Urban Education Commons^™

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Leadership Practices Of School Principals And Effectiveness Of School Counselor Practice, Yolanda D. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

School counselors, whose role is often viewed as peripheral and isolated from teaching and learning, can help principals, teachers, students, and parents balance the duties and responsibilities involved in continuous student growth and performance. The purpose of this research is to examine the working relationship between school principals and school counselors and to assess how school principal leadership practices influence school counselor practice and effectiveness. This study utilized a conceptual framework that describes the relationship between concepts from the literature that may lead to school counselor effectiveness. This qualitative study investigates the leadership practices of school principals and how this …

P17 Black Male Summit, Brandon Jackson

Black Male Summit

Tale of Two African American Males and Their Journey to Ivy League Schools: A Case Study

How do we get more African American males to show their GREATNESS and academic prowess? Can Black Males attend Ivy League schools? How do we prepare our Black Male Scholars for college and career readiness to maximize their education?

Building A Culture Of Hope For At-Risk Students, Emily Louise Gibson, Robert D. Barr

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Presenters will share research on the school culture differences found between high-performing and low-performing high-poverty schools. Participants will learn about A Culture of Hope and the four Seeds of Hope. After learning explicit steps and strategies for collecting and using survey data, participants will practice using surveys to assess components of school culture, and develop additional survey questions relevant to individual circumstances.

“Don’T Hate, Peer Mediate!” – Teaching Students To Say Yes To Non-Violent Conflict Resolution, Jocelyn Lee, Wendy Williamson

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Rumors. Threats. Relationships. Bullying. The Mediation Center’s Peer Mediation Program has been successfully resolving these student-to-student conflicts (and more) since 2007. Through the use of non-violent conflict resolution training, Peer Mediators are helping their schools become more peaceful. Looking for a way to encourage positive student leadership and effective conflict resolution? Look no further - Peer Mediation is your answer! Target Audience: Teachers, Counselors, School Social Workers, Administrators, School Discipline Personnel.

Working Students’ Perceptions Of Paying For College: Understanding The Connections Between Financial Aid And Work, Mary Ziskin, Mary Ann Fischer, Vasti Torres, Beth Pellicciotti, Jacquelyn Player-Sanders

Mary B. Ziskin

For many students at urban commuter colleges, the process of financial aid is unknown or mysterious; and so they work—often many hours a week—to pay expenses that financial aid might have covered. Missteps, unforeseen events, and limited resources can have severe consequences for the academic progress of these students. The broader study, of which this paper is a part, represents an effort to explore and describe students’ college-going, working, family responsibilities, and academic success at three commuter institutions in a metropolitan region in the Midwest. The encompassing project aims to introduce new qualitative data and situated description into the study …

Institutional Merit-Based Aid And Student Departure: A Longitudinal Analysis, Jacob P. K. Gross, Don Hossler, Mary B. Ziskin, Matthew S. Berry

Mary B. Ziskin

The use of merit criteria in awarding institutional aid has grown considerably and, some argue, is supplanting need as the central factor in awarding aid. Concurrently, the accountability movement in higher education has placed greater emphasis on retention and graduation as indicators of institutional success and quality. In this context, this study explores the relationship between institutional merit aid and student departure from a statewide system of higher education. We found that, once we account for self-selection to the extent possible, there was no significant relationship. By contrast, need-based aid was consistently related to decreased odds of departure.

Ceo Impact On Superintendents, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Noting that collaboration between business executives and superintendents was wide but not deep, a Harvard Business School monograph, "Partial Credit: How America's School Superintendents See Business as a Partner," identified positive findings regarding access. Nearly two-thirds of 1,117 responding superintendents said they had access to business leaders to whom they could turn for advice and support. In urban districts, the figure was 84 percent. However, responses to a question on the AASA's decennial survey suggested otherwise.

