Scholarship & Research
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Item A comparative study of Crow Indian students attending an Indian-controlled reservation school and a non-Indian-controlled off-reservation school(Montana State University - Bozeman, 1978) Lefthand, Sara Louise YoungItem A study of possible factors that influence the construction of teacher-made problems that assess higher-order thinking skills(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1999) Harpster, David LynnItem A comparative analysis of factors affecting productivity levels in professors of education in U.S. land-grant universities(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 1991) Schoenstedt, Linda JoItem An examination of development of Wyoming's alternative assessment system, the body of evidence(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2011) Dowding, Sharla Kay; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Elisabeth SwansonThe overarching purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the patterns of development and implementation of Body of Evidence (BOE) science systems throughout the state of Wyoming, using an emerging and relatively open mixed methods design. BOEs were first launched throughout Wyoming a decade ago, and are ongoing today. Through interviews with teachers and curriculum coordinators and analysis of BOE science plans, the following research questions were explored: 1) What design elements and implementation processes characterize BOE science assessment plans across Wyoming school districts? 2) What support do teachers receive to develop a BOE science plan, to align the plan to the state science education standards, and to implement the intended science plan? And 3) How do districts handle this opportunity to design and implement a locally useful assessment? Methods of data collection used in this mixed methods study began with a survey, conducted in Spring 2010, to investigate characteristics of the BOE systems being implemented within and across Wyoming school districts, followed by district case studies, implemented in Fall 2010, that included an interview with the curriculum coordinator and a science teacher in each district and a review of the BOE plan for that district. A total of 110 survey responses were received and analyzed. The six schools that participated in the interview component of the study represent a range of Wyoming school districts. The first set of themes reveals the ways BOE assessments and curriculums are aligned to state science teaching standards. The second set of themes depicts the nature of district support that is provided for the BOE development and implementation. Finally, because BOE is an ongoing process, a third theme was identified that discovered factors that affect the communication and support needed to sustain BOE implementation. The results presented from both the survey and case study interviews indicated that there is a great variation in how this state-mandated assessment requirement is implemented and sustained across school districts in Wyoming. It was obvious that the perceived levels and categories of support are different both from district to district and within districts.Item Student engagement : using the NSSE benchmarks to investigate longterm persistence(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Education, Health & Human Development, 2009) Chambers, Samuel Ross; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Carrie B. MyersThis study examined the relationship between student engagement and persistence for 362 first-time, full-time freshmen at a single institution of higher education. The enrollment status of the students was tracked through to the junior year of college. This allowed for three distinct groups of students to be identified for comparative purposes: non-persisters (students who failed to re-enroll at the institution after their freshman year); temporary persisters (students who re-enrolled in a fulltime status at the institution for their sophomore year but not for their junior year); and, longterm persisters (students who stayed enrolled at the institution in a fulltime status through to their junior year). A multinomial linear regression analysis compared the three groups across three models. The predictor variables used consist of: two measures of student engagement constructed from students' index scores on the National Survey of Student Engagement; students' ACT scores; parents' level of education; gender; and, residential status. Findings indicated that higher levels of engagement in the freshman year improve the likelihood of students persisting to the junior year regardless of the measured background characteristics. Higher index scores on the Supportive Campus Environment benchmark were found to be of central importance. These results support the notion that a focus on improving campus culture and on educational quality can help institutions improve retention rates. Also of importance, for temporary persisters the regression analysis highlighted the need for institutions to be more attentive to students' experiences of living on campus. Further research into the effects of living on campus on this group of students is recommended.