Education Commons^™

Social And Emotional Learning In The Schools: The Effects Of Whytry As An Alternative To Suspension Program, Kathy Kula

Dissertations

The purpose of this program evaluation is to analyze the effects of WhyTry as an alternative to suspension program on the attitudes related to social emotional learning and behaviors of high school students who display negative behaviors and have been suspended. This mixed-model design will utilize both quantitative data such as students' percentage of class failures, attendance rate, and pre-test and post-test results in addition to qualitative data from student semi-structured interviews, teacher reports, and parent reports. The results will be in the form of a comparative case study that employs descriptive statistics and direct quotes from students.

Educational Leaders Serving Language Minority Students (1965-2001), Jenny Maria Neal

Dissertations

This study analyzes three legislations that affected education for language

minority students. The research starts with a historical overview of the foundation of the

United States and the education of the non-English speaking population. It examines the

conditions that led to the first Bilingual Education Act of 1968, the changes that appeared

in the Bilingual Education Act of 1974, and the development of Title III of the No Child

Left Behind Act of 2001. The country's response to English language learners and their

individual learning needs is looked at throughout each listed time period, as well as the

implications for …

Bullying (1950 - 2010): The Bully And The Bullied, Steven Arthur Provis

Dissertations

This study investigates the bully and the bullied from 1950 to 2010. It begins by presenting a historical background of each decade with the major historical events that defined our culture. Each decade can be characterized by a particular zeitgeist, or spirit of the times. During each decade, popular movies and television programs that provided bullying as entertainment will be examined. This study will explore how popular culture was concurrent with bullying. This study through Barbara Coloroso's (2008) explicit characteristics of the bully and the bullied will describe the characteristics of the bully and the bullied from each decade from …

Examining The Transition Experience Of Students From Multiage Elementary Programs To Single-Grade Classrooms At The Middle School, Cindy Lynn Ruesch

Dissertations

Multiage programming is a school reform option used throughout the United States. Much of the current literature focuses on the short-term benefits of multiage programs, particularly at the elementary level, with little consideration for long-term effects or for what might happen to students once they leave the multiage classroom and enter middle school. While there has been significant research that generalizes the transition experience of the general population of students, there has been limited research conducted on this transition experience for this specific population, the multiage elementary student.

The purpose of this simultaneous, mixed methods study was to provide an …

The Impact Of Involvement In Mortar Board Senior Honor Society On Lifelong Views Of Civic Engagement And Leadership, Daniel James Turner

Dissertations

This study examines the impact that involvement in Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society has on lifelong views of civic engagement and leadership. Mortar Board Senior Honor Society is a collegiate honor society established in 1918 that recognizes students for their outstanding contributions to their college or university community in the areas of scholarship, leadership, and service. Involvement in campus organizations has been shown to facilitate psycho-social and cognitive development, encourage leadership involvement, and enhance students' participation in service and civic activities (Astin, 1999). This study informs the broad area of research on the impact of extracurricular involvement on college …

Attitudes And Inclusion: An Examination Of Teachers' Attitudes Toward Including Students With Disabilities, Thomas James Walker

Dissertations

This study examined the elements that may influence teacher attitudes in a positive manner toward including students with special needs. The purpose of this project was to explore the factors that may impact the attitudes of general education teachers toward including students with disabilities. The factors examined in this study included experience, professional development, and administrative support. Each of these factors have been indicated by research as having an impact on the attitudes of teachers toward inclusion, however a deeper understanding and description of how these factors impact teachers was needed. Elementary general education teachers were surveyed to determine their …

Parental Involvement In The Lives Of College Students: Impact On Student Independence, Self-Direction, And Critical Thinking, Patrick Thomas Spence

Dissertations

Recent studies have noted the increasing communication between parents and students while students are in college (College Parent, 2007; Hofer & Moore, 2010). The most recent study noted that the interaction between parent and student during the last year of college averages over 13 times a week (Hofer & Moore, 2010). While many articles in the popular press have offered conjecture as to the developmental impact of this new data, very little has been done to understand the nature of the contact between parents and students as it relates to developmental outcomes (Carroll, 2005; Hoover, 2008). This study provides insight …

Elementary School Teachers' Reasons For Staying In Their Current Schools: A Comparison Study, Luzmila Beanira Adrianzen

Dissertations

This study examines elementary school teachers' reasons for staying in their current schools, specifically, comparing two schools, one from a low-income district and one from a high-income district. The researcher assesses similarities and differences among teacher's perceptions of these factors in these two schools.

