Date of Award

5-2008

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Program

Curriculum & Instruction

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Major Professor

Gifford, Charles; Speaker, Richard

Second Advisor

Casbergue, Renee

Third Advisor

Thames, Marvin

Fourth Advisor

Drichta, Carl

Abstract

The promise of increased student achievement through educational reform is delivered still-born if teachers do not know how to implement complex instructional practices and sophisticated analysis of student performance. Metacognitive awareness is crucial to the adoption and application of proven educational initiatives. Teachers who successfully implement criterion-referenced assessment instruction, scoring rubrics, transfer to their students the metacognitive knowledge and skills of how to learn. This study is predicated on the research assumptions that metacognition and its attendant skills are critical to the successful implementation of scoring rubrics. A researcher-developed instrument, the Scoring Rubrics Inventory (SRI) and the Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (MAI) were distributed to core-subject teachers from three large public schools in Southwest Louisiana. From a population of sixty-eight (N=68) voluntary participants, eighteen teacher-participants self-reported as high implementers of scoring rubrics, thirty-nine as mid-level implementers and eleven as low-level implementers. From this population, twelve subjects were randomly selected (four high, four mid-level, and four lowlevel implementers) by an outside rater for double-blind observations and interviews. Pearson Product Moment correlations of the SRI and the MAI revealed five significant pairings using an alpha level of .05. The statistical results, coupled with the observation and interview findings from the sample-subjects established the consistency and stability of the Scoring Rubrics Inventory. Further, the totality of the results reported here support the research hypothesis of the study: H1: There is a significant correlation between the metacognitive awareness of secondary school core-subject teachers and the successful implementation of scoring rubrics. The results of the study indicated that secondary school core-subject teachers who successfully implement scoring rubrics possess a metacognitive awareness that transcends professional development training. The findings also suggested that teacher-participants who do not implement scoring rubrics either cannot or lack commitment to the innovation. Implications for teacher educators and school leaders indicated the need to: identify those persons who require additional professional development training; include operational strategies and modeling of successful implementation during training; and maintain a consistent training program in scoring rubrics. Recommendations for future research were offered.

Rights

The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.

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