Urban Education Commons^™

Perceptions Of Teachers On Their Preparedness To Teach Students In Low-Income Urban Charter Schools In New Jersey, Kimberly S. Wright

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This dissertation explores how novice teachers currently working in low-income urban charter schools in New Jersey perceive their specific preparation to work in a low-income urban charter school classroom, prior to doing so. In this qualitative study, a semistructured interview was used in an effort to assess the preparedness of 18 teachers based on their preservice training, administrative support and mentor guidance, and their self-efficacy and level of cultural awareness. The framework used for this study was Herzberg’s theory of motivation. Herzberg’s theory in combination with scholarly literature surrounding novice teachers in low-income urban classrooms produced success factors ...

Open Source Micro Diplomas: New Credentials For New Learning, Jack F. Powers

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The standard model for college in America—a four-year bachelor’s degree that teaches critical thinking, analytic reasoning, and written communication skills—is unaffordable and unattainable for most Americans. Only about a third of citizens aged 25 and over have achieved a baccalaureate degree or better. Two-thirds are left behind in precarious jobs that pay substantially less and that are losing ground. Everyone from politicians to parents repeats the mantra of “college for all”, but the reality is more like “college for the socio-economically gifted.”

At the same time, the modern world of work is evolving into a more complex ...

Re-Visualizing Care: Teachers' Invisible Labor In Neoliberal Times, Victoria G. Restler

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Re-visualizing care: Teachers’ invisible labor in neoliberal times takes up the topic of teacher evaluation in a moment of moral panic about “bad teachers,” public controversy over Value- Added Measures (VAM) of teacher work, and the widespread implementation of new assessment policies under Race to the Top (RTTT). Working with a group of ten progressive New York City public school teachers in the first year of one such policy (known as “Advance”), my multimodal study engages a wide variety of qualitative and arts-based research methods to explore teachers’ experiences of “Advance,” their broader reflections on practice, and the substantial work ...

Exploring Teacher’S Attitudes And Behaviors In Implementing Instructional Technology Into Curriculum, Letitia Walters

Dissertations

This program evaluation explored how effective integration of technology resources and systems with teacher training and curriculum development can occur despite teachers limited technology competencies. Theses competencies increase when teachers have desire and opportunities to become better acquainted with utilizing digital tools. Perceived technology integration skills of teachers solely, cannot predict the effective integration of technology in student products to address new learning (Ertmer, 2005). Technology integrated lesson plans, the relationship between teachers' beliefs and their use of various strategies to integrate technology and a model that teachers can use to guide them through the necessary changes they will need ...

The Impact Of Academic Parent-Teacher Teams On Family Engagement And Student Academic Achievement, Toni Ferguson

Electronic Theses & Dissertations Collection for Atlanta University & Clark Atlanta University

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher and parent perceptions of the impact of a high-family engagement model, Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT). Teacher and parent surveys were administered to determine the relationship between the following variables: teacher leadership, administrative support, parental perceptions of effectiveness of communications, parental perceptions of convenience of scheduling of meetings, parental perceptions of usefulness of meetings, family engagement, and student academic achievement. Data from a Pearson correlation and a regression test were analyzed to determine which variables had the greatest significance on the impact of APTT on family engagement and student academic achievement. Based ...

Student And Teacher Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Positive Behavioral Interventions And Supports In A Metropolitan Atlanta Elementary School, Angelique Mitchell

Electronic Theses & Dissertations Collection for Atlanta University & Clark Atlanta University

The goal of this study was to ascertain student and teacher perceptions of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) effectiveness as based on PBIS tiers and other select variables: school discipline, school safety, school climate, student acceptance of PBIS reward system and administrators’ implementation of PBIS policy. Through a Pearson r correlation, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression test based on survey results, this study revealed which variables have the greatest significance on PBIS effectiveness. Based on the findings, it was concluded that all variables: school discipline, school safety, school climate, student acceptance of PBIS reward system had a significant ...

