Digital Commons Network^™

Higher Education Vulnerability: An Assessment Model, Daniel A. Finseth

Dissertations, 2020-current

In the face of declining enrollments and increasing accountability and expectations, private colleges and universities will be facing greater internal and external pressures to deliver higher quality education at a lower cost. In this environment, multiple stakeholders are focused on institutional sustainability. To address these concerns, it is important to understand whether there are leading indicators that may aid in the anticipation of institutional decline. While there is a body of work addressing institutional metrics that serve as predictors of higher education financial viability, there has been little emphasis on complex organizational dynamics. This integrated mixed methods study employed grounded …

Developing And Establishing Validity Evidence For A Measure Of Situational Leadership In An Outdoor Leadership Context, Guy B. Debrun

Dissertations, 2020-current

Discussions of what it means to be an effective outdoor leader are common in outdoor education literature (Smith & Penny, 2010). Research has identified core competencies, conceptual frameworks, and course curricula for effective leadership. However, the criteria upon which judgements are made about leaders lack clarity (Smith & Penny, 2010). Furthermore, very little is documented, and few evaluation instruments exist to evaluate outdoor leader effectiveness (Phipps et al., 2005). The lack of instruments is problematic for four reasons: (1) it hampers efforts to create recognized outdoor leader certifications, (2) it impedes efforts to demonstrate the value of outdoor leadership program …

Leading A Community Promise: A Mixed Method Study Exploring The Dynamics Of Adaptive Leadership And Student Success, Elizabeth M. Narehood

Dissertations, 2020-current

The purpose of this study is to gain greater understanding of the dynamics between adaptive leadership strategy and the success of community college students. A strategic alliance formed between a community college and a college promise non-profit organization provides the complex environment to explore these phenomena. The establishment of a “Future Center” on the community college campus serves as the adaptive focal point of the study. The study’s theoretical framework is based upon the interaction of two perspectives: the ecological model of student development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) and adaptive leadership theory (Heifetz & Laurie, 1997). Study design utilized a three-phased exploratory …

Reevaluating Student Engagement: Exploring And Applying Alternative Assignments In Higher Education Undergraduate Applied Saxophone, Anthony S. Cincotta Ii

Dissertations, 2020-current

Undergraduate applied saxophone study revolves around the conservatory model. This inflexible model, often referred to as a master-apprentice relationship, can create an instructor-centric power dynamic which does not address the needs of the modern student. A classroom where the power lies so heavily with the instructor can stifle student engagement and can create a sense of disenfranchisement. In this setting, students have limited input on their assignment selections. While curricula have evolved with regards to being more culturally diverse, relevant, and inclusive, the approach that educators use to deliver the material has remained largely unchanged. There is limited research on …

Representation Is Everything: The Impact Of Diversity In Literature On The Racial Identity And Psychological Safety Of Black Youth, Zaakirah B. Fulani

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This study addresses the issue of U.S. schools often acting replicating the same racist/discriminatory practices that play out on a national level, resulting in school being an unsafe environment for Black and other REM students. A lack of psychological safety in schools, according to research, can lead to decreased academic achievement and engagement, feelings of stress and anxiety, and a negative school experience. This study proposes that using culturally relevant texts in curriculums can enhance psychological safety for Black students in order to cultivate safe school environments for REM students. Using an analysis of qualitative data from focus group discussions …

‘If They Laugh They Will Love The Learning’: Experiences Of The Use Of Humor By Adult Education Practitioners In Egypt And The United States, Mohamed Serry

Masters Theses, 2020-current

This qualitative research studied the experiences of adult education practitioners from Egypt and the United States with the usage of humor. The problem was that humor is a commonly used communication and education tool, yet it is not studied enough within adult education contexts. The sample included three participants from Egypt and three from the United States. All six had adult education experiences in different contexts, including educational interventions in nonprofits, manufacturing contexts, and corporate office settings. The study aimed to determine the positive and negative results of humor on adult learners, also the practitioners' needs for a better usage …

“I Like People… Who Are Like Me:” Attitudes Of Southern White Conservative Males On Diversity, Kevin Patrick Schell Jr.

