Education Commons^™

The Use Of Behavioral Agreements By Senior Student Affairs Officers And Counseling Center Directors To Manage Student Mental Health Concerns And Minimize Threatening Behavior, Douglas A. Geiger

Dissertations

This qualitative investigation examines the use of behavioral agreements by Senior Student Affairs Officers and Counseling Center Directors to manage student mental health concerns and minimize behavior that poses threats to campus communities. Six pairs of Senior Student Affairs Officers and Counseling Center Directors at the same institution were interviewed for this study. In addition, documents concerning mental health and threat assessment policy and protocols are also examined and discussed. An expanded theory of practice known as Student Intervention Facilitators is presented as an option to mandated psychotherapy.

Illinois Secondary Principals' Perceptions And Expectations Concerning Students Who Use African American Vernacular English In An Academic Setting, Garrard Overton Mcclendon

Dissertations

This study investigates principals’ individual and aggregate perceptions of and expectations for students who use African American Vernacular English. Using the African American English Teacher Attitude Scale (AAETAS), the study seeks to describe the relationship between principals’ demographic characteristics and their perceptions of African American Vernacular English. The study uses raw scores from the AAETAS instrument created by Hoover, McNair-Knox, Lewis and Politzer (1997) and codes the principals’ perceptions of AAVE in a histogram. Principals’ demographic information was gathered on the following categories: race, gender, home language, county location, childhood hometown community, age, years in education, years as a teacher, …

The Roles And Responsibilities Of The Principal As Perceived By Illinois K-8 Principals Who Belong To Generation X, Keith Westman

Dissertations

The roles and responsibilities of the school principal have changed throughout the years, and, with that, the face of the principalship has changed, too. The average age of principals in the United States is 57 with a significant portion of those individuals retiring within the next ten years (United States Department of Labor, 2008). As these principals retire, the qualities and characteristics of the next generation of principals must be identified. However, it may not be as easy to fill these vacancies as it once was. Within the context of the research that has been done on Generation X, the …

The Development Of And Relationship Between Elgin U-46'S Teacher Appraisal System And Mentor Program: 1998-2010, Joseph William Schumacher

Dissertations

This study investigated the historical development of Elgin School District U-46's teacher appraisal system and teacher mentor program during the years of 1998-2010. In 1998 a formal mentor program was implemented for the first time in district history. Shortly thereafter, district and union leadership agreed to revamp the twenty-five-year-old appraisal system. The study aimed to explore how district and union leadership prepared for, adopted, and implemented appraisal and mentoring during this time period through the framework of Thomas Sergiovanni's (1992) sources of authority for leadership.

The research questions of this study focused on five topics: the historical development of the …

Visitors Pass: The Story Of A Group Of Pakistani Immigrant Students At Sawyer High School, Melissa Gersh Fischer

Dissertations

New immigrant populations are shaped in significant ways by globalization. The phenomenon of transnationalism has changed the localized sense of "home" and "local cultures" on a global scale. In fact, "Globalization lies at the core of current sociocultural experiences, especially in processes of identity construction, communal practices, subject positioning, and agency" (Santiago-Irizarry, 2008). This ethnographic study focuses on the question of how agency and institutional structures, in a global society, impact the lived experiences of Pakistani immigrant students at an urban public high school. A review of literature on identity formation, globalization, and institutional structures is essential to answering this …

Curriculum Reform In Post-Soviet Armenia: Balancing Local And Global Contexts In Armenian Secondary Schools, Shelley Marie Terzian

Dissertations

Structured according to the conceptual frameworks of nationalism and globalization, this study examined relationships between and among the Armenian Ministry of Education, the World Bank, the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation -Armenia, and Armenian secondary school teachers and principals from 1991 to the present. Each group played a central role, developing and implementing the Armenian National Curriculum and State Standard for Secondary Education throughout the education system.

