AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OFNdeye Helene Oumou Diack, for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Curriculum & Instruction, presented on October 23rd, 2019, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.TITLE: ADDRESSING THE CRITICAL STEPS OF BUILDING A CULTURE OF COLLABORATION IN A PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITY (PLC): A CASE STUDYMAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. John McIntyre This case study examined PLC leaders and team members during their first year setting up their PLC collaborative process. It investigated the PLC design and activities, the team members lived experiences during the setting up of the PLC, and its impact on members’ interpersonal relationships and also their personal and professional growth. I collected the data by means of observations of team meetings, PLC documents analysis, an interview of an administrator, and a focus group of a team of three Caucasian American female experienced elementary teachers. The research took place in a school district at a semi-rural Midwestern town in the USA during the 2018-2019 school year. DuFour et al. (2016) model of a PLC provided the main framework for the study that took into account Situated Learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) and Social Constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978). The findings showed that despite hindrances due to the design process, accountability measures of school improvement reporting weights, and the individual PLC members’ personalities, the team members I studied, unlike some other teams in the building, were doing a great collaborative work. They were driven by collective commitment to the PLC mission, values, visions and goals. They showed resiliency that is strengthened by mutual trust, mutual support, mutual respect, and protection for each other. They had a high level of dedication to improve their students’ achievements by means of common formative assessment of their academic and behavioral issues, intervention plans to address issues, and a very rigorous benchmarking of collectively designed instructional units. Vulnerability of both administrators and team members were evidenced, and the limitations of the study, recommendations for improvement, and implication for Policy Makers, as well as directions for future research are provided.

This study investigated whether Reality Therapy classroom management techniques could be used effectively to improve teacher attitudes, student attitudes, student achievement, and student classroom behavior. The findings of the study support the following conclusions. 1. Reality Therapy inservice education and implementation of Reality Therapy Teaching techniques in classrooms produce significant changes in the way teachers regard student discipline. 2. implementation of Reality Therapy practices in junior high classrooms produces positive changes in attitude toward school environment. 3. Implementation of Reality Therapy techniques in junior high classrooms does not seem to be effective in producing changes in student attitude toward self. 4. Implementation of Reality Therapy techniques in junior high classrooms can be effective in producing higher student grade point averages. 5. Reality Therapy techniques in junior high classrooms are not effective in producing lower rates of student misbehavior.

Poor student achievement at some community colleges results in low retention and graduation rates. Addressing the problem of unpreparedness for college with good academic advising may help to improve student achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a difference in the academic achievement of 1st year full-time (FYFT) community college students, based on having received 1 semester of any of 4 different academic advising methods (prescriptive, developmental, intrusive, proactive) while controlling for high school grade point average (GPA). Bandura's social learning theory was used as the theoretical framework. A quantitative research method, deploying 1 research question and 5 hypotheses, was used to guide the examination of a sample of 349 archived data records of Fall 2016 FYFT students at a community college in the northeastern United States. The study included a categorical (factor) and a metric (covariate) measures of variables; therefore, a 1-way ANCOVA was used to estimate the effect of the academic advising method on student achievement. The findings showed no significant difference in FYFT student GPA, based on having received academic advising in general or any method of academic advising, during the 1st semester of enrollment. Despite these findings, the literature supports academic advising as critical for improving GPA, implying that further research is needed to adequately determine trends in student achievement related to advising over more than 1 semester at the college studied. By understanding the difference in the academic achievement of FYFT students based on having received academic advising consistently, academic advisors will have information that can potentially enhance student achievement and increase students' chances of graduating, thus promoting positive social change.

Denna systematiska litteraturstudie presenterar, diskuterar och analyserar tidigare forskning om skolbibliotekets påverkan på elevers studieresultat och läsutveckling. Syftet med studien är att undersöka skolbibliotek och skolbibliotekariens arbete och den eventuella påverkan de har på elevers studieresultat och läsutveckling. Frågeställningarna fokuserar på samarbete mellan bibliotekarier och lärare, men även på betydelsen av skolbiblioteket som plats. Materialet som har använts är tio publikationer varav sju är forskningsöversikter och tre är empiriska studier. Publikationerna söktes fram via databaser och genom manuell läsning av litteraturlistor. Urvalet gjordes ut ifrån att materialet skulle vara publicerat tidigast 1990, skulle vara inriktat på skolbibliotek inom grundskolan och fokusera på bibliotekariens roll för elevernas studieresultat och läsutveckling samt samarbete med lärare. Materialet kategoriserades sedan in i ett sökschema. I resultatet framgår det att bibliotekariens roll är viktig i undervisningen och bidrar till elevers studieresultat. Majoriteten av forskningen säger att samarbete mellan bibliotekarie och lärare är en vital grund för att främja elevernas studieresultat. Hur skolbibliotekarier bidrar till elevers studieresultat framkom dock inte lika tydligt i de valda publikationerna.

