Academic literature on the topic 'Secondary school teachers. Secondary school students. High school teachers Mathematics Education, Secondary Academic achievement'

This study aimed to reveal the Impact of Van Heil's model in developing abstract thinking among10th grade students in South Hebron Education Directorate. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, the researcher used the experimental method, as the study was applied during the first semester of 2020/2021 academic year. The study population consisted of all the 10th-grade students who are registered in South Hebron Education Directorate, who are (2,967) students. The study was applied to an intentional sample that consisted of (44) female students from Dura Girls' Vocational Secondary School divided into two divisions, where one of the two divisions was considered an experimental group and the other was a control group, and each group reached (22) students. The experimental group was taught the Geometry construction unit in the10thgrade mathematics course using Van Heil's model, and the control group taught the same unit using the regular method. The researchers prepared a tool of abstract thinking. The validity and reliability of the test was verified by appropriate methods. The statistical analysis software (SPSS) was used to analyze the results of the study, by using analysis of covariance test (ANCOVA). The results revealed the existence of statistically significant differences in the students' scores in the test of the level of abstract thinking according to teaching method variable, and in favor of the experimental group, the results revealed the presence of statistically significant differences in the test of the level of abstract thinking due to academic achievement variable, in favor of the group with high achievement, also the presence of statistically significant differences in the test of the level of abstract thinking due to interaction between method of teaching and level of academic attainment, in favor of the students with high achievement in the experimental group. In light of the results, the researchers recommended the necessity of employing Van Heil's model in teaching Geometry units, the importance of training mathematics teachers to use it in teaching Geometry in mathematics courses is also recommended by the researcher, the researcher also recommended the need to conduct more studies on Van Heil's model using other dependent variables such as: generative thinking and trends towards Geometry or towards the model.

Message from EditorDear Colleagues;It is a great honour for us to welcome you as Editor of Cypriot Journal of Educational Sciences, whichhas accepted publications indexed in qualified databases since 2006. Our main aim is to increase thequality of the journal day by day. We are ready to publish the new issue of Cypriot Journal ofEducational Sciences, which has eight articles with authors from various countries. The aim of thisissue is to give the researchers an opportunity to share their academic studies.A total number of ten (43) manuscripts were submitted for this issue and each paper hasbeen subjected to double-blind peer review process by the reviewers specialized in therelated field. At the end of the review process, a total number of thirteen (16) high qualityresearch papers were selected and accepted for publication.First of all, I would like to thank all authors who have contributed to this issue . The focuses of thearticles are varied. Bekir Yildirim, Cumhur Turk The effectiveness of argumentation-assisted STEMpractices, Mensure Alkis Kucukaydin Application of writing-to-learn in science to primary schoolstudents, Cavide Demirci, Erhan Yavaslar Active learning: let’s make them a song, Evren Ersoy Therole of perceived parental attitudes and self-esteem in predicting secondary school students’depression, Parisa Abdolrezapour The relationship between emotional intelligence and complexity,accuracy and fluency in EFL learners’ oral performance, Haci Huseyin Tasar The analysis of articlesand thesis published on school-based management in Turkey, Hatice Altunkaya Speech anxiety inguidance and psychological counselling department students, James Adebayo Esan Effect of circuitstrength training programme on waist-to-hip ratio of college students, Nilay Kayhan, Pelin PistavAkmese Examining the game teaching in special education teacher training in Turkey andEuropean Union Member States, Mandina Shadreck Comparative effect of two problem-solvinginstructional strategies on students’ achievement in stoichiometry, Mohammad Ahmad Alkhateeb,The degree practices for mathematics teachers STEM education, Tugba Selanik-Ay, Nil DubanMedia literacy from the eyes of children: an interdisciplinary approach, Ulas Kubat To STEM or notto STEM? That is not the question, Florence Adeoti Yusuf, Ayoade Ejiwale Okanlawon, ValentineDavid Metu Lecturers’ perspectives on enhancing university graduates’ employability in Nigeria,Maria Bella. Christina Evaggelinou Theatrical play and social skills development: teachers’perspectives on educating autistic students, Nur Demirbas-Celik Happiness in high school students:autonomy, relatedness, competence and meaning in life.The topics of the next issue will be different. You can make sure that we will be trying to serveyou with our journal with a rich knowledge in which different kinds of topics are discussed in2018 Volume.I would like to present many thanks to all the contributors who helped to publish this issue.Best Regards,Prof. Dr. Huseyin UzunboyluEditor in Chief

