Education Commons^™

Native American Women Superintendents’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs During The Covid 19 Pandemic, Janet Jeannine Metzger

Dissertations and Theses

This multiple case study focused on three Native American women superintendents’ self-efficacy beliefs and the impact of the Indigenous culture on their decision making as they led their school district through the Covid 19 pandemic. Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy theory served as the underpinning theory of this study. The qualitative research design for the study relied on data gathered from individual interviews and written responses to journal prompts. All participants had at least two years of superintendent experience in public school districts during the time of the pandemic. The researcher analyzed the data through open coding/In Vivo coding. The data were …

Female Superintendents And Negotiations: A Phenomenological Study Of The Influence Of Gender In The Midwest, Kathryn R. Blaha

Dissertations and Theses

Negotiation is a process wherein decisions are made between parties with different points of view and possibly conflicting interests (Caputo, 2019). Little is known about how women experience negotiation for salary and compensation. Studies associated with gender and negotiations have focused on the process or outcomes of the negotiation. While studies have identified a gender-based earnings gap, how women negotiate for compensation packages at the school superintendent level has not been studied. This qualitative Hermeneutical phenomenological study attempted to understand how female educational superintendents experience negotiations through description and meaning drawn from their lived experiences. By understanding how female school …

Novice Teacher Recruitment And Retention In South Dakota: An Exploration Of Contextual Factors, Nicole Schutter

Dissertations and Theses

Teacher recruitment and retention consistently emerge as problematic in research and practice. This is particularly true in difficult to staff areas, such as rural school districts in the United States. As the teacher pipeline continues to decrease and various challenges continue to plague the field, this problem will quickly turn into a crisis. The present study aimed to lift voices of novice teachers in rural and remote rural areas of South Dakota to better understand individuals’ experiences in a rural setting and contribute to the current knowledge base of rural teacher recruitment and retention. This qualitative phenomenological study interviewed 11 …

Encouraging Persistence Among Native American Nursing Students By Fostering Cultural Identity Development At A Predominantly White University, Valeriah Rose Big Eagle

Dissertations and Theses

There has been a calling to promote diversity in the healthcare workforce to alleviate the health problems that currently exist among the Native American population. Minorities are disproportionately represented in the nursing workforce (Beard, 2014), especially Native Americans. Increasing the number of Native American nurses in the healthcare workforce has been found to significantly reduce these health disparities (Eddie, 2018; Eschiti, 2004; Gebbie et al., 2003), supporting the need for more Native American nursing students to graduate from college. There has been little research regarding the implications of cultural identity experienced by Native American nursing college students in higher education …

Identifying The Impact Of Online Toolkit Training On Paraprofessionals In Two Rural States, Kyle William Laughlin

Dissertations and Theses

The need for more paraprofessionals is growing due to the increasing number of students who are qualifying for specialized educational support. In addition, paraprofessionals have been called upon to provide support in the general education setting in schools. This research study was designed to determine the impact of online paraprofessional training on paraprofessionals’ knowledge and perceived knowledge around supporting students with disabilities. The paraprofessional toolkit was first developed by using survey data and feedback from districts and building administrators, special education and general education teachers, and paraprofessionals. This study helped identify what numerous content areas that resulted in paraprofessionals knowledge …

Emotional Intelligence And Resonant Leadership: Investigating School Principals' Preparation And Professional Development In Response To Covid-19 And Other Challenges, Ashlie Kaye Miller

Dissertations and Theses

Research has shown that high levels of emotional intelligence and resonant leadership can reduce workplace stress and increase the health, wellness, satisfaction, and performance of employees. Many K-12 principals face a myriad of challenges that tend to produce chronic stress, including the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Yet, it is unclear how the preparation and professional development (PPD) programs available to principals incorporate and encourage resonant leadership practices that are needed to effectively cope with these challenges. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to examine the perceptions of K-12 principals in Oregon regarding: (a) their needs and challenges, especially …

Impacts Of Nontraditional Admissions Criteria On The Admittance And Retention Of Academically At-Risk Student Populations, Kristen Marie Winter

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine impacts of non-cognitive measures in the college admissions process on the retention of academically at-risk student populations. Increasing access to higher education is of benefit to individual and society as a whole. Traditional college admissions practices use standardized testing and GPA, which have been criticized for not being the best sole predictor for college preparedness. The use of non-cognitive measures may increase diversity and equity within the college admissions process.