Using Laurence Neuman's inductive approach to open, axial, and final coding, this qualitative case study investigated the global and national groups that produced the Armenian National Curriculum (the Curriculum) and the State Standard …

Student Access To Advanced Placement (Ap) Coursework: Principals' Beliefs And Practices, Steve Wood

Dissertations

Advanced Placement® (AP®) courses provide high school students an opportunity to be exposed to the rigors of college while they are still in high school. Since school policies play a role in the opportunities for students to pursue these courses, educational leaders must be aware of the ways in which their personal beliefs and school practices influence the course-taking patterns in their students.

This study investigated the relationship between principals' personal beliefs and perceptions of school practices, and the opportunities for students to successfully complete rigorous Advanced Placement coursework. The study utilized a questionnaire distributed to eight-eight principals of schools …

Immigrant Stories: Generation 1.5 Mexican American Students And English Language Learning In An Illinois Community College, Thomas Lloyd Hansen

Dissertations

The number of recent immigrants to the United States has increased dramatically in the last few years, and more of these immigrants are members of a group often designated as "Generation 1.5" students. These immigrant students were born in another country, came to the United States at the age of 13 or older, and graduated from high school in this country. This qualitative research study occurs within two Illinois community colleges that require some students to enroll in courses below regular English Composition I as indicated by one or more placement tests. These courses are English as a Second Language …

The Role Of Institutional Relations With Alumni Major Donors In Evangelical Higher Education, Brian Gardner

Dissertations

American higher education has never been more expensive. Its continued excellence and accessibility depends even more today on charitable subsidy. As previous beneficiaries of that charitable subsidy, alumni are the most logical benefactor of its sustenance. The relatively few alumni who can give most generously make the difference in the success of any fund raising effort. Understanding the motivation of alumni major gift prospects to give such gifts is therefore critical to securing them.

This study seeks to understand 1) the strategies and processes institutions employ in engaging alumni major donors, 2) the motivations of these donors to give or …

An Historical Analysis Of The Chicago Public Schools Desegregation Consent Decree (1980 - 2006): Establishing Its Relationship With The Brown V. Board Case Of 1954 And The Implications Of Its Implementation On Educational Leadership, Shawn L. Jackson

Dissertations

This study provides an historical analysis of the Chicago Public School Desegregation Consent Decree, while illustrating its relationship with the Brown v. Board of 1954. It provides and analysis of the mission and objectives of all three versions of the Consent Decree which include: The Original Consent Decree 1980, The Modified Consent Decree 2004, and The Second Amended Decree 2006. The study also provides an account of the Brown v. Board case of 1954, defining the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as the conduits between the landmark case and the Chicago …

Building Level Principals As Change Agents In A Response To Intervention Reform Initiative, Kristen Elizabeth Ninni

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of the principal in a systems change effort. Utilizing Response to Intervention (RtI) as a means of studying principals as change agents, this researcher examined the principals' ability to implement and sustain a reform effort such as RtI as perceived by the principal, problem solving team, and teachers. This study examined how the perceptions influenced the change process and the extent to which the principal demonstrated characteristics of change such as knowledge of change, self-efficacy or their belief in their ability to make changes, and skills of change as supported …

The Impact Of Intrusive Advising On Academic Self Efficacy Beliefs In First-Year Students In Higher Education, Lauren Kemner Miller

Dissertations

First-year retention rates have seen minimal gains as high numbers of first-year students are leaving college due to insufficient academic skills and inability to adjust to the academic and social life of college. Programs that provide strategies to improve the transition from high school to college and that help develop skills to facilitate academic success are needed. This study presents a mixed method approach to examine intrusive academic advising and the impact of this program on first-year students enrolled at a four-year, private institution. Semi-structured interviews and the College Self Efficacy Inventory were utilized to gather the data.