Moral reasoning is mainly focusing on making right decisions to do right activities and exhibit good behaviour of school students in a particular situation and it provides chances for them to discover and realize values, to build character and to improve personality. The findings reveal that there exits significant difference amongst moral reasoning of secondary school students and their profile. Moral reasoning is positively and moderately related with academic achievement of secondary school students. Hence, secondary school teachers should give proper guidance to their secondary school students for improving their moral reasoning and ethical and moral behaviours. Parents must provide conducive home environment for their secondary school students to enhance their abilities for moral reasoning and academic achievement. Furthermore, secondary school teachers should interact, discuss and exchange ideas regularly with their secondary school students for increasing their moral reasoning and academic achievement. Peer groups and family members must also give moral support to their secondary school students for improving their moral reasoning and academic achievement. In addition, secondary schools should conduct various programmes for enhancing moral reasoning and academic achievement among their secondary school students.

The unsatisfactory students’ performance in school subjects in Nigerian secondary schools has been blamed on teachers’ quality and professional development suggested as a remedy. Hence, this study examined the effects of teacher collaboration on students’ academic achievement in mathematics. The study adopted pretest-posttest-control group quasi-experimental design involving a 2x2 factorial matrix. The sample for the study consisted of one hundred and thirty-five (135) students from two intact classes and five teachers of the two junior secondary schools purposively selected for the study. Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT), a researcher-developed instrument with reliability coefficient of 0.86 was used to collect data. The collected data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results indicated significant difference in the effect of teachers’ group (collaboration and isolation) on students’ achievement in mathematics. Also, the study found no significant effect of students’ age on academic achievement in Mathematics. Additionally, the finding revealed no significant interaction effect of teachers’ group and students’ age on academic achievement in Mathematics. Based on the findings, the study recommended among other that government should restructure the school hours to cater for teacher collaboration activities and that workshops should be organised for teachers on the importance of teacher collaboration as a means of professional development.

