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When St. Louis School Nature Leaders And Environmental Partners Work Together Nature-Based Learning Inspires Joy And Curiosity In K-2 Students, Julie Frisch, Melissa Politte

Dissertations

This study focused on what values teachers saw in nature-based learning, what outcomes they saw for their students, and what factors have enabled them to do nature-based learning. This explanatory sequential mixed-methods study looked at nature-based learning in St. Louis elementary schools with kindergarten through second-grade students.

We used purposive sampling to choose six schools to examine further through case studies. We then conducted interviews with 8 teachers on qualities of nature-based learning captured in 12 words.

We identified five themes from our interviews and observations: Every School Needs a Nature Champion, Community Bridges in Nature-Based Learning, There is Magic …

Untold Perspectives: The Impact Of The Closure Of A Health Institution In A Black Community In North St. Louis County, Patricia Zahn, Kiley Bednar, Andrea Jackson-Jennings, Erica L. Henderson

Dissertations

Based on the literature of social determinants of health, health equity, and anchor institutions, it is evident that hospitals have a role to play in ensuring the health of their community. However, our understanding of the impact of hospital closures is limited, especially when it comes to Black communities. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship of the closure of the Normandy Osteopathic Hospital to the social determinants of health—specifically access to care and economic stability as it relates to income and wealth generation—for a Black community in one near-North suburb of St. Louis. Ten individuals with …

A Phenomenological Study Of Leadership, Motivation, And Communication In The Construction Industry, Olayinka Basorun

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The construction industry in the United States of America pays a high litigation cost due to late project delivery or substandard projects. Despite the training construction organizations expose their project teams to, research has shown greater emphasis on skill training than leadership training. This phenomenological study sought to understand the dynamics of the relationship between project leaders and construction site workers in Central Virginia. Understanding the perceptions of project managers, superintendents, and construction site workers about leadership, leadership development and training, motivation, and communication gave insights into these dynamics. The research study allowed the researcher to understand the work experiences …

Learning In The Time Of Covid: A Master's Portfolio, Julie Henling

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

The work included in this Master's Portfolio reflects the author's experience as a teacher and a student during the Covid-19 crisis and explores the need for instructional changes as a result of the pandemic. The first essay, "A Fresh Start: Sowing New Seeds of Assessment Strategies in K-12 Education After the Covid-19 Pandemic," explains how multimodal/new media assessment pedagogies can be adapted for a variety of educational settings (online, hybrid, and in-person) to assist student learning. The second piece, “Women and Rhetoric,” is a unit plan designed for an 11th grade classroom focused on rhetoric and analysis using speeches from …

A Mixed Method Approach To Understanding Team Members' Perspectives After Receiving Problem-Solving Training And Performance Feedback, Alexander Mark Julian

Theses and Dissertations

While countless studies have collected data on the effectiveness of various problem- solving models, few have attempted to identify which components of the training process are helpful to participants. Two teacher teams consisting of seven participants were trained in an adapted version of the Team-initiated Problem Solving (TIPS) model, observed each meeting, and provided performance feedback regarding how well they had adhered to the model. A mixed method approach was used to collect quantitative data in the form of the teams' adherence to the TIPS model and qualitative data once successful adherence to the model had been shown. Researchers interviewed …

Brenda Jackson Final Master's Portfolio, Brenda Jackson

Master of Arts in English Plan II Graduate Projects

Best Practices for English Teachers: Effective Writing Assessment Techniques

How Technical Communicators Enhance Training Knowledge Transfer: A Diverse Approach

An Examination Of Peer-Led Professional Development In Positive Behavioral Interventions And Supports, Sarah E. Flynn

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This study evaluated the peer-led professional development (PD) program at Lincoln Elementary School in Woodburn, Oregon. This qualitative study took place upon the return of staff and students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through surveys and observations, the research determined perceived barriers of staff in continuing the use of and learning more about the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework. This study collected the participants’ attitudes and understandings after their time in peer-led and peer-designed PD in PBIS in the first quarter of the 2021-2022 school year. Participants of this study included staff of an elementary school including teachers, specialists, …

School-Based Health Centers Versus Telehealth Programs On Professional Quality Of Life Of Public School Teachers In Arkansas, Amber Ellis

