Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2757
Browse
7 results
Search Results
Item Can grit fix the achievement gap? An investigation of grit's conceptual uniqueness and predictive value in diverse student achievement(2016) Riley, Lynsey W; O'Neal, Colleen R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Grit, defined as “perseverance and passion for long-term goals,” is considered an important noncognitive factor for promoting academic achievement and closing the racial achievement gap. School-based policy and intervention work, however, is getting ahead of the grit research. Specifically, it is unclear to what extent grit overlaps with existing noncognitive variables as a construct and measure. It is also unclear whether grit predicts later achievement when accounting for other noncognitive variables, and if grit and other noncognitive variables predict achievement differently for students from different demographic backgrounds. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis within a self-regulation framework, I evaluated grit’s conceptual and operational overlap with similar noncognitive factors of engagement, emotion regulation, and growth mindset in an ethnically diverse 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade student sample (N = 192). Using structural equation modeling, I tested if grit predicted literacy achievement 1-3 months later, in a model also adjusting for similar noncognitive factors and for previous (Time 1) literacy achievement. Finally, I compared the predictive model by age, ethnic group, and bilingual status to determine which noncognitive factors predicted literacy outcomes for which groups of students. Results indicated that, among diverse elementary school students, grit and other noncognitive constructs are not lower-order factors of an overarching self-regulation construct. Grit was moderately related to, yet distinct from, growth mindset and emotion regulation, while it overlapped excessively with engagement. Grit and engagement as a joint construct did predict later literacy achievement, but not after controlling for previous literacy achievement. Relations among grit, engagement, and literacy achievement were different for ethnic and linguistic groups, but again these differences were eliminated after controlling for previous literacy achievement. Research lacks compelling evidence that grit, at least as it is currently measured, is a relevant predictor of diverse students’ short-term literacy outcomes. Researchers and educators are thus cautioned against focusing on grit as an assessment or academic intervention tool for improving ethnic minority or bilingual students’ reading; a focus on previous achievement and building literacy skills continues to be best practice for promoting future literacy achievement.Item Elementary Teachers' Grading Practices: Does the Reality Reflect the Rubric?(2011) Shanahan, Katherine Bruckman; Gottfredson, Gary D; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Report cards are the primary way that teachers, students, and parents communicate about student achievement in the classroom. Although many school districts develop rubrics to guide teacher grading practices, most research finds that in reality, grades represent a hodgepodge of factors that vary across teachers and across school systems. The current study investigates student factors that explain variance in elementary report card grades in a suburban school district. The sample includes 4th and 5th grade students (N = 8,555) and their classroom teachers (N = 374) from 45 schools. Multilevel structural equation models, with students nested within classrooms, tested two models describing variance in report card grades. One model included the factors listed on the school system grading rubric along with additional factors thought to be related to grades (non-rubric model). An alternative, nested, model included only the factors from the grading rubric (rubric model). Results suggested that the non-rubric model provided a better fit for the data, but effects for the additional non-rubric factors were uniformly small.Item An Examination of Parental Variables, Ecological Factors, and the Academic Achievement of African American Male Students(2009) Hines, Erik M.; Holcomb-McCoy, Cheryl C; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The achievement gap between African American males and their peers has been documented in the literature. This research study examined the influence of parenting styles, parental variables, and ecological factors on the academic achievement of African American males. The sample was taken from two high schools in the northeast section of the United States and 153 African American male students between grades eleven and twelve participated in this study. The results of this study showed no significant relationship between parenting styles and the academic achievement. In addition, father's level of monitoring academic activities, mother expectations, and the number of parents in the home are significantly related to parenting styles. Moreover, results showed father's education level and two-parent homes are a positive predictor of grade point average while father expectations is a negative predictor of grade point average.Item The Influences of Classroom Characteristics and Teacher-Student Relations on Student Academic Achievement(2009) Vu, Phuong Anna; Gottfredson, Gary D; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examines close teacher-student relations, classroom characteristics, and interaction effects on student academic grades and standardizes achievement scores. Classroom characteristics including teacher instructional