Influences Impacting Child Study Team School Social Workers Decision-Making In A New Jersey Urban District On Placement Of Students Classified Emotionally Disturbed, Pia D. Moore

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Research on students classified as Emotionally Disturbed (ED) shows that a disproportionate number of ED students are educated outside of the general education setting. In New Jersey a little more than half of students classified as ED are not educated in general education classrooms for most of their school day. The academic performance of ED students is often lower in self-contained environments than in the general education setting (Oelrich, 2012). ED students overall have poor academic and life experiences. The educational program and setting in which an ED student is primarily educated might have an impact on their current and …

Becoming A Trauma Informed School Supporting Students With Behavioural Challenges, Jennifer J. Ritsma

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Abstract

The organization involved in this change process is an elementary school in Ontario. The Problem of Practice (PoP) addresses how to better support students within an inclusive elementary school who may or may not be formally identified with a special education exceptionality yet are unable to thrive due to their interfering behaviours. An exceptional pupil is “one whose behavioural, communicational, intellectual, physical or multiple exceptionalities are such that he or she is considered to need placement in a special education program” (ON Ministry of Education, PART A: Legislation, Policy, and Funding, para.8). These students are demonstrating behaviours that vary …

2020-08-14 Message From The Provost, Morehead State University. Office Of The Provost.

Faculty Senate Records

A message issued to the faculty from the Office of the Provost regarding attendance on August 14, 2020.

A Curriculum Framework At Glsm, A Canadian Medical School, Jeff Bachiu

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Medical education has seen minor changes over the decades, but a dynamic movement towards competency-based medical education (CBME) has swept across the field in recent years. Organizing medical education curriculum to respond to these changes can be challenging due to many factors, in both content and context. The public rightly expects that graduating medical students be competent physicians, ready to deliver effective health care. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) looks at a relatively new medical school’s lack of an outcomes-based curriculum framework. The Problem of Practice (PoP) is focused on the difficulty of moving the school toward the development of …

Evidence Informed Strategy To Improve Organizational Learning Engagement, Glenn G. Barton

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The ability of an organization to effectively learn and apply knowledge not only equates with highly agile performance, it is increasingly important to surviving in a knowledge based economy. Organizational learning has been widely popularized in recent decades, however defining, coordinating, and maximizing this collective learning capability within organizations remains challenging. In part this difficulty may lie in conflicted views about the purposes of learning and who it benefits, varied ways in which learning or leading it can happen, and most importantly in employee’s different motivations to engage in learning at all. This plan examines organizational learning engagement and targets …

Increasing The Effectiveness Of English Language Teaching Assistants, Abidemi T. Bankole

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The purpose of this Organization Improvement Plan (OIP) is to develop an approach for increasing the effectiveness of Teaching assistants (TAs) working in the English language classrooms of an international university. TAs play an important role in teaching and learning activities of many universities, where they are employed across a variety of academic disciplines. A Japanese university recruits international undergraduate TAs to model the use of English and facilitate group discussions in small-sized classes. However, most TAs are untrained and inexperienced non-native English speakers, and many have expressed not feeling completely effective in their role. To begin to consider this …

Improving The Capacity For Collaboration Between Accessibility Services And College Faculty, Mitra Gorjipour

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Failing to provide access to students with disabilities can have far-reaching consequences for the student, society and the higher education organization (HEO). Facilitating access is a particularly sensitive task in the context of college education, considering the reliance of college faculty on practical methods of instruction and the complex needs of academically at-risk students enrolled at these organizations. In such a setting, faculty and accessibility services need to communicate, consult and collaborate seamlessly in order to provide support and ensure access for this student population. The problem of practice addressed here concerns overcoming barriers to cross-functional collaboration between faculty and …

Building A Co-Curricular Wellness Program For Medical Students At A Canadian Medical School, Renea D. Leskie

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The increasing number of medical students who present with mental illness and burnout is becoming a very real challenge among medical schools nationally and globally, prompting a need for medical schools to address this very real problem. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) seeks to help solve this problem by means of a co-curricular wellness program aimed at preventing mental illness and burnout from happening. Rather than being reactive as students self-identify as having a mental illness, this OIP argues for preventative measures that help to prevent mental illness and burnout from occurring at all.

Using a three-pronged leadership approach of …

Engaging Teachers In Agile School Improvement, Lynn Leslie

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan addresses a K-6 principal’s leadership challenge of engaging teachers in implementing the strategies from the annual school improvement plan in a changing school context. The inquiry questions focus on increasing teacher voice, enabling collaborative professional learning, and facilitating dynamic organizational change. Drawing from complexity theory, School X is conceived as a complex adaptive system that exists within a broader eco-system, with organizational transformation occurring through complex responsive processes where human interactions and diversity are essential for shifting current thinking and behaviors. The principal proposes an authentic/adaptive leadership approach that integrates two change models to develop the …

Implementing Character Development To Align To Ideological Goals, Catherine Luk

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores a Problem of Practice (PoP) that examines the lack of character development opportunities for students within a lower school (K-5) context. It explores the need to unify academic achievement and character education as mutually reinforcing parts of the curriculum. American International School, AIS, (pseudonym) is a private, non-profit independent K-12 American based college preparatory school with a hierarchal structure located in a medium-sized city in Asia. The organization's practices focus on academic excellence and on achieving the mission paraphrased as helping to shape caring and moral individuals who can make a positive difference in …

An Institutional Strategy To Address Financial Preparedness In A Post-Secondary Environment, Necia Martins

