Education Commons^™

The Gendered Experience Of Female Resident Assistants, Christa Rahl

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This paper sought to answer, “What is it like to be a female resident assistant (RA) in a society that has historically privileged men?” I structured this as a phenomenology within the transformative paradigm. I interviewed four participants twice with a prompt between interviews and one participant once. These participants were at least 19 years old and had held been an RA for at least one school year during the last five years.

I worked in the realm of Joan Acker’s (1990) theory of gendered organizations. I specifically had findings within the constructions she wrote about such as the division …

A Multi-Case Examination Of Leadership Development Programs For Emerging Educational Leaders In K-12 School Districts, Jason Thomsen

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In recent years, a greater emphasis has been placed on leadership development programs across a wide array of sectors in an effort to improve organizations. A growing body of research indicates that strong educational leadership practices have the ability to impact virtually all aspects of a school system. What is less evident in the research is how K-12 school districts utilize leadership development programs and make decisions regarding the implementation of those programs in order to cultivate educational leaders. The purpose of this multi-case study was to examine how K-12 school districts utilize leadership development programs and the role that …

How To Do Quantcrit: A Reflexive Account Of Applying Critical Quantitative Methods To A Study Of Black Women In Stem, Elizabeth Collins

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

There has been extensive research into the underrepresentation of minoritized students in STEM disciplines since the 1990s with limited success in improving the representation of Black women in math-intensive STEM fields. This dissertation aims to address how the guiding tenets of critical quantitative (QuantCrit) methods work when used with publicly available datasets and commonly used statistical approaches. Additionally, this dissertation provides a framework for how to apply reflexivity as a method while utilizing a QuantCrit approach. The publicly available HSLS:09 dataset is used as part of a reflexive study to demonstrate how the tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT) map …

Support Services And State Standardized Assessments For Homeless And High Mobility Youth: A Mixed Methods Case Study, Veronika Cummings

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

For the past decade, the number of homeless youth in the United States has drastically increased, with public schools now consistently serving over one million homeless students each year. Research spanning three decades has linked youth homelessness and poorer academic achievement. In addition to decreased academic achievement, homeless and highly mobile (HHM) youth are more likely to suffer from mental health issues, have a behavioral diagnosis, engage in high-risk behavior, be truant, abuse drugs and alcohol, and even face premature death. Because homelessness is also frequently misidentified as solely an urban problem, it often results in HHM youth being left …

Understanding The Participation Gap At Predominantly White Institutions: Examining Institutional Practices That Prevent Black Students From Studying Abroad, Jamil Funnah

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Study abroad is an opportunity students in higher education increasingly participate in (Institute of International Education, 2022). However college Students of Color, particularly Black students, participate in study abroad at disproportionately lower rates when compared to their white peers. This case study seeks to understand the multiple influences that inform lower levels of Black student participation in study abroad. Using Gusa’s (2010) white institutional presence framework, I examine multiple data points within a singular site including institutional messaging, procedures, and students interviews. Findings showed that multiple reasons impact Black students' decisions to study abroad. Understanding the findings can lead to …

The Impact Of Poverty Informed Faculty On Community College Student Success, Barbara J. Embacher

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Community college completion has been proven to be a ticket to a middle-class life. Moreover, we know that poverty causes educational barriers, including community college completion. Community colleges across the nation are identifying significant equity gaps between students from poor versus middle-class or affluent households. One solution to close equity gaps and increase student success rates for students experiencing poverty is to educate college faculty through professional development. This includes 1) information on the causes, myths, stereotypes, and other facts about poverty, 2) the impact poverty has on student achievement, and 3) instructional strategies that can help students experiencing poverty …