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Academic Choices Influencing Completion Rates for Developmental Math Students: A Logistic Regression Study
No full textLow success rates in developmental education (DE) are an ongoing concern nationwide. In 2023, Texas House Bill 8 tied funding to completion rates, which increases the emphasis on completion for DE students in Texas. The purpose of this study is to explore how the initial academic choices of first-time-in-college (FTIC) students impact student outcomes. Interventions such as corequisite courses, math pathways, and distance education are designed to increase access and equity for developmental math students. Using the Texas House Bill 8 definition of completion, this research aims to identify which combination of strategies has the most significant impact on student completion rates. Previous research highlights the challenges of DE, emphasizing innovations such as corequisite instruction, which combines credit and developmental coursework, and math pathways, which align math content with students’ academic goals. It also explores the mixed successes of distance education on DE student outcomes. This quantitative study employs Pearson’s chi-square test for independence and logistic regression analysis to examine the relationship between course characteristics and long-term completion and to review the predictive value of course characteristics on long-term completion for DM students while controlling for demographic factors such as age, gender, race, and placement test scores. The population considered in the study is FTIC community college students in Texas who took the Texas Success Initiative Assessment (TSIA) math placement test, scored below the college-ready threshold of 350, and enrolled in a developmental math (DM) course. Archival data on FTIC developmental math students from a large suburban community college in Texas between the fall 2017 and fall 2019 semesters were used as the sample. The findings of this study aim to inform institutional policies and practices by identifying statistically significant predictors of student success. The study aspires to enhance academic advising, course scheduling, and program design so that community colleges in Texas can increase their funding and support completion for underprepared math students
Program Evaluation of Trauma-Informed Educational Systems and Supports
No full textChildhood trauma has profound and lasting effects on students’ cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development and influences their academic performance and social interactions. Despite the growing recognition of the impact of trauma on learning, the implementation of trauma-informed education remains inconsistent across schools. The Trauma-Informed Educational Systems and Supports (TIESS) program, developed within a Texas charter school system, integrates the neurosequential model of education and a social-emotional learning curriculum to provide structured support for trauma-affected students. This study evaluated the effectiveness of TIESS in enhancing trauma-informed instructional practices and improving student outcomes
2024-2025 Bill Martin Jr. Symposium Poster
No full textThe Save the Date poster for the 17th Annual Bill Martin Jr. Symposium on March 23, 2025
Couple in Period Costume
No full textA black and white negative of people in period costume to celebrate the centennial of East Texas State University.https://lair.etamu.edu/scua-univ-photos-browse-all/2692/thumbnail.jp
Metadata Analysis Sequence: Unboxing Circulation on Social Media for Multimodal Composition
No full textOn social media platforms, knowing how circulation works is a critical part of multimodal writing. Teaching students how to write for social media means teaching them how to produce texts that will reach their intended audiences. However, Multimodal Composition approaches to producing texts for social media are often too focused on algorithms. A widely accepted concession, that algorithms are unknowable, engenders algorithm-centric approaches to multimodality that seek to unbox algorithms to determine their mathematical formulas and logics. These approaches assume that knowing algorithms is the key to producing content that will circulate. But algorithm-centric approaches sometimes overlook the many other factors that contribute to circulation. This project proposes a new methodology, the Metadata Analysis Sequence (MAS), that has researchers and students identify what happens on social medial platforms to move content. Rather than determining how algorithms rank content, they explore how user interactions and platform conditions along with algorithms work together to make circulation happen. This project uses the MAS to analyze YouTube’s metadata types to gain insight on how it circulates content and what writing students can do to increase the chances of their content circulating on the platform. This project’s findings are also made relatable to rhetorical theories and writing practices already used in multimodal composition classrooms. For Multimodal Composition scholars, knowing how to examine social media platforms to determine how circulation works opens the door to more informed and effective classroom instruction
Characteristics of Evaluative Feedback Events that Influence Change in Teacher Performance
No full textSince Race to the Top led most states to revamp their teacher evaluation procedures, most state evaluation systems now require administrators to perform both formal and informal observations and provide teacher feedback. Teacher observation and feedback are primary ways administrators can impact student outcomes, as they allow administrators to support their teachers’ growth. The observation and feedback process represents a substantial time investment on behalf of principals, yet studies show that this practice often falls short of achieving the intended result (i.e., improved teacher practices). It is unclear what specific characteristics of the feedback process increase the likelihood of teachers making changes to their classroom practices that improve student learning outcomes. The purpose of this interpretive critical incident technique study was to discover characteristics of feedback events, from the teachers’ perspectives, that influence their instructional practices. Using an online survey comprised of two open-ended survey questions, the researcher performed a cross-incident analysis on survey responses to identify essential themes connected to the research questions
Differences in Beginning Teachers’ Perceptions of Preparedness Based on Certification Pathway and Mentorship Contributions
