A Phenomenology Study of First-~year Teachers Looking at the Shared Lived Experience of

283 Pages·2017·3.09 MB·English

by  Brandon Lee Yost

UNLV Teses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
12-1-2015
A Phenomenology Study of First-~year Teachers
Looking at the Shared Lived Experience of
Learning to Grade
Brandon Lee Yost
University of Nevada, Las Vegas,
A PHENOMENOLOGY STUDY OF FIRST-YEAR TEACHERS LOOKING AT THE
SHARED LIVED EXPERIENCE OF LEARNING TO GRADE

by
Brandon Lee Yost

Associate of Science in Drafting Technology
Utah Valley University
2004

Bachelor of Art in TESOL
Brigham Young University, Hawaii
2006

Master of Education in Educational Leadership
Southern Utah University
2011

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Doctor of Philosophy – Teacher Education
Department of Teaching and Learning
College of Education
The Graduate College

University of Nevada, Las Vegas
December 2015
Copyright by Brandon Lee Yost, 2015

All Rights Reserved
Dissertation Approval
The Graduate College
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas

August 14, 2015
This dissertation prepared by
Brandon Lee Yost
entitled
A Phenomenology Study of First-Year Teachers Looking at the Shared Lived Experience
of Learning to Grade
is approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy – Teacher Education
Department of Teaching and Learning

Jane McCarthy, Ed.D. Kathryn Hausbeck Korgan, Ph.D.
Examination Committee Chair Graduate College Interim Dean

Christine Clark, Ed.D.
Examination Committee Member

Linda Quinn, Ed.D.
Examination Committee Member

Susan Brookhart, Ph.D.
Examination Committee Member

Lisa Bendixen, Ph.D.
Graduate College Faculty Representative

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ABSTRACT
A Phenomenology Study of First-year Teachers Looking at the Shared Lived Experience of
Learning to Grade

by

Brandon Lee Yost

Dr. Jane McCarthy, Examination Committee Chair
Lincy Professor of Education
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

