Education Commons^™

Teachers’ Experience Of Working With Underachieving Students: A Comparative Phenomenological Study Of Teachers In South Africa, Russia, And The United States, Maria J. Oreshkina

Doctoral Dissertations

This research project presents three phenomenological studies: (1) teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in South Africa, (2) teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in Russia, and (3) teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in the United States. It also involves a comparative study of teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in the three countries. All teacher participants in these studies were recommended as expert teachers who displayed qualities of teacher professionalism such as (1) commitment to learners; (2) the ability to make decisions in complex and ill-defined contexts; (3) reflective practice; and (4) a body …

Comparing Recent High School Graduates Placed In Developmental And College-Level Mathematics Courses, Crystal Renee Rice

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine any significant differences among recent high school graduates placed in developmental and college-level mathematics courses. The focus of the investigation was on students’ high school course-taking patterns in mathematics and their attitudes and beliefs towards mathematics. High school location was also considered.

The study was conducted at two community colleges in east Tennessee. Students placed in both developmental and college-level mathematics courses completed surveys at the beginning of the fall semester 2006. Four scales of the Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitudes Scales (1976), along with the Indiana Mathematics Belief Scales (Kloosterman & Stage, 1992), …

Program, Classroom, And Teacher Characteristics: Their Associations, Mihyang Ryu

Doctoral Dissertations

With data from the NCEDL Multi-State Pre-Kindergarten Study, the relationship between the characteristics of program, classroom, and teachers and classroom quality was examined in this study. Classroom quality was measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System and the Emerging Academics Snapshot. The sample consisted of 227 pre-k teachers in state-funded programs from six states. The percentage of children from low-income families in the classroom and the number of children with limited English proficiency (the only two predictive variables that described children’s characteristics) were found to be statistically significant predictors of classroom process quality. These findings were discussed with regard to …

Reliability And Validity Of The Unit - Gifted Screening Scale (Unit - Gss), Rebecca Grace Gray

Doctoral Dissertations

The psychometric integrity of the UNIT - Gifted Screening Scale (UNIT -GSS; McCallum & Bracken, in press) was explored by examining Cronbach's Alphas for each of its scales (reliabilities ranged from .95 to .98). In addition, the concurrent validity was evaluated by comparing scores from non-academically oriented UNIT-GSS scales to other instruments that measure the same constructs for 106 2^nd through 8^th grade students, rated either by their teachers or themselves, on the UNIT-GSS, the Gifted Rated Scales (GRS; Pfeiffer & Jarosewich, 2003), and a self-report instrument designed to measure emotional intelligence, the Bar-On Emotional Quotient: Youth Version …

Increasing On-Task Behavior In Second-Grade Students: An Empirical Validation Of The Color Wheel Intervention, Daniel L. Fudge

Doctoral Dissertations

When transitioning a class from one activity to another, ineffective classroom management can reduce academic learning time and increase disruptive and anti-social behavior. The purpose of the current study was to determine if a classroom management procedure, referred to as the Color Wheel, could enhance on-task behavior in second-grade students during regular scheduled instruction and transitions. Analysis was conducted on the average on-task (OT) behavior of the entire class (i.e., 12 students) and across each of the 12 students in the class (individual analysis of each student’s OT behavior) to determine if the Color Wheel procedure increased OT behavior.

The …

Physical Therapy Patient Education For The Management Of A Low Back Derangement Syndrome, Ute Hohenfeld Breese

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify the content and design of physical therapy patient education programs recommended in the literature and to assess the consistency between those recommendations, the recommendations of physical therapy educators and the practices of physical therapist clinicians. A patient example was used as the focus of the patient education program. The patient example was classified as having a low back derangement syndrome.

A national sample of 600 physical therapists was surveyed, and physical therapy educators from 20 professional education programs were interviewed. The surveys yielded data from 264 physical therapists, and 31 educators in …

Emergency Disaster Preparedness And Community Mental Health Facilities Capacity Following Hurricanes Katrina And Rita, Linda Lee Cannon Peoples

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the research study was to assess the impact of the hurricanes Katrina and Rita on community mental health facilities client service capacity and emergency preparedness in the disaster declared and non-declared areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia and Texas in the U.S.A. The impacts associated with client service capacity and emergency preparedness were evaluated. A survey instrument was created, tested for reliability and used to assess the client service capacity and status of emergency disaster preparedness at community mental health facilities following the hurricanes Katrina and Rita disaster. Differences in the reported client service capacity and emergency …

Linkage Between Daily Writing Activities And Performance On Major Multiple-Choice Exams, Haley Crisp Turner

Doctoral Dissertations

Presumably, one approach for improving exam performance in college courses is to increase the quantity and quality of pre-class preparation. Over a two-semester period, students in six sections of a large undergraduate course in human development at a large southeastern university participated in a study designed to assess the efficacy of an intervention to enhance student preparation for class. The treatment involved administration of daily five-minute writing activities based on pairs of concepts embedded in the instructor notes of each unit in the course. The principal dependent variable across semesters was student performance on unit-exam items related to content in …

