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Exploring Appreciative Advising As An Equity Approach For African American Students: A Grounded Theory Study Of Academic Advisors At Predominantly White Institutions (Pwis), Valerie Harper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

EXPLORING APPRECIATIVE ADVISING AS AN EQUITY APPROACH FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS: A GROUNDED THEORY STUDY OF ACADEMIC ADVISORS AT PREDOMINANTLY WHITE INSTITUTIONS (PWIs)

By

Valerie J. Harper

October 28, 2019

Dissertation supervised by Professor Gretchen Givens Generett

African American matriculation into postsecondary education continues to rise, but degree conferral remains low (Hoston, Graves, & Fleming-Randle, 2010). Arguably, Harper and Hurtado’s (2007) research, as far back as 1992, stated black students and other students of color have dealt with alienation, isolation, and stereotyping at PWIs; this continues to persist today (Lee, 2018), which may interrupt the academic success of African …

Latinx Millennials Won’T Surrender To Tech-Industry Bias, Josefina F. Bruni

Capstones

Organizations like Techqueria, which seek to improve the odds of Latinx in the tech labor market, have been popping up since 2014 among minorities and other marginalized social groups, with names like LGTBQ in Tech, Blacks in Technology, Latinas in Tech and Lesbians Who Tech. They’re free, fluid and informal, with members constantly exchanging information and support. While they offer many opportunities for face-to-face gatherings, they are powered by social media.

Some of these collective efforts are no more than Slack workspaces. Others cross multiple platforms or even have web pages. Some have even incorporated. But all …

Exploring Equity Issues In Education: A Focus On The Rise Private Tutoring In Canada, Yang Xin

Major Papers

Canada has recently seen an explosion in the tutoring industry, in large part due to four key factors: increased immigration from countries where tutoring is popular, the expansion of tutoring franchises from America, parents’ lack of confidence in Canada’s public education, and an excess number of teaching professionals who struggle to find work in a crowded education field. Though the tutoring industry has helped to stimulate the economy, improve student outcomes, and support the transition of immigrants, international students, and refugees, many have concerns that it will widen an already problematic education gap. Thus, to understand the nuances of this …

Reducing Underrepresentation: Promising Practices In Florida, Catherine A. Mullins

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examined representation rates of gifted students from diverse backgrounds in Florida county school districts. Florida state legislation governing gifted student education allows for alternative identification methods to be used for students from underrepresented groups if plans for such identification are approved by the Florida Department of Education; however, this option, informally referred to as “Plan B” after subsection B of the legislation governing gifted services, is not a requirement that districts must follow. Consequently, there are large differences in the ways districts identify underrepresented students for gifted services. State legislation identifies underrepresented populations as students with …

Teaching For Equity: A Case Study Of Teachers’, Vice Principals’, And Principals’ Perspectives In Three High-Poverty Elementary Schools In Ontario, Canada, Abhilasha Duggal

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Elementary students in high-poverty schools have diverse learning needs. Their academic and social learning, in particular, varies between students - especially so for those students from culturally non-dominant backgrounds. In 2009, the Ontario Ministry of Education mandated that all school boards in Ontario develop and implement equity education policies, as specified in Policy/Program Memorandum No. 119: Developing and Implementing Equity and Inclusive Education Policies in Ontario Schools (2009). This dissertation explored the implementation of Ontario’s Equity Strategy in three highpoverty elementary schools within one district school board in Ontario. This exploratory case study investigated the following research questions: 1. How …

Sundaas Story: A Mixed-Methods Study Of Household Sanitation Provisioning In Urban Informal Housing In India, Sarita Vijay Panchang

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aims of this research were to examine sanitation insecurity in urban informal housing through the lens of the built environment, social disparities, and health implications. While the Millennium Development Goals for halving the global proportion of people without access to safe drinking water were met ahead of schedule, progress fell short for sanitation, creating new objectives for the Sustainable Development Goals to be met in 2030. Much research in the Global South is dedicated to community-level sanitation promotion, but often presumes a rural rather than urban setting. Urban informal housing settings constitute a unique challenge due to the range …

Use Of Formative Assessment To Structure Flexible Differentiated Learning Groups: A Pathway To Equity, Deanna M. Westedt

Theses and Dissertations

The action research contained in this study seeks to identify the impact of formative assessment in the structuring of flexible differentiation in order to provided equity within the self-contained classroom for all intersectionalities amongst elementary students. Grounded in community of practice theory, the research explores structures within flexible differentiation and small group learning that provide students of varied and overlapping identities with access and equity within the four walls of the self-contained classroom. Additionally, the influence of flexible differentiation on the affective nature of students was explored. The teacher-researcher utilized a mixed-methods approach in order to provide a holistic picture. …

