The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument in order to measure the level of autonomy of Turkish classroom teachers. For this purpose, an 18-item 5-point Likert type scale was developed and tested. Data were collected from 292 classroom teachers (teaching at grades 1 to 4) working in state elementary schools located in five main districts of Ankara, and analyzed through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) in order to investigate the factor structure of the instrument. EFA resulted in three factors named as (1) autonomy in instructional planning and implementation, (2) autonomy in professional development, and (3) autonomy in determining the framework of the curriculum. Also, Cronbach's Alpha coefficients were calculated for all subscales and the whole scale. The Cronbach's Alpha coefficients for the 1 st , 2 nd , and 3 rd factors of the instrument were calculated as .91, .80, and .86 respectively, and the Cronbach's Alpha coefficient for the whole scale was calculated as .89. While the reliability of the 1 st factor was considered as 'excellent', the reliability coefficients of the 2 nd and 3 rd factors, and the whole scale were considered as 'very good'. This study was the first step of an instrument development. Second step will be taken for the verification of the validity and reliability of the scale.
Background
A factor related to students’ course performance that has seen limited research compared to other academic factors is the time of day a class is offered. Because of students’ chronotypes (i.e., preferred time of day to study or work), time of class can influence attendance, which has a strong correlation with students’ performance in a course.
Purpose/Hypothesis
The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between class time, students’ attendance including individual and average class attendance, and students’ final grades in an active learning course.
Design/Method
The grade and attendance records of 1,577 first‐year engineering (FYE) students enrolled in 15 sections at different times of the day were analyzed using Tukey's Honestly Significant Difference and Multi‐Level Modeling to identify whether the performance and attendance of students in the early morning sections were significantly different from those in the other sections and to differentiate the individual and class attendance in relation to students’ grades.
Results
Students enrolled in early morning and late Friday afternoon classes had lower attendance and final grades than students in other sections. Class average attendance had a significant relationship with students’ grades. Thus, in active learning classes, both an individual student's and classmates’ absences have a negative relationship with an individual student's grade.
Conclusion
FYE students are more likely to miss early morning classes. In a course based on active learning, this lower attendance has a negative relationship with student performance for all students in the class, including the ones who attend the class regularly, suggesting active learning may amplify the negative effects of missing classes.
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