Browsing by Subject "Student achievement"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    The association between math teachers' moral judgment development and self-efficacy beliefs, and their relationship with student achievement
    (2014-09) Chears-Young, Julia Beatrice
    The purpose of this study is to explore the association between teachers' moral judgment development and perceived self-efficacy, and their relationship to change in student achievement. Studies in professional ethics have shown a positive link between levels of moral judgment development and dimensions of professional behavior. However, little research exists concerning the professional behavior of K-12 school teachers. The theoretical framework for the study derives from the bodies of research on moral judgment development (Kohlberg, 1976; Rest, 1979; Rest, Narvaez, Bebeau, & Thoma, 1999a, 1999b) and perceived self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), in which both are dimensions of Rest's four component model of morality (FCM). In Rest's model, there are four psychological processes that interact with each other in order for a moral action (behavior) to occur. Moral judgment -the decision, action, or choice associated with right and wrong - is the second of the four processes. A fourth process, referred to as moral character or moral implementation, includes the personal qualities (i.e., self-efficacy) and competencies required when carrying out a moral action. Bandura's work on perceived self-efficacy, which centers on individuals' beliefs or judgments about their capabilities in the classroom, is particularly relevant for K-12 school teachers. Research on teachers' perceived self-efficacy has shown a positive association between teachers' self-efficacy beliefs and student achievement outcomes. Participants in this study included 71 active elementary classroom and secondary mathematics teachers from an urban school district. An ANOVA and correlational analyses showed a positive significant association between maintaining norms moral schema as assessed by the Defining Issues Test 2 (DIT2) and the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale - short form (TSES). The results also showed a positive significant association between maintaining norms moral schema and TSES' classroom management subscale. As well, an ANOVA and correlational analyses showed a negative significant association between DIT2 postconventional moral schema and the TSES total score, and a negative significant association between postconventional moral schema and TSES' classroom management subscale. Three progressive HLM models were tested to determine the amount of variance accounted for by teachers' moral reasoning and self-efficacy beliefs at the student and classroom levels. Maintaining norms was determined to be significant in predicting students' NCE gain scores on the state's Augmented Benchmark Math Exam. For teachers who were identified as predominately using maintaining norms arguments, their students on averaged scored 3.56 points higher than those students whose teachers were identified as personal interest or postconventional. These findings could imply that teachers who are in maintaining norms may be more apt to comply with rigid school and classroom rules and norms, and thereby experience fewer interruptions during instruction, which could ultimately result in higher achievement gains.
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    The effect of alternative compensation programs on teacher retention and student achievement: the case of Q Comp in Minnesota
    (2015-03) Choi, Won Seok
    purpose of this study was to examine the effect of alternative teacher compensation programs (ACPs) on teacher retention rates and average student achievement in schools. ACPs base teacher pay mainly on some measure of their performance, such as student achievement, leadership, professional knowledge and skills, and instructional behavior. This study used the Minnesota Quality Compensation program (Q Comp) case to examine the effect of ACPs.The relationships between ACPs and 3 types of school-level outcomes were explored: overall teacher retention rate, retention rate of teachers with three or more years of teaching experience, and rate of students who were at or above the proficiency level (student proficiency rate). In addition, it was also examined whether ACPs' effects on those three school-level outcomes differed by type of school, charter or traditional.This study investigated teacher retention rates and student proficiency rates in Minnesota public schools over 8 years, 2003-2010. Because Q Comp began from the 2005-06 school year, the research period makes it possible to examine the effect of Q Comp implementation for up to 5 years, which was a long investigation relative to previous studies. Data on assignment of Minnesota public schools teachers developed by the Minnesota Department of Education and publicly posted on the Pioneer Press website were used to calculate teacher retention rate by school level. The school-level student proficiency rate for the third-grade mathematics and reading tests of the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) was used to measure school-level student achievement. To minimize selection bias problem, this study adopted a fixed effects model to control for unobserved time-invariant variables across schools as well as to consider time-variant observable variables.This study found a positive effect of Q Comp on overall teacher retention rate only in schools with 5 years of implementation. In addition this positive effect, charter schools with 5 years of Q Comp implementation faced a negative effect of Q Comp on overall teacher retention rate. A positive effect of Q Comp on retention rate of teachers with 3 or more years of teaching experience was also found only in schools with 5 years of implementation. Regarding the effect of Q Comp on student achievement, this study did not find any significant overall effect on schools. Charter schools with 3 years of Q Comp, however, enjoyed a positive and significant effect on the third-grade math proficiency rate.The findings of this study imply that it takes ACPs some time to realize their effect. It took about 5 years of implementation in the case of Minnesota Q Comp for there to be an effect on teacher retention rate, which is a contribution of this study. Another contribution of this study is the finding that the effect of ACPs could differ by school type. The findings could lead to further discussion on whether the effect of ACPs could be sustainable and whether the positive effect on teacher retention rate would lead to improvement in student achievement, which remain considerations for future studies.