An Evaluation Of The Psychometric Properties Of The Test Of Dyslexia-Rapid Assessment Profile, Sara Jean Mccane

Doctoral Dissertations

The Test of Dyslexia-Rapid Assessment Profile (TOD-RAP), designed as a group-administered instrument for the purpose of identifying persons at-risk for reading difficulties, was administered to 357 primary/secondary and collegiate summer school students in a southeastern state, along with the Reading Fluency subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ-III), the Spelling and Reading portions of the Wide Range Achievement Test 3 (WRAT-3), and Test of Silent Word Reading Fluency (TOSWRF). Internal consistency coefficients of TOD-RAP subtests ranged from .79 to .96 and test-retest coefficients ranged from .70 to .94, indicating adequate reliability. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) yielded significant …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Academic And Athletic Satisfaction Among Division Ia Student-Athletes, James Joseph Phillips

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between academic and athletic satisfaction for Division IA intercollegiate athletes. Student-athletes (n = 367; 16 teams) at a Division IA university in the Midwest completed the Athlete Satisfaction Questionnaire (ASQ) and the Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI), in addition to a demographic survey. The data was analyzed using a variety of analytical procedures including descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation, and hierarchical regression in order to answer the research questions guiding this study:
1. What is the relationship between Division IA intercollegiate athletes’ satisfaction with their academic and athletic experiences?
2. What …

The Experience Of Participants Using An Online Discussion Forum In A Graduate Course, Jennifer W. Summerlin

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was designed and implemented to describe the experiences of doctoral students using an online discussion forum and determine the effectiveness of this type of instructional tool. Specifically, this study examined the students' experiences with overall communication, themes of the discussion board/forum, and traits and/or skills, which were needed for this online environment, with the purpose of determining how these experiences may have enhanced or hindered their overall course experience.

The specific approach used for this research was a qualitative case study methodology, which consisted of face-to-face interviews conducted with doctoral students from a small private university in the …

A Study Of Collaborative School-University Partnerships Involving Teams Of Educators From Bulgaria And The United States, Edward L. Diden

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to analyze collaborations involving three teams of educators participating in a school-university partnership, the "My Place, Your Place, Our Place: Integrating Education for the Neighborhood and the World" project. The three groups of educators included the Tennessee team (a school-university partnership), the Bulgaria team (a school-university partnership), and the setting created by the combination of both (a cross-cultural integration).

The conceptual framework for this research was based upon Sarason’s (1972) work, The Creation of Settings and the Future Societies. Due to the intercultural nature of this project, Hofstede and Hofstede’s (2005) five …

Organizational Health And Student Achievement Gains In Elementary Schools, Christopher Lee Henderson

Doctoral Dissertations

With increasing pressures to improve student performance, schools are in need of ways to positively affect student achievement that they can control. The concept of organizational health, which includes academic emphasis, teacher affiliation, collegial leadership, resource influence, and institutional integrity, offers educators an opportunity to gauge the climate of their building and in turn positively affect academic outcomes. Using Hoy and Tarter’s (1997) concept of organizational health in elementary schools as a conceptual framework, this study undertook a mixed method approach to examining the relationship between organizational health and student achievement gains in elementary schools. The Organizational Health Inventory-Elementary Version, …

Presentation Software And Its Affects On Developmental Students’ Mathematics Attitudes, Julianna Gregory

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated whether the use of presentation software as the primary delivery system would affect developmental mathematics students’ attitudes toward mathematics and investigated the differential impact presentation software might have on mathematical attitudes of students with respect to their gender, locale (rural vs. non-rural), or age (traditional vs. nontraditional). The student’s locale was determined by the Johnson code assigned to the high school he or she graduated from by the National Center for Education Statistics. A student was classified as traditional (under 21 years of age) or nontraditional (21 years of age or older).

An experimental study was conducted …

Tennessee State Public School Counselors’ Time, Tasks And Knowledge, Laura Michelle Hebert

Doctoral Dissertations

To prepare school counselors to work in the current school environment, school counselors, and counselor educators need to understand the challenges, the environment and the demands to be faced. The researcher initiated a research project called Tennessee State Public School Counselors’ Time, Tasks, and Knowledge. The purpose of this study was to increase the understanding of public school counselors’ time and tasks required and preferred, as well as specific knowledge the school counselors possess and need to learn to be competent as school counselors in the state of Tennessee.

