Education Commons^™

The Oregon University System's Proficiency-Admission Standards System As A Predictor Of College Student Persistence-Related Outcomes, Tanya Leigh Ostrogorsky

Dissertations and Theses

We live in a society driven by a knowledge-based economy where the need for a college degree is at its highest historical level. To meet these needs, it is critical that educational systems increase students' preparation for higher education, universities receive appropriate and adequate indicators of student preparedness, and students select the college that fits their needs and ambitions and support them in their persistence towards a college degree.

The admission standards of an institution guide this process but are only one part of what is required for a student to successfully transition from high school to college to the …

Pre-Service Science Teacher Sense Of Self In Developing Multicultural Practice, Yuki Marie Monteith

Dissertations and Theses

The development of multicultural science teaching practices is becoming more crucial as the student population in public schools becomes more diverse. Multicultural teaching practices are even more important when disparities in science achievement can be delimited by racial, ethnic or cultural affiliation. Using a phenomenological perspective, this study explored science pre-service teachers' sense of self after a year of teacher education. Content analysis of themes arising from the study identified three areas specific to their sense of self: (a) the unconscious influence of beliefs about science culture, (b) the fundamental beliefs of the U.S. middle class, and (c) superficial beliefs …

Immigrant Students And The College Classroom Climate In Higher Education, Becky Appley Boesch

Dissertations and Theses

In recent years, the immigrant population in the U.S. has increased dramatically. This increase has caused educational institutions to try to understand this population and their needs in order to aid in their academic success. While this awareness has surfaced in K-12 education, higher education continues, partly because of a lack of research on these students, to render these students and their needs insignificant. While this paper cannot begin to explore all the questions needed to be answered in terms of this population, it can provide an initial glimpse into one important aspect of education for the immigrant, the university …

Revisioning : A Theoretical Model Of Teachers' Career Choices, Wendi Bain Laurence

Dissertations and Theses

The steady flow of teachers exiting the profession continues to serve as an empirical reminder that we have not yet found ways to effectively support teachers as they proceed through their careers. This study identifies elements of teachers' career decisions. Qualitative methodologies were used to integrate research from multiple disciplines to address the need for a theoretical model of teachers' career decisions. Three perspectives for viewing the decision making process emerged from the analysis of the data set: Component, Experiential, and Integrative. These three perspectives provide a filtered approach to understanding a complex and multi-tiered decision making process. The findings …

Perspectives On An Arts Magnet School : The Voices Of Elementary School Children, Denise Robles-Torres

Dissertations and Theses

Since the beginning of public school as a social institution early in the nineteenth century, the voices of children have been missing from the discussion about school. From the progressive era to the current standards based movement, structures of education have been premised on the ideas of what adults think are the best ways for children to learn. But educators and other adults are recognizing the importance of student perspectives by providing children opportunities to participate in critical reflection about school. By including children of all ages in this discussion, educators, policy makers and researchers may begin to examine their …

Mother/Infant Interaction In The Context Of Four Maternal Risk Factors, Deirdre Ann Winder

Dissertations and Theses

Social-emotional skill acquisition in infancy can effect positive outcomes in all developmental domains as the child matures. Caregiver/infant interaction provides a critical context for positive social-emotional development in the infant (i.e., attachment, emotional regulation, communication). Within interaction, these three areas of infant social-emotional development are fostered by the dyadic relationship between caregiver and infant. However, infant skill acquisition within these areas of social-emotional development may be interrupted by risk factors in the caregiving environment. Four maternal risk factors (i.e., mental health, literacy level, age, income) associated with a negative impact on developmental outcome and on interaction were the focus of …

The Challenges International Students Face In Adjusting To Their New Status As Graduate Students: An Exploratory Case Study, Vincent Womujuni

Dissertations and Theses

Over the last several years, the number of international students attending colleges and universities in the United States has increased substantially. While considerable time, effort, and university resources are often devoted to the recruitment of international students, it is unclear how well institutions are meeting the needs of these students. This growing number of international students requires foreign exchange professionals and university administrators to better understand the reasons why international students pursue higher education in the United States and the challenges they face.

This exploratory case study is to examine the challenges international graduate students encounter in adjusting to their …

Unfinished Journeys : Elder Learners In An Assisted Living Facility, Suzanne RenéE Simon

Dissertations and Theses

While multiple learning opportunities exist as the aging experience unfolds, elders facing some of the most complex physical and emotional challenges are often perceived as "too old to learn." For those living in long-term care facilities (LTC), lack of consideration as learners hinders numerous opportunities for growth. However, within the contexts of aging and learning, an attempt to understand elders as becoming and conceptualize them as learners might better serve their experience in long-term care.