Dissertations

This dissertation aimed to determine by type of school-based health program—schoolbased health centers (SBHCs) or telehealth programs (tSBHC)—and years of teaching experience on the effects of compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress among public school teachers in Arkansas districts. Mandates legitimize the additional mental health supports for students; however, supports for teachers who interact with those students is almost non-existent. The Professional Quality of Life survey measures compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary trauma in the work setting. Data were collected from novice and experienced teachers from nine Arkansas school districts and analyzed using factorial ANOVAs. SBHC and tSBHC did …

Perceptions Of Mentor Relationships By Gender For Students In A Private Liberal Arts University In Arkansas, Kimberlee Shaffer Kirkman

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the effects of university experience on male and female students on the perceptions of mentoring relationships. The study was designed to aid university leadership in developing a rationale that could better strengthen undergraduate mentor relationships. For the study, the mentoring theory by Garza, Reynosa, Werner, Duchaine, and Harter provided the core framework for the research. Each of the hypotheses addressed the perception responses to the Ideal-Mentor-Scale in integrity, guidance, relationships, and overall relationships. The research was carried out using a quantitative, 4 x 2 factorial between-groups, causal-comparative study. No significant interaction between …

Examining Career Decisions: Exploring The Interest Of Gifted Graduates On Working In Education, Alexandria K. Ryan

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Students who are gifted are often pulled in a variety of career directions because of their tendency to have many interests and passions. This study was designed to better understand the experience of adults who are gifted and their career choice. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore what career paths adults who are gifted follow, specifically whether they choose to work in the education field or not. This phenomenological study explored four main themes in an individual who is graduated from a gifted education program’s life: Gifted Program Experience, Career and Interests, Family Influence, and Social Emotional. …

A Qualitative Study Of The Factors That Support Female Educators While Raising Young Children, Christine M. Dean

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this research study was to examine the personal and professional factors that support female educators while raising young children. This study was designed as a bounded case study that included six women who taught in a Christian school while they were raising children. Their interview data revealed three major themes: conflict, personal supports, and professional supports. Participants reported conflicts such as conflicting obligations between their teacher and maternal roles, expectations, and priorities. Key supports helped to resolve or avoid these conflicts. Personal factors such as supportive and extended family members assisted teachers as they balanced the responsibilities …

An Evaluation Of The Effects Of Student Participation In High School Athletics And Grade Point Averages In A Rural Title I School District, Robert Ebert

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative, associative/predictive study was to evaluate the relationship between participation in high school athletics and grade point averages (GPAs) for graduated cohorts in a rural Title I school district. Study data were collected in archival form from three graduating cohorts of students from a rural Title I school district in Florida. Study findings indicated that senior students who were identified as student-athletes had a mean GPA that was significantly higher than students who were identified as non-athletes. Furthermore, when considering the effect of GPAs by gender, both female and male student-athlete GPAs were statistically higher …

How Canadian School Leaders Perceive Their Capacity To Foster Culturally Responsive School Practices To Influence Student Outcomes, Heather Saunders

All Theses And Dissertations

Despite numerous studies on race relations and racism in Canada, there is a relative paucity of research on school leaders’ perceptions of cultural responsiveness in the Canadian educational system. Racial diversity among students enrolled in Canadian schools has increased dramatically over the last few decades. The diversity gap between a racialized student population and White school leaders continues to widen, with more than 95% of Canadian school leaders being White (Turner, 2015). The primary objective of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore school leaders’ perceptions of how culturally responsive practices improve student outcomes. This study was guided by the …

Implementing A Pressure Injury Prevention Bundle To Decrease Hospital-Acquired Pressure Injuries In An Adult Medical-Surgical Unit, Laura Brock

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

Background: Pressure injuries affect approximately 2.5 million people in the United States and cost the American healthcare system more than $11.6 billion annually. Healthcare organizations have sanctions placed on them by government agencies to minimize the occurrence of pressure injuries to reduce financial burdens and poor patient outcomes.

Purpose: The project aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of reducing the incidence of hospital-acquired pressure injuries after implementing a pressure injury prevention bundle over eight weeks in a medical-surgical unit in a rural hospital in Alabama.