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In America, racism, discrimination, and white supremacy are systemic. In the South, this is seen more prominently given its history of intolerance. Leading to diversity training being ineffective towards Southern white conservative men in society and at the workplace. This research study aims to understand Southern white conservative men’s attitudes toward diversity to inform diversity training practitioners on better training methods. It also sought entry points and a path forward in diversity training for this demographic. Focus group studies were done with four individuals in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Data was collected and analyzed. It was found that their …

Culturally Responsive Strategies To Support Multilingual Learners, Liz Shanks, Mackenzie Weakland

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

Teachers must develop pedagogical practices to meet the needs of the growing number of multilingual learners in K-12 classrooms. Our inquiry- based research study analyzed ways that teachers can implement pedagogical strategies that are culturally responsive to multilingual learners. Thematic analysis of recent academic studies, class observations, and an interview with a language specialist affirm a set of culturally responsive instructional practices in the classroom that lead to the academic success of multilingual learners. These practices included teacher attitudes, translanguaging, and thinking routines to assist in English language acquisition. K-12 teachers, administrators, and community leaders working with multilingual learners can …

Intergenerational Trauma In The Developing Student And Interventions Used, Malea G. Laquihon

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

The purpose of this review was to identify studies that focus on supporting students with intergenerational trauma (IGT) and the interventions used to minimize the effects of this type of trauma. To do this, we conducted a systematic literature review that identified 16 articles addressing IGT and its impact on school-age children or their parents. In the results of this systematic review, the authors of 12 studies reported the interventions had a positive impact on the participants in their studies. Limitations of the current review, the literature base, and implications for future research are presented.

Strategies To Aid Multilingual Learners In Academic Language Acquisition In Elementary Science And Mathematics Classes, Mikayla Grumbacher, Sophia Sladic

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

This qualitative inquiry research study surveys academic language acquisition strategies for teachers of multilingual learners in elementary science and mathematics classes. We paired readings of recent peer-reviewed journal articles with video observations of three elementary school teachers and an interview with a Director of English as a Second Language for a county in Virginia. Thematic analysis helped us identify similar strategies across the different studies, classroom observations, and interview. Our findings suggest that utilizing sensory and interactive supports are especially helpful strategies for teachers seeking to help multilingual learners in academic language acquisition.

Using Professional Expectations To Improve Research And Reading Behaviors With Pre-Professional Health Students, Carolyn Schubert, Jennifer Walsh

Libraries

Scaffolded information literacy interventions to teach students about evaluating health information as a faculty-librarian partnership.

Teaching materials available at https://www.projectcora.org/assignment/critical-reading-strategies-dietetics-students

The Transformative Potential Of Mid-Term Grades & Feedback For Student Success, Danielle Maxham, Tatjana Titareva, Paul E. Mabrey Iii, Kenn Barron, Sam Prins

Student Success & Enrollment Analytics

Midterm grades and feedback have the potential to positively impact equitable student success and retention. What if instead of treating midterm grades as one-way opportunities for summative feedback, midterm grades were framed as opportunities for two-way formative feedback. At James Madison University, this Spring 2023 research project piloted an alternative midterm grade and feedback system with 10 faculty across three colleges. The intervention included a mandatory part A that included transparent communication about the role of midterm grades in the specific class at the semester’s start and an optional part B which had the student submit their perceived midterm grade …

Identifying Systems Of Support In High Schools For Gender And Sexually Diverse Youth Living In Conservative Communities: A Phenomenological Qualitative Study, Nuriyah Bender

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Within the first few months of 2022 more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in states across the country (Human Rights Campaign, 2022). Many of these bills, some of which are now laws, discriminate against transgender students or restrict instruction and materials related to LGBTQ+ topics in schools. Gender and Sexually Diverse (GSD) students often do not feel safe in schools (Kosciw et al., 2020). Using a phenomenological approach, this qualitative study sought to identify the factors that helped GSD students feel the most supported in high schools in order to assist educators with actionable ways they can support students …

Being Present, Supporting Presence: Ideas For Online Teaching And Facilitation, Rebecca B. French, Jody Condit Fagan

Libraries

Although many campuses are returning to in-person classes and meetings, plenty of libraries are still holding events online. How can you as a facilitator or teacher be more fully present when leading or teaching online? How can you support attendees’ ability to be present themselves, and for all to find human-to-human connection in virtual spaces? This webinar will cover:

• planning and preparation work to support your presence as a facilitator and the needs of the group, considering the learning objectives or meeting goals
• activities for opening and closing online events in a way that invites presence and connection
• practices for …

A Survey Of School Psychologists To Promote Support For Developing Self-Advocacy Skills In Students With Disabilities, Kiarra K. Steer

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Self-advocacy is a critical skill for effective communication and for individual assertion of interests, needs, and rights (Hengen & Weaver, 2018). It is especially important for people with disabilities to be able to self-advocate, which includes understanding their own abilities and rights and being able to voice when they need assistance or when their rights are being violated (Hengen & Weaver, 2018).

