA) are examined to answer thesequestions. The majority of the differences between the grades and/or courses represented areshown to be statistically insignificant, and the few instances of statistical significance likelyoccurred either due to a small sample size or due to a questionable tendency of L2SCA whendealing with run-on sentences. In the end, syntactic complexity as expressed through the 14measures seems to be a poor indicator of why a text received a certain grade in either of thetwo represented courses.

This book discusses with both the teaching and testing systems associated with the language of Arabic in Pakistan. This study does not only discuss the pedagogical issues of teaching this language in Pakistan, but it also highlights the importance of it being a symbolic language and the resultant symbolic interpretation. The focus of the study is the translation and interpretation of the Arabic language and how it has affected socio-political aspects, in general, and linguistic issues, in particular, in Pakistan. Due to the Arabic language, linguistic symbolism has brought a distinctive intervention in the society. Arabic, as a symbolic language, has promoted a parallel ideological perspective in Pakistan. This study was conducted in four phases. The first phase was empirical and it started in 2009 with the translation and teaching of the book entitled, “Modern Standard Arabic: An Elementary-Intermediate Course” to the Arabic-language students in Lahore, Pakistan. The second phase was to evaluate the translation and teaching of the book with the help of pre- teaching and post-teaching assessments. The third phase of the research was to understand the scope of the Arabic language as it exists in Pakistan with the help of the survey method. The researcher interviewed 220 conveniently selected respondents in Lahore and Multan, Pakistan. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the three types of data (pre-teaching, post-teaching and the scope of the Arabic language). The fourth phase of the research was to analyze the data that comprised the research report. The study revealed that a significant majority (80%) of the respondents were interested in learning Arabic because it is the language of the Holy Qur’an and Islam. It also showed that people also wish to learn the Arabic language in order to secure employment in the Middle-Eastern and in the Arabian Gulf countries. The respondents also reported that they want to learn the Arabic language because of its rich literature of history, science and culture. However, the respondents were at odds with the traditional method of teaching and testing the Arabic language. As a result, these students were learning less language but more ideological construct in the name of Arabic. This pedagogical problem has serious consequences. The study also found that the “Modern-Standard Arabic: An Elementary-Intermediate Course” is an excellent resource to use to change the traditional pedagogical skills. It ascertained that people shifted their traditional perspective of the Arabic learning for religious purposes to the “living language”, the language of everyday conversation. The students of the course ranked the “Modern Standard Arabic” high as compared to the traditional methods of teaching. However, they also had trouble and these were highlighted in the dissertation. This research gleaned that Madrasas (religious schools) in Pakistan were the major source of the Arabic-language teaching in Pakistan. These Madrasas teach with traditional methods and imparted a vested interest-based interpretation of the religion. In this way, the Arabic language as it existed in Pakistan did not give real linguistic meaning to the students but rather give a single-dimension perspective of the religion to the students. This inadequate teaching of the language has simultaneously promoted less tolerance and has expanded the extremist point of view in Pakistan. The language, in other words, seems to be a breeding ground of the extremism that appears to prevalent in Pakistan and thereby gives a misguided version of the language to the members of the society. The second source of Arabic-language teaching in Pakistan was the public-sector universities. These universities were training students to become religious scholars rather than linguistics or translators/interpreters of the Arabic language. The focus of the syllabi of the universities promoted Islamic Arabic literature and the Middle-Eastern perspective of Islam. However, a few of the universities were promoting some level of standard Arabic and Arabic language. Nevertheless, linguistic Arabic as such was virtually non-existent and people regard the language of English as a linguistic subject. Theoretically, ‘Arabic’ has not been treated as a living language in Pakistan. On the one hand, even native-Arabic societies did not take into account the importance of the Arabic language and they hardly emphasize the standardization of it. Native-speaking Arabic scholars have rarely developed theoretical perspectives of the Arabic language or have contributed to its linguistic theory, on the other hand. This state of affairs has developed pedagogical illusions regarding language and linguistics. This dissertation argues that Arabic is a ‘living language’ and that to incorporate it as such a lot of work needs to be done. A standardization of both the language itself and the systems of teaching and testing it needs to be developped. This language re-quires a modernized perspective, both pedagogically as well as linguistically. Theatrically, Arabic requires linguistic perspectives in order to address the pedagogical illusion. Generally, these scientific developments are lacking in the Arabic language. The result is the misinterpretation, confusion and vagueness that have left space for Arabic to be regarded simply as a symbolic language. This symbolic perspective has promoted a single dimension of the language, i.e. the ideological construct, but has also reduced the role as a language of translation and linguistic vigour.

