Date

2-2020

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)

Chair

Gina Thomason

Keywords

AICE, Course Quality, Gifted Education, Student Perceptions

Disciplines

Education

Abstract

A nonexperimental, causal-comparative research study examined if potential differences exist between secondary-level gifted and non-gifted students’ perceptions of course quality in Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) courses. While research in gifted education has examined students’ perceptions of advanced coursework and the impact of acceleration on academic growth and motivation, no research to date has examined secondary gifted students’ perceptions of AICE course quality. Current research on the AICE program has focused on the program’s influence as a predictive model for university matriculation and achievement, most often using grade point average. Student participants attend a local public-school high school located in a rural, Title 1 district located in northeast Florida and are enrolled in AICE courses in Grades 11 and 12. The gifted student participants are identified as gifted by the Florida Department of Education classification criteria. Since a lack in resources often forces rural schools to offer less accelerated educational options, a need to justify the use of such programs as viable and impactful for student learning exists along with a need to increase research concerning the AICE program as an appropriate acceleration resource. Researching students’ perceptions can offer additional support for advanced secondary programs. The Student Perceptions of Course Quality Survey, a 38-question Likert scale, was used to measure student perceptions. The study used a multivariate analysis of variance to determine if there are differences between the two independent variables and to determine if potential differences exist for each of the subscale aspects for the independent variable groups—appeal, challenge, choice, meaningfulness, and academic self-efficacy. The results indicated that no statically significant differences exist between the two student populations.

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