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Borderlands: (Un)Covering The Narratives Of Teacher Candidates Of Color In A Pds Context, Jennifer I. Perez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to uncover the narratives of teacher candidates of color and their experiences with race and racism while learning to teach in a PDS context, develop an understanding of how state and local policies manifest within these experiences, and explore the roles of pláticas as a context for critical conversations. This research study captured the stories of three teacher candidates of color, Ms. L, Susan, and Amerie, learning to teach in a PDS context. I used the transformative framework of Critical Race Methodologies in conjunction with case study methods to uncover the experiences of the study contributors and …

Crossing Schools, Language, And Migration Borders: The Experiences Of Latinx And Caribbean Emergent Multilingual Mothers In K-12 Public Schools, Michelle Angelo-Rocha

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Anti-immigrant sentiment and "English-only" ideologies have a significant impact on educational policies, practices, and processes. This includes parental engagement, the quality of education and life opportunities offered to immigrant children, and families’ well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine how Latinx and Caribbean mothers in Florida with various immigration statuses (i.e., undocumented, asylum seekers, refugees, international students, and mixed-status) and often with limited financial resources attempt to steward their children through the U.S. educational system. The research question was: How did emergent multilingual immigrant mothers experience the K-12 education system in Florida? The sub-question was: How did schools …

Policy And Leadership Accountability On Black Special Education Teacher Persistence, Brittany M. Holmes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There is a persistent shortage of qualified special education teachers in schools across the country. This issue is exacerbated by the need for special education teachers of color who can help serve the disproportionate number of minority students in schools. Over time, researchers and government entities, alike, have considered ways to increase the recruitment and retention efforts of Black teachers However, given the lack of investigation regarding the needs of Black teachers in special education and what encourages their persistence, efforts to increase representation have been unsuccessful. For this reason, using a qualitative methodology, the purpose of this study is …

The Specifics Of Specific Learning Disability: An Analysis Of State-Level Eligibility Criteria And Response To Intervention Practices, Lora M. Williams

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The field of specific learning disability (SLD) in the United States has changed considerably since reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA; (§3007); State Education Agencies (SEAs) have been transitioning away from the severe discrepancy model of SLD identification and towards a Response to Intervention (RTI) model (Hauerwas et al, 2013). This study aimed to review SLD practices in the United States through the analysis of SEA documents and to evaluate the progress made since the reauthorization of IDEA. The aim of the current study was to provide a snapshot of 1) how SEA regulations defined SLD; 2) when …

The Debate On Physician-Assisted Death In The United States: A Narrative Analysis Of Formula Stories, Rebecca Blackwell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Public policy discussions can be viewed as empirical windows into broadly shared culturalvalues and emotions of the social contexts in which the policy discussions take place. This project is a narrative analysis of the public debate on physician-assisted death (PAD), drawing from three data sources: newspaper articles, the websites of social movement organizations, and testimonies from a state legislative hearing. This analysis explores ways in which social actors deploy personal stories that contribute to shape the policy-making process by appealing to cultural beliefs and broadly shared emotions. The findings of this project constitute a contribution to the study of emotions …

Do All “Good Mothers” Breastfeed? How African American Mothers’ Values And Experiences Of Early Motherhood Influence Their Infant Feeding Choices, Airia S. Papadopoulos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The food an infant is fed can reflect many things: a source of nutrition, the social and cultural circumstances into which an infant is born, or even a family’s beliefs about the body and breast milk as a source of nutrition. Exclusive breastfeeding, currently the gold standard for infant feeding in the United States (US), is often identified as an expectation in discourses on being a “good mother.” African American mothers in particular are the least likely group in the US to breastfeed in any capacity and many efforts are underway to increase the breastfeeding rates of this population.

This …

Healthcare Costs Of Injured Youth: The Need For Prevention, Policy, And Proper Triage, Jessica Lynn Ryan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Objective

The goal of this dissertation was to identify evidence regarding potential means to reduce healthcare spending on youth injury while protecting and promoting the health of our youth. The first analysis estimated and analyzed both the financial costs and time lost from sports injuries among inpatient and ED youth patients to aid in identifying key populations, raising awareness to policy makers, and emphasizing the need of prevention programs for sports injury. The second analysis analyzed the effect of volume and trauma center (TC) ownership type on trauma alert response charges, which are billed to injured patients for a trauma …

Physical Therapy Utilization And Length Of Stay Among Patients With Low Back Pain In Florida Hospitals, Kyle A. Watterson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this work was identify key factors associated with inpatient physical therapy utilization and length of stay for patients with low back pain (LBP) in Florida hospitals.

Rationale: Little is known about factors associated with inpatient physical therapy or length of hospitalization for patients with LBP. This group of works identified the key factors associated with inpatient physical therapy and long lengths of hospitalization for this patient population. Since physical therapy and reduced length of stay are known cost-reducers, identifying key factors may represent significant cost savings to the health care system.

