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Doctoral Dissertations

2014

University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Full-Text Articles in Education

The Massachusetts Educator Evaluation Framework And Transformational Leadership Alignment: An Investigation, Martin J. Mcevoy Jr Nov 2014

The Massachusetts Educator Evaluation Framework And Transformational Leadership Alignment: An Investigation, Martin J. Mcevoy Jr

Doctoral Dissertations

The recent Massachusetts Educator Evaluation Regulations (CMR 35.00) articulates goals that include growth and improved performance by teachers. Despite this stated goal, however, it is unclear if the policy is consistent with transformational leadership, which has shown correlation with growth and performance. In fact, the policy may instead bring about unintended consequences associated by some with evaluations in general, such as promoting “inspectional and fault finding supervision . . . [that] has serious consequences for the improvement of teaching and student achievement” (Glanz, 2005, p. 3). Through a discursive analysis of the Educator Evaluation Regulations (CMR 35.00) and semi-structured interviews …


Mind, Brain, And Education: A Case Study Of Student Perceptions Of An Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Martha C. Lees Nov 2014

Mind, Brain, And Education: A Case Study Of Student Perceptions Of An Interdisciplinary Graduate Program, Martha C. Lees

Doctoral Dissertations

Advances in developmental and neuroscience research, calls for educational reform, and an emphasis on interdisciplinarity have generated interest in how science might inform educational practice and policy, resulting in the emerging field of mind, brain, and education (MBE). A primary goal of the field is to connect the cognitive and developmental sciences, biology, and education to develop a scientific grounding for educational practice and policy. Interdisciplinary MBE graduate programs seek to train a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this case study is to investigate students’ perceptions of their experiences developing interdisciplinary understanding in an MBE …


Interrogating The Divide: A Case Study Of Student Technology Use In A One-To-One Laptop School, Nicholas Wilson Nov 2014

Interrogating The Divide: A Case Study Of Student Technology Use In A One-To-One Laptop School, Nicholas Wilson

Doctoral Dissertations

Persistent gaps in technology literacy skills between students of differing socioeconomic backgrounds over the past two decades (even despite cases of parity in technology resources (Subramony, 2007) amongst poor and affluent students) have necessitated that researchers now look beyond monetary funding as the primary reason for the existence of the Digital Divide. Rather than looking to quantitative measures of students’ technology skills to identify potential areas for skill remediation or special services, some scholars have adopted a sociocultural approach to the problem to examine how the circumstances of technology-related classroom activities influence teachers’ technology integration strategies, and the ways in …


A Journal Club: A Scholarly Community For Preservice And Inservice Science Teachers, Karen Tallman Nov 2014

A Journal Club: A Scholarly Community For Preservice And Inservice Science Teachers, Karen Tallman

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative case study examines how a journal club can be used as a pedagogical tool in science teacher education. Six preservice and inservice science teachers, for seven months, participated in a journal club where they chose, read, and discussed science education research articles from problems or concerns they had in their teaching practice. The data included field notes, audio-recordings of meetings, pre- and post- interviews with all the teachers, two focus groups, artifacts collected (e.g. journal articles, reflective paper, e-mail exchanges, and researcher’s field notes). The data were analyzed using the techniques of grounded theory (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). …


Teachers Talk: A Case Study Of The Experience Of Working Across Cultures With Immigrant Children And Their Families, Anne Lundberg Nov 2014

Teachers Talk: A Case Study Of The Experience Of Working Across Cultures With Immigrant Children And Their Families, Anne Lundberg

Doctoral Dissertations

One of the persistent challenges confronting our society is how to reduce inequities in educational and life chances of students from different socioeconomic, ethnic, language, and racial backgrounds. One of the most important factors in a child’s success in school is the degree to which their families are actively involved in their education. These two facts framed this research work. The current large-scale immigration occurring in the U.S.A. is an important social development because children of immigrants currently make up 20% of all youth in the U.S.A.; first and second generation immigrant children are the most rapidly growing segment of …