The study investigated the reported regressive performances of students in spatial reasoning concepts with a view to promote early spatial reasoning of lower primary school pupils across ability levels and sex. Non-equivalent experimental research design was employed. A hundred and five (105) pupils in four intact classes were exposed to six weeks intervention and subsequently post-tested. Data collected were analyzed using Analysis of Covariance. The study found significant effect of treatment on the performance of study participants in the ICT-integrated Think-Pair-Share treatment group. No significant interactive effect of ability was found though, the pupils of low-ability group benefitted more from the intervention (M = 12.32, 11.07; SD = 2.86, 2.98). There was no significant different of intervention between boys and girls across strategies and abilities. The study concluded that, while ICT-integrated learning strategies could improve output in spatial concepts of pupils at the primary school level, performances on the basis of sex-groups and ability groups have no significant interaction effect on the learners of spatial reasoning. Keywords: performance, spatial reasoning, treatment, strategies, ability group, think-pair-share, concrete-representation-abstract, learners’-self-controlled.INTRODUCTIONEarly graft of mathematic ability has been ascertained to predict later mathematical achievement and related endeavors in life [6]. Hence, the promotion of early mathematic competency is of critical importance. Established link between spatial ability and mathematics in early childhood by neuropsychological and brain imaging studies and behavioral evidences potent that math performance can be improved with spatial reasoning. Nigeria’s experience in local, national and international examinations show dwindling performances of examinees traceable to substantiated inefficient score in spatial reasoning items consistently featured [5, 1] in such standardized examinations. This was interpreted to mean that, children understanding of space pattern is necessary and demanded by the curriculum. The advent of information and communication technology (ICT) eulogized as potentially powerful and enabling tool for education change and reform is hereby engaged in learning delivery for comparative analysis of performance in learning spatial concepts among primary school pupils. METHODOLOGYNon-equivalent pretest, posttest and control group research design was adopted. The population consisted of 357,533 pupils’ enrolled in 1, 378 primary schools in Osun State (Daily Independent, 2013) characterized with male and female learners of varied academic abilities. Study sample was eked out using purposive and multi-stage sampling techniques. Primary III class was purposively selected based on the learners' age (6 – 8 years) limit in early childhood. Four schools with 105 intact class pupils were multi-stage sampled in the three major towns of the state considering available facilities for the study. Research instruments included Spatial Reasoning for Children (SpatReC), an interactive, multimedia package designed using C-Sharp (C#) programming language and follows the taxonomy based on Benjamin Blooms’ principles as revised by Anderson and Krathwohl in [8]; and Spatial Reasoning Test (SRT) used for pretest and posttest. Instruments, in a previous study [1] were adjudged validity and reliable. Learners in their intact classes were randomly assigned to study conditions namely; the three experimental groups and the one control group; three levels of cognitive ability groups - high, medium and low; and two sex groups - male and female. The intervention took forty minutes of Mathematics periods for three days in a week and six weeks in each of the schools excluding tests. ANALYSIS:Tests for significant interaction effect of treatment on groups were conducted. Result shows the test of equality of means to be significantly equal (t = 2.003, p - 0.05) in favor of equal variance assumed. The study’s subjects were thus adjudged to be reliably homogeneous (Table 1).Table 1: Test for Difference in the Participating group’s Post-test Scorest-test for Equality of MeanstdfSig.(2-tailed)Mean DifferenceStd. Error Difference95% Confidence Interval of the DifferenceLowerUpperEqual variances assumed2.003103.0481.253.626.0122.494Furthermore, the post-test scores of the research participants were subjected to a test of difference via analysis of covariance using their experimental groups as the differentiating variable and the pre-test scores as the covariate to remove the possible effect of previous learning and other confounds. The result showed significant difference in the post-test scores (F = 2.934, p - .05). It also showed from the table that, the R-squared value was 0.080 and the Adjusted R squared value stood at 0.053. This can be interpreted to mean that the maximum variance in the post test score is quite small. So other possible factors which might explain the difference in the post test scores and interact with the effectiveness of the learning strategies were sought after (Table 2).Table 2:Post-Test of Difference of Treatments Tests of Between-Subjects Effects - Dependent Variable: post test scoreSourceType III Sumof SquaresDfMean SquareFSig.Corrected Model96.677a332.2262.934.037Intercept34388.204134388.2043131.034.000GRP96.677332.2262.934.037R Squared = .080 (Adjusted R Squared = .053)The source of difference was located between the CRTL group and the CRA group (Table 3). It can be concluded that there exists significant difference among the learning strategies in improving performances.Table 3: Multiple Comparisons Post hoc TestDependent Variable: post-test score Tukey HSD(I) Treatment(J) TreatmentMean Difference(I-J)Std. ErrorSig.95% Confidence IntervalLower BoundUpper BoundCTRLTPS.413.924.970-2.002.83LSC.514.960.950-1.993.02CRA2.514*.960.049.015.02* The mean difference is significant at the 0.05 level.Would there be any interactive effect of intervention between various academic ability pupils by virtue of learning strategies? To answer this question, the post-test scores of the research participants were subjected to a test of difference via analysis of covariance. Result shown in Table 4 revealed that there is no significant interaction effect of experimental groupings and ability levels on the post-test scores (F = 1.440, p > .05). In this stance therefore, the research question is answerable in the negative.Table 4: Test of Difference of Treatment and Ability in Post-test Tests of Between-Subjects Effects Dependent Variable: post test scoreSourceType III Sum of SquaresDfMean SquareFSig.Corrected Model113.502a716.2151.440.198Intercept28102.188128102.1882495.206.000GRP * ability113.502716.2151.440.198a. R Squared = .094 (Adjusted R Squared = .029)Lastly, could any difference in performance result from variation in sexes? Despite the slight differences in group sizes, no significant difference in the performance on the basis of sex-groups (value = 0.186, > 0.05) was found. It as well showed that, there was no significant interaction found between groups and sex in describing performance of pupils in spatial reasoning (F = 0.030, p > 0.05) (Table5).Table 5: Test of Difference on Post-test in Treatment / Sex Groups DescriptivePost test scoreNMeanStd. DeviationStd. Error95% Confidence Interval for MeanMin.Max.dffsigLower BoundUpper BoundMale4118.153.190.49817.1419.1511281.030.862Female6418.273.560.44517.3819.151226103Total10518.223.405.33217.5618.881128104DISCUSSION - CONCLUSION:The application of ICT unto learning strategies was with a view to improve performance in spatial concepts in pupils of low and high ability at the primary school level. Notable results included significant effect of treatment on performance at the removal of possible effect of previous learning and other confounds. This discovery agrees with [3] whose study established that particular intervention in the experimental group might increase learner’s motivation and in turn lead to higher achievement levels for learners in the experimental group than for those in the control group. [2, 4] also found particular learning strategies - conceptual learning strategy and online tool substantially increasing math performance growth in separate studies. Ability levels’ effect on academic achievement as investigated indicated no significance in the post-test scores even after controlling for the previous learning through the pre-test. This result was at variance to [7] study on game-based learning (GBL) which found that, many students with low confidence toward learning mathematics can be restored and improve their confidence toward mathematics. Conclusively, performances on the basis of sex-groups and ability groups have no significant interaction found between ICT-integrated strategy learners of spatial reasoning. REFERENCES Adeleke, A. G. (2015) Comparative Effectiveness of ICT-Integrated Learners’-Self-Controlled, Concrete-Representational-and Think-Pair-Share Strategies in Enhancing Spatial reasoning Skills of Primary School Pupils in Osun State. A Doctoral Dissertation Submitted to Postgraduate College, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Adeleke, M. A. (2007) Strategic Improvement of Mathematical Problem-solving Performance of Secondary School Students using Procedural and Conceptual Learning Strategies. Educational Research and Review Vol. 2 (9), pp.259-263. Alrabai, F. (2014) The Effects of Teachers’ In-Class Motivational Intervention on Learners’ EFL Achievement. Applied Linguistics. 2014 Oxford University Press.Haelermans, C. - Ghysels, J. (2014) The Effect of an Individualized Online Practice Tool on Math Performance - Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment.Jegede, P. O., Adelodun, O. A. - Okoli, B. C. (1998) Evaluation of Test Characteristics of UME Mathematics Items in the Context of Bloom’s Taxonomic Categories. Journal of Creativity in Teaching for the Acquisition and Dissemination of Effective Learning (CITADEL) Vol.3 (6) pp.233-241.Krajewski, K - Schneider, W. (2009) Early development of quantity to number-word linkage as a precursor of mathematical school achievement and mathematical difficulties: Findings from a four-year longitudinal study. Learning and Instruction, 19(6), 513-526. Ku, O., Chen, S.-Y., Wu, D.-H., Lao, A.-C.-C., - Chan, T.-W. (2014). The Effects of Game-Based Learning on Mathematical Confidence and Performance: High Ability vs. Low Ability. Educational Technology - Society, 17 (3), 65–78.Wilson, L. O. (2013) Understanding the New Version of Bloom’s Taxonomy - A succinct discussion of the revisions of Bloom’s classic cognitive taxonomy by Anderson and Krathwohl and how to use them effectively. Available at http://www4.uwsp.edu/education/ lwilson/curric/newtaxonomy.htm

