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Reading Queerly In The High School Classroom: Exploring A Gay And Lesbian Literature Course, Kirsten Helmer Aug 2015

Reading Queerly In The High School Classroom: Exploring A Gay And Lesbian Literature Course, Kirsten Helmer

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore how teaching an English literature curriculum centered on the stories, experiences, cultures, histories, and politics of LGBTQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex) people constitutes a meaningful site for teaching and learning in a high school classroom. The dissertation offers insights on how the teaching of LGBTQI-themed texts in English language arts classes can be reframed by bridging the goals, practices and conceptual tools of queer theory to critical literacies teaching. The project follows principles of critical qualitative research and employs an ethnographic case study approach with the purpose of transforming educational …


Catch The Bus: Investigating The Correlations Between Teacher Collaborative Action-Taking And Self-Efficacy, Tara B. Brandt Aug 2015

Catch The Bus: Investigating The Correlations Between Teacher Collaborative Action-Taking And Self-Efficacy, Tara B. Brandt

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the correlations between particular teacher collaborative actions and teachers’ sense of self-efficacy. Additionally, descriptive analyses provided a snapshot of current collaborative action-taking across US schools, and elucidated teachers’ present sense of self-efficacy. This study utilized existing data from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey (sponsored by the OECD), which was completed by 1,926 lower secondary teachers from just over 120 different American schools. Multivariate correlational analysis confirmed that frequency of US teachers’ participation in collaborative actions significantly correlated to higher levels of teacher self-efficacy. Actions with the highest correlations included: taking …


As The Tide Turns On The Violence Of U.S. Neoliberal Education: Un-Organized White-Led Activism, From Abstract Critique To Nonviolent Resistance, Jennifer Sandler May 2015

As The Tide Turns On The Violence Of U.S. Neoliberal Education: Un-Organized White-Led Activism, From Abstract Critique To Nonviolent Resistance, Jennifer Sandler

Landscapes of Violence

This is a story about the language and role of justice, violence, and nonviolent resistance in contemporary activism against neoliberal policies in U.S. education. Through a description of meetings of “un-organized,” white-led groups of education activists over the course of eight years, this article traces shifts in the white progressive activist imagination, during a time of broad national shift in the United States from wholesale public embrace of neoliberal education reform to a more fractured and contentious field. Specifically, this article explores white progressive activists’ shifts from analyzing injustice in education to talking about structural violence and engaging with nonviolent …


Studying Policy Through Violence: The Social Conditions Of Education Reform In Mexico, Ashley E. Sherry May 2015

Studying Policy Through Violence: The Social Conditions Of Education Reform In Mexico, Ashley E. Sherry

Landscapes of Violence

This paper explores current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto’s 2013 public education reform through ethnographic engagement, archival research, and interviews in Mexico City and Guerrero, Mexico. By May 2013, the National Coordination of Education Workers’ (CNTE)—the primary education reform opposition movement—had gained national traction and more than 40,000 educators from various states indefinitely relocated to Mexico City’s zocalo. In this paper, the author presents an account of the social conditions of policy formation and experiences of violence in the lives of teachers, legislators, political advisors, students, and community members, engaged in shaping education and opposing the reform. An anthropological approach …


Stuck In The Middle With You: The Political Position Of Teachers During The Algerian War Of Independence, Alexis Artaud De La Ferriere May 2015

Stuck In The Middle With You: The Political Position Of Teachers During The Algerian War Of Independence, Alexis Artaud De La Ferriere

Landscapes of Violence

Teachers stand out amongst civil servants by virtue of their embedded position within governed communities, their moral authority within those communities, and the relative autonomy of their work. This paper investigates the political position of teachers in Algeria during the War of Independence from France (1954-62). Although teachers were agents of the French state, and active in facilitating French governance in Algeria, they were regarded with deep suspicion by the French security services, and subjected to a sustained surveillance and repression campaign from the very first months of the war. Teachers were caught in a no-man’s land between the French …


Education And Violence: Editor’S Introduction, Jennifer Sandler May 2015

Education And Violence: Editor’S Introduction, Jennifer Sandler

Landscapes of Violence

No abstract provided.