This study considers students admitted to college through an extended admissions process who have completed short essays addressing non-cognitive measures. These students …

Rural Leaders’ Experiences Implementing Fape For Students With Intellectual Disabilities, Jessica J. Vogel

Dissertations and Theses

To provide effective leadership and ensure students with intellectual disabilities are receiving an appropriate education, principals must understand the substantial needs of these students. The experiences of rural principals’ leadership in providing a free and appropriate public education (FAPE) for students with intellectual disabilities are not well known. In this study, I sought to describe the experiences of remote rural principals in South Dakota in providing FAPE for students with intellectual disabilities. Eight principals of remote rural school districts, with at least one year of leadership experience, participated in this study. This phenomenological study utilized structured interviews to collect data. …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Professional Development: A Narrative Inquiry Examining Insights From Middle School Teachers, Julie Hatling

Dissertations and Theses

Throughout their careers, teachers seek professional growth opportunities to continually improve their craft. This quest has resulted in various learning experiences for teachers that have impacted their practice in differing ways. Bayar (2014) writes that schools traditionally provide training for teachers, professional development (PD), to help in-service teachers grow as professionals. To gain further insight into the topic of teacher PD, this narrative inquiry sought to obtain a better understanding of PD based on teachers’ perceptions of their past PD experiences and how those experiences impacted their professional practice. This study was guided by a central question and sub-questions. The …

Restorative Practice In Secondary Schools: A Case Study On Leadership, Implementation, And Challenges, Sarah M. Gross

Dissertations and Theses

Students who receive exclusionary discipline (discipline that removes them from the classroom) are less likely to graduate from high school. It has long been documented that students of color, special education students, and boys are more likely to be assigned suspensions and miss classroom instruction. Discipline matrices have been in place across the country and disparities still exist in consequences assigned to individual students. To alter this current reality, school professionals have looked for alternatives. One possibility lies in restorative practices. Restorative practices are strategies that value the whole child and consider not only an act of harm, but also …

Creativity In Science, Engineering, And The Arts: A Study Of Undergraduate Students' Perceptions, Dildora F. Beaulieu

Dissertations and Theses

Creativity is widely recognized as being invaluable for human development and a crucial 21^st century talent. Preparing students for an uncertain and complex world requires that higher education promote students' imagination, originality, curiosity, and flexibility and build their capacity to take risks to try new approaches to problem-posing and problem-solving. However, little is known about how undergraduates enrolled in different disciplines view creativity. This quantitative study at a university in the northwestern United States assessed how undergraduate students in different academic disciplines responded to an instrument on creativity measurement developed by Dlouhy (2012). The study asked: How do undergraduates …

Early Implementation Of A Standards-Based Mathematics Curriculum: Understanding Teacher Perspectives And Concerns, Karen Ann Prigodich

Dissertations and Theses

Standards-based mathematics curricula are intended to shape teachers' classroom instruction in alignment with the content and practices of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Instructional leaders facilitating teachers' implementation of these curricula frequently offer a variety of resources and structures to support effective curriculum use, but teachers themselves do not always find these supports to be helpful. Because teachers' concerns vary, understanding teachers' own perspectives is an important starting place for aligning support with teachers' needs. This case study explored the concerns of teachers from three U.S. school districts during their first year of implementing Bridges in Mathematics, …

God-Talk In Catholic High Schools: Theology Teachers Doing Theological Education For And With Religiously Diverse Student Populations, David Michael Avram Gregory

Dissertations and Theses

High school students deserve educations that honor and respect their cultural positionalities, of which religious beliefs are frequently an integral part. Almost 25% of students in Catholic high schools identify as non-Catholic, but the U.S. Catholic bishops have mandated that Catholic secondary theological education (through their 2008 Doctrinal Elements of a Curriculum Framework for the Development of Catechetical Materials for Young People of High School Age) be catechetical. In writing and promulgating this document, the bishops presupposed that Catholic schools' students are Catholic, or (should) desire to become Catholic. For decades, scholars have critiqued catechesis as an inappropriate mode …

An Exploratory Study Of Adjunct Faculty Professional Growth Experiences, Bethany Ann Potts

Dissertations and Theses

Part-time non-tenure track faculty, also referred to as adjunct faculty, are the fastest growing instructional group in higher education, but they are provided minimal professional support from their employing institution(s). This lack of support is a problem because working conditions shape instructors' investment and efficacy of performance in their professional practice. Well established in the literature are inquiries into adjunct faculty working conditions that prioritize analysis of the organization over the lived experiences of the faculty. However, the lived experiences of adjunct faculty offer a unique and important lens from which to interrogate the impact of institutional policies and practices …

Diffusion Of Innovation: Investigations Of Technology Advances On A University Campus, Melissa Shaquid Pirie

Dissertations and Theses

This multi paper format dissertation contains three separate but related papers. The three papers focus on the Diffusion of Innovation (Moore, 2014) through investigations of technological advances on a university campus. Each of the three papers highlights the work of faculty and staff who received internal university grant funding aimed at increasing innovation in technology use. The first paper covers a program built to address academic integrity issues through the regular and highly structured use of small group video conferencing as a requirement for all courses. The second paper recounts the process of creating an ePortfolio culture on campus through …

