Education Commons^™

The Experiences Of Postsecondary Students With Disabilities Utilizing One Stop Student Services: A Grounded Theory Approach, Ivan Noe

Education (PhD) Dissertations

The number of students with disabilities attending postsecondary institutions of higher education continues to rise. With it, it is necessary to understand better how they experience their institution beyond curricular spaces. Presently, there exists a gap in the knowledge of how these students experience co-curricular support, including assistance with enrollment services through one stops. This study sought to understand the multiple ways in which this population of students experiences the one stop at one of three four-year public research universities in California. This qualitative research study utilized the constructivist grounded theory methodology and methods to aid in the emergence of …

'Training' The Body Politic: Essays On The School Reform Orthodoxy, Jahan Naghshineh

Education (PhD) Dissertations

These essays represent my attempt to grapple with fundamental questions about what I see as the upside-down nature of educational reforms in American society. Why is there a never-ending crisis in America’s public schools? What does it mean when the educational specter from different periods of history is discredited and yet the specter keeps being recycled decade after decade? For example, elites propagated crisis narratives to galvanize support for the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation at the turn of the century. Countless researchers then documented the adverse impacts of NCLB on America’s schools and yet that literature never led …

Teachers’ Experiences Of A District’S Transformational Leadership Design Program: A Qualitative Study, Jarit Unrau

Education (PhD) Dissertations

Facing the rapidly changing 21st-century education, educational organizations strive for innovative ideas to continuously motivate their teachers to enhance student performance. iLead is a district’s pioneering attempt to incorporate transformational leadership's essential elements, the four I’s, Inspirational Motivation, Idealized Influence, Intellectual Stimulation, and Individualized Consideration, into its program design and implementation to develop a collaborative learning culture through teacher motivation and the focus on improving student achievement. The iLead program has drawn statewide attention by winning the 2020 California Golden Bell Awards recently. The annual awards promote excellence in education and recognize prominent California schools’ and districts’ programs and exemplary …

School Psychologists And School Counselors’ Perceptions Of Preparation Received For The Provision Of School-Based Mental Health Services, Sherika Mckenzie

Education (PhD) Dissertations

School psychologists and school counselors are increasingly playing an essential role in the provision of school-based mental health services (SBMHS). This is especially true in California. Unfortunately, there are a few studies that have examined how California school psychologists and school counselors perceive their training to provide SBMHS, how they perceive their role in providing these services, and what they regard as their needs for professional development. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which California school psychologists and school counselors believe that their formal pre-service education and later in-service professional experiences have prepared them to …

Dawn Of The Undead Classroom: Pop-Culture In The First-Year Composition Classroom, Sierra A. Ellison

English (MA) Theses

Supplemented by the findings of her IRB certified research project, Sierra A. Ellison delves into the positive effects pop culture and genre have on the first-year composition classroom, exploring how engaging students through a common discourse that is relatable and comfortable can aid in their writing and composition progression. She explains how teaching under a framework such as the undead and examining these types of thematic material can engage students in the material and give students the space to open up about key issues like race, sex, politics, morality, and consumerism that they might be reluctant to discuss otherwise.

Developing Trust In A Cross-Functional Workgroup: Assessing The Effectiveness Of A Communication Intervention, Scott De Long

Education (PhD) Dissertations

Business organizations increasingly understand the benefits of forming cross-functional teams, which include collaborative efforts on new initiatives and solving for current issues in the organization. Putting together a group of people from different disciplines, however, is not enough to obtain the results businesses are looking to achieve. To be effective, groups must form into a team. There are two distinct differences between a group and a team. To build a team, a group must coalesce around a unifying mission, understanding, and agreement on the purpose of the team and what they need to accomplish to be successful. The second qualifying …

Vietnamese Resilience Assessment: Exploratory And Confirmatory Factor Analysis For Scale Validation, Loan Le

Education (PhD) Dissertations

This study examines the validity of the Vietnamese Resilience Assessment (VRA), the Vietnamese-translated version of the Resilience Youth Development Module (RYDM), which is considered to be a reliable and reasonable instrument to survey the levels of external and internal assets for American students; its appropriateness to be used with Vietnamese students has yet been determined. To assist in validating the VRA, this study carried out both an exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analysis using the dataset that was obtained from the results of the Healthy Student Survey-Vietnam study (HSSV; Hass et al., 2014). Specifically, the study sought out to …