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

Nasser A 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 …

Success In These Schools? Visual Counternarratives Of Young Men Of Color And Urban High Schools They Attend, Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

Shaun R. Harper, Ph.D.

The overwhelming majority of published scholarship on urban high schools in the United States focuses on problems of inadequacy, instability, underperformance, and violence. Similarly, across all schooling contexts, most of what has been written about young men of color continually reinforces deficit narratives about their educational possibility. Taken together, images of Black and Latino male students in inner-city schools often manufacture dark, hopeless visualizations of imperiled youth and educational environments. Using photographic data from a study of 325 college-bound juniors and seniors attending 40 public New York City high schools, this article counterbalances one-sided mischaracterizations of young men of color …

Institutional Merit-Based Aid And Student Departure: A Longitudinal Analysis, Jacob P. K. Gross, Don Hossler, Mary B. Ziskin, Matthew S. Berry

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The use of merit criteria in awarding institutional aid has grown considerably and, some argue, is supplanting need as the central factor in awarding aid. Concurrently, the accountability movement in higher education has placed greater emphasis on retention and graduation as indicators of institutional success and quality. In this context, this study explores the relationship between institutional merit aid and student departure from a statewide system of higher education. We found that, once we account for self-selection to the extent possible, there was no significant relationship. By contrast, need-based aid was consistently related to decreased odds of departure.

Principal Dispositions Regarding The Ohio Teacher Evaluation System, Theodore J. Kowalski, David Alan Dolph

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) was first implemented during the 2013-14 school term. This study examined principals’ dispositions at the end of this school term. Findings revealed several major concerns. The most prominent were (a) not having sufficient time to implement the program properly, (b) basing a teacher’s performance heavily on student value-added data, and (c) being required to assist teachers in developing their annual improvement plans. Three independent variables, teaching experience, administrative experience, and level of school assignment, were found to have only a low level of association with principal dispositions. With respect to teacher evaluation generally, findings …

Place-Based Scholarship Program Design, Context, And Intergenerational Mobility: A Case Study Of The Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship Program, Arielle F. Niemeyer

Theses and Dissertations

Earning a college degree correlates with achieving financial security. Thus, improving an individual’s access to college is a key tactic used to mitigate poverty and foster intergenerational mobility. Despite the recognized value of higher education, earning a degree remains unattainable for many because of financial constraints. However, research definitively demonstrates that financial aid overcomes that obstacle. It also reveals that some program designs are more effective than others. The Kalamazoo Promise is a place-based scholarship program that offers four-year, full-tuition scholarships to residents who graduate from a Kalamazoo public high school. It is characterized by first-dollar and universal eligibility features, …

Narrativas Docentes Sobre La Reorganización Curricular Por Ciclos Académicos En El Marco De La Política Pública Sectorial Bogotá Positiva, Erika Viviana Devia Tarache, Kely Alejandra Roa Plaza, Nydia Lizeth Suarez La Rotta

Licenciatura en Español y Lenguas Extranjeras

La investigación tiene como objetivo identificar las concepciones de los docentes de la Institución Educativa Distrital Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño sobre el proyecto de Reorganización Curricular por Ciclos de la política pública sectorial “Bogotá Positiva” en el periodo 2008-2012. El propósito es dar a conocer la voz que tienen los docentes en torno a esta política, puesto que sólo se ha conocido la voz de la oficialidad, la Secretaria de Educación Distrital. Para esto se desarrolló la investigación desde el paradigma cualitativo con el enfoque de narrativas del análisis político de Roe. Además, se recolecta y analiza los datos desde …

The Jacksonville Commitment Scholars Program: Graduates’ Perceptions Of Supports And Challenges, Ouida Y. Powe

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The success of The Jacksonville Commitment Scholars Program is well documented. These scholars are retained at a much higher rate and the six year graduation rate of the first two cohorts was higher than the general body. They are all students whose families have minimal financial resources and were eligible for the free or reduced lunch program during their high school years. They were subsequently eligible for the Pell Grant upon college entry demonstrating significant financial need. Many of these students were first-generation students. They have been successful but the specifics of how they collectively found such success was unknown. …