The first objective of this research was to measure how …

A Conversation Between Confucius And Dewey On Individual And Community — A Hope For Human Unity, Hongmei Peng

Doctoral Dissertations

The relationship between 'individual' and 'community', or others, is a focal concern in philosophy both in China and in the Euro-western world. Individualism and collectivism, the two entirely different traditions of philosophy that describe a different relationship between 'individual' and 'community', have a long polemic history and are still practiced in our everyday lives. They play an essential role in schools in terms of the way teachers teach our children and relationships children develop with their classmates. This dissertation is a philosophical comparative effort to explore the conceptions of individual and community, and the relationship between the two in Confucian …

Preferred Principles In Writing Instruction And The Intrinsic Motivation Of High-Achieving High School Students, Hunter Morrison Brimi

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine what effect, if any, the use of "preferred principles in writing instruction" had on Advanced Placement (AP) secondary school students' intrinsic motivation to write. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected in a mixed methods, concurrent triangulation design. Prior to the study, ten research-based best practices in writing instruction were identified and implemented in two eleventh-grade high school English classes. Forty-one students participated in the study. The Biggs (1987) Learning Process Questionnaire was adapted to determine the motivation of these students in regard to writing. Treatment consisted of 66 class meetings in which …

Workers' Compensation And Disability Benefits: The Effect Of The Permanent Partial Disability Multiplier And Settlement Method On Back Injury Claims In The State Of Tennessee, Eric Allan Fenstemaker

Doctoral Dissertations

Back pain is the leading cause of work place disability in Tennessee. The National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI, 2002) found that in the United States back claims account for thirty-two (32%) percent of all workers' compensation claims and the average cost of a back claim is roughly fifty (50%) percent higher than the cost of other work-related injuries. Previous research on Tennessee workers' compensation suggests that permanent partial disability benefits (PPD) are a major source of cost and litigation in a court based system (Gardner, Telles, & Moss, 1996; Boden, 1997; Ballantyne, 2003).

The workers' compensation system in Tennessee …

Adherence To The 10,000 Steps Per Day Recommendation: An Examination Of Researcher Contact, Self-Efficacy, Social Support, And Perceived Barriers, Cherilyn N. Hultquist

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if length of contact with a fitness professional impacts adherence, physical characteristics, exercise self-efficacy, feelings of social support, and perceived barriers during a walking intervention utilizing the 10,000 steps per day recommendation. A secondary purpose of this study was to document the specific strategies that previously inactive women use to successfully build walking into their day. Participants were 55 previously inactive women (45.6 ± 5.8 y) who were randomly assigned to either 4-weeks or 12-weeks of weekly contact with a researcher. Group assignment had no effect on any variable of interest (p …

Assessment Of Hiv/Aids Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, And Behaviors Among Students Attending Historically Black Colleges & Universities: The Basis For Developing A Conceptual Teaching/Learning Framework, John Franklin Michael

Doctoral Dissertations

HIV/ AIDS/STD is brought on by a way of life that includes sexual excess and drug abuse and the risk of contracting AIDS depends exclusively on an individual's behavior choices. Changing one's lifestyle is the most effective way of avoiding these infectious diseases. If, in fact, changing to a healthier lifestyle can help one to avoid AIDS/STD, then it becomes essential that college students develop an understanding of the interrelationship between the quality of a person's knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors and an awareness of how these qualities are interwoven into human behavior.

The purpose of this study was to …

Putting The Horse Before The Cart: Utilizing What Assessment Data Reveal About Struggling Young Adolescent Readers To Inform Policy And Instruction, Danielle V. Dennis

Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, increased attention has been paid to accelerating the development of struggling young adolescents’ reading skills (Franzak, 2006). It has been widely acknowledged that these students require intensive instruction in reading in order to meet changing societal demands (Allington, 2002; Afflerbach, 2004; Alvermann, 2001; Biancarosa & Snow, 2004). Score reporting from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) may demonstrate a dichotomy amongst our young adolescent readers, but the scores do not tell us about the specific needs of individual students. In other words, these levels essentially create two groups: those who can read and those who cannot. …

Fighting The Freeloader Effect : Cooperation, Attitude, And Achievement In A Jesuit Secondary Math Classroom, Kevin Quattrin

Doctoral Dissertations

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Jaula De Oro : Growing Up As An Undocumented Latin@ Immigrant In The United States, Juancarlos Arauz

Doctoral Dissertations

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African Heritage In Cuban Literature For Children And Young Adults : A Participatory Study With Nersys Felipe And Teresa Cã¡Rdenas, Dulce Maria Perez Castillo

Doctoral Dissertations

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Working Memory Cross-Modal Binding And Decoding Ability In Children In The First And Second Grades, Eduardo Sanchez

Doctoral Dissertations

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Through The Lens Of The Adolescent : A Survey Of At-Risk Behaviors, Sandra L. Ahmann

Doctoral Dissertations

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A Case Study : Academic Achievement In An After-School Tutoring Program With Black Middle School Youth, Errie Denan Bohanon

Doctoral Dissertations

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Emotional Intelligence And Leadership Practices Among Human Service Program Managers, Cynthia Sims-Vanzant

Doctoral Dissertations

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Resiliency And Attribution Factors Associated With Racially And Ethnically Diverse Adolescents With Learning Disabilities, Karen Yvette Cruter Mcgee

Doctoral Dissertations

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The Implications Of Technology For Women Of Pakistan In Higher Education : A Qualitative Analysis, Anniqua Rana

Doctoral Dissertations

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