Education Commons^™

Win The Game Or Build Decent Humans? Parental Perceptions Of The Family School-Relationship Across Socioeconomic Backgrounds, Elizabeth Dempsey Lee

Educational Studies Dissertations

Research into family engagement with schools states that the participation of a child’s family in schooling increases a student’s academic success. In education, family engagement is the newest policy tool to help children, especially those from marginalized communities, grow into successful adults. However, in sociology, intensive family engagement, defined as parental over-involvement in a child’s schooling, results in a narrow focus on traditional academic measures of success and the micromanaging of a child’s educational experience. Research indicates that this amped up oversight of a child’s education is the source of emotional, academic, psychological harm for children. As a result, parent …

Student Agency And Collective Bootstrapping In Integrated Career And Technical Education: A Photovoice Project, Panagiota Athinelis

Educational Studies Dissertations

Secondary Career and Technical Education (CTE) provides students with a full education in academic areas as well as a career area of interest, allowing students to apply their school-based learning in the real world through work-based learning. At the same time, urban CTE adolescents have historically been marginalized and placed in a deficit model. The purpose of this qualitative study was to uncover the ways in which student agency is co-created in an urban, transdisciplinary CTE high school program, as well as to identify the institutional systems and structures that support or hinder the development of student agency.

Eight students …

Picturing Health; Picturing Life: Visual Illness Narratives Of Women With Type 2 Diabetes, Sarah Gurley-Green

Educational Studies Dissertations

The prevalence of diabetes in the U.S. reached 23 million people between 2012 and 2017 and consumed one-quarter of the overall healthcare dollars. Remembering the suffering and pain of individuals behind these numbers becomes difficult and incalculable. Black American women are the most affected by type 2 diabetes (T2D), compared to their white counterparts, as well as twice as likely to be diagnosed with T2D and 2.5 times more likely to die from T2D. Therefore, understanding the problem requires the fundamental consideration of how these women cope daily with this complex illness while often struggling with complex lives. This narrative …

A Tradesperson’S Transition To Vocational Technical (Vt) Teaching, Susan J. Sylvia

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study examined survey and interview data collected from tradespeople who transitioned to vocational technical (VT) teaching in regional vocational technical schools in Massachusetts. This study included two research questions that inquired about how tradespeople’s prior experiences, beliefs, and thoughts influenced or inspired them to pursue a transition to vocational technical (VT) teaching and about how their anticipated transitional experiences aligned with their actual transitional experiences. The survey phase included 170 respondents. Survey responses provided an overview of participants, which was integral in identifying four interview participants who were digitally recorded during one-to-one interview sessions. A multiple Case Study …

¿Dónde Pertenecemos? Narrative Analysis Of Afro-Boricua Women’S Experiences Of Belonging Within And Beyond College, Marie Nubia-Feliciano

Educational Studies Dissertations

Afro-Latinas, Latinas of African descent, exist at the intersections of culture, race, gender, and class, and this position informs how we experience our world. This unique experiential perspective is present when we decide to attend college. It was the goal of this research project to explore the post-secondary educational experiences of Afro-Latinas. One particular group of Afro-Latinas was the subject of the research project: Afro-Boricua women.

The unique relationship that Puerto Rico has with the United States provided a backdrop for these women’s college going experiences. It provided a historical framework of colonialism and racialization that occurred both on the …

Young, Urban, Professional, And Kenyan?: Conversations Surrounding Tribal Identity And Nationhood, Charlotte Achieng-Evensen

Educational Studies Dissertations

By asking the question “How do young, urban, professional Kenyans make connections between tribal identity, colonialism, and the lived experience of nationhood?,” the researcher engages with eight participants in exploring their relationships with their tribal groups. From this juncture the researcher, through a co-constructed process with participants, interrogates the idea of nationhood by querying their interpretations of the concepts of power and resistance within their multi-ethnic societies. The utility of KuPiga Hadithi as a cultural responsive methodology for data collection along with poetic analysis as part of the qualitative tools of examination allowed the researcher to identify five emergent and …

The Glass Ceiling Is Not Broken: Gender Equity Issues Among Faculty In Higher Education, Jillian Wood

Educational Studies Dissertations

Gender discrimination is an ongoing topic, including discrimination that occurs in higher education. Previous studies have shown female faculty experience a variety of workplace discrimination including sexual harassment/bullying, salary disparities, and lack of worklife balance. This dissertation aimed to analyze equity issues for female faculty at a private university. The researcher utilized a narrative inquiry methodology, conducting interviews with five full-time female faculty. The purpose of this dissertation was to understand the participants’ everyday stories and lived experiences. The researcher utilized critical feminist theory and leadership theory to examine the notion of equity at this campus. The findings, shown through …

Men In A Female-Dominated Profession: The Lived Experiences Of Ghanaian Male Nurses In The United States, Daniel Kwadjo Frimpong

