Date of Award

Summer 6-23-2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctorate of Education, Ed.D.

College

College of Education

Department

Education

First Advisor

Sally Evans, Ed.D.

Second Advisor

Lisa Foster, Ph.D.

Third Advisor

Anne Gray, Ed.D.

Abstract

The Teachers Talent Toolbox needed a tool that could compile usable information on any given learning institution through data collection and analysis and provide usable qualitative and quantitative data that could be used to identify the causes of low achievement and provide necessary interventions within the school to improve student outcomes. To answer this need, the Instructional Culture Index/Insight Survey was developed by the New Teacher Project in 2016 and has been widely used and implemented in many schools and districts. This survey instrument was validated and deemed reliable by the RAND Corporation also in 2016. The purpose of this correlational study was to statistically analyze the relationship between instructional school culture, as measured by the Instructional Culture Index/Insight Survey, and student achievement as measured by school performance composite scores for the academic years of 2015 to 2016 and 2016 to 2017. Both types of archived data were accessed from the State Department of Education provided on the district’s website: Instructional Culture Index/Insight Survey and the composite academic scores of student from two academic years (2015 to 2016 and 2016 to 2017). In this study, data from 97 elementary schools from 2015 to 2016 and 95 elementary schools from 2016 to 2017 were used. A Pearson correlation test was conducted to determine the strength of the relationship between instructional school culture and student achievement in elementary schools within an urban school district. School culture and student achievement for the academic year 2015 to 2016 were positively but moderately correlated, r(.474) = .47, p = .000. School culture and student achievement for the academic year 2016 to 2017 were positively but weakly correlated, r(.271) = .27, p = .008. Research indicates that a study with an abundance of subjects may yield a low Pearson correlation but is still significant based on the large number of subjects used in the research as in this case. Based on the data, there is evidence, though weak to moderate, of a relationship between instructional school culture and student achievement.

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