Equity Issues In Dual Enrollment Programs: Exploring African American Community College Students’ Perceptions Of Dual Enrollment, Kristen Wagner Rarig

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Dual enrollment has been shown to increase post-secondary student success outcomes across a variety of measures such as retention, grade point average, and four-year attainment (Allen & Dadgar, 2012; Hoffman, 2012, Pretlow & Wathington, 2014). In Virginia, access to community colleges among students of color has increased from 32.3% in 2008 to 42.7% in 2018 (SCHEV, 2019-a). Despite these gains, far fewer African American students than White students participate in dual enrollment in Virginia, which has significant implications for their future success in post-secondary education. This study examined the experiences that influenced African American students’ choice to participate in dual …

Learning To Design Student-Centered Equitable Science Instruction: A Case Study Of A Social Design Experiment, Nikeetha Maryann Farfan Dsouza

All Dissertations

Equitable science instruction has been interpreted as instruction that recognizes, values and integrates students' culture and identity within science learning spaces. This is especially important for students who belong to non-dominant communities who have been marginalized by the practices of school and science. By prioritizing students' cultural practices and experiences, students who are often marginalized in science classrooms are brought to the forefront. Instruction that prioritizes students' lived experiences are student-centered and therefore equitable because they engage students in science learning that is meaningful and relevant to them and their communities. Despite this need of student-centered science instruction, it is …

Evaluating Sustainable & Equitable Financing For Pedestrian Infrastructure Maintenance And How The Quality Of Pedestrian Infrastructure Affects The Choice To Walk, Alexis Corning Padilla

Civil Engineering ETDs

In many communities, pedestrian infrastructure is poorly maintained. One challenge is finding sustainable and equitable funding since many municipalities across the country require adjacent property to maintain and repair sidewalks adjacent to their property. These policies are difficult to enforce, may place a high cost on lower-income households, and may be partly responsible for the poor condition of many sidewalks. Therefore, in the first part of this research, we evaluated three alternatives for financing the maintenance of sidewalks in Albuquerque, New Mexico: increasing the gross receipts tax, the gasoline excise tax, or the property tax. We concluded that any of …

Making A Case For Equity Planning In Transportation Development: Identifying Indicators And Building A Framework For Hillsborough County, Fl, Dayna J. Lazarus

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The idea that planners should work toward an equitable society has been part of the profession since the 1960s, largely based on the work of planning theorists like Paul Davidoff, Sherry Arnstein and Norman Krumholz. Transportation planning, however, has been slower than other sectors of the profession, such as housing, to embrace equity planning concepts. That has begun to change as concerns about income inequality, environmental justice and climate change have become more salient. This thesis makes the case that in order to improve social equity outcomes, transportation planners must make social equity an explicit goal and add social equity …

Equity And Efficiency In Multi-Modal Transportation Systems, Nicholas M. Fournier

Doctoral Dissertations

The land-use pattern for many cities is a central business district surrounded by sprawling suburbs. This pattern can lead to an inefficient and congestion-prone transportation system due to a reliance on automobiles, because high-capacity transit is not efficient in low-density areas where insufficient travelers can access transit. This also poses an equity concern as the monetary cost of faster and more expensive travel disproportionately burdens low income travelers. This dissertation presents a deterministic approximation of a discrete choice model for mixed access and mainline transportation modes, meaning that travelers may use different modes to access a mainline system, such as …

Slow Progress Towards Equity At A Hispanic-Serving Institution (Hsi): A Case Study, Paulette Lopez

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

This case study examined how a specific Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) pursues an institutional equity agenda. Through interviews with sixteen full-time employees representing a two-year public institution of higher education in the Pacific Northwest, this study explored faculty and staff perceptions of the purpose of an HSI designation and the intentionality of serving Latina/o students. The literature review provides a historical context of Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) and the role MSIs serve in higher education. Themes identified through an in-depth thematic analysis include knowledge and awareness of HSIs, serving and supporting students, access and opportunities, and sense of community. Findings revealed the …

A Critical Walk Down Illinois Career Pathways, Michael Cermak

Theses and Dissertations

This study analyzes high school Career and Technical Education (CTE) enrollments in Illinois public high schools. Emphasis is placed on considering how enrollments of students of color differs from their white peers. Gender and racial imbalances prove pronounced in STEM-related career pathways and reveal a large proportion of students of color enrolled in courses leading to low-skill, service-sector occupations. Given future economic and social implications, I recommend future researchers consider how students of color select and how underrepresented students are placed by institutional members and practices into CTE courses.

