Education Commons^™

Disruption, Dissent, And Dialogue: Ypar As A Pedagogical And Institutional Tool, Charlene E. Holkenbrink-Monk

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Education reform has been at the forefront of educational research for decades, depicted by government initiatives and policy, research, and pedagogical changes and recommendations. When considering elements of educational change, policy, best practices, and individual merit and retention have also been heavily in the spotlight, such as A Nation at Risk, No Child Left Behind , and other policies that have been put forward. What is often left out is student voice, both within policy as well as ideas around what should be changed. Based on my pilot study, I found that students also did not feel adequately represented in …

A Mixed Methods Inquiry Into The Decision-Making Of California’S Principals During Local Control, Adrienne Ortega-Magallanes

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The 2013 implementation of the Local Control Funding Formula and Local Control Accountability Plan in California granted school districts the opportunity to create their own expense plans based on student needs, with the aim of returning decision-making to those closest to students. Within subsidiarity is the belief that those at the least centralized decision-making level should have the dignity and freedom to decisions that affect the problem at its source, in this case, how to improve student achievement. It is argued here that principals, who have a strong indirect link to student achievement, are the least centralized. To explore the …

Opportunity Cost Of Student Loan Debt Forgiveness: Testing The Impact Of Four Policy Options On United States’ Economy, Emelia Akhlaghi

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Nearly 45 million Americans are trapped in a student loan debt. In total they owe more than $1.75 trillion. Research shows that such a high amount of debt harms the U.S. economy in several ways, preventing anything from small business development to new house purchases, and even weddings and procreation. It is an issue that stakeholders have tried to address by offering different relief measures ranging from re-financing to debt cancellation. Debt cancellation has remained high on the agenda of the Democrat political leadership. This is the reason that student loan debt cancellation was on the agenda of each democrat …

Evaluation Education In A World In Transformation: The Way Forward, Marcia Paterno Joppert

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The world has experienced rapid changes, leading to pressing issues such as environmental degradation, social inequality, and resource depletion. As a transdisciplinary field, evaluation has emerged as a crucial tool in addressing these challenges and promoting systemic change. However, concerns have been raised regarding the field's capacity to meet these expectations and the existing gaps in evaluation education. This research aims to address these gaps by exploring how formal evaluation education programs (EEPs) respond to the preparation of professionals for systems change evaluations, prompting discussions on the need to redefine the approach to teaching evaluation. The study adopts a sequential …

College Aspirations, Preparation, And Enrollment Of First-Generation College Students: The Role Of College Counseling Support, Jamilla Helena Jamison

CGU Theses & Dissertations

It is well documented that college degree attainment can impact lifetime earnings and social mobility. However, research shows that first-generation college students (FGCs) are less likely than their peers to enroll in college after high school. The influence of a college counselor at the high school level as an influential other may positively influence college-going rates for first-generation students and help to close educational attainment gaps between FGCs and non-FGCs. While previous research has examined lower college aspirations, academic preparation, and enrollment rates of FGCs, previous literature has yet to address the role of college counseling support on the four-year …

Critical- Diversity, Belongingness, Inclusion, And Equity Sel, Jeanny Eliana Marroquin

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The social and civil unrest across the United States has ignited a call for more school-based social and emotional learning (SEL) frameworks and practices that are social justice-oriented. The Collaborative for Academic and Social Emotional Learning (CASEL) is one of the organizations that chose to revisit their existing SEL framework and introduced transformative SEL as an attempt to take steps toward creating a more social justice-oriented approach. This critique will review the SEL landscape of some pre-K-12 SEL programs and their methods to highlight gaps and limitations in the fields for future research considerations. Then, a new social and emotional …

Cultivating Early Career Teachers’ Purpose: A Mechanism To Sustain Early Career Teachers’ Commitment To The Profession, Neesha Yatin Daulat

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The attrition rate of early career teachers is high. In fact, the government spends $2 billion annually to replace teachers in the first five years of their tenure (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2005). The purpose of this dissertation is two-fold: 1) to test the relationship between purpose, psychological well-being, and affective commitment to the profession, and 2) to design and examine the impact of a purpose-centered intervention in a sample of early career teachers in their first or second year of teaching, in the northeast. Study 1 examined the relationship between early career teachers’ purpose, psychological well-being, and commitment to …

From Early Childhood To Adulthood: Leader Development In Indonesia, Charlina Gozali

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Leaders influence their surroundings in many ways. In companies, leaders impact work satisfaction, commitment, and engagement (Kouzes & Posner, 2015). In schools, leaders affect student behavior and learning outcomes (Wallace, 2006). Utilizing the Productive Giftedness Model (Paik, 2013, 2015), the present research examines the individual aptitude, instructional, and environmental factors that influence the development of young leaders in Indonesia. Participants in the study were recruited by Indonesia Mengajar , a highly selective intervention program in Indonesia which aims to improve educational conditions around the nation through the mobilization and equipping of local stakeholders. In order to examine leader development from …