No full textThe purpose of this study was to investigate differences in beginning teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness to teach based on whether they attended traditional university-based programs or alternative certification programs regarding content knowledge, classroom environment, providing meaningful chances in instruction, a variety of assessments and methods that will drive the instruction, creating an environment for diversity of learners and learning environments. Furthermore, the researcher assessed whether having a mentor their first year contributed to teachers’ perceptions of preparedness. The 40 item Survey of Teacher Preparation Graduates (Darling-Hammond et al., 2002) was used as the data collection instrument. Of those who participated in the district’s mentoring program, 32 completed most or all questions, mostly receiving certification from alternative programs. There was no statistically significant difference in teachers’ perceptions of preparedness based on whether they attended traditional university-based programs or alternative certification programs. There was a statistically significant difference in change in preparedness mean scores that could be attributed to the time spent working with a mentor. The open-ended question, How has having a mentor helped you feel better prepared to teach? was qualitatively analyzed into three themes: helpfulness of a mentor, the mentor was not helpful or lack of mentor assistance, and unclear responses.This study filled a gap in existing literature because it provided the measure of the added value of a mentor to increase preparedness. There are numerous stakeholders who could benefit from the findings, for example, state and district policy makers to reassess teacher certification programs and improve mentor programs, and districts, mentors and teachers using data as formative and summative assessments, as well as assessing the needs of teachers beyond the first year. Further research in fields such as reevaluations in the role of the mentor could benefit by the change in the preparation and training of mentors and mentees utilizing interviews and focus groups with the help of the Survey of Teacher Preparation Graduates (Darling-Hammond, 1998)
Screening Lettuce Cultivars for Growth, Yield, And Tipburn in Hydroponic System Under Greenhouse Conditions
No full textCultivars with stable horticultural traits are imperative for successful hydroponic production of lettuce under greenhouse conditions generally characterized by a constant fluctuation in the environmental factors including light, temperature, and humidity. The objective of this study was to evaluate a set of lettuce cultivars for growth, yield, and tipburn incidence in a hydroponic system under greenhouse conditions over different seasons. During each growing cycle in winter, spring, summer, and fall, seeds of 40 cultivars of lettuce of different types were germinated in rockwool cubes inside plug trays and were subsequently grown for approximately three weeks. Mature seedlings were transplanted onto nutrient film technique (NFT) hydroponic systems and were grown with an optimum nutrient solution. The experiments were carried out as a randomized complete block design with three replications. At commercial maturity stage (30–40 days after transplanting), lettuce plants were evaluated for tipburn incidence and representative lettuce heads were sampled for measurements of fresh weight, leaf number per plant, leaf area, and dry weight. Highly significant effects of cultivar, season, and their interaction were observed on the fresh yield and its components as well as tipburn incidence. Averaged fresh yield ranged from 1.74 kg/m2 to 10.44 kg/m2 across the four growth cycles. Average yields achieved in the spring season were significantly higher than those in the winter season. Cultivars Tropicana and Salvius had the highest yield in winter, spring, and fall while the top yielding cultivars in summer were Green Star and Bergam’s Green. Across all four growth cycles, up to 20 cultivars exhibited yields lower than the grand means (4.12 kg/m2). Tipburn incidence was more pronounced during the summer growth cycle where 37 out of the 40 cultivars evaluated showed some level of tipburn. Cultivars Flashy Trout Back, Little Gem, and Dragoon exhibited the most severe tipburn incidence independently of the growth cycle. In contrast, cultivars Oscarde, Rouxai, and Bergam’s Green showed no tipburn incidence across all four growth seasons. Thus, selectively growing a lettuce cultivar performing well in a respective season in terms of both yield and tipburn incidence can prove to be an effective and efficient production practice
Stress, Encoding Time, and Facial Recognition
No full textGiven the stressful nature of crimes, many eyewitness researchers have attempted to investigate the effects of acute stress on eyewitness memory. However, the numerous experiments conducted in this area have yielded mixed results, prompting experts to proffer explanations that unfortunately continue to leave much unexplained (Christianson, 1992; Deffenbacher, 1983; Deffenbacher et al., 2004; Gering, 2021). Since most eyewitness researchers concerned with the effects of stress on memory have focused on explaining these mixed results, few have investigated how stress may interact with other variables. This research endeavored to investigate how stress and encoding time for faces might interact to influence eyewitness memory, as well as the confidence-accuracy and response time-accuracy relationships. 124 participants were gathered from A&M Commerce’s SONA subject pool for the experiment, which conformed to a 2 (stress: control vs cold pressor) x 2 (encoding time: 0.5 seconds vs 1.5 seconds) mixed factorial design with stress manipulated between subjects and encoding time manipulated within subjects. While we found that memory was worse for the short encoding time condition and for the stress group, we did not find a significant interaction. While stress alone was not found to harm the confidence-accuracy relationship, the combination of stress and a shorter encoding time did reduce accuracy for the highest confidence rating. Stress also harmed the response-time accuracy relationship. These findings are discussed in light of the complex and fickle nature of the stress response
The Lived Experiences of Student Counselors Completing Practicum and Internship Hours at a Homeless Shelter Setting
No full textThis study explores student counselors’ lived experiences when providing counseling to homeless persons in a shelter setting. This phenomenological study attempts to better understand the experiences that beginning counselors (N = 10) have during their practicum and internship experience working with high-need, homeless clientele and residing in a homeless shelter. This study outlines the many considerations that homeless clients present to counselors, the various stressors and developmental considerations beginning counselors navigate throughout their graduate program, and purposes to understand the internal experience of beginning counselors seeing this clientele in order to provide better supervision and support at both the site and faculty level