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Attending post-secondary comes at a cost. With rising tuition and life costs, the financial responsibility students are taking on is significant. Many young adults lack the experience and knowledge to manage their financial obligations. For some, during times of financial stress this may lead to balancing a part-time job, a reduced course load or considering withdrawing from studies. Many students rely on financial aid to support their academic and life costs. In the past few years, the provincial government made various changes to the financial aid program and tuition fees. These changes have led to many students misunderstanding how much …

Development Of An Academic-Service Alliance To Address New Graduate Registered Nurses’ Practice Readiness, M. Dianne Norman

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

New Graduate Registered Nurses’ (NGRN) lack of practice readiness is a Problem of Practice (PoP) impacting hospitals. Stemming from the evolving complexity of today’s healthcare environment and the generalist nature of the baccalaureate nursing program, the lack of NGRN practice readiness increases hospital-based orientation costs, patient safety risks, and NGRN attrition. There is currently no formal structure in which key stakeholders can address the NGRN lack of knowledge, skills and judgment and the associated implications for the safety and quality of patient care. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) examines NGRN practice readiness within the organizational context of the Health Centre …

Improving Physical Literacy In Middle School Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Students, Jarod-Lee P. Milko

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Physical activity levels in Canadian youth are decreasing. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) focuses on improving physical literacy in middle school Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in a Northern Ontario urban school. The Daily Physical Activity (DPA) policy in Ontario public elementary schools has achieved about 50% fidelity in classrooms since its inception in 2005 (Allison, et al., 2016; Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion, 2015, p. 60). Leading a physically active lifestyle is essential for education outcomes, public health, and general health and wellbeing. Improving physical literacy in youth increases their motivation to be physically active, and through a …

Addressing The Overall Dissatisfaction Of The First-Year Student Experience In University, Christopher E. O'Gorman Mr.

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Abstract

The concept of student experience has caught the attention of administration in postsecondary institutions, so much so, that they have dedicated departments that deal entirely with the experiences of students on campus. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) addresses the students’ overall dissatisfaction with their first-year university experience. The focus of this OIP is to provide a solution that will improve the overall experiences that students have. The OIP begins by introducing the organization through a PEST analysis and provides a framework for the problem of practice, utilizing secondary data that is publicly available. Utilizing structuralist theory as the theoretical …

Weaving The Braid Of Culturally Responsive Leadership Within Policy And Governance To Improve Indigenous Student Success, Shelly L. Niemi

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores a Problem of Practice (PoP) that highlights the need for why the Board of Education and the Senior Administration team within the Raven Bay School Division (RBSD, pseudonym) would benefit from using a culturally responsive leadership approach when making decisions and how this may be achieved through policy and governance to guide their practice. The goal of this OIP is to examine why this leadership approach would be relevant for the Board of Education and the Senior Leadership team when they are making any policy and governance decisions, as it relates to Indigenous …

Building Leadership Capacity For The Effective Implementation Of A Professional Development Tool In K-12 School In A Region In Arctic Canada, Sonia Osbourne

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to identify and remediate the organizational factors that are presently leading to the faulty delivery of a professional development framework (PDFM) tool in an educational organization in the Canadian Arctic. Implementation of change initiatives in organizations is a complex undertaking and can be further complicated by contextual factors such as culture. In this region, a large percentage of students are Inuit, and teachers and school leaders are both Inuit and non-Inuit. Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ), translated as Inuit traditional knowledge, is a foundation upon which education is delivered in the region. Therefore, this organizational change …

Improving Faculty’S Educational Technology Adoption, Hiba Sabri

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The purpose of this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is to assist higher education leaders in dealing with challenges related to faculty’s technology adoption and improve educational technology practices in teaching. This OIP investigates the current problem of practice (PoP) at Hall University which is based on the concerns related to faculty’s resistance towards using technology in teaching and in attending the existing educational technology training. This OIP has been analyzed through the lens of neoliberalism theory and its influence on higher education in terms of corporatization of education. This theory provides a holistic understanding of the complex nature of higher …

Towards Sustainable Mixed Reality Technology Institutionalization At A Major Urban College In British Columbia, Canada, Brent Fraser Mekelburg

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The organization at the centre of this Organizational Improvement Plan, College X, is a publicly funded college located in a major urban centre in British Columbia, Canada. The problem of practice is the inconsistent implementation for disruptive technology—mixed reality (MR). Currently, faculty are in charge of integrating MR into andragogy. Decisions that enable or hinder MR institutionalization are made by administration; faculty needs and administration support are not necessarily aligned. Failed institutionalization not only deprives learners of the opportunity to acquire digital literacy skills but also threatens institutional legitimacy. Within his role as a program leader, the author proposes a …

Implementing Innovative Mental Health Supports And Services At A Post-Secondary Institution, Adam K. Lawrence

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

In 2020, the Government of Ontario published a report entitled In It Together: Foundations for Promoting Mental Wellness in Campus Communities. This document outlines that the priority of post-secondary institutions should be the health and well-being of students by ensuring that students receive the supports they need to be successful. Most importantly, the document outlines a community approach needed for students to access mental health supports and services on their campuses. Many post-secondary students are becoming increasingly aware of their own mental health needs prior to enrolling at university or college. This has resulted in a culture on post-secondary …

Improved Regional Education Delivery: Reach For The North Program, Elizabeth Anne Sommerfeld

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) has outlined the change plan for a problem of practice for consideration of the education mandate at MY-U’s multiple regional campuses. The overall goal of this plan is to have increased the availability of academically rigorous courses for our regional students. An assessment of the readiness of several stakeholders allowed for a student-centred focus within the political, collegial and organized anarchy paradigms in which the university organization exists. A strategy is discussed to address issues in the administration and university culture while breaking down silos for the multiple campuses. A new organizational framework is offered …