Sfl In L2 Writing Teacher Education: A Case Study Of An Efl Pre-Service Teacher In Conceptualizing Grammar, Wawan Gunawan Nov 2014

Sfl In L2 Writing Teacher Education: A Case Study Of An Efl Pre-Service Teacher In Conceptualizing Grammar, Wawan Gunawan

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract SFL in L2 Writing Teacher Education: A Case STUDY of an EFL PRE-SERVICE Teacher IN CONCEPTUALIZING GRAMMAR English education globally has been challenged by an increasing need for academic English practices to support access to content area knowledge and scholarly exchanges. However, EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers often lack the linguistic and pedagogical knowledge of how academic texts work to construct meanings in specific disciplines and how to design effective academic literacy instruction accessible to all students. This study, therefore, is aimed at responding to the intensifying demand for academic literacy instruction in international contexts by investigating …


Liberal Smarts: Using Constructivist Career Development To Restore Power To The Liberal Arts, Kelly A. Gray Nov 2014

Liberal Smarts: Using Constructivist Career Development To Restore Power To The Liberal Arts, Kelly A. Gray

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past two decades, funding to liberal arts programs has significantly declined (Donoghue, 2010; Mangan, 2003; Nussbaum, 2010; Smith 2011). Donoghue (2010) credits the overall decline to changes in the funding structure within higher education, as reliance on private money increases, professional and specialized majors in the business of “practical” value capture the majority of corporate dollars. Brooks (2009a) encourages liberal arts faculty and staff to spend more time and resources working with incoming and enrolled students to assist them in understanding the practicality of their majors, and subsequently how to market their majors to employers. However, thus far, …


Perceptions Of Leadership Through The Lens Of Special Education Administrators And Principals, Adam C. Garand Nov 2014

Perceptions Of Leadership Through The Lens Of Special Education Administrators And Principals, Adam C. Garand

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate leadership perceptions of 30 leaders of special education: 10 administrators of special education, 10 principals, and 10 assistant principals. A Q-sort methodology is used to obtain and analyze participant rankings of 50 leadership statements representing instructional, distributed, and collaborative leadership. Research questions that guide this study include: 1) How are the leadership style statements ranked in relationship to participant roles?; 2) To what extent did the highest ranked leadership style component statements differ from the lowest ranked leadership items?; 3) How did the participants describe the rankings of the overall most and …


A Novel Approach To Using Personal Response Systems And Diagrams To Foster Student Engagement In Large Lecture: Case Study Of Instruction For Model-Based Reasoning In Biology, Johanna M. Fitzgerald Nov 2014

A Novel Approach To Using Personal Response Systems And Diagrams To Foster Student Engagement In Large Lecture: Case Study Of Instruction For Model-Based Reasoning In Biology, Johanna M. Fitzgerald

Doctoral Dissertations

At UMass Amherst a method of personal response system (clickers) use in large lecture biology called Guided Application of Model-based Reasoning (GAMBR) has been designed to give students experiences in reasoning like expert biologists: In large lecture biology many instructors appear to use clickers mainly as a quizzing and attendance tool. Less well documented and examined are uses of clickers to facilitate cognitive engagement in learning scientific models and skills. In GAMBR, clicker questions ask students to apply and perturb biological models; this is designed to engage them in model-based reasoning. In an attempt to understand such a course, an …


A Critical Examination Of Policy And Practice In The Transition Experience For Students With Math Learning Disabilities In Mumbai, India, Melinda S. Eichhorn Nov 2014

A Critical Examination Of Policy And Practice In The Transition Experience For Students With Math Learning Disabilities In Mumbai, India, Melinda S. Eichhorn

Doctoral Dissertations

Although some research has examined the experiences of students with learning disabilities in Indian secondary schools (see Karande, Sholarpurwala, & Kulkarni, 2011; Karande, Mahajan, & Kulkarni, 2009), the role of policy in students’ transition into post-secondary education has been largely unexamined. This study is a preliminary effort at providing an investigation of special education policy in Mumbai and the impact on students’ transition to post-secondary education, especially in regards to mathematics. This study extends the current knowledge of students with learning disabilities in Mumbai by 1) taking an in-depth look at students with math learning disabilities specifically, 2) focusing on …


