Browsing by Subject "Curriculum evaluation"
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Item A Study of Gifted and Talented Program Evaluation Practices in Selected Texas School Districts(Texas Tech University, 1990-05) Ayers, Samuel JosephThe purpose of this study was to identify current gifted and talented program evaluation practices in selected Texas school districts. Additionally, the study sought to compare these practices with those recommended in the literature and TEA guidelines. The areas examined in this study included informal and formal assessment of student and teacher identification practices, the grouping component of program organization, the curriculum, the extent of staff" development, the extent of parental and community involvement, and the evaluation procedures. Other program assessment practices examined included use of evaluation committees, use of data collection measures, reporting procedures for evaluation findings, and use of program evaluation models. The population surveyed included gifted and talented program directors from 122 school districts. Usable responses were received from 76 (62 percent) of the respondents. The responses were tabulated and presented in the form of frequency counts and percentages. Based on the findings, the following conclusions were drawn by the researcher as they related to current gifted and talented program evaluation practices. First, there appeared to be a variety of assessment taking place in a majority of the gifted and talented programs that participated in the study, but it was difficult to determine the overall usefulness of these evaluation practices. Although consistency among school districts evaluation practices does not necessarily need to exist, there was an apparent lack of continuity concerning specific evaluation practices, frequency of assessment, program components examined, types of documentation measures used, and reporting of the findings. The lack of continuity raised questions concerning the comprehensive nature of these evaluations and their practical applications for serious program improvement. Secondly, although there was an available body of literature concerning the evaluation of gifted and talented programs, which included specific evaluation models, there was little evidence from this study to suggest that program directors actually relied on this literature in developing their local evaluation practices.Item Assessment of the status of model building codes in interior design curricula(Texas Tech University, 1998-05) Dunham, Betsy D.Cases have been publicized in which interiors not in compliance with building code requirements have been responsible for endangering the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Consequently, interior designers must possess technical skills, including knowledge of the non-structural provisions of model building codes, as well as artistic sensibility. The purposes of this study were to assess the current status of model building codes in Foundation of Interior Design Education Research (FIDER) accredited professional level program curricula, to determine if differences exist among faculty, employers, and entry level designers regarding the importance of model building codes in the design curricula, and to make recommendations for developing curricula associated with model building codes. Exploratory descriptive research was employed in this study. Upon completion of a pilot study, a survey was mailed to the directors of the 104 FIDER accredited professional level programs in the United States, practitioners comprised of the internship employers of six of the FIDER accredited professional level programs in Texas, and the entry level designers hired by these employers. The samples selected for this study were not random; therefore, the results may not be generalizable to the entire population. The response rates were 39% for the faculty and 21% for the employers. Although a response rate was impossible to calculate for entry level designers, 23 surveys were received. Cronbach's alpha was utilized to compute reliability on the researcher designed surveys. The results of this test were an alpha of .90 for faculty, .88 for employers, and .91 for entry level respondents. Means, ranks, standard deviations, frequencies, percentages, and Chi-square analysis were used to analyze data collected. Additionally, nonparametric measures, the one-way ANOVA by ranked data and the Student-Newman-Keuls test, were utilized to indicate differences between groups. Significant differences among the three sample groups were noted for knowledge categories, technical knowledge content units, and building code topics. According to FIDER ratings, the level of expertise, relative to building codes, at which students have performed, was significantly higher than the level of expertise at which employers indicate entry level designers have performed. Additionally, respondents' mean scores indicated that the content unit of laws, codes, and standards was first or second in importance among content units. Implications, derived from these results, suggest that interior design curricula should better address laws and codes to enhance the performance of entry level designers in the marketplace.Item Instructional leadership: The efficacy of student performance with CSCOPE curriculum implementation(2012-05) Spinn, Gaylon C.; Carpenter, Clint; Crews, Charles R.; Wang, Eugene W.As of May 25, 2010, over 800 school districts across the state of Texas have adopted CSCOPE as their curriculum. The CSCOPE curriculum management system has become the defacto curriculum management system of choice for public schools in Texas. The purpose of this study was to evaluate, via latent growth modeling, the effects of CSCOPE curriculum implementation upon student academic performance in mathematics as measured by the Texas Assessments of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) tests. The population consisted of 4,847,844 public school students in Texas. A purposively selected sample (N=468) of Texas public school students were taught using the CSCOPE curriculum management system; the sample also included students taught using a non-CSCOPE curriculum during the study period. A priori assumption was made regarding a causal relationship between curriculum and instruction and the resulting student performance. Existing research shows that when the written, taught, and tested curriculum are tightly aligned student performance increases. There is scarce research to substantiate the effects of CSCOPE on student performance. What effect does CSCOPE as a model for a guaranteed and viable curriculum have over time on student performance in mathematics as defined by measures included in the Academic Excellence Indicator System? Results reveal that CSCOPE had a .958 of a standard deviation effect on growth in student performance in mathematics during the three year period of interest in the study. CSCOPE has a positive effect on student performance over time.Item Nursing curriculum: content needed for home health nursing care(Texas Tech University, 1998-12) Karmels, PhyllisWhen nursing education changed from apprenticeship training to college education, many nurses experienced a phenomenon termed "reality shock" because their education had not prepared them to work in hospitals. Changes in the health care system sent patients home to recover from major surgeries and complex medical problems. Therefore, much of nursing care has moved from the acute care setting to the home. Caring for these clients in the home requires new competencies as well as established nursing skills. The problem of this research was to determine what curriculum content was needed to prepare nurses for their roles in home health care. The purposes of this study were : (1) to identify curriculum content needed to prepare nurses for home health care and (2) to make recommendations for the needed curriculum changes to prepare nurses for practice in the home setting. The research questions were:(1) Do deans of baccalaureate schools of nursing and nursing directors of home health care agencies concur with the current health care literature regarding curriculum content needed to prepare graduates to function in the home setting? and (2) Is there congruence between the perceptions of deans of baccalaureate schools of nursing and nursing directors of home health care agencies regarding curriculum content needed to prepare graduates to fianction in home health care?Item Student-perceived enrollment motivation and valuing of three types of visual arts courses selected to fulfill university general education requirements(Texas Tech University, 1999-08) Fox, Julia DrinkardThis study explored the extent to which contemporary social reconstruction theory existed in university general education art offerings in 1998. The researcher executed a content analysis of the 1995-1998 issues of the two journals. The Journal of Cross-cultural and Multicultural Research in Art Education and The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education, to define social theory from the authors' perspectives. The most common themes that emerged were: (a) pluralism and multiculturalism, (b) power relationships, (c) social reconstructive critical aesthetic theory, (d) critical theory applied to technology use, and (e) implementation strategies for social reconstruction. General education's traditional affiliation with democratic ideals supports these five social theory themes. However, catalog course descriptions and sample syllabi from 19 mid-sized, public universities only provided three examples of a social theory orientation in general education art offerings. An analysis of survey responses from 449 non-art majors enrolled in general education art courses revealed that students will be more engaged in visual arts general education courses if course content emphasizes contemporary concerns and if instructors adhere to connected teaching strategies. The researcher applied descriptive statistical analysis and qualitative content analysis to survey data on student demographics, enrollment motivation, assessment of course value, attitudes toward making art, learning style, and suggestions for improvement.