Education Commons^™

The Lived Experiences Of Veteran Elementary Urban School Teachers: Why And How They Stay, Cynthia A. Anthony

Dissertations

Longevity in teaching careers depends on many things, including job satisfaction, the work environment, career stages, and strategies to manage stress and avoid burnout. Teachers who have high levels of job satisfaction are more likely to stay in the profession. Job satisfaction is dependent on the motivators in a job: administrative support, collegiality, recognition, advancement, and growth. The work environment, job demands, career development, empowerment, and bureaucracy, plays an important role in retaining teachers.

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine factors that enabled and encouraged a sample of 12 veteran elementary school teachers in a small urban …

Processes, Tools, And Procedures Section 504 Coordinators Use Tocreate And Provide Uniformity Of Section 504 Requirements Across Their Districts, Caroline Breault-Cannon

Dissertations

For public schools to receive federal funds, districts must develop and implement policies that assure a free and appropriate public education to all children including those with disabilities ages three through 21. This can be accomplished through special education or Section 504 policies and services. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe and interpret the processes, tools, and procedures Section 504 Coordinators use to create and provide uniformity of Section 504 requirements across their districts. Specifically, I examined how coordinators ensured their schools (a) identified and located students, (b) made provisions for providing a free and appropriate public …

A Monte Carlo Study Of The Optimal Rank Order Relationship With Criterion Scores, Hongyan Cui

Dissertations

Appropriate scoring methods for tests should be based on theories of the construct domains of such tests (Messick, 1989). This is called structural fidelity (Loevinger, 1957), a necessary but not sufficient condition for construct validity (Keith & Kranzler, 1999). A situation reaction test (SRT) consists of items with alternatives to be ranked according to subjects’ best judgment. Traditional rank scoring methods assume unidimensionality, implying one scoring key for each item – a single external criterion. This is not appropriate when items elicit multidimensional responses determined by subjects’ best judgments based on possibly multiple internal criteria. The purpose of this study …

Meeting The Needs Of Students With Traumatic Brain Lnjury, Heather K. Koole

Dissertations

School reintegration following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) presents a number of challenges. This dissertation comprises three studies exploring common themes of best practice, training, and supporting success for students with TBI in school settings.

Study 1 reports the results of a survey of 70 speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who responded to questions about their use of clinical activities that described more or less contextualized services. Current literature supports contextualized service delivery as best practice. Findings indicated that 98% of participants reported using at least one contextualized practice. Higher use of contextualized practices was associated with working in schools (compared to …

Tatweer School Principals' Perceptions Of New Authorities Grantedin The Lnitial Steps Of Decentralization, Salah Salih Meemar

Dissertations

In 2011, the Saudi Ministry of Education (MOE) conferred 21 new authorities in addition to the previous 31 to their school principals. A main goal in conferring these authorities was to facilitate decentralization of Saudi school districts. To further facilitate decentralization, 900 schools were selected as Tatweer schools. Tatweer, also known as the King Abdullah Public Education Development Project, is a pilot program designed to match Saudi standards of education to that of other nations. To date, few studies have explored principals’ perceptions of the new authorities. A review of literature revealed just three studies on the topic (see Allheani, …

An Examination Of How Feminist Perspectives And Generational Differences Lnfluence The Leadership Practices Of Women Administrators In Higher Education, Marlene Kowalski-Braun

Dissertations

This study explored how feminist perspectives and generational differences influence the leadership practice of women administrators in higher education, specifically, how they lead and create institutional change. It examined the experiences of seven women who identified as feminists, who were part of Generation X, and who were at the mid-level, aspiring to senior-level, or in senior-level positions.

Phenomenology was the qualitative methodology used in this study to uncover how these women made meaning of their feminist and generational identities. The approach was grounded in feminist methodology and utilized feminist standpoint theory to legitimize women as “knowers.” It drew on a …

Place-Based Education: An Impetus For Teacher Efficacy, Tamara Chase Coleman

Dissertations

This research investigated professional development in place-based (PB) methodology on the efficacy of science teachers. While teachers are expected to use best practices they do not always implement them due to a lack of efficacy in implementation. A professional development program (PD) was designed to increase confidence among teachers planning to incorporate PB methods. Place-based education (PBE) is recognized as a best-practice among professional educators. PBE includes the selection, design and engagement with science using the geographic place as the content. The literature reports that student learning and teacher efficacy will improve when teachers are prepared effectively in PB practices. …

Comprehending Male And Female Levels Of Engagement In Subsets Of The National Survey Of Student Engagement: Explicating The Dynamics Of Gender Role Conflict As A Mediating Factor For Males, Jacob Glen Arndt

Dissertations

Male enrollment and graduate rates in higher education have paled in comparison to female achievement since the early 1980’s, and explanations as to the reasons behind why males are falling behind have not been fruitful in addressing these issues. One area that has received very little attention in the literature is the role that gender role conflict may play in male student performance.