Weaved Journeys: Life Writings Of Leading And Engagement In Science Education, Tara M. Nkrumah

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study’s purpose was to explore science engagement and in/equity through science educators’ narratives of servant leadership at both the K-12 and higher education levels in the United States. The research question was: How have participants become and led others to become engaged in science? I took an arts-based approach using drawings and autobiographical data to initiate and create metissages focused on becoming engaged in science education. The findings were that: (1) Participants helped marginalized students understand the culture of science through pedagogical strategies that connected self and science; (2) Participants recognized and countered systemic forms of oppression for students …

In-Groups, Out-Groups And The Challenge Of Increasing Diversity Through Intentional Inclusion And Equity Practices: Exploring The Roles Of Urban Land Managers, Affinity Groups, And Alaska Residents, Susan Newton, Amy Markle, Laurie Stuart

Dissertations

Public lands belong to all of us. Yet, data indicate that some Americans are participating more than others in the decision-making processes that guide use, access, and availability of our public lands and resources. Three researchers investigated three ways public participation intersects with the decision-making process, with a focus on illuminating barriers to full public participation as well as potential bridges to increasing equitable inclusion. Researchers interviewed urban land managers and affinity group leaders, surveyed a sample of residents in Alaska, and examined public testimony from a city council discussion about an inclusion resolution in Homer, Alaska. Qualitative and quantitative …

Bridging Gaps Between Constituents And Policymakers In Climate Policy In Washington State, Rebecca Dickson

Global Honors Theses

Climate change is one of the preeminent concerns of our time. As nation-states around the world face rising sea levels, pollution, political instability, and a rise of national security concerns due to climate instability, greater international cooperation is needed in order to target and adapt to cross-border issues. However, international political action is often reliant upon a national support for that action, especially when national officials rely on the support of their citizenry, such as in democracies, like the United States.

In order to understand how countries such as the United States make decisions on the domestic and international level, …

School Choice Competition And How District Leaders Respond To Resulting Fiscal Impacts, Terrie S. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examined how superintendents of public-school districts respond to the financial impact of school choice competition. Many U. S. school districts are experiencing funding losses due to the enrollment of students in charter schools and private school voucher programs. The state per-pupil funds follow the student. District leaders must respond to this loss of funding and still maintain high quality instruction and services. The purpose of this research was to explore how leaders develop strategic plans to deal with the fiscal impact of school choice competition. Complexity Leadership Theory was used to view how school district leaders perceive competition, …

The Influence Of Open Access On Advanced Placement Achievement, Shanna Howell

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Preparing students for higher education is a primary aim of K-12 education. However, some high school graduates do not meet college readiness benchmarks and must take remedial noncredit courses in college (Adams, 2013; Butrymowicz, 2017). One of the strongest predictors of student success in college is rich and rigorous high school curriculum (Adelman, 1999; Adelman, 2006). The Advanced Placement (AP) program offers high school students college-level courses that can earn them college credits from participating institutions (Kolluri, 2018; Rothschild, 1999). College Board research overwhelmingly has indicated that the AP program is beneficial for students (Casserly, 1986; Dodd et al., 2002; …

Critical Conversations: A Social Justice-Driven Professional Learning Community, Felicia Baiden

Middle and Secondary Education Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the phenomenon of a social justice-driven professional learning community. This study included 17 P-12 educators across several school districts and educational entities in a large southeastern city. The majority of the educators worked at schools with a predominant composition of students of color and students who were eligible for free or reduced lunch. Through both oral and written discussions, teachers responded to questions, prompts, and protocols as they examined teaching for social justice and equity. Data collection methods included: audio recordings of professional learning sessions, participant written reflections, documents, interviews, …

Writing Herstory: Examining The Intersectional Identities Of Black Women In Educational Leadership, Natasha N. Johnson

Educational Policy Studies Dissertations

There is growing research pointing to the universal, collective identity of black women in the United States. While this is promising, there remains, historically, an underrepresentation of black women in and en route to the highest levels of organizational leadership. The divide is even more amplified in the field of education, a sphere in which women are largely represented as a whole. This is particularly relevant for black women considering the incongruence that lies between their heightened levels of educational attainment as compared to their generally lower status in the organizational pecking order. In the effort to advance both theory …

Enhancing Access And Success Of Underserved Students In Dual Enrollment Programs, Theodore Mbaegbu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines dual enrollment activities and their impact with a focus on equitable recruitment, persistence, and targeted success mechanisms for Black students and students from low-income families. The lived experiences of four former students from diverse racial and socio-economic backgrounds, and the perspectives of ten dual enrollment practitioners garnered from a purposeful sampling of two Southwestern Pennsylvania universities inform the study. A qualitative approach examines interviews, focus group, and survey data through thematic investigative interpretation to yield common and unique experiences and perspectives relevant to recruitment processes, funding, support systems, and observed outcomes. The findings indicate how adequate preparation, …

The Breath Of The Bronx: Limited Greenspace And Poor Respiratory Health, Eric Patrick Mcloughney

