The Relationship of Learner-centered Beliefs of North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) Teachers and Student Achievement on the North Carolina End-of-Course Assessments
The Relationship of Learner-centered Beliefs of North Carolina Virtual Public School (NCVPS) Teachers and Student Achievement on the North Carolina End-of-Course Assessments

Author: Eddy R. Malave

Publisher:

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13:

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Current federal, state, and district mandates charge educators with reform efforts to improve student achievement. Efforts to transform the educational system are facing enormous public pressure to improve. Despite increasing support for learner-centered perspectives, approaches that focus on learners and learning are often based on conflicting assumptions about what is needed for learners to achieve desired learning standards and outcomes (McCombs & Whisler, 1997). Such approaches have a big impact on what teachers believe and a subsequent influence on student outcomes. This study attempted to establish teacher beliefs and their effectiveness on student achievement on the North Carolina EOC assessments. -- A non-experimental, quantitative study design was used to collect data to examine teachers' beliefs about the learner, learning, and teaching as well as the influence of their beliefs on student achievement in Algebra I, Biology, and English I classes. Data were collected via the Teacher Beliefs Survey from 31 NCVPS teachers, and students' achievement data was gathered from the 2010-2011 NC EOC assessments. -- It was determined that learner-centered beliefs of NCVPS teachers are not statistically significant relative to their students' performances on the North Carolina End-of-Course (EOC) assessments. Future researchers should consider conducting a qualitative research study to interview more diverse participants in terms of race and geographical location to determine variations of the effects of teaching strategies, which could be more focused on distance-learning environments.

Exploring Rapid Achievement Gains in North Carolina and Texas. Lessons from the States
Exploring Rapid Achievement Gains in North Carolina and Texas. Lessons from the States

Author: David Grissmer

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 50

ISBN-13: 1428965408

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The National Education Goals Panel (NEGP) tracks and reports annually on 33 indicators linked to the 8 National Education Goals. The NEGP's 1997 report showed positive gains on the greatest number of indicators for North Carolina and Texas. These gains included significant gains on the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics. The NEGP commissioned this study to see if the improvements were really significant and to try to identify the factors that could or could not account for the educational improvement in these two states. The analysis confirms that the gains in academic achievement in both states are both significant and sustained. North Carolina and Texas posted the largest gains on the NAEP administered between 1990 and 1997, and these results were mirrored in state assessments administered in the same period. There is also evidence that the scores of disadvantaged students improved more rapidly than those of advantaged students. Several factors commonly associated with student achievement, including real per-pupil spending, teacher/pupil ratios, teachers with advanced degrees, and experience levels of teachers, do not appear to explain the test score gains. Texas and North Carolina rank at or below the national averages on these characteristics, and none of them changed during the study period in ways that would explain the gains. The study concludes that the most plausible explanation for the score gains is found in the policy environment established in each state. Both states pursued similar paths to improvement, and each succeeded in changing the organizational environment and incentive structure for educators in ways that led to improvement. The keys to this change include: (1) creating an aligned system of standards, curriculum, and assessments; (2) holding schools accountable for improvement by all students; and (3) support from businesses in developing, implementing, and sustaining these changes over time. (Contains 16 figures, 4 tables, and 18 references.) (Author/SLD)

Serious Educational Game Assessment: Practical Methods and Models for Educational Games, Simulations and Virtual Worlds
Serious Educational Game Assessment: Practical Methods and Models for Educational Games, Simulations and Virtual Worlds

Author: L.A. Annetta

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-07-22

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 9460913296

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In an increasingly scientific and technological world the need for a knowledgeable citizenry, individuals who understand the fundamentals of technological ideas and think critically about these issues, has never been greater. There is growing appreciation across the broader education community that educational three dimensional virtual learning environments are part of the daily lives of citizens, not only regularly occurring in schools and in after-school programs, but also in informal settings like museums, science centers, zoos and aquariums, at home with family, in the workplace, during leisure time when children and adults participate in community-based activities. This blurring of the boundaries of where, when, why, how and with whom people learn, along with better understandings of learning as a personally constructed, life-long process of making meaning and shaping identity, has initiated a growing awareness in the field that the questions and frameworks guiding assessing these environments should be reconsidered in light of these new realities. The audience for this book will be researchers working in the Serious Games arena along with distance education instructors and administrators and students on the cutting edge of assessment in computer generated environments.