The purpose of this research is to explore male and female engagement levels, while attempting to understand if levels of male gender role conflict are a mediating factor of engagement for men. This study utilized the three …

How Do Middle School Core Content Area Teachers In A Title 1 School Use Cooperative Learning In The Context Of High Accountability For Student Proficiency: A Multiple Case Study, Martha Cunigan-Wells

Dissertations

This action research case study describes how content area teachers in a middle school with low reading achievement levels utilize cooperative learning and curriculum integration (with a focus on the integration of literacy skills and thinking skills) in their content area given the current context of accountability for student mastery of tested core content outcomes. The participants were four urban middle school teachers from the core areas of science, social studies, mathematics, and language arts who had varying levels of training and experience with cooperative learning and curriculum integration. Data sources included audio-recorded pre-conferences, video-taped classroom observations, audio-recorded post-conferences, and …

Teachers' Making Meaning Of Reduced Class Sizes: A Phenomenology, Brenda Ludy Snow

Dissertations

It is every teacher’s dream to have a classroom full of students who come to class each and every day highly motivated to learn. However, in all reality teachers know that this is not always the case. Researchers continue to search for reasonable alternatives to improve students’ learning. As children enter school a good start is imperative if they are to succeed in school, (Achilles & Finn, 2000). Class size reduction is a strong alternative and should be considered as part of a reasonable plan for student learning.

For this qualitative study, I examined and described the experiences of 12 …

Formation Of Successful Partnerships Between Rural Community College Workforce Development Offices And Businesses: Motivation, Social Capitaland Communication, Ryan Nausieda

Dissertations

The financial resources in rural areas are not plentiful, which has impacted the workforce development offices’ ability to provide training on their own. These workforce development offices rely on partnerships to provide training to the community. There are multiple motivations that align between workforce development office and community organizations. The social capital in a partnership is utilized in these rural areas to accomplish mutual goals between multiple organizations that one could not complete on alone. Social capital in a partnership includes trust, centrality, information, and density. Communication helps to support the motivation, social capital and hence the sustainability of a …

Instructional Change In Academic Departments: An Analysis From The Perspective Of Two Environment-Focused Change Strategies, Kathleen M. Quardokus

Dissertations

Numerous reports demand changes in college and university teaching practices. This is especially true for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. STEM stakeholders are concerned about student retention within STEM majors, as well as the lack of sufficient graduates with the knowledge to advance these fields. A common conclusion of these reports is that teaching practices must change. Although these calls for change have occurred for decades, STEM fields have yet to experience widespread change. Thus, there is a need for more effective change strategies. Recently, researchers have suggested that effective change strategies should focus on changing the environments …

The Experiences Of Women In Post Graduate Physics And Astronomy Programs: The Roles Of Support, Career Goals, And Gendered Experiences, Ramón S. Barthelemy

Dissertations

In physics and astronomy the low representation of women is obvious at every stage of the educational pathway from undergraduate students to full professors. These low numbers perpetuate themselves by failing to create new mentors to foster the next generation of women. Women and men also have different experiences as they traverse into physics and astronomy careers. Women often experience chilly climates, discrimination, and challenges coordinating the demands of young families with their careers. In the literature exploring this topic, little focus is put on the experiences of women graduate students in physics and no focus is put on women …

Evaluating The Use Of The Math Reasoning Inventory For Improvement In Fraction Instruction, Kathy Huffman Boyer

Dissertations

In an attempt to close the mathematic achievement gap between students from the United States and students from other countries, a new national set of standards, the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, was developed and adopted by the state of Michigan in 2010. These standards emphasize mathematical reasoning and application, rather than the previous emphasis on performing calculations. Unfortunately, teachers generally have had little training in how to assess students’ mathematical reasoning, how to teach mathematical reasoning, or how to provide remediation to those students who show need. The purpose of this study was to see if use of …

A Phenomenological Study Of University Faculty Experiences With Disruptive Undergraduate Students In A Face-To-Face Classroom Or Laboratory Setting, Anne Marie Gillespie

Dissertations

Behavioral review teams on university campuses have become the standard since the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. An institutional assumption is that faculty members will make referrals to these specialized teams when encountering disruptive students within their classrooms. Unknown is what actions faculty members actually take when faced with disruptive students in the classroom. This phenomenological study captures the experiences of faculty members with disruptive undergraduate students in face-to-face university classroom or laboratories.

