Achievement in education

The purpose of this study was to assess the goal intent and achievement of university students, during the Fall 2011 semester, at Blue Wave University, a high research activity public institution in the southeast United States. This study merged theories of motivation to measure goal setting and goal attainment to examine if students who chose to participate in a learning community program set goals at different levels than the students who chose not to join a learning community program. This study investigated if there was a difference in motivation, by studying goal intent and goal achievement of Freshman Learning Community participants, Living- Learning community participants, or non-learning community participants at Blue Wave University. . Moderation analyses concluded that none the seven contextual variables (choice of college, ethnicity, gender, high school grade point average, living on-campus, SAT score, and ACT score) moderated the difference in the level of change from goal intent to goal achievement in this study.

This study sought to measure the impact of an evidence-based school guidance counseling curriculum. Student Success Skills (Brigman & Webb, 2010),on : (a) wellness factors for early adolescences, (b) engagement in school success skills, and (c) grades in core subject areas of language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies, reported at nine-week intervals. ... The results of this study provide a link between the collaboration between school counselors and teachers when delivering classroom guidance interventions on wellness behaviors in adolescents. More research in needed on the impact of school counseling curriculum programs on early adolescent wellness, engagement in school success strategies, and improved academic achievement.

The purpose of this study was to determine if middle school student scientific understanding could be predicted by the variables: standardized 5th grade score in science, standardized 5th grade score in mathematics, standardized 5th grade score in reading, student attitude towards science, socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity. The areas of the comprehensive literature review were trends in science learning and teaching, research in the K-12 science education arena, what factors have influenced K-12 science education, scientific understanding, what research has been done on K-12 scientific understanding, and what factors have influenced science understanding in the K-12 arenas. Based on the results of the literature review, the researcher of this study examined a sample of middle school 8th grade students. An Attitude Towards Science Survey (SATS) Simpson & Oliver (1990) and a Survey of Scientific Understandings (Klapper, DeLucia, & Trent, 1993) were administered to these 116 middle school 8th grade students drawn from a total population of 1109 who attend this middle school in a typical county in Florida during the 2010- 2011 school year. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test each sub-hypothesis and to provide a model that attempted to predict student scientific understanding. Seven null sub-hypotheses were formed to determine if there were significant relationships between student scientific understanding and the abovementioned variables. The results of the tests of the seven null sub-hypotheses showed that the sub-hypothesis that involved socioeconomic status was rejected, which indicated that the socioeconomic status of a family does influence the level of scientific understanding of a student.

The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Spanish cultural translation of the Student Success Skills (SCT-SSS) classroom program as a school counselor intervention for increasing Hispanic student academic achievement scores as measured by standardized mathematics and reading tests. The research question evaluated in this study was: "What is the effect of student participation in the SCT-SSS on student achievement of high school Hispanic students in reading and mathematics as measured by Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT)"? The sample for this study included 352 Hispanic students in Grades 9 and 10 from two public high schools in south Florida. The treatment group included 166 students and the comparison group included 186 students. In order to be eligible for participation in this study, students had to meet three different criteria: (a) they identified themselves as Hispanic on their school registration form; (b) they were enrolled in a Spanish for Native Speakers foreign language elective course: and (c) they had Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) pretest scores on the reading and math tests. A series of preliminary univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to determine if differences existed between participants on the FCAT reading and mathematics pretests Developmental Scale Scores (DSS). To control for grade level and English language learner (ELL) differences between study participants on pretest reading scores, a univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted using the FCAT reading pretest DSS as the covariate. An overall effect size of the current study was +0.50 with a variance of 0.0060 (95% CI [0.35, 0.65]).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of using learner self-assessment and multifaceted instructional strategies on student achievement and retention in online mathematics classes. The study used a quasi-experimental design. The study sample consisted of 35 students who were enrolled during the fall term 2010 in online Precalculus or Trigonometry classes at Palm Beach State College. Both treatment and comparison groups were taught by the researcher. Since the subjects in the study were not randomly assigned, the design was one of nonequivalent groups where the treatment group was compared to a similar group from the previous year. To limit researcher bias, the course exams were the same for both treatment and comparison groups. Five hypotheses were developed to examine the relationships between preferred learning strategies, the use of online tools, and achievement and retention. The five hypotheses were investigated with the following procedures respectively: ANOVA, linear regression, Pearson correlations, t-test and chi-square, and linear regression analysis with dichotomously coded variables. The findings indicated that the ATLAS groups did not show a preference for online tools, except for ebook. In addition, the use of most tools predicts achievement. The ebook is the only tool that is not significantly related to all the other tools. Achievement was not significantly different among treatment and comparison groups, but retention was. Retention for the treatment group surpassed retention for the comparison group by 15%. Results also pointed out that the ATLAS groups moderate the relationship between some of the online tools predicting achievement.