Even though self-advocacy has been determined to be a necessary skill for students with disabilities to develop, research indicates that self-advocacy instruction is often not provided to students with disabilities. Furthermore, while researchers have shown that teaching students …

Teacher Perception Of A Brief Mindfulness-Based Curriculum And Its Impact On The Development Of Social Skills And Self-Regulation On A Preschool Classroom, Allison Poggendorf

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Recent studies on mindfulness and its impact on children have found promising results, especially with social-emotional skill development. A majority of the research on mindfulness applied in educational setting tends to focus on elementary and high school students, and there is limited, but growing research that examines the impact of mindfulness among early childhood students. This current study explored the impact of a brief mindfulness-based curriculum on an intact preschool classroom. Specifically, this study examined if preschool teachers perceive mindfulness practices in the classroom to impact their students’ self-regulation skills and social skills and how likely they were to continue …

Effects Of Reading Intervention On Behavior Outcomes Of Middle School Students: A Rapid Review, Davina Putz

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Reading is one of the most valuable skills acquired in life with tremendous effects on future success in education, professional career, and daily living. While effective reading instruction continues to be focus of elementary school education, some students proceed to middle and high school stuck on an elementary grade reading level. Below grade level reading ability can result in numerous behavioral and academic struggles at the secondary level. The current study systematically investigated the body of research evaluating effects of reading interventions on behavior outcomes. Five publications met inclusionary criteria to be further analyzed using narrative synthesis and visual analysis …

Evaluating Phonemic Proficiency And Oral Reading Fluency In Middle School Students, Cara Mcquaid

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Research on reading performance in both public and private schools in the United States notes that students’ reading skills are declining compared to previous years, and there is a need for effective identification of skills and interventions to bridge the gap between current performance and the target skill level. While some research on reading instruction and reading skills primarily focuses on initial skills such as phonological awareness only in early grades, other research suggests that as reading skills develop and become more advanced, foundational skills such as phonological awareness also develop.

The purpose of the current study was to assess …

Virtual Instruction During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Katie B. Kelley

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Student motivation and the impacts of the school environment on it have been heavily researched. However, motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been studied in detail due to the recency of events. To understand how the pandemic impacted student motivation, this study applied the Self-Determination Theory (SDT) in understanding how motivation functions through three pieces: autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Deci & Ryan, 1985). This current study examines students’ perceived motivation in virtual and hybrid instruction during a pandemic from students’ perspectives. It used surveys from a similar study with the addition of qualitative questions about instructional strategies (Edwards, 2009). …

Strategies And Methods Of Training Teacher Emotional Competence, Christina D. Beaton

Dissertations, 2020-current

Teaching is an emotional endeavor. That is why teachers must be equipped with skills to manage their emotions as well as emotions of their students. The present research investigates a strategies and methods for a model of training teacher emotional competency. Elementary school teachers (N=78) were asked about their perception of the importance of emotional competencies including emotional self-awareness, emotion regulation, effective emotional expression, identifying and responding to students’ emotions, promoting a positive emotional climate in the classroom, using emotions to promote learning, skills to promote student emotional competence, and skills to maintain teacher well-being. They also reported how often …

The Perceived Self-Efficacy Of School Counselors To Provide Interventions And Support To Students Using Substances And The Potential For Collaboration With School Psychologists, Monica Holtz

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Substance use has the potential to impact a student’s academic success; however, school counselors are in a position to intervene and provide support to these students to potentially mitigate the impact of the students’ use. Research shows that school-based interventions are effective in reducing substance use, but school counselors may not feel clinically prepared to provide these services. A random sample of school counselors in the state of Virginia practicing at the middle and high school level completed a survey regarding their feelings and perceptions of substance use intervention and support, including their self-efficacy to provide services, level of training, …

Equitable Counselor Education: Promoting A Sense Of Belonging In Master's Counseling Students, Jessica E. Mastrangelo

Dissertations, 2020-current

The discrepancies in racial and ethnic demographics between counselors, counselor educators, and the clients they seek to serve are prominent (Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP], 2018). Mental health counseling and the field of psychology have a traditionally Eurocentric value system that has positioned the White population to benefit from services and to become clinicians. As such, the centering of the White experience has perpetuated a lack of diversity in the field. As the demographics of the United States population continues to diversify, counseling needs to produce a greater number of racially and ethnically minoritized counselors …

An Exploration Of Higher Education Assessment And The Role Of Diagnostic Classification Modeling In Student Learning Outcomes, Samantha Harmon

