Education Commons^™

School Transportation Protocol And Procedures Related To Students’ Safety And Discipline: Reflective Experiences Of School Bus Drivers And School Administrators, David Luke

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation deals with the protocol and procedures related to students’ safety and discipline while on a school bus as experienced by school bus drivers’ and school administrators’ experiences as a guide for changes to the existing programs. The following was the overarching research question that guided the study: How do school bus drivers and school administrators describe their reflective experiences related to bus driver training and protocol and procedures associated with student safety and discipline?

A qualitative research design was selected for the study. A case study approach was used to collect and analyze data for the study.

Participants …

Working Toward “Achievement”: Key Considerations For Providing Access To Equitable Opportunities To Students With Disability Labels, Kyle William Resch

Theses and Dissertations

School personnel are accountable for the academic “achievement” of students with and without disability labels (Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA], 2015). In Wisconsin, “achievement” is measured via performance on standardized academic assessments (Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction [DPI], 2019). The use of these assessments privileges White middle-class students without disability labels (Ladson-Billings, 2006). Outcomes have been used to shame schools’ so-called poor performance while ignoring other indicators of success such as instilling real-world problem-solving skills, building positive learning communities, using a critical lens, and engaging in social activism (Connor et al., 2019).Many students with disability labels now receive instruction in …

Applying The Comprehensive Evaluation Of Return-On-Talent-Investment Model (Certi) In Higher Education, Mazen Aziz

Theses and Dissertations

Economic turmoil has forced higher education institutions (HEI) to reduce expenditures in many areas, including human resource operations such as talent development. Before considering these cuts, HEI should conduct robust assessments of their efficacy, including whether they generate more revenue than they cost to administer. These assessments were critical contextually as state divestment in higher education and mounting public pressure against tuition hikes forced HEI to heavily rely on external funding sources, which became essential in these economically uncertain times. This three-article dissertation critically examined existing evaluation methodologies of a type of talent development initiative, faculty research development (FRD) programs, …

Experiences Of Five Women Presidents In Higher Education: A Narrative Study, Mary Alexander

Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research has demonstrated that leaders aspiring to become women college presidents encounter many barriers, including gender-based leadership barriers. In higher education, women hold more degrees than men; however, women account for only 30 percent of all college and university presidencies. As the total number of women earning doctoral degrees and hired into faculty positions within the academy increases, the overall gap of the genders begins to narrow (Flaherty, 2016), and women are hired into lower status instructor positions compared to their male counterparts who are in tenured or tenure track position.

Even in presidential positions, women leaders face challenges …

The Work Of Their Hands: Black Women And Critical Visionary Pragmatism, Natoya D. Coleman

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the leadership principles, practices, and perspectives of Black women principals serving schools that are populated by primarily Black students. A portraiture of the participants' description of their racial and gender identities was conducted using kitchen table talks, to understand how identity development informed their leadership choices. Through the lens of Critical Race Feminism, Black Feminist Pedagogy, and Visionary Pragmatism, I highlight practices that lend to the development of a theoretical focus that speaks directly to the leadership practices of these Black women working in schools that serve Black student populations: Critical Visionary Pragmatism. Findings illuminate the ways …

A Mixed Methods Investigation Of Participation Of Black Students And Education Abroad, Stephen Ryan Hammock

Theses and Dissertations

The participation rate of Black higher education students in education abroad programs has been significantly compared to their White peers. The purpose of this concurrent mixed methods research study was to examine the participation rate of Black higher education students in education abroad programs by exploring student perceptions relative to barriers and motivations, utilizing the Cultural Approach as the conceptual framework, specifically the economic, social, and intellectual cultural spheres of influence. A web-based questionnaire with quantitative and qualitative items was completed by 248 Black participants and 206 White participants. The quantitative data were analyzed using two logistic regressions, and the …

A Study Of Prosocial Behavior, Workplace Civility, And Work Engagement Among Employees In Higher Education, Shelley Haddock Dempsey

Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative research study examined the relationship between prosocial behavior, work engagement, and workplace civility among higher education professionals. The specific university employees it studied were student affairs staff, academic affairs administrators, and faculty. Responses to a survey by a national random sample allowed the researcher to determine the relationship between a respondent’s prosocial nature and both their workplace civility and their work engagement. In the end, all three hypotheses were supported by the data: (a) prosocial behavior scores of student affairs staff and academic affairs administrators are higher than those of faculty, (b) the prosocial behavior scores were positively …

