Date of Award
2000
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
EdD Program for Educational Leaders
Advisor
Donna Blaess
Committee Member
Charles L. Faires
Keywords
achievement, capitalization, classroom instruction, common goals, continuous reinforcement, curriculum-based assessment, curriculum revision, educational research, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, instructional techniques, language arts curriculum, peer editing, percentage-point improvement, professional development, punctuation, reinforcement activities, self-directed teams, student achievement, teacher collaboration, teacher-directed professional development, teacher-selected tests, writing assignments, writing workshops
Abstract
The purpose of this investigation was to analyze the effects of teacher-directed professional development on the achievement of students in Grades 3, 4, and 5 in the use capitalization and punctuation. There were 4 objectives: (a) 5 new instructional techniques or strategies will be added to classroom instruction; (b) at least 3 revisions will be made to the language arts curriculum in the areas of capitalization and punctuation; (c) students will demonstrate an increase in teacher-selected, curriculum-based pre- and posttest scores in capitalization and punctuation by a class average of at least 10 percentage points; and (d) students will demonstrate a decrease in the number of capitalization or punctuation errors by a class average of at least 75% in a 7-month period. The implementation phase of the project addressed a basic research question: If teachers work as a team with common goals and objectives in teacher-directed professional development, will that professional development be integrated successfully into instructional techniques and strategies and curriculum revision?
Results indicated that (a) 5 new instructional techniques of continuous reinforcement, peer editing, increased drill and reinforcement activities, addition of writing assignments, and introduction of capitalization and punctuation lessons earlier in the school year were added to classroom instruction; (b) 3 revisions to the use of repetition and reinforcement, the use of writing style types in writing workshop classes, and the use of newspapers to enhance instruction were made to the language arts curriculum; and (c) test results on teacher-selected, curriculum-based pre- and posttest scores confirmed a 10-percentage-point improvement across all 3 grade levels, capitalization scores increased by an average of 8.3 points, and punctuation scores increased by an average of 13.7 points across Grades 3, 4, and 5; and (d) the difference between opening and closing composition scores across Grades 3, 4, and 5 decreased by 0.7. The results of the study indicate that, when teachers act as a self-directed team mutually supporting one another with a common goal, professional development can have a positive impact on instruction and student achievement.