Education Commons^™

Why Don't They Give Back: Alumni Giving At Two Historically Black Colleges And Universities, Jasmine A. Pope

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the literature, HBCU alumni non-donors were perceived to possess the opposite characteristics of alumni that do give financially. In order to further examine the lack of alumni giving at HBCUs, this study evaluated previously identified characteristics of HBCU alumni that choose not to financially support their alma maters. The purpose of this study was to examine how income, student experience, religious charitable giving, alumni perceptions, and alumni engagement, relate to alumni giving at HBCUs. An explanatory correlational design was used to address the research questions posed in this study. The 4,500 person sample, which consisted of donors and non-donors, …

"We Can't Reclaim What We Don't Understand": Teachers' Perceptions Of Advocacy And Voice In A Rural Institute Of The National Writing Project, James Anthony Anderson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines teachers' perceptions of advocacy and voice in a summer institute of the National Writing Project. The Rural Advocacy Institute, a first-time initiative through the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project, offered three weeks of professional development centered on rural education and teaching English language arts in rural public schools. The study is a grounded theory study; grounded theory forces the researcher to stay "close to the data," compare data sets, and use reflective writing to identify conceptual categories in the data. Data collection in the study included semi-structured interviews with six K-12 teachers participating in the Institute and twenty-seven …

Writing Apprehension Of Black Students At A Private Historically Black Four Year Liberal Arts Institution, John Wesley Mcallister

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the level of writing apprehension among first generation students at a Private Historically Black Institution. Participants were 103 college students from the central region of Arkansas at a Private Historically Black Institution of which 103 students responded to the survey completely. All of the respondents were administered the survey in four different sections of the freshman seminar courses. The survey consisted of a demographic section and the Writing Apprehension Test. The writing apprehension test was created by Daly and Miller (1975) to determine an individual's level of writing apprehension. Student's views, opinions …

The Effects Of Combining Looping, Cognitively Guided Instruction, And Ethnicity: How They Can Collectively Improve Academic Achievement, Matthew Brandon Wilson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study is to gain an understanding of the powerful instructional potential of combining the practice of looping, Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) professional development strategies, and the impact these practices have in addition to ethnicity in elementary education. The study focused on research questions pertaining to student's Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) scores and the implementation of looping, CGI strategies, and how ethnicity impacted student achievement.

This study emphasizes two types of statistical tests to determine how significant CGI and looping practices impacted growth in mathematics on the MAP test for different ethnic groups. A Chi-Square …

Rising To The Top: Career Progression Of Women Senior-Level Student Affairs Administrators, Devan S. Ford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Women account for over half of the populations of enrolled students and employed staff and administrators in higher education. In student affairs, women current accounts for over 60% of employees at the entry and mid-levels of administration, but less than half of all senior-level executive positions are filled by women. Furthermore, the majority of the women in senior-level student affairs administrative roles work at two-year institutions; doctoral granting research intensive universities have the lowest numbers of women student affairs professionals in senior-level positions. The career pathway to advance from entry-level to senior-level positions is unclear, and as a result, many …

Factors Influencing The Academic Achievement And Success Of African American Male Principals In A Midsouth State, Roy C. Turner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A consistent pattern of academic failure among African American (AA) males in our nation's schools has generated a great deal of interest among educational researchers and practitioners. In fact, some studies show that AA males have been labeled as an endangered species. In an effort to reduce this dangerous negative trend, more research needs to be conducted to uncover those factors that contribute to AA males' academic achievement. This study will investigate factors (motivation, parental involvement/family and peer influence, environmental, or social factors) that may have contributed to the academic achievement of AA male principals who have achieved success by …

Theory And Practice: A Historical Examination Of The Assumptions And Philosophy Of Human Resource Development, Matthew Wayne Gosney

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The history of Human Resource Development (HRD) is the history of human organizational growth and development. A review of the history of western civilization, with particular focus on the Industrial Revolution to the modern era, demonstrates a distinct interaction between the predominant philosophy of the time, theory, and practice. A better understanding of seminal events in HRD's history thus provides insight into informing philosophies of HRD and the assumptions upon which current HRD theory and practice rest. Research was conducted to explore this interplay between philosophy, theory, and practice. The research was thematic and historical in nature, including the evaluation …

The Interethnic Communication Apprehension Of Students Of Color At The University Of Arkansas, Angela Courage-Mellott

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Interethnic Communication Apprehension of students of color with white faculty members was studied at the University of Arkansas, a predominantly white university with predominantly white faculty. Interethnic Communication Apprehension is defined as a psychological response of fear or anxiety which causes avoidance of interaction with people from ethnic groups that are different from one's own (Neuliep & McCroskey, 1997). This study was conducted using the PRECA (Personal Report of Interethnic Communication Apprehension) measure created and validated by Neuliep and McCroskey (1997). Students of color who frequent the Center of Multicultural and Diversity Education were polled using the PRECA. Students of …