The purpose of this study was to record notions about learning by capturing individual voices and shared meanings of a group of assisted living facility …

The Role Of Parent Coaching By Pediatric Physical Therapists: An Exploration Of Current Practice, Nancy Ann Cicirello

Dissertations and Theses

Children with disabilities are not the sole clients of the pediatric physical therapy practitioner. However, research, best practice, and federal mandated legislation oblige therapists to transition from a traditional medical child-centered model of intervention to a family-centered model. This model places an emphasis on instructing parents, guiding their development as the dominant change agent for their children. Viewing parents as the predominant learner during intervention sessions is hampered by the paucity of family-related and adult-learning content in the professional preparation programs in higher education. It is further inhibited by professional attitudinal beliefs that continue to place a higher value on …

Nurturing The Development Of Teacher Change Agents Within A Teacher Education Program, Barbara Ruben

Dissertations and Theses

The American education system has two daunting challenges. First, citizens need to be able to function in an interdependent world. Second, public schools' demographics have changed dramatically. Schools are failing to reach many students, particularly children of color and poverty. Schools must change to meet the needs of 21^st century students. Without teachers' openness to change, effective educational reform win fail. Schools of education must prepare the next generation of teachers to be change agents who will implement school reform to meet the significantly different requirements of 21^st century students.

This study examined how one graduate teacher education …

Successful Online Course Retention At Marylhurst University Constructing A Model For Online Course Retention Using Grounded Theory, Vincent Schreck

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past 6 years, the course retention rate for Marylhurst University's (MU) online courses was 91%, which is within four percentage points of its on-campus course retention rate (Schreck, 2002). This appears to contradict a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education that stated, "Although there is significant variation among institutions with some reporting course-completion rates of more than 80% and others finding that fewer than 50% of distance-education students finish their courses, several administrators concur that course-completion rates are often 10-20 percentage points higher in traditional courses than in distance offerings" (Carr, 2000). Recent studies (Beatty-Gunter 2001; …

Not For The Faint Of Heart: The Social Construction Of Oregon Charter Schools, Anthony Dean Valley

Dissertations and Theses

Over the past two decades, pressure to both reform public education and provide educational choices for families has led to the creation of charter schools. Charter schools are based on the premise of operational autonomy in exchange for accountability for agreed upon results. Their appeal is widespread, with over 2,000 charter schools opening in the United States since 1990.

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study is to describe the process of initiating a charter school. Eight key informants representing five Oregon charter schools were included in the study. These key informants were directly involved in the formation of their …

Comprehensive School Reform Influence On Teacher Practice: Listening In The Classroom, An Examination Of Powerful Learning Labs Within The Accelerated Schools Project, Amy Daggett Petti

Dissertations and Theses

Focusing on teacher learning, this study follows fifteen teachers in the crux of comprehensive school reform. These "regular" classroom teachers are the ubiquitous players of this theatre of school reform. "Regular" teacher is defined as a typical classroom teacher who is not actively involved in the district's school reform project or one who hasn't taken an active leadership role. The teachers in this study work in the challenging environment of a poor, diverse urban school district that was in its third year of a comprehensive school reform program, the Accelerated Schools Project. Fifteen teachers volunteered to take part in a …

Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving In The Context Of Oregon's Educational Reform, Nicole R. Rigelman

Dissertations and Theses

Implementation of Oregon’s Educational Reform Act (HB 3565 and HB 2991) provides the context for this inquiry as its emphasis on problem solving has impacted mathematics teaching and learning throughout the state. Even though all Oregon teachers are responding to the same policy, their goals in teaching problem solving vary. These goals and these practices are influenced by the way teachers view the role of problem solving in the curriculum. Further, their practice is influenced by their knowledge and beliefs about mathematics content, teaching, learning, and the reform policy. The questions addressed in this study are: (1) What do exemplary …

Factors Influencing Middle School Teachers To Change Classroom Practice In Response To Standards-Based Reform, Gayle Yvonne Thieman

Dissertations and Theses

In an environment of systemic educational reform, which emphasizes the alignment of curriculum standards, instructional practices, and assessments, an important question arises: What are the factors which influence teachers to change their classroom practice in response to standards-based reforms ? My study examined the initial legislative model, Washington Education Reform Act HB1209 (1993), and tested other factors that led to changes in classroom practice in three middle schools which are currently implementing HB1209.