The Impact Of Gamification On Second-Language Learning, Maram Almufareh

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Background: The Technology-Enhanced Training Effectiveness Model (TETEM) has been used to assess the effectiveness of various technology driven solutions in improving students’ learning outcomes in multiple academic fields. However, limited research is available on the use of TETEM in the context of second language learning. Using a modified TETEM, this study seeks first, to assess the direct effects of student’s attitude, and experience with video-gaming on student’s achievement and second, to evaluate the effects of student’s attitude and experience that are mediated by student’s motivation. Methods: This study was conducted among preparatory year students at Al-Jouf University, Saudi Arabia. In …

A Legacy Cut Short The Impact Of Pepperdine University On African Americans And South Los Angeles From 1937 – 1981, Elizabeth Craigg

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Due to the California gold rush in the 1800s, White Southerners seeking quick wealth flocked to the “free-state” of California. These new settlers included enslaved Africans, religion, and Southern attitudes that set the foundation for California to be a Southern-attitude state, which eventually attracted generations of free African Americans and a large White Southern population. White Southerners shaped California through passing discriminatory housing, education, banking, and employment policies against African Americans with the intention of marginalizing African Americans' existence and limiting their economic opportunity. The Church of Christ was largely a Southern and Midwestern religion that was one of the …

Improving Outcomes For Children Impacted By Adverse Childhood Experiences (Aces): A Study Of Intervention Effectiveness Guided By Developmental Theory, Lisa Teachanarong Aragon

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is the term often used to refer to a set of negative experiences occurring in childhood that hold high potential for inducing toxic stress and complex trauma in children (Felitti et al., 1998). Studies have shown that ACEs are common, often co-occur, and exhibit a strong dose-response relationship to many developmental outcomes across the lifespan (e.g., Anda et al., 2006; Blodgett, 2014; Dong et al., 2004; Metzler et al., 2017). As public awareness of ACEs, their prevalence, and their impact has spread, public interest in implementing effective prevention and intervention strategies has also increased (Donisch et …

Influence Of Deliberate Peer-To-Peer Interactions On First-Generation College Students’ Educational Outcomes, Junelyn Pangan Peeples

CGU Theses & Dissertations

First-generation college students are first in their families to go to college and may not have the resources to help them navigate a college setting. They have parents who have not received a four-year degree, which diminishes the amount of knowledge they accumulated to help them navigate a college setting effectively. They are typically underprepared academically and socially, which can impede their ability to adjust and negatively influence their persistence and ultimately degree attainment. There is research that suggests there are ways to retain students and provide better support systems that help them graduate. Studies have found that peer-to-peer interactions …

Easing Reentry Of Incarcerated Youth With And Without Disabilities Through Employability And Social Skills Training, Taryn Vanderpyl

CGU Theses & Dissertations

When incarcerated youth – those with and those without disabilities – face the prospect of reentering the community, they have many obstacles to overcome. Employment requirements are often associated with terms of parole or aftercare. Those who fail to obtain and maintain employment often reenter the juvenile justice system instead of successfully reentering society. Research shows employment is critical for successful transition from incarceration back in to the community. Limited information is available about programs that positively impact post-incarceration employment for juveniles, however. Practitioners face the challenge of selecting effective curriculum, interventions, or supports. Unfortunately, the current knowledge base provides …

Theory Building Through Praxis Discourse: A Theory- And Practice-Informed Model Of Transformative Participatory Evaluation, Michael Allen Harnar

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Stakeholder participation in evaluation, where the evaluator engages stakeholders in the process, is prevalent in evaluation practice and is an important focus of evaluation research. Cousins and Whitmore proposed a bifurcation of participatory evaluation into the two streams of transformative participatory and practical participatory evaluation (T-PE and P-PE respectively). T-PE stems from a social justice perspective and P-PE has more of a use orientation. T-PE is an underdeveloped evaluation theory with relatively low operational specificity. Case examples provide some understanding of it in practice, but comprehensive empirical support is still forthcoming. This study aims to develop a greater understanding of …

Investigating Young Children's Music-Making Behavior: A Developmental Theory, Paul G. Morehouse

CGU Theses & Dissertations

We have many developmental theories contributing to our understanding of children as they meander steadfastly toward maturation. Yet, none have reported on how young children interpret the qualitative meaning and importance of their own music-making experiences. Music created by average, not prodigious, young children is perceived by adults as “play” music rather than “real” music. But do young children take the same view as adults? When Piaget speaks of the young child’s qualitatively unique view and experience of the world (Ginsberg & Opper, 1988), can we assume that his statement encompasses young children’s predispositions related to music-making?

Music is understood …