Degree Name
EdD (Doctor of Education)
Program
Educational Leadership
Date of Award
5-2023
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Virginia Foley
Committee Members
Ginger Christian, Donald Good
Abstract
This quasi-experimental, quantitative study was completed to determine if a Modern Classroom approach to teaching had a significant relationship with student self-reported efficacy measures and end-of-course test data when compared to classrooms taught with traditional instructional methods as well as if there was a difference in results for Honors and College Prep-level students. Participants were students enrolled in a ninth-grade English classroom in a suburban school in East Tennessee. The study focused on survey data collected from both types of classroom at the mid-point of the semester and then from the Modern Classrooms participants at the end of the semester, serving as a post-test. The study also included end-of-course test scores for all participants, seeking to discover if there was a difference in mean scores based on level of student and on method of instruction.
Data from surveys were analyzed to determine if there was a difference in end-of-course test scores and student perceptions of engagement, skill development, themselves as learners, their relationship with their teacher, and of the overall course. There was a significant difference in EOC scores in Honors and College Prep-level students, but there was not a significant difference in scores in students from a Modern Classroom and a Traditional classroom environment. There were significant differences in level of student in four of the five survey domains: engagement, skill development, student opinions and beliefs, and overall thoughts of the course, with mean scores of Honors students in both approaches being higher. There were significant differences in instructional method of students in four of the five domains, excepting only student opinions and beliefs.
Post-test data from Modern Classrooms participants showed the means of one of the domains increased: opinions of their relationship with their teacher, but this increase was not significant. One variable remained the same: student opinions and beliefs about learning. The other three dropped, yet not significantly: the levels of engagement, student perception of skill development, and the overall opinion of the method of instruction.
Document Type
Dissertation - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Dunn, Rhiannon, "The Modern Classrooms Project: Student Efficacy and Achievement" (2023). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4166. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/4166
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.