Browsing by Subject "High-stakes"
Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Considering the disparate impact of test-based retention policy on low-income, minority, and English language learner children in Texas(2011-12) Patrick, Ertha Smith; Vasquez Heilig, Julian; Butler, Shari; Reddick, Richard; Rhodes, Lodis; Reyes, PedroThis dissertation evaluates disparate impact of test-based retention (TBR) policy on historically disadvantaged student groups in the State of Texas, and determines school characteristics that statistically predict retention and may contribute to disparate impact. The research literature on TBR is limited, as most grade retention research precedes the increase in use of TBR policy across the United States. Based on descriptive analysis, there were considerable increases in retention rates for low-income, African American, Latino, and English Language Learner (ELL) children compared to their less-disadvantaged counterparts, after TBR was implemented. Using multiple regression analysis, schools with higher percentages of low-income students, ELL students, beginning teachers, and higher percentages of low-income students in their school district were found to have higher retention rates while schools with higher percentages of White students, White teachers, and Latino teachers were found to have lower retention rates. Additionally, school retention rates were found to vary according to accountability rating.Item Kindergarten curriculum enactment in a high-stakes public school context : an actor network theory investigation of the DAP vs. standards dilemma(2017-05) Mowry, Brian Nelson; Brown, Christopher P., Ph. D.; Adair, Jennifer; Brown, Keffrelyn; Maloch, Beth; Shallert, DianeNumerous studies have documented a transformation in many of the nation’s kindergarten classrooms where the traditional focus on addressing the needs of the whole child is being undermined by efforts to instantiate a standardized pedagogy predicated on readying young children for the rising academic standards of elementary school. This dissertation contributes to this body of research through its use of actor network theory (ANT) to understand how such a phenomenon might unfold at the district and individual campus level. First, I use ANT as a lens to trace the development of a large urban school district’s standardized instructional planning guide (the IPFs), which was designed to align teachers’ instruction to the district’s K-12 curriculum. Secondly, I continued to employ ANT to locate the effects of this document on the instructional decision making of kindergarten teachers at two of the district’s campuses. I selected ANT as a theoretical framework because it allowed me to follow the effects of the IPFs as they passed through a series of negotiations among various actors (both human and nonhuman) trying to insert their interests and representative identities to procure the document’s conceptualization, development, and eventual implementation. Chapter 1 introduces my research question and important terms, such as Actor Network Theory (ANT). Chapter 2 is a three-part review of the literature that first explores how ANT has been used in educational research to understand the dilemma surrounding the development of standards, prescribed curriculums, and curriculum enactment in kindergarten. Then, the chapter synthesizes relevant literature in the areas of learning and curriculum theory, which can be inscribed into teaching artifacts. The chapter closes with a review of how other empirical studies have approached the standards versus DAP dilemma. Chapter 3 details the methodology that guided this investigation including data collection and analysis. Chapter 4 and 5 presents the findings from this research. Chapter 4 looks at how the IPFs were conceptualized and developed, and Chapter 5 looks at how the document was enacted. Chapter 6 addresses the significance of these findings and concludes with a discussion of implication and suggestions for future research.Item Sustaining hope : a teacher's stories of teaching reading for 46 years in one urban school(2012-05) Hampton, Angela Joy; Worthy, Jo; Bomer, Randy; Maloch, Beth; Schallert, Diane; Hoffman, JimThis dissertation examines the life stories of Marsha Ethridge (all names are pseudonyms), a teacher who has taught for 46 years in one urban elementary school. The stories Marsha tells about her life are used as lenses to consider the following: (1) What influences most shaped Marsha’s practices and stories to live by as a teacher? (2) What has it been like for Marsha teaching reading in an urban elementary school for 46 years? and (3) What is the nature of caring in Marsha’s stories? The study draws on life story and portraiture methods. Data were collected over a period of three years and includes life story interviews, one focus group interview, observations, and artifacts. Through the process of constant comparative method, three themes emerged: literacy and accountability, teacher development and identity, and caring and connecting. The most salient theme was caring and connecting throughout Marsha’s stories, and it served as a unifying thread to pull her stories together. This study found that in Marsha’s first years of teaching there were few forms of accountability. She felt that this was the primary reason many of her sixth graders had made it through school without learning to read. In the following years she used a variety of measures for accountability, including high-stakes accountability, which caused her to experience increasing professional dissonance. The form of accountability she believed improved her teaching practices the most was accountability situated in the context of caring relationships and it led to hope for future success. Marsha experienced this face-to-face accountability in the teacher-initiated group she had been meeting with for 27 years. Research implications from this study include the need to further explore discourse in teacher-initiated groups over time and in different contexts, as well as consider how the relational dynamics and accountability within collaborative teacher groups contribute to teacher growth. Additionally, the analysis of Marsha’s life stories indicate a need for teachers, parents, researchers, and policy makers to lay aside discourse of blaming and shaming to create opportunities for extended conversations about alternatives to high-stakes accountability.