First-year students …

An Historical Analysis Of The Chicago Public Schools Policy On The Requirements For The Selection Of Principals, 1983-2008, Siobhan Marie Cafferty

Dissertations

This historical analysis provided an opportunity to appreciate Chicago's course in

the national school reform landscape. This study helped to understand the effects school

reform efforts had on school leadership policy in Chicago. It verified a roster of

superintendents in Chicago during 1983-2008, established a chronology of school reform

events and assembled an inventory of reform policies, theories and directives that

potentially may create the capacity to instruct and inform future initiatives, perspective

and debate on the issue of principal preparation at the local level. The analysis of change

in local policy echoed and identified national educational trends in this …

First-Year College Students And Faculty: A Comparison Of Expectations For Success, Jodi Ellen Koslow Martin

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify and explore academic, social, and career-related expectations that first-year college students believe lead to their collegiate success as defined by their perception of persisting in higher education. Further investigation determines how these expectations align with faculty expectations of student success. Eight first-year college students and eight college instructors were interviewed about their expectations at a small, private college. Criteria for first-year students include residing on campus and graduating from high school within the last year. Eligible faculty teach at least one class at the first-year level.

The data from student interviews …

The Caller And The Called: How Young Adults Understand Vocation In Their Lives, John A. Dahlstrand

Dissertations

While scholarly research offers some insight into the career decision-making process, it says little about how individuals discern their callings and how the vocational discernment process affects career choice. Accordingly, this study generated baseline understandings in both of these areas that proved theoretically and practically fruitful and which have the potential to serve as a launching pad for future research. These new understandings are critical because decisions relating to career choice and vocation are of particular importance to college-aged adults.

This study was informed by a conceptual framework identifying seven key domains that were assumed to potentially shape students' understanding …

The Role Of The Principal In The Professional Life Of Male Elementary Classroom Teachers, Brian Gendron Ricca

Dissertations

There are very few men that choose to enter the profession of teaching, especially at the elementary level (U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, 2008). The men that do make this choice are faced with certain challenges and societal stereotypes that make this career path even more difficult to navigate. Given the small numbers that exist and some of the unique factors that face men at this level, the relationship between a male elementary classroom teacher and his building administrator is one to examine.

Within the context of the research that has been done on the gendered role of elementary …

Recruitment Initiatives In Higher Education: A Comparison Of Study Abroad And Enrollment Management Procedures, Carla Joy Ruffer

Master's Theses

There is a disparity of minority students' participation in study abroad, and establishing best practices for successful recruitment would assist in closing this gap. This project will look to add research toward reaching such best practices by analyzing the methods of recruiting minority students into higher education study abroad programs. What methods are universities using to recruit minority students into study abroad, and how do these compare to the methods used by enrollment management to recruit minority students into an institution? In order to answer these questions, I will use a qualitative analysis through interviews of study abroad and enrollment …

The Obama Effect And Its Relationship To The Perceptions Of Blacks On Education And Social Mobility, Lydia K. Young

Master's Theses

The educational system in the United States has been characterized as political, a meritocracy (Hurn, 1992), a structure that socializes citizens (Warren, 1996), a system that marginalized those of races marked other or defined as minority by society (Ratvich, 1983; West, 1993; Katz, 1999) and, most importantly for this study, the key to a more equitable society through schooling and personal beliefs and the possibility of lifelong achievement (Anderson, 1988). Our educational system, ever changing and complicated by definition and action, plays a large role in one's perception of the ability of people to achieve social mobility -- especially for …

Attitudes Towards Global Civic-Mindedness And Engagement Before And After Study Abroad: A Study Of Undergraduate Students At International Study Abroad Centers Of An American University, Mousumi Mukherjee

Master's Theses

Mousumi Mukherjee

Loyola University of Chicago

ATTITUDES TOWARDS GLOBAL CIVIC-MINDEDNESS AND ENGAGEMENT BEFORE AND AFTER STUDY ABROAD:

A STUDY OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT

INTERNATIONAL STUDY ABROAD CENTERS OF AN AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

In recent years Study Abroad has come from the periphery to the center of Higher Education programs in the U.S. Students from across the world has been studying abroad in the U.S. for decades because of the advanced research and infrastructural facilities here. Compared to the international students studying abroad in the U.S., the number of U.S. students studying abroad has been negligible according to Open Doors data reported …