This quantitative study investigated the relationship between high school social studies teachers' reading professional development through Project CRISS: Creating Independence through Student-Owned Strategies (CRISS) and the implementation of active reading strategies in the classroom. Quantitative data were collected through an online survey in order to provide a comprehensive picture of high school social studies teachers' self-reported classroom practices relating to the use of active prereading, during-reading, and postreading strategies. Additionally, the survey asked teachers to self-report their observations of student independent implementation of the same active reading strategies. These data were used to provide an in-depth look that expanded on high school social studies teachers' self-reported classroom practices relating to reading. The results of this study indicated that there was no significant relationship between teachers' reading professional development through CRISS and their self-reported classroom practices in the implementation of active pre-, during, and postreading strategies. Further findings indicated no significant relationship between teachers' reading professional development through CRISS and their self-reported observations of student independent implementation of the same active reading strategies. Lastly, there were no correlations that indicated that years teaching in the classroom moderated these relationships. Implications and suggestions for future research were offered for future reading professional development for secondary teachers and educational researchers who intend to utilize survey instruments.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of the Haitian Hybrid Student Success Skills (HHSSS) program on the academic achievement of 4th and 5th grade Haitian students. This intervention included both the Student Success Skills (SSS) classroom program in English (Brigman & Webb, 2004), followed by the Haitian SSS small group translation Teknik Pou Ede Eláev Reyisi (Brigman, Campbell, & Webb 2004, 2009). School counselors in the treatment schools implemented the HHSSS program in grades 4 and 5 after receiving training from the study researcher. A series of ANOVA and ANCOVA analyses then were conducted to determine whether there were significant differences between the treatment group, the comparison group 1, and the comparison group 2 in reading and math using the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) as a benchmark. Statistically significant differences were found between: (a) the treatment group and comparison group 1 in reading, (b) the treatment group and vii comparison group 2 in reading, and (c) between both comparison group 1 and comparison group 2 in reading. This study provides empirical support showing that students who are taught key cognitive and self management skills in their native language can begin to close the academic gap regardless of their language background. Furthermore, it supports the positive impact school counselors can have on student success by implementing an evidence-based program.

This study examined the relationship between selected student and institutional characteristics and the retention rates of first-time, degree seeking, full-time and parttime, freshman student cohorts in public community colleges in Florida. Based on data obtained from the Integrated Post-Secondary Data System on selected student and institutional variables for three years beginning fall 2005, 2006 and 2007, retention rates were analyzed for the years beginning fall 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively. This quantitative non-experimental descriptive study relied on multiple regression to analyze aggregated data on eight predictor variables to determine their impact student retention rates. A moderating variable (institutional size) was used to determine its influence on the relationship between the predictor variables and the criterion variable. The results suggest that gender and age were positively related to student retention rate at the parttime level, academic support expenses were negatively related to student retention rates at the part-time and full-time levels, and institutional size moderated the relationship between certain predictor variables and retention rates at small institutions.

This mixed-methodology study examined the effect of using Electronic textbook highlight and animation tools on the knowledge and comprehension achieved by10th grade students. Eighty-two students enrolled in a regular World History course were purposefully selected and assigned to 1 of 4 groups: (a) Highlight, (b) Animation, (c) Highlight-and-Animation, or (d) Comparison. A One-Way ANCOVA with a Bonferroni Adjusted Alpha was used in analyzing the results of the knowledge and comprehension World History pretest and posttest that were administered. A Factorial ANCOVA with a Bonferroni Adjusted Alpha was used in analyzing the influence of the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) moderator. Using the eEdition World History textbook tools of highlight and animation did not significantly impact the World History knowledge and comprehension scores achieved by participants and the participant's SRI level did not significantly moderate the relative effectiveness of the conditions. Interview data from 3 Student Focus groups and 1 Teacher Focus group were analyzed with an open exploratory coding strategy. The resulting classification code of "ease of use" was characterized by: (a) time required to learn to use the tools, and (b) time to complete the tasks. A second code, "choice" was characterized by: (a) choice of instruction tools, and (b) choice in monitoring and assessing student activity. The focus groups indicated that they would use the tools in the future due to benefits such as the ability to modify the information to match their learning and instructional preferences. They also stressed that more instruction on the use of eEdition tools was needed.

This study explored the effects of Problem-Based Leaning (PBL) with webanchored instruction in nanotechnology on the science conceptual understanding, the attitude towards science, and the perception of science in society of elementary students. A mixed-methods approach was used. Subjects (N=46) participated in the study for approximately two and a half weeks. A pretest was administered for science conceptual understanding and for attitude towards science. An intervention, web-based nanotechnology anchor, Catching the Rays, followed. Catching the Rays navigated subjects through a nano quest on sunscreen. After the intervention, a posttest was administered for each science conceptual understanding and attitude towards science. Following, a purposeful selection of interviewees (N=6) participated in a Nano Post- Interview. Pretest/posttest data were analyzed using a paired t test. Results of the paired t test for science conceptual understanding (post- being larger than pre-, p <. 01) and attitude towards science (post- being larger than pre-, p < .01) were significant at the p < .05 alpha level. Nano Post-Interview data were coded and analyzed independently by two raters for emerging themes. Two themes of "Risks and Benefits" and "Solves Problems" emerged from subjects' (N=6) responses to perception of science in society questions. The theme of "Risks and Benefits" strongly suggests that subjects have a positive perception that nanotechnology comes with risks and benefits to society. The theme of "Solves Problems" strongly suggests subjects have a positive perception that nanotechnology is governed by society's needs and is used to help solve society's problems. Findings from this study suggest that PBL with web-anchored instruction in nanotechnology had a positive effect on subjects' science conceptual understanding, attitude towards science, and perception of science in society.