perceived autonomy, competence, and relatedness in a performance learning center high school...
TRANSCRIPT
Perceived Autonomy, Competence, And Relatedness In
A Performance Learning Center High School
Environment
Chaja S. PinkardUniversity of West Georgia
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
Rationale For Studyo Never before has educational attainment
been such an important prerequisite for participation in our nation’s economy, yet each year many of our nation’s most needy students miss out on educational opportunities (McMurrey, 2014).
o These students are pushed out of their schools, or they simply give up fighting a system that seems stacked against them.
o Robert Balfanz (2009) suggests that the American high school has played a key role in shaping the nation since its inception in the mid-nineteenth century. It has provided a means of upward mobility, served as an engine of economic growth, and played a vital role as a community-building and socializing institution.
o At the same time, high schools have perpetuated inequalities, and often fall short of their purpose (Balfanz, 2009).
o Traditional schools are labeling more students as at-risk without means to address students’ needs and lack of motivation. As a result, schools are seeing a decrease in high school completion.
Statement Of The Problem
o The High School Dropout Crisis
o Costs of High School Dropouts
o Predictors of Dropping Out
The Need For Additional Research
O The need for more information regarding perceived PLC characteristics/experiences and the phenomenon occurring within PLCs need to be investigated/documented.
O The proposed study provides the opportunity to justify an increase of PLCs, as well as recommendations of at-risk students to these alternative learning settings.
Purpose Of The Study
o The purpose of this study will be to gain insight on student perceptions of experiences within their instructional environment while attending a performance learning center (PLC)
o The first phase of this study will measure perceived components of self-determination theory in a PLC using a rating scale.
o Phase two of the study will use a qualitative approach to explore the reasons behind the quantitative results of phase one, employing narrative research.
Research Questions
O 1. What are students’ perceived measures of self-determination theory as measured by perceived psychological needs satisfaction in a Performing Learning Center?
O 2. How do PLC (Performance Learning Center) students’ analyses of narratives explain corresponding students’ corresponding BPNS (Basic Psychological Needs Scale) scores?
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE
O Disadvantaged PopulationsO School CultureO School Organization and StructureO Alternative LearningO Performance Learning CentersO Online EducationO Learning CommunitiesO Communities In Schools
Theoretical Framework: Self-Determination Theory
O This humanistic theory used to study motivation and well-being suggests that individuals have innate tendencies toward personal growth and vitality that are either satisfied or thwarted by their immediate environment (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991).
O SDT’s basic psychological needs include competence, relatedness, and autonomy (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991). These basic psychological needs focus on how social and cultural factors facilitate or undermine an individual’s sense of initiative, well-being, and quality of performance.
Energization
O Vitality, which is the energy that is available to the self, allows people to act more autonomously and persist more at important activities. Whereas other theories have posited that self-regulation and choice are draining of energy, SDT researchers have hypothesized and demonstrated that only controlled regulation depletes energy.
O Deci and Ryan (2008) suggest that autonomous regulation is not depleting but vitalizing, and SDT posits that while controlled motives drain energy, actions that lead to need satisfaction can actually enhance energy available for self-regulation.
Moral Purpose
O In order to be an energizing vision, individuals must perceive the vision and goals to include a moral purpose (Hiatt-Michael, 2001).
O Moral purpose should appeal to the common good of the community, becoming the core force that binds the individuals together.
O Moral purpose should capture the personal values of the individual members so that their hearts are on fire and their passions are kindled to work toward that shared moral purpose (Hiatt-Michael, 2001).
Basic Needs Of SDT
O SDT’s organismic, dialectical perspective proposes that activities and the integrative propensities that coordinate them, require fundamental nutriments—namely, supports for experiencing competence, relatedness, and autonomy.
Concept Of Self
O The concept of self, because of its organismic basis, begins with intrinsic activity and the organismic integration process—that is, with the innate tendencies of human beings to engage in interesting activities and to elaborate and refine their inner representation of themselves and their world (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
O Gradually, the self is elaborated and refined through the integrative process.
O Behaviors that are motivated by regulations that have not been fully integrated into the self are not considered self-determined (Deci & Ryan, 2000).
Self-Determination Theory In Education
O When applied to the realm of education, SDT is concerned with promoting students’ interest in learning, value of education, and confidence in their own capacities (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991).
O Students’ engagement during instruction depends on the supportive quality of classroom conditions in which learning takes place.
Autonomy Support
O SDT assumes that students are always in active exchange with their classroom environment, and therefore need supportive resources from their environment to nurture and involve inner motivational resources (Reeve, 2006)
O When teachers support students’ capacities for self‐direction, teachers accept students as they are, provide encouragement, and assist them in their efforts to realize the goals they set for themselves.
Autonomy Support Cont
O Supportiveness is important to students’ school success because the more supportive teachers are, the more competent students feel, the more creative students are, the greater students feel in control of their learning, and the more engaged students are during learning activities (Reeve, 2006).
Competence
O Competence refers to an understanding of how to attain outcomes and being efficacious in performing actions.
