Education Commons^™

Lessons Learned From Authors Of Picture Book Biographies Of Activists And The Original Biographies They Inspired, Jay Saper

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This thesis examines the significance of picture book biographies of activists as accessible entry points to teach social movement history and embolden readers to lead courageous lives that confront injustice. The first section is grounded in lessons learned from 19 authors doing outstanding work in the field today: Andrea Davis Pinkney, Carole Boston Weatherford, Cynthia Chin-Lee, David Adler, Debbie Levy, Donna Jo Napoli, Doreen Rappaport, Duncan Tonatiuh, Emily Arnold McCully, Icy Smith, Jabari Asim, Jen Cullerton Johnson, John Hendrix, Kate Schatz, Matt Tavares, Michelle Markel, Richard Michelson, Sarah Warren, and Tanya Lee Stone. I identify and explore ten themes across …

Race, Resilience, And Resistance: A Culturally Relevant Examination Of How Black Women School Leaders Advance Racial Equity And Social Justice In U.S. Schools, Tonya Evette Walls

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This culturally relevant qualitative examination of the leadership of Black women educational leaders (BWEL) committed to advancing a social justice leadership agenda within the contested spaces (Stovall, 2004) comprising United States (U.S.) P-12 schools, employs an African centered emancipatory methodology (Kershaw, 1990, 1992; Tillman, 2002), situated in a conceptual framework grounded in the research on applied critical leadership (Santamaria, 2013). It examines, highlights, celebrates, and makes transparent, the unique leadership of BWEL. Engaged to rebuke the silencing and marginalization of women educational leaders of color in the educational leadership discourse, this study bridges engages a multiple case study approach, phenomenological …

Critical Social Justice Theory In Action: A Practitioner Inquiry Into The Service-Learning Capstone Experience, Julie A. Jaynes

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

Service-learning pedagogy can be found in K-12 schools and higher education classrooms across the country. Those programs and courses exist on a complex spectrum from charity to social justice; research presented here documents my efforts as a service-learning teacher to better align the program’s senior capstone class to the teachings from critical social justice theory. I used a practitioner inquiry approach to address the problem of an epistemology in the research process that recreated systems of oppression by excluding the knowledge and voices of the minoritized groups who are impacted by the issues being researched. My inquiry centers my students’ …

A Qualitative Case Study Of Teachers’ Perceptions And Practices In Social Justice Education And The Perceived Implications For K‒2nd Grade Children, Tina M. Lageson

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored the perceptions and practices of three teachers who teach social justice concepts in kindergarten and 2nd-grade classrooms in an urban school district in the Northwest region of the United States. The research sought to answer the following central questions: (a) What do teachers perceive about how instruction on social justice concepts impact early grade learners in classroom settings? (b) What do teachers perceive about how this instruction influences learner perceptions regarding their role in society? Through a three-phase data collection approach that included teacher and parent interviews, teacher observations with observation debrief, and student artifact …

Indigenous Knowledge Centers (Ikc): Strong Medicine On Higher Education Campuses, Melissa Delikat

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Indigenous Knowledge Centers (IKC) on higher education campuses are unexplored in educational research, but they may be one of the most critical advancements in equality and decolonization efforts. This dissertation presents findings to descriptively introduce IKCs through a shared learning journey that is both culturally safe and relevant. Using Indigenous and qualitative methodologies, this shared learning journey found that IKCs are an Internationalization at Home (IaH) practice that produces Indigenization by bringing awareness to and valuing Indigenous Knowledge and Culture. It offers healing through land connection, honoring Elders, and building respectful relationships. IKCs are Strong Medicine.

Organizational Improvement Plan For Eliminating A Need For Alternative Programs By Way Of A Paradigm Shift, Sam J. Oh Neill Mr

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The problem of practice in this organizational improvement plan (OIP) is that the existence of Alternative Programs impedes progress to meaningful school change. The school board is moving toward a paradigm shift as indicated through a number of initiatives discussed in this OIP. This OIP was developed through a review of the literature on: Alternative Education, attitudes toward students labelled at-risk and through an examination of documents produced and disseminated by the Ministry. This OIP takes social critique perspective (Furman, 2004; Starratt, 2004) to understand purposes for referring students to Alternative Programs within the current paradigm. This OIP also explores …

Intersections: A Theology And Social Justice Curriculum For Christian High Schools, Rachel Lanae Hollingsworth