Good handwriting serves as a primary tool of communication and knowledge assessment for students in classroom. Though computer and e- mail play an important role in our lives, nothing will ever replace the sincerity and individualism expressed through handwritten words. Our education system stress on student’s handwriting at primary level by introducing books like cursive writing, ruled notes and handwritten works. But as they upgrade, impact on handwriting slowly vanishes among students mainly at secondary level where they are stressed and deviated towards rote learning as a medium to fetch marks. But at this point we forget that only an aesthetic handwriting is a vehicle to impress and deliver our thoughts in the mind of evaluator, particularly when the evaluator is a stranger in case of public exams. This article is an attempt to find out the perception on handwriting among ninth standard school students and its influence on their academic achievement. This study has revealed that there is an impact of handwriting on academic achievement. Thereby it is stressed that handwriting should be given equal importance while teachers prepare their students for academic achievement.

AbstractSchool satisfaction is a key indicator of education quality in addition to academic achievement and student’s coping efficacy, as well as an important factor to prevent school dropout. The primary aim of this study was to investigate how high-school students’ school identification and self-efficacy were associated with school satisfaction. The study included controls for gender, education programme and parental education level. A self-report questionnaire was administered to high-school students at three upper secondary schools in Norway. The sample included 794 first year students. No respondents refrained from participating in the study. Most of the students in the study were satisfied with school. The current study underscores the importance of school identification. School identification was found to be more important for the students’ school satisfaction than self-efficacy. Moreover, according to the results, teachers’ social identity leadership appears to play an important role in students’ school satisfaction. The findings imply that the teachers’ social identity leadership is imperative in classroom management.

The article has critically assessed the information sent to the public, including teachers, on the results of external examinations contained in the Central Examination Board (CEB) reports. Basing on the analysis of two sources of information decoded from the CEB reports and the analysis of the database containing the results of examinations, 93% of lower secondary school students, it has been showed that about half of the population "failed" the lower secondary school exam in science and mathematics. Therefore they should not continue their high school education. The analysis of data decoded from the CEB report is in line with the results obtained from 93% of students. Therefore, it is advisable to conduct similar analyzes of contemporary CEB reports on students achievement after the new primary school which is operating in the new education system after liquidation of junior high schools.