The Relationship Between Enabling District Structure And Principal Self-Efficacy In South Carolina, Justin Lee Nutter

Theses and Dissertations

The role of the school principal is ever expanding in both scope and complexity. School districts must consider how to recruit, develop and retain principals to lead their schools. Principal self-efficacy (PSE) is primal to the leader’s overall positive effect on teaching and learning, yet the antecedents of PSE are not fully defined. This quantitative study used social cognitive theory to investigate the potential influence of enabling district structure (EDS) on the development of PSE within South Carolina public-school principals. Due to increased focus on consolidation of the state’s schools, the study also explored the potential relationship between EDS and …

A Historical Analysis Of U.S.-Based Study Abroad Program Providers, Chrissie Faupel

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the emergence and development of study abroad program providers as a distinct model of study abroad program through archival research and interviews. This particular focus will allow scholars and international educators to understand how program providers emerged, evolved, and responded to the changing nature of education abroad. The combination lock theory and institutional theory provide a lens through which we can reconstruct the historical underpinnings of study abroad program providers. There is scant research on the historical aspects of the development of program providers. In this way, this research offers scholarly significance. …

Perceptions, Learner Characteristics, And Preferences Of Limited Literacy Moroccan Women: The Feasibility Of Acquiring Darija Literacy Skills Through M-Learning, Nada El Maliki

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the perceptions, learner characteristics and preferences of Moroccan women with limited literacy skills towards the use of their smartphones to improve reading literacy skills in Latin script Moroccan Darija (LSD). The goal was to generate a range of recommendations for instructional designers, curriculum developers and education policymakers designing literacy programs for the target population. Specific focus was given to the fundamental reading sub-skill of matching letters to sounds (also known as phonemic awareness or decoding) for the Darija language. This study employed target population analysis (TPA) as a phenomenological approach that consisted of interviews with a sample …

Calculating The Cost Of New Student Matriculation In A Midwestern Community College, Daniel Joseph Kelly

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the cost of new student matriculation at a midwestern community college. Employing activity-based costing, the study allocates costs from the college’s operating budget to determine the cost of new student matriculation, the matriculation cost per student, and the point at which, in credit-hours, the college recovers the matriculation cost. Efficiency is used as a conceptual framework to discuss the college’s ability to move as many new students as possible through the matriculation activities at the lowest possible cost. A key finding was the college is spending a considerable amount of time and money to matriculate new students …

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership: An Application To Student Affairs, Alexander David Snowden

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to show the prevalence of emotionally intelligent leadership (EIL) that exists among student affairs professionals. The study evaluates the scores among student affairs professionals on the Emotionally Intelligent Leadership for Employees: Inventory (EILE-I) by utilizing information such as educational background, level of experience, gender, and racial identity.

The survey instrument, the Emotionally Intelligent Leadership for Employees Inventory, was designed and administered to 1068 student affairs professionals. Statistical tests from the responses included descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, and analysis of variance. Results showed that student affairs professionals scored an average of “Somewhat …

A Teacher Shortage And Lack Of Representation In The Classroom: A Neoliberal And Critical Race Study Of The Broken Teacher Pipeline And The Impact On Education Majors, Sara Piotrowski

Theses and Dissertations

Teacher education attrition is a largely understudied topic, especially from the perspective of the college student. What factors prevented education majors from graduating with a teaching degree? There are countless studies about teacher attrition within the first five years in the classroom (DeAngelis et al., 2013; Kopkowski, 2008; Office of Postsecondary Education [OPE], 2015), but the research is sparse when it comes to the retention rate of education majors. Why do students get accepted and enter college as education majors and then not graduate with a degree to become a teacher? The purpose of this study was to consider factors …

Policy Implications Of Refugee Education In Urban Settings: A Case Study Of The Experience Of Refugee Community-Based Schools In Cairo, Dawood Mayom

Theses and Dissertations

Egypt hosts asylum-seekers and refugees originating from a large number of countries. Many refugees find themselves living in urban settings, and education and access to schools across various levels have increasingly become challenging for children. This study focuses on refugees’ education between the years 2011-2020 in Cairo. During these years, the number of students increased by five times, making the provision of education a challenging endeavor. The research aims to explore and understand the multiple barriers to Community-Based Refugee Education in Urban Egypt. This study used a qualitative case study because of its relevancy to this topic and context. The …

A Case Study Of Trauma-Informed Practice And Implementation To Support Mental Health And Learning In Public School In Suffolk County, New York, Mark Leonidas Palios

