Award Date

December 2022

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education

First Committee Member

Miguel Gonzales

Second Committee Member

Bradley Marianno

Third Committee Member

Tiberio Garza

Fourth Committee Member

Tina Vo

Number of Pages

114

Abstract

Given the rapid growth of K-12 online learning, research is needed in the effective identification of at-risk students so that administrators and teachers can develop appropriate supports and interventions. The purpose of this research was to determine if student success in an online course could be predicted for English Learners (EL) using identifiable student characteristics and traits. This study looked at the student traits of behavior, structure, and demographics to determine if they could be used as predictive variables for successful course completion in a K-12 online course. The behavior characteristics were measured by a survey tool and were identified in the categories of organization/self-regulation, technology skills/access, responsibility/risk-taking, and achievement/self-esteem beliefs. Structure variables were related to the course such as subject area (Subject), the reason that the student is taking the course (Reason), the student experience level in taking a course with this online school (Experience). The students’ personally identifiable characteristics such as race/ethnicity, gender, GPA, grade level, and EL status were identified as the Demographic variables. The findings demonstrated that GPA was the greatest predictor of online student success, but certain behavior, structure, and demographic variables consistently predict the final course grade which in turn could be used to support students. This study can be used as a mean to help initiate the conversation about how leaders can best support students enrolled in online schools.

Keywords

educational leadership; K-12 online education; predicting success; virtual education

Disciplines

Education | Educational Administration and Supervision

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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