Local High School, a pseudonym, located in Northwest Mississippi has in place two differing Biology 1 curricula; in one curriculum, the students use interactive notebooks daily and in the other curriculum, they are not used. The purpose of this ex post facto quasi-experimental study was to investigate the impact that an instructional tool, such as the interactive notebook, could have on student achievement. Instructional design theory and the materials, methods, environment, collaboration, content, and assessment (MMECCA) framework served as the theoretical framework for this study. The standard measure of science proficiency was provided by the test results from the Biology 1 Subject Area Testing Program assessment (SATP). Using data from 2016-2017 Biology 1 students who took the pretest, CASE 21 assessment, and the posttest, Biology 1 SATP assessment (N = 184), three independent samples t tests were used to analyze the data. The first independent samples t test performed on data from the pretest established that the two groups began the study with similar science proficiencies. The second and third independent samples t tests, conducted using overall mean scores and the mean scores for each of the individual six categories from the SATP Biology 1 assessment, determined that there was a statistically significant difference in the overall science proficiency of the two groups. A position paper was developed recommending the use of the interactive notebook to improve science proficiency. Positive social change is expected to occur as this information can be used to inform educational policy makers and close the achievement gap.

Walden University College of Education This is to certify that the doctoral study by Joye Elfreda Henry has been found to be complete and satisfactory in all respects, and that any and all revisions required by the review committee have been made. Review Committee Dr. Gloria Jacobs, Committee Chairperson, Education Faculty Dr. Jerita Whaley, Committee Member, Education Faculty Dr. Mark Earley, University Reviewer, Education Faculty Chief Academic Officer Eric Riedel, Ph.D. Walden University 2018

Background: The rising cost of health care in relation to rehospitalizations continues to be a challenge. Medicare 30-day readmissions have an annual estimated cost of $17.4 billion. Irrespective of these costs and the continued improvement in the quality of care, skilled nursing facilities (SNF) still face high readmission rates. Purpose: The purpose of this quality improvement project was to enhance SNF care processes by improving the utilization of the electronic medical record software program “INTERACT” to increase early identification and treatments of patients to minimize 30-day hospital readmissions. Theoretical Framework: The theory of planned behavior by Icek Azjen was used. Methods: Project design: This project used a pretest and posttest design to assess for improvement in the use of the INTERACT tools and increased nursing proficiency after participating in a 45-minute INTERACT training session. A 60-day retrospective and prospective rehospitalization rates data were also compared. Results: After the training, there was a statistically significant improvement in the number of nurses using the INTERACT tool. The two-tailed paired sample t-test result showed a significant difference in the use of the INTERACT clinical decision support tools: Pretest (M = 2.08, SD = 0.88) and posttest (M = 1.33, SD = 0.63), t(23) = 3.30, p = .003. There was no statistical difference in the proficiency of nurses post the training. This result is associated to probable data loss and/or limited time for data collection. Although a 15% decrease in SNFs rehospitalizations rates was noted, there is no direct causative explanation that increased nurses use of the tool significantly contributed to the reduction in rehospitalization rates among other factors. Conclusion: The INTERACT program has contributed by improving early identification and treatment of patients and facilitated improved patient outcomes and nursing care processes. It is assumed that as nurses begin to build up their use of the INTERACT support tools, this tool will result in an increase in proficiency, which will increase responsiveness to change in condition and a corresponding decrease in avoidable rehospitalizations.

