Responsibility For Student Learning Research Articles

Strand Committees and Course Coordination: Complementary Structures to Drive Evidence-Based Improvements

ABSTRACT We leverage course coordination and a department-level curricular committee structure, called Strand Committees, to drive evidence-based departmental changes in the Calculus pathway. The Strand Committees and the course coordinators serve in complementary roles to improve the Calculus pathway and to support teaching faculty through policy and pedagogical changes in a way that enhances the department's culture. Using an established survey that assesses climate and culture together with faculty survey data from 2018, 2022, and 2023, we show that during the department's movement into better alignment with widely accepted characteristics of successful Calculus programs, and despite various disruptions, faculty sentiment related to professional support, collegiality, and responsibility for student learning has significantly improved.

Early Childhood Teachers’ Confidence to Teach Religious Education and the Influences Which Impact Their Teaching of Religious Education in Catholic Primary Schools

This article reports findings from a study that examines the factors which influence early childhood and care (ECEC) early career teachers’ confidence in teaching Religious Education (RE) and how it impacts their teaching of RE in Catholic primary schools in Western Australia. Teachers’ confidence is a teacher’s belief in their ability to accomplish a goal and refers to strength of belief. Research in this area has shown that confidence is correlated with the sense of teaching efficacy and responsibility for student learning. Whilst there has been some research into teacher confidence, there has been insufficient research into early childhood teachers’ confidence to teach RE in Catholic schools in an Australian context. Literature supports the notion that if early childhood teachers have a strong teacher confidence for a subject, they are more motivated to teach the subject and this has a positive correlation with positive student outcomes. The epistemological approach underpinning the research is constructivist in nature; therefore, it is based on understanding the constructed realities of what humans know of the world and themselves as produced by communications and systems of meaning. Three case studies follow teachers from their early career to second-year experience in Catholic schools. This study investigates support structures and aspects that contribute to teacher confidence in the teaching of RE. The main themes identified by the data that contributed to confidence or lack of confidence included training, family and religious backgrounds, teaching and learning, mentoring and support in the first year of teaching. The implications of the results for pre-service teacher training and support for graduate teachers are discussed and some suggestions are offered about the courses provided by universities and what schools and education systems can do to support early career teachers to teach RE effectively in Catholic schools.

Proposed Natural Science E-Instructional Systems Design (E-ISD) for the Mendiola Consortium

Proposed Natural Science E-Instructional Systems Design (E-ISD) for the Mendiola Consortium

How Cognitively Coached Teachers Design and Facilitate Self-Directed Learning in General Education Classrooms

The purpose was to describe how cognitively coached teachers design and facilitate instruction for self-directed learning in general education classrooms. Vygotsky's social development theory and Bronfenbrenner's development ecological model of human development provided the theoretical frameworks for this study. The two sources of data that were utilized in this study were semi-structured individual interviews and a lesson plan artifactual document review. The results indicated that cognitively coached teachers design and facilitate instruction for self-directed learning through a description of the following five themes: 1) developing individualized learning with challenging expectations, 2) preparing meaningful and transferable content, 3) establishing an active learning environment, 4) engaging learners in authentic tasks, and 5) supporting student responsibility for learning.

Utilizing Collaborative Analysis of Student Learning in Educator Preparation Programs for Continuous Improvement

In this results-oriented era of accountability, educator preparation programs are called upon to provide comprehensive data related to student and program outcomes while also providing evidence of continuous improvement. Collaborative Analysis of Student Learning (CASL) is one approach for fostering critical inquiry about student learning. Graduate educator preparation programs in our university used collaborative analysis as the basis for continuous improvement during an accreditation cycle. As authors of this study, we sought to better understand how graduate program directors and faculty used collaborative analysis to inform practice and improve programs. Our findings suggested that CASL has the potential to foster collective responsibility for student learning, but only with a strong commitment from administrators and faculty, purposefully designed protocols and processes, fidelity to the CASL method, and a focus on professional development. Through CASL, programs have the ability to produce meaningful data related to student and program outcomes and meet the requirements for accreditation.

