Date of Award

Fall 8-2010

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Pamela Manning

Second Advisor

Dr. Victoria Scott

Third Advisor

Dr. Marion Brooks

Abstract

The Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) is used in the district of Study School No. 1 to give insight on student academic skill level in terms of years and months. Teacher strategies and expertise in the area of education is an integral part of the educational process. Tenure status, or the years of experience, is plagued with the idea that it promotes or has an impact on student achievement. Although there were a significant number of tenured special education and general education teachers at the study school during the 2005–2006, 2006–2007, and 2007–2008 school years, the school did not make adequate yearly progress (AYP) due to the special education subgroup’s failure to meet state standards. Because the school failed to make AYP for four consecutive years, they have been placed on Academic Watch. Several of these general education teachers had many years of teaching experience; however, there was no evidence of the relationship between tenure status and the academic gains the students displayed on the ITBS assessment. The ITBS is used to assess student academic skills. In this study the researchers wanted to determine if there was a significant relationship between teacher tenure status (independent variable) and student academic achievement (dependent variable). Pre- and post-ITBS reading and math scores were used as a basis to examine academic achievement. The hypothesis stated that if students receive instruction from a tenured teacher, they will have greater academic achievement than students receiving instruction from a non-tenured teacher. General education, instructional special education, and special education resource teachers were included in the study. Scatter Plots for each data set were constructed to visually indicate a relationship between the independent and dependent variables. The correlation coefficient was also calculated using the i ii independent and dependent variables, which, for some data sets, resulted in a negative correlation, meaning there was not a positive correlation, and no further testing was needed. While these two statistical measure may have resulted in a positive correlation between the independent and dependent variables, a correlation coefficient test of significance was run using critical values for PPMC, and an alpha of 0.05 was used to determine if there was a positive correlation between the years of teacher service and the pre- and post-ITBS reading and math scores. The correlation coefficient test of significance was the last factor in determining if there was a positive correlation between the independent and dependent variables, and was only used if the correlation coefficient did not result in a negative figure. The result of the analysis for special education concluded that there was not a significant correlation between the independent and dependent variables; the null hypothesis was accepted, except for the 2005–2006 reading ITBS pre and post scores for a tenured teacher. For this positive correlation, the null hypothesis was rejected. The result of the analysis for general education concluded that there was not a significant correlation between the independent and dependent variables. This collaborative research project was conducted by Sheryl Wilson, Trenese Dancy, and Rochelle Harris-Clark. Each researcher studied tenured versus non-tenured teachers; however, they each had a different focus group. Sheryl Wilson focused on instructional special education teachers, Trenese Dancy focused on general education teachers, and Rochelle Harris-Clark focused on all teachers.

Rights

Copyright 2010

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