Education Commons^™

Massachusetts High School Teachers’ Perceptions Of Transitions In Teaching And Assessment Related To The Next Generation Science Standards, Alyssa Mocharnuk

All Theses And Dissertations

The experiences and perceptions of high school science teachers with the transitions in teaching and assessment related to the adoption of the 2016 Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Framework based on the Next Generation Science Standards were studied in this interpretative phenomenological analysis. The Next Generation Science Standards incorporated both traditional disciplinary content ideas and the new science and engineering practices (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Teachers were required to develop new materials, and difficulty in developing new ways of teaching and assessing science (Friedrichsen and Barnett, 2018; Kawasaki and Sandoval, 2020; Wilde, 2018) was exacerbated by the delay in high-stakes testing …

Self-Perceived Leadership Behaviors Of Collegiate Athletic Trainers And Strength And Conditioning Coaches: A Case Study, James Thomas Daley

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of the case study was to examine the self-perceived leadership characteristics, behaviors, and communication styles of professionals within the pillars of the high-performance sport model, specifically athletic trainers, and strength and conditioning coaches, to gain perspective on their ability to influence student-athletes and colleagues at the NCAA DIII level. A qualitative case study format allowed the researcher to engage with a small sample of participants and explore the differences and similarities between the participant groups. Participants were selected based on their primary job title and setting at over 80 institutions of higher education that participate in NCAA Division …

The Perceived Impacts Of Therapy Dogs On Students As Viewed Through The Human-Animal Interaction Framework, Timothy Smolen

All Theses And Dissertations

This study employed a qualitative case study approach to explore the perceptions of teachers/staff members directly associated with the therapy dog (TD) program in their school. These perceptions were regarding the TD program’s effectiveness in (a) student social interaction, (b) stress coping and self-regulation, (c) engagement and/or attention, and (d) motivation and/or self-efficacy. The human-animal interaction (HAI) theoretical framework (Gee et al., 2017) served as a focal lens in this study. Data was collected from a middle school in the midwestern United States and through social media. Thirteen participants were from middle school and eight were obtained via social media. …

Understanding First-Generation Hispanic Student Experiences With Community College Campus Resources, Monica Medina

All Theses And Dissertations

Community colleges serve as an essential gateway to higher education for Hispanics. Although first-generation Hispanic (FGHC) students continue to enroll in community colleges, there is limited research to explain their experiences using campus resources. This study’s purpose was to contribute to the existing literature on FGHC students and determine if their use of campus resources helped them succeed. This study used the conceptual framework of academic engagement (Tinto, 1996). Nora’s (2003) and Nora et al’s (2006) student engagement theory as lenses to explain how FGHC students can have pre-college characteristics that can affect their social, academic, and overall goals for …

Case Study: Member Perception Of A Federal Organization’S Employee Recognition Program, David A. Dietz

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative instrumental study was to clarify the purpose of Agency ABC’s Recognition Council, while identifying opportunities for staff recognition and appreciation to be optimized within Agency ABC to assist in creating and sustaining employee engagement. This purpose is in direct correlation to the study’s problem, to fill in research gaps due to a lack of existing documentation, best practices and research regarding federal recognition programs. Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory was the conceptual framework that the researcher applied to this study. The researcher performed semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with five former members of Agency ABC’s Recognition Council members. Interview …

The Resilience Of Black Female Leaders In Higher Education And Racial Microaggression, Simone P. Flowers-Taylor

All Theses And Dissertations

This study explored the experiences of Black female leaders in higher education and their encounters with racial microaggression. Additionally, the opportunity to understand the effects of racial slights within the workplace as either a mid to senior level leadership was also explored. Regardless of the multiple diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainings within higher education, Black female leaders are experiencing their share of racial inequality based on their race, gender, or both (DeCuir-Gunby et al., 2019). The unique experiences of racial microaggression encountered by Black women, aligned with the framework of both the Black feminist theory and intersectionality theory respectively. …

School Employees’ Perceptions Of Organizational Support During A Critical Incident, Donavon P. Soumas

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to discover the lived experiences and perceived organizational support (POS) of school employees’ during the abrupt transition to remote education instruction resulting from a critical incident such as COVID-19. In direct connection, this study’s problem was to fill a gap in the literature regarding school employees’ lived experiences and POS during the abrupt transition to remote education instruction as the result of a critical incident. Organizational support theory and experiential learning theory were the conceptual framework that guided this study. The researcher used semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with 10 school employees at a …

Re-Defining Leadership: Exploring Women’S Roles As Successful Leaders In Online Higher Education, Kristen Card

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the professional experiences and opportunities of female leaders in the field of higher education as they sought professional advancement. The researcher focused on leaders in contemporary, online colleges and universities, where women have achieved career advancement at higher rates than in traditional college and university settings. The study documented participants’ experiences of leadership and their perspectives regarding how leadership skills are defined and measured in the context of contemporary higher education institutions. The literature review includes environmental elements and ideologies related to successful leadership currently evident in higher education.

