Education Commons^™

Fifth-Grade Students' Tactical Understanding, Decision-Making And Transfer Of Knowledge In A Tactical Games Model Net/Wall Sampling Unit, Heidi Renee Bohler

Open Access Dissertations

The Tactical Games Model (TGM) is an instructional model in which the primary assumption is to facilitate students' tactical understanding of games (i.e., response-selection and execution processes). Additionally, there is speculation that tactical understanding of one game transfers to other tactically similar games (Mitchell, Oslin & Griffin, 2006, p. 20). Limited research has been conducted regarding student response selection processes, problem representations, knowledge base development, or transfer of learning in this model. Griffin and Patton (2005) called for examination of TGM through an information processing lens. Examining action, condition, and goal responses of novice physical education students could provide significant …

Evaluating Irt- And Ctt-Based Methods Of Estimating Classification Consistency And Accuracy Indices From Single Administrations, Nina Deng

Open Access Dissertations

Three decision consistency and accuracy (DC/DA) methods, the Livingston and Lewis (LL) method, LEE method, and the Hambleton and Han (HH) method, were evaluated. The purposes of the study were (1) to evaluate the accuracy and robustness of these methods, especially when their assumptions were not well satisfied, (2) to investigate the " true" DC/DA indices in various conditions, and (3) to assess the impact of choice of reliability estimate on the LL method.

Four simulation studies were conducted. Study 1 looked at various test lengths. Study 2 focused on local item dependency (LID). Study 3 checked the consequences of …

Sometimes Sisters: An Exploration Of The Culture Of Historically Black Colleges And Universities And Its Impact On The Campus Climate For Lesbian And Bisexual Female Students, Donique R. Mcintosh

Open Access Dissertations

For approximately the last 20 years, researchers have studied the "environment" for students who are lesbian, gay, and bisexual. However, there has been little empirical research on the experiences of lesbian, bisexual, or gay students at historically Black colleges and universities. Most of the literature to date has focused on students at predominantly White institutions and students who are male. Further, HBCUs have long-been lauded for the unique educational experience they have created for African American students in general as evidenced by reports of greater satisfaction, faculty and social support, positive self-images, strong racial pride, and better psychosocial adjustment (Allen, …

What's So Different About Making A Difference?! Transforming The Discourse Of Worklife And Career, Burton Israel Woolf

Open Access Dissertations

This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of five individuals who shifted their work and career from the business world to the nonprofit service sector. Through in-depth personal accounts, I show how the research participants made sense of "work" and "career" as they moved through, and after they completed the transition out of the business setting; and the degree to which their subjective experiences in the nonprofit work environment transformed their prior perspectives on "work life" and "career" that had been shaped by their experiences in the business world. According to the literature of subjective career development (how people shape …

Reflective Practice For Leadership (Rpl), Sarah Bedingfield

CCLA Capstone Projects

The Reflective Practice for leadership described in this project leans towards a wellcrafted exercise, a struchn·ed and collaborative approach to solving professional dilemmas. Reflective Practice can occur individually, with a partner, or within a group. In this project, reflective practice is a collective inquiry and exploration of the knowledge, skills and behaviors that support leadership development within the context of a group, individuals critically examine why certain situations result in stress, confusion, or concern and what strategies exist to bring resolution or clarity to the presenting issue. Moreover, the two major goals for RPL are: (I) to create a forum …

Open English: Introducing Accelerated Learning In Developmental Coursework At Stcc, Marcia Sias

CCLA Capstone Projects

College level writing and reading have an important role in completion and college success. Most studens who join STCC are underprepared students and this Open English project is a method that makes more accessible higher education to those students. Open English accelerated learning is the latest addition to advances at STCC in developing to make higher education more accessible to underprepared student. It is included as one of many initiatives such as extended contact time, intrusive advising, and learning communities encouraging college success. Open English applies principles of accelerated developed over time in adult learning and continuing classes for people …

Community Colleges And The Pursuit Of Larger Grants: Strategies For Success, Steven George Budd

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand those factors that lead some community colleges to be more successful than others in pursuing and obtaining large grants. The impetus for the study derived from the experience of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and its effort to increase grant submission rates and successful awards to community colleges. A key concern of the NSF was why a small sample of some 150 colleges, out of the universe of 1,200 community colleges, are repeatedly successful well beyond the norm in obtaining NSF grants.

