Education Commons^™

Culturally Responsive Education: Creating A Safe And Inclusive Environment For Lgbtq+ Students, Kassidi M. Adams

Culminating Experience Projects

This paper explores research that discusses the impact of a culturally responsive education and lack-of for LGBTQ+ students and recommends a solution to ensure all students are safe and represented in schools. The research cited varies in their definitions and uses of the term LGBTQ+. This paper will use the term LGBTQ+, an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and more communities; however, the abbreviation used in the referenced research may be shortened to LG, LGB, LGBT, or LGBTQ to reflect only specific communities included in LGBTTTQQIAAP (VandenBos, 2015). This paper will also focus on inclusion, which refers to …

Narrowing The Achievement Gap: Culturally Responsive Teaching For African American Students, Haylee Batzer

Culminating Experience Projects

It is no surprise to educators that classrooms are filled with children of all different backgrounds. Most teacher preparation programs try their best to prepare educators to teach students of diversity and support inclusion in the classroom. However, educators are still finding themselves lacking the skills needed to incorporate culturally responsive teaching (CRT) into their classrooms. Students of all backgrounds need inclusive practices to be successful. It is important to all students that they feel supported and seen in the classroom, without these practices schools start to see a decline in graduation rates and an increase in dropout rates. Many …

Transforming Mathematics Education With Creativity, Natalie M. Zielinski

Culminating Experience Projects

Mathematics achievement in elementary and middle school students has decreased across the United States since 2019. Research has shown that moving away from traditional lecture-style teaching and implementing creative and application based learning can result in higher academic achievement and engagement. By utilizing challenging curricular tasks, Project Based Learning, and arts integration, students can be presented with more authentic and engaging academic content to deepen mathematical understanding and success. This project explores the benefits and effects of integrating creative teaching strategies into the mathematics classroom as an equitable teaching approach. Through the use of non-scripted curricular tasks, Project Based Learning, …

Understanding Dyslexia: A Need For Quality Teacher Training, Mackenzie Meckl

Culminating Experience Projects

With dyslexia affecting 1-2 students in every classroom, it is important, now more than ever, that teachers are receiving current professional development to understand what dyslexia is, how to identify it and how to best support students in their classrooms. Dyslexia is a specific reading disorder that is neurobiological in origin and causes challenges with phonological processing, word recall, automaticity and fluency. It is critical that students are receiving the best and most effective reading interventions as early as possible to ensure that they can head down a path of reading success. Without this early intervention, reading difficulties can lead …

Mental Health Education In Higher Education, Chelsea J. Farley

Culminating Experience Projects

This project dives into the current mental health status of college students and what institutions are doing to address students steady and continuous decline of mental health. Mental Health 101: A Comprehensive Guide for Faculty incorporates suggestions from literature and theory to provide resources to faculty members when educating students. Mental Health 101 was created with the social-ecological model in mind (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) by connecting the individual student to their environment, or in this case, the college classroom. The guide consists of information about mental health such as risk factors and warning signs, coping strategies, activities, and assignments faculty members …

The Negative Effects Of White Teachers Biased Views Towards African American, Alisha M. Brown

Culminating Experience Projects

This study explores the possibility that teachers' prejudices against African Americans have an impact on the academic performance of black students. Data show that Black students perform academically lower than any other group of students. This problem needs to be solved in order to guarantee that every student obtains the best education possible. One solution to this issue is to implement culturally responsive teaching in the classroom. Culturally sensitive instruction benefits both the teacher and the student by fostering a sense of community. Additionally, it will increase students' in-class participation. Teachers will learn the fundamentals of eliminating prejudice and becoming …

The Negative Effects Of White Teachers Biased Views Towards African American Students, Alisha M. Brown

Culminating Experience Projects

This study explores the possibility that teachers' prejudices against African Americans have an impact on the academic performance of black students. Data show that Black students perform academically lower than any other group of students. This problem needs to be solved in order to guarantee that every student obtains the best education possible. One solution to this issue is to implement culturally responsive teaching in the classroom. Culturally sensitive instruction benefits both the teacher and the student by fostering a sense of community. Additionally, it will increase students' in-class participation. Teachers will learn the fundamentals of eliminating prejudice and becoming …

