Education Commons^™

The Alumni Base Holds The Institution In Their Heart: Alumni Decision Making And Communication Strategies During University Leadership Change, Brandy Cox Jackson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the research was to understand how alumni executives make decisions and formulate communication strategies during university leadership change. The research was based on the trends found by the American Council on Education that the tenure of the college president has been on the decline since 2006 and is currently 5.9 years. Multiple factors have been identified in the literature that have led to this decline. The research focused on the largest constituency of most universities, its alumni base, and provides context and a description of decision making and communication strategies for alumni executives navigating leadership change. The …

Characteristics Of Award-Winning Children’S Books About Agriculture: An Analysis Of Content, And The Perspectives Of Authors, Illustrators, And Publishers, Addison L. Beckham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this two-article qualitative study was to characterize children's literature about agriculture and to describe the perceptions of authors and illustrators who are responsible for writing and designing these successful publications. This will result in the ability of organizations like Feeding Minds Press to provide writers, illustrators, and publishers with effective strategies and techniques to improve the accuracy and overall quality of children’s literature about agriculture. Few parameters exist for authors of children’s books about agriculture (Biser, 2007). These parameters are necessary to ensure the quality and accuracy of these educational efforts (Serafini, 2012). Though Feeding Minds Press …

The Use Of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Esol Classes, Beth A. O. Haddinger

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is organized into five distinct chapters addressing multiple aspects of learning and engagement as it relates to English Language Learners (ELLs) in the classroom. First, the problem of practice is identified and explored. We, as educators, must look closely at instructional and systemic issues, actionable elements, broader strategies of improvement, and leverage, which refers to the ability of a program to motivate students and to generate a sense of practical value in academics. The next aspect of this dissertation proposal reviews the existing research literature. This literature review focuses on the specific learning needs of ELL students. Specifically …

The Role Of Partisan Politics On Support For Public Institutions Of Higher Education, Jason G. Ramage

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over several decades, a greater share of the expense of earning a college degree has shifted to students and their families as appropriations to public institutions of higher education have declined as a percentage of the overall cost to educate a student. Tuition has greatly outpaced inflation during this period, while inflation-adjusted household income has remained relatively flat. Despite all the benefits that accrue to both the college graduate and society as a whole, for the less affluent, a college education is becoming increasingly difficult to attain. Many decide the financial barriers are simply too great and elect not to …

Equity And Access To Care: Barriers To Diagnostic And Treatment Services For Black Families Of Autistic Youth, Harlee Onovbiona

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Numerous barriers to diagnostic and treatment access are present for families concerned their child might have autism spectrum disorder (ASD; e.g., long waitlists, limited specialized providers). However, Black families of autistic youth may experience additional racial barriers (e.g.., racial microaggressions, perceived stigma) due to the intersectionality of their child's disorder and their identity as Black Americans, a group that is systematically minoritized in the United States. Despite the importance of early identification and intervention, little research has documented how these barriers to treatment participation may impact perceived treatment effectiveness, treatment satisfaction, and stress among Black families of autistic youth. This …

Delaying College For Domestic Civic Service: The Gap Year Experiences Of City Year Americorps Alumni, Christopher John Bryson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade the concept of taking a gap year has become mainstream in the US. This idea of delaying enrollment, or taking a break from college, before beginning a bachelor’s degree, has gained popularity, especially as the cost of attendance in higher education has soared and the burden of paying for it has been placed on the student as the consumer. Similarly, the sought-after gap year experiences offered in the private sector are often costly. With the rising popularity of gap years, it is important to identify experiences that are accessible to a wide variety of backgrounds and …

Evidence Of Emotional Intelligence In College Presidents’ Public Writing: Does Their Emotional Intelligence Change Over Time?, Karen Powers Liebhaber

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Higher education (HIED) presidents face a wide variety of competing demands and pressures. High emotional intelligence (EI) has been found to be effective in good leadership, but few studies exist which examine HIED presidents’ EI. This quantitative growth model study attempted to expand the understanding of EI and its source of change among HIED presidents. Several conceptualizations link together in this study to better understand HIED presidents’ EI. First, higher EI has been linked to strong leadership and strong communication. Studies show EI can change over time and EI is associated with certain demographic factors. Further, language, particularly written language, …

Understanding Perceptions Of Graduating Seniors From Rural Schools On Higher Education: A Preregistered Study, Desiree Denise Brake

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case (preregistered) study is to interview rural young Americans, deeply explore how they think about higher education as they prepare for life beyond high school, and analyze how those views and perceptions translate into barriers or motivators to its pursuit. Rural Americans feel less optimistic about their financial futures, find it more difficult to find a job in their communities, and believe their children will have a lower standard of living than their parents when they reach their parents’ age (Morin, 2016). Rural students are more likely to graduate from high school than their urban …