Recess Policy In Chicago Public Schools: 1855-2006, Laura Ann Wurzburger

Master's Theses

The history of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) recess policy has been marked by long periods of consistency. However, in the last two decades the history of recess policy has changed significantly. Beginning in the mid-19th century, the Board of Education required one to two recess sessions per day in primary or elementary schools. This is in stark contrast to the 1991 policy which eliminated recess entirely for seven years. In 1998 there was another policy shift which is still in effect today. This policy allows individual principals and their local school councils to determine how to allocate their daily schedule. …

Messages Of Nationalism In Mexican And U.S. Textbooks: Implications For The National Identity Of Transnational Students, Danielle Lane Jerdee

Master's Theses

This study uses qualitative content analysis to compare fifth grade social studies textbooks in Mexico and the United States to provide insight on how messages of national identity change as students migrate between school systems. The following research questions will guide the analysis: Given that one of the roles of textbooks is to form a national consciousness through mythmaking, how do messages of national identity conveyed in Mexican and U.S. textbooks conflict? How are the topics of immigration and citizenship presented in each nation's textbooks? In what ways do differences in the accounts of history between Mexico and the United …

Cyberspace And The Defense Of The Revolution: Cuban Bloggers, Civic Participation, And State Discourse, Renee Naomi Timberlake

Master's Theses

In this thesis I address how Cuban bloggers are contesting state sanctioned modes of civic participation and censorship. I begin to address this question with a discussion of the creation and perpetuation of a state sponsored hegemonic discourse, followed by the alternative, counterhegemonic discourses which appear in the blogs of Cuban writers Yoani Sanchez and Claudia Cadelo. The two authors are tapping into the internet, overcoming state imposed, island-wide bans on their websites, and voicing their dissent against and frustration with a government that professes a discourse of solidarity and socialism while enacting a reality of inequality and market-based economics.

Short-Term Study Abroad Programs And The Development Of Intercultural Sensitivity, Barbara Elizabeth Zarnick

Master's Theses

This study focuses on the growing popularity of short-term study abroad programs and aims to determine the impact of such programs on producing intercultural sensitivity. A pre and post-departure survey were administered to undergraduate and graduate students to analyze students' perceptions of their own intercultural sensitivity prior to a short-term study abroad experience and after. This study uses the Intercultural Sensitivity Index developed by Christa Lee Olson and Kent R. Kroger in 2001 to assess the students' levels of intercultural sensitivity. The study reveals that this particular short-term experience had minimal impact on participants' levels of intercultural sensitivity, but illustrates …

Comprehensive U.S. Higher Education Internationalization: Exploring Study Abroad As An Indicator, Candace Brzoska Matta

Master's Theses

Increasing undergraduate study abroad participation is a popular response embraced by both higher education institutions and the U.S. government to internationalize college campuses and to meet the demands of globalization. Yet the nature of the internationalization phenomenon in higher education is much more complex in spite of its ambiguous definition and lackluster theoretical indicators. The purpose of this study was to examine whether one indicator of internationalization, that of study abroad, had any predictive bearing on an institutions' level of comprehensive internationalization. Six institutions were examined--three that consistently held a high study abroad participation percentage or SAPP, and three that …

Altgeld Gardens: Evolution Of Culture And Educatiion In An Isolated African American Community, Beverly Anne Lesueur

Dissertations

Altgeld Gardens, a Chicago public housing project, was selected for this study because its unique attributes were designed as a model, self-contained complex located in a geographically and socially, isolated area of Chicago built to house African American war armament workers and their families beginning in the mid-1940’s. Oral testimonies from teachers and community members chronicle significant changes to the local culture and the primary school’s efforts to provide effective instructional services within the cultural context of this community. The most effective and frequently used modification of instruction was the incorporation of culturally relevant pedagogy. The goal was to effectively …