Karl's Dissertation

My dissertation was entitled "Impact of Information Technology (IT) Industry Certification on the Achievement of High School Students Enrolled in Technology Courses." Thus, one is able to already discern from the title that this would be a worthwhile endeavor- exploring whether or not teachers who had IT certifications could have a positive impact on students taking IT courses.  While one could easily surmise that  this may be the case, could this be proven and quantified by data?   What follows is an abstract of my dissertation. 

Being proficient with technology is becoming an essential part of a high school education, and some high schools now require computer skills as a prerequisite to graduation. School districts that recognize the relevancy and value of Information Technology (IT) courses to student careers and education can provide insight into effective teaching. Although most high school technology teachers have professional teaching certifications from passing prescribed subject area tests, many of these IT teachers do not possess IT industry certifications. IT industry certifications are official recognitions that verify competence through an array of requirements including education, experience, and examinations.

The goal of this study was to quantify the effect of student achievement by comparing student posttest scores of teachers holding relevant IT industry certifications with those of teachers not possessing IT industry certifications. To accomplish the goal, nine North Carolina school districts furnished student posttest data on teachers who taught the Computer Applications I course. In addition, 51 of 80 Computer Applications I teachers completed an online survey that solicited information on IT industry certifications (e.g., Microsoft Office and IC3 Certifications). The posttest data and survey information was compared and analyzed using parametric inferential statistics.

The study demonstrated that IT certified teachers had a significant, positive effect on the level of achievement of Computer Applications I high school students. Thus, high school teachers who possess IT industry certifications may be better equipped to instruct complex technology courses to their students. Based on the findings of this study, school districts should institute professional development programs that promote relevant IT industry certification to their Computer Applications I teachers. Finally, IT teachers possessing relevant IT certification could advocate the importance of IT industry certifications to their students in an effort to elevate the perceived value of technology courses.

Here is the summary!
It was hypothesized that there would be a significant difference in the level of achievement of high school students in a computer applications’ class who are taught by a teacher with IT certification and students in a computer applications’ class who are taught by a teacher without IT certification as measured by the State of North Carolina Vocational Competency Achievement Tracking System (VoCATS) end-of-course test. Thus, the main purpose of the study was to establish the value of IT certifications as an attribute of teaching effectiveness. To accomplish this goal, nine North Carolina school districts participated in a study which compared the student posttest scores of teachers holding relevant IT industry certification with those student posttest scores of teachers not holding relevant IT industry certifications.

The researcher selected the Computer Applications I course to test the hypothesis (i.e., that there will be a significant difference in the level of achievement of high school students in a computer applications’ class who are taught by a teacher with IT certification and students in a computer applications’ class who are taught by a teacher without IT certification as measured by the State of North Carolina VoCATS end-of course test) because of its relevancy, popularity, practicality, and uniformity throughout the statewide high school system. Figure 2 illustrated the core plan of the research whereby VoCATS posttest data were compared and analyzed with data collected from teachers who completed an online survey. In creating the survey, the researcher enlisted a panel of experts to establish the validity of the survey. Although the survey was voluntary, approximately 64% of the teachers participated in the study.

Nine counties participated in the study. Approximately 80 Computer Applications I teachers were asked to participate in the study. Although this number represented about half of what the researcher expected, 51 teachers (i.e., 64%) participated in the study; thus, the high participation rate assured an adequate sample size of Computer Applications I teachers. The actual teacher sample size used in the study consisted of 43 teachers with nine teachers (i.e., 21%) holding IT industry certifications. The reduction in teacher participants to the actual sample size of 43 teachers was necessary to maintain a consistent and relevant data set.

The various data sets (e.g., the 80-teacher population, 43-teacher data set, the 34 non-certified teacher data set, and the nine certified teacher data set) were analyzed by contrasting their associated descriptive statistics. An analysis of the VoCATS posttest data and the solicited teacher survey information of the 43-teacher data set suggests that IT industry certified teachers raised the level of achievement in high school students who were enrolled in Computer Applications I courses. In the data set composed of 43 teachers, the mean of the student posttest scores of nine certified teachers (i.e., 75.43) was 2.96 points greater than the mean of the student posttest scores generated by the 34 non-certified teachers (i.e., 72.47).

An independent t-test disclosed that the 2.96-point difference in the means was significant. The computed value of p (.024) for Levene’s Test was less than .05 therefore, a significant difference existed between the variances of the certified teacher data set and the non-certified teacher data set (see Table 8). In addition, the two-tailed p value (.000002) was compared to a generally accepted alpha value of .05. Because the p value was less than the alpha value, the null hypothesis was rejected. Finally, in corroborating the significance of the 2.96 differences between the means, the calculation of Cohen’s delta yielded .277. Thus, the nearly three-point difference between the means of the certified teacher and non-certified data set exhibited a medium effect size.