Cultivating Communities Of Practice To Develop Local Preparedness For Climate Change, Konda Reddy Chavva Nov 2014

Cultivating Communities Of Practice To Develop Local Preparedness For Climate Change, Konda Reddy Chavva

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this research was to study the effectiveness of field facilitators’ (FFs) community of practice in improving ways in which FFs and farmers communicate and work together to strengthen farmers’ climate change preparedness through identifying locally suitable adaptation strategies in drought-prone districts of Andhra Pradesh State in India. In development initiatives like the one studied, FFs are often the key liaison person with each community—farmers in this case. FFs interact regularly with farmers, with whom they establish and sustain critical relationships over time. Further, they take the lead in building farmers’ capacities by contextualizing technical information that professionals …


School Principal Leadership And Special Education Knowledge, Rob Schulze Aug 2014

School Principal Leadership And Special Education Knowledge, Rob Schulze

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated the effects of special education background and demographic variables on the perceptions of leadership styles by public school principals with and without special education backgrounds in Massachusetts. Utilizing Q-sort methodology, principals sorted 47 statements reflective of transformational, instructional, transactional, and distributed leadership. Analysis found that the participants separated into two factor groups. The special education background of the participants did not influence the formation of the factors, and it was found that prior special education experience was not a predictor of subsequent leadership perceptions of principals. Instead, Factor A was composed of younger, less educated, less experienced …


‘Safe Space For Hard Conversations’: College Men’S Experience In Diversity Education, Rachel L. Wagner Aug 2014

‘Safe Space For Hard Conversations’: College Men’S Experience In Diversity Education, Rachel L. Wagner

Doctoral Dissertations

Current research on college men portrays patterns of maladaptive and antisocial attitudes and behaviors. Studies show correlations between college men’s problematic behavior and their adherence to unexamined gender roles. Educators have few examples of men’s pro-social behavior nor the masculine ideology that accompanies it. This study explored college men’s pro-social behaviors through their engagement in educationally purposeful activities operationally defined in the literature as diversity education. Milem, Chang and Antonio (2005) defined diversity education as meaningful engagement with diversity through coursework or purposeful cross-culture interactions in pursuit of educational outcomes. Using an interpretive qualitative methodology, I addressed two primary research …


Speaking Back To Structure: Critical Multimodal Media Literacy & The Politics Of School Reform, Kate Way Aug 2014

Speaking Back To Structure: Critical Multimodal Media Literacy & The Politics Of School Reform, Kate Way

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the development of critical multimodal and media literacy skills in high school aged students against the backdrop of current state and national education policy. Following the progress of students in a semester-long writing course that focuses on critical multimodal and media literacy, the study examines how critical literacy skills develop within different modes and mediums – particularly those enabled by new media and digital technologies – and considers the implications of critical multimodal and media literacy skills for student engagement, agency, and achievement. The study further analyzes the impact at the institutional level of educational reforms incentivized …


Developing Multimodal Digital Literacy: The Application Of Digital Storytelling As A New Avenue For Effective English Learning With Efl Elementary School Students In Korea, Tecnam Yoon Aug 2014

Developing Multimodal Digital Literacy: The Application Of Digital Storytelling As A New Avenue For Effective English Learning With Efl Elementary School Students In Korea, Tecnam Yoon

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed method research study is to investigate the educational effects of digital storytelling as a communicative language learning strategy in an EFL elementary school class in Korea. In order to find out the benefits and challenges of digital storytelling in EFL class, this study was conducted for 12 weeks in a rural elementary school. Digital storytelling was selected and utilized in the after-school English class, as main teaching and learning tool. Guiding research questions were 1) what are the potential benefits and challenges of digital storytelling for young EFL learners when it is employed in a …


The Stress Problem: Exploring The Intersections Of Student Stress, Involvement, And Problem-Solving Self-Efficacy, Dawn L. Rendell Aug 2014

