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The flood at the foot of the classroom door

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TitleInfo
Title
The flood at the foot of the classroom door
SubTitle
secondary mathematics and English teachers describe data-driven decision making
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Moore
NamePart (type = given)
Jeffrey P.
NamePart (type = date)
1970-
DisplayForm
Jeffrey Moore
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
author
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Firestone
NamePart (type = given)
William
DisplayForm
William Firestone
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
chair
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Sargent
NamePart (type = given)
Tanja
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Tanja Sargent
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Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name (type = personal)
NamePart (type = family)
Schorr
NamePart (type = given)
Roberta
DisplayForm
Roberta Schorr
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
outside member
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name (type = corporate)
NamePart
Graduate School of Education
Role
RoleTerm (authority = RULIB)
school
TypeOfResource
Text
Genre (authority = marcgt)
theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated (qualifier = exact)
2014
DateOther (qualifier = exact); (type = degree)
2014-05
Place
PlaceTerm (type = code)
xx
Language
LanguageTerm (authority = ISO639-2b); (type = code)
eng
Abstract (type = abstract)
PROBLEM: Data-driven decision making has been a focus of school reform efforts for decades. As new testing and teacher evaluation regimes take hold, the focus on data analysis in schools only sharpens. Policy makers assume that teachers and school leaders have capacity for and common conceptions of that work, but the profession still wrestles over basic definitions. Researchers have connected outcomes to specific data analysis projects, described effective data analysis tools and structures, and uncovered normative cases, but have not yet described teacher practice with data (Coburn & Turner, 2012). Teachers are frontline implementers of policy, so their conceptions and practice are of utmost importance. Guided by the following research questions, this study explores how teachers engage with data. How do high school math and English teachers describe their use of data to inform instructional decision making? What obstacles influence their decision making as they plan for and engage in data analysis? METHOD: This comparative case study collected data from 18 teachers and 4 administrators working in 3 New Jersey high schools that vary in size and socioeconomics. Interviews provided the basis for data collection, followed up by reviews of professional literature from publishers that participants discussed. Transcribed interviews were coded and analyzed according to a conceptual framework and questions that guided the inquiry. FINDINGS: Teachers describe practices along a continuum of formality—the degree of codification and standardization of data. As formality increases, teacher control over data and teacher perceptions of usefulness of data decrease. Teachers value informal data the most, and rely on their experience and status as trained specialists to lend validity and reliability to those data, even if they believe that administrators and policy makers may believe the data to be invalid and/or unreliable. Teachers describe time and tools as structural obstacles to data analysis, and appreciate the efforts of administrators who try to mitigate those barriers. Teachers also describe students as obstacles; student motivation and other qualities affect the validity and reliability of data. Professional literature offers some suggestions on how to overcome many obstacles, but does not often address the notion of students as obstacles. Where the professional literature does, it describes teacher bias as the most likely cause. SIGNIFICANCE: Though policy mandates data-driven decision making in schools, there is little understanding of teacher practice and conceptions. This study answers research agendas calling for more inquiry in this direction, but recognizes that basic definitions are not yet resolved. The findings have informed the development of a typology of data in schools, which future researchers may use to further explore teacher practice and conceptions.
Subject (authority = RUETD)
Topic
Educational Administration and Supervision
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_5446
PhysicalDescription
Form (authority = gmd)
electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
x, 119 p. : ill.
Note (type = degree)
Ed.D.
Note (type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note (type = statement of responsibility)
by Jeffrey P. Moore
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Decision making--Mathematical models
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Educational change--Decision making
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Mathematics teachers--Education (Secondary)--New Jersey
Subject (authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
English teachers--Education (Secondary)--New Jersey
RelatedItem (type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School of Education Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier (type = local)
rucore10001500001
Location
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NjNbRU
Identifier (type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T3QF8R3K
Genre (authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights

RightsDeclaration (ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder (type = personal)
Name
FamilyName
Moore
GivenName
Jeffrey
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime (encoding = w3cdtf); (qualifier = exact); (point = start)
2014-04-11 06:47:47
AssociatedEntity
Name
Jeffrey Moore
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School of Education
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Technical

RULTechMD (ID = TECHNICAL1)
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ETD
OperatingSystem (VERSION = 5.1)
windows xp
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