Methods: Several mixed method procedures …

White Teachers’ Experiences Of Working With Black Students Within A Response To Intervention Framework: The Role Of Racialized Deficit Thinking, Sujay Sabnis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a data-based decision-making framework of service delivery that has the potential to improve educational outcomes for all students. Preliminary data appear to bolster this claim. However, it is as yet unclear whether RTI will be able to close the gap in educational outcomes that exists between students of different racial groups. Drawing on theories such as culture of policy (Stein, 2004) and deficit thinking (Valencia, 2010), this study explored the experiences of six White elementary teachers using RTI while working with Black students receiving Tier 2 or Tier 3 instructional supports. Using theoretically driven constant-comparative …

Making A Place For People At A Wildlife Corridor On Chicago's South Side, Alexis Winter

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

What role do environmental conservation projects play in the transformation of American cities? How do these projects affect city residents? In this study, I ask these questions at the Burnham Wildlife Corridor, where the Chicago Park District worked with institutional and community-based partner organizations to engage city residents in the creation of a lakefront wildlife habitat and public nature area. Through ethnographic interviews and participant observation I explored how actors at various levels understand this changing landscape and their roles in shaping it. I situate the Burnham Wildlife Corridor project in the broader context of a state-level plan, the Millennium …

“It’S Not Pixie Dust”: An Exploratory Qualitative Case Study Of A School-Based Multimodal Tablet Initiative, Erin Elizabeth Margarella

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents findings from a qualitative case study of three English teachers representing varying levels of comfort with technology and years of teaching experience at St. Patrick Catholic High School. This research was motivated by two questions: (1) What are three literacy educators’ perceptions of a multimodal tablet initiative at a Catholic High School? (2) How is information regarding the use of iPad technology for literacy disseminated to three High School English teachers within a Catholic School system? Data was collected over a twelve-week period during the first academic year of implementation of a school-based multimodal tablet (iPad) initiative. …

Creating A Professional Pathway For The Women Who Care For Our Children: An Anthropological Study Of An Early Childhood Workforce Development Policy, Melissa Kay Van Dyke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the early childhood workforce has been described as undereducated, poor, and disproportionately comprised of women of color. The EDUCATE workforce development policy was designed to advance the professional development of under-paid and under-valued child care workers. This study focuses on the history, intent, and impact of this policy at the intersection between the grantees, the State, the various organizational contexts, and the broader structural forces. More broadly, complex issues and challenges related to the early childhood workforce are surfaced. Finally, through a critical analysis of the findings, the hidden and dominating forces that maintain the current level of inequity …

Cultivating Change: Negotiating Development And Public Policy In Southern California's Wine Country, Laurel Dawn Dillon-Sumner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the Temecula Valley, California, neoliberal development policies were implemented that had the potential to bring drastic changes to this semi-rural area, renowned for its wine production and idyllic setting as a wine tourism destination. In order to better understand the contested nature of these development plans, I conducted ethnographic and key informant interviews and public policy analysis research with policy-making officials, local residents and other stakeholding groups that formed in opposition to the planned expansion. This applied anthropology of policy was uniquely situated to explore the tensions between various stakeholders. This thesis serves to propose interventions that could have …

Parental Leave: Policy And Practice, Amanda Parr

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Parental leave is a broad term that encompasses maternity and/or paternity leave to care for an infant. Parental leave provides job protection for workers and may be paid or unpaid, with provisions varying throughout the world. Every industrialized nation offers some form of paid parental leave, with the exception of the United States, whose only federal policy regarding parental leave is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a law that allows eligible workers to take up to twelve weeks of unpaid, job protected leave for the birth or adoption of a child.

This research project explored how parents understand …

Principals' Content Knowledge: Examining The Relationship Between Principals' Reading Knowledge And Leadership Actions From Principals' And Teachers' Perceptions, Angela Suzanne Butler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Principals' leadership content knowledge in reading was investigated by examining the relationship between the perceived reading knowledge of principals and perceived leadership actions principals take to support reading instruction. Survey results from 78 principals and 1,876 teachers were analyzed. Results showed a positive, statistically significant correlation between principals' perceptions of their reading knowledge and principals' perceptions of the actions they take to support reading. A stronger positive, significant correlation between teachers' perceptions of their principal's reading knowledge and teachers' perceptions of their principal's actions was also demonstrated. These correlations substantiated studies that purported principals with more reading knowledge are more …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Irrigation Restrictions Within Key Communities In Tampa, Florida, Lin Allen Ozan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The City of Tampa, Florida has instituted water restrictions over the past decade that have been primarily aimed at mitigating non-essential usage of water resources by limiting domestic lawn irrigation. The mandatory restrictions are enforced by the issuance of citations to violators, which is intended to promote compliance and deter from subsequent violations. This thesis provides a thorough investigation of historical water restriction with relation to compliance in order to determine which factors might be related to high rates of water usage within key Tampa communities. The objectives are to: (1) develop a GIS data set that can be used …