The Stress Problem: Exploring The Intersections Of Student Stress, Involvement, And Problem-Solving Self-Efficacy, Dawn L. Rendell

Doctoral Dissertations

College students over the last three decades have reported increasing levels of stress (Astin A. W., 1998; Twenge, 2006). As students come to college feeling overwhelmed, student affairs professionals must prepare to address the issue of stress and explore possible interventions and program. Previous research on college student stress has tended to focus on bivariate relationships. Researchers have explored how technology, gender, race, and problem-solving confidence are related to perceived stress. Many studies have focused on the relationship between problem-solving efficacy and stress, as well as problem-solving skill development as an intervention to help manage stress. Participants in this study …


Program Evaluation Of The Strong Start Curriculum As A Selected Intervention For Early Elementary Students, Katherine A. Meyer Aug 2014

Program Evaluation Of The Strong Start Curriculum As A Selected Intervention For Early Elementary Students, Katherine A. Meyer

Doctoral Dissertations

Consistent with the need for implementation research and prevention programming for students in schools, the current study evaluated the implementation and outcomes of Strong Start, a social-emotional learning program, as a supplemental intervention for students in kindergarten through second grade at risk for developing emotional and behavioral problems. This intervention took place during the first year of a county-wide restructuring of mental health supports and was part of a multi-tiered system of supports provided in schools. A mixed method program evaluation was conducted to examine four areas of interest. First, the contextual factors related to program adoption were examined; …


Genres Of Dialogic Discussion In High School English: A Cross-Case Study Of Two Courses, Wendy Keyser Aug 2014

Genres Of Dialogic Discussion In High School English: A Cross-Case Study Of Two Courses, Wendy Keyser

Doctoral Dissertations

This cross-case ethnographic study examines genres of discussion in two public high school English courses to explore the interplay between dialogism, structure, and critical and collaborative thinking practices. Bakhtin's concepts of dialogism and speech genres as well as Vygotsky's concepts of thinking and language and the zone of proximal development provide the theoretical premise of this research. Data sources included field notes, audio recordings and transcriptions, artifacts of the teacher's handouts and students' written work, informal conversations, and an interview with the teacher. I used discourse analysis and grounded theory to analyze the data, looking at both lively and problematic …


Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent Aug 2014

Interpreting, Stephanie Jo Kent

Doctoral Dissertations

What do community interpreting for the Deaf in western societies, conference interpreting for the European Parliament, and language brokering in international management have in common? Academic research and professional training have historically emphasized the linguistic and cognitive challenges of interpreting, neglecting or ignoring the social aspects that structure communication. All forms of interpreting are inherently social; they involve relationships among at least three people and two languages. The contexts explored here, American Sign Language/English interpreting and spoken language interpreting within the European Parliament, show that simultaneous interpreting involves attitudes, norms and values about intercultural communication that overemphasize information and discount …


Fostering Transformative Points Of Connection: An Examination Of The Role Of Personal Storytelling In Two Undergraduate Social Diversity Courses, Molly Keehn Aug 2014

Fostering Transformative Points Of Connection: An Examination Of The Role Of Personal Storytelling In Two Undergraduate Social Diversity Courses, Molly Keehn

Doctoral Dissertations

People in the United States are becoming increasingly isolated and separated, and this disconnection has been amplified by the use of new technologies in which face-to-face interactions and connection are becoming an anomaly (Putnam, 2000; Turkle, 2011). These changes are paralleled by marked racial and ethnic demographic shifts and increasing racial and economic re-segregation nationwide (Passel & Cohn, 2008). A critical challenge facing higher education is fostering educational opportunities for college students to interact, connect with, and learn from diverse peers about issues of social identity, difference, and inequality, while imagining possibilities for socially-just action (Gurin, 1999; Tatum, 2007). This …


Beyond The Pearly Gates: White, Low-Income Student Experiences At Elite Colleges, Larissa Hopkins Aug 2014

