Education Commons^™

A Comparison Of Athletic Identity And Career Maturity Of Female Student-Athletes At Different Levels Of Competition, Simeon Hinsey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between the athletic identity and career maturity of women’s basketball student-athletes. Differences in athletic identity and career maturity were also investigated based on a women’s basketball student-athlete’s level of competition, race, year in school, socioeconomic status, and professional athletic career aspirations. In order to examine the relationship between these variables, a convenience sample of 209 women’s basketball student-athletes from NCAA Division I (n = 62), NCAA Division II (n = 40), NCAA Division III (n = 50), and NAIA (n = 57) institutions located in the southeastern region of the United States participated in the …

School Counselors Lived Experience Of A Rampage School Shooting, Carleton H. Brown

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Minimal research has been conducted to examine school counselors’ lived experiences of rampage school shootings. The purpose of this research is to increase school counselors’ knowledge and skills in responding effectively to such a crisis. A single-case qualitative dissertation study was completed at a rampage school shooting site, a middle school, and the immediate surrounding area in Bono, AR, located in the northeast part of Arkansas. School counselors’ decisions, perceived expertness, and lessons learned were investigated. Data collected included relevant research literature (including comparison research), archival records, direct observation, media reports, and interviews. Participants interviewed were individuals who lived through …

The Educational Benefits Of Cultural Institutions, Brian Kisida

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A significant portion of the education children receive occurs outside of the traditional classroom and produces outcomes not typically captured by standardized achievement tests. This dissertation is part of an effort to expand the educational venues and outcomes educational researchers rigorously examine. In particular, I present the key results from experimental studies of the effects of school tours to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR., and to the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, AR.

Chapter 1 focuses on arts exposure and critical thinking outcomes. A problem for the arts’ role in education has been a …

The Effectiveness Of Cash Transfers As A Policy Instrument In K-16 Education, Jonathan Norman Mills

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cash transfers, defined as direct transfers of purchasing power from an institution or individual to another individual, are an increasingly popular policy instrument both abroad and in the United States. This dissertation investigates how two educational interventions utilizing cash transfers affect participating students. The first, the Louisiana Scholarship Program, is a statewide program offering publicly financed scholarships for low income students attending poorly performing public schools to attend K-12 private schools. The second program, the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship, is a state financed broad-based merit-aid scholarship for students in college within the state of Arkansas. In general, the results presented …

Teacher Perceptions Of Factors Influencing Their Self-Efficacy With Using One-To-One Technology During Literacy Instruction, Michael Todd Methvin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teacher perceptions of factors that influence their own self-efficacy with using one-to-one technology during literacy instruction were examined through a multi-site, multi-subject case study. An initial survey was administered to determine the self-efficacy level of a group of participants from a school district that was implementing a one-to-one technology initiative. From this initial data set, four participants with varying levels of self-efficacy were invited to participate in the second, qualitative, phase of the data collection process to better understand factors they perceived to influence these levels. Results revealed that teachers perceived their self-efficacy of one-to-one technology use during literacy instruction …

Basic Counseling Techniques Training: The Differential Effects Of Two Models On Skill Development And Fully Functioning, Christopher Loyd Carver

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of two models of basic counseling skill training on the development of fully functioning, and the frequency of basic skill utilization as assessed at the end of the course. Two groups of students were taught using the Carkhuff Human Resource Development model (1971) and Egan’s Skilled Helper model (2002). They were then given the Strathclyde inventory to assess fully functioning early and at the end of the semester, and skill frequency count was conducted on all participants. Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon tests were conducted to determine difference between groups in both measures. Additionally, …

Intangible Benefits Of Team Identification, And The Factors Which Generate It, Toward Intercollegiate Athletic Programs In Students' College Adjustment, Junmo Sung

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Intercollegiate athletic programs have been used to facilitate Social interactions between students within the complex nature of the college environment. In particular, many researchers have discussed the benefits of intercollegiate athletic programs in higher education, examining positive aspects of team identification such as the enhancing sense of belonging, personal self- esteem, happiness, and decreasing stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness in Social life. With the benefits of the program, it is important to scrutinize the benefits of intercollegiate athletic programs in students’ college adjustment in higher education. Therefore, the goal of this dissertation was to provide better understanding of the intercollegiate …

A Search For Understanding Why Male, Long Term High School Dropouts Resist Returning To Complete A Secondary Credential, Robert S. Mcgowan

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Much of the resistance for returning to education seems to be related to the same reasons students left school to begin with. The reason for dropping out and resisting to return to school may be a result of too much emphasis on academic preparation and too little emphasis on satisfying the perceived needs for preparing a youth for adulthood. Four themes emerged from the field-note based interviews: (1) all students do not learn the same way, (2) there is a need for more participatory learning, (3) learning should be relevant to life as perceived by the student, and (4) there …

A Random Assignment Evaluation Of A College And Career Coaching Program, Sarah Burks Moore

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Razor C.O.A.C.H. (Creating Opportunities for Arkansan’s Career Hopes) is a college and career coaching program for at-risk students in 15 Northwest Arkansas high schools. To perform a random assignment evaluation, at-risk students were targeted to apply to the program, and applicant students were randomly assigned to the program. Academic coaches from the University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions utilized a needs-based intervention focusing on pro-academic behaviors, college or technical school preparation, and post-secondary and career exploration. The evaluation included two cohorts of students. Cohort One treatment students received the full intervention throughout the 2012-13 school year, and …

