Education Commons^™

Teaching And Learning Algebra 1 Via An Intelligent Tutor System: Effects On Student Engagement And Achievement, Karen Kerner Lucas

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated the implementation and outcomes of blended learning that integrated Apangea Math, an online intelligent tutor system (ITS), with face-to-face instruction for the teaching and learning of Algebra 1. It took place in a Title I urban high school where 75 ninth grade students and their teachers enacted the blended learning program for one semester. Students from the same high school who received face-to-face instruction alone during a previous semester served as a comparison group. Flow theory was proposed as an explanation for why the ITS program was expected to increase student engagement and improve student achievement.

This …

Self-Directed Learning: A Potential Predictor For Technology Integration Among K-12 Teachers, Julia Marie Kirk

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between technology integration and self-directed learning readiness among K-12 teachers in one large southeastern school district. The intent was to determine the extent to which self-directed learning might predict the level of technology integration. In this study, the Levels of Teaching Innovation (LoTi) (Moersch, 2010) instrument was utilized to measure the level of technology integration (Technology Integration), current instructional practices (CIP), and personal computer use (PCU) of K-12 teachers. Additionally, the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) (Guglielmino, 1977) was employed to measure self-directed learning readiness in K-12 teachers.

To conduct …

Urban Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives And Practices, Meredith Elise Murray

Doctoral Dissertations

Urban teachers alone cannot solve the complex social and economic problems that plague urban communities and schools; however, their efforts to effectively educate inner-city youth can begin to break the cycle of disadvantage. Therefore, urban teachers’ perspectives are essential in understanding the process of effectively instructing urban youth. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives and practices of five urban educators through a postpositive theoretical lens. Participants for this study were five urban educators kindergarten through fourth grade, all of whom were teaching at one urban school. The participating teachers were chosen by criterion sampling with the …

An Analysis Of The Values And Spirituality Profiles Of College And University Presidents By Carnegie Classification, Harold Wayne Ballard

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether there are significant differences in the spirituality and value profiles of the presidents of institutions with differing Carnegie Classification: Associates Institutions, Arts & Sciences Plus Professions four year colleges and universities, and Research universities. This study extends the scope of the growing, but limited research conducted in the past twenty years on spirituality and leadership.

This study employed the use of three survey instruments, the Rokeach Value Survey, the Ballard & Bogue Spirituality Assessment, and a demographic questionnaire in an online survey. Three hundred and seventy seven presidents of American colleges …

A Case Study Of Two Exemplary Black Cultural Centers In Higher Education, Demetrius D. Richmond

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Despite their long-standing history and contribution to the success of Black students at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), many Black Cultural Centers (BCCs) face uncertain futures, and others do not. Some BCCs have closed, some have been transformed in name and mission, and some have persevered and have become "exemplar" centers. These exemplary centers have been expanded and given more responsibility and resources by their institutions, and are clearly not feeling a threat to their identity or future. In a time when so many BCCs at PWIs are under threat, what is it about some centers that allows them to …

A Phenomenological Study Of Doctoral Student Attrition In Counselor Education, John Anthony Breckner

Doctoral Dissertations

Approximately half of doctoral students will withdraw from study before completing their doctorates (Bair & Haworth, 1999). The author sought to add to the limited literature pertaining to doctoral student attrition specifically in the field of counselor education. Phenomenology grounded the work of obtaining (a) enrollment experiences of students who withdrew from counselor education doctoral programs, and (b) thoughts/emotions associated with withdrawing from study. Findings included an application of doctoral attrition to Tinto’s (1975) Interactionalist model, how doctoral attrition continues to be an invisible problem, and recommendations for both doctoral students struggling to persevere and counselor education programs striving to …

Impacts Of An Interdisciplinary Research Center On Participant Publication And Collaboration Activities, Pamela Rene Bishop

Doctoral Dissertations

Interdisciplinary research centers are typically presented as a means for exploiting opportunities in science where the complexity of the research problem calls for sustained interaction among multiple disciplines. This study analyzed the effects of an interdisciplinary research center (NIMBioS) on the publication and collaboration behaviors of faculty affiliated with the center. The study also sought to determine what factors contributed to these effects for participants whose publication and collaboration behaviors were changed the most after affiliation.