Methods: This quality improvement project consisted of three key components: educating nurses to …

Implementing Faculty Development Modules To Increase Readiness For Addressing Social Determinants Of Health, Implicit Bias And Equity In Course Content, Claudia Ngafeeson

DNP Scholarly Projects

Implicit bias is viewed as an unconscious and involuntary attitude that lies below the surface of consciousness but can influence behavior, and cognitive processes (Maina et al., 2018). Social determinants of health are considered to be the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age; these circumstances are usually shaped by the distribution of money, power, and resources at global, national, and local levels, which in turns determines the distribution of the value of medical care. Existing literature on implicit bias has been fragmented in different fields such as; cognitive psychology, business ethics, and higher education, but …

Using An Ecojustice Education Framework To Address Conservation In The Upstate, Rebecca Bolich-Wade

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

In an era of complex and overlapping issues, it is critical to evaluate the effectiveness of alternative interdisciplinary methodology within the fields of justice and environmental conservation. One such method is encapsulated in an ecojustice education framework. This capstone project sought to analyze the effectiveness of an ecojustice education framework to address conservation in the Upstate of South Carolina. In the process of this study’s literature review, it is evident that isolating social justice from environmental conservation is ineffective and unresponsive to the needs that historically underserved communities today face in terms of the mitigation of environmental burdens and enhancement …

Why Assess Everyone The Same Way?, Susan Caguyong

MATL Action Research Projects

No abstract provided.

Social Emotional Learning In Middle School: Examining The Second Step Program, Mindee Albanese

MATL Action Research Projects

No abstract provided.

Unlocking Math Minds: Using Inquiry-Based Instruction To Increase Student Engagement And Learning In A Third Grade Classroom, Eric Swendseid

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This paper and supporting website include research and strategies to answer the research question, How can the implementation of inquiry-based math instruction increase student engagement and learning success in a third grade classroom? Inquiry-based learning is a process where the students are involved in their learning. The classroom is student-centered, not teacher-centered. Using the student-centered or inquiry-based approach, students do not learn through transmission. Instead, they collect information and synthesize the information they find through critical thinking skills. The learning process is considered to be higher-order learning. The research presented in this paper focuses on guided inquiry within a mathematics …

Schooling Black Males: Hegemonic Discourses, Structural Barriers, And Strategic Resistance, Cleo Wadley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black males have scored at the lowest levels of academic achievement compared to other racial groups in many Texas school districts. The achievement gap for this population of students has been explained by both material constraints and oppressive hegemonic discourses. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to understand how such barriers and discourses affected these students and how the students negotiated their experiences in school. This study was designed to describe the problem, its background and to discuss a relevant theoretical framework. This study examined the academic achievement data for Black males and the current literature on adverse …

Disproportionate Discipline: Race/Ethnic And Gender Disparities In Rates Of Lunch Detentions And Subjectivity In Teachers’ Reasons For Those Punishments, Paul Michael Fram

Theses and Dissertations

The intent of school discipline policies, practices, and procedures is to shape student behavior to create an optimal learning environment for all students. However, school discipline falls short of this goal because it is rife with race/ethnic and gender disparities. These disparities contribute to inequitable academic and life outcomes that plague, in particular, African American children. This dissertation addresses these disparities through a thematic literature review, a quantitative analysis of inequities in rates of lunch detention, and a mixed methods analysis of subjectivity in reasons for lunch detention.

The literature review explains the problematic aspects of school discipline, the racial …

Faculty Perspectives On Assessment And Placement: A Mixed Methods Study Of The Social Validity Of Placement Tests, Multiple Measures Placement, And Guided Self-Placement, Dawn R. Coleman

Theses and Dissertations

Community colleges are under ongoing pressure to increase the success of students placed into developmental courses; while many reforms focus on the length of course sequences, there is also attention on how students are assessed and placed. Studies of these assessment and placement (A&P) methods focus primarily on predictive validity; one aspect of validity that is neglected is social validity, which assesses the extent to which the goals, procedures, and effects of an intervention are socially desirable.