The Relationship Among Teacher Empowerment, Teacher Beliefs, Teacher Demographics, and Second Grade Reading Achievement
The Relationship Among Teacher Empowerment, Teacher Beliefs, Teacher Demographics, and Second Grade Reading Achievement

Author: Pamela Rene Conway

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13:

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Purpose . The research indicated the potential for relationships to exist among student achievement, teacher beliefs, teacher empowerment, and certain teacher demographics. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among these factors. Further, it sought to expand the limited research base associated with teacher empowerment. Research questions . (1) What is the nature of the relationship between teacher empowerment as measured by the School Participant Empowerment Scale (SPES), certain teacher demographics, and student reading achievement, as measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS)? (2) What is the nature of the relationship between teacher beliefs as measured by the Teacher Beliefs Scale (TBS), certain teacher demographics, and the reading achievement as measured by the ITBS? (3) What is the nature of the relationship between teacher empowerment as measured by the SPES and teacher beliefs as measured by the TBS? (4) Do teacher empowerment as measured by the SPES, teacher beliefs as measured by the TBS and certain teacher demographics predict student reading achievement as measured by the ITBS? Procedures . Teachers in a mid-western school district completed the Teacher Beliefs Scale, a demographic survey and the School Participant Empowerment Scale. Aggregate data on classroom configuration, size, ability, socio-economic status, and ITBS reading scores were provided by the school district. A Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis was used to compare each of the variables (teacher empowerment, teacher beliefs, teacher demographics and student reading achievement) with the others. Results . The study found no relationship between student reading achievement and any of the other variables. Significant negative relationships were noted between the empowerment sub-scale of teacher professional growth and teacher years of experience. The empowerment sub-scale of autonomy also had a negative relationship with teacher years of experience as well as with teacher age. A small positive relationship was found between learner-centered teacher beliefs and the teacher's education level. Further, a significant positive relationship was found between learner-centered teacher beliefs and all of the sub-scales of empowerment. There was a significant negative relationship between teacher-centered beliefs and the total empowerment scale as well as with the sub-scales of decision making and professional growth.

Navigating The Digital Shift: Implementation Strategies for Blended and Online Leraning
Navigating The Digital Shift: Implementation Strategies for Blended and Online Leraning

Author: John Bailey

Publisher: Digital Learning Now!

Published:

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13:

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Our nation’s schools stand at an important “inflection point” in the history of education. Taken together, the implementation of common college and career standards, the shift to next generation assessments, the availability of affordable devices, and the growing number of high-quality digital instructional tools create an unprecedented opportunity to fundamentally shift the education system to personalize learning around the individual needs of every student. Digital Learning Now! (DLN), a national initiative under the Foundation for Excellence in Education (ExcelinEd), in association with Getting Smart, brings “Navigating the Digital Shift: Implementation Strategies for Blended and Online Learning” to readers interested in exploring the implementation challenges at the intersection of these shifts. Co-authored by John Bailey, Carri Schneider, and Tom Vander Ark, “Navigating the Digital Shift” offers updated versions of the eight papers originally released in the “DLN Smart Series” including contributions from 11 additional co-authors representing leading organizations such as Public Impact, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) and The Learning Accelerator. Topics include: blended learning implementation, teaching conditions and careers, competency-based learning, student data, online learning myths, and student-based funding. Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida from 1999-2007 and Chairman of ExcelinEd, contends that the book “provides policymakers and education leaders the tools they need to use digital learning as a catalyst for improved student achievement.” AASA 2013 Superintendent of the Year Dr. Mark Edwards believes the collection “provides meaningful, practical, and poignant advice as well as commentary regarding the move to college and career ready standards associated with the shift to personal online learning and digital resources.” Rhode Island’s Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Deborah Gist describes the book as an “invaluable resource that will help educators re-imagine what our schools can look like and what our students can accomplish.”

Workplace Readiness
Workplace Readiness

Author: SADDLEBACK EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHING.

Publisher:

Published: 2021-08-31

Total Pages: 120

ISBN-13: 9781680219876

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Theme: Hi-Lo, life skills, career, achieve independence, skills, job success, job skills, There's more to finding a job than simply applying. First, figure out what you'd like to do for a living. Think ahead and set career goals. Understand what training and education you'll need to reach your dream. Then begin your job search, looking for work that aligns with your goals. Grab potential employers' interest with a polished cover letter and resume, then impress them further in an interview. You'll be ready for the workplace in no time. Combining practical content with visual appeal, the Life Skills Handbooks read more like magazines than books. These 120-page handbooks are designed to teach life skills to today's teens in an approachable and non-threatening way. Realistic scenarios help teens grasp the relevance of the information in these books, and tables, graphs, and charts add to students' understanding. Essential vocabulary is featured to help students build real-world literacy.

Teacher Education in CALL
Teacher Education in CALL

Author: Philip Hubbard

Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

Published: 2006-09-01

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 9027293325

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This volume addresses the need for a more considered and systematic approach to teacher education and training in Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), in all its forms: Technology Enhanced Language Learning, Network-Based Language Learning, Information and Communication Technologies for Language Learning and so on. The 20 chapters of the book are divided into five parts: (1) foundations of teacher education in CALL; (2) CALL degree programs; (3) CALL pre-service courses; (4) CALL in-service projects, courses, and workshops; (5) alternatives to formal CALL training. The chapters cover a broad range of levels, environments, countries, and languages. Rather than simply offering inspired speculation, the chapters provide practical information to readers, reporting on what has actually been done in a wide variety of teacher education programs and courses around the world. In many cases, the chapters describe how programs and courses have evolved, and include either qualitative or quantitative research, or both, to inform the structure of CALL courses, tasks and activities.