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    The Effect of Communicating Expectations Using Rubrics for Second Grade Writing Assignments
    (2014) Jerlow, Alyssa; Munson, Bruce; Rauschenfels, Diane
    This study evaluated the effect of communicating expectations with students on their achievement in writing. The study was done within four, second grade classrooms. Ninety-one students were evaluated – fifty-one males and forty females. All four classrooms were within the same district and elementary school building. The results of this study showed significant gains in the experimental groups in all areas assessed when comparing the baseline data to the first unit of writing. When comparing the baseline data to the second unit of writing, the experimental group showed significantly larger gains than the control group in two of the areas assessed as well as the overall score.
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    Effectiveness of Education Reform Initiatives within the Context of Poverty
    (2015) Spehar, Thomas John; Pepelnjak, Erin; Williams, Julia
    Practical “education reform” in school districts across the county has focused on the system of education comprised of education leaders, teachers, parents and the students. While the system appears to be full of activity called reform, progress has been slow or non-existent in increasing success. This study examines education reform activities within a larger school district in Northern Minnesota by surveying elementary classroom teachers on what they believe are those factors influencing student achievement.
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    Teaching and learning v. "doing school": the Impact of rigorous curriculum on student development
    (2013-07) Jarva, Carly Kristin
    italic>I think what I learned in the IB [International Baccalaureate] program...well, in a way I felt like - have you read Great Expectations? When Pip gets the stipend from the mysterious person and he's walking out and the clouds are lifting up and he can see all the possibilities - that's how I felt with the IB program. -Student reflection on experience as an IB student Schools are faced with many challenges, with the most emphasis on increasing student performance. This challenge cannot be met without thoughtful consideration around the actual meaning of increasing student performance. Traditionally, increasing student performance translates to increasing student test scores across sub-groups school-wide as related to state mandated standards-based assessments. This study posits, however, that by increasing the curricular rigor offered to students in urban high schools, student performance improves in the short-term through student achievement while also improving student satisfaction in the long term by more aptly preparing students to perform in the post-secondary environment. This very notion of student growth, achievement, and success is nestled within the threads of thoughtful and sustainable program design and arguably - most critically - the power and impact of quality teaching. The argument that students will flourish and thrive when placed in an instructional environment that is simultaneously supportive and challenging is not a groundbreaking discovery. The balance that is required within program design and the support required for teachers to be able to create that environment for students is more difficult to define and even harder still to measure. Therefore, the focus for this research study is the beginning of a larger-scale grounded theory study that will examine several school models grounded in impacting student achievement through rigorous curriculum and the program supports needed in order to create that space for student success. The research in this first installment looks at the role of the rigorous curricular model, International Baccalaureate; the impact of distributed leadership; and the sustainability of program design for organizational change in reference to student success and growth. Through the process of interviewing, forty-three subjects (4 principals, 4 program coordinators, 15 teachers, and 20 students) were asked to identify the most impactful experiences that they have had throughout the development of the International Baccalaureate program at Meadow Brook High School, an urban school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This research illustrates the perspective of program development and organizational change from the practitioners' point of view. Included in this investigation is how teachers view distributed leadership in their settings as well as the behaviors and supports they associate with it. Also included in this investigation is overall the impact that program design and implementation ultimately has on the overall success and development of students enrolled in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed for themes. A grounded theory approach was utilized in the analysis to bring forth the prominent themes. Upon the themes, further analysis was drawn and implications will be shared. There were three major findings from the study, which help to inform the field of education on distributed leadership, access to rigor for students of minority or limited socio-economic opportunity, as well as the impacts that rigor can have for these students. First, defining distributed leadership as it is related to program sustainability is a complex process. There is some evidence, however, to suggest that distributed leadership influences the satisfaction and perceived value of stakeholders, which by association informs and furthers sustainability. Second, according to the students and staff members interviewed, the major skills impacting student development for the learners engaged in the rigors of the International Baccalaureate Program at Meadow Brook were self-advocacy, organizational management, and skills for critical analysis. Third, the identification of the elements most critical to student learning and engagement of students in the IB at Meadow Brook cannot be answered in a quantitative measure. The answer rather is presented through the qualitative experience and growth that occurs for students through the supports created for them and the rigor of the curriculum.