Florida's Adolescent Literacy Policy: An Alternative Reading And Response, Diane Kroeger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this qualitative case study, I constructed interpretations of the meanings conveyed by state-level discourse communities as they were manifested in the primary and secondary speech genres of Florida’s adolescent literacy policy. Meanings (or values, beliefs and feelings) are highly tacit understandings embedded in the language, actions and objects of policy (Yanow, 2000), and are conveyed through informal and formal speech (Bakhtin, 1986). Results revealed (a) state policy meanings convey multiple versions of literacy with a heavy focus on receptive aspects of literate practice; (b) a typology of students and their fit within the institutional system; and (c) an emphasis …

Migration, Education, And Health Policy: A Closer Look Into The Reasons Behind Poor Health Outcomes In Rural Ecuador, Lauren Harris

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite an increase in the number of Ecuadorian medical professionals, health outcomes in rural areas of the country have steadily declined over the past decade. Using a political economic framework and data collected from interviews with Ecuadorian doctors, government officials, policy makers, and local rural populations, this thesis investigates how the interplay among medical migration, educational structures, and public health policy contributes to growing health disparities between urban and rural dwellers. Addressing each of these factors both individually and collectively, this thesis also outlines a series of policy recommendations that will allow the Ecuadorian healthcare system to better meet the …

Towards Understanding Water Conservation Behavior In Southwest Florida: The Role Of Cultural Models, Bernard T. (Terry) Johnson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This applied anthropology dissertation aims to enhance public policy and best practices for conserving potable water resources, using the Tampa Bay region of southwest Florida as a case study. It addresses not how humans conserve, but why they may or may not choose to do so. To date, a limited anthropological focus on water conservation behavior in western, urban settings has created a gap in the role culture plays in understanding why people conserve. The research problem is to identify how water conservation behavior in Tampa, Florida can be enhanced through a better understanding of beliefs and values reflected in …

An Interpretive Policy Analysis Of Bullying Law And The Development Of Bullying Policy In A Central Florida School District, Scott D. Richman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bullying has been an issue in schools and became a major concern for school leaders over the past two decades. Olweus (1993) defined three characteristics of bullying behavior: intent to harm another, repeated offenses, and a perceived or real power imbalance. This study examined the law's provisions concerning bullying in schools; specifically examining the Florida Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Student Act (2008), and the required policy implemented in Hillsborough County Public Schools (HCPS). Discourse theory framed the study, as defined by Habermas (1996) and the derivative Interpretive Policy Analysis was used to analyze the district policy, as defined …

Examining The Title X Family Planning Program’S (Public Law 91-572) Legislative History Through A Feminist Lens: A Thematic Analysis And Oral Histories With Key Stakeholders In Florida, Cheryl A. Vamos

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Title X Family Planning Program (Public Law 91-572), enacted by President Richard Nixon in 1970, provides federal funds for voluntary, confidential family planning services to all women, regardless of their age or economic status. This federal legislation aspired to prevent unintended pregnancies and poor birth outcomes to those in most need. However, over the past three decades, Title X has faced political, financial and social challenges. Despite its enormous success in improving the health and well-being of women and children by decreasing unintended pregnancies, the need for abortions and providing key comprehensive preventive services, without a newfound political will …

Third Grade Retention And Florida's Pupil Progression Plan: Individual And School Characteristics Associated With Long-Term Outcomes In Reading Performance, Heather A. Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literacy is a growing national concern that has resulted in federal legislation (e.g., the No Child Left Behind Act) instituting higher accountability for states and schools with regard to reading instruction and remediation. As a result, Florida's statewide measure of achievement, the reading portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT-Reading) is now tied to retention decisions for students in the third grade as part of the pupil progression plan for the state. In its first year of implementation (2003), 23% of third-grade students failed the FCAT and over 28,000 were retained. Though failure rates are decreasing, (i.e., 6% of …

Third Grade Retention And The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test: An Exploratory Study, Heather A. Powell

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Literacy is a growing national concern, resulting in federal legislation (e.g., No Child Left Behind Act) instituting higher accountability for states and schools with regard to reading instruction and remediation. As a result, Floridas statewide measure of achievement, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is now tied to retention decisions in third grade as part of the new pupil progression plan in the state. In its first year of implementation (2003), 23% of third-grade students failed the FCAT and over 28,000 were retained.

Research has consistently shown retention to be a negative experience for children; even when academic gains are …

Gender And Generational Differences In The Self-Ratings Of Leadership Practices By Elementary School Administrators Within Four Florida Counties, Michele E. Polk

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Considerable research has been conducted over time on possible gender differences, with varying results regarding the existence and/or degree of differences. In particular, research on differences in leadership practices of men and women have abounded since the 1970s as women began to make their way into management and supervisory positions.

In todays work force, several generations can be found working together within a single work setting. Possibly, differences in leadership may be more generational than gender related; however, little research has considered both gender and generation as variables. This study adds to literature relating to the existence of gender and/or …