Browsing by Author "Susan Osborne, Committee Member"

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    The Construction and Evaluation of the Perceptions of Success Inventory for Beginning Teachers
    (2005-06-26) Corbell, Kristen Anne; Susan Osborne, Committee Member; John Nietfeld, Committee Co-Chair; Alan J. Reiman, Committee Co-Chair
    There were many factors that led to beginning teachers' perceptions of success. These factors included administrative support, mentor support, colleague support, resource support, teaching assignment and workload, student outcomes, commitment to teaching, continuing education and pedagogy, and professionalism and efficacy. This study investigated an instrument called the Perceptions of Success Inventory for Beginning Teachers (PSI-BT) to measure the preceding factors. Included in this study was a review of literature about beginning teachers' perceptions of success. An analysis of the psychometric properties that the PSI-BT possessed was investigated including internal reliability, content validity, and concurrent validity. A factor analysis of the PSI-BT was used to help determine content validity. Paired Sample t-tests assessed the differences between 'what is' occurring for beginning teachers and 'what should be' occurring. The PSI-BT was found to assess the following factors through a factor analysis: 1) Administrative Support, 2) Classroom Climate, 3) Mentor Support, 4) Colleague and Instructional Resource Support, 5) Commitment, and 6) Assignment and Workload. The factors had moderate to strong internal reliability. There were nine statistically significant correlations between factors of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001) and PSI-BT to establish concurrent validity. The differences between 'what is' and 'what should be' were found to be significant at a p-value less than .000001 for all six factors.
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    Development and Validation of a Measure of Social Support for School Consultation
    (2008-04-23) Rupard, Melinda Denise; William P. Erchul, Committee Chair; Susan Osborne, Committee Member; Ann Schulte, Committee Member; Mary Haskett, Committee Member
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    Estimating the Effectiveness of Special Education Using Large-Scale Assessment Data.
    (2009-10-26) Ewing, Katherine Anne; Ann Schulte, Committee Chair; Jeffery Braden, Committee Member; William Erchul, Committee Member; Susan Osborne, Committee Member
    The inclusion of students with disabilities in large scale assessment and accountability programs has provided new opportunities to examine the impact of special education services on student achievement. Hanushek, Kain, and Rivkin (1998, 2002) evaluated the effectiveness of special education programs by examining students’ gains on a large-scale assessment of student achievement in Texas as they entered and exited special education programs. They found that special education placement resulted in an overall increase in the achievement scores of students with disabilities. The current study aimed to replicate and extend Hanushek et al.’s research using scores from the End-of-Grade Tests of Reading Comprehension and Mathematics for 396,828 students with and without disabilities who participated in special and/or general education programs over 5 academic years in the state of North Carolina. Results of multiple regression analyses revealed support for the effectiveness of special education programs. After controlling for school characteristics, cohort, regression to the mean, and accommodations use, entry into special education programs remained a significant predictor of students’ gain scores on large-scale assessments of reading and mathematics. Students with disabilities made significantly larger gains when enrolled in special education programs than when enrolled in general education programs, and gains were found for most of the subgroups of special education students examined in the study. A discussion of the implications for practice, limitations of the study, and suggestions for future research are provided.
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    Exploring Relational Communication Patterns in Preferral Intervention Teams
    (2010-04-20) Bennett, Megan S; William P Erchul, Committee Chair; Ann Schulte, Committee Member; Mary Haskett, Committee Member; Susan Osborne, Committee Member
    The purpose of this research was to understand the relational communication patterns that characterize school-based prereferral intervention teams (PITs). Prior research has suggested that although many states either require or recommend PITs, little is known about what occurs during PIT meetings (Truscott, Cohen, Sams, Sanborn, & Frank, 2005). A relational communication perspective emphasizes that within interpersonal interactions (such as those that occur in group-based situations), speakers are constantly redefining their roles, positions, and relationship through conversations (Erchul, Grissom, & Getty, 2008). A popular way of studying relational communication in dyadic or group situations is through coding systems such as the Family Relational Communication Control Coding System (FRCCCS; Heatherington & Friedlander, 1989). In this study, 15 PIT meetings were used as the basis of analyses and each meeting was audiotaped, transcribed, and coded using the FRCCCS. Additionally, each coder completed the PIT Meeting Evaluation Coding Sheet that assessed participants’ adherence to a traditional problem-solving framework. Important results included: (a) relatively consistent domineeringness (i.e., attempted influence) scores, with the exception of the referring teacher; (b) overall relatively consistent dominance (i.e., successful influence) scores; (b) significantly greater (p < .05) domineeringness by the school psychologist when compared to the referring teacher; and (c) no significant differences in dominance scores between the school psychologist and teacher. In sum, the current study represents an important first step in understanding communication patterns in school-based groups, which will continue to be important as schools transition to using response-to-intervention (RTI) models of service delivery.
