Education Commons^™

Diverse Perspectives On The Living-Learning Community Experience At A Large Public University, Amy Griffin Lorenz

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to investigate the specific experiences and program characteristics that students, faculty, and staff experience in the living-learning communities. This paper summarizes the findings of a program evaluation inclusive of a survey and interview protocol on the student, faculty, and staff experiences in living-learning communities (LLCs) at a large, public university in the southeast. The study employed a mixed methods design including a student survey and faculty/staff interviews. Data shows LLC students value the living-learning community experience and have positive experiences with the LLC academic and social climate and believe their peers support the diverse …

School Psychology Shortages In West Virginia, Elizabeth Anne Sutfin

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The United States continues to experience a shortage of school psychologists nationwide which has been found to impact both students and school psychologists in negative ways. There is a broad scope of practice that school psychologists are competently able to provide but are physically unable to deliver because of their need to focus on required assessments and testing. Overwhelming workloads can create stress and lead to burnout. However, little research has been done to understand the shortage of school psychologists in the country, including the state of West Virginia. To better understand West Virginia’s shortage problem, this researcher conducted a …

An Examination Of The Use Of The Bess With Rural Appalachian Preschoolers, Savana B. Earnest

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The use of universal behavioral screenings is endorsed by school psychology training programs as a gold standard of practice, but the implementation of these screenings is less common. Due to this, it is crucial that research examines reliability, validity, and all other psychometric properties when implementing a universal behavioral screening. Literature tells us that the BESS TRSP has shown to have moderate-to-high predictive validity and high stability coefficients in a variety of urban and rural populations of preschool and school age children. This research examined stability of high and low risk scores on the BESS TRSP within a rural Appalachian …

An Investigation Of The Effect Of Selected Policy Elements On The Function Of Faculty In An Online Learning Environment, Sara Ann Brown

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study examined the perceptions of online teaching faculty and the workload policies which do not often account for the differences in requirements for online teaching including time commitments, professional development and training, technology access and support, and quality standards for course development and teaching. Full-time and adjunct faculty assigned to teach at least one fully online course within the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) were included in the study and surveyed electronically. The survey addressed common differences for online teaching and allowed respondents (N = 509) to provide additional comments for each section. While improvements to online …

Faculty And Administrator’S Perspective On Degree Completion Initiatives In The Commonwealth Of Kentucky, Jennifer Hammonds

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this research is to better understand the factors in students’ lives that determine why they fail to earn a degree and how institutions retain or recruit back stopouts for completion of certificates and degrees. Degree completion is a national, state, and institutional priority as all groups are falling short on meeting degree attainment goals. Currently, there is an abundance of literature on why students stopout. The literature does not directly propose strategies that would increase degree completion or determine the necessary faculty and staff training needed to implement those strategies. This research helps fill the gap in …

Perceived Stress And Burnout In Athletic Training Students, Desiree Nicole Daniels

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Athletic training students can experience stress and symptoms of burnout and there is empirical support for a relationship between stress and burnout in health professions students in fields such as medicine and nursing. ^1-3 However, prior research on the relationship between stress and burnout has been limited in athletic training students. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between perceived stress and symptoms of burnout in athletic training students. Two hundred thirty athletic training students from 61 institutions completed an online questionnaire consisting of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the Burnout Clinical Subtype Questionnaire - Student …

Teacher Perceptions Of E-Learning During Covid-19 In Low-And-High-Income Schools, Thomas Allen Cooper Ii

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study examined if there were significant differences among K-12 teachers at low-income and high-income schools on their perceptions of various aspects of e-learning due to COVID-19. The study also sought to collect data concerning how teachers’ perceptions of technology may have changed, what factors impacted their ability to conduct e-learning, and what factors most impacted their students’ performance during e-learning due to COVID-19. A concurrent nested mixed-methods design was used. A 15-item self-report survey containing both Likert scale and open-ended questions was developed by the researcher to assess differences in teachers’ perceptions. Findings indicated a statistically significant difference in …

Adaptation Of The Brockton High School Literacy Initiative To Elementary Schools In Jackson County, West Virginia, Sonya Jane White

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Implementing organizational change related to student achievement is a daunting task that requires buy-in, planning and support structures to ensure fidelity of implementation in the classroom over many years. Brockton High School’s Literacy Model demonstrated such a change is possible and sustainable. Elementary schools in Jackson County, West Virginia were given a mandate from their superintendent to implement the Brockton High School Literacy Model in the kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms in their schools. The immediate concern was how to successfully modify or adapt a high school model to be appropriate for students who were still learning to read and …

Filling The Middle Skills Gap: Increasing Silver-Level Career Readiness Certificate Attainment In Mississippi, Steven Wayne Pickering

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to examine the effectiveness of Smart Start Career Pathway as a method of supporting student success on the ACT WorkKeys assessment. Since the 1970s, the skills gap has been a national concern as workforce demand has outpaced supply. As a means of connecting individuals to the workforce, Mississippi adopted ACT WorkKeys and the National Career Ready Certificate (NCRC). As a result, programs such as Smart Start have been developed and deployed to support success in achievement in ACT WorkKeys and NCRC.

This causal comparative study was conducted utilizing a convenience sample of 1,001 participants …

A Phenomenological Study: Understanding Teacher Experiences With Grief In The Classroom, Melissa A. Cyfers

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Teachers entering the classroom along with teachers who have been in the classroom for a long time often find themselves dealing with grieving students. Grief is something that everyone is familiar with, especially when dealing with a death. Often what is not so familiar are other events that can cause a grief response. Teachers spend a lot of time in training and being trained on many facets of education, emergency drills, and many things they may or may not encounter. Yet, a student expressing some type of grief is something nearly every teacher has encountered but has not been trained …

Corequisite Mathematics: A Program Analysis At The College Level, Shannon Miller-Mace

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Many incoming college freshmen who do not meet minimum standardized exam cut-score requirements are often determined to be not ready for college-level coursework and registered for pre-requisite, multi-semester, remedial course sequences. The goal of pre-requisite courses is to prepare students for college-level courses prior to enrollment in college-level classes. However, based on multiple studies, traditional, pre-requisite developmental education has become a barrier to student success. In contrast, the co-requisite instructional model enrolls students into their college-level, credit-bearing course in their first semester on a college campus, improving the likelihood of success in those courses and beyond. The purpose of this …

School Climate For Lgbtq Youth: Principals’ Perceptions And Experiences, Jessica L. George

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study explored the practices that can mitigate a hostile school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth and the barriers that negatively affect implementation of those practices. LGBTQ youth are at higher risk for bullying, harassment, and other characteristics of a harsh learning environment, which can result in negative outcomes, both short- and long-term. Principals of West Virginia public high schools were surveyed to collect data on the frequency at which LGBTQ-supportive practices are implemented in their schools and the barriers, if any, they faced. A total of n = 29 (x̄ = 27.6%) participants completed …