Balancing Choice and Control in the Classroom: Reflections on Decades of Post-Doctoral Teaching

<p>One of the problems instructors face is not only the amount of choice they have to give to their students, but also, the levels of control they can exert in their classrooms. A proper balance between control and choice in the college classroom offers a path for instructors to handle their curriculum and instructional practices effectively and ensure active learning. This paper reflects on the dilemma facing instructors as they continue to find ways to promote engagement as well as maintain their roles as individuals with a responsibility for student learning in a transformed college classroom.</p>

Improving Discipline and Responsibility of Student Learning Through Project Assessment

This ‘classroom action research’ aims to determine the effectiveness of the project assessment at Islamic Junior School (Madrasah Tsanawiyah) Model Makassar in the VIII/a class as subject research. The study carried out in two cycles, data collection was done by employing three ways: questionnaires, observation and test administration. The result showed that the project assessment was able to improve: 1) student discipline, shown on average 73,78% of the first cycle and the second cycle was 91,72%. 2) Responsibility for student learning, the average seen in the first cycle of 66,37% and 85,77% for the second cycle. 3) Student learning outcomes, the first cycle were 51,72% while in the second cycle there was 17,24% score below the minimum completeness criteria. On the individual test conducted at the end of the second cycle showed that there are only 4 students (13,79%) who had not reached the minimum completeness criteria.

The role of the district administration within Professional Learning Communities

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to examine the role of the superintendent in assessing the readiness for change in the implementation and support for Professional Learning Communities. The study findings revealed four major themes. They were: (1) the changing dynamics of leadership; (2) a sense of collective efficacy and responsibility for student learning; (3) collaborative teams and spirit; and (4) data-driven decision-making. This inquiry for practice in education could impact Pre-K–12 institutions as they attempt to address the pressures of improving student achievement.

The Elephant in the Law School Assessment Room: Student Responsibility and Motivating Our Students to Learn

The American Bar Association’s proposed new accreditation standards call for law schools to assess the effectiveness of their academic programs. Law schools are now doing so, quickly giving rise to an assessment movement that closely examines desired educational outcomes and professors’ efforts to attain them. But assessment has to date focused on the professor, who is just one part of the professor-student partnership. All but ignored are the contributions and motivation of the other critical component — the student.This article posits that to assess academic programs’ effectiveness, assessment must evaluate the contributions of students and not just professors. With such data, professors could target students’ progress and motivation strategically, making strides in both teaching and learning. Part I of this article sets out the responsibility for learning shared between professor and student and examines existing research in the field of student responsibility for learning. Part II explains the profound benefits of assessing student responsibility and Part III presents methods for measuring student perspectives and participation. Part IV identifies practical strategies for igniting students’ motivation and commitment to learning. Assessment aims to prepare students for legal practice. But unless law professors consider the level of responsibility students take for their own education, any assessment results will lack proper context. By assessing students’ contributions too, professors can take the necessary steps to enhance their students’ academic and professional competence.

Growing understanding of undergraduate mathematics: a good frame produces better tomatoes

I lay a new theoretical framework across my own lecturing in order to understand what is happening. On the one hand, this is a test of the framework. On the other, I gain insights into both better practices and better course design. The framework constructs undergraduate teaching as the interaction between the discipline and the university pedagogical context. Overlaying this are three levels of teaching intent: pragmatic, epistemic, and heuristic. The resulting framework supports my growing understanding of lecturing practice. It also proves useful in analysing three characteristics of university mathematics: student responsibility for learning; enculturation of the discipline of mathematics; and the tyranny of examples. The framework is a tool for redesigning courses and developing delivery formats that are likely to enhance student learning and behaviour objectives of undergraduate mathematics. However, the analysis shows a deficiency of the framework in its paucity of attention to student learning in a university context. Extending the framework in this way is the next task.

Teachers’ responses to curriculum policy implementation: colonial constraints for curriculum reform

A new approach to curriculum and implementation in a new era normally requires schools and teachers to take more responsibility for student learning. This might present a challenge at any time, particularly when teachers have been used to more directives and less professional approaches to curriculum implementation. In order to meet such a challenge, a new approach to curriculum policy, namely “soft” policy, was used by policy-makers to implement curriculum reform. With the provision of substantial resources, it was expected by the policy-makers that schools and teachers would have better opportunities to develop themselves professionally and manage the new changes effectively. However, such a view misread the situation because the historical trend and present situation of teachers’ professional development were overlooked. This paper uses case studies of schools and teachers involved in the current reforms to show how teachers and schools implemented the reform process. The cases demonstrate how reforms were understood at the local level and the extent to which it could be claimed that implementation had taken place.

Sharing responsibility for student learning

This final chapter examines some of the factors that may influence whether colleges and universities are able to respond effectively to the renewed interest in accountability and suggests that institutional researchers have an important role to play in moving ahead constructively.