Developing Counselor Self-Efficacy While Supporting At-Risk Youth: Partnership Between Umass Boston, Techboston Academy, And Urban Science Academy, Robert Gracia, Laura A. Hayden, Amy L. Cook, Allie Scherer

Laura A Hayden

Targeted supervision was used to develop counseling trainees’ self-efficacy when working with urban youth. Interview findings suggested that intentional strategies to develop urban self-efficacy were effective. While inferential statistics identified that urban fieldwork contributed to counselors’ self-efficacy, intentional strategies were not necessarily beneficial. This study yields implications for counselor educators who are incorporating field work into their graduate programs.

A Social Justice Approach: Exploring Umass Boston’S Service Learning Partnership With The Boston Public Schools To Develop High School Students’ College And Career Readiness, Laura Hayden, Amy Cook, Robert Gracia, Jason Youmatz, Elizabeth Walsh

Laura A Hayden

Through partnership with two BPS high schools, school counseling graduate students engage in service learning and participate in organized experiences that meet school needs and are coordinated with graduate students' learning goals. School counseling students meet with BPS students individually and through classroom interventions to assist in the college/career process and prepare them for post-secondary educational options. This session will describe the partnership, including direct experiences shared by graduate students.

Narrowing The Gap: Exploring The Characteristics And Practices Of Urban School Principals Closing The Achievement Gap, Gordon D. Amerson Jr

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to critically analyze the experiences and practices of Inland Empire urban school principals as they work to close the African American achievement gap. The achievement gap begins in elementary school and continues to persist throughout elementary and secondary schools producing differences in high school graduation rates, college and career attainment, and ultimately socio-economic differences in income between various racial and ethnic groups.

We know the impact of school principals on student achievement is significant. The literature demonstrates that school principals play a key role in developing the structures and systems necessary to improve …

The Effect Of A Summer Oral Language And Literacy Intervention On The Literacy Acquisition Of At-Risk First Grade Emergent Readers, Mary Beth Stevens

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

The persistent achievement gap between children from low-socioeconomic and mid- to upper-socioeconomic homes is evident in both national and statewide literacy assessments. Although the summer months away from school are part of the problem, they also hold the potential for an effective solution. Interventions that accelerate literacy development during summer vacation, particularly for children of low-socioeconomic status, have the potential to shift the educational trajectory of our most at-risk students. We investigated the effect of a four-week summer oral language and literacy intervention on the literacy development of rising first grade students from at-risk elementary schools in Jefferson County Public …

Professional Qualifications And Gender, Theodore J. Kowalski

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Literature comparing male and female superintendents rather consistently has reported differences in professional qualifications. Most notably, females have higher levels of professional experience, especially as teachers, before becoming a superintendent. Logically, authors studying this topic conclude that females usually must have superior credentials to enter the position. Two findings in AASA's latest decennial study of superintendents, one pertaining to teaching experience and the other to age upon entering the position, suggest the conclusion remains valid. In 2010, 28 percent of males and 13 percent of females had fewer than 6 years of teaching experience. In 2000, those figures were 41 …

A Regional Approach To School Diversity: The Possibility, Feasibility, And Desirability, Damon Richardson, Brian Maltby, Joseph Koontz, Ram Bhagat

The William & Mary Educational Review

The growing opportunity and achievement gaps between and within school divisions in the Richmond, Virginia area are a concern of late. Educational experts and researchers attribute these disparities in part to factors such as less- qualified teachers, poor curricula, and inferior school facilities that are linked to racially and socioeconomically isolated schools. To help reverse the widening student opportunity and achievement gaps that are related to economic and racial isolation, there is a need to explore ways to advance educational equity and excellence in Richmond area schools.