Beyond The Pearly Gates: White, Low-Income Student Experiences At Elite Colleges, Larissa Hopkins

Doctoral Dissertations

Elite institutions are historically infamous for exclusionary admissions practices that regularly denied people of color and low-income populations access to their ranks (Karabel, 2005). The power of the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements facilitated some changes in these admissions policies, although elite institutions also generated a rhetoric to suggest that low-income students would not benefit from the philosophical and theoretical orientation of an elite education (Soares, 2007). Small, elite institutions have shifted their values toward embracing student diversity and some have increased access to qualified low-income students through need-blind admissions policies. This qualitative study discusses how previously excluded White students …


Impacts Of The Game-Centered Approach On Cognitive Learning Of Game Play And Game Performance During 5-Week Of Spring Season With Intercollegiate Female Soccer Players, Kanae Haneishi Aug 2014

Impacts Of The Game-Centered Approach On Cognitive Learning Of Game Play And Game Performance During 5-Week Of Spring Season With Intercollegiate Female Soccer Players, Kanae Haneishi

Doctoral Dissertations

Game-centered approaches have been increasingly recognized for their features and the impacts in coaching profession. Research with the game-centered approach is still underdeveloped in coaching sports and physical activities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to describe the impacts of the game-centered approach on cognitive learning of game play and game performance during 5-week of spring season with intercollegiate female soccer players. Game performances at beginning, mid, and end of the season were examined through Game Performance Assessment Inventory (GPAI) with seventeen participants. Cognitive learning of game play was also assessed with instant recalls and practice journals with all …


Improving Anti-Racist Education For Multiracial Students, Eric Hamako Aug 2014

Improving Anti-Racist Education For Multiracial Students, Eric Hamako

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores how anti-racist education might be improved, so that it more effectively teaches Multiracial students about racism. A brief history of anti-racist education and a theory of monoracism – the systematic oppression of Multiracial people – provide context for the study. Anti-racist education in communities and colleges has supported U.S. social movements for racial justice. However, most anti-racist education programs are not designed by or for students who identify with two or more races. Nor have such programs generally sought to address Multiraciality or monoracism. Since the 1980s, Multiraciality has become more salient in popular U.S. racial discourses. …


"For A Future Tomorrow": The Figured Worlds Of Schoolgirls In Kono, Sierra Leone, Jordene Hale Aug 2014

"For A Future Tomorrow": The Figured Worlds Of Schoolgirls In Kono, Sierra Leone, Jordene Hale

Doctoral Dissertations

Current research in Sub-Sahara Africa suggests that young women face challenges in accessing and completing schooling, due among other things to gender related school based violence (Bruce & Hallman, 2008; Dunne, Humphreys, & Leach, 2006; Lloyd, Kaufman, & Hewett, 2000). These studies, while valuable in providing documentation on school enrollment and school leaving, do not explore the motivational framework where young women remain in school. The purpose of this dissertation is to trace how schoolgirls’ identities or “figured worlds” (Gee, 2011) are co-constructed in particular contexts by the same cohort of schoolgirls, their teachers, households, and communities through an ethnographic …


School Counselor Advocacy With Lgbt Students: A Qualitative Study Of High School Counselor Experiences, Maria E. Gonzalez Aug 2014

School Counselor Advocacy With Lgbt Students: A Qualitative Study Of High School Counselor Experiences, Maria E. Gonzalez

Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, advocacy has become a centerpiece of the school counseling profession, (American School Counseling Association (ASCA), 2005; Field, 2004). Nevertheless, there exists a dearth of empirical research on school counselor advocacy in general and virtually none as it relates to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students specifically. To begin addressing this gap in the literature, the purpose of this qualitative dissertation study was to examine the experiences of high school counselors in the southeastern United States who have served as advocates for and with LGBT students across identity groups, with a specific focus on race and class. …


Teachers’ Experiences Of Professional Development In (Post)Crisis Katanga Province, Southeastern Democratic Republic Of Congo: A Case Study Of Teacher Learning Circles, Paul St J Frisoli Aug 2014