This two-article dissertation examined the impact of enhanced educational dialogue, in terms of periodic email feedback on course progress and an invitation to participate in a discussion board, on student achievement and course satisfaction in an introductory statistics course offered in an independent study setting. Participants in the study were students enrolled in the year-long online course. They were randomly assigned to different types and levels of educational dialogue and their completion status, final exam scores, average quiz scores, and course satisfaction ratings were compared after controlling for the following covariates of interest: age, gender, high school GPA, Math ACT, learner autonomy, attitude on the usefulness of statistics, and confidence in learning statistics. The different types and levels of educational dialogue used in this study were: email reminders only, discussion board only, email and discussion board, and no email or discussion board. Successful completion of introductory statistics courses in online learning environments can be predicted by student's attitude toward statistics and learner autonomy, in addition to the conventional measures of mathematics aptitude (ACT Math score) and effort as measured by High School GPA; however, there is a scarcity of psychometrically sound and brief measures of these constructs. The first article developed and validated the following scales as measures of attitude toward statistics and learner autonomy: perceived value of statistics (4 items), confidence in learning statistics (4 items), and learner autonomy (3 items). These abbreviated scales are shown to have content and discriminant validity. They can be used by statistics education researchers with confidence. The second article used MANCOVA and logistic regression to analyze the data collected from the randomized controlled experiment. The MANCOVA results show that students who have higher confidence in learning statistics have higher final exam scores and higher course satisfaction at the 5% level of significance. In addition, students assigned to the email group have the highest average quiz scores. Logistic regression results show that older students and those who have high confidence in learning statistics are more likely to complete the course. Overall, the completion rate for this study is significantly higher than the previous sections of the course. One of the implications of this study is that basic course progress feedback to students with minimal teacher-student interaction may have a beneficial impact on student achievement in online courses.

This is a qualitative study of how school culture in relation to student identity affects students’ academic performance, especially in a low-income community. The study was conducted in southern Malmö at an elementary school where 9th graders were given the opportunity to participate. Nine students answered a survey anonymously which I then analyzed using identity theory. My conclusions indicate that school culture does play a part in affecting students’ performance. The findings suggest that high performing students more strongly identify academically than low performing students. Finally, this research indicates that more studies on the topic need to be done. I hope this study contributes to a broader interest in how schools can create a culture where students become more motivated and performs better academically. Possible areas to further investigate would be how low performing students are included by schools and what actions schools take, or could take, to create an academic culture for all students.

Increasing technology intervention in rural schools is still a herculean task, especially with the lack of adequate infrastructures and limited resources. The purpose of this quantitative, causal comparative study was to determine the impact of technology interventions on student achievement in rural Nigerian schools. The study explored the differences in student achievement in mathematics and English between technology and nontechnology schools and established a relationship between teachers' level of technology implementation and student achievement. The convenience sample comprised 2,369 examination scores in mathematics and English of Senior Secondary Level 2 (SS2) students and purposive sampling of 34 teachers who participated in an online survey. Data were analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), the level of technology implementation (LoTi) framework, and Pearson's correlation coefficient test. The results showed significant differences in student achievement between technology and nontechnology schools. However, the LoTi framework results indicated a low level of technology implementation in classroom instruction and no significant relationship between teachers' technology integration and student performance. Thus, the mere presence of technology seems to have more impact on student grades than the ways in which teachers use it. This study is resource material for stakeholders in education to ascertain the technology that worked best, teachers' professional development, and other infrastructures, prior to the deployment of technology interventions. The results could be useful for increasing teachers' technology integration and improving student performance, thereby leading to positive social change.

In recent years, states in the United States have developed assessment testing to help ensure that schools meet academic standards. This study investigated an educational problem of low student academic achievement and low scores on a state test in a middle school in the southeastern United States. It specifically queried whether expectations for student achievement had a positive influence on students' academic success. The research questions were designed to investigate parents, teachers, and administrators' expectations for the academic achievement of students. The conceptual framework guiding this study used the ecological model of human development, which postulates that personal development is influenced by proximal processes. Key findings focused on expectations, academic performance, and ways to help students meet academic standards. This information was used to create a parent-teacher professional development seminar, which presented strategies to urge academic achievement and encourage student engagement with content. The seminar also provided parents and teachers with information about the impact that their expectations may have on students. Recommendations for improvement include careful review of current critical inquiry strategies that are used to increase student engagement and academic achievement. Implications for social change include using the professional development project and other appropriate opportunities with parents and educators to inform them about the importance of their role and the expectations they have for student academic achievement.

The school board of a school district in South Carolina has proposed to increase class size in all schools due to mandatory budgetary reductions. However, at the secondary school level, the literature on the effect of larger class size on student achievement is conflicting. The theoretical framework by Lazear suggested that the minimization of negative externalities (i.e., problematic behavioral and academic characteristics of students) achieved through the mechanism of smaller class size impacts student learning. Reducing the number of students in a classroom alters the entire classroom environment, creating a more positive learning environment in which students are able to forge better relationships with classmates and teachers. The research question for this study examined whether class size in secondary school predicted student achievement as measured by teacher-issued end-of-course numerical student grades (TIECNSG). The study used a correlational design with a sample of 17,582 TIECNSG from 5 secondary schools in the district. The effect of smaller class sizes on TIECNSG was determined through the use of a linear regression model. For 9 course offerings, an increase in class size resulted in a decrease in TIECNSG, whereas for 8 course offerings, an increase in class size resulted in an increase in TIECNSG. The results of this study, therefore, were inconclusive, suggesting that other unaccounted confounding variables may have affected student achievement. This study can be used to promote positive social change by creating a dialogue between parents and school administrators who often have opposing points of view in terms of the effects of class size. In addition, it is recommended that a district's school board should authorize additional studies prior to taking any course of action that would affect class size at the secondary school level.

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