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    Measuring Opportunities to Learn from Scientifically Based Reading Instruction
    (2006-06-12) Laugle, Kelly Marie; Susan Osborne, Committee Member; Ann Schulte, Committee Member; Jeffery P. Braden, Committee Chair
    This study was an effort to determine the psychometric properties of an instrument designed to measure a student's previous opportunities to learn from reading instruction. This instrument (Teachers' Implementation of Scientifically Based Reading Instruction (TISBRI)) is based on Porter and Smithson's (2001) framework for systematically evaluating opportunities to learn, and its content stems from Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read (Armbruster, Lehr & Osborn, 2001). The pilot version of the TISBRI was administered to 19 teachers who rated the reading instruction they had delivered to a single student in their class since the beginning of the school year. Item analyses, reliability, and validity studies were conducted to determine the merits of the instrument and refine it for future use. The instrument showed promise for having strong internal consistency but no conclusions could be drawn for the stability of the instrument, the relationships between scales in the instrument, and its ability to detect grade level differences in response patterns.
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    New Probes for Early Literacy Skills
    (2009-03-23) Groce, Mary Kristina; Ann C. Schulte, Committee Chair; John Begeny, Committee Member; William Erchul, Committee Member; Susan Osborne, Committee Member
    As educators alter their instructional decision making practices to align with a response to intervention (RTI) framework, it becomes crucial that appropriate tools for (a) identifying students at risk of reading failure and (b) monitoring students’ responsiveness to intervention are utilized. The assessments currently used for these purposes, such as Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM; Deno, 1986) and the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS; Good & Kaminski, 2002) can be time-consuming to administer to large groups of students. The present studies describe the initial evaluation of innovative, group-based progress monitoring measures. In Study 1, the three experimental measures (Reading Fluency, Maze Sentences, and Dolch Word Recognition) were administered to 73 first grade students four times during the academic year and the measures’ reliability, validity, and ability to demonstrate students’ growth over time were compared to those of two criterion measures, Word Identification Fluency (WIF; Fuchs, Fuchs, & Compton, 2004) and DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency (ORF). In Study 2, Reading Fluency, Maze Sentences, WIF, and ORF were administered weekly to four first grade students who were at risk for reading failure. In the multiple baseline design, the students received an intensive phonics intervention while their progress was monitored with the experimental and criterion measures. Results provide evidence that the Reading Fluency and Maze Sentences tasks are as reliable and valid as other measures in current use for screening, but suggest that they are not sensitive to students’ growth over time. Of the experimental and criterion measures, WIF was the only measure to demonstrate adequate ability to model students’ growth. Thus, results suggest that the Reading Fluency and Maze Sentences tasks are promising benchmark/screening assessments within an RTI framework.
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    Postponement and Supply Chain Structure.
    (2010-10-20) Chaudhry, Hassan; George Hodge, Committee Chair; William Oxenham, Committee Chair; Kristin Barletta, Committee Member; Jeffrey Joines, Committee Member; Susan Osborne, Committee Member
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    The Quality of Romantic Relationships in Late Adolescence: Associations with Parental Conflict and Adolescent Attachment.
