Education Commons^™

An Anti-Deficit Approach To The Study Of Persistence: Factors Influencing Persistence Among Black Males Attending Community College, Donna K. Williams

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The vast majority of literature on postsecondary Black males emphasizes the lack of academic success for this segment. Research reports that Black males have lower levels of academic achievement, ranking at or near the bottom of most success indicators, which include enrollment, persistence, engagement, and attainment. However, in examining the discourse on postsecondary Black males, a great deal of research is deficit-based.

Providing a counter-narrative to the plethora of deficit-based literature on postsecondary Black males, this study is guided by an anti-deficit approach that seeks to highlight factors that influence persistence among Black men attending community college. This mixed method …

District Improvement Plan For Developing The Pedagogical Skills To Effectively Meet The Academic And Social-Emotional Needs Of Low Ses Students, Joseph V. Zampillo

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Worth School District 127 is located in the south suburbs of Chicago and maintains a K-8 student population of approximately 1,100. Sixty percent of Worth School District 127’s student population are considered to be of low socio-economic status (low SES) with the rate steadily increasing over the course of the last five years. Consequently, the growing number of students coming from low income backgrounds enrolled in Worth School District 127 has created a scenario where teacher exposure to the challenging academic, behavior, and social emotional scenarios that accompany the enrollment of this student demographic has increased. As a result, there …

The Underprepared And Underrepresented: Perceptions And Experiences Of Self-Efficacy On College Persistence Among Low-Income African American First-Generation College Students, Christine Marie Brown

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Approximately one-third of college students enrolled in colleges across the United States are first-generation students or those whose parents have not attained a post secondary degree. First-generation students are more likely to be students who are racially/ethnically diverse, low-income, and nearly four times more likely to leave college without a degree. College persistence refers to the students' desire and involved behaviors to maintain enrollment until degree attainment. A phenomenological approach was used to conduct face-to-face, in-depth semi-structured interviews to describe the essence of the lived experiences of low-income African American first-generation college students who persisted in four-year undergraduate programs. Results …

The Implications Of Participatory Budgeting In Illinois K-12 School Districts, Jeremy Larson

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Financial management skills are a necessity for every leader in the work environment. It helps them to make the best choices with the capital resources that are available. Non-profit organizations face the scarcity challenge, and it may be difficult to strike a balance when implementing the budgets. Acquiring financial management skills helps the leaders to carry out a cost-benefit analysis that allows them to determine the departments that need more resources, and as a result, they end up creating development even when faced with financial difficulties. Collaboration is a necessity and an essential aspect of the K-12 budgeting process because …

Racial Identity And Resilience In Black Male College Graduates, Anancia Stafford

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The aim of this study was to see if there was a relationship between Black male college graduates and non-graduates’ racial identity. This study also sought to see if there was a relationship between Black male college graduates and Black male non-graduates’ resilience. Black people were not always afforded the opportunity to attend higher education, but the civil rights movement assisted with the abolishment of unfair laws that supported exclusion and segregation in the educational system. Since then, college enrollment has increased for Black people in America in both PWIS and HBCUs, but there exists a large gap in college …

Indigenous Student Retention In Arctic Higher Education, Evan Brown

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The primary focus of this capstone research is to identify the process of indigenous student retention policy in Arctic higher education institutions and compare these practices to existing retention and social theory. Much of the dominant literature on student retention addresses Euro-centric models, not fully addressing persistence issues with subjugated groups. There is a gap in the research with regard to indigenous Arctic student retention. By conducting a case study, data was gathered via the utilization of a variety of tools including archival records, interviews, direct observations, and document reviews. By adding to the body of work regarding student retention, …

Pathways Of Leadership For Women In Higher Education Unions In Illinois: A Comparative Study Using Grounded Theory, Rochelle Robinson-Dukes

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This study focused on qualitative elements in its design. It sought to explore the process of women ascending to leaders in higher education unions and discover the barriers that derailed them or which they broke through on their leadership journey. It investigated the stereotypes and assumptions about women as leaders. The researcher looked at similarities and differences of the experiences of women in leadership roles to discover unknown phenomena within their unique experiences. Women in unions may be limited by proliferation of negative stereotypes and sexism. The purpose of this study was to explore the gender barriers of five women …

Scaling The Maternal Wall: Factors Of Success For Female Chief Student Affairs Officers With Children Working At Public Higher Education Institutions, Shaelyn R. Wolfe

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The higher education/student affairs administration field has a significant number of women graduating from programs across the country, however those numbers do not translate to the most executive levels, like vice president of student affairs, within this particular field. Many women are placed in entry level and mid-level positions without ever rising to the most senior positions, and others leave the higher education/student affairs administration field for part time work, to raise a family or to go into an entirely different field altogether. While there has been a lot of focus on the leaky pipeline of women in higher education …

Individualized Education Program: Members Attitudes On Collaboration And Communication, Maura Gallagher

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The purpose of this study was to explore professional's attitudes towards collaboration and communication in relation to the Individualized Education Program development and implementation. The one question that guided the focus of this study was: "How do IEP team members rate the skills needed for collaboration and communication in order to successfully implement an individualized education program?" The study was conducted as a quantitative study using a cross-sectional survey with a simple random sampling in conjunction with a snowball sampling in order to distribute the survey to possible participants. Certified staff members and parents that participate on an Individualized Education …