Date of Graduation

5-2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Curriculum and Instruction

Advisor/Mentor

Pijanowski, John C.

Committee Member

Smith, Marcia S.

Second Committee Member

Lasater, Kara A.

Keywords

Response to Intervention (RTI); Educational strategies; Personalized instruction; Student self-efficacy

Abstract

Biology is a key course in a student's learning path. It provides important information about the living world and creates foundational knowledge that will be used in other science courses as the student progresses through his or her secondary and post-secondary education. However, there is a pattern of low student achievement in this required science course. The inability for students to understand and retain the curriculum in turn leads to low self-efficacy. Together, this creates a poor attitude toward science and a reluctance to pursue further science courses and in turn science careers. Response to Intervention (RTI), a common educational strategy, adjusts the amount of time the student spends on the curriculum and the amount of personalized instruction received by the student to match the student's needs. RTI hinges around a three tier system, which places students according to their learning needs. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a Tier 2 Intervention program on student achievement and student self-efficacy in Biology. The study’s research paradigm is a mixed methods program evaluation study. The Biology students’ semester grades, Biology end of course (EOC) proficiency levels, and checkpoint exam scores are quantitative data that were collected to determine the success of the Tier 2 Intervention. A student survey and teacher focus group interview are part of the qualitative data that were collected to evaluate the effectiveness of the program specifically on improving student self-efficacy.

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