This study examines the teacher, leader, and curriculum variables predictive of student achievement in Indian Education for All (IEFA). IEFA, a Montana educational mandate based on Montana constitutional law, was first funded in 2005, and little research had previously been conducted on the effectiveness of implementation efforts. While compulsory, implementation had been piecemeal and wrought with misunderstanding, differences in opinion, prejudice, and questions about its legitimacy. The challenges inherent in the implementation of an ambiguous educational reform with no state-adopted curriculum or benchmarks for student achievement have become evident. With the dearth of research, it was not known how well students were learning what was mandated, nor was it known which precise variables impact or measure this learning. To determine this, second through fifth grade elementary school teachers and school leaders located in Missoula County completed a survey questionnaire, and Missoula County fifth grade students completed a student assessment based on the Essential Understandings of Montana Indians and the Montana Standards for Social Studies. Descriptive data provided information on mean fifth grade student IEFA scores, teacher and leader demographics, professional development participation, and implementation needs, and frequency of use of materials provided to all schools by the Montana Office of Public Instruction. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine if relationships exist between the predictor variables (teacher, leader, and curriculum variables) and the outcome variable (student achievement). However, none of the independent variables was found to have significant predictive value. Educators, including the Montana Office of Public Instruction, may use these findings to determine strategies that might most successfully impact IEFA implementation and to direct the course of further research.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-10092009-134244 |
| Date | 15 October 2009 |
| Creators | Lipkind, Erin Robin |
| Contributors | Darrell Stolle, William McCaw, David Erickson, Alex Apostle, Karen Allen, Marian McKenna |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-10092009-134244/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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