    (2010-11-02) Evans, Raven; Mary Haskett, Committee Chair; Amy Halberstadt, Committee Member; William Erchul, Committee Member; Ann Schulte, Committee Member; Susan Osborne, Committee Member
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    Relations Between Isolated Writing Skills, Executive Functions, Working Memory, and College Students' Production of Connected Text
    (2005-09-07) Mercer, Jacquelyn Gore; Susan Osborne, Committee Member; Ann Schulte, Committee Chair; Lynne Baker-Ward, Committee Member; Patricia Collins, Committee Member; William Erchul, Committee Member
    The purpose of this study was to explore potential relations between isolated writing skills, executive functions, working memory, and connected text production. The goal was to integrate concepts and measures from diverse perspectives to examine these relationships. Sixty-three students enrolled in introductory psychology completed a battery of measures, and relationships among measures were examined to test hypothesized relationships. Isolated writing skills, executive functions, and working memory measures predicted scores on a measure of unsupported production of connected text and accounted for 15 percent of the variance in scores on the connected text production measure. The contribution of executive function to written expression did not differ significantly from zero, and the manipulation designed to examine the role of executive function in written expression by reducing the organizational demands of the writing task did not have its predicted effect. Post hoc analyses suggested that flaws in the study's design may have accounted for the failure to find support for two of the three original hypotheses. Other possible interpretations for the findings and implications for future research and school psychology practice were discussed.
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    Undergraduate Educational Experiences: The Academic Success of College Students with Blindness and Visual Impairments
    (2009-11-05) Scott, Ricky; Susan Osborne, Committee Member; Carol Kasworm, Committee Chair; John Pettitt, Committee Member; J. Conrad Glass, Committee Member
    The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how fifteen students with blindness and visual impairments experienced their engagement in undergraduate studies at four 4-year universities and perceived their success. They also provided their understandings of the impact of institutions, faculty, staff, and others on their academic success. Previous literature suggests that students with blindness and visual impairments as well as students with other disabilities were academically successful in college because of institutional support and the positive attitude of faculty and peers (Baggett, 1994; Branker, 1997; Enberg, 1999; Fichten, 2005; and Roy, 2000). Findings from this study demonstrate that participants’ understandings and experiences with blindness varied and their subsequent adjustment and transition also differed. Participants described several factors that facilitated the creation of positive educational experiences during their undergraduate programs: positive exposure to a new region of the country, positive peers, supportive departments and professors, financial opportunities, and welcoming and diverse campus environments. As these students transitioned to the university, they utilized accommodations and services provided by Disability Students Services (DSS) to facilitate their access to the academic environment. The undergraduate students also described challenging experiences, including feeling academic discrimination, a sense of isolation, limited campus accessibility, and peer interaction issues. There were other support systems that facilitated participant academic success, such as mentors, family, administrators, and staff. This study concluded that blind and visually impaired undergraduate students were more likely to succeed academically when they felt a sense of connectedness with the university academic system. DSS is most responsible for facilitating that connectedness. Quality contact and collaboration with faculty were also important, as well as the attitudes of faculty, administration, and staff. The disconnectedness between study participants and the university system was fostered through inflexible bureaucratic procedures; the attitudes of faculty, staff, and administrators; and isolation from peers. Implications for policy include a recommendation for additional funding of technology-related assistance programs, in-service training on disability issues awareness for faculty and staff, and campus-wide committees on university accessibility. This study suggests future research is needed on the academic success of this population in community colleges and at the graduate level. There is a need for more empirical research and research on the population’s social integration. The study recommends that higher education programs develop self-advocacy programs for blind and visually impaired students, in-service training for faculty, and peer mentorship programs.
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    What We Talk About When We Talk About Vision: A Phenomenological Study of Principals’ Understanding of Vision.
    (2008-12-04) Ansbacher, David Benjamin; Richard Haley, Committee Member; Lance Fussarelli, Committee Chair; Susan Osborne, Committee Member; Joe Peel, Committee Member
    The concept of ‘vision’ in the principalship is simultaneously extremely important yet surprisingly vague in its definition and practical application. This phenomenological study investigates the ways that principals understand and use the concept of vision in their daily work and their approach to school leadership. The study examines the ways that principals understand and use vision in the daily work of the principal, considering questions of genesis of vision, cultivation of vision, and frameworks for understanding vision. The researcher conducted interviews with five recent Principals of the Year from an urban school district and concludes with a framework for a phenomenological understanding of vision based upon the metaphors used by these principals.