Teachers consider many different kinds of factors in determining student grades. They use a mix of achievement and non-achievement factors in grading decisions, to the criticism of educational measurement experts (Brookhart, 1991; Brookhart, 1993; Frary et al., 1993; Popham, 2009). The factors that influence this decision making are particularly…

Successful secondary career and technical education programs are highly dependent on the effectiveness of the instructors tasked with preparing high school students for post-secondary employment. Many of these instructors, especially those hired straight from industry, are experts in their field of study, but lack pedagogical training. Thus, the…

Lately, there has been an increased focus on the role that certification plays in the long-term performance of classroom teachers. In short, does certification matter? Many studies have analyzed the specific components and requirements of certification programs to determine which might be more predictive of long-term teaching success. This study…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the tensions between what secondary teachers think and believe about assessment and the corresponding actions they take in their classrooms. Of particular interest was the development of Teacher Assessment Identity (TAI) and the impact of experience on TAI. Survey data and semi-structured…

Over the past 40 years, a variety of school improvement initiatives have been designed and implemented in low-performing schools across the country, mostly with disappointing results. One potential explanation for the poor track record is that school leaders have too often designed improvement strategies without taking the time to understand the…

Early identification of at-risk students is a critical element of Response to Intervention (RTI) but there are few validated universal screeners for high school mathematics. This study evaluated the effectiveness of the screening system currently in use at one urban Texas public high school and compared its effectiveness to alternate screening…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the attributes or characteristics that impact a secondary teacher's credibility, as viewed by the students, while dressed in three different attire styles. Additionally, the researcher explored how the perceived attire-dependent teacher credibility impacts students' self-reported classroom behavior. The…

College readiness refers to factors that both prepare students for college and that enable them to succeed in college. According to the research, the elements that lead to college readiness include institutional academic preparation (Conley, 2008; Pike & Saupe, 2002; Schomaker, 2011; Gewerts, 2009; Adelman, 2006; Rogers, 2010; Edmund &…

The purpose of this study was to identify the impact the implementation of the Baldrige Education Criteria had on the mathematics portion of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) for eighth grade at-risk students. The three research questions (a) examined the effects the Baldrige Education Criteria had on individual institutions over…

"Voice" is widely considered to be a feature of effective writing. It's no surprise, then, that voice criteria frequently appear on rubrics used to score student essays in large-scale writing assessments. However, composition theorists hold vastly different views regarding voice and how it should be applied in the evaluation of student writing, if…

This policy analysis project is designed at uncovering specific standards that can be utilized by a school district in developing and evaluating their Type II Alternative Schools to ensure high levels of student success within their programs. While there is a substantive body of research in alternative education, there are no universally accepted…