Four …

Organizational Change In The Legal Education Environment: Institutional And Individual Responses To Times Of Crisis, Mary E. Wilson

All Theses And Dissertations

The Great Recession of 2008 brought great upheaval to many aspects of the American economy. At first law schools saw an increase in applications and enrollment as individuals sought an education that would lead to employment. Within a few years, however, the job market for new lawyers deteriorated. By 2010-2011, the number of applications to law schools plummeted, as did the enrollment numbers. Since tuition is the life blood of law schools, the field of legal education was faced with an unprecedented crisis. This researcher collected and reviewed publicly available data to examine the changes that occurred in law schools …

How African American College Graduates Who Attended An Early College Describe The Benefits, Reginald L. Towns

All Theses And Dissertations

The study documented how first-generation African American college graduates who attended an Early College program in North Carolina describe the benefits of this educational experience. There are many different types and structures of the Early College Program concept, that is, programs where high school students earn college credits. Students taking courses at a community college may leave with an associate’s degree while students attending a college or university will graduate from high school with transferable college credit. Students that attend high schools with Early College programs may finish their last two years of high school on a college campus and …

Professional Advisor Practices For Student Identity Development, Brittany Potter

All Theses And Dissertations

Due to COVID-19, the state of higher education has been transformed, including the way student services like advising are offered on college campuses. More importantly, current literature on Generation Z students articulated that they need advisors who will build trust by implementing practices that go beyond prescriptive approaches. Therefore, it was imperative that this research examined how current undergraduate professional advisors work with Generation Z students and the practices that they use. Previous advising literature indicates there is a lack of scholarship surrounding the practices of professional advisors. With little information on professional advising practices and approaches, higher education leaders …

Dual Enrollment Programs: Advising Policies And Practices For High School Students In Post-Secondary Institutions, Devin V. Cribb

All Theses And Dissertations

This study focused on the role of academic advising within dual enrollment programs, those programs that allow secondary students to enroll in college credit bearing courses while still in high school. Research questions were as follows: (1) What advising policies and practices are in place for those that advise high school students at post-secondary institutions that host dual enrollment programs? (2) How do those that manage and advise dual enrollment students perceive these policies and how their job roles and responsibilities relate to these policies? (3) How do those that manage and advise dual enrollment students enact current policies to …

Rural Elementary Teachers And The Impact Of Professional Development On Mathematics Instruction, Heather Rockwell

All Theses And Dissertations

Rural elementary math teachers often lack a background in mathematics and even those with a strong mathematics background can sometimes struggle to model elementary math concepts (Holm & Kajander, 2019). Professional development (PD) provides teachers with an opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills while in the field. Although there are clear guidelines of what constitutes high-quality PD, not all PD achieves the same outcomes for teachers and students. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to understand PD experiences from the viewpoint of the rural elementary teachers, specifically the ways the PD experiences impact teacher efficacy and …

Urban Teachers Program: Culturally Responsive Middle School Teachers Describe Their Competencies, Kristina Sterling

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to document ways that Urban Teachers’ candidates enact culturally responsive teaching practices in an effort to combat the opportunity gaps in education and increase students’ achievement rate. This study focused on documenting responses to the questions: How do Urban Teachers enact culturally responsive teaching practices in their classrooms? How do teachers in the Urban Teachers program describe overcoming perceived barriers to implementing culturally responsive teaching in an urban school district? The problem of the study was a lack of evaluation of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practices of those Urban Teachers once they entered the …

The Benefits And Barriers To Arts Integration: Arts Accessibility In Public Montessori, Heather Teems

All Theses And Dissertations

This mixed-method exploratory case study investigates the research question: To what extent do pre-K through eighth-grade public Montessori school teachers perceive that their professional knowledge and abilities, experiences, and resources impact their capacity to integrate arts into their general classroom curriculum? Public Montessori teachers from five public-choice Montessori schools in a school district of the suburban and urban areas of southeastern South Carolina were invited to participate. The teachers in these public Montessori schools have varied levels of education and professional development experience with the arts in education. Some participants were general education teachers prior to becoming Montessori teachers due …

Experiences Of Successful African American And Hispanic Non-Traditional Single Mothers At An Urban Community College, Gerald Maitre