There is a predominant belief in literature and school practice that high school achievement is an important precondition for optimal professional development and success in life, as well as that school failure is a problem that should be dealt with preventively. The goal of this paper is to shed light on the problem of school underachievement from the perspective of students who are positioned as underachievers in educational discourse. The following questions are especially important: whether underachievers recognize the importance of high school achievement for success in life, as well as which constructs are the core and which the peripheral ones in their construct system. Research participants were 60 students from the third grade of secondary school who failed three or more subjects during the school year or at the end of classification periods. Interview and Implications Grid were applied in the research. The results indicate that the most important life priorities of students are the following: acceptance by friends, school completion, school success, love and happiness. It was established that the construct acceptance by friends as opposed to rejection by friends is the core construct for success in life in the construct system of underachievers. The paper points out to the importance of appreciation of personal meanings of school achievement and initiation of dialogue between teachers and students in preventing and overcoming school underachievement.

This paper reports a study on mathematics teachers’ perceptions of the Matura mathematics exam in Croatia. The study focuses on the suitability of mathematics school textbooks for students’ preparation for the exams, the complexity of the tasks in the exams, the grading and scoring of the exams, and teachers’ level of satisfaction with student achievement. The study used a convenience sampling method. It was conducted through a questionnaire administered to 308 upper secondary mathematics teachers. The findings showed that teachers do not perceive school textbooks as suitable resources to prepare for the higher level exam. Furthermore, the teachers believe that the test length is not appropriate i.e., the time given to students for the higher level exam is insufficient. On average they are satisfied with their students’ results, but are undecided about the criteria and scoring of the Matura. Vocational school teachers showed more dissatisfaction with the requirements and outcomes of the Matura exam compared to grammar school teachers. The results of this empirical study can be taken as a good starting point for re-assessing the requirements of the Matura exam in mathematics.

For decades, educational leaders have sought to identify school-level variables that have a positive and significant impact on student achievement despite the indelible effects of student socioeconomic status and family background. The purpose of this is study was to investigate the relationship between an emergent attitudinal construct---academic optimism---and its relationship to organizational citizenship behaviors of teachers and student achievement among a sample of Virginia public high schools.;A convenience sample of 36 public Virginia high schools serving students in grades 9-12 was used to collect survey data from full-time teachers and faculty during regularly-scheduled faculty meetings during the 2006-07 school year. Derivative survey items for collective teacher efficacy, academic emphasis, faculty trust in students and parents, and organizational citizenship behavior in schools were obtained from existing instruments previously tested for reliability and validity. Student achievement data were obtained from 2006-07 Standards of Learning test results for Biology, United States History and English II Reading and Writing.;The initial factor analysis confirmed that academic optimism is a unified construct comprised of three dimensions: collective teacher efficacy, academic emphasis, and faculty trust in students and parents. Correlational analysis demonstrated positive significant relationships between academic optimism and student achievement. Additional regression analysis confirmed the significant relationships between academic optimism and student achievement in each of the four content areas measured, even after controlling for student socioeconomic status. In addition, academic optimism correlated strongly with organizational citizenship behavior in schools, but demonstrated stronger independent effects on student achievement than OCB.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Cleveland State University, 2008.
Abstracts. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jan. 29, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 22-23). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center. Also available in print.

The demands of national educational reforms require high school biology teachers to provide high quality instruction to students with and without special needs. The reforms, however, do not provide teachers with adequate teaching strategies to meet the needs of all students in the same context. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand high school biology teachers' perspectives, practices, and challenges in relation to teaching students with special needs. This approach was used to develop a substantive model for high school biology teachers who are challenged with teaching students with and without special needs. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 15 high school teachers in a Midwestern school district. The data were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, and selective coding procedures in accordance with the grounded theory approach. Essential model components included skills and training for teachers, classroom management strategies, teaching strategies, and student skills. The emergent substantive theory indicated that that teacher preparation and acquired skills greatly influence the effectiveness of inclusion implementation. Key findings also indicated the importance of using of a variety of instructional strategies and classroom management strategies that address students' special needs and their learning styles. This study contributes to social change by providing a model for teaching students and effectively implementing inclusion in regular science classrooms. Following further study, this model may be used to support teacher professional development and improve teaching practices that in turn may improve science literacy supported by the national educational reforms.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether students taught by certified teachers and those taught by uncertified teachers had significantly different achievement on a state Algebra I End of Course examination. The specific research questions were: (1) Does type of teacher certification impact Algebra I End of Course (EOC) Exam scores for high school freshman when controlling for students' past mathematics success as measured by 8th grade TAAS mathematics test scores and teachers' years of experience? (2) Does type of teacher certification impact Algebra I End of Course (EOC) Exam passage rates for high school freshman when controlling for students' past mathematics success as measured by 8th grade TAAS mathematics test scores, socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender, and teachers' years of experience? This research was conducted in a large north Texas suburban school district. The entire population (N=1,433) of freshman students enrolled in year-long Algebra I was included for this study. Three statistical tests were used in data analysis for the first question. Analysis of covariance using student as well as teacher as the unit of analysis and hierarchical multiple regression were used to analyze students' specific scores. Logistic regression was used for the second research question. This study found that students in classes with non-certified teachers scored eight points lower on the Algebra I EOC Exam than those in classes with certified teachers. However, when controlling for students' prior mathematics achievement and other variables, the difference was of no practical significance. There was no practical significance in a student's odds of passing the examination between students in certified teachers' classrooms and those in uncertified teachers' classrooms. The results of this study offer further understanding of the debate over type of certification.

