Education Commons^™

Principal Leaders And College And Career Readiness Programs, Inna Goretaya Polishchuk

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the intersection of high school principals and college and career readiness initiatives in five high school contexts. Because school principals are responsible for setting the vision in a school, college and career readiness initiatives have the potential to overlap significantly with the principal’s direction of the school. Moreover, studies indicate college and career readiness programs might rely on the active support of the school administrator if they are to succeed. What the school leader cares about tends to be what staff focus on; therefore, this study examines how three factors influence the effectiveness of a college and …

The Effects Of Formative And Summative Assessment On Student's Connectedness, Satisfaction, Learning And Academic Performance Within An Online Healthcare Course, Thomas J. Wing

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The quantitative study presented here evaluates the effects of formative and summative assessment on student’s connectedness, satisfaction, learning and academic performance within a university three-credit 400 level online healthcare course. Literature exploring the role that formative assessment plays within an online environment is currently lacking. Additionally, understanding how assessment practices can help support the goals of online healthcare education is vitally important given the rise in popularity of this delivery format.

This study investigated student outcomes in the form of connectedness, satisfaction, learning and academic performance. Four cohorts of students were included in this study. Two cohorts were provided with …

Social Media As A Personal Learning Network For Professional Development: Teachers In International Schools Use And Perspectives, Shannon H. Doak

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Traditional professional development methods are not optimal for international school educators because of isolation, lack of funds and time to attend, disconnected content and inability to make a difference in the pedagogical approaches teachers use. The creation of online Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) has been suggested as an augment to or a replacement for traditional approaches. The purpose of this mixed methods study was three-fold: (a) to discover if international school educators are using social media for professional learning and if so, what tools they are choosing to use, (b) to discover if a relationship exists between the use of …

Teacher Candidate Psychological Insight And Capacity For Change: Developing A Professional Identity, Richard Bradley Coats

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Research in the field of teacher education has recently found that the formation of teacher candidate’s sense of professional identity is an integral part of their development as a future educator, yet few programs explicitly address it (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). The purpose of this study was to examine teacher candidates’ ability to reflect on self and others, and the influence of psychological insight on the development of a professional identity. The study took place in the Pacific Northwest at an accredited university in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. The six participants selected for this study were undergraduate Elementary Education …

Congolese Refugee Students In Higher Education: Equity And Opportunity, Refik Sadiković

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore Congolese refugee students’ experiences in higher education in the United States. In order to understand the challenges Congolese students face in higher education, this study used narrative inquiry methodology to investigate Congolese students’ lived experiences that affected their educational endeavors before and after resettlement to the United States. The study examined personal stories of 10 Congolese students in the Pacific Northwest using semi-structured in-depth interviews, one-on-one follow-up interviews, field notes and two focus group interviews. Using narrative analysis five reoccurring themes were identified and discussed in the findings. The study findings indicate …