Education Commons^™

Texas School Social Workers: Demographics, Work Characteristics, Job Satisfaction, And Work Barriers And Facilitators, Astrid Gandaria

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the demographics, and job, services, responsibilities, barriers, facilitators, and satisfaction of Texas school social workers. A survey was emailed to Texas school social workers identified on a state list. A convergent parallel mixed method design was used to compare and discuss quantitative and qualitative data obtained. The data reveal consistency with existing school social work literature related to demographics and provided novel information on work characteristics, job satisfaction, work barriers and facilitators, and program preparation of school social workers. The data shows school social workers are highly involved …

Underrepresentation Of Hispanic Bilingual Students In Gifted And Talented Programs: The Role Of Teacher Expectations, Melissa I. Leon Leal

Theses and Dissertations

There is currently an underrepresentation of Hispanic and bilingual students in Gifted and Talented (GT) programs. The present study examines the role of teachers’ expectations and preconceptions of what constitutes a gifted student as possible contributing factors to the underrepresentation of Hispanic and bilingual students in GT programs. Participants will include approximately 100 pre-service teachers and currently practicing teachers in the community. Measures will include a demographic survey, vignettes for identifying giftedness which describe bilingual and monolingual potential gifted students across three ethnic groups, and a survey about student qualities that includes both quantitative and qualitative items. Results and implications …

The Lived Experiences Of Counseling Graduate Students And The Impact Of Their Studies In Their Marital Satisfaction, Vania S. Palacios

Theses and Dissertations

Due to high levels of stress that students find throughout graduate programs, professional and personal lives are at times not prioritized. The heuristic study focused on analyzing common themes among counseling graduate students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, the coping mechanisms students have used to improve their marital/relational satisfaction, and common stressors in their marriage as a reflection of the counseling graduate program. The researcher provided a personal narrative for the study and analyzed transcriptions of the interviews of four counseling graduate students at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Global-To-Local-To-Global: A Model For Tutoring Esl Students In The Writing Center, David Aguilar

Theses and Dissertations

Since its inception, the writing center has always focused on traditional students, and today that tradition is continued in such a way that the overwhelming amount of research dedicated to writing center theory and practice addresses the concerns of those students. However, universities with unique student populations, such as the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley with its majority of Hispanic students, require novel practices within their writing centers. Moreover, much of the linguistic, social, and cultural factors of the region are not well documented and therefore are not addressed by the mainstream theory and practices of other universities. With …

An Evaluation Of Alternative Methods For Online Survey Recruitment: The Equivalency Of Data Collected Through Amazon Mechanical Turk And Second Life To Traditional Undergraduate Student Samples, Elizabeth M. Briones

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A major proportion of psychological research uses subjects from undergraduate populations. Increasingly, researchers are exploiting the Internet to reach beyond the traditional undergraduate sample. The current study sought to compare data obtained from a conventional undergraduate student sample to data collected via two online survey recruitment platforms: Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) crowdsourcing site and the virtual environment of Second Life (SL). Data obtained via these online recruitment platforms was statistically equivalent to the data obtained from the college sample, based on standardized measures of psychological stress and sleep quality. Additionally, correlations between the sleep and stress measures were not statistically …

School Public Relations: Relating With Lep Families, Annette Serventi Garcia

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of this paper was to examine newsletters disseminated by school public relations programs to their community in districts where Spanish is the primary home language. A content analysis examined district newsletters of school districts located in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The examination of district-issued newsletters determined the percentage of stories written in English or Spanish to compare with the demographic make-up, specifically the percentage of the non-English speaking parents of the district and the percentage of Limited English Proficient students. Stories were also analyzed to determine whether there were recurring themes in the English versus Spanish …

A Comparison Of Prison Rehabilitation Classes, Linda Sue Jackson

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study employed a Pretest-Posttest Comparison Group Design in order to determine the comparative effectiveness of two prison rehabilitation classes. The experimental group was comprised of 14 adult, male, incarcerated offenders enrolled in a Prerelease class designed to impact their attitudes, thinking, and values. The comparison group consisted of 22 adult, male, incarcerated offenders enrolled in a GED preparation class. Both groups received a battery of pretests and posttests consisting of the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, the Adjective Checklist (ACL), and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2). There was an interval of 23 school days between the pretests and posttests. Between …

Colonia Outreach Assistance And Training (C.O.A.S.T.), Eunice Aida Garcia

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This project examines the benefits of Educational and/or Job Training under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) Title II-A and Title II-C programs for Colonia residents in Hidalgo County. The design will be a pretest-posttest non-randomized experiment, conducted by the County of Hidalgo Office of Employment and Training (CHOET). This paper will present the background of the study, describe the methodology, present facts about the living standards of the colonias within Hidalgo County, the procedures of the project, and the measurement of the project impacts.

Perceptions Of Competencies For Americorps Supervisors Within The Texas Agricultural Extension Service: An Exploratory Study, Ruben Javier Saldana

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

As a special project of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, the AmeriCorps program requires special supervisional and management competencies on the part of supervising agents at the local level. This study tested 131 variables as indicators of high performance and surveyed all fourteen agent supervisors. Management areas were divided into structure, performance management, office management, and competencies. Exemplary supervisors were identified in a triangulation model that involved nominations by peers, immediate supervisors, and the AmeriCorps project director.

Findings were that the use of the plan of work and incorporation of project goals were highly related to high performance. Coaching behavior …

The Political Resources Model Of Representation: A Local Approach, Joe Manuel Cavazos

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

The purpose of the study was to determine the applicability of the Political Resources Model of Representation to the Rio Grande Valley and to ascertain if political resources (poverty levels, educational attainment, and Hispanic representation) provide an adequate explanation of educational outcomes (ACT, TEAMS, and dropout rates).

The political Resources Model of Representation, used by Meier and Stewart, served as a theoretical framework for the study. Formerly, the model had been used at a national level and a state level. Representation variables were used to predict the applicability of the model to a region.

Political Resources variables were used to …

A Study Of Factors On The Performance Of The Texas Academic Skills Program Test, Billy B. Watkins

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

At least thirty percent of students who enter Texas public higher education each year have basic skills deficiencies and cannot perform effectively in college. The TASP Test was developed to identify these students. Moreover, this test must be passed in order to obtain a degree from a Texas public institution.

A survey of 150 entering freshmen from the University of Texas-Pan American was examined to identify variables that influence student performance on the TASP Test.

Chi-square tests uncovered academic, socioeconomic, and institutional bivariate relationships with TASP performance. Multiple regression analysis indicated that academic variables primarily predicted TASP performance.