Matching Items (5)
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- All Subjects: Educational evaluation
- Creators: Nelson, Brian
- Creators: Jimenez-Silva, Margarita
- Member of: ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
Description
The purpose of this survey study was to collect data from pre-K-12 educators in the U.S. regarding their perceptions of the purpose, conceptions, use, impact, and results of educational research. The survey tool was based on existing questionnaires and case studies in the literature, as well as newly developed items. 3,908 educators in a database developed over 10+ years at the world's largest education company were sent a recruiting email; 400 elementary and secondary teachers in the final sample completed the online survey containing 48 questions over a three-week deployment period in the spring of 2013. Results indicated that overall teachers believe educational research is important, that the most important purpose of research is to increase effectiveness of classroom practice, yet research is not frequently sought out during the course of practice. Teachers perceive results in research journals as the most trustworthy yet also perceive research journals the most difficult to access (relying second-most often for research via in-service trainings). These findings have implications for teachers, administrators, policy-makers, and researchers. Educational researchers should seek to address both the theoretical and the applied aspects of learning. Professional development must make explicit links between research findings and classroom strategies and tactics, and research must be made more readily available to those who are not currently seeking additional credentialing, and therefore do not individually have access to scholarly literature. Further research is needed to expand the survey sample and refine the survey instrument. Similar research with administrators in pre-K-20 settings as well as in-depth interviews would serve to investigate the "why" of many findings.
ContributorsMahoney, Shawn (Author) / Savenye, Wilhelmina (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Atkinson, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Effective professional development has been shown to improve instruction and increase student academic achievement. The Train the Trainer professional development model is often chosen by the state Department of Education for its efficiency and cost effectiveness of delivering training to schools and districts widely distributed throughout the state. This is a study of the Train the Trainer component of an innovative K12 professional development model designed to meet the needs of the state's lowest performing schools that served some of the state's most marginalized students. Pursuing a Vygotzkian social constructivist framework, the model was developed and informed by its stakeholders, providing training that was collaborative, job-embedded, ongoing, and continuously adapted to meet the needs of the School Improvement Grant participants. Schools in the multi-case study were awarded the federal ARRA School Improvement Grant in 2010. Focus questions include: What influence does the Train the Trainer component have on classroom instruction specifically as it relates to formative assessment? and To what extent does the trainer support the implementation of the Train the Trainer professional development at the classroom level? The action research study took place from August 2011 to February 2012 and used a mixed-methods research design.
ContributorsPollnow, Shelly (Author) / Jimenez-Castellanos, Oscar (Thesis advisor) / Jimenez-Silva, Margarita (Committee member) / Williams, Susan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
ABSTRACT
This mixed methods study examined how a high-poverty urban school district implemented four initiatives to support special education teachers and increase student achievement. The initiatives that were implemented consisted of direct instruction teaching methods, the use of a district-approved curriculum, monitoring program fidelity with walkthroughs, and increased professional development opportunities.
Quantitatively, the study compared walkthrough data and student achievement scores. The walkthrough data was collected from 52 special education teachers employed at the 19 schools making up the district while teaching reading and math. Student achievement scores were collected from the students taught by the 52 special education teachers. The walkthrough data compared the percentage of students making academic growth on district assessments with the percentage of teachers implementing the district initiatives with a high level of fidelity. Data was collected and analyzed between the first and third quarters of the 2013–2014 school year.
Qualitatively, six special education teachers were interviewed to examine their thoughts on the change process and to determine their needs to be successful as they continued to implement the district initiatives.
The results of the quantitative data indicated that students demonstrated growth as walkthrough scores increased in 16 out of 19 schools, specifically in the area of math. Fidelity to the initiatives increased throughout the year as teachers began to use and implement the initiatives.
The results of the qualitative data indicated that special education teachers positively responded to the support they received through the Special Services
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Department and the district’s initiatives. Using grounded theory, it was determined that teachers need opportunities for collaboration, feedback, and time to practice in order to be successful.
Lastly, the epilogue discusses the next steps that are being taken by the district to support all students with their learning needs.
This mixed methods study examined how a high-poverty urban school district implemented four initiatives to support special education teachers and increase student achievement. The initiatives that were implemented consisted of direct instruction teaching methods, the use of a district-approved curriculum, monitoring program fidelity with walkthroughs, and increased professional development opportunities.