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the readiness of school districts in Suffolk County, New York, to implement a trauma-informed system to address the growing needs of mental health interventions in student populations. A review of the literature will show a historical prevalence of mental health providers and individual student interventions within the school building, or in partnership with community agencies. Recent literature shows an increase in school-related issues have origins in student trauma or adverse childhood experiences. The study will examine the issue by conducting a mixed method analysis, using a survey instrument and focus group interviews, …

The Impact Of A Writing Center On Retention, Persistence, And Success At An Open Enrollment Campus, Aisha Maunda Williams

Theses and Dissertations

College writing center practices differ greatly from the types of conventional writing instruction students and faculty are used to in classrooms. While conventional college lectures typically lead to a summative assessment in the form of grades based on students’ performance on high-stakes assignments, writing centers are seen as tutoring centers where students can receive more personalized attention in the form of formative assessment practices and a process oriented approach to instruction prior to receiving summative evaluations from lecturers. This study measured whether or not there was a relationship between writing center visits and student outcomes as they related to retention …

The Analysis Of A Multi-Year Mentoring Program And Its Long-Term Effects On Teacher Self-Efficacy, Kelly Marzocchi

Theses and Dissertations

Preparing novice staff through induction programs is essential for teacher retention and student achievement. The purpose of the current research was to determine the impact of teacher participation in a multi-year mentoring program, teachers’ years of experience, and school-level taught as they relate to the self-efficacy scores of teachers. A non-experimental design was conducted with data collected through online surveys, voluntarily completed by 110 teachers across grades K-12, from a suburban school district nearby a large metropolitan city in the northeastern United States. The Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001) was used to measure teacher self-efficacy in …

The Impact Of Graphing Calculators On The Mathematics Achievement Of Black Females, Tonya Bates

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the effect of the usage of graphing calculators on Black Females' mathematics achievement on the 12th grade National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). This non-experimental research study will analyze the 2015 NAEP publicly available data set, using the twelfth-grade sample, examining their overall math achievement compared to graphing calculator usage, race, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Four regressions will be used to analyze factors created from the twelfth-grade NAEP student surveys, with test results as the dependent variable. The regressions will use race, gender, socioeconomic status., and graphing calculator usage in the classroom as independent variables, and the …

Is Special Education A Life Sentence? Examining Disproportionality In The Declassification Rates Of Students Of Color In An Urban School District, Rasheed Bility

Theses and Dissertations

Federal law states that any student suspected of having a disability must meet initial eligibility requirements to qualify for special education services. Furthermore, an individual education program (IEP) team is required by federal law to re-evaluate each student with a qualified disability tri-annually to assess his or her ongoing need for such services. The pathway toward initial eligibility is explicitly outlined within federal legislation; however, the law does not explicate an avenue for declassification or exiting from special education. As a result, many students may remain in special education and are labeled as students with a disability when they may …

The Effect Of Transactional Distance On Students’ Perceptions Of Course Quality And Instructor Effectiveness In Online Learning, Andrew Gichuho Mungai

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored students’ perceived course quality and instructor effectiveness as a function of course structure, dialogue/interaction, and learner autonomy in an online learning environment. Using Moore's (1993) theory of Transactional Distance (TD) as a conceptual framework, the researcher collected data from postsecondary learners (N = 1049) across the USA who took online courses between Fall 2014 and Fall 2018. The highest percentage of participants, 48.2%, were aged between 25 to 34; 26.0% were 35 to 44; 11.4% were 18 to 24, while the rest were 45 and above. Of the total respondents, 54.5% were male, 45% were female, and …

Perceptions Of Untenured Teachers On The Effectiveness Of District Induction Programs, Sam Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore how induction programs impact untenured teachers’ overall experiences and perceptions. This study focused on stories, experiences, and values that were explicitly discussed by each participant related to their district’s induction program. In general, strong induction programs provide an intense level of professional development to all untenured teachers on content, instruction, and best practices related to students and classrooms (Danielson, 2008). Albert Bandura’s social learning theory (1977) explicitly discusses how we learn from our surrounding peers through observation and imitation.

A descriptive case study through interpretive inquiry was used to help uncover data …

Parental Involvement To Support School Choice For Children Transitioning From Middle School To High School And Beyond, Jacqueline W. Boswell

Theses and Dissertations

It is a belief that when parents participate in the transition process of school choice for their children’s secondary schooling, parental involvement increases the likelihood of their youngsters graduating from high school, having opportunities for selecting the best colleges, and a trajectory for greater success in the career opportunities of their children. This study examined transition-focused parents to understand what factors affect their satisfaction with the college and career transitions in grades 9 through 12.