Examining The Association Between Facebook Marketing And Applications Received In Graduate Programs At One University, Heather Danielle Campbell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As the technological world continues to grow and expand, the use of social media marketing continues to increase. Graduate programs looking to increase the number of applications received can turn to Facebook to market their programs. This study looks at the use of self-presentation, from a graduate program level of Facebook use, to create content that reaches their target audience. Self-presentation allows graduate programs to control the types of marketing, posts, and content displayed regarding their program in an effort to be seen in a certain light. This study explores six types of Facebook content perceived as favorable in the …

“What’S Belonging Got To Do With It?”: An Exploration Of Campus Racial Climate And Sense Of Belonging In Black Counseling Students Attending Predominately White Institutions In The North Atlantic Region, Erin Durrah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) dialogues are raging across campuses throughout the U.S. with specific focus on the needs of Black student populations in the aftermath of the George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbury murders. However, if the supportive spirit of the DEI initiatives is undermined by a hostile campus climate and local community, it may negatively impact the learning environment isolating the target population, while also effecting their potential for successful completion of their programs. The current qualitative study aims to explore the perceptions of belonging expressed by Black graduate students enrolled in Council for Accreditation of Counseling …

Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion: Three Essays In The Educational Context, James D. Paul

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many universities and K-12 public school systems express a significant, formal commitment to the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Relative to the emphasis on DEI in America’s educational institutions, however, there has been little research describing DEI trends and evaluating the efficacy of DEI bureaucracies. This three-chapter dissertation examines DEI trends that have been the subject of much discussion—but rarely studied empirically.

For example, chapter one analyzes how universities promote DEI when hiring new faculty. I audit a subset of academic job postings and present the first evidence on how many require DEI statements, as well as the …

Case Study: Exploring Inservice Teachers’ Perceptions And Experiences Of The Effectiveness Of Gifted Preparation And Training Programs In Saudi Arabia, Khlood Khaled Alshareef

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In Saudi Arabia, the teaching of gifted and talented students is relatively new, and research that describes the quality and effectiveness of teachers' gifted preparation programs and the training sessions they receive remain rather limited and inconsistent. Purpose: This dissertation focuses on understanding the perceptions and experiences of in-service teachers regarding gifted-focused preparation and training programs in the country. Research Design: Data were collected through observation and semi-structured interviews with teachers of gifted and talented students in the country. Findings: Analysis of the data revealed six themes related to teachers’ perceptions and experiences of preparation and training programs in Saudi …

Mentors In Violence Prevention: Differential Impacts On Adolescent Bystander Intentions About Bullying, Dating Violence, And Sexual Harassment, Ayla Mapes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bystander approaches are promising interventions that can engage bystanders as prosocial allies to intervene in interpersonal violence situations among youth within school settings. The Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) bystander intervention program targets interpersonal violence using a peer-to-peer mentoring model to engage students in a discussion about violence prevention. Research on the MVP program is promising but limited. The current study examined the specificity of MVP intervention effects in two high school samples. The first was a pre/post-test design that included a smaller sample of high school students who participated in the MVP program in the 2013-2014 academic year. The …

Evaluating Impacts Of Development Programs On Female Education In Afghanistan, Ahmad Shah Mobariz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation evaluates the effects of three development interventions on female education in Afghanistan: 1) effects of foreign military withdrawal on females’ demand for higher education; 2) impacts of PEZAK, a community-driven university entrance preparation, on student enrollment and performance in tertiary education; and 3) long-term effects of National Solidarity Program (NSP), that established gender-balanced local development councils, on female enrollment. Foreign military withdrawal increased female participation in higher education by 0.3 percentage points from a base value of 0.05 percent participation per capita. The PEZAK increased test scores by 0.17 standard deviations and had a positiveeffect on enrollment in …

Children’S Positive Peer Relationships And Their Bullying Behaviors: A Latent Profile Analysis, Lauren Mutignani

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the current study, I aim to expand upon traditional methods for classifying children based on positive peer nominations and contribute to the field’s understanding of high-status bullies who maintain social resources despite bulling behaviors (e.g., van der Ploeg et al., 2020). Both reciprocated and one-sided (i.e., received and sent) positive peer nominations were used to distinguish socially meaningful subgroups. Participants included 659 children from 34 classrooms (M Age = 9.31 years, SD = .49 years; girls = 50.6%; Hispanic/Latino/a/x = 42.5%, White/European American = 29.9%, Black/African American = 2.3%, Asian/Asian American/Pacific Islander = 11.7%, Native American = 2.3%, Bi/Multiracial …