Quantitatively, the study compared walkthrough data and student achievement scores. The walkthrough data was collected from 52 special education teachers employed at the 19 schools making up the district while teaching reading and math. Student achievement scores were collected from the students taught by the 52 special education teachers. The walkthrough data compared the percentage of students making academic growth on district assessments with the percentage of teachers implementing the district initiatives with a high level of fidelity. Data was collected and analyzed between the first and third quarters of the 2013–2014 school year.
Qualitatively, six special education teachers were interviewed to examine their thoughts on the change process and to determine their needs to be successful as they continued to implement the district initiatives.
The results of the quantitative data indicated that students demonstrated growth as walkthrough scores increased in 16 out of 19 schools, specifically in the area of math. Fidelity to the initiatives increased throughout the year as teachers began to use and implement the initiatives.
The results of the qualitative data indicated that special education teachers positively responded to the support they received through the Special Services
ii
Department and the district’s initiatives. Using grounded theory, it was determined that teachers need opportunities for collaboration, feedback, and time to practice in order to be successful.
Lastly, the epilogue discusses the next steps that are being taken by the district to support all students with their learning needs.
ContributorsHecht, John, Jr (Author) / Puckett, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Lawton, Stephen (Committee member) / Jimenez-Silva, Margarita (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
With the advent of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) educators have the opportunity to collect data from students and use it to derive insightful information about the students. Specifically, for programming based courses the ability to identify the specific areas or topics that need more attention from the students can be of immense help. But the majority of traditional, non-virtual classes lack the ability to uncover such information that can serve as a feedback to the effectiveness of teaching. In majority of the schools paper exams and assignments provide the only form of assessment to measure the success of the students in achieving the course objectives. The overall grade obtained in paper exams and assignments need not present a complete picture of a student’s strengths and weaknesses. In part, this can be addressed by incorporating research-based technology into the classrooms to obtain real-time updates on students' progress. But introducing technology to provide real-time, class-wide engagement involves a considerable investment both academically and financially. This prevents the adoption of such technology thereby preventing the ideal, technology-enabled classrooms. With increasing class sizes, it is becoming impossible for teachers to keep a persistent track of their students progress and to provide personalized feedback. What if we can we provide technology support without adding more burden to the existing pedagogical approach? How can we enable semantic enrichment of exams that can translate to students' understanding of the topics taught in the class? Can we provide feedback to students that goes beyond only numbers and reveal areas that need their focus. In this research I focus on bringing the capability of conducting insightful analysis to paper exams with a less intrusive learning analytics approach that taps into the generic classrooms with minimum technology introduction. Specifically, the work focuses on automatic indexing of programming exam questions with ontological semantics. The thesis also focuses on designing and evaluating a novel semantic visual analytics suite for in-depth course monitoring. By visualizing the semantic information to illustrate the areas that need a student’s focus and enable teachers to visualize class level progress, the system provides a richer feedback to both sides for improvement.
ContributorsPandhalkudi Govindarajan, Sesha Kumar (Author) / Hsiao, I-Han (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / Walker, Erin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Web-Based Programming Grading Assistant: An Investigation of the Role of Students Reviewing Behavior
Description
Paper assessment remains to be an essential formal assessment method in today's classes. However, it is difficult to track student learning behavior on physical papers. This thesis presents a new educational technology—Web Programming Grading Assistant (WPGA). WPGA not only serves as a grading system but also a feedback delivery tool that connects paper-based assessments to digital space. I designed a classroom study and collected data from ASU computer science classes. I tracked and modeled students' reviewing and reflecting behaviors based on the use of WPGA. I analyzed students' reviewing efforts, in terms of frequency, timing, and the associations with their academic performances. Results showed that students put extra emphasis in reviewing prior to the exams and the efforts demonstrated the desire to review formal assessments regardless of if they were graded for academic performance or for attendance. In addition, all students paid more attention on reviewing quizzes and exams toward the end of semester.
ContributorsHuang, Po-Kai (Author) / Hsiao, I-Han (Thesis advisor) / Nelson, Brian (Committee member) / VanLehn, Kurt (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017