Student Theses 2015-Present

Respiratory issues like asthma are common across the globe. So why does a borough in one of the most developed cities in the world have the worst asthma rates in the United States? This paper looks at the disadvantages that the Bronx, New York faces due to its poor air quality, particularly the increased risk of respiratory illness and disease. It examines the benefit of green spaces and parks on human health. Tree coverage and increased oxygen outputs are proven to lessen the risk of respiratory issues. While it is the “greenest” borough in New York, much of the Bronx’s …

Practices For Promoting Socially Just Leadership In Rural Schools, Alex Nathan Oldham

Doctoral Dissertations

While ensuring equitable educational opportunities is a federal mandate of the United States Department of Education, research has shown that rural school principals may have difficulty doing so. Studies have investigated the practices urban and suburban school principals use to ensure equitable educational opportunities for marginalized students, but few studies have been completed with rural principals serving as the main unit of analysis. The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate the practices rural principals employ to ensure equitable educational opportunities for marginalized students, the barriers they face when doing so, and the variation of equity practices among rural …

Online Writing Assessments, Esls, And The One-To-One Initiative, Christine Kay Patti

Doctoral Dissertations

The increasing number of English as a Second language students in US schools has provided new challenges in today’s classrooms. In addition to learning the language, culture, and curriculum of US schools, these students are also, in many cases, encountering technology for the first time. This lack of exposure creates a perfect storm as school systems adopt online assessments which in part, evaluate students for grade promotion. While technology exposure in schools is on the rise, so is the number of schools adopting a one-to-one program, where students are provided a laptop or other device for use, in many cases, …

Transit-Oriented Development And The Implications For Equitable Development: A Case Study Of The Milwaukee Streetcar, Joshua Diciaula

Theses and Dissertations

Many cities across the US have reintroduced the streetcar as an economic development tool, or as an image-branding and tourism-promoting amenity, while public transportation benefits are largely afterthoughts. The purpose of this research is to investigate the Milwaukee Streetcar as a transit-oriented development strategy, the distribution of benefits and burdens, and its implications for equitable development. Guided by semi-structured interviews and content/discourse analysis of planning/policy documents through an equity lens, this study analyzed Milwaukee’s initial downtown streetcar routes against the potential extension lines into the more transit-dependent communities of Bronzeville and Walker’s Point. The findings suggest that the initial routes …

Bridging College-Readiness Disparities Within Historically Underrepresented High School Students, Luis A. Ecute

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The program implementing this project is CSUMB- GEAR UP, a federal program that serves underrepresented youth. GEAR UP aims to increase the number of low-income students be better prepared and succeed in post-secondary education. More specifically, this project will attempt to bridge the college readiness gap between first-generation students and continuing generation students. Through the use of multiple in-class sessions, students will develop and sharpen their hard and soft skills necessary to thrive in post-secondary education and redefine labels that have historically discouraged retention. Results from the project included student Future plans for the agency to adopt in the future …

Guilty By Association: A Critical Analysis Of How Imprisonment Affects The Children Of Those Behind Bars, Whitney Q. Hollins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As 2.2 million individuals in the United States are currently incarcerated and an additional 5 million are under some form of correctional surveillance, the push for prison reform has reached new heights. Intimately and inextricably connected to mass incarceration and the push for its reform (and in some cases abolition) are the children have been impacted by incarceration. About half of the individuals currently incarcerated are parents to at least one child under the age of 18. Current estimates suggest that 2.7 million children currently have an incarcerated parent and that 10 million children in the United States have experienced …

The Melody Of Mutuality: Integrating Theological And Psychological Principles For Egalitarian Churches To Better Support Marriages, Jennifer J. Dean-Hill

Doctor of Ministry

The dynamic combination of the unique characteristics of man and woman have been described by author Carolyn Custis James as The Blessed Alliance. Yet power struggles, misunderstandings, and unmet expectations often plague the particular struggles of modern marriages therefore creating a demand for marriage therapists and psychological modalities that seek to rectify the conflictive divide among the genders. Marriage therapy has provided tools and methods for marriages to resolve their differences, strive for a relationship of equity, and develop a culture of mutuality. These new and improved marriages attend egalitarian churches, only to discover the gender wars are still being …

Explicitly Teaching Scientific Argumentation: Using Action Research To Study High School Science Readiness And Detracking, Ami Lefevre

Dissertations

Access to advanced-level science courses can be difficult for those students who start in a tracked system. Tracking is an educational practice where students are assigned to different classes based on ability level. African American and Hispanic students are most at risk since most minority students are found in the lower level track (Burris, 2014; Mehan, 2015; Oakes, 2005). This investigation used an action research approach to determine how explicitly taught elements of scientific argumentation would impact student mastery of argument skills and influence instructional practices by a professional learning community. A mixed method study was used to collect qualitative …