The 66,202 parent participants in this study were from the northeast region of the United States. The children are enrolled in public schools, and they …

Youth Soccer Coaching Methodologies’ Impact On Enjoyment Of The Game And Retention, John Diffley

Theses and Dissertations

According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA, 2018), at least 4,420,000 children between the ages of 6–12 and 2,454,000 children between the ages of 13–17 participate in outdoor soccer in the United States. Arguably, their coaches have a significant impact on these children’s development. The purpose of this study was to evaluate coaching methods in soccer and their relationship to youth players’ enjoyment of the game and retention rates. The sample consisted of youth soccer players from the New York metropolitan area. This study adds to the growing literature on youth sports and demonstrates that coaches have a …

Examining The Influence Of Professional Development And Pre-Service Training On The Use Of Self-Regulation Pedagogical Practices Of Middle School Teachers, Lauren A. Porter

Theses and Dissertations

Academic self-regulated learning (SRL) skills closely align with the 21st century skills that lead to student success. Research demonstrates that academic achievement is closely related to the use of SRL in the classroom and that teacher practices are fundamental in imparting these skills to their students. It is not clear, however, how teachers are acquiring these skills and/or how their knowledge of metacognition and SRL are generalized into their pedagogical practices. This quantitative study examined the relationship between use of SRL pedagogical practices and teacher exposure to pre-service training and professional development, as well as their years of teaching, subject …

Principals’ Perceptions Of Enabling And Hindering Behaviors, Rules, And Structures In New York State School Districts, Matthew W. Darby

Theses and Dissertations

There has been increasing recognition among researchers and practitioners that the demands of the principalship have become unsustainable. School districts play a pivotal role in supporting school leaders in the execution of their responsibilities. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to further uncover how school district bureaucracies enable and hinder the work of principals. In the quantitative phase of the study the researcher analyzed survey responses from 244 New York State principals to determine the extent to which district structures were perceived as hindering or enabling their work. In the qualitative phase, the researcher interviewed two principals, one …

Special Education Learning Environments Inclusion Versus Self-Contained, John Murphy

Theses and Dissertations

Over the years, many special education trends have emerged and faded, each claiming to be the solution to providing students with special needs a greater chance for success. Each year, new requirements for graduation and new educational legislation are introduced to try and correct old problems of ensuring students with special needs are properly educated leaving educators, parents, and advocacy groups with uncertainty as to appropriate placement, for students with learning disabilities. Therefore, the question becomes: “What method of instruction best suits the needs of special education students?” This will be a convergent mixed methodology study on the differences of …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of African American Women In Undergraduate Stem Degree Programs, Vernon H. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide a better understanding of the lived experiences of African American women in STEM undergraduate degree programs at a 4-year degree granting institution in the southernmost part of central Virginia. The central problem is that there is disparity between the number of African American women with STEM degrees and that of other races in the STEM job market. The existing literature has gaps in the research of African American women’s perception of undergraduate STEM programs. Further, the researcher posits there is a lack of consideration for diversity that is detrimental to the United States; …

Gender Disparity In Studying Chemistry, Carlo Semerzier

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to determine if there is a difference between students’ gender, ethnicity, and age and their performance in General Chemistry I at a Christian University in Florida. Many scientific studies reveal the existence of a gender performance gap in chemistry: women mostly underperform men. Certain factors reported by researchers and cited in this study that might contribute to this gap include self-efficacy, math ability, prior conceptual knowledge in chemistry, attitude toward chemistry, spatial ability, discrimination, learning styles, and exam types.

This quantitative research study used retrospective data from 113 students from eight sections (2016-2019) of a …

The Impacts Of Peer Observation Roles And Teaching Characteristics On Teacher Self-Efficacy: A Secondary Data Analysis Study Using The Talis Survey, Elisa Tedona

Theses and Dissertations

It is important for teachers to have a high sense of self-efficacy, as it is one of the prime motivational forces influencing student learning, teacher quality, and in turn, overall success (Curry, 2015; Hattie, 2009; Klassen & Chiu, 2010). Teachers with high self-efficacy work harder, are more involved in learning, and have higher assurance (Bandura, 1994). For these reasons, it is imperative to study the influencers of teacher self-efficacy. Peer observations and observational feedback, a highly used practice in all schools, is one of those influencers. This cycle of observations and feedback provided to teachers is influential to teacher self-efficacy …