All of the participants in the study described experiences with disruptive undergraduate students. Three female and three male faculty members, split evenly between tenured/tenure …

Eliciting Elementary School Students’ Informal Inferential Reasoning Through Storytelling, Dustin Owen Smith

Dissertations

One growing area of research on statistical learning is Informal Inferential Reasoning (IIR). Makar and Rubin (2009) describe IIR as having three components: making and evaluating inferential claims, supporting claims explicitly with data, and attending to the inherent uncertainty present in statistical inference-making. This dissertation study was built around developing a method for providing opportunities for elementary school students (Grades K, 2, and 4) to engage with IIR within the context of stories and storytelling through a method called Storytelling-Questioning. After interacting with and discussing two separate stories, it was found that students of each grade level were able to …

Implementation Of A Modified Reading Program In An Urban High School Setting, Ann Vayre

Dissertations

READ 180 is a popular reading program among high schools seeking to improve their reading scores. To date, few studies have examined modified versions of the program, with none focusing on the fidelity of implementation. This study examines a modified READ 180 program where scheduling only allowed for a 50-minute per day block of time, in contrast to the 90-minutes utilized in the original design. Research questions focus on urban high school teachers’ usage of READ 180 components and strategies, consistency with the program’s original design, the level of importance teachers attached to each of the components and strategies, and …

Career And Technical Education And The Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award In Education, Patricia Crum-Allen

Dissertations

This study examined Career and Technical Education (CTE) Centers in the State of Michigan and their potential alignment with the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award in Education. CTE center leaders and their faculty were asked to provide their perceptions of how well their organizations meet Baldrige quality elements, using a version of the Baldrige Assessment Tool. The study further queried CTE center leaders and their faculty with regard to quality awards received and their desire to pursue an external quality award. Differences between CTE leaders and faculty responses were explored.

This study was quantitative in design using survey research to gather …

The Experiences Of Latina/O Executives In Higher Education, Leonard A. Savala Iii

Dissertations

This study will examine the experiences of Latina/o executives (President, Chancellor, Chief of Staff, Executive Vice President, Chief Academic Officer (CAO)/Provost, Central Senior Academic Affairs Officer, Dean of Academic College, Senior Administrative Officer, Senior External Affairs Officer and Chief Enrollment Management Officer, or any administrator with Vice President in their title) in higher education. Throughout the United States there are very few Latina/o executives at either community colleges or four-year universities. Of those Latina/o executives, most serve at community colleges instead of four-year universities. Those Latinos who have served in executive positions have acquired a wealth of knowledge through their …

Principal-Teacher’S Decision-Making Power Relationship: A National Study Based On Sass 2003-04 Data, Jiangang Xia

Dissertations

There is a theoretical controversy in the literature of educational leadership over whether principal-teacher’s power relationship is a zero-sum game or a win-win situation. The zero-sum game theory implies that when teachers gain more power, principals have less, and when teachers have less power, principals gain more. In contrast, the win-win theory suggests that to share power with teachers potentially increases principal’s power as well.

There are two issues involved with this controversy: first, researchers debate whether principal-teacher’s power relationship is a win-win situation or zero-sum game, however, the power concept and power relationship were not clearly conceptualized; and, second, …

Conceptual Framework Alignment Between Primary Literature And Education In Animal Behaviour, Andrea Marie-Kryger Bierema

Dissertations

In 1963, Tinbergen revolutionized the study of animal behaviour in his paper On aims and methods of ethology (Zeitschrift Tierpsycholgie, 20, 410-433) by revamping the conceptual framework of the discipline. His framework suggests an integration of four questions: causation, ontogeny, survival value, and evolution. The National Research Council Committee (U.S.) on Undergraduate Biology Education to Prepare Research Scientists for the 21^st Century published BIO2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003), which suggests alignment between current research and undergraduate education. Unfortunately, alignment has been rarely studied in college biology, especially for fundamental …

Using Case Method To Explicitly Teach Formative Assessment In Preservice Teacher Science Education, Amy Elizabeth Bentz

Dissertations

The process of formative assessment improves student understanding; however, the topic of formative assessment in preservice education has been severely neglected. Since a major goal of teacher education is to create reflective teaching professionals, preservice teachers should be provided an opportunity to critically reflect on the use of formative assessment in the classroom. Case method is an instructional methodology that allows learners to engage in and reflect on real-world situations. Case based pedagogy can play an important role in enhancing preservice teachers’ ability to reflect on teaching and learning by encouraging alternative ways of thinking about assessment.