All Theses And Dissertations

Single parents who are public welfare recipients and seek to complete a college degree face many obstacles to persist and stay enrolled. Factors such as (a) being custodial parents of a child(ren), (b) juggling a job and family responsibilities, and (c) dealing with financial strains, to name a few, can create role overload which can be daunting (Weber & Tribe, 2019). Because these barriers are present, it is essential to know the motivational orientation of the single parent who has persisted and stay enrolled. Besides documenting the research on programming and policies, the present study explored what motivation students needed …

Measuring Faculty Motivation And Engagement Through An Institutionally Supported Faculty Development Program At An Academic Healthcare Center, Elizabeth S. Rose

All Theses And Dissertations

Trends in the literature suggest that institutional support, defined as provisions for balancing work demands, schedule, and protected time, is a critical factor consistent with institutional academic success and an increase in faculty satisfaction. Competing factors including societal scrutiny, cost containment the safety and effectiveness of academic healthcare institutions, faculty recruitment and retention, increasing expectations for faculty, and pressures for high-functioning productivity can lead to feelings of ineffectiveness for faculty.

This summative program evaluation focused on the success of the Scholars Program, an institutionally supported faculty development program. The researcher sought to identify and describe faculty perceptions of the program’s …

People Manager Mindset Perceptional Influence On Culture At A Large Technology Company, Robert Patterson

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of a growth mindset, meaning an innate desire to learn, persist in the face of setbacks, value failure as essential to learning and regularly seeks feedback to improve by eight people managers in a large technology company (e.g., Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, Facebook, and Amazon). Utilizing LinkedIn.com, eight people managers were identified and asked to describe their roles in communicating their organization’s culture to their direct reports and the tools supplied by their respective Company to influence their process (e.g., trainings, internal communications, etc.). Additionally, the study documented examples of how …

Leadership Style And Subordinate Work Stress, Jennifer Yoho

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the work stress perceived by public safety dispatchers and determine whether the supervisor’s leadership style played a role in the stress experienced. Research showed, and evidence suggested, that many stress-related symptoms at work occur because of unhealthy supervisor-subordinate relationships (Skakon, Nielsen, Borg, & Guzman, as cited in Belanger et al., 2016). Previous researchers found that a leader with a toxic, laissez-faire, or destructive leadership style increased the stress experienced by the employee (Syed, Rehman, & Kitchlew, 2018) while a supervisor with a transformational leadership style decreased the stress (Abbasi, 2018). Pishgooie, …

Computer-Mediated Communication Of History Museums In The Midwestern United States: A Web Content Analysis, Heather Lynn Dialfredi

All Theses And Dissertations

Adult museumgoers have come to expect increased access to museum information and resources through computer-mediated communication (CMC). Current research suggests that museum websites can increase the desire to visit the museum physically. The purpose of this study is to investigate how small, medium, and large history museums in the midwestern United States communicate the value of digital experiences to adult museumgoers. This qualitative content analysis follows Pauwels’ (2012) Multimodal Framework for Analyzing Websites as Cultural Expressions. The data was collected from 16 history museum websites, then analyzed using MAXQDA. The data collected provides insight into the methods and language museums …

The Influence Of Concept-Based Instruction On Student Academic Engagement, Amanda Romey

All Theses And Dissertations

Student engagement, including behavior, academic, cognitive, and social/emotional engagement is a complex multidimensional element of students’ overall well-being and success in school. As dropout rates continue to increase along with students feeling disenfranchised from the current educational system, there is a deep need to improve students’ experience in school by having them engaged in their learning. The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify the influence, if any, of concept-based curriculum and instruction on student academic engagement. This study examined the multiple elements of student academic engagement by addressing the concept-based learning construct, and student ownership of their learning …

Exploring Public, Primary School Educators’ Perceptions Of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Jessica Berry

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative narrative inquiry was used to explore public primary school (K–8) educators’ perceptions of ACEs and how their understanding of ACEs might contribute to creating a trauma-sensitive school climate. The conceptual framework of the study was centered on Mezirow’s Transformational Learning Theory, with the premise that learning and change require: (a) a recognition of one’s own biases, norms, and constructs, which would be followed by (b) reflection, (c) the realization that change is needed, and (d) a willingness to learn (Mezirow, 1991).