The purpose of this study was to use a social validity framework to explore the perspectives of community college math and English faculty …

Reaching The Standard: An Action Research Study On Standards-Based Grading Practices And English Learners, Dylan D’Anthony L. Orot

Theses and Dissertations

With the advent of standards-based education and its focus on English proficiency, English learners are at-risk of falling further behind when compared to their English adept peers because educators find themselves ill-equipped to meet the rigorous demands of such a curricular shift. This study aimed to identify pedagogical practices that bolster a standards-based grading (SBG) curriculum for sheltered English learners. Qualitative data from teacher participants and students, such as interviews and observations, were used to create a novel curriculum for sheltered English learners, centered on standards-based grading practices, and examine that curriculum’s effectiveness in helping teachers and their sheltered English …

Impact Of The Resident Mentor Role On Student Worker Mental Health, Lauren Cartwright

Senior Theses

What do stress and burnout look like for RMs at a flagship university in the southeast during the early Covid-19 epidemic? How would the average student worker rate the RM role in terms of satisfaction, recommending the role to others, and weekly workload?

To answer these questions, I surveyed 51 Resident Mentors (RM) at the University of South Carolina (UofSC) in Spring, 2021 to gather information on their general backgrounds, workload, and overall satisfaction with the RM role. Results generally showed high workloads and stress levels. I argue that these findings may be reflective of role ambiguity and changes in …

A Black Woman’S Road To Principalship: An Autoethnography, Daria Caldwell

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the perceived barriers of Black women in educational leadership. Majority of the research in the educational field pertaining to women is generalized in various ways and are not specific to Black women. With Black women in educational leadership on the rise, more research is needed for and by Black women to help successfully navigate educational leadership. During the last decade, African American women have pioneered and forged new frontiers as educational leaders (Rusher, 1996). This study included four Black women in educational leadership in different school districts in Minnesota. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews as well …

Does Lexia Core 5 Support Accelerated Reading Growth In Third Grade Intervention Students During Independent Reading Time With Minimal Teacher Support?, Whitney Strand

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

This capstone addresses the following research question: Does Lexia Core 5 Support Accelerated Reading Growth in Third Grade Intervention Students During Independent Reading Time With Minimal Teacher Support? The author first examines the previous research around Lexia Core 5 done by O'Callaghan et al. (2016) & Maracuso et al. (2019). This mixed methods study investigates how using Lexia Core 5 impacts participants’ overall reading growth via pre- and post- assessment data. It follows participants’ Lexia Core 5 usage over the course of 7 weeks tracking both the minutes spent and number of units completed. Data for this study also includes …

Applying Multiple Intelligences Theory In Esl/Efl Classrooms, Shirin Soltani

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The purpose of this project was to create a unit on activities that were inspired by multiple intelligences theory to help English Learners (ELs) develop their language proficiency. The questions explored in this capstone project were: How can language learners develop their multiple intelligences to become proficient language learners through classroom activities? What are ways to create a curriculum that includes both the traditional foundations of language teaching and multiple intelligences theory? I learned English as a foreign language through rote learning. During my teaching experience, I realized that not all ELs learn English the same way and they have …

Best Practices Using Pair Work For English Language Learners, Olivia Meyer

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

This project examined English Language (EL) learners and pair work in order to improve English skills and proficiency, answering the question: What are the best ways to use pair work to assist EL students in making English proficiency gains? There are many sources that show that collaboration and in particular, pair collaboration, supports language learning for all ages. One reason for this may be because language learning is most successful when there is plenty of feedback and interaction, creating plenty of opportunities to practice language skills. The project led to creation of a professional development course for educators that teaches …

Using An Interactive Word Wall To Increase Spanish Language Acquisition For Urban Middle School Learners, Jordan Schuneman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

My primary research question for my capstone project is: What are the ways in which interaction, collaboration, and dialogue impact students’ Spanish language acquisition? More specifically, my research and project aim to answer: How can an interactive word wall affect Spanish language acquisition in an urban classroom? I have created an interactive word wall curriculum. This was specifically designed to fit my context as a middle school Spanish teacher, grades 6-8. However, this interactive word wall curriculum can be utilized effectively in any content area. Through considering culturally and linguistically responsive teaching (Hollie, 2018) as well as how to best …

A Curriculum Resource For Teachers Of Low-Level Adult English Learners: Incorporating Digital Literacy Skills, Jennifer Sorlie

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Projects

The use of technology in the workforce and in academia is ever increasing. Given the events of the past two years, more and more individuals are turning to technology as a means to help them function in today’s world. There are many individuals who arrive from other countries to the United States for various reasons. One possible reason is learning English. However, what happens when you arrive to a country that uses technology daily in a prolonged manner and you have never had this experience? This is the case for many learners who enroll in adult education programs across the …