O A central notion is that students will only engage and personally value activities they can understand and master (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009).
O Thus, it is necessary that feedback downplays evaluation, providing relevant information on how to master tasks at hand (Niemiec & Ryan, 2009).
Relatedness
O Relatedness also refers to developed secure and satisfying connections with others, and it occurs when teachers create conditions in which students feel special and important to the teacher.
O Relatedness also revolves around a teacher‐provided sense of warmth, affection, respect, and approval for students.
O Furrer and Skinner (2003) suggest that relatedness promotes interest and enthusiasm, and dampens negative emotions such as anxiety and boredom.
Self-Determination Theory And Motivation
Level Of Motivation Equation
The Need For Future Research
O The Dropout Prevention Center Network lists hundreds of dropout prevention programs in its online database of model programs, however, only a few of these programs have been evaluated for effectiveness.
O Factors that lead to higher levels of graduation from alternative schools must be identified in order to propose specific guidelines for the formation and success of these schools (Gilson, 2006).
O Though believed to be beneficial, there is a need for further investigation and research on the impact of performance learning centers and high school achievement.
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY
Research QuestionsO 1.) What are students’ perceived measures
of self-determination theory as measured by perceived psychological needs satisfaction in a Performing Learning Center?
O 2.) How do PLC (Performance Learning Center) students’ analyses of narratives explain corresponding BPNS (Basic Psychological Needs Scale) scores?
Design Of Study
O This study will use a participant-selection variant explanatory sequential qualitative design.
O This variant is used when the researcher is focused on qualitatively examining a phenomenon but needs initial quantitative results to identify and purposefully select the best participants.
O Explanatory sequential mixed methods is one in which the researcher first conducts quantitative research, analyzes the results, and builds on the results to explain them in more detail with qualitative research (Creswell, 2014).
Mixed Methods Rationale
O Mixed methods research is an approach to inquiry involving the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data, integrating the two forms of data, and using distinct designs that may involve philosophical assumptions and theoretical frameworks (Creswell, 2014).
O The assumption of this form of inquiry is that the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches provides a more complete understanding or a research problem than either approach alone.
Role Of Researcher
O In contrast to quantitative methodology where the researcher is detached from the dynamics of the research process, the researcher in qualitative methodology is an integral part of the process (Brown, Stevens, Troiano, & Schneider, 2002).
O In the qualitative paradigm, the researcher is viewed as the instrument through which data collection and analysis are conducted.
O Conducting qualitative research requires considerable reflection on the researcher’s part, and the ability to make a critical assessment of informants’ comments (Carcary, 2009).
Quantitative, Phase One
O Data collected in phase one, the quantitative phase of the study, will be gathered using a survey research design.
O A survey research design provides a quantitative or numeric description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by studying a sample of that population (Creswell, 2014).
O The survey to be administered in phase one of this study is the Basic Needs Satisfaction at Work Scale (BNSW-S).
Quantitative, Phase One Cont
O Participants will respond on a seven-point Likert scale anchored by (1) not true at all to (7) very true.
O Once participants have completed the survey and data has been screened by the researcher, three subscales (one for the degree to which the person experiences satisfaction of each of the three needs) will be formed and scored.
O Once scored, all items within relevant subscales will be averaged.
Qualitative, Phase Two
O Data collected in phase two of the study will be gathered using a narrative research design: an analysis of narrative design.
O The researcher will solicit narratives from phase one participants with the highest averages (ten) from the BNSW-S.
O The researcher will review provided narratives to make sure she has a clear and comprehensive understanding of the participant’s entire narrative.
O If and when there are questions about narratives, the researcher will revisit students individually (on a different, agreed upon date and time) and member check, asking questions of clarity.
Qualitative, Phase Two Cont.
O The coding method of choice will be A priori, a form of thematic analysis, which will be informed by the study’s self-determination, theoretical framework.
O Braun and Clarke (2006) suggest that a theme captures something important about the data in relation to the research question(s), and represents some level of patterned response or meaning within a data set.
O Therefore, the key of a theme is not necessarily dependent on quantifiable measures, but rather on whether it captures something important in relation to the research question.
Qualitative, Phase Two Cont.
O Thematic analysis minimally organizes and describes data sets in rich detail
O This research study will employ a realist, thematic analysis, reporting experiences, meanings, and the reality of participants.
O Specifically, the present study will employ A priori, deductive-latent thematic analyses, using the following phases:
Qualitative, Phase Two Cont
O Dependability And Trustworthiness
O Validity of the scores from the quantitative measure and trustworthiness of the qualitative findings will be discussed
O In narrative research, validity is not based on numbers, but is found in authenticity, persuasiveness, and trustworthiness (Pinnegar & Daynes, 2007)
O Qualitative data will address dependability and trustworthiness through the provision of:
Audit trailsMember checks
Reflexivity
Background Information
Narrative ResearchO Narrative research is defined as the description
of the lives of individuals, the collection of individuals’ stories of their experiences, and a discussion of the meaning of those experiences.