The primary research question addressed by the study is “why …

Students As Customers: The Influence Of Neoliberal Ideology And Free-Market Logic On Entering First-Year College Students, Daniel Brian Saunders

Open Access Dissertations

Scholars have documented the ways in which the influence of neoliberal ideology, and particularly the extension of free-market logic, has resulted in meaningful changes within colleges and universities in the United States. However, largely omitted from these discussions is the impact of neoliberal ideology on college students. Concurrent with the discussion concerning neoliberalism and higher education, a separate dialogue focusing on the rise of the conceptualization of students as customers has been occurring amongst higher education scholars. Such an understanding of college students is consistent with free-market logic, as the relationship between students and their institutions become defined in economic …

Reading First/Bay State Reading Initiative: Public Vs. Private Implementation-Which Produces The Best Results?, Marlene A. Di Leo

Open Access Dissertations

The dissertation is a study to determine which program, Reading First or Bay State Reading Initiative, will demonstrate the greatest gains in reading for students in grades K-3 using a 3-Tier Reading Model. The findings from this study are intended to provide pertinent information on which best practices work in increasing student achievement for reading. Education reform continues to be a hot topic at all levels within the United States. With the spending of billions of federals, state and local dollars, the persistent talk of accountability is ongoing. Since NCLB inception, the year 2014 when all students need to reach …

It's Nothing Personal: Competing Discourses For Girls And Women In Mathematics, Shannon Dawn Bryant

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation used a post-structural feminist theoretical lens to examine women’s under-representation in mathematics graduate programs and careers. Five dominant discourses that potentially influence women’s decision to enter mathematical careers were discussed, including how those discourses interact in competing and complementary ways to shape women’s and men’s ideas about the nature of mathematics. The study investigated the long-term impact of a single-sex reform-based summer mathematics program on high school girls. The study utilized a variety of data collection techniques including surveys, field observations, phenomenological interviews, and artifact collection. Nine participants who were enrolled in a summer mathematics program for high …

Financial Literacy And Women: Overcoming The Barriers, Melissa A. Donohue

Open Access Dissertations

Women are facing increasing financial responsibility, while at the same time, the consumer financial world is evolving at an extraordinary pace. These trends make a imperative that we better understand the evolving nature of gender-based inequities across our current socio-economic systems and intentionally examine those areas that are most essential in accelerating the narrowing of these gaps. The results of the study indicate that the assumption can on longer be made that women simply need better financial knowledge in order to reach a certain level of financial behavior, without increased access to capital. This study shows that the re-examination of …

Fulfilling Their Dreams: Latina/O College Student Narratives On The Impact Of Parental Involvement On Their Academic Engagement, Jennifer Md Matos

Open Access Dissertations

The construction of parental involvement as it was introduced into American schools over 90 years ago marginalizes Latina/o students and families. While research exists on the positive impact of Latina/o parental involvement as well as cultural parenting practices unique to Latina/o culture that foster academic success, much remains to be learned. What teachers and administrators in K-12 and higher education settings have not yet widely considered are how Latina/o students bring with them six forms of cultural capital transmitted to them via their parents to persist in hostile environments such as predominantly White institutions (PWIs). This qualitative study addresses what …

Education In A Hip-Hop Nation: Our Identity, Politics & Pedagogy, Marcella Runell Hall

Open Access Dissertations

Contemporary Hip-Hop scholarship has revealed that Hip-Hop is a racially diverse, youth-driven culture, and is intimately connected to prior and on-going social justice movements (Chang, 2004; Kitwana, 2002). This study explores its Afro-Diasporic and activist origins, as well as the theoretical impact of Hip-Hop culture on the identity and pedagogy of educators belonging to the Hip-Hop generation(s). This qualitative study also examines how Hip-Hop culture impacts educators’ identity, politics and personal pedagogy, while seeking to create a new model of Social Justice Hip-Hop Pedagogy. This study was produced through twenty-three in-depth interviews with influential Hip-Hop educators (Aberbach & Rockman, 2002) …

The Cost Of Caring: An Investigation In The Effects Of Teaching Traumatized Children In Urban Elementary Settings, Anthony C. Hill