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Higher education assessment measures student knowledge across multiple specific skills within the general education curriculum. Results are used to inform programmatic improvement, holding universities accountable for satisfying the requirements of the state and/or accrediting agencies. Current methods for assessing student learning in higher education assess institutional objectives through aggregated information using a single total score. The Diagnostic Classification Method (DCM) has been shown to yield fine-grained information about students individually and in the aggregate, providing individual-level and SLO-specific feedback. Unfortunately, few studies have investigated the role of the DCM within higher education assessment of student learning, indicating the utility of …

Learning Modalities And Mental Health During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Literature Review, Abubakarr Jalloh, Annie D. Morgan

Virginia Journal of Public Health

Purpose: The study’s purpose was to explore how students were learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential mental health outcome(s) that different classroom learning modalities may have on kindergarten-12^th grade school (i.e., K-12) students given that some of them were learning remotely or in-person, while others were doing some form of hybrid.

Methods: This study performed an extensive review of the literature, including health and educational sources from two government agencies, and three school districts in southwest Virginia. The target population for the literature review was K-12 students in the United States, with a focus on the Commonwealth …

Learning Improvement At Scale: Improving Rhetorical Awareness In A First-Year Writing Program, Caroline Prendergast

Dissertations, 2020-current

Despite decades of increasing assessment activity in higher education, the literature provides few examples of assessment leading to improved student learning (Banta & Blaich, 2011). The simple model for learning improvement provides an avenue for linking assessment efforts with faculty development and pedagogical changes in order to increase students’ knowledge, skills, and abilities (Fulcher et al., 2014). Although this model has been applied successfully in prior improvement efforts, previous initiatives have focused on relatively small programs (reaching 200 or fewer students). This dissertation reflects a large-scale application of the learning improvement model to improve rhetorical awareness in general education writing …

Addressing Systemic Inequities: A Psychoeducational Group For Advocating For African Americans, Jaree' Barnwell

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

This paper will discuss and describe the development of an open psychoeducational group that will empower people of the community through education to advocate for African American/Black people within institutions that may perpetuate barriers. Acknowledging that one in four people struggle with mental health issues, it is imperative to consider an appropriate treatment modality that destigmatizes mental health and equips participants with information. This group is especially relevant as one in three African Americans, who struggle with mental health concerns, will never receive the appropriate care comparatively afforded to white populations. This thesis will concisely discuss the education system, the …

Representation In Visual Schedules For Individuals With Disabilities, Colleen Fowkes

Masters Theses, 2020-current

A visual activity schedule (VAS) is an evidence-based intervention that can assist individuals to follow a routine, see what is coming next, reduce dependence on others, and aid in transitions. A VAS is a sequence of visuals (photographs, avatars, line drawings, etc.) that can be used to show the user what they are to do in a specific order. A VAS acts as a template for the task the user is supposed to accomplish. Visual schedules can be beneficial for a wide range of users; they have been seen to be especially effective when used with individuals with disabilities, autism …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Stimulus Presentation Order In Receptive Identification Skills Training, Jazmin Mack

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Receptive identification skills are typically taught using match to sample procedures. This can be done through the process of having a learner match an auditory sample and a visual stimulus from an array of multiple comparison stimuli over several trials. Research has evaluated the effectiveness of various stimuli presentation orders when teaching receptive identification skills with differing recommendations across studies. This thesis aimed to compare the effectiveness of sample first and comparison first presentation orders when teaching receptive identification skills using an adapted alternating treatments design. This study was conducted with two non-verbal early childhood learners. The experimenter tested pictures …

Writing While Black: African American Vernacular English (Aave) And Perceived Writing Performance, Jaylin N. Nesbitt

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In the education system, there have historically been inequities that have severely disadvantaged Black students academically. One area in which these inequities surface is on writing assessments in the form of lower scores. I argue that because the U.S. education system is centered around Standard American English (SAE), it disadvantages those from different linguistic backgrounds, specifically Black students, as they are most likely to be speakers of African American Vernacular English (AAVE). Although there are theoretical justifications for this, past literature has not empirically tied inequities on writing assessments to Black students’ use of AAVE. The current study used Natural …

Teaching Specials Teachers To Use Behavior Specific Praise In Elementary School, Elizabeth Rich

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Behavior-specific praise (BSP) has been shown to be an effective intervention across age groups for improving behavior in the school setting, including increasing on-task behavior, increasing engaged behavior, and reducing disruptive behavior. Following a review of the literature, the researcher selected tactile prompting paired with a visual prompt to increase specials teachers’ use of BSP. Using a multiple probe across participants design with an add-in component, this study investigated the effects of a visual prompt and a tactile prompt paired with a visual prompt to increase BSP use for two elementary school music teachers. Researchers also examined whether increasing BSP …