O Narrative research is an interactive, personal, collaborative process, where the researcher’s intent is to empower the participant to tell his or her story.
O The purpose of narrative research is to increase understanding of central issues related to teaching and learning through the telling and retelling of participants’ stories (Creswell, 2014).
Analysis Of Narrative
O An analysis of narratives is the process whereby the researcher collects stories as data and analyzes them into a set of themes that hold across all of the stories. The emerging themes are the outcomes.
O Chase (2005) suggests that analysis of narratives, while acknowledging the uniqueness of every narrative, looks for similarities and differences across narratives, identifying patterns.
Context
Research SiteO This study will be conducted at Rome City
Schools (RCS)’ Phoenix Learning Center (PLC).
O Phoenix Learning Center is operated by Rome City Schools’ Board of Education, which is located in Rome, Georgia (a city forty-five minutes north-west of Atlanta).
O RCS’ PLC accepts students from its feeder school, Rome High School.
O RCS’ PLC serves ninth (repeaters) through twelfth graders, and operates Monday through Thursday from 8:30am – 3:30pm.
Research Site Cont
O Phoenix Learning Center has four academic classrooms (English, Math, Science, and Social Studies) that are taught by four, Georgia-certified, content-specific teachers.
O PLC and RTA share one principal, one professional school counselor, as well as one special education teacher, all of whom are also certified by the state of Georgia.
O Phoenix Learning Center utilizes a blended-curriculum approach, using traditional classroom instruction, in addition to online learning.
O While Rome High School operates on a year-long, seven period day schedule, Phoenix operates on seven-week mini-mesters. As such, PLC students by far have the opportunity to earn more credits within an academic school year.
ConclusionO Never before has educational attainment been such an
important prerequisite for participation in our nation’s economy, yet each year many of our nation’s most needy students miss out on educational opportunities (McMurrey, 2014).
O Traditional schools are labeling more students as at-risk without means to address students’ needs and lack of motivation. As a result, schools are seeing a decrease in high school completion.
O Though believed to be beneficial, there is a great need for further investigation and research on the impact of performance learning centers and high school completion.
O The purpose of this study will be to gain insight on student perceptions of experiences within their instructional environment while attending a performance learning center (PLC). Not only are the formation of alternative learning settings important, it is equally imperative to investigate the who, what, and why of success stories within such settings.
ReferencesO Balfanz, R. (2009). Can the American high school become an avenue for
advancement for all? The Future of Children, 19(1), 17-36. Retrieved from http://www.futureofchildren.org
O Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
O Brown, S.C., Stevens Jr, R.A., Troiano, P.F., & Schneider, M.K. (2002). Exploring complex phenomena: Grounded theory in student affairs research. Journal of College Student Development, 43(2), 1-11.
O Carcary, M. (2009). The research audit trial-enhancing trustworthiness in qualitative inquiry. The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods 7(1), 11-24. Retrieved from www.ejbrm.com
O Chase, S.E. (2005). Narrative inquiry: Multiple lenses, approaches, voices. In Norman K. Denzin & Yvonna S. Lincoln (Eds.), The handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp.651-679). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
O Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (6th ed.). Washington, DC: SAGE Publications.
O Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. R. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268.
References ContO Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. R. (2008). Self-determination theory: A
macrotheory of human motivation, development, and health. Canadian Psychology, 49(3), 182-185. doi:10.1037/a0012801Deci, E. L., Vallerand, R. J., Pelletier, L. G., & Ryan, R. R. (1991). Motivation and education: The self-determination perspective. Educational Psychologist, 26(3 & 4), 325-346.
O Furrer, C. & Skinner, E. (2003). Sense of relatedness as a factor in children’s academic engagement and performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(1), 148-162.
O Gilson, T. (2006). Alternative high schools: What types of programs lead to the greatest level of effectiveness? Journal of Educational Research & Policy Studies, 6(1), 48-66. Retrieved from http://www.aera.net/Publications/Journals/
O Hiatt-Michael, D. B. (2001). Schools as learning communities: A vision for organic school reform. The School Community Journal, 11(2), 93-112.
O McMurrey, A.L. (2014). Willful ignorance? The dropout crisis and United States public education policy. The Journal of At-Risk Issues, 18 (1), 27-35.
O Niemiec, C. P., & Ryan, R. (2009). Autonomy, competence, and relatedness in the classroom: Applying self-determination theory to educational practice. Theory and Research in Education, 7, 133-144. doi:10.1177/1477878509104318 Our Story. Communities In Schools Website. Retrieved from http://www.communitiesinschools.org/about/
References Cont
O Reeve, J. (2006). Teachers as facilitators: What autonomy-supportive teachers do and why their students benefit. The Elementary School Journal, 106(3), 225-236. doi: 10.1086/501484
O University of Rochester (2014). Basic Psychological Needs Scale. Retrieved from the Self-Determination Theory website http://www.selfdeterminationtheory.org/basic-psychological-needs-scale/
Thank You!