Browsing by Subject "Teacher effectiveness"
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Item A third grade bilingual teacher's knowledge and practices for developing reading comprehension(2014-09-29) Guerra, MiriamItem Does strategic human capital management impact teacher mobility and student achievement? Evidence from three years of implementation in one Texas school district(2012-05) Barkowski, Elizabeth Ann, 1980-; Lincove, Jane Arnold; Reyes, Pedro, 1954-; Heilig, Julian; Saenz, Victor; Treisman, UriMany public school districts around the nation have implemented performance pay programs to provide teachers the opportunity to earn additional pay based on measures of student achievement. These programs aim to improve student achievement and teacher effectiveness. Existing research on performance pay demonstrates no positive impact of such programs on student and teacher outcomes; however, little research assesses the impact of performance pay combined with addition supports and working condition improvements on student achievement and teacher effectiveness. This study empirically examined the impact of teacher performance pay combined with additional human capital improvements on student growth and teacher mobility in one Texas school district. The district implemented the program in only 15 of the district’s 144 schools. Nine schools implemented the full intervention, which included performance pay, teacher supports, and working condition improvements, while six schools partially implemented the program, offering teachers the opportunity to earn performance pay only. Results demonstrate that student growth was significantly, positively related to full program implementation in math and reading; yet, the magnitude of the results was small. Over time, teacher effectiveness increased on campuses that implemented the most comprehensive version of the program. Average teacher turnover rates increased on full program campuses the year before and the year after implementation; yet, the most effective teachers remained on campuses that provided performance pay and improved working conditions. Results suggest that financial incentives combined with additional human capital improvements, rather than financial incentives alone, could lead to small improvements in student achievement and teacher effectiveness in high need, urban public schools. These findings hold implications for policymakers and researchers, providing evidence on how to best design and implement school district human capital initiatives that show promise in improving student and teacher outcomes.Item Effective implementation of teacher training: is it a heuristic or an algorithmic process?(2006) Knight, Candice Elise; Weinstein, Claire EllenProviding quality education for our students is one of the great challenges of our time. In this endeavor, teachers and the quality of their instruction is key. A common mode to achieving quality instruction is training teachers to update instructional practices. Training has traditionally been evaluated by perceptions of the training itself. Yet less is known about the effectiveness of teacher training in terms of transfer into classroom practices and impacts on student learning. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the nature of implementation of teacher training (heuristic or algorithmic) and its effects on student achievement. Training with a new early elementary reading initiative, Reading First, was employed to examine (1) the influence of teacher characteristics on their implementation, (2) the potential mediating effect of the nature of implementation on the relationship between teacher characteristics and student achievement, and (3) the potential moderating effect of quality on the relationship between the nature of implementation and student achievement. These research questions were investigated in two separate studies using the same methodology, one with Englishspeaking classrooms and one with Spanish-speaking classrooms. For Research Question 1, I found that there were teacher characteristics that predicted implementation of training for both studies. Teachers’ Flexible Thinking and Autonomy Support were both associated with English-speaking classroom implementation. For Spanish-speaking classrooms, teachers’ attitude toward the program affected their implementation. For Research Question 2, I found that the nature of teachers’ implementation could predict student achievement in reading. For both studies, using the features of effective instruction had a positive impact on student achievement. For the English-language study, implementing SBRI content heuristically was associated with higher student achievement and teaching SBRI content was found to negatively impact student achievement. For Research Question 3, I found that quality of innovations does impact student achievement in reading. For the English-language study, teachers who were heuristic when teaching SBRI content, increases in student achievement depended on the quality of those innovations. For the Spanish-language study, the impact of a heuristic approach to implementation on student achievement depended on the quality of teachers’ innovations with content.Item Effective lecturing : what dimensions are important?