Student voice may seem like a new concept; however, it has a long history of being engrained in public schools in the United States. The trend towards incorporating and expanding student voice opportunities in high school is based on the tenets of democracy. Educators seek to provide an opportunity for students to practice democracy in their…

This study has three primary objectives. First to provide insight into possibilities for moderation/mediation analysis in education research by discussing analytical methods based on the counterfactual and developed in other disciplines. Second is to highlight specific issues related to mediation and the estimation of effects when the outcome is…

Assessment literacy is an "individual's understanding of the fundamental assessment concepts and procedures deemed likely to influence educational decisions" (Popham, 2018, p. 2). The ability to make evidence-based decisions has become a non-negotiable skill for all educators. Unfortunately, most teachers do not have the skills or…

Although familiar in business, the chief data officer position is a relatively new addition to the higher education landscape. As the role is introduced in colleges and universities, it is important to consider the additional challenges that exist within institutions and the higher education sector. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach,…

The edTPA has been fully operational since 2013, when it entered the field of education as a performance portfolio to assess teacher candidates' readiness for the classroom. Since that time 35 different states have been using it in some form, including Tennessee, which adapted it as a licensure requirement in 2019. Over the last several years, the…

This dissertation study explores how teachers perceive and use data to inform their instructional practices and ultimately impact student achievement. The research focuses on whether or not data availability impacted how often teachers used data for instructional purposes and if leadership and coaching practices impacted teachers' perception of…

The purpose of this case study was to examine one school district's 8th grade mathematics teachers' perceptions, analysis of, and use of their own students' formative interim data. Research has shown that teachers have difficulty with data literacy, and are not getting the trainings they need. Unfortunately, this may arise from the fact that a…

Educators have an abundance of student data available to guide their instructional decisions. Federal and State legislation has repeatedly incorporated accountability measures to ensure learning equity. Current research revealed that effective data use in the classroom to guide instructional decisions requires a complex network of resources,…

Due to educational policy, data use in schools is a widespread method of school improvement, yet results remain inconsistent. Across the literature, the school leader is a key determinant of the effectiveness of data use. This study sought to shed light on the role of the school leader in data use through a mixed methods case study. The study…

This study analyzed general education teachers' knowledge of a multi-tier system of support (MTSS), as well as their understanding and implementation of effective practices within tier 1. It further studied their current application of tier 1 interventions at Garden State School District. As the framework of a multi-tier system of support became…

The potential benefits of the growing amount of available educational data have not been fully realized, especially for principals, who play a key role in deriving insight from data to inform school improvement. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to describe experiences of principals using data analysis tools in a K-12 system. With a…

The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of school turnaround through an examination of educator perceptions of the implementation of Voelkel's (2014) framework for professional learning communities (PLCs), collective efficacy, and transformational leadership, which provided the theoretical framework for the study. This study…

Procrastination is a well-known phenomenon experienced by a lot of people in everyday life. People sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally put off their tasks even though they might be worse off due to the delay (e.g., not paying bills due, even though they have sufficient funds in their bank account). It is safe to say everybody…

Forty states, including the District of Columbia, have established state longitudinal data systems (SLDS). The data included, intended functions, and methods for establishing SLDS vary from state to state. Further, forty-nine states and the District of Columbia have received one or more federal grant to support SLDS development. The adoption of…

In interactive e-learning environments such as Intelligent Tutoring Systems, there are pedagogical decisions to make at two main levels of granularity: whole problems and single steps. Here, we focus on making the problem-level decisions of worked example (WE) vs. problem solving (PS) and the step-level decisions of elicit vs. tell. More…