Pedagogy

Dissertation
Pre-Proposal Guide  Template

Instructions for Using the Template

Step 1 Collect relevant materials such as papers, journal articles, and notes that you have been working with to write your dissertation proposal.

Step 2 Review the Dissertation Manual thoroughly, paying particular attention to material describing the purposes and characteristics of dissertation research. Keep the Manual with you as a reference, and periodically review the criteria that your committee will use to assess your work. To assist you in your journey in writing a dissertation, you will be creating a beginning document  a pre-proposal  it is not too early to immerse yourself in the ideals and expectations of your eventual research study.

Step 3 Begin drafting your pre-proposal using the template on the next few pages. Each element of the pre-proposal listed here is required. If any element is missing, the pre-proposal will be returned to you for revision.

Step 4  Read the instructions for each section carefully that. These instructions will guide you to completing each element successfully and completely. Do not include any more detail than is requested. The pre-proposal should be a concise document of three to five pages in length. It is also intended to be done quickly, after you have given detailed thought to each part.

Step 5  Highlight (hold down the left mouse button and drag the cursor across) the text Highlight this text and begin typing., and type your pre-proposal information for that section.

Step 6 When all sections are complete, go back and edit them for clarity and conciseness. Refer to sections of the Dissertation Guide and to highlighted references that appear in the boxed text, if you have any need for clarification.

Step 7  Highlight the instructions for each section and delete them, leaving only the section headings and the text that you typed.

Step 8 Edit the document for APA Style. Add a reference list for any documents that you cited, and submit the pre-proposal to your mentor for review.

Step 9 At the end of the document, list any questions or concerns youd like to address with your mentor.

The impact of NCLB and IDEA on the achievement of students with disability

Statement of the Problem

There are numerous reports that suggest problems with educational policies and reform issues. In a country committed to maximizing quality for its disabled students, it comes as a matter of concern that its educational policies and reforms might not have any impact on the achievement of this population. The expectations and requirements set by NCLB and IDEA for students with disabilities have not affected their achievement owing to the irreconcilable nature of the two acts. The assessment of whether a student is being provided with free and appropriate education as dictated by the NCLB does not necessarily include the success of the student on standardized test scores. In this regard, there is need to determine

How the implementation of NCLB has affected instruction
How the changes set by NCLB has affected students with disabilities and
If NCLB has led to a decrease in achievement gap between groups based on their abilities
Relation of the Problem to the Specialization

States across the United States were compelled by the No Child Left Behind Act to design a system of school accountability founded on annual student assessments. The impact of this Federal legislation on how student achievement is distributed is a controversial but nevertheless an important subject of analysis and investigation for educational leaders. The major problem with any educational reform is the possibility of schools implementing superficial changes in content, objectives, and structures instead of changes in culture, role behavior, and conception of teaching. In this regard, it is within the scope of educational leadership to assess the impact of the implementation of such reforms on student achievement especially in light of the reassessment by educators on their practices to find ways of bridging achievement gaps between groups of students. Even though achievement gaps appear to be unyielding, a mushrooming research foundation is offering concrete evidence that these achievement gaps can only be sealed by employing more effective teachers.

As suggested by a number of studies, disadvantaged students who constantly interact are instructed by effective teachers manage to match up with their advantaged peers (Bandeira de Mello, Blankenship  McLoughlin, 2009 Carnoy  Loeb2002). The No Child Left Behind Act, through provisions for teacher quality, attempts to staff every classroom with such kind of teachers as a way of addressing these disparities. As schools and states endeavor to improve their academic results, students with disability become the center of focus. In this regard, a critical assessment of NCLB and IDEA in terms of their effectiveness in the handling of students with disabilities and how this in turn affects achievement is of utmost importance to the field of educational leadership.

Background and Context for the Problem

It may be argued that the No Child Left Behind Act is the most far reaching education policy initiative over the last forty years. The reform is based on the idea that that public schools focus and productivity can be improved if detailed information on school specific performance is publicized and if this is associated with high stake test performance and probable meaningful sanctions. However, this presents various challenges to students with disabilities.

Critics have argued that there are several unintended negative impacts of test based school accountability for childrens broad cognitive development (Nichols and Berliner, 2007). They charge that No Child Left Behind and other accountability policies based on tests make educators to direct resources away from critical but non-tested subjects, and to focus instruction in reading and math on the limited set of topics that are represented heavily on high-stakes tests (Rothstein et al. 2008, Koretz 2008).

There is minimal assessment on how NCLB and IDEA are improving the outcomes for students with disabilities and the extent to which practices based on research are used in making policy decisions that affect students with disabilities.

Research QuestionsHypotheses

Hypothesis 1 Since its implementation, NCLB has resulted in instructional changes for children with disabilities.

Null Hypothesis 1 NCLB has not resulted in instructional changes for children with disabilities.

Hypothesis 2 The achievement of children with disabilities has improved since IDEA was implemented.

Null Hypothesis 2 The achievement of children with disabilities has not been affected by the implementation of IDEA.

Hypothesis 3 NCLB has resulted in the narrowing of achievement gap between students with disabilities and non-disabled students.

Null Hypothesis 3  Achievement gap between students with disabilities and non-disabled students has not been narrowed by NCLB.

Importance or Significance of the Study

The purpose of this study is to offer evidence on the question of whether NCLB and IDEA generate their supposed benefits for students with disability. The wide interest in understanding the influence of NCLB on the distribution of student achievement also leads to a careful scrutiny of the current trend data which further helps in the assessment of the unprecedented consequences of the legislation across various student populations.

Topics in the Literature Review

Review of research on Pre-NCLB Accountability Reforms

During the 1990s, school accountability reforms that are similar to those that were brought about by NCLB were adopted in various states. Many research studies have assessed how these reforms affected achievement. Due to the similarities that exist between NCLB and some aspects of accountability systems that existed before NCLB, the body of research offers a useful backdrop against which we can consider the possible impacts of NCLB on achievement. Figlio and Ladd (2008) in reviewing this diverse literature suggest that there are three studies that are sound methodologically with regard to this research. They are Carnoy and Loeb (2002), Jacob (2005), and Hanushek and Raymond (2005).

Assessment of National Achievement Trends

The National Achievement Trends provide important information on patterns of achievement across the nation which is critical in the analysis of the impact of the legislations before and after enactment.

Review of research on NCLB specific states

The review will illuminate on the consequences of NCLB on achievement.

Methodology

Quantitative method will be used in this research. In order to address the first research question, numerical
data on the achievement trends of students will be obtained from state surveys and measurements before and after the implementation of NCLB.  The data will be subjected to statistical analysis with the aim of describing numerical distributions, testing of the research questions, revealing confidence intervals, testing models, result presentation and forming inferential conclusions about educational achievement among students with disabilities.

In order to address the second research question, results from the National Assessment of Educational

Progress will be collected and interpreted.

The third question will be assessed by interpreting research surveys and results from National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Data Collection

Data from research question one will be taken from various recent studies (Braun et al. 2008, NCES 2007, Bandeira de Mello, Blankenship  McLoughlin, 2009) that have converted the test based proficiency thresholds in the system of state assessment to a common metric derived from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Data for research question two will be collected through the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) website (httpnces.ed.gov) which offers test results based on the population needed for assessing this question. NAEP has results of student learning since 1969. The results are founded on school and student samples that accurately represent student population of interest.

Data Analysis

A chi-square goodness of fit test will be conducted on data from research question one to determine if there is any significant disparity in results from the states included in the survey.

For research question two, the NCES provides the tools for choosing a set of variables and the statistical analysis of the data using a t-test to determine any statistically significant changes between the means of the selected samples.