Honors Projects

Despite much writing on the intersection of race and ethnicity and theology, there are few suitable resources for high school teachers at Protestant Christian schools, so this project seeks to fill that gap by providing a curriculum written for conservative, Christian high schools. The curriculum emphasizes the study of scripture and theological witness in conjunction with relevant literature and media to challenge students to consider a more holistic understanding of the role of identity, inclusion, justice, and reconciliation in their faith. This will be facilitated by asking thought-provoking questions, thinking through issues of faith, providing a foundation for theological exploration, …

Quality Education In Idaho: A Case Study Of Academic Achievement In Three High-Poverty Rural Schools, Christine Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this research is bridging the achievement gap for students living in poverty through quality education. Such a study is important because the percentage of students affected by poverty is increasing and the persistent gap in achievement evidences that the right to quality education for students in poverty is not being met. This is mixed-methods study of three high-poverty elementary schools in Idaho. Both quantitative (achievement test scores) and qualitative data (interviews of seventeen teachers and principals) are compared and contrasted. The findings provide evidence that quality education for students in poverty requires relatable curriculum, teachers who are …

Creating Access And Equity In Arts Education : Strategic Partnerships For Systemic Change, Colleen C. Andrews

Masters Theses

Creating Access and Equity in Art Education: Strategic Partnerships for Systemic Change examines the diminished state of art education in United States public schools, reveals how nonprofit arts organizations supplement what is lacking in the current educational system, and offers current examples, based on interviews, to place these issues in context. A history of the National Endowment for the Arts and an examination of arts funding, both public and private, provides a backdrop for the weakened state of the arts in schools. Exploring educational policies such as No Child Left Behind and the Every Student Succeeds Act reveals how federal …

Uncovering Meaning In Montessori Teachers’ Lived Experiences Of Cosmic Education As A Tool For Social Justice, John Allen Branch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry focused on the lived experiences of Montessori teachers in implementing Montessori’s Cosmic Education as a tool for social justice in their classrooms in order to more fully understand Cosmic Education’s meaning, purpose, and practice. The researcher also sought to understand how Cosmic Education could be an effective pedagogy of place, providing historical and social contexts in which students may develop and grow. The study used a post-intentional phenomenological design (Vagle, 2014), and was based on a series of interviews with five Montessori teachers from different classroom age levels. The data were analyzed using poetic inquiry through the form …

Experiences Of Former Participants In Teen Advocates For Sexual Health (Tash), Celeste Nicholas

Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the experiences of former participants in a Planned Parenthood youth development and sex education program, Teen Advocates for Sexual Health (TASH). Phenomenologically-based interviews centered the question, “What did it mean to participate in TASH?” Chapter 1 introduces the study context and synthesizes foundational literature from the fields of sex education, public health, critical pedagogy, civic engagement, youth development, and youth organizing. Chapters 2-4 each contain complete manuscripts, representing three complementary analytic approaches to a common data set and inviting multiple audiences. Chapter 2 addresses sex educators in describing TASH’s “rights-based” sex education model. Research questions included: …

Middle Level Multicultural/Social Justice Art Education Curriculum, Meghan E. G. Andrews

Masters Theses

The way in which children are taught matters a great deal and influences not only their worldview, but also how they view themselves with that world. Through my experiences as an art teacher, I have witnessed a growing need for teaching students in a way that focuses on multicultural and social justices issues in order to help students gain a more well-rounded world view. The art classroom has to power to serve as a safe and effective place to explore these issues. Determining why there is a growing need for a multicultural and social justice oriented art curriculum was important …

Drama For Social Justice: Embodying Identity And Emotion In Elt, Riah Werner

MA TESOL Collection

In this thesis, the author makes the case that drama is a powerful tool for language acquisition because it develops and engages embodiment, emotion and identity, important aspects of learning and communication that are often neglected in traditional language classrooms. The thesis establishes a theoretical foundation for the use of drama in the social justice-oriented language classroom, reviews research on drama for language learning and describes common drama techniques. The author connects the theories of embodied cognition and multiliteracies to an intersectional model of identity and argues that drama helps students re-examine the way society positions them based on their …

Navigating Conflict In Inclusive Education: Autoethnography From An Elementary School Principal, Kimberly Christine Adams

Doctoral Dissertations

Practitioners and researchers have interpreted and debated the concept of the least restrictive environment creating the operational practices of mainstreaming and inclusion to adhere to the laws of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Despite the laws to ensure equal access to general education classrooms, and the vast body of literature on the technical implementation of inclusive practices, students with disabilities continue to be segregated and educated in a separate and unequal system of special education.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the competing tensions and conflict in inclusive education that elementary school principals navigate on a …