(2006-05) Kucsera, John Vincent; Svincki, Marilla D., 1946-; Schallert, Diane L.This study investigated the dimensions of effective lecturing by exploring students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness derived from lecture courses across 35 departments at an urban university. From exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis procedures, two underlying dimensions were revealed. The dimensions appeared analogous to Joseph Lowman's proposed two-dimensional model of mastery teaching and therefore the dimensions were labeled: Intellectual Excitement and Interpersonal Rapport. Afterwards, a path analysis was utilized in order to investigate the relationship of the dimensions with a global rating item of instructor effectiveness. The results indicated that the dimension of Interpersonal Rapport accounted for 81% of the variance for overall instructor (lecturer) effectiveness.Item Effects of text, audio/video, and still images as asynchronous instructional delivery methods upon cognition and satisfaction of high school agricultural science students(Texas Tech University, 2004-05) Brashears, Michael T.The development of electronic curriculum materials holds great promise and great rewards for educators and learners alike, but little research has been conducted to determine the effectiveness of incorporating multimedia components within a electronically delivered unit of instruction. This dissertation tested the theory of cue-summation (multiple cues across multiple channels) in a high school agricultural education setting and measured the effectiveness of the instruction as well as student satisfaction and delivery method interaction with learning style. Curriculum materials were created and placed on CD-ROM for asynchronous delivery capability. Materials comprised a week-long unit of instruction on milk processing and were developed in three treatments. The first treatment consisted of text-only materials, the second consisted of text and an audio/video component and the third consisted of audio/video and still images. These three treatments represented: single cue, redundancy, and cue summation, respectively. One hundred five high school agriculture science students participated in the study. Instrumentation used included a pretest/posttest for cognition, Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) for learning style, and a researcher developed satisfaction instrument. Data were collected in the fall of 2003 and analyzed using ANOVA techniques to determine significant differences among the treatment groups. The researcher found that students scored significantly higher on the posttest when exposed to treatments containing an audio/video component, but significantly preferred treatment three (cue-summation) over treatment two (redundancy). It was also determined that learning style as measured by the GEFT produced no significant interaction effect on student performance. Recommendations include continued research as well as incorporating these findings into current curriculum development efforts for the betterment of the learners involved. Cue-summation produced student performance scores similar to redundancy but students were significantly more satisfied with the unit developed using cue-summation; therefore, the researcher recommends cue-summation be considered when developing electronic curriculum.Item Examining the relationship between communicator style and immediacy in the college classroom(Texas Tech University, 1999-08) Anderson, Karen A.Numerous factors influence a student's individual learning. It is the responsibility of educators to guide students in the best way possible. Educational research has often focused on three stages of instruction: preoperational, process, and product. Staton-Spicer and Marty-White (1981) clarify that the preoperational stage focuses on teacher characteristics, the process stage assesses the teacher's actual classroom behaviors, and the product stage examines student outcomes. A great deal of emphasis has been placed on the process-product paradigm in instructional and educational research (Sallinen-Kuparinen, 1992). Anderson, Evertson, and Brophy (1979) explain the basic goal of the process-product paradigm is "to defime relationships between what teachers do in the classroom (the process of teaching) and what happens to their students (the product of learning)" (p. 193). Although it is not feasible to account for all of the factors that may influence a student's education, instructors have the ability to impact students through their actions. Specifically, by examining our behaviors both in and out of the classroom, and exploring the influence those behaviors have on students, we are on our way to achieving the goal of guidmg our students in their educational endeavors. If we know what instructor behaviors impact students, then we will be better prepared to connect with them in a meaningful way. Therefore, this study seeks to explore educators' behaviors through examining the relationship between communicator style and immediacy in the college classroom. As the examination of literature on both subjects will illustrate, a great deal of knowledge has been accumulated, but this knowledge has been slow to influence the actual training of instructors. The goal of this study is to further define the relationship between the constructs of communicator style and immediacy in an attempt to establish a training program. Thus, this study is the first step in a long-term plan of developing a training program centered on improving instructors' communicator style through verbal and nonverbal immediacy behavior training.Item Investigating the use of value-added models for student achievement : does using multiple value-added measures lead to stronger conclusions about teacher effectiveness?(2012-05) Moore, Nicole Joanne; Osborne, Cynthia Anne, 1969-In the quest to achieve better academic outcomes for all students, the focus in education has shifted to a model of accountability. The most recent trend in the accountability movement is a focus on the effect of teachers in promoting student achievement. Research has found that teachers have the most significant school level impact on student achievement, and increases in teacher effectiveness could have major implications for the learning outcomes of students across the nation. Much of the current focus in teacher evaluation reform centers on methods through which teachers can be more accurately evaluated based on their contributions to student learning. In the push towards greater accountability for teachers, the development of measures that are both fair for teachers and lead to stronger outcomes for students are critical to seeing long-term improvements in the education system. This report explores variability and stability of value-added measures over time by looking in depth at the methods, assumptions, limitations, and implementation of the most commonly used value-added models across the country