Xinya Liang
University of Arkansas

Fayetteville Jin Koo
The Enrollment Management Association

Hülya Yürekli
Turkish Ministry of National Education

Insu Paek
Florida State University

Betsy Jane Becker
Florida State University

Salih Binici
Florida Department of Education

Hirotaka Fukuhara
Pearson

Citation

Liang, X., Koo, J., Yürekli, H., Paek, I., Becker, B. J., Binici, S., & Fukuhara, H. (2017). An empirical investigation of item-pool and year-to-year equating plans: Using large-scale assessment data. Florida Journal of Educational Research, 55(1), 1-18.

Download File: Liang.551.pdf (5011 downloads )

Brandon S. Diamond
David Posnack Jewish Day School

Abstract

An authentic research-based science curriculum for undergraduate science majors was implemented at a major private university in order to improve student learning and interest in science. Because most involved students majored in life sciences, cumulative GPA, biology GPA, and upper-level biology GPA were used as outcome measures of student achievement. Participation in the program, college admissions test scores, high school GPA, gender, cohort, and major were used as predictors in the multiple linear regression models. The overall model accounted for 44% of the between-student variance. Authentic research was found to improve biology student achievement compared to a control group when introductory coursework was included in the GPA calculation, but not when upper-level biology courses were examined without introductory courses. College admission test scores and high school GPA were found to be significant predictors of student achievement. The advantages of accounting for prior student achievement when evaluating program success are discussed.

Citation

Diamond, B. S. (2016). Evaluation of an authentic research-based curriculum’s effects on undergraduate biology student achievement. Florida Journal of Educational Research, 54(1), 1-18.

Download File: Diamond.541.pdf (4403 downloads )

Jude Matyo-Cepero
University of Nebraska Kearney

Abstract

The research for this study was taken from a doctoral dissertation where archival data was reviewed to determine the effect of the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM) Inference Strategy on standardized reading test scores of special education and at-risk students educated exclusively in a school-within-a-school setting. The school-within-a school setting is a classroom designed to provide additional academic support for students whose Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) reading scores indicated the need for additional support by the school district. Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test reading scale scores, including archival data, were compared for four groups of eighth-grade students attending a Central Florida Title I public middle school during the 2008–09 and 2009–10 school years. Groups 1 (2008–09) and 3 (2009–10) received SIM treatment in a school-within-a-school setting, instructed by the same team of teachers, general educators trained in the SIM Inference Strategy. Groups 2 (2008–09) and 4 (2009–10) neither participated in the school-within-a-school model nor received SIM instruction. Although results indicated improved high-stakes standardized reading test scores for the school-within-a-school students, the study revealed no statistically significant difference between the groups that received SIM instruction and those that did not.

Citation

Matyo-Cepero, J. (2015). The effect of the SIM inference strategy on reading scores of special education and At-Risk students. Florida Journal of Educational Research, 53(1), 1-9.

Download File: Cepero.531.pdf (1729 downloads )

Brandon S. Diamond, Jaime Maerten-Rivera, Rose Rohrer
University of Miami

Okhee Lee
New York University

Abstract

This study examines relationships between measures of teacher science content knowledge using multiple instruments. A teacher questionnaire and a science test were administered to 203 elementary school teachers. A random subsample of 62 teachers was observed during science instruction. All teachers were asked the number of science courses they took in college. Significant positive correlations were found between science test scores and both self-reported science knowledge and classroom observation scores and between science courses taken and self-reported science knowledge. Test scores and observations were not correlated with courses taken, nor were observations correlated with self-reported science knowledge. These results suggest the evaluation of measures of teacher content knowledge, which are not interchangeable, as is often assumed in the literature.

Citation

Diamond, B. S., Maerten-Rivera, J., Rohrer, R., & Lee, O. (2013). Elementary teachers’ science content knowledge: Relationships among multiple measures. Florida Journal of Educational Research, 51(1), 1-20.

Download File: Diamond.511.pdf (1836 downloads )