The case studies included multiple sources of evidence (administrator and teacher interviews, surveys, classroom observations, focus groups, and documents). The data were analyzed for each school individually …

Intuition In The Undergraduate Nursing Curriculum: Faculty Attitudes, Practices And Preparation, Beverly Jean Epeneter

Dissertations and Theses

The primary goal of undergraduate nursing programs is to prepare students for nursing practice. Achievement of this goal may be hindered by reliance on the scientific method in nursing education. Nursing practice often requires the ability to make judgments in situations of ambiguity without the benefit of objective data. The ability to rapidly "read" a situation and respond appropriately is critical to safe nursing care. This requires education in the intuitive way of knowing. Intuitive development may be impeded when students are taught to rely on the rational, scientific way of knowing. The end result may be that students are …

An Evaluation Of A Staff Mentor Program For At-Risk Students In An Oregon High School: Cake (Caring About Kids Effectively), Gail Lenore Hayes

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the effect of a staff-mentoring program with students identified as at-risk of becoming early leavers. This mentoring program, Caring About Kids Effectively (CAKE), was implemented at a suburban secondary school in Oregon serving grades 9 through 12.

The study of the CAKE program had four research components: (a) indicators of school success (GPA, attendance, and attitudes toward school) were compared between at-risk students and those not at-risk; (b) indicators of school success were analyzed over the time at-risk students were mentored to find any significant change; (c) indicators of school success and enrollment status at graduation was …

The Leadership Of African American Women Constructing Realities, Shifting Paradigms, Gloria Murphy Gostnell

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this qualitative study was to learn more about leadership from the perspectives, norms, and values of a selected group of African American women leaders. I sought to develop a more inclusive view of the realities of leadership, and a better understanding of the impact of the interlocking status of race, gender, and social class on the practice, pursuit, and perceptions of leadership by these women.

This study is grounded in a Black women's standpoint, and places Black women's experiences at the center of analysis. In answer to the question "How do we know the world?," the standpoint …

Factors That Motivate Washington State Teachers To Participate In Professional Growth And Development, Dolores Adan Heisinger

Dissertations and Theses

The major focus of this study was the identification of factors that motivate teachers to participate in professional growth and development activities. Although teachers may be motivated to participate in staff development for different reasons, it was hypothesized that common factors forming an identifiable incentive profile could be found. Within the focus of the study, three primary questions were asked: (a) What are the needs, incentives or motivators that influence teachers to further their professional development? (b) What are the relative strengths of the various needs, incentives or motivators? and (c) How do the incentive structures of teachers differ based …

Environmental And Institutional Characteristics And Academic Strategic Action Variables In Small Private Colleges, And Their Relationship To Enrollment Changes In The 1980s, Johnnie Ray Driessner

Dissertations and Theses

Small private colleges represent a unique and important element of diversity within American higher education. Their small size, heavy dependence on tuition, and limited resources, have caused them to be repeatedly identified as singularly threatened with enrollment declines. Despite these predictions the evidence indicates that most of these colleges survived the 1980s and many thrived.

This study had two major goals. The first was the characterization of institutions within the population during the 1980s with regards to environmental characteristics, institutional attributes and academic strategic actions. The second was the description of the relationships between these variables and enrollment changes in …

An Exploratory Study Of Student Retention In Kindergarten And Grade One And The Associated Decision Making Processes As Perceived By Principals And Teachers, Doris Cameron-Minard

Dissertations and Theses

Students who fail to achieve in school are frequently retained in grade to remediate their lack of satisfactory progress. In this study, elementary school principals, kindergarten, and first grade teachers were interviewed to explore their perceptions of the decision making processes used in recommending retention. The belief systems which underlie their reliance on retention as a remedial option were also examined.

