While Deaf students are not typically classified as English as a second language (ESL) students, the majority of deaf students first become fluent in a signed language, making them ideal candidates for ESL research. This case study has been designed to explore the ways in which one method of ESL reading instruction, known as modified guided reading (MGR), affects the language acquisition process, and resulting reading comprehension level, of a deaf student over eleven weeks. The study documented the student’s language acquisition development both in American Sign Language (ASL) and in English, as well as tracked the student’s growth in reading comprehension, metalinguistic awareness, and visual attention skills. The Accelerated Reader (AR) program, benchmark testing, and daily observations were used to measure growth. Findings of the study suggest that the ESL methods implemented through MGR positively impacted the student’s language acquisition process, reading comprehension level, metalinguistic awareness, and visual attention skills. Results showed an increase in all three of the student’s AR scores as follows: 31% in reading level, 13.1% in number of words read, and 13.2 % in comprehension test scores. Observations and benchmark testing revealed increased metalinguistic knowledge in word, syntactic, and pragmatic awareness. Visual attention skills were …

This qualitative study addressed the question: What are the perceptions of preschool and elementary bilingual and ESL teachers on how technology-enhanced classroom environments support native Spanish-speaking English language learners in the acquisition of English as a second language? With the support of six school districts representing three different regions and 15 schools in Texas, this research investigated technology-enhanced learning environments and the influence of emerging technologies on language acquisition by focusing on classroom interactions and learner engagement in preschool and elementary settings. Forty-six teachers completed the self-identified online questionnaire and from that initial group of participants, 10 were chosen for the face-to-face semi-structured interviews. A two-cycle progressive refinement coding technique was used for the analysis of the teacher interviews. In Vivo coding was selected for the first-cycle coding methodology to study teacher perspectives using their direct language. For the second-cycle methodology, focus coding was chosen as a continuation of the analytical process examining the developing patterns resulting in the initial codes being grouped to form salient categories. This process of reanalyzing and reorganizing coded data led to the creation of four emergent themes and in the views of the teachers interviewed describes how emerging technologies influences English language acquisition. The …

Since the passing of No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, the United States' secondary education system has undergone significant changes. In this study, I discuss the ways in which the law has encouraged the normalization of standardized testing and aim to answer two primary research questions. RQ1: What do college students and their instructors identify as the key challenges that arise as students educated under NCLB begin college coursework, and how does each group address these challenges? RQ2: What strategies do the actors and spect-actors in a Forum Theatre production arrive at for addressing the challenges faced by college instructors and their students who have completed their secondary education under No Child Left Behind? To answer the initial research question, I conducted focus group interviews with instructors and students at the University of North Texas to understand the challenges each faces in the classroom. To answer the second research question, I compiled narratives from the focus group interviews along with other materials into a performance script that concluded with scenarios based in Augusto Boal's Forum Theatre techniques. In live performance events audience members rehearsed strategies for addressing the challenges that instructors and students face in classrooms through performance. Following …

This Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Ten-Year Site Plan (TYSP) describes the strategy for accomplishing the long-term objective of sustaining the INL infrastructure to meet the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) mission: to promote nuclear power as a resource capable of making major contributions in meeting the nation’s energy supply, environmental and energy security needs. This TYSP provides the strategy for INL to accomplish its mission by: (1) linking R&D mission goals to core capabilities and infrastructure requirements; (2) establishing a ten-year end-state vision for INL facility complexes; (3) identifying and prioritizing infrastructure needs and capability gaps; (4) establishing maintenance and repair strategies that allow for sustainment of mission-critical (MC) facilities; and (5) applying sustainability principles to each decision and action. The TYSP serves as the infrastructure-planning baseline for INL; and, though budget formulation documents are informed by the TYSP, it is not itself a budget document.

