Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Karen Kamin
Committee Member
Meline Kevorkian
Committee Member
Maryellen Maher
Keywords
achievement measures, academically ready, action components, applied dissertation, at-risk kindergarten students, at-risk students, classroom settings, collaborative learning, complex thinking, early intervention, EIP Checklist of Indicators, effective pedagogy, Georgia, Georgia Early Intervention Program, Grade 1, high-risk students, instructional conversation, instructional effectiveness, joint productive activity, kindergarten students, language and literacy development, learning strategies, majority and minority students, mainstreaming, meaning making, Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, pedagogy standards, performance scores, regular classroom placement, school ability testing, state achievement measures, student achievement, student-centered learning, teaching methods, treatment outcomes
Abstract
This applied dissertation investigated whether at-risk kindergarten students who were taught with the 5 standards of effective pedagogy over an 8-month period would score higher on achievement measures. The 5 pedagogy standards are (a) joint productive activity, (b) language and literacy development, (c) meaning making, (d) complex thinking, and (e) instructional conversation. These standards emerged from principles of practice that have proven successful with majority and minority at-risk students in a variety of teaching and learning settings over several decades (R. G. Tharpe, 1988).
The researcher developed indicators for each standard, revealing action components of the standards and their functions in teaching and learning. Illustrations and strategies that reflected the standards and their indicators across a broad range of classroom settings were utilized daily with kindergarten students. The students’ performance scores on the Georgia Early Intervention Program (EIP) Checklist of Indicators and the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test were used to measure the results of the research.
The 5 standards of effective pedagogy were integrated into daily instruction of the EIP classroom during the 2003- 2004-school term. At the end of the treatment, 9 out of 14 students (68%) scored higher on the state of Georgia’s achievement measure, the EIP Checklist of Indicators. Consequently, 9 of the 14 students in the study were mainstreamed out of the EIP because they were academically ready for placement in a regular Grade 1 classroom.