Career Counseling: How To Help School Counselors Analyze And Strengthen Their Program, Kevin Scott Squire

Culminating Experience Projects

Abstract

The American School Counseling Association lays out three main domains of focus for school counselors: academic, social-emotional, and career developments. This project explores research related to the theory and background of career counseling and the current state of career counseling services being offered and shows data that supports my claim that career counseling services are often the smallest percentage of time dedication of the three domains. The implementation of the project will include helping school counselors analyze their current career counseling services offered to students, time spent creating and providing these services, and providing resources to improve their career …

Building Climate And Culture With Stakeholders Through Restorative Discipline Practices, Venessa A. Bulk

Culminating Experience Projects

Exclusionary discipline has become a punitive-based response to frequent negative student behaviors. Exclusionary discipline is linked to lower academic achievement and lower personal achievement of students compared to those of their counterparts who are not experiencing exclusionary discipline (Gerlinger et al., 2021; Skiba et al. 2014) Integrating restorative practices into the school setting will work to decrease the amount of student delinquencies and increase student academic performance, social-emotional intelligence, and positive student engagement between peers and staff members. Key components for this program will be a professional development program for all school personnel as well as integration of preventative and …

Parental Involvement And Student Success, Sally Demolen

Culminating Experience Projects

Research has revealed important information about the importance of parental involvement within the school setting, yet Brimley Area School has not developed nor implemented any components of the MiFamily: Michigan Family Engagement Framework. This project explores the history of parental involvement, and the benefits students inherit such as academically, socially, and emotionally. An effective parent-to-school relationship must acknowledge the differing dynamics of families within the district and develop a plan that is cohesive to the needs of all families. Such a plan needs to stretch beyond traditional parental involvement and intentionally target needs that are affiliated with correct grade levels. …

Implementing Differentiated Instruction In Early Elementary Classrooms Through Professional Development And Professional Learning Communities, Stephanie Zeichman

Culminating Experience Projects

In the classroom, the focus needs to be student-centered, and to achieve this, teachers can implement differentiated instruction. The purpose of this project is to provide Kindergarten through Second grade teachers with a guide to implementing differentiated instruction into their classrooms. Teachers will participate in professional development along with a yearlong professional learning community that will help build their knowledge on incorporating differentiated instruction and necessary strategies and activities to use in their classroom.

Professional Learning For Educators To Gain Knowledge On Incorporating Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices To Support All Students, Morgan Pueschel

Culminating Experience Projects

Teachers and other school personnel need to take time to meet the basic needs of students and build relationships with them. Schools need to teach, model, and allow students to practice social and emotional skills which will in turn, provide students with the ability to learn and increase academic performance (Brackett & Rivers, 2014). The purpose of this project is to create a teacher professional learning opportunity for all school staff that work directly with students to teach them about trauma, the prevalence, how it impacts students, and trauma-informed teaching practices such as the use of social and emotional learning …

Overrepresentation Of African American Children In Child Welfare, Mareeta M. Bracken

Culminating Experience Projects

African American children continue to be overrepresented in the child welfare system. This study will show how existing research illustrates how the systems are used to put many Black families and youth into the sights of the school-to-prison pipeline via this intervention. This specific issue is rooted in systemic and historical racism. The literature has revealed this and continues to show how teachers as mandated reporters play a role in shaping the outcome through how they perceive Black children to be subjected to abuse or neglect. The child welfare system is one of many institutional frameworks that has been shaped …

Defining And Increasing Student Engagement Using Flexible Seating In Elementary Classrooms, Jacklyn Phillips

Culminating Experience Projects

Education has mostly stayed the same since the 19th century, yet students and teachers have changed. Teachers once defined student engagement as the time students spent working on the task assigned. However, today there are many definitions for student engagement; which is correct? Researchers have defined student engagement as anything from "time on task" to seven different levels of engagement (Merwin, 1969, as cited in Trowler, 2010, p. 34; Schlechty, 2011). There is no one standard definition for student engagement. The concern is how educators increase engagement. This project suggests that educators move out of the 19th-century classroom setting and …