At the beginning of this project, thin film amorphous alloy membranes were considered a nascent but promising new technology for industrial-scale hydrogen gas separations from coal- derived syngas. This project used a combination of theoretical modeling, advanced physical vapor deposition fabricating, and laboratory and gasifier testing to develop amorphous alloy membranes that had the potential to meet Department of Energy (DOE) targets in the testing strategies outlined in the NETL Membrane Test Protocol. The project is complete with Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), Georgia Institute of Technology (GT), and Western Research Institute (WRI) having all operated independently and concurrently. GT studied the hydrogen transport properties of several amorphous alloys and found that ZrCu and ZrCuTi were the most promising candidates. GT also evaluated the hydrogen transport properties of V, Nb and Ta membranes coated with different transition-metal carbides (TMCs) (TM = Ti, Hf, Zr) catalytic layers by employing first-principles calculations together with statistical mechanics methods and determined that TiC was the most promising material to provide catalytic hydrogen dissociation. SwRI developed magnetron coating techniques to deposit a range of amorphous alloys onto both porous discs and tubular substrates. Unfortunately none of the amorphous alloys could be deposited without pinhole defects that …

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of student-faculty interactions, student-staff interactions, and student-peer interactions of Latino students to their intent to persist toward graduation in community colleges in Texas. Parental educational level (for both mother and father), first generation status, gender, and English as a second language served as additional predictor variables. The existing data used for this investigation were collected by the Center for Community College Student Engagement and included longitudinal data from the years 2012, 2011, and 2010. Data from 12,488 randomly selected Latino students enrolled in Texas community colleges were obtained and used for the study. The research design method was non-experimental using extant data. To assess the relationships between student engagement variables and Latino student intent to persist, correlations and logistic regression were used. Though no relationship was found between intent to persist and student-faculty interactions (r = -.017, p = .066, n= 11,824) or student peer interactions, (r = -.012, p = .208, n = 11,766), a positive relationship was found between intent to persist and student-staff interaction (r = .048, p = .000, n = 10,794) with an extremely small effect size (r2 = .002). Among the variables of parental …

Preparing teachers to teach in the diverse classroom has become one of the most important goals for universities and teacher training programs. The main purposes of this study included to examine what type of multicultural concepts were taught preservice teachers who sought certification in Grades 4-8 and how these preservice teachers understood and implemented multicultural concepts in their educational portfolios and coursework, field experiences, and student teaching. The population of the study consisted of 53 undergraduate, preservice teachers enrolled in the last two years of a 4-8 teacher certification program. A modified grounded theory methodology and interpretive approach was used in the analysis of the course syllabi, required readings and student coursework. The study found that this particular program exposed the preservice teachers to a significant number of multicultural concepts in preparation for teaching in the ethnically diverse schools in the area. In addition, the study looked at which of Grant and Sleeter's five multicultural approaches were found most often in the course syllabi and required readings, as well as the preservice teachers' portfolio artifacts, key assessments, and reflective writing samples. The research found the majority of the course syllabi and assigned readings covered concepts in the human relations and …

Report updating progress on long-term goals contained in the strategic plan for FY 2010-2015.

A report about the accomplishments and programs of the Texas Workforce Investment Council for 2013.

Report reviewing the management and performance of Luling Independent School District's (ISD) educational, financial, and operational functions.

Briefing materials compiled for a meeting of the Texas Workforce Investment Council held December 5, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, in San Antonio, Texas. The materials include agendas, minutes, and memoranda for members to consider related to the Texas Workforce Council annual report and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

Briefing materials compiled for a meeting of the Texas Workforce Investment Council held June 7, 2013 in the Teacher Retirement System Building in Austin, Texas. The materials include agendas, minutes, and memorandums related to Texas Workforce Council plans and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board.

Early childhood education emphasizes the need of providing high quality early childhood mathematics programs for preschool children. However, there is little research that examines the importance of preschool children’s mathematical knowledge development and teachers’ beliefs about how to teach mathematics to young children. The purposes of this study were to investigate pre-service and in-service preschool teachers’ knowledge of children’s mathematical development and their beliefs about teaching mathematics in the preschool classroom and also to determine how experience differentiates the two groups. This research employed a non-experimental research design with convenient sampling. Ninety-eight pre-service teachers and seventy-seven in-service preschool teachers participated in the research. The Knowledge of Mathematical Development survey (KMD) and the Beliefs survey were used to investigate possible differences between pre-service and in-service preschool teachers’ knowledge of children’s mathematical development and between their beliefs about teaching mathematics. The findings of this study indicate a statistically significant difference between pre-service teachers and in-service preschool teachers in relation to their knowledge of mathematical development. This finding shows that pre-service teachers’ knowledge of children’s mathematical development is somewhat limited; most pre-service teachers have difficulty identifying the process of preschool children’s development of mathematics skills. A second finding reveals a statistically significant difference …