The Perceptions Of Elementary School Principals And Teachers Regarding Retaining Teachers In A Large Urban School System, Kimberly L. Parks

Electronic Theses & Dissertations Collection for Atlanta University & Clark Atlanta University

This qualitative study examined principals’ and teachers’ perceptions regarding retaining teachers in a large urban school system. This study was based on the premise that once teachers are recruited into an urban school, genuine support (conceptual and instructional) is needed for them to be retained in that type of setting. Retaining highly qualified teachers in urban schools is integral for student achievement and can relieve the financial strain for school districts. Studies have found that when teachers reach their fifth year of teaching, many leave the profession for various reasons, and most never return.

To ensure the validity of the ...

The Relationship Between Student Achievement And Other Selected Variables And Teacher Engagement, Derrick L. Williams

Electronic Theses & Dissertations Collection for Atlanta University & Clark Atlanta University

It was the goal of this study to determine the relationship between student achievement and other selected variable such as principal years of experience, student socioeconomic status, teachers’ perceptions of administrative support, students’ perceptions of teacher support, and teacher attendance to teacher engagement. The study also determined if the variables along with teacher engagement were predictors of attrition. Pearson correlations were used to analyze the data that had the greatest significant relationship to teacher engagement. Regression tests were used to determine if the variables were predictors of attrition. The researcher concluded that student achievement, teachers’ perceptions of principal support, and ...

Neighborhood Strategizing: Understanding Community Collaborations Within California Bay Area Public Schools, Windi Hazzard

Master's Projects and Capstones

For the better half of a century, education policy has been guided by economics and profit. One after another, every U.S. president since the 1960s has championed legislation that reflects neoliberal ideals of competition and profitable skills. Through the standardization of the public school system, education has become a marketplace rather than an environment for cultivating empowered learners and critical thinkers. The purpose of this field project is to show how communities are challenging the current education system in order to influence education policy in San Francisco, California. I interviewed four participants from two organizations that advocate parents’ rights ...

Beyond Socioeconomic Status: The Impact Of Principal Leadership In Urban And High Poverty Turnaround Schools, Mojisola Adejumo

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The quest to transform failing urban and high-poverty schools in America has been a slippery uphill battle since the banner of war was raised against the many schools serving impoverished children. As battle rages, a few are schools leading their students, teachers, parents, and community to victory by turning their once-failing schools into institutions of academic excellence. However, the shouts of victory and strategic planning that led to their success have been overlooked or relegated to mere happenstance. As these successful schools claim unchartered territories of success, a quick glance at the battlefield reveals the reality that the battle is ...

School Choice: Structured Through Markets And Morality, Thomas J. Lasley, Carolyn Ridenour

Carolyn S. Ridenour

School choice is increasingly promulgated as a promising education reform policy for failing urban schools, but no solid evidence has yet shown the promise fulfilled. The authors argue that choice based on market theory without a moral center is insufficient. Without a moral foundation, such market-driven choice programs may actually disadvantage some children further. A market approach, absent a moral perspective, fails to encompass all the necessary dimensions for an educational system that can fulfill the traditional commitment to the common good and effectively serve all urban children, their families, and society. Six moral principles are offered along with examples ...

'Divertual' Learning In Education Leadership: Implications Of Teaching Cultural Diversity Online Vs. Face To Face, Carolyn Ridenour, A. Llewellyn Simmons, Timothy J. Ilg, A. William Place

Carolyn S. Ridenour

What are the consequences of this teaching-learning situation when graduate students in a Department of Educational Leadership are enrolled in a course on cultural diversity? Might the words on the computer screen be completely unrelated to the humanity, personality, style, interpersonal behaviors, and dispositions of the student writing them, as Menand suggests? Or, might the detachment provide a security in which the most honest and unadulterated discourse can be shared between teacher and students, as some proponents hope? In this chapter we explore responses to this dilemma. We attempt to capture this situation in our label: "divertual learning," a neologism ...

The Missouri Student Transfer Program, Howard E. Fields Iii

Dissertations

In 1993, the state of Missouri passed the Outstanding Schools Act. This law was created as a means to ensure that “all children will have quality educational opportunities, regardless of where in Missouri they live.” Section 167.131 of this law states that an unaccredited district must pay the tuition and transportation cost for students who attend an accredited school in the same or adjoining district. This portion of the law became known as the Student Transfer Program.