Developing Social Work Skills In Online Environments: What Online Msw Graduates Tell Us, Samuel W. Gioia

Dissertations and Theses

Social work education is an academic discipline that prepares students to support individual, family, and community wellbeing, and to advance policies for social equity. Despite the increasing use of online education for social work, many social work faculty believe that online Master of Social Work (MSW) programs do not adequately prepare graduates for direct practice (engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation) with vulnerable populations. Students from an online MSW program at a midsized urban research university were interviewed to learn (a) how well an online MSW prepared these students for direct practice with individuals, families, and communities; and (b) what instructional …

The Perspectives Of Head Start Employed Community College Students Who Earned An Associate Degree In Early Childhood Education Programs: A Phenomenological Study Exploring Challenges And Successes, Robyne E. Taylor

Dissertations and Theses

The U.S. federally funded Head Start programs serve more than one million low-income children and their families each year in education and health programs. Historically there have been few requirements for formal education for Head Start teachers. In response to research linking teacher education and outcomes for children, increased educational requirements were included in the program funding reauthorizations in recent decades. For a variety of reasons, community college early childhood education programs are a logical place for those already employed by Head Start to improve their qualifications. At the same time, these institutions tend to have low graduation rates, and …

Creating Systems Of Shared Accountability For Early Leaver Students: Perspectives Of Principals, Lorna Kay Fast Buffalo Horse

Dissertations and Theses

Alternative high schools in the United States perform a significant role for students who drop out, are pushed out, or fall out of conventional high schools. An essential function of alternative high schools is to support some of the most underserved students in the country to graduate from high school. High school graduation is a major factor associated with higher incomes, better health, longer life expectancy, and less involvement in the criminal justice system. It also positively impacts local, state, and national economies. Despite these positive impacts, many alternative high schools are stigmatized as low-performing and even "drop-out factories" by …

The Experiences Of Teachers Successfully Teaching Reading To Black Students, Kevin Michael Walker

Dissertations and Theses

Racist laws and subsequent educational policies and practices have resulted in schools in the United States failing to teach Black students reading. Historically, a racial achievement gap in elementary reading has existed throughout the history of the United States and has persisted to current times. As the population of students of color increases in the United States, we must investigate how teachers create equitable educational outcomes for students who have been historically underserved and oppressed by our education system. Teachers who are successful in ensuring our Black students have the opportunity to experience success in reading are actively disrupting the …

Where's The Learning In On-Campus Student Employment? An Inquiry Into The Experiences Of Undergraduate Student Employees, Patricia Ann Dorman

Dissertations and Theses

Student employees spend a significant amount of time at work. Prior research has primarily focused on the deleterious academic impacts on students, with little consideration of how student employment could be effectively framed as an educationally purposeful activity. This qualitative study explored how individual, social, and organizational factors influence learning while working on campus. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with undergraduate student employees who work within student affairs units. The findings indicate that on-campus employment is a site for learning; particularly competency development in communication, professionalism, problem solving, and leadership skills. Interdependent personal, interpersonal, and environmental factors of campus employment …

#Adultingwhileblack: Encountering In The Campus Climate And The Formation Of Racialized Adult Identity Among Traditional-Age Black College Students, Sarah Nana Kutten

Dissertations and Theses

The college years represent a time when traditional-age students transition from adolescence to adulthood. During this period, many Black students encounter racist campus climates that can hinder their academic success and lead to marginalization and departure. Educational scholars have long understood the relationship between identity development and college student success, yet adult identity models often fall short for Black students because they do not consider the impacts of racism on development. As such, Black students face systemic, organizational, and individual racist encounters in higher education that keep them from fully engaging in the college experience and their personal development. This …

An Inquiry Into Developing College Student Socially-Responsible Leadership: Ethics Of Justice And Care In The Midst Of Conflict And Controversy, Jill Frances Childress

Dissertations and Theses

Colleges not only educate students in academic discipline knowledge, but also help them develop skills to meaningfully lead and participate in our complex democracy as socially responsible citizens. All campuses have formal and informal opportunities to engage students in roles that challenge and develop students' socially responsible leadership skills including commitment, common purpose, and collaboration. However, individual and organizational elements such as differences in perspectives and hostile climates can quell leadership and educational participation, inhibit critical student development skills, and result in disempowerment, especially for those students from underserved communities. Given this, a critical question is how can colleges foster …

Teachers' Critical Reflection In An Equity-Focused Professional Learning Community: A Case Study, Patrizia Lina Mastne

