Date of Conferral

2018

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Marites Pinon

Abstract

Gaps in middle school students' outcomes such as engagement, achievement, and attendance have been linked to instruction. In addition, the effect of instructional quality might not be the same for male and female students. The purpose of this quantitative study was to measure the relationship between instructional quality, student engagement, achievement, and attendance, with gender as a moderator in middle school. The ecological systems model and Vygotsky's social development theory formed the theoretical framework for this study, as they help understand how the environment, including instructional support, is likely to correlate with student behavior and motivation toward learning. The CLASS Observation Tool and Tripod survey were used to measure instructional quality and engagement for students (N = 160) in 11 middle school math classes from a large southern state. Achievement and attendance data were gathered from teachers and administrators. Two-way MANOVA was used for the independent grouping variable for the classroom score. Two-way ANOVA was conducted to examine 2 main effects of the independent variables of CLASS and Tripod. Multiple regression was used for gender as the moderating variable. Gender did not moderate the association between instructional quality and the 3 outcome variables. Additional research is needed to improve the understanding of instructional quality and the connection between the 3 outcome variables. Implications for positive social change include informing public policy of study results to improve instruction, engagement, achievement and attendance.

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