Media Ideologies And The Politics Of Digital Literacy: Discourses On Technology And Media In A Small School District In The U.S. Heartland, Chris Borntrager

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation uses a discourse studies approach to investigate key communicative processes by which digital technology is given situated meanings within the institution of public education, including at the level of official discourse, administrative texts, and the spoken discourse of professional educators. The discursive processes under analysis, referred to here as “institutional media ideologies,” arguably function as discursive frameworks which, akin to tactics of management in organizations, constrain the further production of discourse in a particular professional domain, including through the codification of contextualization practices, participant roles, and the social meanings of practices implicating the use of digital technology. Furthermore, …

Latinx On The Rise Mentoring Program’S Impact On Graduating Student’S Professional Integration Past Undergraduate Studies, Lucero Martinez-Salas

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mentoring programs are implemented to create a space for skill and information transmission between a mentor and mentee. Mentoring programs are typically implemented in an academic setting with professors or peers acting as a mentor and students as mentees. Based on the under-representation of Latinx students in higher education and further career paths, mentoring with this population could be positively impactful to their student experience. This thesis focuses on the Latinx on the Rise mentoring program and the experience of the mentees with a focus on the Latinx student experience. Implications for implementation of such programs and their impact will …

Social Work Allyship: Exploring White And Bipoc Perspectives At Predominately White Institutions Within The Southeastern Conference, Aubrey Franke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the experiences of allyship through the perspectives of White and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) social work students at primarily White universities within the Southeastern Conference. The study includes 10 semi-structured interviews with Bachelor and Master’s level social work students. The findings from this study present necessary characteristics and qualities for effective social work allyship. Interestingly, BIPOC students emphasize the importance of informed action, while White students share relational qualities such as empathy and willingness to learn. The findings also show that some BIPOC students experience performative allyship from White social work students. BIPOC participants …

Improving Gifted And Talented Education In Arkansas: Identification, Academic Benefits, And Local Norms, Bich Thi Ngoc Tran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, education policies differ from state to state. Local research, therefore, is important to inform educators, policymakers, and researchers on the ground. This dissertation leverages ten years of administrative data to study three questions about gifted and talented (G/T) identification and education in Arkansas: does the current system identify the right students? Are gifted and talented programs beneficial for students? And, how can we improve diversity in gifted and talented education? Leveraging logistic regression, mixed-effects models, and descriptive statistics, I sought to provide answers to these three questions. First, are academically ready students from low-income families being …

“Implacement”: The Importance Of Place And Community In Schooling, Emily Coady

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three chapters exploring my overarching research question: How does sense of place shape a teacher’s orientation to their profession? My first chapter empirically answers the question: Is there a relationship between place attachment and measured aspects of teacher quality? In an attempt to qualify the strength of bond between a teacher and his or her community, I adapted a place attachment instrument developed by Raymond, Brown, and Weber (2010). Each teacher is given a place attachment score informed by their responses on the 21-item survey. Next, I correlated these scores to other aspects of teacher quality …

Making Meaning Of The Shared Experience Of Participants In An Undergraduate Lgbtq+ Mentorship Program, Brendan Corbett Csaposs

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the ways in which LGBTQ+ students at the University of Miami make meaning of their shared experiences in the LGBTQ+ Mentorship Program that the university offers, in order to explore ways in which higher education institutions might consider better supporting this key group of students. This study draws upon a variety of theories of sexual identity development, building on the work of Rosario et al. (2011) in looking at the ways that students make meaning of their sexual identity based on self-identification, association with the larger community, and engagement in a …

Economic Disadvantage, Nativity, And Academic Performance And School Punishment Among Latino/A Children, Yolanda Chavez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cultural explanations of how familial resource inequality negatively impacts the academic well-being of a Latino/a child saturate the literature. This study examines the relationship between economic disadvantage and academic performance and school punishment through Family Stress Process Theory, providing a contextual analysis of resource instability. The additional myriad of legal and social constraints that parental nativity provides for family members can moderate this relationship. Data was drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal measure of U.S. couples and their children in 20 large U.S. cities. Regression models indicate the relationship between economic disadvantage and academic performance …

Teaching White Privilege At A Southern University: A Multi-Method Approach, Morgan Browning

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fueled by individual and systemic prejudices, racism continuously cycles through American society. Eliminating racism begins with education and awareness on all societal levels. Denying the existence of privilege, specifically White privilege, allows people to ignore racial inequalities and aids in the perpetuation of injustice. This study focused on educating students at a southern university about privilege, oppression, racism, and discrimination with the goal of contributing to a less racist campus. A similar program developed and implemented in a previous study by the researcher was adapted for online modules. These four online modules consisted of presentations, activities, videos, speakers, and reflective …