The researcher reviews literature on factors that explain teacher turnover and retention. Furthermore, literature on theories of motivation, such as Herzberg's two-factor theory and Vroom's expectancy theory to motivation was reviewed and also used as a methodological approach to analyze the data.

To examine elementary school teachers' reasons for staying in their current schools a quantitative …

A Case Study Evaluation Of Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support And Its Relationship To Student Well-Being From A Social Justice Perspective, Alissa Briggs

Dissertations

Schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is proactive, systemic, school-wide intervention aimed at preventing problem behavior and promoting prosocial behavior (Warren et al., 2003). Successful SWPBS implementation relates to reduced office discipline referrals and increased scores on tests of academic achievement (Lassen, Steele, & Sailor, 2006). However, it is not clear how SWPBS relates to other indicators of student well-being (e.g., school climate, safety, relationships, prosocial behavior, and engagement in school). In order to achieve social justice in schools, multiple components of children's well-being must be promoted through proactive interventions (Prilleltensky, 2005), such as SWPBS. Because well-being as a whole encompasses …

Positive Behavior Intervention And Support: An Alternative Approach, Lucy Bridges

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of PBIS on behavior in relation to the number of office discipline referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. Because of the current school discipline policies, black male students have been overrepresented in the exclusionary practices of office discipline referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. PBIS offers a viable alternative to current school discipline practices.

The Systemic Impact Of The Implementation Of The Response To Intervention Model In Elementary Schools, Annette Robin Cronin

Dissertations

The intention of this study was to examine three factors regarding the implementation of the Response to Intervention (RtI) model. First, the study discovered what professional development opportunities were afforded to administrators and certified faculty to support the implementation of the RtI model within schools that make AYP and those that did not make AYP. Second, the study investigated the awareness and utilization of Early Intervening funds within schools that make AYP and those that did not make AYP. Lastly, this study examined how schools monitor student progress within the RtI model for schools that made AYP and those that …

Agnes Nestor: Labor Leader, Politician, And Social Reformer--A Portrait Of A Leader, Timothy Michael Grivois-Shah

Dissertations

School leadership is about effecting change in education and promoting excellence in teaching and learning. School leaders, however, practice leadership in multiple arenas with diverse stakeholders. Students, local community members, faculty, staff, and each layer of government represent unique and often conflicting interests. Understanding how a leader such as Agnes Nestor resolved conflicts of interests has the potential for helping school leaders access various sources of power to effect change in their milieu.

This study explores the life of Agnes Nestor, a labor leader, politician, and social reformer. Nestor's public life included organizing women workers in Chicago in the early …

Superintendent Leadership And Student Achievement In Suburban High Schools: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Analysis, Steven Reese Kellner

Dissertations

This research study explored the critical nature of the connection between student achievement and superintendent leadership. A great deal of scholarship has addressed either student achievement or leadership and previous evidence has suggested the impact of both parental education and racioethnicity on student achievement, but few studies have investigated the relationship between the superintendent's leadership authority and the achievement of his or her students.

The central research questions of this study are:

1) To what degree does parental education predict high school student achievement in suburban Chicagoland?

2) To what degree does racioethnicity predict high school student achievement in suburban …

Secondary School Science Department Chairs Leading Change, Julie Ann Gaubatz

Dissertations

Secondary school department chairs are content area specialists in their schools and are responsible for providing students with the most appropriate curricula. However, most secondary school department chairs have limited authority to institute change unilaterally (Gmelch, 1993; Hannay & Erb, 1999). To explore how these educational leaders navigate the change process within their departments, this study examined the change stories of six secondary school science department chairs who had led change attempts. In total, these department chairs shared six stories of successful change attempts and four unsuccessful change attempts. The topics of leadership and change were accessed through department chair …

Mystery Motivator Calendar: An Interdependent Group Contingency, Variable Ratio, Classroom Intervention, Eva Aleksandra Kowalewicz

Dissertations

Classroom behavior management problems are often seen as one of the primary barriers to achieving an educational environment conducive for academic and social-emotional growth of students. The literature indicates there is a need for evidence-based, easy-to-implement classroom behavioral interventions that align with the positive behavioral support philosophy. This study examined the effectiveness of the Mystery Motivator Calendar, an interdependent group contingency, variable-ratio, classwide intervention as a tool for reducing disruptive classroom behavior in eight diverse, general-education elementary school classrooms across seven different schools. The study employed a single-case, ABAB (baseline, intervention, withdrawal, reinstatement and follow-up), changing criterion design. The effectiveness …

Preschool Educators' Perceptions Of Practice In Facilitating/Modeling Oral Language Acquisition And Development, Nicole Alissa Jones

Dissertations

Preschool educators are linguistic models for their students. They prompt students to speak. Educators who are able to understand the critical nature of their role in the students' oracy development and to deliberately encourage conversation may have a profound impact on preschoolers who may be at risk. Oracy is self-expression prompted by discourse activities such as questioning, labeling, turn-taking in conversation, and it is stimulated by a variety of speech events, such as playing or otherwise interacting with peers and adults.