Investigating The Relationship Between A District’S Tier 2 Attendance Intervention Program And Student Attendance Outcomes, Brendan T. Keenan Jr. Mar 2015

Investigating The Relationship Between A District’S Tier 2 Attendance Intervention Program And Student Attendance Outcomes, Brendan T. Keenan Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

The study will investigate attendance-related outcomes for Fresh Start, a Tier 2 attendance intervention program (AIP) currently being used by the Wingate Public Schools in Massachusetts to collaboratively problem-solve with parents/guardians of elementary school students (Kindergarten through 6th grade) who demonstrate chronic truancy issues. The Fresh Start program is utilized when the requesting school has been unable to make contact with the parent/guardian of a student in order to address the attendance problem via a school meeting. Membership of the Tier 2 AIP team includes school administrators, faculty, and staff, the parent/guardian, and a representative from a community agency …


Does Student Success Skills Have An Impact On School Connectedness And Self-Regulation Of Inner-City, African-American Elementary Students?, Erin Wetherell, Darleen Hostetler, Karen Harrington, Carey Dimmitt Jan 2015

Does Student Success Skills Have An Impact On School Connectedness And Self-Regulation Of Inner-City, African-American Elementary Students?, Erin Wetherell, Darleen Hostetler, Karen Harrington, Carey Dimmitt

Research Briefs

Brief overview of the article, Connectedness and Self-Regulation as Constructs of the Student Success Skills Program in Inner-City African American Elementary School Students, originally published in the Journal of Counseling & Development. The authors include a summary of the key components of the original study, including the introduction, method, and results sections of the paper. In addition, they offer a critical perspective speaking to the limitations of the study and a section addressing implications for practice like the effects of school counseling interventions on academic achievement indicators.


Effective Counseling Interventions With Youth And Families: A Review Of Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Carey Dimmitt Jan 2015

Effective Counseling Interventions With Youth And Families: A Review Of Solution Focused Brief Therapy, Carey Dimmitt

Research Briefs

Carey Dimmitt provides a brief overview of the article Practitioner Review: The Effectiveness of Solution Focused Brief Therapy with Children and Families: A Systematic and Critical Evaluation of the Literature form 1990-2010, originally published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The author offers a summary of the introduction, methods, results, limitations and implications of the study's findings that SFBT is a promising modality to address youth in schools with mild internalizing/externalizing difficulties. However, more research to support these interventions must be done.


Integrating Arsenic-Related Environmental Topics Into The Education Of The Next Generation Of Citizens For Arsenic-Hit Communities: Awareness And Mobilization, Julian Tyson Jan 2015

Integrating Arsenic-Related Environmental Topics Into The Education Of The Next Generation Of Citizens For Arsenic-Hit Communities: Awareness And Mobilization, Julian Tyson

Chemistry Department Faculty Publication Series

No abstract provided.


Prevention And Management Of Type 2 Diabetes Among African Immigrants In The United States: Using A Culturally Tailored Educational Intervention With A Focus On Dietary Plan, Physical Activity, And Stress Management, Oluseyi G. Abioye-Akanji Jan 2015

Prevention And Management Of Type 2 Diabetes Among African Immigrants In The United States: Using A Culturally Tailored Educational Intervention With A Focus On Dietary Plan, Physical Activity, And Stress Management, Oluseyi G. Abioye-Akanji

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Purpose: Close examination of epidemiological data revealed burdens of type 2 diabetes and complications particular to ethnic minorities in the United States including African immigrants. Literature reviews show poor dietary plan, physical inactivity, and poor stress management exist among African immigrants; contributing factors to these behaviors are cultural beliefs, barriers to physical activity, knowledge deficit in stress management, healthy food choices and portioning. This DNP project focused on implementing a culturally tailored diabetes education with the objective to increase participants’ knowledge on dietary planning, physical activity, and stress management. Greater patient knowledge may lead to better diabetes management among African …


Hope In School Gardens: The Amherst School Gardens Project, Xochiquetzal F. Salazar Jan 2015

Hope In School Gardens: The Amherst School Gardens Project, Xochiquetzal F. Salazar

Student Showcase

The Amherst School Gardens Project connects UMass Amherst Stockbridge undergraduate students to Amherst Public Elementary Schools in order to facilitate shared learning in the outdoor classroom. Our mission is to provide elementary school level children with hands on gardening experience, empowering knowledge of their foods’ origins, lessons that correspond with the U.S. Department of Education’s “Common Core State Standards,” and a community that encompasses the varying citizens of Amherst. The environmental, social, and economic implications of this program are boundless. In essence, the project transforms inert grass lawns on Amherst elementary school sites into productive gardens contributing to the biodiversity …


Growing Our Vision Together: Forming A Sustainability Community Within The American Library Association, Beth Filar Williams, Madeleine K. Charney, Bonnie Smith Jan 2015

Growing Our Vision Together: Forming A Sustainability Community Within The American Library Association, Beth Filar Williams, Madeleine K. Charney, Bonnie Smith

University Libraries Publication Series

As long-standing keepers of democracy and information stewardship, library professionals are a natural fit for advocating and promoting sustainability within their communities. From seed libraries to Occupy Wall Street libraries, their view of sustainability extends beyond environmental concerns to include community activism, economic development, and social equity. Empowering people, facilitating dialogue, and providing resources for a more resilient future are at the center of librarians’ vital and changing roles. These visionary professionals have powered libraries’ work as outspoken advocates with well-founded initiatives. For a long time, however, there was no cohesive sustainability-focused venue for sharing best practices, collaborating, and contributing …