The Covid-19 Pandemic And The Implementation Of The Americans With Disabilities Act Amendments Act In Higher Education: Discretionary Practices Of Disability Services Professionals, Crystal Denise Hill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly transformed the landscape of higher education. The urgent nature of procedural changes in academic and administrative higher education services did not exempt leadership, faculty, or staff from their legally mandated responsibility to provide equal access to the educational environment for students with disabilities as outlined within title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act (ADAAA). The purpose of this study was to explore the strategies used by disability services professionals to implement the ADAAAA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sources and preferred formats of policy guidance were explored. The priorities of department, division, and institution-level …

On The Same Page: Student Government And The University Administrative Agenda Alignment, James Michael Diloreto-Hill

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within institutions of higher education, shared governance is an essential component to a healthy functionality. Among the many stakeholders at these institutions, students are the largest in number and hold primacy. Participation in student governance establishes a sense of shared ownership over their communities while also providing a unique avenue for students to gain wisdom and develop critical skill sets. Senior administrators at these institutions have many inherent challenges due to an organization that is largely decentralized and autonomous (Duderstadt, 2007). Regarding agenda setting, the Garbage Can Model (Cohen et al., 1972) was utilized as a theoretical framework. The purpose …

Present Limitations And Future Projections: Food Insecurity, Housing Insecurity And Optimism Among College Students, Amber Obermaier

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Within the last decade, research has identified wide-ranging disparities in access to basic needs among university students. These differences, such as a lack of adequate food and housing during university, provide a negative environmental experience with potential to limit one’s optimism or hope for the future. This research explores how basic needs insecurity and social vulnerabilities among college students are related to subjective assessments of their prospects for the future. The present study utilizes survey data from a random sample of college students (n=300) enrolled at an urban university in the Midwest region of the United States of America. Logistic …

The Hard Work Is Worth It: Overcoming Unfavorable Determinants To Pass Pro-Immigrant Education Policy In A Conservative State Legislature, Megan Cardwell Godfrey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Immigrants, English learners (ELs), and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)students often lag behind their White, monolingual peers in academic achievement and English language proficiency. While there are policy solutions to improve academic and linguistic opportunities and outcomes for immigrant/EL/CLD students, such as implementing bilingual instructional models and increasing teacher diversity, these pro-immigrant policies can be hard to come by in some legislative contexts due to unfavorable economic, social, or political determinants. This qualitative case study analyzed the multifaceted political work that contributed to the passage of two pro-immigrant education policies in the Arkansas 93rd General Assembly: a bill for bilingual …

Alone Together: The Experiences Of Lgbtqia+ Undergraduates At Faith-Based Colleges, Jennifer Edwards

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study aimed to explore the experiences of LGBTQIA+ alumnix who attended faith-based colleges. The study was guided by Strayhorn’s (2019) College Students’ Sense of Belonging Theory and Abes’ et al. (2007) Reconceptualized model of multiple dimensions of identity. The scope of experiences explored was narrowed to three of the five categories in Schreiner’s (2010a) Thriving Quotient. These categories were: positive perspective (outlook on life), social connectedness, and diverse citizenship.

The study included 11 participants from 7 faith-based colleges and represented various intersections of sexual and gender identity. The study employed constructivist grounded theory methodology, an inductive research approach …

The Nature Of Informal Educators In Science Centers, Science Museums And Zoos: Case Studies Of Personnel, Practices, Programs, Outreach And Organization, Courtney Erickson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Informal Science Centers provide educational experiences for people across the country daily. While the terminology is often similar, there are differences between institutions, often determined by mission, organizational structure, and experience. The purpose of this study was to identify shared experiences and unique characteristics of eight informal science centers around the country. The significance of the study was to add to the understanding of informal science educators' responsibilities, organizational structure, decision-making process, and development. Data for the study was collected using qualitative measures through a researcher-created interview, sent to fifteen institutions, after the recommendation from two well-known informal science researchers. …

The Impact Of Corporal Punishment For Timorese High School Graduates, Veronica Godinho Pereira

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research examines the impacts of corporal punishment for Timorese high school graduates. Physical punishment is a pervasive method of disciplining students and children used in Timor-Leste because it has been such a tradition (UNICEF 2017). Few researchers have attempted to analyze the negative impacts of corporal punishment and possible gender differences; there is no known research on the impacts of corporal punishment in Timor-Leste. This study uses an in-depth interview method, where data were collected from 26 Timorese high school graduates composed of both men and women from both private and public schools in Timor-Leste. The ages of the …