Practitioner Research In Schools: Revealing The Efficacy Agency Cycle, Edward Resnick

Educational Studies Dissertations

Years of high stakes testing and managerial directives to improve student test scores created a trend of teachers’ declining sense of efficacy and agency. Researchers have yet to examine the perceptions of teachers following requirements to improve student engagement and school climate in an effort to improve academic performance following the authorization of local and national educational accountability reforms. The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers perceive their efficacy and agency in response to the addition of nonacademic measures and the requirement of documented input from teachers and other stakeholders into educational policy planning procedures. Veteran K-12 …

The Development Of The Scale Of Contemplative Practice In Higher Education, Maryann Krikorian

Educational Studies Dissertations

Some scholars have formed a more expansive view of knowledge that moves beyond the cognitive notion of intellect. For example, emotional intelligence (EI) theory posits that human intelligence encompasses both cognitive and emotional competencies, providing a framework for the concept of contemplative practices in an endeavor to support an eclectic understanding of cognition. Contemplative practices may benefit graduate student disposition and inform areas of educator preparation through the use of emotional adeptness in higher education. The purpose of this study was to: (a) develop a self-report measure: Scale of Contemplative Practice in Higher Education (SCOPE); (b) address the issues of …

Academic Factors That Predict Community College Students’ Acceptance Of Evolution, Meredith Anne Dorner

Educational Studies Dissertations

There is great disagreement in the United States about with how evolution education should be dealt, as the acceptance of evolution is controversial among the general public of the United States. Furthermore, although a plethora of research has been conducted to understand which factors influence the understanding and acceptance of evolution among high school and university students -- and the general public -- there are few studies focusing on community college students. In an effort to help fill this gap in the literature, this dissertation investigates the relationship between the acceptance of evolution and academic factors among community college students. …

Inside/Outside/In-Between: Understanding How Jewish Identity Impacts The Lives And Narratives Of Ashkenazi Female Public School Educators, Mindi Ellen Benditson

Educational Studies Dissertations

Since Ashkenazi Jews in the United States are not a visible minority, it often becomes difficult to distinguish what/who is a Jew. As many Jewish females may appear to be of the dominant culture, they often get overlooked in discussions and courses on teacher education and multiculturalism/multicultural education. However, their identity as both Jewish and White and the absence of conversation regarding their multiple positions in education and in society can contest, as well as support, their connection to multiculturalism.

The purpose of this research was to identify how four middle class Ashkenazi females in the greater Los Angeles area …

Nontraditional Student Risk Factors And Gender As Predictors For Enrollment In College Distance Education, Tammy Crews Pao

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine whether nontraditional student age, female gender, and the possession of nontraditional student risk factors predict enrollment in distance education college courses. This dissertation used data from the most recent National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12), which consisted of approximately 95,000 undergraduate students who were enrolled in higher education in 2011-2012. The results of a logistic regression analysis indicated that both nontraditional student age and female gender were strong predictors of enrollment in distance education, whereas the number of nontraditional student risk indicators was a partial predictor. As leaders in higher education are …

School Psychologists’ Training And Knowledge Of Tourette Syndrome, Leticia Cornejo

Educational Studies Dissertations

A web-based survey was conducted that included 97 practicing school psychologists in California. The results from the survey indicated that the majority (88%) of respondents were knowledgeable about Tourette Syndrome. Many respondents (28%) had never worked with a student with Tourette’s, 20% had at least one case, and 52% indicated that they had worked with more than two cases in their careers as school psychologists. The majority of respondents indicated that their school psychology program did not adequately train them to assess or counsel students with Tourette’s. The majority of participants also did not feel confident to work with students …

The Influences Of Mathematics Self-Efficacy, Identity, Interest, And Parental Involvement On Stem Achievement In Algebra For Female High School Students, Nicol R. Howard

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the predictability of STEM achievement in Algebra for female high school students utilizing mathematics self-efficacy, mathematics interest, mathematics identity, and parental involvement. This study employed data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09/12) which consisted of 3,938 female eleventh-grade participants randomly selected from 944 public and private high schools during the fall 2009 academic year. The results of a hierarchical multiple regression indicated that mathematics identity was the strongest predictor of STEM achievement for female high school students, regardless of race. In spite of this significant relationship, STEM achievement outcomes …