The Riverview Gardens School District (RGSD) was one of three unaccredited school districts in the state of Missouri in 2013. With close ...

Interview Of Edward Koronkiewicz, F.S.C., Edward Koronkiewicz Fsc, John J. Behan

All Oral Histories

Edward Koronkiewicz was born in 1954 in Southwest Philadelphia, PA. He lived in St. Mary of Czestochowa Parish where he also attended elementary school. He graduated from West Philadelphia Catholic High School for Boys in 1972. After a year as an Aspirant, he joined the Christian Brothers and received his habit in July 1973. He graduated from La Salle College with a B.A. in Secondary Education/Social Studies in 1976 and later earned a Master’s in Educational Administration at Villanova University. He has taught Social Studies at Bishop Walsh High School in Cumberland, MD, Archbishop Carroll High School ...

Religious Freedom In A Brave New World: How Leaders In Faith-Based Schools Can Follow Their Beliefs In Hiring, Charles J. Russo

Charles J. Russo

A confluence of litigation at the Supreme Court raises important, yet potentially conflicting, questions about the freedom of employers in religious schools1 to hire teachers and staff members. On the one hand, in Hosanna-Tabor v. Equal Employment Opportunities Commission,2 a unanimous Court reasoned that the ministerial exception granted religious leaders alone the authority to choose who is qualified to teach in their schools. On the other hand, the Court’s rulings on same sex-unions seem to be ushering in a brave new world. For example, in United States v. Windsor,3 the Court struck down the Defense of Marriage ...

The Influence Of Socioeconomic, Parental And District Factors On The 2013 Mcas Grade 4 Language Arts And Mathematics Scores, Dale G. Caldwell

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This correlational, explanatory study utilized multiple linear and hierarchical regression to examine the predictive power of socioeconomic, parental and district factors on the total percentage of students who scored Proficient or Advanced Proficient on the 2013 MCAS Grade 4 language arts and mathematics test. The population for this study included 100% of the Massachusetts public school districts containing at least 25 valid MCAS Grade 4 language arts and mathematics test scores that were not regional or charter schools and had complete census data for the communities each district served. This study revealed that 74% of the 2013 MCAS Grade 4 ...

Mass Media Created Stereotypes: Influence On Student Learning, Nasser Razek, Ghada M. Awad

Nasser Razek

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the case of Saudi students at Riversdale State University (a pseudonym) with regard to the influence of the stereotype threat (McGlone & Aronson, 2007) created by TV and newspaper coverage when presenting images of Saudi Arabia, the Arab world, or the Muslim world. The study also aims at revealing the effects that the perception of the aforementioned stereotype can have on the academic success, social integration, and persistence of Saudi students. The research follows the qualitative approach to reveal the human aspects of the case and the degree of intensity that these ...

February 2017 "The Achiever", Dan B. Askey

EOP Newsletters

From the Director 1

Welcome Graduate Intern 2
What Happened Abroad

Financial Aid 3
Peer Tutoring Program

Career Services 4
Leadership Development Program

Women Of Distinction 5
Black History Month Celebration

XAE Honor Society 6

Student Spotlights 7

38 Annual Honors and 8
Recognition Banquet

April 2017 "The Achiever", Dan B. Askey

EOP Newsletters

From the Director 1

Spotlight Students 2

Financial Aid 3
Peer Tutoring

Career Spotlight 4
Leadership Development Program

Women of Distinction 5

XAE Honor Society 6

38th Annual Honors and 7
Recognition Banquet

End of Year Celebration 8

An Examination Of Leadership Behavior: Improving Family Engagement In An Urban Latinx School Community, Mary Elizabeth Graft

Doctoral Research Projects

The following is a technical report based on the qualitative case study of a school principal in a representative urban high school in the Rocky Mountain West. The purpose of this study was to better understand the extent to which an urban high school principal in a high poverty school can implement behaviors that increase family engagement within a Latinx school community. The research question in this study was: What leadership behaviors are impactful in developing and increasing Latinx family engagement in an urban high school?

The principal was observed for a year and interviewed extensively regarding his beliefs, practices ...