Teachers’ Experiences Of Professional Development In (Post)Crisis Katanga Province, Southeastern Democratic Republic Of Congo: A Case Study Of Teacher Learning Circles, Paul St J Frisoli

Doctoral Dissertations

Teachers in (post)crisis contexts face an array of de-motivating factors such as insecurity, lack of pay, difficult working conditions, minimal leadership, and feeling undervalued (Johnson, 2006; OECD, 2009; Shriberg, 2007). To bolster their motivation and support their teaching, teachers in these settings need a forum where they feel valued as professionals (Asimeng-Boahene, 2003; Bennel & Akyeampong; Kirk & Winthrop, 2007). One model of teacher professional development (TPD) known as "Teacher Learning Circles"(TLCs) is currently being implemented in Katanga province in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for early grade reading teachers. TLCs strive to help teachers adopt innovative teaching techniques …


Outreach Practices Of A Small College Counseling Center: A Comprehensive Model To Serve The College Community, Jessica R. Ferriero Aug 2014

Outreach Practices Of A Small College Counseling Center: A Comprehensive Model To Serve The College Community, Jessica R. Ferriero

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past 10 years college counseling centers (CCCs) have been urged to broaden their focus considerably and to serve the entire campus community due to increases in student mental health issues. Engaging in outreach efforts is one way to address campus wide needs. However, few research efforts have been conducted to systematically investigate how outreach is practiced at a small college. The dialogue around outreach has focused on single programs at large institutions rather than the network of interventions that occur on a campus. The purpose of this study is to understand the web of relationships between a counseling …


“Give Light And People Will Find A Way”: Black Women College Student Leadership Experiences With Oppression At Predominantly White Institutions, Andrea D. Domingue Aug 2014

“Give Light And People Will Find A Way”: Black Women College Student Leadership Experiences With Oppression At Predominantly White Institutions, Andrea D. Domingue

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT “Give Light and People Will Find a Way”: Black Women College Student Leadership Experiences with Oppression at Predominantly White Institutions MAY 2014 ANDREA D. DOMINGUE, B.A., THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN M. A., NEW YORK UNIVERSITY Ed.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Emerita Maurianne Adams Black women college students have a collective history of marginalization and discrimination within systems of higher education (Brazzell, 1996; Turner, 2008). Unlike their White women and Black men counterparts, these women have unique social location in their racial and gender identity where they experience multiple types of oppression from dominant groups …


Investing In Grindr: An Exploration Of How Gay College Men Utilize Gay-Oriented Social Networking Sites, Michael T. Dodge Aug 2014

Investing In Grindr: An Exploration Of How Gay College Men Utilize Gay-Oriented Social Networking Sites, Michael T. Dodge

Doctoral Dissertations

The use of social networking sites appears to be a dominant fixture in the lives of college students. Recent studies estimate that over 94% of traditionally aged college students utilize social networking sites (Matney, Borland, & Cope, 2006; Salaway, Katz, Caruso, Kvavik, & Nelson, 2007: Smith & Caruso, 2010). College students’ near universal adoption and use of social networking sites is having a significant impact on how they develop identity and interact with others (Lloyd, Dean, & Cooper, 2007; Martínez Alemán & Lynk Wartman, 2009; Torres, Jones, & Renn, 2009). Studies have explored the impact of gender differences on social …


On Being And Becoming: An Exploration Of Young People’S Experiences With Status And Power, Keri L. Dejong Aug 2014

On Being And Becoming: An Exploration Of Young People’S Experiences With Status And Power, Keri L. Dejong

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand how young people in a high school and a community-based setting experience status and power related to age. This study assumes that discourses of childhood are constructed with a socio-political purpose. Literature from Critical Youth Studies, Postcolonial Theory, Feminist Theory, and Social Justice Education provide the theoretical and conceptual foundations. This research expands social justice education literature to include adultism/youth oppression as a social justice issue, centering the voices and experiences of those targeted by youth oppression. Research questions explored 1) what information young people encounter on a daily basis that …