This study explored how preschool educators behaved as models in facilitating oral language acquisition and development. The goals of …

Crisis Preparedness, Charles Maida

Dissertations

School disaster planning is important because schools are places of frequent mass gathering. An estimated 53 million children in the United States attend public and private schools each day. As mass gathering places, schools are prone to mass injury in a natural disaster and unfortunately may serve as a terrorist target (Graham, 2007). Schools must prepare for the worst and hope for the best, because the worst disaster to occur is not preparing for disaster in the first place. Comprehensive crisis management plans must be in place, practiced, revisited, and altered to remain effective.

Community-based strategies have been successful in …

Building A Climate That Supports And Protects Mandated Reporters: School Principals And Their Perceived Roles And Policies And Procedures In K-8 Schools, Gina Bartucci

Dissertations

Schools are designed to be safe and healthy places for children to grow and learn, and principals are the instructional leader charged with creating this climate. The role of the mandated reporter, which is the role assigned to all individuals who work in schools, is intended to protect children. The mandated reporter is supposed to be the voice for children-not just for the child who actually speaks out against the individual who is perpetrating against them, but also for the child who does not have the words to report the abuse. A suspicion is all a mandated reporter needs to …

Perceptions Of Middle School Teachers On The Quality Of Professional Development, Safurat Anike Giwa

Dissertations

Professional learning and professional development are the essential tools employed in schools, districts, and universities in order to increase teachers' knowledge and skills. To gain the most from professional development in middle schools, the experiences and activities must be based on standards. Few researchers explore how teachers think about the context, process, and content of current professional development at the middle school level. This dissertation examines how teacher learning is demonstrated in professional development activities and experience and assesses whether middle school teachers' perceptions of their professional development experiences is aligned to the standards of Learning Forward (2001) (formerly the …

The Effects Of Curriculum And Social Capital On Post-Secondary Educational Attainment Among Public High School Students: A Multi-Level Analysis, Elisabeth Davis

Dissertations

Using a social capital framework, the current study examined the effect of curriculum and cohort size in addition to parental and teacher social capital factors on public high school students' likelihood of college attendance. Using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling with the ELS (2002), student and school level factors were examined on the likelihood of postsecondary educational attainment among public high school students. At the student level, girls, students with higher SES, more intergenerational closure and higher parent and teacher educational expectations were significantly more likely to pursue postsecondary enrollment. At the school level, lower percentages of girls in the cohort, …

Effects Of Functional Communication Training (Fact) On The Communicative, Self-Initiated Toileting Behavior For Students With Developmental Disabilities In A School Setting, Jinnie Kim

Dissertations

Far less is known about the effects of functional communication-based toileting interventions for students with developmental disabilities in a school setting. Furthermore, the currently available toileting interventions for students with disabilities include some undesirable procedures such as the use of punishment, unnatural clinic/university settings as opposed to more natural school/home settings, and prompt-based as opposed to communicative, self-initiating skills. The current study examined the effectiveness of FCT on the incidence of communicative, self-initiated toileting and of toileting accidents without any punishment components, which were often considered as necessary in traditional toileting procedures. A multiple baseline design was used for the …

An Exploration Of Current Practices In Curricular Design Of Resident Assistant Training Programs, Virginia Albaneso Koch

Dissertations

In the last 15 years there has been little research about the design of resident assistant (RA) training programs in higher education (Bowman & Bowman, 1995, 1998; Wesolowski, Bowman, & Adams, 1996). A RA is an enrolled student who is selected, trained, and supervised to serve as a part-time, paraprofessional employee for a housing and/or residential life department at a college or university. The lack of research was surprising given the time, effort, and institutional resources invested in employing, training, and supervising RAs. The purpose of this study was to explore how contemporary RA training programs were designed and the …

The Computer Integration Into The Efl Instruction In Indonesia: An Analysis Of Two University Instructors In Integrating Computer Technology Into Elf Instruction To Encourage Students' Language Learning Engagement, Pius Nurwidasa Prihatin

Dissertations

Computer technology has been popular for teaching English as a foreign language in non-English speaking countries. This case study explored the way language instructors designed and implemented computer-based instruction so that students are engaged in English language learning. This study explored the beliefs, practices and perceptions of university faculty in integrating computer technology into English instruction. This research was conducted in English education program in Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia. Communicative language teaching, Engagement Theory, and learner-centered principles were used as the pillars for developing the theoretical framework. The researcher conducted interviews, observed the classroom situation, and reviewed teaching instruments. This …