The study employed a mixed-method case study approach, using quantitative bibliometric data along with qualitative data collected from interviews. Publication data for each participant …

Examining The Effects Of A High School Healthcare Summer Immersion Program, Jenny M. Holcombe Curry

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to assess the effectiveness of the DREAMWork (Diversity Recruitment and Education to Advance Minorities in the nursing Workforce) summer high school program within the context of the substantial current and anticipated nursing shortage in the United States (Buerhaus, 2002). Previous research has shown that creating positive perceptions of nursing through programs like DREAMWork can lead to an increase in student desire to pursue a career in nursing (Cohen, Palumbo, Rambur, & Mongeon, 2004; Tomey, Schwier, Marticke, & May, 1996). More specifically, this study was interested in …

Opting Out: Non-Participation In An Educational Assistance Program, Mary Elizabeth Lucal

Doctoral Dissertations

Educational assistance programs have existed in the United States since as early as 1952. These programs, in which employers pay for employees to complete post-secondary coursework, are popular among employers as recruitment and retention tools (Babcock, 2009; Buddin & Kapur, 2002; Cappelli, 2004; Manchester, 2008; Meisler, 2004; SHRM, 2009). They are viewed by employees as a means to accomplish personal goals (Jacobs, Skillings, & Yu, 2001). Yet, at last count, only 8% to 9% of eligible employees participated in classes through educational assistance (General Accounting Office, 1996). Little is known about why employees choose not to participate in educational assistance …

The Role Of Faculty In Institutional Decision Making, Marisa Ann Galick Moazen

Doctoral Dissertations

Faculty participation in the governance of institutions of higher education is a critical element in the founding structure for American universities. This expectation and willingness to participate has been affected by contemporary factors such as accountability, shifting priorities among teaching, service, and research, corporatization, and retrenchment. Comparing faculty perceptions between Dykes 1968 landmark study and faculty today is important for determining if there has been a change in faculty’s view of their role. The purpose of this study was to explore faculty perceptions of their ideal and actual governance role within higher education and their satisfaction in those roles. The …

The Principal's Role In Developing The Classroom Management Skills Of The Novice Elementary Teacher, Nicole L. Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative, multi-site case study was to investigate the principal’s role in facilitating the development of classroom management skills of novice teachers. Classroom management is a leading factor affecting the quality of instruction provided to students in public schools. The role of the administrator in supporting the novice teacher’s development as a classroom manager has limited research available, therefore, creating a gap. The rationale of investigating the principal’s role in new teacher classroom management effectiveness was achieved by using the conceptual framework of the principal as an instructional leader. An Instructional Leadership Checklist was utilized to identify …

Exploring The Status Of Learning Outcome Focused Initiatives In Four-Year Public Higher Education, Andrew Quentin Morse

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the present status of efforts to assess student-learning outcomes within the bachelor’s degree granting institutions of the campuses in one system of public higher education. Further, the purpose of this study was also to understand what challenges and criticisms academic leaders report about the call to provide learning outcome evidence. The study was guided by the following research questions:

• What efforts, if any, are institutions presently taking to assess and report student-learning outcomes and why?
• What types of learning outcomes, if any, are colleges and universities trying to measure?
• What challenges and …

Everyone’S Doing It. Or Are They? Understanding Student Affairs Assessment Practices At Small Private Colleges, Jonita Denise Ashley-Pauley

Doctoral Dissertations

Reports from national organizations and student affairs organizations have strongly suggested student affairs professionals engage in ongoing, comprehensive assessment of how their programs affect student learning (ACPA, 1996; ACPA & NASPA, 1997; Keeling, 2004). In terms of assessment and how it should be conducted, scholars have provided clear guidelines for the conduct of such assessment. However, to date, only one study has looked at assessment practices in student affairs programs; and that study was of three large public institutions whose student affairs programs were determined to have exemplary practices (Green, Jones, & Aloi, 2008). To date, no studies have focused …

The Relationship Between Self-Directed Learning And Information Literacy Among Adult Learners In Higher Education, Tiffani Reneau Conner

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-directed learning and information literacy. Participants completed the Personal Orientation in Self-Directed Learning Scale ([PRO-SDLS], Stockdale, 2003) and the Information Literacy Test ([ILT], James Madison University, 2003). The PRO-SDLS is a self-report scale consisting of 25 statements about self-directed learning preferences in college classrooms. The ILT is a 60-item multiple-choice test that assesses the information literacy skills of college students. Correlation, ANOVA, and multiple regressions were used to test relationships and differences between self-directed learning and information literacy. Despite claims that teaching information literacy creates self-directed learners, composite scores …

Serving Youth Who Are Serving Time: A Study Of The Special Education Services For Incarcerated Youth In A Short-Term Care Facility, Sachiko Hoshide

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the communication between sending court and community schools of a County Office of Education’s (COE) Alternative Education program and the receiving juvenile detention facility of a county in a Western state and how the communication between the two facilities affected the level of special education services provided to incarcerated youth, specifically the occurrence of 30-day placement IEPs. The juvenile detention facility was selected as a site because it was a lighthouse program, one of the few chosen to pilot the juvenile detention alternatives initiative (JDAI). JDAI sought to lower the number of incarcerated youth through viable alternatives …

