Digital Commons Network^™

The Chief Executive Officer Of Charter Management Organizations And Their Perspective On Instructional Leadership To Improve Student Achievement, Bryce Alan Geigle

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between academic emphasis and executive leadership from the perspective of a California charter management organization (CMO) chief executive officer (CEO). Executive leaders in California CMOs have a unique perspective that needs investigated. They experience educational leadership differently depending upon their individual backgrounds, educational experiences, and the families they serve. This study seeks to understand the experiences of a specific group of executive leaders and how they define academic emphasis in their CMO. The theoretical framework used to interpret the research findings was instructional leadership. The framework effectively built a lens …

Early Childhood Teacher Educators Perception Of Their Own Critical Reflection On Race, Ethnicity, And Culture, Nicole Denise Porter

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examined three tenured early childhood teacher educators from Northern California community colleges on how they valued critical reflection on race, ethnicity, and culture. A narrative inquiry study was conducted to gather information based on in-depth conversational interviews. A timeline identified key experiences, both personal and professional, as well as educational experiences from elementary through high school, undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate if applicable. The data was collected from the conversational interviews and then analyzed using the transformative learning theory by Mezirow (1991) in identifying key themes. The findings yielded three themes (a) exploring race, ethnicity, and culture, (b) understanding …

Developing Collective Teacher Efficacy In One Urban Low-Income Elementary School: A Case Study, Lori Ann Morgan

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Over the past two decades, research has shown links between collective teacher efficacy and student achievement. While the benefits of high levels of collective teacher efficacy have been documented, research focused on how it is developed in school serving socio-economically disadvantaged students and the role of principal leadership in that development is lacking, specifically from a qualitative case-study approach This qualitative case-study explored how collective teacher efficacy was developed in an urban neighborhood elementary school serving socio-economically disadvantaged students and how the principal’s leadership influenced that development. This was accomplished through in-depth individual interviews with teachers, support staff, and the …

How A Small Business Negotiates Digital Inclusion Of People With Disabilities: A Case Study, Belo Miguel Cipriani

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Technology has provided more people access products and services, yet some individuals who would benefit the most from digital access to resources are frequently excluded from participation. One group that is largely neglected is the disability community. Despite federal regulations intended to ensure that people with physical/mental disabilities are included in public digital platforms, organizations continuously design websites, applications, and interfaces without people with disabilities in mind. This is particularly the case with small businesses, which are most commonly reported as having inaccessible digital platforms.

Digital inclusion attempts to ensure equity in digital properties by providing a model to operationalize …

Faculty Adaptation To Emerging Instructional Technologies In Higher Education, Marilyn Murrillo

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how and why faculty adopt podcasting as an instructional technology tool in their teaching. Podcasting is an instructional technology tool being used for teaching and learning in higher education. Faculty may record lectures with audio, video, and/or PowerPoint slides to instruct students on class material. Students may access podcasts at their convenience through various devices, including mobile devices and computers. Research has shown that students who use podcasts to study for tests tend to perform more successfully on tests. This study was a qualitative multiple case study of seven California community college faculty using podcasting as an …

Improving Teacher Retention By Addressing Teachers' Compassion Fatigue, Jacquelyn Ollison

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

California is experiencing a massive teacher shortage, and urban schools are disproportionately affected by it negatively. Retention efforts to date have not included strategies to address Compassion Fatigue (burnout and secondary trauma) teachers experience when working with traumatized students at urban schools. This dissertation explores whether Compassion Fatigue is an unaddressed reason for teacher attrition at urban schools. A mixed method practical action research approach using the Professional Quality of Life Scale Version Five (ProQOL 5) and qualitative interviews, portions of which were turned into illustrative vignettes drove the exploration. Approximately 114 teachers completed the ProQOL 5. Statistical analysis of …

