The Relationship Between Teacher Collaboration and Student Achievement

The University of Southern Mississippi The Aquila Digital Community Dissertations Fall 12-2011 The Relationship Between Teacher Collaboration and Student Achievement Sandra Reid Ervin University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, and the Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons Recommended Citation Ervin, Sandra Reid, "The Relationship Between Teacher Collaboration and Student Achievement" (2011). Dissertations. 731. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/731 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of Southern Mississippi THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER COLLABORATION AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT by Sandra Reid Ervin Abstract of a Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2011 ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER COLLABORATION AND STUDENT ACHEVEMENT by Sandra Reid Ervin December 2011 NCLB mandates have placed a strong sense of responsibility on educators to ensure that all students are performing at their optimal academic levels. The collaboration of educators is needed as the accountability for student performances increases. At the school level, collaboration and a focus on instruction influence productivity, morale, teacher retention and ultimately, student achievement. The role of the administrators is to provide a collaborative culture where teachers are empowered to analyze and work together to solve problems. Administrators should provide time and space for the teachers to collaborate. The purpose of this quantitative study was to ascertain the relationship between teacher collaboration and student achievement. Teachers in 73 elementary and middle schools in a large suburban school district in Georgia participated. Almost 900 reading, language arts, and math teachers in Grades 3–8 completed a 37-item survey adapted from an instrument developed by McHenry to measure attitudinal perceptions associated with teacher collaboration and student achievement. Three variables, level of teacher collaboration, level of administrative support and time collaborating, were created from the teachers’ responses to the items by obtaining the mean of the responses on a 5-point Likert. Student ITBS scores in Grades 3, 5, and 7 were used to measure student achievement. ii Results from a multiple regression analyses indicated that level of teacher collaboration was not a significant predictor of achievement but that level of administrator support and time collaborating were significant predictors of teacher collaboration. iii COPYRIGHT BY SANDRA REID ERVIN 2011 The University of Southern Mississippi THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER COLLABORATION AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT By Sandra Reid Ervin A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of The University of Southern Mississippi In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Approved: ____________________________________ Director ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ Dean of the Graduate School December 2011 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Ronald Styron, the committee chair, for his support and guidance. Sincere gratitude is extended to Dr. Tammy Greer, my statistician, for the many hours she guided me through this journey. I appreciate her constant availability and the wisdom she demonstrated consistently. Thanks are given to the other members of this committee for their advice and feedback during this process. A special thanks to Dr. Wanda Maulding for her encouragement, care, support and guidance. A sincere special thank you is extended to my husband–my rock and my stabilizer on this journey. I could not have made it through this journey without his unwavering support, love and many nights of words of encouragement. To my son–he believed in me steadily throughout this process and always offered words of support and encouragement. To my mother, sister, and niece–I am so grateful for the support and your strong belief in me; your words carried me through many difficult days and nights. It is with sincere thoughtfulness that I dedicate this work in the memory of my late father, Mr. Thomas Reid. The memory of his support and love for me stayed within my thoughts on challenging days and nights. Lastly, I thank my peers from this graduate school, my church family, my friends, and my coworkers for their constant words of encouragement and prayers as I embarked on this journey. The scripture that gave me much consolation daily was Philippians 4:13; “I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me.” iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................1 Problem Statement Purpose of the Study Research Questions Rationale/Significance of the Study Assumptions Delimitations Definitions Summary II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ....................................................................10 Theoretical Framework Importance of Student Achievement Collaboration Defined Historical Background of Collaboration Accountability for Student Performance The Framework of Collaboration Collaboration Benefits Collaboration Challenges Role of Educators in the Collaboration Process Collaborative Practices and Beliefs Promoting Collaborative Practices Collaborative Culture Viewpoints Summary III. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................65 Purpose of the Study Participants Instrumentation Procedures v Data Analysis Ethical Consideration Summary IV. RESULTS ..................................................................................................73 Descriptive Statistics Analysis of Research Questions Summary V. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ........................................................83 Discussion of the Results Limitations Recommendations for Policy and Practice Recommendations for Future Research Summary APPENDIXES ...................................................................................................................96 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................117 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Reliability of McHenry Instrument and Study Instrument ......................................................67 2. Reliability: Item-Total Correlations for Teacher Collaboration Items with their Parent Domain Excluding the Target Item..........................................................................................68 3. Comparison of 2009–2010 ITBS and CRCT Scores by Title I Status ....................................69 4. Demographic Characteristics of Teachers ...............................................................................74 5. Professional Characteristics of the Sample ..............................................................................75 6. Correlation Matrix for Research Question 1 Variables (n = 497) ...........................................77 7. Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Level of Teacher Collaboration, Time Collaborating, and Title I Status as Contributing Factors to Student Achievement as Measured by the ITBS Composite Score (n = 497) ......................................78 8. Correlation Matrix for Research Question 2 Variables (n = 875) ...........................................80 9. Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Time Collaborating and Level of Administrative Support as Contributing Factors to Level of Teacher Collaboration, Controlling for Years Working in an Education Setting (n = 875)..........................................81 vii 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION In this age of high accountability and high-stakes testing, extensive pressure is placed on the classroom teacher. Under pressure from shrinking budgets and government demands for accountability, today’s school administrator needs compelling data that reflects that every program in the school has a positive impact on student learning (Lange, Magee, & Montgomery, 2003). According to the National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983), society and its educational institutions have apparently forgotten the basic purposes of schooling and the high expectations of student performances. In the committee’s report, A Nation at Risk, 18 months of study generated information to reform the educational system in fundamental ways and to renew the nation’s commitment to schools of high quality. Among the committee’s findings were that 23 million American adults were functionally illiterate according to everyday tests of reading, writing, and comprehension. Approximately 13% of all 17-year-olds

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