Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2019, Educational Research and Evaluation (Education)

Placement testing in intensive English programs (IEPs) involves methodological considerations that merit additional research. Neither quantitative nor qualitative methods alone have always proven successful to address common research problems in the field of IEP student placement, including questions regarding the selection of placement tests and the establishment of cut scores for those tests by means of standard-setting methods. These two key questions, alongside the methodology underlying them, comprise three necessary supporting elements for the achievement of appropriate student placement. This dissertation uses a three-article format to examine, in turn, each of these necessary supporting elements and its connections to the other two. The first manuscript, “The Application of Mixed Methods for Developing Student Placement Protocols in Intensive English Programs” serves as the methodological focus for this dissertation, exploring the potential of Mixed Methods Research to address the common challenges of inconsistent placement criteria and small sample sizes in IEP student placement and to yield recommendations regarding the selection of placement tests and the setting of cut scores. The second manuscript, “Placement Testing: One Test, Two Tests, Three Tests? How Many Tests are Sufficient?,” then provides a quantitative analysis to address the question of placement test selection so as to maximize placement accuracy and includes consideration of logistical issues as well. The final manuscript, “Setting Cut Scores for Student Success,” addresses the issue of establishing appropriate cut scores and presents an approach to synthesizing the potentially divergent cut score results that different standard-setting methods can yield. Taken together, these three manuscripts provide a close examination of multiple supporting elements that are necessary for the achievement of appropriate student placement; these manuscripts also challenge practitioners in the field (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Krisanna Machtmes PhD (Advisor); Yuchun Zhou PhD (Committee Member); Lijing Yang PhD (Committee Member); Sara Helfrich PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Tests and Measurements; English As A Second Language; Higher Education; Higher Education Administration; Language; Statistics

Master of Education (MEd), Bowling Green State University, 2013, Curriculum and Teaching

This paper examines what drives curriculum in schools by looking at several different factors, including student creativity, student independence, teaching strategies, and the role of state proficiency and advanced placement testing in schools. I first took a historic perspective on the role of cultural and economic reproduction in school curriculum. In order to find out what currently drives curriculum in schools, I observed a northwest Ohio suburban high school to find out how students are taught through the direct curriculum and the null curriculum. The factors I used to help determine what currently lead curriculum of one suburban high school were student independence, student creativity, teaching strategies, negotiation, and state proficiency and advanced placement testing preparation. I observed how big a role, if any at all, state proficiency and advanced placement testing preparation impacted what teachers taught, and how that affected students' higher order thinking skills. I made inferences regarding how the curriculum the students at this high school were exposed to impacted their future careers.

Committee: Tracy Huziak-Clark PhD (Advisor); Bruce Collet PhD (Committee Member); Chris J. Frey PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Nursing Practice , Case Western Reserve University, 2024, School of Nursing

Substantial funds are allocated to relieve the primary care shortage for urban and rural underserved populations. The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) provides funds for clinical rotations in federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), assuming this will lead to increased access to primary care. The CWRU MSN program actively participates in these placement programs and efforts. However, there is no scientific evidence that clinical exposure of NP students to underserved populations will lead to intent to practice. This program evaluation explored factors contributing to intent to practice with underserved populations in general and the role of clinical exposure in specific.

Committee: Chris Winkelman (Committee Chair); Alyssa Wagner (Committee Member); Latina Brooks (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Demographics; Educational Evaluation; Health Care; Health Care Management; Health Education; Higher Education; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Nursing; Public Health

EdD, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Urban Educational Leadership

This mixed-method study analyzed principal values and student placement decisions in high performing schools. The surveyed opinions of fourth - eighth grade building principals determined how they utilized objective and subjective data in the student placement process. The researcher cross-referenced quantitative descriptive statistics from the Student Placement Survey (SPS) with qualitative short answer responses from the SPS and interview data from the Student Placement Survey interview protocol (SPSi). The results indicated that the placement process of students was purposeful and not at all random. Principals and teachers collaborated a great deal on the placement process to ensure that students are matched with appropriate teachers. The overall goal of the placement process was to develop balanced classrooms both by academics and behavior so that all students could academically grow. Finally, the collaborative placement teams used vast quantities of objective and subjective data to selectively place students to ensure that these balances occur. The Student Placement Matrix was developed as a model that would identify key elements of student placement in order to predict change in the achievement of various subgroups of students. The Student Placement Matrix (SPM) as an initial model was not a statistically significant predictor in achievement change. However, some categories and individual variables did show some statistically significant positive change for individual subgroups of students.

Committee: Carlee Escue PhD (Committee Chair); Nancy Evers PhD (Committee Member); Barbara J Hammel EdD (Committee Member); Decker Janet PhD (Committee Member); Christopher Swoboda PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2011, Social Welfare

Integration of the classroom learning and field practice is central to the success of student social workers and central to the idea of field as the signature pedagogy of social work education. This study, a descriptive, thematic analysis, had the aim of analyzing student perceptions of the block style field internship in 18 senior BSW students in one program. The researcher interviewed students prior to the start of their internship and again during the last week of the placement in order to elicit student expectations; actual experiences of their placements, practice, and agencies; and any gaps that might have been perceived between the classroom and the field. These students were not current students of the researcher. Students completed 3 journal entries one month apart during the internship and completed the Kolb Learning Style Inventory at the first interview. Resultant themes include students experiencing anxiety and excitement prior to the start of the placement; expecting to learn, do, and experience; expecting to do generalist practice. Actual practice revealed the themes of learning about and learning that; direct and indirect practice; emotional reactions to providing services to clients; and agency practice issues specifically working with other professionals and coping with the impact of funding decisions on practice. Gaps include unexpected emotions; organizational issues with personnel and funding; and clinical versus generalist practice. Learning style inventory results indicate students are mostly reflective observers but learning style did not appear to have an influence on perception of gaps. Implications for practice and social work education are presented along with suggestions for future research.

Committee: Elizabeth Tracy PhD (Committee Chair); M.C. "Terry" Hokenstad PhD (Committee Member); David Kolb PhD (Committee Member); David Crampton PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Social Work