Student Perceptions Of The Clip Chart Management System, Karin D. Compise

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Six children between the ages of seven and eleven and their parents were interviewed to gather perceptions of the Clip Chart Management System. The Clip Chart system is a behavior system used in many primary classrooms where teachers move students’ clothespins up and down a chart in response to students’ behavior. Some findings from this qualitative case study are: students experienced feelings of shame and embarrassment, students compared their clips to their peers’ clips, and students labeled other students as “bad.” Some parents appreciated the consistency of behavior monitoring, but other parents felt that the system was ineffective and contributed …

Educational Success Of Low-Income And First Generation College Students In Private Colleges Of China, Yinghui Chen

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In China, low-income and first generation college students in private institutions are faced with adversities which undermine their educational outcome. Since the previous researches are mainly deficit-focused, the researcher conducted an investigation which put emphasis on the students’ successful educational outcome in order to round out the knowledge of this problem. The researcher employed a qualitative multiple case study to explore how three students accomplished educational resilience despite their hardships. The researcher findings suggested that: 1) Internal locus of control, career and academic planning, financial aids, job-related experience, and rational occupational aspiration contribute to students’ educational success; 2) The primary …

Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs In Relation To Perceived English Proficiency And Teaching Practices: An Investigation Of Chinese Primary English As A Foreign Language (Efl) Teachers, Yun Zhang

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Research on self-efficacy has been a productive field and abundant research has shown that teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs influence teachers’ actions and performances and thus affect students’ learning outcomes. However, there is a lack of literature on EFL teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and even less research was set in Chinese EFL contexts. On the one hand, this study was conducted to provide a general picture of the current status of EFL teachers’ perceived English proficiency, self-rated self-efficacy beliefs and self-reported teaching practices in terms of some demographic perspectives; On the other hand, it aimed to explore the correlations among Chinese primary EFL …

We (She, Me, Her) Are Not In Communication: An Autoethnography Of A Black College Administrator, Tanya Anderson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

I’m a first generation, previously low income, Christian, African American administrator at a California community college who struggled and felt alone throughout my journey. This autoethnography helped me make peace within my broken pieces. Within this dissertation, I highlight the impacts and hindrances within my education, family and career experiences. The purpose of this study is to offer the reader an insider view of how I ultimately became an administrator and with this information provide scholarship on how to more successfully integrate African American female leaders into higher education. The bonus chapter provides young women lessons learned along the way …

Early Care And Education Testimonios At The Borderlands, Jennifer Torres Siders

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Latinas represent a large proportion of the United States early care and education workforce, and thus have the potential to wield significant influence over the growth and development of millions of American children. However, the voices of Latina early childhood professionals often are missing in both research and mass media. Instead, social, political, and academic frames cast Latinas as foreign regardless of nationality, uneducated notwithstanding expertise, and passive despite action and influence. This testimonio analysis draws on Chicana feminist epistemology to re-center the perspectives of Latina child care providers and reveal more authentic insights on how they understand and perform …

An Autoethnographic Study: An Identity Lost And A Passage Discovered, Simone Shonte Martinez

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The professional careers of teachers with a chronic illness can sometimes be devastating. This study addresses the insufficient understanding of the identity crisis a teacher goes through when one is suddenly diagnosed with a chronic illness. While researching different types of theories, identity theory best fit this topic and my interest. Within identity theory, there are four perspectives to view identity. The four perspectives are Nature, Institution, Discourse, and Affinity identities. In order to understand identity, one must understand how identity is formed. Chronic illness identity is a change from all other identities that have been constructed. This study uses …

Exploring Leadership Identity Development Of Chinese Generation Z Student Leaders, Juan Mille Xu

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This is a phenomenological study exploring leadership identity development of Chinese generation Z student leaders by referring to Leadership Identity Development (LID) theory. There are two research questions. First, in what ways, if any, is the development of Chinese Generation Z student leader’s leadership identity similar to the Leadership Identity Development (LID) by Komives et al. (2005)? Second, in what ways, if any, is the development of Chinese Generation Z student leader’s leadership identity different from Leadership Identity Development (LID) by Komives et al.

The research adopts purposeful sampling and 10 participants were interviewed. Based on the analysis of the …