This study describes the phenomenon of how first-year teachers learn to evaluate students
learning by (letter) grades. Grades seem simple enough; but in reality, each grade carries serious
consequences with it – for either good or bad. For example, grades affect benefits/consequences
at home; they affect placement in remedial or advanced courses; they affect grade level
promotion; they affect participation in programs, i.e. extracurricular activities like sports; they
affect high school graduation, college acceptance, and scholarship eligibility (Brookhart, 1991;
Marzano, 2000).
Despite the extreme importance of grades and how they can influence a person’s life over
a period of time depending on the grades they receive, it is interesting to note that the teachers
assigning these crucial grades have had no formal or explicit instruction on how to give the
grades. Researchers in assessment literacy have called for greater instruction in this area, but the
current landscape has revealed no significant change in grading practice instruction (DeLuca &
Bellara, 2013; DeLuca, Chavez, Bellara, & Chunhua, 2013; Brookhart, 2013).
The study reveals the phenomenon of how first-year teachers navigate the lived
experience of learning to grade on their own. Five themes were generated to describe this
phenomenon: (a) Emotional “Tiers” of Grading (pun intended), (b) How Valid are my
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Hodgepodge Grading Practices? (c) Why Didn’t I Learn This in College? (d) What I Want to
Change for Next Year, and (e) If Grades Could Talk, What Would They Say? The results of this
study will benefit educational researchers, policy makers, and most importantly, teacher
educators and in-service professional development instructors as they provide instruction on
grading practices. In addition to considerations for future research, specific recommendations
are made for changes to teacher education curriculum, and a call for change in policy re: both
teacher licensing standards and standards-based grading. As teacher educators better understand
how first-year teachers learn to assign their students’ grades based on evaluations of their
learning, teacher educators will be better prepared to help teachers make meaningful and
applicable learning connections to their own ideas about grading and what they are learning in
college classes about best practices for grading.
This study uses the constructivist theory and validity theory for its theoretical frameworks
to anchor the phenomenon of how first-year teachers learn to grade. This study took place in the
American Southwest using six first-year teachers as its participants. Each of these participants is
a secondary teacher of either English Language Arts or mathematics. The five themes were
generated from the participants interview responses, researcher memos, and the researcher’s
Epoche that allowed the researcher to verbalize the phenomenology, or lived experience, of first-
year teachers as they learn to grade.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We did it! I could not have completed this dissertation without the constant love and
dedicated support of my best friend and eternal companion, Collette. I love you, Collette! And,
to our children, Dallin, Emmalee, Felicity, Gavin, and Hunter – Thank you! Thank you all for
your prayers for Daddy to get this done! And, thank you each for your sacrifice to live your lives
without my physical presence for so many months and years. It was a family sacrifice to obtain
this education and, we made it! We did it!!!
To my extended family – Mom and Dad (Jim and Amy Yost), Ryan (and Carrie), Marc,
Michael, Oma, and Grandpa and Grandma (I miss you, Grandma) – thank you for loving me and
always believing in me, and for teaching me to love learning from an early age. Each of you
have helped me to become who I am today and I thank you also for your constant love that you
show to me and my family. And to my “new” extended family – Alden and Lisa Orme, Camille
(and Allison, Quincy, and Aubree), Tyrell, Royce (and Sally and Evenlyn), Marina (and Alan),
Brock, Curtis, Steven, Drake, and Grant – thanks for always treating me and loving me as one of
your own. That has always meant a lot to me. And, thanks to each of you as well for your
constant support for me through this process.
I would be ungrateful if I did not acknowledge the power of prayer for myself. I know
there is a Heavenly Father who has heard my constant prayers to Him and answered them in my
most stressing times of need. I would also like to thank my many other neighbors, friends, and
relatives who have been so supportive throughout this period of time. Thank you, each of you,
who have offered numerous prayers for me and my family through this process; and thank you to
countless other individuals who have encouraged me through this process. Your words of
encouragement have always been helpful and appreciated. I need to also acknowledge my
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classmates while at UNLV – Aaron Harris, Andrew Goodman, Stephanie Shedrow, Catherine
Maiorca, Tarryn McGhie, and Rebekah Piper – thanks for encouraging and supporting me, and
especially befriending me as an out-of-state student. Also, thanks to my colleagues, Dinah Scott,
Nate Esplin, Todd Dawson, and Dustin Drake who are also pursuing doctoral degrees. Thanks
for your time; it was important for me to have time to just discuss each other’s progress. This
was always a rejuvenation to me to have your moral support. And thank you to the friend I
haven’t met, Amy Boehl (and thanks to my cousin, Camille, for introducing us). Amy is also a
PhD candidate studying grading practices – just like me! When we established contact with one
another, we agreed to be “critical friends” by reading each other’s work and helping one another
to refine our thinking. This has been very helpful, Amy. Thank you!
At this time, I would like to acknowledge Dr. Barry Mitchell from BYU-Hawaii. He is
the one who first taught me about standards-based grading and for that, I will ever be grateful.
You may never know how much your insights on assessment, grading, and reporting have
influenced my education and career, indeed my life. Thank you. Also, a special thanks to “Ms.
Wright.” This is her pseudonym, but I appreciate your cutting-edge pedagogical teaching style
th
in 9 grade geometry – you made a profound impact on how I view assessment today. And,
thank you for sharing your story in this study. Likewise, I need to thank each of the six first-year
teachers who participated in this study. It really couldn’t have been done without you! Thanks
for your time and for your willingness to share insights about learning to grade that may have
been awkward or embarrassing to you because it added to the depth and breadth of the study.
I would now like to acknowledge each of my committee members who have served as
invaluable mentors to me through my years as a UNLV graduate student. First, Dr. Jane
McCarthy – thank you for taking me on as my chair after Dr. Wang’s departure. Also, thank you
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for helping me find alternative solutions to my coursework when required classes were cancelled.
Dr. Christine Clark – thank you for helping me to broaden my view of the multicultural
landscape and everything multicultural; also for being an advocate for me, and all students. Dr.
Lisa Bendixen – thank you for your tireless help in guiding me through phenomenology
methodology and for providing me with invaluable resources along the way that were timely and
instrumental in my progress. Dr. Linda Quinn – thank you for being willing to join my
committee after Dr. Bean left; also, for your insights and feedback throughout my writing
process of all phases (comps, proposal, and dissertation); it has helped me achieve my goals.
And to the final member of my committee, Dr. Susan Brookhart, thank you. First, thank
you for your dedication to the field of assessment research. You have been a hero of mine since
I first started reading professional literature on assessment and grading practices. Next, thank
you for being so personable through multiple conversations at AERA Conferences, and cordial
and helpful through email communications afterwards. And last but not least, thank you for your
willingness to participate on my committee as an outside faculty member.
Finally, I need to give thanks to Dr. Jian Wang who served as my first committee chair
and whom I had several classes from. Thank you for setting high expectations, and then
encouraging me to reach for them. I truly was fortunate to get to know the ropes of the doctoral
program through your early mentorship as I began my studies. Thank you!

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DEDICATION
I dedicate this dissertation to my family – to my beautiful and loving wife, Collette, and
to our five children, Dallin, Emmalee, Felicity, Gavin, and Hunter. Without your love,
encouragement, team-effort attitude, and emotional support, this would not have been possible. I
love each of you more than the words on this page can express.
Love,
Brandon/Dad

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