A Comparison And Exploration Of Arkansas Professional School Counselor Activities Across Poverty, Angela Mccoy Harless

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study is an exploration of the actual and preferred practices of Arkansas K-12 school counselors in low, mid, and high-poverty schools using the School Counselor Activity Rating Scale (Scarborough, 2005), follow-up questionnaires, and interviews. The qualitative component of this study brings to light the contextual factors that prevent school counselors from providing direct and indirect services to students outlined in the ASCA National Model. This research study examines the hidden dynamics of the counselor/principal relationship and how this relationship has a pivotal role in the realization of a fully comprehensive developmental school counseling program. This study contributes to the …

Students' Perspectives After Participation In A Mandated College Level Alcohol Intervention Program: A Phenomenological Study, Suzanna L. Guizar

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Alcohol abuse among college students continues to be a significant problem by which the consequences impact the student, their peers, and the university. Although quantitative research with volunteer participants supports the use of enhanced brief motivational interventions and cognitive behavioral skills training in reducing risky drinking behavior (binge drinking), research with mandated students has shown inconsistent findings. The current study is a phenomenological qualitative study exploring the students’ perspectives after attending a mandated college-level alcohol intervention program. Mandated students are students who have been referred to an alcohol intervention as a result of violating an alcohol related policy on campus. …

Experiences And Perceptions Of Community: The Fayetteville High School Community Photography Project, Stephanie Collier

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Fayetteville High School Community Photography Project was conducted with 10th-12th grade students in Spring 2014 as part of a participatory art project through their Sociology class. This study uses participant photographs and surveys to better understand student variation in community perceptions and connections. Participant photographs serve as a way to “see” how high school students perceive community. Survey data gathered on the same sample are used to measure individual-level characteristics such as perceived neighborhood deterioration, neighborhood satisfaction, and Social capital to better understand how they impact feelings of community connectedness in youth. Results indicate that Social capital plays an …

Comparing Schools: From Value Added To Sound Policy, Jeffery Richmond Dean

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last twenty years, value added measures (VAMs) have proliferated in education research and policy. Whether applied to teachers, schools, or districts, VAMs have attempted to measure the contribution made by a unit of interest toward observed student outcomes, typically test scores in literacy and math. At the same time, a small number of states have developed methods to formally compare schools on those outcomes, and such methods may be used and intended in ways that qualify them as a kind of VAM. My primary interest is to evaluate the properties of a similar schools model I develop in …

The Impact Of Latino Growth On Educational Institutions In Northwest Arkansas From 1990- 2010: Two Decades Of Change In Curriculum Design, Educational Resources And Services For Latino Students, Aíxa García Mont

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With the changing demographics nationwide of Latinos moving from urban traditional

settlements sites to non-traditional settlement sites such as Arkansas (Pew Hispanic Research Group, 2013; Smith, 2014; Smith and Furuseth, 2005) Arkansas is now part of the new south or El Nuevo South (Smith and Furuseth, 2005). Although Arkansas is a non-traditional receiving state it is one of the states with the largest growing Latino population (Pew Hispanic Research Group, 2013). Northwest Arkansas in particular has the largest concentration of Latinos to date with the area being host to some of the largest companies in the United States, such as …

A Promise Kept In El Dorado? An Evaluation Of The Impact Of A Universal, Place-Based College Scholarship On K-12 Achievement And High School Graduation, Jennifer W. Ash

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The El Dorado Promise is a scholarship program that provides approximately $7,818 per year toward college tuition - for up to five years - to public high school graduates in El Dorado, Arkansas who have attended El Dorado schools since at least the ninth grade. The program was announced in January 2007, and students were able to use the college scholarships in the fall of 2007. School leaders in El Dorado hoped that the enhanced access to college would increase student interest, engagement, and achievement throughout the school district. In this study, I use one-to-one student-level matching to estimate the …

An Examination Of Psychoeducation And Its Potential Modifying Influence On Alcohol Use Patterns Among Adults Reporting Co-Occurring Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms And Hazardous Alcohol Consumption, Sarah Jo Bujarski

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has suggested that consumption of alcohol in the presence of elevated posttraumatic stress symptom (PTSS) may serve an avoidant function to cope with negative emotions. These coping-related motives for use are theorized to both maintain PTSS and relate to poorer prognoses in treatment for alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Treatments utilizing coping skills training, which typically also involves educating clients about the negative consequences of drinking alcohol to cope, suggest the utility of targeting coping behaviors to reduce alcohol use. These studies, however, have not attempted to isolate the effects of psychoeducation on alcohol-related factors. The current study investigated the …

Defining Primary And Academic Discourse Through Instructional Methods In A Single Junior High Classroom, Ashley Nicole Gerhardson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this study, I examine the use of academic discourse in the school setting and discuss the relation of the primary discourse to academic discourse. I focus on the verbal exchanges between a teacher and her students as these students acquire the academic discourse of the English classroom. The study focuses on the ideas of primary discourse and secondary or academic discourse as presented by Gee (1996) and focuses on his idea of Social languages.

Using a microethnographic study, I develop the idea of how the teacher related to her students and how a single educator felt about the purpose …