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The UNT Graduate Bulletin includes information about class offerings as well as "policies, regulations, procedures and fees in effect at the time [the] publication went to press"

The current study assessed the effects of two teaching stimulus presentations, i.e. picture to word and word to word, used to teach second language vocabulary to college students. It also evaluated the emergence of untaught relations when picture to word and word to word were used separately as a teaching strategy. The findings showed picture to word training resulted in more untaught relations. Several aspects such time allotted for online quizzes, experimental and teaching arrangements and vocabulary complexity were suggested for future research.

Briefing materials compiled for a meeting of the Texas Workforce Investment Council held September 6, 2013 in the 5th Floor Board Room of the Teacher Retirement System Building in Austin. The materials include the meeting agenda, minutes from the prior meeting, reports and briefings, session materials, and other reference documents for discussion or information.

How to close the reading achievement gap among K-12 students is an ongoing emphasis for educators in the 21st century. The purpose of the study was to determine if using kinesthetic movements from the Brain Gym® program improved the reading achievement of Grade 3 Hispanic and African American students. Students from four elementary schools participated in the study. The students in the control and experimental groups completed a 2004 release TAKS third grade reading assessment for the pretest and posttest. Students in the experimental group completed five selected kinesthetic movements from the Brain Gym® program five minutes at the beginning of each Monday through Friday school day. The intervention lasted 30 days and a total of 150 minutes. Data were analyzed using a 2 x 2 mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance. Findings revealed that performing the five kinesthetic movements from the Brain Gym® program did not increase students' reading achievement scores. Only the variable of time between pretest and posttest affected students' reading scores. The results from this study did not support the findings of other studies of the effectiveness of kinesthetic movements.

A performance and management review of Beaumont Independent School District (ISD) examining their use of funds in different areas of the school system.

Bulletin describes the governance, faculty, course offerings, and campus life of McMurry University in Abilene, Texas.

Technology integration into the classroom is a multi-faceted and complex topic. One factor that can have an effect on a teacher's incorporation of technology into their classroom is pre-service teacher technology training. In this research study the ARCS instructional design model was applied to a pre-service teacher technology course in the hopes of motivating course attendees to both learn about technology incorporation and to incorporate technology into their future classrooms. The ARCS instructional design model that relies on the motivational sub-components of attention, relevance, confidences, and satisfaction to develop instruction that motivates to students to learn course content and goals. This study analyzed a group of pre-service teachers enrolled in a university technology training course to determine if the redesign resulted in the desired outcomes. Pre-test and post-test data was collected using both quantitative and qualitative instruments to analyze the potential effect of the redesigned course.

Study on the capacity of Texas Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) early childhood care and education (ECCE) programs to effectively prepare Texas early childhood professionals for the workforce.

High performance buildings, also known as sustaina

The relationship between the mission of community colleges and the increasing teacher shortage has become more transparent as many community colleges have implemented teacher education programs to address community needs, the shortage of qualified teachers, and the lack of diversity among teachers. As the community college's teacher education role has increased, many community colleges have responded by adding associate of arts degrees and certificate programs specific to teacher education to tackle the shortage of teachers and the lack of diversity among teachers in the nation's classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of one community college's pre-service teacher education program in transferring minority students to a university teacher education program and the likelihood of the students graduating with both bachelor's degrees and teacher certification. This longitudinal ex post facto causal-comparative mixed methods case study involved tracking a cohort of minority students over a 6-year period. Data were gathered from existing teacher education program records for native and transfer students at one community college and two four-year institutions. Unstructured interviews were conducted with administrators over the community college's program. For data analysis, ?2 and Phi Coefficients were conducted to compare the minority students' university transfer and graduation …