Educator's Perceptions Of The Implementation And Effectiveness Of Response To Intervention Measures, Sheila Stepp Nugent

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the implementation and effectiveness of Response to Intervention (RTI) strategies in their schools. The study used a mixed-methods research design. Data were collected through multiple-choice and open-ended surveys administered to elementary English language arts general education teachers, special education teachers in Kindergarten through fifth grade, and administrators in seven elementary schools. Quantitative data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis Analysis of Variance of Ranks. Qualitative data were analyzed by the researcher to determine similarities and differences among the written responses. All data were gathered during …

Principals' Concerns Regarding The Implementation Of Change, Theresa Diana Pelfrey

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the Stages of Concern (SoC) that school principals have toward change and then report participants' behavior relevant to their Level of Use (LoU) of an innovation. An understanding of principals' concerns regarding change suggested a variety of factors that impede educational leaders' implementation of innovations and change within the school environment.

The researcher studied principals' perspectives regarding change implementation in the course of their daily administrative activities. Although many principals are aware and knowledgeable of the current standards for school leadership, difficulties arise when innovations and change are implemented. This study was …

Teacher Perceptions Of Their Science Teaching And Student Learning For Diverse Learners, Yolanda Kirkpatrick

Doctoral Dissertations

The attention to the preparation of science education teachers is important to facilitate equitable learning opportunities and participation in science experiences (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1990; Lee & Buxton, 2010; Sirin, 2005). Disproportionate numbers of teachers are inadequately prepared to teach diverse learners (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Irvine, 2003; Murnane & Phillips, 1981; Oakes, 1990; Zeichner, 1992). Wise (2001) describes teacher preparation in this country as the dirty little secret in education. By this, Wise was referring to the inadequate education and training of teachers that remained a silent part of the discourse on teacher preparation.

The …

Job Satisfaction, Organizational Health, And Accountability In Selected Tennessee Middle Schools, James Lon Fox

Doctoral Dissertations

This quantitative study explored teacher perceptions of job satisfaction and school organizational health and whether significant differences existed between these perceptions and school performance. Empirical data were gathered by surveying a stratified, purposive, cluster sample of 177 teachers in selected middle schools across Tennessee; instruments used included the Organizational Health Index-Middle ([OHI-M]; Hoy, 2003) and the Job Satisfaction Survey ([JSS]; Spector, 1997). Secondary data on school performance—school achievement based on standardized test scores and valueadded scores derived from Tennessee Value-Added Assessment System (TVAAS)—were extracted from the Tennessee Department of Education Report Card (2010). These were used to create the accountability …

(Un)Packing Your Backpack: Educational Philosophy, Positionality, And Pedagogical Praxis, Yvette Prinsloo Franklin

Doctoral Dissertations

In this philosophical research project, the author examines the question: How can the case be made that there is an imperative need to change the trajectory of current efforts to reduce “achievement gaps” in the United States and (re)vision a transformation of our school settings through conscious-raising sensitivity regarding issues of equity towards equality amongst educators that harnesses the work of philosophy of education scholars? She engages the reader in a theoretical hike through a philosophical argument for attending to philosophical theories of education, extending the work of Jane Roland Martin regarding sensitivity and drawing heavily on the scholarship of …

Measuring Drinking Peer Caretaking: Toward Informing Peer-Based Alcohol Interventions, Jason Thomas Black

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to pilot test a measure of a construct defined as Drinking Peer Caretaking (DPC). Most alcohol use among college students occurs in social situations among peer groups (Baer, 2002; Perkins, 2002b). However, understanding the dynamics of peer groups needs more attention since empirical information in this area is currently lacking. A broader understanding of caretaking behaviors within college student drinking peer groups could serve as a basis for developing peer-facilitated interventions. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) suggested a two factor solution (proactive and reactive caretaking). Following PCA, tests of internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha), and …

Sketchmate: A Computer-Aided Sketching And Simulation Tool For Teaching Graph Algorithms, Kristy Sue Van Hornweder

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, we developed and tested a sketching, visualization, and simulation tool called Sketchmate for demonstrating graph algorithms commonly taught in undergraduate computer science courses. For this research, we chose to focus on shortest path and network flow algorithms. Two versions of this tool have been implemented: 1) an instructor tool that supports computer-aided manual simulations of algorithms that augment traditional whiteboard presentations, allowing lectures to be more dynamic and interactive, and 2) a student tool that supports computer-aided manual practice of algorithms that enables students to work through homework problems more quickly while providing detailed incremental feedback about …

The Intersection Between Home And School: Developing A Scale To Measure Parental Perceptions Of Childhood School Stress, Teresa Marie Henke

