Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Educational Methodology, Policy, and Leadership Theses and Dissertations by Subject "Accountability"

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    Do Dollars Matter Beyond Demographics? District Contributions to Reading and Mathematics Growth for Students with Disabilities
    (University of Oregon, 2015-08-18) Saven, Jessica; Tindal, Gerald
    Growth modeling in education has focused on student characteristics in multilevel growth accountability models and has rarely included financial variables. In this dissertation, relations of several demographic and financial characteristics of Oregon school districts to the reading and mathematics growth of students receiving special education services in Grades 3-8 were explored after accounting for student level demographic characteristics. Previous research indicated that three variables were potentially related to student growth: district level aggregated student demographics, district geography (e.g., location in a remote area), and district funding. Three sources of data were used to investigate these relationships: institutional data reported by the Oregon Department of Education, the Common Core of Data gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics, and Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test data collected as part of the National Center on Assessment and Accountability in Special Education. Multi-level models of student growth across Grades 3-8 were constructed for reading and mathematics, with time (level-1) nested within students (level-2) and districts (level-3). Results demonstrated that although student-level demographic factors account for the majority of meaningful differences in student growth, both district demographic characteristics and financial investment in students were related to growth for students who received special education services.
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    Encouraging school leadership in elementary schools
    (University of Oregon, 2008-06) Mead, Carlton R., 1963-
    The purpose of this study was to conduct, as a participant observer and district-level regional administrator, three exploratory mini-case studies of elementary schools in the same district attempting to meet the same district improvement goal, imbedded in individual School Improvement Plans (SIP) during the same period of time in the school year. In order to document how each leadership team identifies strategies to meet the goal, how strategies are implemented, how each leadership team interacts with me as their district administrator, and how performance toward meeting the goal is perceived by key actors in the school this research was conducted as an action-research case study. The inter-relationships between school goals and school leadership team behaviors in a large suburban school district and the influence of these teams on the practices of the individuals on each of the three different school teams were the primary focus of this study. This study took place beginning in December 2007 and culminating in March 2008. The researcher kept a field journal of team meetings and staff development activities at each site. Interviews were conducted with principals, teachers, and parents at each site to gain multiple perspectives of school improvement and leadership. Findings of this case study may reveal a close connection between the practices of the regional administrator and school leadership teams and the outcome of school improvement initiatives. Recommendations are made for changes in practice and for future research studies.
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    Exploring Reading Growth Profiles for Middle School Students with Significant Cognitive Disabilities
    (University of Oregon, 2017-09-27) Farley, Daniel; Stevens, Joseph
    Statewide accountability programs are incorporating academic growth estimates for general assessments. This transition focuses attention on modeling growth for students with significant cognitive disabilities (SWSCD) who take alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards (AA-AAS), as most states attempt to structure their AA-AAS systems as similarly as possible to their general assessments (GA). Test scaling, group heterogeneity, small sample sizes, missing data, and the use of status-based assessments that were not necessarily designed to measure a developmental continuum complicate modeling growth for SWSCD. This study addressed these challenges by: (a) analyzing test results from a common scale, (b) modeling achievement and growth for students in multiple demographic and exceptionality categories, and (c) using multiple cohorts to increase sample sizes. Latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) was used to define growth estimates based on exceptionality, sex, race, and economic disadvantage. Unconditional latent class growth analysis (LCGA) was used to determine the number of homogeneous subgroups that existed within the heterogeneous population of SWSCD for subsequent growth mixture modeling (GMM). Unconditional GMM was used to define the number of homogeneous subgroups of students with similar intercept and growth patterns within the overall population of SWSCD. Discriminant function analysis (DFA) including student exceptionality, sex, race, and economic disadvantage status was also used to analyze class membership post hoc. SWSCD with different exceptionalities generally had significantly different average initial achievement but growth rates that did not differ significantly from each other. SWSCD classified as economically disadvantaged performed significantly lower than their peers in initial achievement, yet exhibited growth rates that were not statistically different than the reference group. This study also found evidence for two separate latent classes of students with exceptionalities on the Oregon AA-AAS. The first class had lower achievement and larger growth rates, while the second class had higher achievement and slower growth rates. Students identified as SLD and CD were generally higher-performing, while students identified as ID, ASD, and OI were lower performing across all analytic models.