Researchers have explored how different balances of first language (L1) and target language (TL) use in a foreign language classroom impact students' fluency and proficiency in TL acquisition. Research has shown that the use of the L1 in a foreign language classroom is done in order to determine the most effective way to raise the proficiency of second language learners to the level that is expected within their classrooms (Lee & Muncie, 2006). The use of the L1 is not something that is uncommon, even in the highest levels of foreign language instruction, although some believe it could inhibit learner growth in target language (TL) acquisition (Tanveer, 2007). Some scholars contend that there is a place for the L1 to be used in a second language classroom, rather than relying on complete usage of the TL (Biggs, 1999). Results have been mixed when it comes to whether or not the L1 should be used as much as the TL, and studies have seldom investigated what students and teachers believe regarding that matter. To this end, the present study examines the impact of the use of the L1 vs the use of the TL on 50 students at different levels in the French language classroom. Subjects were all enrolled in French classes ranging from the 101-level to the 201-level, and the 8 student instructors teaching these levels also participated in this study. Both a student survey and a teacher survey were administered at the end of the semester in order to look at the use of the TL vs the use of the L1 among students and teachers in their classrooms. Results show that the utilization of the L1 in foreign language classrooms is preferred by the students but that it is not fully justified. Numerous proponents of L1 use (Atkinson, 1987; Cook 2001; Swain & Lapkin, 2000; Wells, 1999) have cautioned against excessive use, instead recommending that it be used judiciously, and according to learner need. Future researchers might consider surveying students who are learning in an environment where L1 use is similar to student demand on this survey (very high, especially for things like giving instructions), as well as surveying students who are exclusively using TL in their learning environment.

Over 25 million Americans report limited English proficiency (LEP) since 2013, and this number has been steadily increasing over the past few decades as immigration to the United States continues to climb. Due to the expanding heterogeneity of the population, cultural and language barriers became more common in the healthcare field which led to worse patient outcomes, inappropriately ordering too many or too few tests, and decreased use of preventative services. This necessitated further resources and interventions to better accommodate individuals with LEP. In accordance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act which was elaborated further in Executive Order 13166, federal agencies were required to provide language services to people with LEP. As a result, more medical institutions began implementing interpreter services. Despite these measures, there is lower-than-expected physician compliance with utilizing these services and considerable variability in services offered depending on the clinical setting. Not only does this perpetuate and potentiate the health disparities that this population already faces, but it can also negatively impact a patient’s agency as they do not have the proper resources to fully advocate for their health. Hence, it is integral to examine the potential reasons why the current infrastructure for interpreter services is still lacking and what can be done to optimize accessibility. This thesis will explore some of these limitations and then offer potential solutions that both institutions and medical professionals can implement in order to provide equitable care to patients with LEP. / Urban Bioethics

Bibliographic Identification Name and surname of the author: Mgr. Jakub Holický Name of dissertation: The Psychomotor Development Children from Prague Schools and Orphanages Workplace: Department of Pedagogy, Psychology and Didactics of Physical Education and Sports Supervisor of the work: prof. PhDr. Antonín Rychtecký, DrSc. Year of presentation: 2015 Abstract The results of the international studies showed significantly lower level in psychomotor development of children from orphanages in comparison to their peers from majority society. There is currently no study in Czech Republic. Therefore it is important to analyze children in Czech Republic in this field. Objective: The aim of this study is to compare the level of psychomotor development and anthropometric indicators of children in orphanages in Prague with their peers from majority society. Methods: This dissertation is a type of quantitative research. The dissertation has the character of empirical and theoretical work. This research used method of observation. The psychomotor development of children was tested with the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, Second Edition (BOT-2), which contains 52 items, divided into 12 dimensions. The sample size consists of 449 probands, 224 boys and 225 girls from the Prague region. In orphanages were...