Teachers' Concerns Regarding The Implementation Of Integrated Thematic Instruction: A Study Of Primary Grade Teachers In Kanisius Catholic Schools In Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Catur Rismiati

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore primary grade teachers' stages of concern and their implementation of an educational reform initiative called Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI) in Indonesia. The Indonesian minister of education mandated primary grade teachers to implement ITI in 2006. Using a convenience sampling method, 150 Kanisius primary grade teachers participated in the study. The data collection method used was a questionnaire that consisted of three parts: The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ), the Integrated Curriculum Implementation Scale, and demographic questions. The data analysis employed in this research were descriptive, a one way ANOVA test and multiple …

A Case Study: The Impact Of An Immersion Experience On The Vocation Of Lay Teacher-Leaders In American Jesuit High Schools, Martin Joseph Schreiber

Dissertations

The purpose of this case study explores the impact of an immersion experience to a least developed country on the vocation of lay teacher leaders in American Jesuit High Schools. Nine lay teacher leaders engaged in a four stage process of immersion from November 2009 to August 2010. The study employed the conceptual framework of Edward Hahnenberg's, "Awakening Vocation" to develop a self-understanding of a lay teacher leader's call. The writings of Paulo Freire, Fredrick Buechner and Parker Palmer informed the study's exploration of vocation. Poetry from Mary Oliver and William Stafford functioned as a method for articulating a lay …

Leadership Team Actions That Manifest Collective Autonomy And Their Impact On Student Growth And Curriculum, Brian Keith Wegley

Dissertations

To be successful in the age of accountability, principals and all school leaders need to continue to build their capacity to lead meaningful, systemic and sustainable student improvement efforts that incorporate the required areas of reading and mathematics. A review of the educational literature revealed several studies that identified the limitations of America's current school accountability movement and described the narrowing of curriculum as a negative side effect of No Child Left Behind.

Educational research on leadership included a multitude of studies and leadership models for implementing change; this study focused on ideas contained within Zmuda, Kuklis and Kline's (2004) …

Professional Learning Communities In Improved Illinois Elementary Schools: The Value Of Professional Learning Communities For Leaders Of Illinois Elementary Schools Formerly In "No Child Left Behind" Status, Steven James Thomas

Dissertations

The "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 has created a system, which potentially labeled 82% of US school as "failing" in 2011. Consequences for failing schools go beyond public ostracism to the release of numerous staff and school leaders or the closing of the school. Reforms to prevent these consequences come in two forms, structural and cultural. Structural reforms in schools are often include hiring staff or implementing new programs. Often structural reforms only focus on non-proficient or nearly proficient students. Cultural reforms change the way staff educate all students. One …

Examining Female Principals That Lead Within The Same Schools That They Once Taught, Erica Michele Jordan

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine female principals that once taught within the school that they now lead. This study explored the transition from colleague to superior and discussed Sergiovanni's Sources of Authority (1992) that are employed by female administrators to balance social relationships while maintaining high levels of teacher expectations, conducting formal/informal evaluations, and exerting disciplinary actions when appropriate. This study served to explain what happened to social relationships when there was a positional power shift over a person where a friendship had previously been established.

Eleven female principals throughout suburban areas of Chicago, Illinois, that once …

Culturally Responsive Teaching: An Investigation Of Effective Practices For African American Learners, Antonia L. Hill

Dissertations

Diversity increasingly characterizes the population of the United States. As the number of African Americans, Latina/os, and Asian populations increase, there will be drastic implications for teaching and learning in classrooms where students of color dominate. The purpose of this mixed methodological study was to examine the characteristics, practices and frequency of use of fifty -two strategies employed by two teachers in a predominately African American urban public school to determine their impact on student learning and engagement. The fifty-two effective and culturally responsive strategies used in this study were created by Dr. Johnnie McKinley, Professor in Educational Psychology at …

Parents' Perceptions Of Teenage Pregnancy, Mayra Nava

Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to shed light on Latino/a parents' perceptions and attitudes about adolescent pregnancy. This study aims to reveal how parental perceptions and attitudes may impact parental communication with their children about teen pregnancy. Considering that parents play in important role in adolescent pregnancy prevention, this research study attempts to shed light on the nature of how parents perceive adolescent pregnancy and communication about teen pregnancy. The goal of this study was to answer the following two questions: 1.What are some of the variables that influence how Latino/a parents of high school students at an urban …