Professional Development for High School Teachers on the Implementation of Response to Intervention. Lolita M. Jones-Smith, 2015: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education. ERIC Descriptors: Professional Development, Response to Intervention, Attendance, Achievement, Teacher Perception The primary purposes of the study were to develop a response to intervention (RTI) professional development plan and to determine if implementation of the professional development plan changed educators’ perceptions on RTI from preimplementation to postimplementation. Since the inception of (RTI) in 2008 in the researcher’s school district, substantive, consistent, professional development initiatives for certified staff were minimally provided.The participants in the quantitative part of the study were a convenience sample of 50 educators at 1 high school in Georgia. These educators were certified regular education teachers who were content-area teachers, certified special education teachers who were content-area teachers, and department heads. The participants in the qualitative part of the study were a purposive sample of 5 department heads at the high school. Data were collected for all participants with the Revised Survey of Teacher Perception of the RTI Process to respond to 5research questions. The intervention was the RTI professional development. The treatment period for the intervention was 10 weeks or 10 hours of training. There were 10 professional development training sessions based on a formalized and widely used RTI training curriculum by Windram, Bollman, and Johnson (2012). The study used a convergent parallel mixed-methods approach. Quantitative data (preimplementation and postimplementation) were collected from 50 educators. Qualitative data (postimplementation only) were collected from 5 department heads. Pre- and postimplementation means, standard deviations, and effect sizes were calculated for each of the quantitative research questions. The inferential statistical model was the one-tailed t test for paired samples. Data analysis for the qualitative Research Question 4 followed a modified version of the constant comparative qualitative data-analysis procedures. Findings for Question 1 showed the RTI professional development positively changed (1.64) educators’ perceptions of RTI related to students’ attendance and achievement, while for Research Question 2 the RTI professional development positively changed (1.94) educators’ perceptions related to the documentation of RTI procedures. Findings for Research Question 3 showed RTI professional development positively changed (3.00) educators’ perceptions of RTI related to involvement and support for RTI. Results for Research Question 4 revealed the department heads had different recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the RTI process and had mixed feelings on RTI’s effectiveness to improve the achievement of students. Findings for Research Question 5 revealed the qualitative data from the 5 department heads did not confirm the quantitative data from the 50 educators.

This study was designed to examine the benefits of positive school climate and to measure the perceptions of school climate for intermediate grades in a Northeast Tennessee School district. An online school climate survey was used to collect responses from participants in intermediate grades and focused on the 3 major components of school climate: school engagement, school environment, and school safety. Data were collected for 2 consecutive years in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. Response totals included 1,955 student responses, 116 teacher responses, and 210 parent responses that were analyzed and used for this study. Of the student totals, some students that were in 5th grade in 2016-2017 may have completed the survey again as 6th graders in 2017-2018. Findings indicated that there were no significant difference in the perceptions of students, parents, and teachers in school climate over a 2-year span for this district. Research indicates there are multiple benefits to a positive school climate, including higher academic achievement, lower chronic absenteeism, and a decrease in discipline referrals.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA, has invested ample resources to boost and enhance the environment and the outcome of its educational system. Using AlGodorat and AlTahsili, standardized tests used to evaluate students’ knowledge and skills, as a measurement to find discrepancies between girls and boys performance on these tests. This study investigated class size, tutorials, physical education and professional development as possible ways of improving the performance of Saudi Arabian girls. Further, the study conducted a survey targeting girls’ high school teachers in Saudi Arabia to get more prospective, opinions, and inclinations toward implementing these methods. Moreover, the study included recommendations for policy makers and leaders in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study found the majority of teachers were in favor of implementing these methods. Furthermore, we were able to find a correlation between teachers’ ages, locations, and experiences and their prospective toward these methods of improvement.