Open Access Dissertations

This study investigates the “the cost of caring” (Figley, 1995) for educators who teach and work with traumatized children; that is children who live in challenging social environments with ongoing stressors, such as family physical abuse, sexual assault, neglect, community violence, bereavement and loss issues, parental mental health and substance abuse, and homelessness. This study examines the theoretical framework of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). The phenomenon of STS has been investigated in depth for professionals, such as social workers, counselors/therapists, hotline/crisis workers, law enforcement officers, nurses, emergency medical technicians/paramedics, firefighters, and disaster relief workers (Bride et al, 2007). This study …

The Forgotten Voices Behind Designated Diversity Initiatives: Perspectives From Students Of Color Living In A Multicultural Residential Community, Kathy Sisneros

Open Access Dissertations

Colleges and universities have become increasingly diverse since Brown .v Board of Education requiring that institutions figure out how to manage a more racially diverse student body. Unfortunately, many predominantly White institutions (PWIs) continue to fall short in attending to the specific needs for students of color to feel included and supported. The primary purpose of this study is to learn more about how students of color experience and make meaning of cross-racial relationships in designated multicultural program. I intend to specifically focus on the experiences of students of color who have self-selected to live in a designated multicultural community. …

The Effects Of Multiple External Mandates On Curriculum, Pedagogy And Child Activity In The Preschool Classroom, Kathleen A. Strub-Richards

Open Access Dissertations

Within the last decade, the pressures of implementing state mandated early learning guidelines and meeting the requirements from federal, state and local agencies, have taken their toll on many preschool programs. In the present study, preschool programs were given a chance to voice their opinions about how curriculum standards and other external mandates were directly and indirectly influencing curriculum planning, teaching practices, and child activity. A brief survey was sent to 90 preschool directors in a region in Massachusetts, 28 directors completed this survey. A sample of nine directors, from the survey respondents, volunteered to be interviewed. In two separate …

A Process Of Becoming: U.S. Born African American And Black Women In The Process Of Liberation From Internalized Racism, Tanya Ovea Williams

Open Access Dissertations

Internalized racism is a contributing factor to the inability of African Americans to overcome racism. (Speight, 2007) Because this is a cognitive phenomenon over which individuals can have agency, it is important to study, understand, and seek out ways that African Americans are able to gain a liberatory perspective in the midst of a racist society. By using colonization psychology and post-traumatic slave psychology to define the phenomenon, and Jackson’s Black identity development model theory to ground and analyze participants’ process of liberation, this study used phenomenological in-depth interviewing to understand the experiences of African American and Black women who …

Is Working Together Worth It? Examining The Relationship Between The Quality Of Teacher Collaboration, Instruction, And Student Achievement, Mark Francis Zito

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a three-year Professional Learning Community (PLC) staff development initiative that took place in a suburban school district in Connecticut. An operational definition for PLCs was developed. This definition may prove beneficial for future research on PLCs. A comprehensive review of the current literature base was conducted, including the detailed examination of one earlier literature review (Vescio et al., 2008) and six empirical studies which examined the relationship between PLC-like initiatives and student performance. The present study builds upon the relevant literature base, specifically by attempting to determine the relationship …

Organizational Decision Making And Goal Setting In Out-Of-School-Time Programs, Jenny Rebecca Hemmingson

Open Access Dissertations

Currently, there is a large body of research examining Out-of-School Time (OST) programs, the goals of these programs, and their reported impact on the youth they serve.

However, there is little evidence of research on how organizations determine which goals best fit the needs of the communities they serve. Concurrently, studies of how organizations put these goals into action are virtually non-existent in the literature.

This study examines how organizations in Massachusetts receiving federal 21st Century Community Learning Center funding make decisions about Out-of-School Time programming. Although the federal grant requirements and the Massachusetts Department of Education impose some uniformity …

Beyond School Inputs And Resources: An Assessment Of The Effects Of Program Intervention On Learning Achievement In Rebep Schools In Sierra Leone, Aiah As Mbayo

Open Access Dissertations

The EFA conference in Dakar 2000 ushered in new momentum for ensuring universal access to education and advocacy for improved educational quality in all aspects (UNESCO, 2000). While significant progress has been made in expanding access in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for girls, efforts to ensure improved educational quality in terms of learning, have not matched the drive for universal educational access. Rather, educational quality in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa has been seriously compromised by rapid expansion given the limited resources.

In many attempts to ensure the delivery of quality education in developing countries, the thrust of delivery strategies has …