Dissertations and Theses

In a culturally diverse world, teachers adopt complex roles to educate a changing student body toward higher standards. They can respond to students' needs and design responsive curriculum by engaging in ongoing learning and improvement. When teachers have time and space for collaboration and reflection, they can learn and improve. Professional learning communities (PLCs) are forums for educators to think deeply about praxis. In this study, the problem of practice is that teachers have had few opportunities to reflect critically within PLCs. The purpose of my study was to describe and explain how critical reflection occurred in an equity-focused PLC …

Sense Of Belonging From A Distance: How Online Students Describe, Perceive, And Experience Belonging To The Institution, Marleigh Luster Perez

Dissertations and Theses

The availability and ease of access to online bachelor's degree programs has led to a dynamic shift in the world of higher education. While overall, there has been a decrease in student enrollments, distance student enrollment has been growing. According to a report by the Babson Survey Research Group, between the fall of 2012 and the fall of 2016 students pursuing higher education at all levels across degree-granting institutions fell by 3.8%. During the same four-year period, the percentage of those students choosing to take all or some of their courses at a distance increased from 25.9% to 29.7%. Among …

Perceptions Of Students Of Color About Their Experience In An Alternative High School: A Phenomenological Inquiry, Massene Mboup

Dissertations and Theses

Public schools in Oregon have been struggling to include students of color and teachers of color for so long. Students of color represent more than one third of the school population, yet remain underserved, underrepresented, and over disciplined. Most of their teachers and support staff are White; the teachers of color represent less than 8% of the teaching staff. The students of color attend comprehensive high schools that generally ignore them--or push them out. Some students of color end up in alternative schools.

My problem of practice was the oppression of students of color in urban schools. Specifically, my research …

Residence Life As Learning Organizations: An Inquiry Into Organizational Elements That Support Integration Of The Residential Curriculum, Heather Kropf

Dissertations and Theses

Student learning and success is tied to the learning goals and mission of each institution, including environments outside of the classroom. Students are more diverse than ever in terms of their lived experience and their culture, identity, and how they engage in learning. Research has indicated that students spend the majority of their time outside the classroom, where they are learning through informal and formal environments. This has significance and opportunities for student affairs practitioners who desire to create student learning environments. In fact, residence life curricular approaches have demonstrated positive learning experiences for students.

However, implementing a learning-based curricular …

Cultural Wealth And The Racialized Experiences Of Persisting Latinx Business Students In A Predominantly White Institution: A Study On Sense Of Belonging, Rebecca Sue Sanchez

Dissertations and Theses

The changing landscape of higher education calls for a shift in approach to ensure that all students are given not just the opportunity but also the environment in which to succeed. In order to facilitate the growing demand for a diverse workforce, universities must work to retain students and support them sufficiently as they move toward graduation. Student persistence rates from year one to year two show markedly different rates based on race and ethnicity with the lowest persistence rates associated with Latinx and Black students. National projections of college attendance by race and ethnicity predict that Latinx students will …

Untangling The Factors That Affect Student Retention: A Quantitative Study Of The Relationships Among First-Year Seminar Program Characteristics And Instructor Type (Full-Time And Part-Time), Christina Marie Shafer

Dissertations and Theses

Each fall first-year college students have met and overcome many challenges and transitions. However, one-third of first-year students who enter college in the U.S. do not return for their second-year. Making the first-year a critical juncture for students, administrators, and institutions. First-Year Seminars were created to help assist students with their transition to college and have been identified as an effective initiative to aid in first-year retention.

What role do institutions play in addressing the issue of retention? Some say that those who teach the Seminars matter. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship among Seminar characteristics …

Paradigm Shifts In Large-Scale Educational Change: Uncovering The Oregon Education Investment Board's Theory Of Change-In-Action, Johanna Kathryn Blackford

Dissertations and Theses

Education system leaders and policymakers around the globe expend vast amounts of resources on educational reform efforts and despite positive intentions, most attempts to affect educational change fail to realize large-scale, sustainable, positive outcomes--yet some have. While it is widely acknowledged that no two systems' educational change journeys are the same, what is becoming clear is that there is significant similarity among the thinking or paradigms underpinning theories of change-in-action guiding positive large-scale system-wide reform. This research highlights four change paradigms and suggests that a collective learning paradigm guided by systems thinking represents the paradigm shift associated with successful large-scale …

Student Voice In A Participatory Design Process Focused On Developing Equity-Based Stem Teaching Practices, Frank Heimerdinger

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study with second grade students in a mid-sized city in the Northwest was to examine an equity-based STEM teaching practice and design process that builds on student's voice in the context of an elementary school. Teaching practice innovations were designed using a participatory process drawing on student voice and experience, culturally responsive pedagogy, STEM content, and teaching practices. The students collaborated with the teacher to design and enact equity-based STEM teaching practice innovations and gave necessary and appropriate feedback regarding its efficacy in creating equitable and empowering learning experiences from their own perspective. A specific goal …