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Parents in the home and educators in the schools are key adults in the most important contexts in the daily lives of school-age children. In the demanding, achievement, and accountability oriented culture of today, it is expected that children experience normal everyday stressors as they move between these two environments. The impact of stress related to daily hassles has been reported to have both cognitive and physical effects on the present and future well-being of children. This study represented an attempt to advance the understanding of childhood stress in the intersection between school and home by investigating the perceptions …

Gender In Head Start Preschool Classrooms: Children's Experiences And Teachers' Perceptions, Swapna Anil Purandare

Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers who have studied the process of socialization have found that preschool is one of the first social exposures to direct teaching of societal norms including norms about gender-roles. Further, it has been found that there is a difference in teachers’ behavior toward boys and girls in preschool classrooms but most studies on gender differences in preschool classrooms have been conducted with middle-class populations. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to examine how preschool age children from low-income families (in Head Start) might have different experiences in their classrooms depending on their gender.

In order to achieve the …

On The Same Page: The Experience Of Instructors And Students As They Give And Receive Written Feedback In Higher Education, Michele Heide Williams

Doctoral Dissertations

Academic writing in higher education remains a chief means of assessing student understanding, making instructor response to student writing an important way of providing summative and formative feedback for students. Writing and response offer insights into the ways in which students construct understanding within disciplinary contexts and the ways in which instructors facilitate those efforts. The present study explores two aspects of writing in higher education:1) the experience of faculty members who require and respond to writing from students, and 2) the experience of students as recipients of instructor responses to their academic writing. To explore the experience of response, …

Tennessee Public High School Principals’ Leadership Behaviors And Teachers’ Job Satisfaction, Amie Broughton Rumph

Doctoral Dissertations

The attrition rate of teachers is alarming (Darling-Hammond, 2002; Keigher, 2010; Marvel, Lyter, Peltola, Strizek, & Morton, 2006). Factor of the attrition include teachers leaving the profession due to lack of job satisfaction or lack of administrative support (Angelle, 2002; Littrell, 1994; Schlichte, Yssel, & Merbler, 2005). Frameworked by Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959), this web-based, quantitative, descriptive study explored the connections between job satisfaction and perceived leadership behaviors. Participants included 302 teachers from public secondary schools in Central and East Tennessee. Instruments used were the Job Satisfaction Survey ([JSS], Spector, 1994), the Study of School Leadership …

The Balance Of Public And Private Identities For Lesbian Teachers, Delanna Kay Reed

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

Although tolerance and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people is growing in the United States, misconceptions and heterosexism still abound. Schools are one of the institutions where traditional gender roles are promoted and homosexuality is often ignored or punished. Too often lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students are bullied by their peers while teachers look the other way. LGBT teachers often fear they will lose their jobs and social standing in the community if they are open about their sexual orientation. This environment provoked me to research lesbian teachers’ perceptions of heteronormativity in their private and …

A “Christian America” Restored: The Rise Of The Evangelical Christian School Movement In America, 1920-1952, Robert G. Slater

Doctoral Dissertations

Finding the origins and causes of the twentieth century evangelical Christian school movement in America during the years 1920-1952 was the subject of this study. Numerous primary and secondary sources were utilized. Primary sources consisted of original minutes of the proceedings of the National Education Association, the National Union of Christian Schools, and the National Association of Evangelicals. In addition, numerous evangelical publications of this era such as Moody Monthly, The Sunday School Times, and United Evangelical Action were consulted. From within the movement original sources such as Christian School Statistics, The Christian Teacher, and The National Association of Christian …

The Construction And Performance Of Adulthood In 18- To 25-Year-Old Ged Students: A Narrative Exploration, Clara Amelia Davis

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation is a narrative study designed to address the changing meaning of adulthood for youths matriculating into adult basic education programs by drawing from the interdisciplinary perspectives of postmodernism, critical social theory, and narrative methodology. The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of adult basic education students, ages 18 to 25, and their construction and performance of adulthood. Twelve GED students, ages 18 to 25, enrolled in local non-profit adult education programs, were interviewed individually regarding their experience of leaving high school, transitioning into an adult education program, and their construction and performance of adulthood. …

The Principal's Role In Developing And Sustaining Professional Learning Communities: A Mixed Methods Case Study, Ginger Mink Teague

Doctoral Dissertations

With research supporting the benefits of professional learning communities in transforming schools, school leaders need insight and understanding into how to lead the organization toward successful implementation. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the principal in developing and sustaining professional learning communities in elementary school settings. The exploratory, sequential, mixed method case study was conducted using Hord’s (1997, 1998, 2008) Five Dimensions of a Professional Learning Community as the theoretical framework. The research design was a quan→QUAL sequential approach, with priority or dominance given to the qualitative phase (Greene, 2008; Johnson & Onwuegbuzie, 2004). Triangulation …