Three research questions were addressed:

1. What is the relationship between the written retention policy of a selected school district and the actual decision making process used by its schools?
2. What are the influences by district socio-economic level which impact …

A Descriptive Study Of The Implementation Of An Integrated Whole Language Approach At The Fifth Grade Level, Ardyth Shapiro

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to describe the implementation of a major curriculum change at the fifth grade level in two different school district settings; an urban district and a suburban district. The major curriculum change was a shift from traditional reading and language arts instructional approaches to an Integrated Whole Language instructional approach. The implementation of this change was examined on the basis of self-reports by administrators, teachers, and students and was analyzed in the context of organizational factors in schools that have typically influenced change. These included school district demographics, the decision making process, administrative support, inservice …

Personal Values, Work Values, And Job Interests Of Nursing Students, Stella Beach Bellarts

Dissertations and Theses

The purposes of this study were to (1) describe the personal values and work values of nursing students in the last year of their present educational preparation, (2) to investigate the relationships between values, both personal and work, and selected demographic variables (type of educational institution, present educational preparation, job interests, and age), and (3) to examine the correlations between students' personal values and work values. Using the Profile of Life Values (PLV) and the Ohio Work Values Inventory (OWVI) , the personal and work values of 452 student nurses were examined, first as a total sample for means and …

Perceptions Of Psycho-Social Factors That Affect Retirement Decision-Making, Darlene Zickefoose

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of the study was to examine retirement decision making of certificated employees (N = 284 respondents N = 241) of the Beaverton School District in a near retirement age category. The Beaverton School District is a large suburban school district near Portland, Oregon. It currently serves over 25,000 students and employs approximately 2,600 certificated and classified employees. The study answered the following questions:

1. Can psycho-social factors be identified that will enable the Beaverton School District to help potential retirees make an informed decision to retire?
2. What personal factors affect a person's decision to retire?
3. Does it matter, in …

Creative Drama As An Instructional Strategy In Adult Christian Education, Darlene Richards Graves

Dissertations and Theses

This study reviews the tenents of adult learning. Christian education and creative drama and presents the observation that there are parallel objectives in each of these three major areas. Noting that creative drama is rarely used in adult Christian education, which is primarily cognitive-based and lecture-discussion oriented, the study proposes the application of creative drama strategies to provide an alternative experiential learning process and therefore create a drama strategies to provide an alternative experiential learning process and therefore create a balance of focus between cognitive, affective, reflective and active learning styles in adult Christian education. It also suggests that through …

The Effectiveness Of An Educational Service District's Programs And Services As Perceived By Various Educator Groups, Thomas Joseph Rockefeller

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the effectiveness of an educational service district's programs and services as perceived by various educator groups. The population of the study included certificated public school employees and school board members.

A sixty-two item survey instrument was used to obtain information from the study population. Of the 1507 survey instruments distributed, 769 instruments were returned for a response rate of 51%.

Four main research questions were posed: (a) Is Educational Service District 112 perceived as an effective educational component of the Southwest Washington public education system? (b) Are the programs and services provided by Educational Service District 112 …

The Use Of Efficient Information Systems For Information Acquisition By The Hearing Impaired: A Case Study, William L. Nicolay

Dissertations and Theses

This paper presents an exploratory case study focusing on the acquisition of information, through technologically efficient systems, by the hearing impaired. The multiple-case study was conducted during one school year with seven students participating.

While a central question and propositions derived from that question guide the data collection and analysis, this is a hypothesis-building study. The purpose of the study was to generate questions to focus further research of a descriptive or explanatory format.

One question, and the propositions generated by it, dominated this research: How do efficient acquisition systems in the classroom effect academic and social behavior, independent activities, …

Staff Development And The Process Of Teacher Change: A Case Study, Christene Kay Jones

Dissertations and Theses

This case study documented a staff development program which was the major component of a public school/university partnership between Portland State University and the Lake Oswego School District, a suburb of Portland, Oregon. A select group of 34 Lake Oswego teachers and 4 administrators participated in the Joint Ventures in Instructional Leadership Program which included classes in learning and instructional theory, techniques of peer sharing, instructional strategies and models of teaching, and approaches to the teaching of higher order thinking skills. The program included 7 full days and 4 evenings of instructional training which occurred throughout the 1986-87 school year. …

A Study Of Principals' Leadership Behavior In One Suburban School District, Darleen Huber-Dilbeck

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the leadership behavior of principals as perceived by the teachers and principals of one suburban school district. Research questions asked were: (1) Are there significant differences between the perceptions of principals and teachers concerning principals' leadership behavior on the twelve subscales of the LBDQ-XII? (2) Are there significant differences in viewing the leadership role when teachers' age, gender, teaching experience, level of training, or teaching assignment is considered?

This descriptive study invited 350 randomly selected teachers and all of the principals from 35 elementary, intermediate, and high schools in one suburban school …