AbstractStudents’ motivation in mathematics has been shown to predict their achievement and whether they pursue a later career in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). To sustain equity in education, it is important that students are motivated for the STEM fields, independent of their background characteristics (e.g., gender and SES). Previous research has revealed that students’ motivation declines from primary to secondary school. The present study investigates whether this unwanted development may be related to students’ SES, and more importantly, what aspects of teachers’ instruction are related to student motivation for low, medium, and high-SES student groups in grade 5 and 9. We use data from students in grades 5 and 9 and their teachers who participated in TIMSS 2015 in Norway. Multilevel (students and classes), multi-group structural equation modelling is used to answer the research questions. In line with previous research from Germany and the USA, the results showed that SES is more important to student motivation in secondary than primary school, that low SES students’ motivation depends more on their teachers’ instructional quality than high SES students and that this dependency is stronger in secondary school than in primary school. The implications and contributions of the study are discussed.

Secondary schools are complex in structure and are challenged daily to provide high-quality, effective Response to Intervention (RTI) models in their school settings. RTI must be handled very differently in a middle or high school compared to an elementary school, and larger numbers of students, stricter time constraints, lack of resources, and larger academic gaps are among the typical obstacles secondary teachers face, including math teachers. However, there are RTI models that will work well in math classes, including the Adolescent Mathematics Intervention Structure (AMIS), which focuses on providing motivation, opportunities for academic discourse, cooperative learning, and a positive mathematical classroom environment. Additionally, students thrive in a mathematical learning environment that includes a focus on multiple representations for the mathematics, manipulatives, and targeted learning centers designed specifically for middle and high school students. This chapter focuses on discussing AMIS and providing recommendations for its implementation in secondary math classes.

Many students struggle with success in a traditional school settings. For that reason, alternative education programs exist to support these students through high school graduation and to post-secondary endeavors. Students in alternative education come from varying backgrounds and have differing needs; therefore, programs targeting these students need to meet each individual's needs. Students may have behavioral or emotional concerns, academic deficits, be pregnant or parenting teenagers, or have severe trauma backgrounds. Alternative education needs to focus on school culture, student engagement, academic interventions, behavioral interventions, and social-emotional learning. The ultimate goal of alternative education is to help all students succeed no matter their needs and ease their transition to a traditional school, post-secondary education, career, military, or other ventures. This chapter will outline alternative education and how to implement strategies in all settings.

Response to Intervention (RTI) provides a framework for effective prevention and intervention to students who have difficulty reading at all achievement levels by using a school-wide, tiered system. RTI is the means for helping struggling students become successful readers before they have a chance to fall behind. Using evidence-based reading strategies within multiple classrooms such as the inclusive classroom or the resource classroom provides students with learning disabilities the opportunity to succeed in all content areas while applying these reading strategies. All teachers can use these strategies to assist the at-risk and struggling reader make progress. The purpose of this chapter is to share research, resources, and reading instructional methods appropriate for students at the secondary level that can help them meet their academic needs.

This chapter explores the possibilities of electronic portfolio assessment for emergent bilingual or multilingual students in high school classrooms in the United States. In a three-year federally funded program designed to improve academic performance among culturally and linguistically diverse students at an urban high school in Honolulu, Hawaii, the author implemented electronic portfolio assessment (EPA) into academic English and heritage language classrooms in collaboration with curriculum and technology specialists. This chapter delineates how EPA was developed and implemented to enhance the academic and linguistic abilities of adolescent emergent bi/multilingual students while embracing their multifaceted and hybrid identities as heritage language speakers. It also presents both challenges and benefits that teachers and students experienced in the process of EPA. It concludes with suggestions for developing and implementing EPA for English language learners in similar contexts.

A focus on teaching effective written communication skills is a necessity in our nation's schools. Students need to develop good writing skills not only to ensure academic success but also to later thrive in the workplace and in society as a whole. For struggling writers, difficulties with written communication that emerged during elementary school will persist into middle school, high school, and beyond if effective interventions are not employed. Implementing a Response to Intervention (RTI) literacy model that promotes the integration of writing across the curriculum can help schools make huge strides in improving the motivations, skills, and outcomes of struggling writers. This chapter presents specific elements of effective writing instruction as well as instructional strategies that can be employed within an RTI framework to assist struggling writers school wide. The focus is on informing not only English/language arts teachers but also content area teachers on research-based classroom writing supports.