practices, class mean teacher-student relationships, and a classroom index of academic risk are evaluated for their influence on student achievement. The participants are 24,328 students (kindergarten through fifth grade) nested within 946 classrooms from 45 public schools in Virginia. Multilevel analysis tests the student- and classroom-level associations separately for each grade level. Results indicate that close teacher-student relations and teacher self-reported use of good instructional practices predicts positive student academic achievement. Interaction results indicate that the association between close teacher-student relations and student achievement is slightly stronger in classrooms with more academic risk, according to the models examined.Item The Effects of School-Based Social Skills Programming on Academic Instruction Time and Student Achievement(2009) Nese, Joseph F.; Gottfredson, Gary D; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purposes of this study are to examine: (a) the effects of a well-implemented, school-based, universal social skills intervention on time-spent in formal social skills instruction and academic instruction time in the classroom; and (b) the effects of time-spent in formal social skills instruction on student achievement. Twelve elementary schools were matched and one school of each pair was randomly assigned to the treatment. The sample included 1,724 students in 113 third, fourth, and fifth grade classrooms with low rates of social-behavioral problems. Multilevel data analyses (HLM) methods were used to investigate the school-based treatment effect of social skills programming on academic instruction time as well as the classroom-level effect of social skills instruction on student achievement. Results indicated that treatment students received significantly more formal instruction in social skills, and that the frequency of formal social skills instruction had a very small, negative effect on students' report card grades and standardized test scores when lessons were 30 minutes or less in duration. The effects were not consistent and were so small as to have little theoretical or practical significance. Research and policy implications are discussed.Item A quasi-experimental evaluation of reading and special education outcomes for English Language Learners in Instructional Consultation Teams schools(2007-07-10) Silva, Arlene E.; Rosenfield, Sylvia; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The present quasi-experimental study used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to investigate whether the Instructional Consultation (IC) Team model differentially influences fourth and fifth grade state reading achievement test scores, and English Language Learner (ELL) student scores in particular. Correlations among student-, classroom-, and school-level variables and special education placement were also explored using HLM. Archival data from 11 IC Teams "treatment" schools and 17 nonequivalent "control" schools in a mid-Atlantic state were analyzed in both students-within-schools and classrooms-within-schools multilevel models, with appropriate controls specified for classroom and school compositional effects. Although students-within-schools HLM models of reading achievement were not significant, classrooms-within-schools models indicated that classrooms in IC Teams schools had significantly higher class average reading achievement test scores (ES = .36) compared to classrooms in control schools. Neither the students-within-schools nor classrooms-within-schools HLM models found IC Teams to differentially influence reading achievement for ELL students. In addition, classrooms-within-schools results indicate that classrooms in general and classrooms with higher percentages of ELL students tended to have lower percentages of students placed in special education in IC Teams schools. The presence of significant effects at the classroom level may indicate that the classroom is a better unit of analysis for investigating the effectiveness of the IC Team model during the first two to three years of implementation, when its greatest impact may be on teacher, as opposed to student, improvement. Despite its limitations, the present study represents the most rigorous investigation of the effect of IC Teams on student reading achievement to date, and serves as a foundation for future research using HLM to investigate the effects of the IC Team model on student and classroom outcomes.Item Early Elementary Influences on Student Engagement in Learning(2006-12-11) Nese, Joseph F; Gottfredson, Gary D; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Student engagement is a process that combines the attention, interest, investment, and effort students expend in work towards learning. Studies have shown that engagement leads to academic achievement and that disengaged students have lower scores on achievement tests and a higher probability of dropping out of school (Connell et al. 1994; Finn et al., 1995; Marks, 2000). The goal of this study was to probe the validity of an explicit predictive model of the antecedents of engagement involving measures of prior achievement, ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic status, and parent involvement and the total effect of these variables decomposed into direct and indirect (via engagement) effects on academic achievement. Results indicate that a self-report measure of engagement was found to predict achievement for a sample of 676 third grade students but that engagement had no incremental validity in predicting achievement. The construct validity of engagement and parent involvement measures are discussed.