Educational Studies Dissertations

Minority men are less than two percent of the total nursing workforce in the United States. The small presence of minority men in the nursing profession presents a challenge to healthcare providers as patients are much more responsive and open-minded to healthcare providers of the same cultural and ethnic backgrounds. This qualitative study was designed to explore the lived professional experiences of Ghanaian male nurses in the United States to shed light on the barriers minority men encounter in the nursing profession in order to make suggestions relating to strategies to appropriately support minority men in their nursing practice. This …

The Teacher's Closet: A Narrative Inquiry Of Dual Identities Of Lesbian And Gay Middle School Teachers In Georgia, Heather Ann Keilwitz

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of lesbian and gay Georgia middle school teachers in not disclosing their sexual identities with their students. Using a narrative inquiry, data were collected through in-depth individual interviews and a focus group discussion on the following areas of inquiry: What are the experiences of lesbian and gay Georgia middle school teachers who do not disclose their sexual identity with their students? How, if at all, do the experiences of nondisclosure inhibit their abilities as teachers? How, if at all, has the nondisclosure affected their personal lives? Ten self-identified lesbian and …

The Influences Of Mathematics Self-Efficacy, Identity, Interest, And Parental Involvement On Stem Achievement In Algebra For Female High School Students, Nicol R. Howard

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the predictability of STEM achievement in Algebra for female high school students utilizing mathematics self-efficacy, mathematics interest, mathematics identity, and parental involvement. This study employed data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09/12) which consisted of 3,938 female eleventh-grade participants randomly selected from 944 public and private high schools during the fall 2009 academic year. The results of a hierarchical multiple regression indicated that mathematics identity was the strongest predictor of STEM achievement for female high school students, regardless of race. In spite of this significant relationship, STEM achievement outcomes …

A Mirror Of Recognition: How The Empathetic Relationship Between Dusty Springfield And Her Not-Straight Fans Facilitates Their Identity Development, Nancy J. Young

Educational Studies Dissertations

This multi-case qualitative study explores the phenomenon of identity development of not-straight (more traditionally labeled as gay, lesbian, bisexual, and/or queer) fans through their attachment to British popular singer Dusty Springfield as a fan-object. A purposefully selected sample of four fans, aged 21-45, two male and two female, from the United Kingdom and the United States, were interviewed. The interdisciplinary conceptual framework of the study combines the fields of identity development, fan studies, and psychological theories related to projection.

The themes that emerge from the data suggest that Dusty Springfield’s emotional music draws the listener into fandom and that the …

Relational Fathering: How Fathering Sons Affects Men's Relational Growth And Development: A Dissertation, Carol Watson-Philips

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore how fathering sons impacts men's relational growth and development. This qualitative study examines the meaning fathers make of their experience and describes their process of growth and development in connection with their sons. Twenty, mostly middle-class fathers, ages thirty-three to forty-six with sons ranging from one year to twelve years, were interviewed. Relational-Cultural Theory provides a theoretical framework. A grounded theory approach, a constructivist lens, and feminist analysis and research methods are employed. The data reveal that the fathers' connection with their sons and their perceptions of their sons' unconditional love …

Narrating Gender: Children's Responses To Gender Roles Depicted In Orally Told Folk Tales And Other Traditional Stories, Robin Ann Mello

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative investigation was based on grounded and feminist methodology and examined the reactions of ten fourth grade students to the gender roles depicted in orally told folk tales. Data consisted of surveys, writing samples, and interviews, collected in both mixed and single gender groups. Data were transcribed and coded using open and axial procedures. This study finds that heroes were valued for their aggression, strength, and warrior status while heroines were appreciated for their intelligence, caring, and endurance. Boys highly valued warrior like behavior. Girls, on the other hand, had a difficult time equating the value of 'gender bending' …

Including Elders' Voices: A Model For Gerontology Curriculum Design In Higher Education, Marilyn Rose Gelish-Gugliucci

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study has proposed a new model for gerontology curriculum design. The model involves elders at two levels: designing gerontology courses/programs and participating in the students' learning experiences… The proposed curriculum model is framed within progressive and confluent curriculum ideologies: thereby, supporting experiential learning, personal growth, integration of attitudes, feelings, emotions, and relevance.

Gender And Leadership: Men And Women's Stories, Barbara A. Karanian

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study investigates gender and leadership.

Midlife Experience Of Contemporary Women Views Along The Midway, Paula Deangelis Panchuck

Educational Studies Dissertations

Examines the experience of midlife and the expectations of midlife and aging of 22 Caucasian, African American, Latina, Chinese, and Asian-Indian midlife women, ages 40 to 60, who differ in sexual orientation, income, employment, marital and parenting status. Influenced by social and family expectations for women in their early years, most women expected midlife would include husband, home and family. The women describe midlife as positive and fulfilling, disclaim the relevance of "midlife crisis" to their lives and report higher levels of self-confidence, self-reliance and self-understanding. Tempered by an awareness of imperfect circumstances in their lives and compassion for their …