Ten public school K–8 educators from the state of Maine participated in semistructured interviews that were transcribed …

1:1 Chromebooks In High School Classrooms: Teacher Perceptions Of Integration Efforts, Jason Saltmarsh

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry study was to fully explore high school teachers’ perceptions of their experiences teaching in a 1:1 Chromebook environment. Data included high school teachers’ personal narratives detailing their experiences and observations about the use of 1:1 Chromebooks to support teaching and learning. Study data also included in-depth interviews with eight high school teachers. The four constructs of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology provided a theoretical framework for this study. Educational leaders face significant challenges in understanding the considerable impact of teachers’ perceptions of their decision to integrate and effectively use …

Exploring The Roles, Responsibilities, And Leadership Styles Of Rural School Principals, John L. Hewitt Iii

All Theses And Dissertations

Rural schools face challenges that differ from those faced by urban and suburban schools. Many are isolated, located in poor areas, understaffed, and subject to resource scarcity. In addition to these challenges, rural school leaders are often assigned or assume additional roles and responsibilities as school principals. My goal was use Northouse’s (2016) leadership theory to perform a qualitative comparative case study on eight rural school principals in districts in southwestern Wisconsin to explore their roles, responsibilities, and leadership styles. The study found that rural school principals incur multiple, non-traditional, and unfamiliar roles and responsibilities. The study also found that …

Value Perceptions Of Basic Clinical Laboratory Assistant Training With Certification, George Noll

All Theses And Dissertations

This study examined the perception of the value of medical laboratory science (MLS) program training and validation of that training with respect to entry-level clinical laboratory professionals. The demand for clinical laboratory professionals is increasing due to the number of retirees expected to peak by 2024 and is expected to yield a two to one job vacancy gap, mainly in entry-level positions. The study examined the perceived value of such traditional educational clinical laboratory programs from the viewpoints of the MLS educators and employers to effect change efforts to better match these programs with what is required within the career …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Restorative Practices In K–8 Classrooms, Jamie Elizabeth Coady

All Theses And Dissertations

In this qualitative phenomenological study, the researcher sought to examine teachers’ perceptions of restorative practices in Kindergarten–Grade 8 (K–8) classrooms. The authors in the current literature concerning restorative practices have referenced the connection to social–emotional learning and school climate, yet there is limited understanding of how teachers perceive these practices and use them in their classroom. The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomenon of restorative practices including when, where, and how teachers use these practices and support social–emotional learning efforts. Ten public school teachers in K–8 classrooms in Connecticut shared their lived experiences through semistructured interviews. Data …

The Impact Of Administrative Support For Dental Hygiene And Nursing Online Faculty, Margarita Rivera

All Theses And Dissertations

This study examined online faculty in dental hygiene and nursing baccalaureate degree completion programs and their experiences with online education in the area of administrative support. The purpose of this study was to investigate the types of administrative support systems needed for dental hygiene and nursing faculty to teach in baccalaureate degree completion programs in New York State, which offer more than 50% of their curriculum online. The objective of this study was to provide leaders in institutions of higher learning with insight and aid in reaching the goal of improving dental hygiene and nursing online programs. A total of …

Attitudes Related To Trauma-Informed Care In The Educational Setting: An Exploratory Case Study, Natalie Lynne Smith

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative, exploratory case study was used to explore the perceptions of public high school faculty and staff towards trauma-informed practices in the school environment. Faculty and staff attitudes toward adverse childhood experiences and their attitudes toward implementation of trauma-informed care (TIC) in the educational setting are not well known. This study applies constructivism as a theoretical framework because the research depends on the participants’ views of the topics under study. Ten faculty and staff from a suburban high school in the northeastern part of the United States participated in this exploratory case study, completed the Attitudes Related to Trauma-Informed …

Creating The Conditions For Deeper Learning: Leadership Practices For Reframing 21st Century Education Systems, Caryn M. Lewis

All Theses And Dissertations

The convergence of advanced technologies, sociocultural trends and transformative shifts in global industries is accelerating the need for change in the American education system. Research and practice reveal promising developments in pedagogical approaches and a growing movement toward the implementation of deeper learning models. This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences and perceptions of superintendents leading dynamic shifts in public education to provide equitable access to deeper learning methodologies. The application of a dual framework supported the development of the study design and allowed for synthesis of the key components impacting system redesign. Data was elicited through semi-structured interviews to …

Role Of Health Professions Faculty Leadership In Student Success: Exploring Student And Faculty Views, Kim Emery

All Theses And Dissertations

High student achievement translates into high retention and graduation rates yet raising retention rates continues to be a challenge in U.S. health professions colleges. Institutions of higher education use a variety of program strategies to improve student success. Studies show that student success, although multi-factored, is most strongly influenced by faculty-student interactions. Radiologic technology programs have better retention rates compared to nursing programs but there is a lack of literature explaining this phenomenon. The purpose of this study was to explore how health professions faculty and students in radiologic technician and nursing programs understand faculty leadership behaviors related to the …