Although the literature …

A Method For Assessing And Describing The Informal Inferential Reasoning Of Middle School Students, Joshua Michael Goss

Dissertations

Informal Inferential Reasoning (IIR) has emerged in the last decade in the study of statistics education. Developing students’ IIR ability is seen as a way of preparing students for the important topic of Formal Statistical Inference (FSI); however, research is still needed in order to investigate how students transition between informal and formal statistical reasoning. A primary difficulty is that we do not have a way of assessing and describing students’ IIR ability levels. In order to address this, an Assessment of Informal Inferential Reasoning (AIIR) was developed, along with a Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO) taxonomy (Biggs & …

Problem-Based Learning (Pbl) In The College Chemistry Laboratory: Students’ Perceptions Of Pbi And Its Relationship With Attitude And Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Lloyd Madalitso P. Mataka

Dissertations

A convergent mixed methods research study was used to investigate whether or not students who participated in the problem based learning (PBL) environment improved their self-efficacy beliefs (SEBs) in and attitudes toward chemistry. The study also investigated the students’ views of the PBL environment. The Chemistry Attitude and Experience Questionnaire (CAEQ) was used as a pre- and post-test to determine changes in students’ attitudes and SEBs. The PBL Environment Inventory (PBLEI) was used to investigate students’ views of the PBL environment. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to re-validate both instruments with the study group: students in general chemistry laboratories at …

Integrating Nanotechnology Into The Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum: The Impact On Students’ Affective Domain, Jacinta M. Mutambuki

Dissertations

High attrition rates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) continue to be documented in the undergraduate education in the United States (U.S.). There is a growing concern that the U.S. will fall short of 3 million graduates by 2018. Furthermore, the literature indicates that about 36% of 4-year college graduates lack adequate critical thinking skills, complex reasoning, and communication skills relevant to the current job market. Reasons for these observations relate to the overemphasis on content knowledge; lack of content relevance; lack of interest in STEM courses; and dominance of expository teaching methods in classrooms. Given its relevance in …

An Evaluation Of Various Safmeds Procedures, Shawn Patrick Quigley

Dissertations

Lindsley developed Say-All-Fast-Minute-Every-Day-Shuffled, or SAFMEDS, in the late 1970’s to enhance the typical use of flashcards (Graf & Auman, 2005). The acronym was developed specifically to guide the learner’s behavior when using flashcards. A review of SAFMEDS research indicates it has been utilized with children, college students and older adults with and without disabilities. The literature also indicates the SAFMEDS procedures used are not well documented or have multiple variations limiting practitioners’ ability to know what procedure to use and when. Furthermore, future SAFMEDS research is hampered by variations in the independent variable (i.e., SAFMEDS). The purpose of this study …

Teacher Trust Levels And How They Differ Between School Settings And Impact Teacher Involvement In Student Achievement Activities, Gretchen Kaeding Bergan

Dissertations

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has brought accountability to the world of education. The Act’s purpose was to bring a standards-based educational reform process nationally by establishing measurable goals and high academic standards for students and teachers. The mandate to the states from the federal government specified that each state set up incremental assessments of all children, and schools have responded with significant efforts to improve student outcomes. One factor, teacher-to-teacher trust levels, has been shown through research (Bryk & Schneider, 1996) to improve professional working environments and student learning.

This was a comparison study of teacher-to-teacher …

Elementary Principals’ Perspectives On Newly Graduated General Education Teachers’ Abilities To Teach Students With Disabilities In Inclusion Classrooms, Darla Jane England

Dissertations

Increasing numbers of students with disabilities are being educated in inclusive settings within elementary public schools across the United States. General education teachers are being hired to fill these positions, yet the characteristics principals view as necessary for them to be effective in such classrooms had yet to be explored. This study captured data on the knowledge, skills, and experiences candidates, coming directly out of college, should and do possess in order to be effective inclusion teachers. Principals’ perspectives on inclusion, as well as possible predictors for such perspectives, were also examined.

An online survey was used to collect the …

Examining The Operant Function Of Feedback: Evaluation Of The Temporal Location Of Feedback, Elian Aljadeff-Abergel

Dissertations

Despite the common use of feedback in most training settings, it is not yet clear what behavioral function feedback serves. Most researchers consider feedback to function as a consequence and advocate for its immediate delivery in the form of “on the spot” supervision or after-session conferencing. The literature suggests that when compared, “on the spot” supervision is found more effective than after session conferencing. In spite these findings, most supervisors are still implementing after-session conferencing. This is probably due to the limited feasibility of performing “on the spot” supervision when supervising teachers implementing whole class or small group instruction. One …

Elementary School Teachers’ Use Of Curricular Resources For Lesson Design And Enactment, Napthalin Achubang Atanga

Dissertations

This study investigated how teachers used curricular resources to teach mathematics with two different curriculum programs, a commercially developed program (Scott Foresman Addison Wesley-Mathematics) and an NSF-funded reform program (Investigations in Number, Data, and Space). This research examines the kinds of curricular resources available to six teachers (three per program), those resources they planned to use, those actually used, ways teachers used curricular resources in association with each other, and types of adaptations made. As a result, I developed insights into capacities teachers need to use curricular resources in a connected way toward the mathematical points …