The Convergent and Discriminant Validity of NSSE Scalelet Scores

Faculty and administrators are more likely to take responsibility for student learning and development if they believe that assessment data represent their students and identify specific actions for improvement. An earlier study found that NSSE scalelets provide dependable metrics for assessing student engagement at the university, college, and department levels. Building on the earlier study, the findings of the current research indicate that the NSSE scalelets have greater explanatory power and provide richer detail than the NSSE benchmarks.

The Dependability of NSSE Scalelets for College- and Department-level Assessment*

College and university administrators, as well as faculty members, are more likely to take responsibility for student learning if they believe that the assessment data represent their students and suggest specific actions for improvement. This study examined whether it is feasible to develop scalelets (i.e., focused measures, usually consisting of four or five items) that provide dependable metrics for assessing student learning at the college or department level. A generalizability analysis of 12 scalelets from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) indicated that the scalelets provided dependable measures of educational effectiveness with 25–50 respondents.

Examining Perceptual Barriers to Technology

This study examines educators’ perceived barriers to technology integration and the relationship to education reform. Educators and administrators from four elementary schools in Washington State were interviewed in their classrooms during a three-month period. The schools differed in size, location, and social economic status and reported variances in their Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) scores. While all of the schools reported similar barriers to the use of educational technology, distinct differences appeared between those schools that had done long-range planning during the reform process and those that had not. Specifically, staff in the two schools that coordinated curricula, performance standards, and a variety of assessment tools while simultaneously allowing teachers the flexibility to alter the curricula, were more likely to state personal responsibility for student learning, and they also were more likely to have overcome barriers to the use of technology.

COMMENTARY: Moving From Abstract to Concrete Descriptions of Good Schools for Children With Disabilities

The constraints and complexity entailed in the provision of comprehensive special education services at a school site argue for the importance of using whole schools as a unit of analysis in special education efficacy research. The case studies summarized in this special issue represent an important step forward in understanding how schools that support positive academic outcomes for all students are configured. All studies found support for the importance of collaboration (although the forms varied by school). Other common themes were peer support, shared responsibility for student learning, administrative support for collaboration, and informal communication mechanisms that supplemented more formal contacts between general and special education. The case studies can serve as a stimulus for further debate about how to define exemplary outcomes in special education and the critical dimensions for characterizing schools' services to students with disabilities. They also provide directions for future research in understanding the processes that contribute to positive outcomes for students in special education.

School Size in Chicago Elementary Schools: Effects on Teachers' Attitudes and Students' Achievement

This study explores whether teachers and students are influenced by the size of the inner-city elementary school to which they belong. Focusing on teachers' attitudes about their responsibility for student learning and students' l-year gains in mathematics achievement scores, we used data from almost 5,000 teachers and 23,000 sixth and eighth-grade students in 264 K-8 Chicago schools. The data were collected through 1997 surveys and annual standardized tests. We employed hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to estimate school effects. On both outcomes, small schools (enrolling fewer than 400 students) are favored compared with medium-sized or larger schools. In small schools, teachers have a more positive attitude about their responsibility. for students' learning and students learn more. Even after taking size into account, learning is also higher in schools with higher levels of collective responsibility. Thus, we conclude that school size influences student achievement directly and indirectly, through its effect on teachers' attitudes.

Special Publications: Student Responsibility for Learning

Special Publications: Student Responsibility for Learning

Taking Student Responsibility Seriously

In the last three decades American educators have been heavily concerned with student rights and equal educational opportunity. These and other concerns have caused educators (and the public) to give teachers the primary responsibility for student learning and have drawn attention away from questions about the student's responsibility for learning. Two recent approaches attribute the ultimate responsibility for learning to the student. These general approaches are constructively criticized so that the key insights can be used to set and articulate a defensible theory of student responsibility. The major conclusion is that high-school students have both aright to an education and aresponsibility to use educational resources sensibly

Clinical Instructors' Attitudes Toward Student Responsibility for Learning

The Learning Vector model was developed to guide clinical instruction and assist students in becoming self-directed learners. Using this model, clinical instructors gradually encourage students to accept more of the responsibility for their learning. This study was undertaken to assess clinical instructors' attitudes toward giving students more responsibility for learning. A questionnaire was distributed to 141 clinical instructors affiliated with six medical technology programs in North Carolina. Analysis of these instructors' responses to the questionnaire showed that they were uncertain about giving students responsibility for their learning. A second group of 24 clinical instructors who had registered for a continuing education workshop on clinical teaching scored significantly higher on the questionnaire and were more receptive to the underlying principle of the model.