Secondary geometry teachers from several urban school districts participated in a two-year professional development focused on integrating dynamic geometry into teaching. The chapter documents the positive impact of the professional development for teachers' Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) development and their students' achievement in geometry through the use of the dynamic geometry approach. Instruments used to develop and assess teachers' TPACK included a Conjecturing-Proving Test, interviews and observation protocols. Participants' TPACK levels were identified using a TPACK Development Levels Assessment Rubric. Findings show that teachers' TPACK tended to remain within the three middle TPACK levels (accepting, adapting, and exploring). Recommendations and suggestions for future research are offered to those who implement school-based, mixed methods research studies involving technology.

This chapter is designed to inform and educate 6th- through 12th-grade teachers on how to provide math activities for students with an identified learning disability as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The chapter provides an introduction to the topic, background information on teaching math at the secondary level, research-based instructional strategies that can be used for teaching math to students with identified special needs, and specific manipulatives that can be created and utilized to teach the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics to this population. Additional resources and readings are included as well.

This chapter is designed to inform and educate 6th- through 12th-grade teachers on how to provide math activities for students with an identified learning disability as defined by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The chapter provides an introduction to the topic, background information on teaching math at the secondary level, research-based instructional strategies that can be used for teaching math to students with identified special needs, and specific manipulatives that can be created and utilized to teach the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics to this population. Additional resources and readings are included as well.

This chapter presents research on how Culturally Responsive Mathematics Teaching (CRMT) and a critical hope framework can be used as learning tools in the alternative high school classroom. Our study shows how 12 high school students and two teachers, one in high school and one in post-secondary, can work together to nurture students' personal and collective identity, agency, and hope. We use the concept of the “six words” from the Race Card Project (Norris, 2015) to co-create spaces that question the dominant narrative, which describes students as dropouts, and that offer spaces of hope and solidarity. As researchers, we believe without student collaboration in the research process itself, their voices will be muted in the academic language describing them and the dominant narrative that disempowers them. We believe that we have not achieved a true social justice curriculum until there is action where hope can surface (Freire, 1970).

Game-based approaches aim at improving participants’ engagement and satisfaction, they might have great advantages in solving the issues of students demotivated and uninvolved in learning activities. However, there are few studies on using games elements in education and examining to what extent game-based educational approaches enhance learning. To bridge this research gap, the objective of this study is to examine whether game-based method improves students’ academic performance in the school subject Life and Society. A total of four classes of Grade Seven students and two teachers participated in the study in Hong Kong. Three classes (n= 75) were assigned to the experimental groups and one class (n=30) were assigned to the control group. The experimental group participated in class sessions where they learned the timeline, major events, and factors affecting economic development of Hong Kong by a group-based card game, while the control group were taught by lecture-based method. Using a pre- & post-tests design, data were collected by a tailor-made survey including 9 fact-based questions to assess the learning outcomes. The contents of the survey were judged two experienced teachers and one panel head. Paired samples t-tests and two-way ANOVA were used to compare the possible changes, group differences and interaction effects. Results showed that both the experimental group and control group significantly increased their academic performance in the post-tests, indeed the average post-test scores of experimental groups were higher than that of the control group. Only one among three classes in the experimental group showed a significant increase in post-test scores, indicating a possibility of teacher difference. Boys in the experimental groups significantly improved in the post-test while girls did not differ significantly from pre-test scores. Both students with low and middle ability levels improved significantly in their post-test scores, while students with high ability level did not reach statistical significance. The interaction effect between gender and student ability level was statistically significant, indicating that the influence of student ability level on pre-test scores depended on their gender. Finally recommendations, implications, and limitations to the study are discussed.

Decoding the Disciplines is a methodology aimed to support teachers and students of University to tackle obstacles and difficulties in learning process. It is assumed that students come to classroom with different level of secondary school preparation and teachers are generally reinforcing the inequalities in principle deplored as form of injustice in our society. The question of giving tools that students need to succeed in our disciplines requires new strategies intend to make teaching effective in line with the development of the democratic vision of teaching. The methodology represents a dynamic sequence of steps based on the understanding of the content of discipline taught and learned. All disciplines are involved, humanities as well as sciences. Under the Erasmus Plus Programme some European Universities are collecting relevant evidences to understand what to teach about an academic discipline. Monitoring students' learning and motivation means to bring out the bottlenecks, which hinder the achievement of knowledge and slow down the learning process leading to failure. Presentation of initial results aims to share the benefits of this methodology able to guide students to master basic mental operations required in university courses. Decoding emerges as challenge and option for policy-makers of higher education.