Current Issues in Education (E-Journal, Arizona State University)
Not a member yet
355 research outputs found
Sort by
Impact of Delivery Modality, Student GPA, and Time-Lapse Since High School on Successful Completion of College-Level Math after Taking Developmental Math
Get PDFThis study considered whether delivery modality, student GPA, or time since high school affected whether 290 students who had completed a developmental math series as a community college were able to successfully complete college-level math. The data used in the study was comprised of a 4-year period historical student data from Odessa College based on the completion of the developmental math courses, Introductory Algebra and Intermediate Algebra, and subsequent completion a college-level math course. Through an ex-post facto design with logistic regression analysis, the results revealed that GPA was a predictor (p = 1.56 x 10-9) of completing a college-level math course with a C or better. However, the delivery mode of developmental math (p = .456) and time lapse since completing high school (p = .200) were not found to be predictors of college math completion with a C or better. Although online education continues to be an area of concern in higher education, this studys results reveal there are other variables that may affect successful completion of a college-level course, with this study finding that for every 1-point increase in college GPA, students were 3.64 times more likely to complete college-level math with a C or better
Updated Perspectives on Educational Diagnosticians' Understanding of Reading Assessments
Get PDFChappell, Stephens, Kinnison, and Pettigrew (2009) conducted a study investigating educational diagnosticians knowledge of early reading development. Our study replicated the work of Chappell et al. through a mixed methods design that investigated educational diagnosticians perceptions and knowledge of early reading development. Additionally, our study sought to gain a better understanding of how educational diagnosticians selected assessment instruments. Our findings suggested that educational diagnosticians may lack understanding of the early developmental processes of reading and that there may be limited use of diagnostic assessment instruments when evaluating students who are struggling to read
Professional Development for Mathematics Teachers: Using Task Design and Analysis
Get PDFThis study presents a year-long professional development program using a Task Design and Analysis activity for mathematics teachers. The study examines teacher growth, including their knowledge of mathematics, understanding of students cognitive activity, and ability to develop high quality tasks. Results include teachers initial understanding of the task, teachers interpretations and awareness of their students strategies used to solve the task, and the pattern of revised tasks. Two main approaches used by inservice teachers were symbolic manipulation and the guess and check method. Approximately one-quarter of the teachers reported mathematical language as the weakest area, and mathematical accuracy seem to have the least issue with teachers. All teachers valued students employing basic steps of a problem solving process-understanding the problem, working on the solution by using heuristics, and looking back. Tasks revised by teachers were categorized in four areas, contextual changes, conceptual changes, procedural changes, and format
An Investigation of School Violence and Pre-Service Teachers
Get PDFAll educators need to be aware of issues regarding school violence. Recent years have shown that violence can happen in a variety of school settings. This study conducted a one-group, pretest-posttest, pre-experimental design to explore pre-service teachers perceptions regarding school violence. First, pre-service educators were asked to complete an online, anonymous survey. Next, the participants, members of the same English/Language Arts Methods class, were taught a three-part school violence curriculum. And finally, a posttest, optional and anonymous, was administered. Results suggest that there was a change in respondents perceptions regarding school violence after having participated in the curriculum
Narratives on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Personal Responses to the Standardized Curriculum
Get PDFAs curriculum objectives become more standardized, pedagogical strategies that reach diverse populations become more important, not less as some practitioners might be prone to believe. Through the use of narratives, we have found that students achieve greater understandings of curriculum as well as find culturally relevant ways of applying curriculum to previous knowledge. Using the same line of thinking, stories of successful pedagogical practice help to reinforce the ideas behind culturally relevant pedagogy as it translates from theory into practice. Classroom narratives from students and teachers where culturally relevant pedagogical practices have been implemented are the focus of this article
Teacher Isolation: How Mentoring Programs Can Help
Get PDFTeacher attrition has become a very serious problem in the United States in recent years. Studies have shown that many talented, new teachers are leaving the profession early in their careers due to feelings of isolation. In response to the alarming turnover rate, school districts have adopted mentoring programs which have been successful at making beginning teachers feel less isolated. This article examines four such mentoring programs and their potential to reduce teacher isolation
Assessment under Resource Constraints
Get PDFAbstract: Assessment and the measurement of learning are receiving increasing emphasis in American higher education. This is a case study that demonstrates a simple, inexpensive method of measuring freshman to senior “gains” or learning using a cross-sectional methodology. Seniors and freshmen within a four-year business program were both given the same multi-part test. Not surprisingly, the seniors’ average score on all parts was higher than that of the freshmen. However, the seniors were older than the freshmen, indicating a possible maturity effect, and had higher average scores on their entrance examinations, indicating a possible selection effect. We used regression techniques to estimate these effects, and subtracted the estimate from the seniors’ gain to estimate a net gain. Our method is applicable to any learning outcome that can be quantified, and we believe that it is both effective and within the means of nearly all U.S. institutions of higher education
Nurturing Cooperative Learning Pedagogies in Higher Education Classrooms: Evidence of Instructional Reform and Potential Challenges
Get PDFThis article presents a pilot study that examined instructional practices and student outcomes of two courses designed using cooperative learning (CL) pedagogies in Ethiopian university context. The participants included 58 undergraduates and two teachers. The quantitative results showed that four inter-correlated pedagogical factors: Cooperative interaction, task orientation, academic challenge, and teaching effectiveness, together accounted for 69% and 52% of the variance in students satisfaction and gains scores, respectively. Each factor significantly predicted students satisfaction and gains, B > .27. Also, the qualitative results demonstrated that the teachers were able to incorporate CL pedagogies to existing instructional practices. Correspondingly, students found that they were more focused on their learning, experienced more interaction and enjoyment, and gained more academically than they had achieved before being involved in this initiative. However, the academic culture and local constraints put negative influence on implementation; findings illustrate how shifting the focus of instruction from a content-centered form to a learning-centered form greatly impacts not only the learning in class but also other important indicators of students success.
Students' Perceptions of Academic Efficacy and School Supports: A Mismatch with School Demographics
Get PDFThis exploratory study aimed to (a) identify students beliefs about their abilities and school environments to achieve their college and career aspirations, (b) group schools by students perceptions, and (c) contrast this grouping with grouping by school-level demographics. This secondary analysis examined items from the County Youth Survey administered to 11th-graders (N = 3,751) at 17 local schools. School size and racial and socioeconomic statistics comprised the publicly available data. Principal components analysis identified 17 college and career readiness items representing two dimensions of student perceptions: School Supports and Academic Efficacy. Cluster analysis revealed that schools grouped by these dimensions differed substantially from the demographic groupings
Dialogues across Disciplines: Preparing English-as-a-Second-Language Teachers for Interdisciplinary Collaboration
Get PDFThis study examines interdisciplinary collaboration between mainstream-English and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) in-service and pre-service teachers enrolled in graduate methods courses in their respective fields. During the semester, TESOL and secondary English Education teacher candidates collaborated to develop young adult literature based thematic units that supported the curricular needs of the secondary English education curriculum in the ESL classroom and the provided for the linguistic, second-language-literacy, and cultural needs of English language learners (ELLs) in the mainstream English classroom through interdisciplinary teacher collaboration