and the research about the correlations of these measures over time. This research is followed by a case study of a de-identified large urban school district implementing a teacher evaluation system that uses both a commercially produced value-added measure and an alternative student-growth measure to make high stakes decisions about teacher effectiveness. The findings from this case study show correlations that do not differ significantly from the prior research on the year-to-year variability in teacher value-added measures, but urge for continued evaluation of these measures over time, especially in high-stakes decisions. Ultimately, value-added measures are only as useful as their effectiveness in influencing the core outcomes of teaching and learning, and therefore these measures must be carefully integrated into and validated against holistic assessments of teacher effectiveness in order to truly impact student outcomes.Item Measuring teacher effectiveness through meaningful evaluation : how can reform models apply to general education and special education teachers?(2014-12) Sledge, Ann Stewart; Olivárez, RubénWhile teacher quality is recognized as a critical component in school reform, and the pursuit of new teacher evaluation systems has gained national attention, the question of whether proposed teacher assessment models meet the needs of special education teachers has gone largely unnoticed. Current efforts to design teacher evaluation processes that accurately distinguish between effective and ineffective teachers must take into account the difficulties of using new, innovative evaluation systems to appraise teachers who serve students with disabilities. Important differences in the roles, expertise, and circumstances in which special education teachers carry out their responsibilities result in challenges related to the use of observation protocols in evaluating instructional practices, obtaining valid measures of student progress, and understanding the relevance of teacher credentials (i.e., degrees earned and certification) in the special education setting. Through this qualitative research dissertation, the researcher sought to gain insight into the perceptions and experiences of special education teachers and administrators to better understand (a) the relationship between teacher evaluation and teacher effectiveness; (b) the ways in which educators approach the challenges of applying teacher evaluation systems for special education teachers; and (c) the ways in which teacher evaluation processes support the professional growth and development of special education teachers.Item The relationship between student perceptions of teachers and classrooms, teacher goal orientation toward teaching, and student ratings of teacher effectiveness(2010-05) Riekenberg, Janet Jester; Svinicki, Marilla D., 1946-; Dodd, Barbara G.; Eaton, Lynn J.; Moore, Leslie A.; Schallert, Diane L.The concept of teaching effectiveness is challenging for researchers to define. Hypothesized as a multidimensional construct, it encompasses content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, personality characteristics of the teacher, and classroom dynamics. No single dimension, trait, or behavior, however, fully captures what it means to be an effective teacher. Measures, such as peer observation, self-report surveys, and student evaluations, assess teacher effectiveness in higher education. Student evaluations of teachers (SETs) assess multiple areas, including: course content, objectives, organization, and the nature, difficulty, and value of a course; teacher preparation, enthusiasm, and subject knowledge; teacher goals for structuring classroom activities and engaging students in academic pursuits (Cashin, 1995; Feldman, 1996; Marsh, 1984; Midgley, 1998). SETs can be seen as expressions of students’ perceptions about an instructor, a course, and a class, but what influences those perceptions? One concept, classroom community, hypothesizes that students’ sense of community is influenced by the quality of interaction with their instructors, fellow students, and course content. Investigations of classroom community associate higher sense of community with more positive academic outcomes. Teachers’ goals for structuring class activities and engaging students is another concept hypothesized to influence students’ perceptions. Teachers’ goal orientation towards their own teaching is also a factor that appears to influence academic outcomes. Using goal orientation theory, Kucsera, Roberts, Walls, Walker & Svinicki (2009) identified three orientations that influence how teachers approach teaching. To date little research has explored how teacher goal orientation might influence students’ perceptions. This study examined whether there is a relationship between teachers’ goal orientation towards their teaching, students’ perceptions of teacher goals for classroom structure and student engagement, sense of community, and student ratings of teacher effectiveness. Undergraduate business communications faculty completed a survey about their goals for their own teaching while their students took a survey about their sense of community in the classroom, their perceptions of their teachers’ goals for engaging them in academic work and an end-of-semester course instructor survey. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the data. Results generally indicated that students’ perceptions are associated with SETs outcomes while teachers’ goal orientations are not.Item Teacher effectiveness in a community college: student and teacher perceptions(Texas Tech University, 1996-05) Wilhelm, James DavidThere is a disconcerting lack of research-based literature about the effective teacher in the community college. This study focused on student and teacher perceptions of teacher effectiveness. The research was conducted at a multi-site Texas community college, enrolling 5,866 students. Data were collected from a sample of 41 full-time faculty and 560 students. The survey instrument used was Marsh's Students' Evaluation of Educational Qualitv (SEEQ). Slight modifications were necessary to adapt the instrument to community college use, and faculty and student versions were administered. The students rated their teacher while the teacher also completed a self-report as a basis for comparing perceptions of instructional effectiveness. Subjects responded to 31 items on a nine-point Likert scale, with an additional option of "not applicable," to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the statements. The 31-item statements were grouped into the following 10 categories: Learning/Academic Value, Instructor Enthusiasm, Organization/Clarity, Breadth of Coverage, Examinations/Grading, Assignments/Readings, Group Interaction, Individual Rapport, Instructor Accessibility, and Overall Rating. Faculty-student comparisons were made in a number of ways. To test hypotheses regarding raters (student versus faculty), type of class (general education versus technical), and their interaction effects, two-way ANOVA procedures were conducted on teacher and student perceptions in 10 categories. To test hypotheses regarding the differences between traditional and nontraditional students, and male and female students, t-tests were conducted on students perceptions in 10 categories of instruction. The results revealed significant differences in perception between students, between students and faculty, or between types of course, in the following seven categories: Learning/Academic Value, Instructor Enthusiasm, Organization/Clarity, Examinations/Grading, Assignments/Readings, Individual Rapport, and Overall Rating.Item Teacher evaluation and resistance to change : a mixed-methods study of the Peruvian new teacher career law(2013-08) Gastanadui, Lyli Ana; Vasquez Heilig, JulianThis mixed-methods sequential explanatory study explored the causes of teachers' resistance to evaluation reform. Teachers in this study demonstrated both resistant and compliant behaviors in response to a particular evaluation policy, which also started a process for teachers to express concerns over the implementation of a new law governing teachers' careers. This research study utilized quantitative and qualitative methods for data collection and analysis, including surveys, interviews, and program documents. The responses, insights, and perspectives of 433 public school teachers provided the primary data in this study. The results indicated that the process by which the government of Peru implemented evaluation procedures negatively affected teachers' motivation toward compliance and thus impaired the success of the reform. This study also revealed that although teachers opposed evaluation, they agreed with the idea of an evaluation policy. Further, when given the opportunity to voice their opinions about evaluation procedures and the inclusion of merit pay plans into the career ladder, teachers cited overriding problems with the organizational structures in which they worked. The nullification of teachers' tenure and rights was the most important cause of teachers' resistance to evaluation-based pay plans; responses did not differ greatly between less and more experienced teachers. Finally, throughout this study it was clear that simply mandating change was not enough to successfully and effectively implement it or to achieve advances in teacher quality and student achievement.Item The use of multilevel modeling to assess teacher effectiveness within a school using TAKS scores(2010-08) Wunderlich, Ruth Levenstein; Sadun, Lorenzo Adlai; Beretvas, S. NatashaHierarchical Linear Models were used to analyze data from one Texas school and identify effective and ineffective mathematics teachers using their students’ scores on two consecutive years of the state test (TAKS) over a three-year period. A model was developed which attempted to control for student grade level, as well as whether a class was an honors course. Special attention was paid to requiring statistically significant results. Results were minimal and may lack validity. The barriers to getting better results include missing data, the small sample size of students for an individual teacher, the non-random assignment of teachers to courses, and the extent of variability in the data. Most of these are beyond the control of educators. A better way of measuring student growth could reduce variability and improve the prospects of using a data driven approach to evaluate teachers.Item Utilizing implementation data to explain outcomes within a theory-driven evaluation model(2007-12) Edmonds, Meaghan Suzanne, 1972-; Borich, Gary D.; Pituch, Keenan A.This study examined the moderating effects of teachers' implementation of a research-based comprehension intervention on a related student outcome. In addition to looking at the utility of including implementation data in a model of student outcomes, the stability of implementation ratings across occasions and the relationship between two implementation data sources (teacher logs and researcher ratings) were examined. The program featured in the study consisted of research-based comprehension strategy instruction implemented in 4th grade classrooms during social studies. Two measures of implementation -- fidelity and overall instructional quality -- did not predict student outcomes. In the tested model, a student's comprehension skills upon entering 4th grade did more to predict post-intervention comprehension achievement than did the teacher's instructional practices. Secondary analyses showed that an overall measure of teacher quality appears to be relatively reliable across only a few measurement occasions. Fidelity scores were less stable across occasions. The alternative method of collecting implementation data used in this study (audio recordings) appears to offer a viable and less costly means of obtaining implementation data. In addition, when measured at a macro level, implementation fidelity data from two sources (teacher logs and researcher ratings) were moderately correlated. Results inform future theory-driven evaluation activities by providing information on approaching the task of documenting implementation and using that information to understand program outcomes.