Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this community

https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/handle/mtsu/3

Browse

Browsing Theses and Dissertations by Department "Elementary & Special Education"
  • Item
    Assessing Teacher Concerns Regarding Response to Instruction and Intervention
    (Middle Tennessee State University, 2016-05-02) McKinney, Darlene Elizabeth ; Snead, Donald ; Phillips, Joseph ; Melton, Marcia ; Elementary & Special Education
    All individuals go through a process of change when implementing a new innovation. This descriptive study determines there is a difference in the stages of concern regarding Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI2), Tennessee’s design model for Response to Intervention, (RTI) for 87 teachers from 8 different schools in a county in Middle Tennessee. The Concerns Based Adoption Model (CBAM) and the Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) were used to gather results for this study. These differences in the stages of concern are described between faculty position sub-groups, teachers receiving Teacher Effect Data and those teachers not receiving Teacher Effect Data from the Tennessee Department of Education, and between teacher effectiveness levels, levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 as reported by the Tennessee Value Added Assessment System.
  • Item
    The Effects of Cross-Age Tutoring on the Reading Ability of First and Second Grade Students
    (Middle Tennessee State University, 2013-03-25) Anderberg, Rachel ; Elleman, Amy ; Bernstein, Stuart ; Kim, Jwa ; Elementary & Special Education
    The positive effect of early intervention upon the reading abilities of struggling students has been well documented by research. Unfortunately, the current economic situation has eliminated the positions of many interventionists serving in school districts across the country. Cross-age tutoring has been implemented in many places as a replacement when adult tutors are not available. This study utilized six highly trained and supervised high school students to provide structured reading tutoring to 13 first and second grade students who were performing below benchmark on reading assessments. Tutoring focused upon the word reading aspect of reading instruction, including both decoding and sight word instruction using a structured, systematic phonics curriculum. Tutoring was provided during the school day for 30 minutes three times a week for a total of nine weeks. Post intervention comparison to a control group using ANCOVA, with pretest as the covariate, found significant positive effects of tutoring upon the outcome measures of both word attack and word identification, though not for reading comprehension. In addition to examining tutee outcomes, tutor fidelity was assessed to ensure precise implementation. Surveys and interviews were also conducted with all participants (i.e., teachers, tutors, and tutees) and a majority of responses were positive, indicating approval with the intervention. Participant suggestions are also discussed as well as possibilities for future research.
  • Item
    Teachers' Knowledge and Implementation of Response to Intervention Practices: Graph Literacy and Data-based Decision Making
    (Middle Tennessee State University, 2019) Wallace, Kelli ; Oslund, Eric L. ; Elleman, Amy M. ; Kim, Jwa K. ; Elementary & Special Education
    Response to Intervention (RTI) is a general education initiative intended to identify struggling readers and provide them with early, targeted intervention. The RTI model—which emphasized research-based instruction presented with fidelity along with the use of informed student data—was adopted by many school districts not only to provide intervention for struggling students but also as a proactive method for identifying students for special education services. The model held great promise, but RTI in practice has not necessarily been as successful at remediating struggling readers as was anticipated. While quality instruction is important for the success of RTI, some researchers contend the use of student data to make informed intervention decisions is the most important element in the model’s (and students’) success. Teachers and instructional coaches are often tasked with reading, interpreting, and making educational decisions based on student data, which are typically presented in the form of graphs. However, many educators indicate they do not have sufficient training in interpreting student data nor do they know how to use such data to inform instruction. This study surveyed 451 elementary teachers regarding their perceptions of the quality and availability of professional development opportunities related to RTI Tier 2 and Tier 3 reading intervention instruction and measured their ability to interpret student data presented graphically. Findings indicate the more teachers agreed with the statements they have high quality and available PD the poorer they were at reading student graphs and interpreting educational placement. Results suggest more intensive and sustained methods of interpreting and using graphical data to make data-based decisions might be incorporated in professional development (e.g., a task to measure knowledge). Such methods may help to ensure those who are responsible for making educational placement and/or reading intervention decisions have the skills to correctly interpret student data so that students receive the instruction needed to improve their reading proficiency.
  • Item
    TEACHING THE STRUGGLING ADD/ADHD STUDENT
    (Middle Tennessee State University, 2013-06-28) Louden, Perry Franklin ; Burriss, Kathleen ; Boulware, Beverly ; Burriss, Larry ; Elementary & Special Education
    Students who are diagnosed with ADHD spend the majority of the school day in the regular education classroom. This research looked at best practices being used in the classroom and how effective teachers perceive those interventions to be. The questions of what are the attitudes of teachers towards students with ADHD, how do teachers feel about the effectiveness of specific interventions, and what interventions identified in research as effective are not being used by teachers. Additionally, there was qualitative section collaboration, co-teaching and differentiating instruction. One hundred and forty-nine teachers completed the survey. The respondents indicated, in general, students with ADHD learn best in the regular education classroom; most interventions are effective, but each student is different and may need different interventions; and teachers were not using interventions, taking extra time and planning. Recommendations for overcoming hindrances and obstacles are offered. Furthermore, teachers indicated there were hindrances to co-teaching and collaboration with both special education and school counselors. Furthermore, a number of additional interventions for differentiating instruction were gathered from respondents.
  • Item
    THE EFFECTIVENESS OF READERS' THEATRE ON FLUENCY, COMPREHENSION, AND MOTIVATION ON PRIMARY STUDENTS
    (Middle Tennessee State University, 2017-04-07) Marshall, Holly B. ; Elleman, Amy ; Kim, Jwa ; Bass, Alysson ; Boulware, Jean ; Elementary & Special Education
    ABSTRACT