Education Commons^™

Engaging Secondary Math Teachers In Breaking Down Barriers For English Learners, Julie M. Kane

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This study used mixed methods to examine middle school mathematics teachers’ beliefs about English Learners’ ability to participate in rigorous, grade-level math instruction as well as beliefs about their own capacity for teaching English Learners. Additionally, the study investigated the influence of teachers’ beliefs on their instructional practices and identified the types of support teachers need to develop as culturally and linguistically responsive educators. Findings revealed some dissonance between teachers’ explicit beliefs about teaching English Learners and their implicit beliefs illustrated through instructional decisions made, as well as previously unrecognized gaps in teachers’ ability to identify and differentiate the needs …

A Case Study Of Equity And Student Experience In A California Community College, Agyeman Siriboe Boateng

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In California community colleges, students of color reach educational milestones and culminating outcomes disproportionately less often than their peers. In the past decade, the state has committed renewed energy to refining student equity plan regulations requiring individual colleges to identify and develop strategies to close such gaps. This dissertation sought to focus on the intended beneficiaries of these efforts, asking how students themselves define and experience equity. Using semistructured, narrative interviews to explore the experiences of nine students of color at a California community college, this qualitative case was supported by institutional documents, participant observation, and interviews with college personnel. …

The Multiracial Undergraduate And Graduate Student Experience, Lauren N. Meaux

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Multiracial individuals have been largely overlooked by the government (Nagai, 2016) and in the education sector (Botts, 2016). The lack of social network and community resources (Miville et al., 2005) have contributed to the challenges that Multiracial individuals face when finding a sense of belonging and positive sense of identity. During the transition into college, unique opportunities are presented to Multiracial individuals as they experience detachment from one culture group and have the chance to begin interacting and affiliating with other cultural groups (Houston & Hogan, 2009). Most students have a natural desire to associate themselves with others (Beck & …

Being Scrappy: Charter School Leaders And The Transition To The Principalship At Title I Schools, Kalin Balcomb

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

While the experiences and challenges of principals at Title I schools has been studied, this research builds on those studies with the added dimension of exploring the perspectives of charter school principals who are new to the role and are working in the landscape of Title I schools in Los Angeles. This dissertation examines the history of charter schools and provides a contextual overview of charter schools and charter school accountability measures in the United States and in Los Angeles, with the added political context of the charter school landscape in Los Angeles after the historic Los Angeles teacher union …

Racial Profiling In Education: A Study Of Teacher Perceptions Of Students In Special Education, Cairen D. Ireland

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

African American males have performed near the bottom of the educational hierarchy in America for centuries. Though some improvements have been noted in the last several decades, educational statistics illustrate the achievement gap still persists between African American and White students (Hanushek, 2016). Disaggregated data show disparities in academic performance, high school drop-out rates, and college completion rates. African American males as early as kindergarten are also facing harsher discipline in schools and Black boys are often excluded from gifted and advanced placement courses and other educational opportunities (Howard, 2010). Yet, this population is over-referred and overrepresented in special education, …

Learning From Their Journey: Black Women In Graduate Health Professions Education, Marcia Lynne Parker

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

While numerous efforts have been made across different educational contexts aimed towards increasing demographic diversity in STEM education, career decision-making content related to the potential pursuit of health professions education has failed to reach all students. Thus, there is a need for a more consistent and targeted sharing of information, including from the graduate level (where students must meet detailed requirements for specific healthcare disciplines), down to the community college and high school levels where students often make life-changing career-direction decisions without sufficient information to inform these decisions. At the other end of the spectrum, the conventional learning experiences in …

Conscientization And Leadership: A Study Of Latina Principals, Elizabeth Beltran

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Demographics in American urban cities have been steadily changing over the last few decades and are on their way to becoming more ethnically diverse than ever. Cities in the southwestern region of the United States are increasingly becoming primarily Latino (Mellom, Straubhaar, Balderas, Ariail, & Portes, 2018). This demands the need for a reflective and critical view of the schooling system in this region and how it serves the needs of the Latino communities. This dissertation makes a case for the need to push against mainstream educational practices that are imposed on school systems by lawmakers, capitalist corporations, and philanthropist, …

Leading From The Margins: The Educational Leadership Experiences Of Jesuit Directors Of Mission High Schools In The Philippines And The Implications For The Leadership Formation Of Filipino Jesuits, Guillrey Anthony M. Andal S.J.

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Educational leadership preparation is not an explicit priority in the scholastic formation of future Catholic priests in the Philippines. Consequently, there may be those assigned to lead in parochial mission schools early on in their ordained ministry but lack leadership training and experience. Thus, this study sought to answer the following research questions:

• What are the experiences of educational leadership successes and challenges of newly ordained Jesuit priests assigned as directors of Jesuit mission high schools in the Philippines?
• What are the perceptions of newly ordained Jesuit priests assigned as directors of Jesuit mission high schools in the Philippines on …

The Circle Of Care: Supporting The Academic Achievement Of Students Who Reside In Group Homes, Shannon A. Malone

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

According to data published in 2018, approximately 20,000 children resided in group homes across the United States. By the nature of their situations, living outside of their familial homes, these children are experiencing trauma while trying to participate in typical childhood activities, such as making friends and attending school. Children who reside in group homes are foster youth. Foster youth consistently show low levels of academic achievement (Vacca, 2008). Children who reside in group homes have many service providers that are responsible for their care, including teachers, social workers, therapists, group home staff; these people make up the child’s circle …

In Their Own Voices: The First-Year College Experiences Of Upward Bound Alumni At Four-Year Postsecondary Institutions, Norma Romero

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Upward Bound (UB) projects provide educational support services to high school students in order to address inequalities in college access for low-income (LI) and first-generation students (FGS). However, access alone does not eradicate systemic barriers to positive collegiate experiences and degree attainment. As a federally funded program, UB regularly collects mandated outcome data; however, little is known about the specific academic, social, and emotional supports these programs provide. Especially lacking are in-depth qualitative studies that follow students into college and focus on students’ own stories. To address this gap in research, this study used in-depth interviews to capture the stories …

Phenomenal Women: Experiences Of Women In Executive Catholic Educational Leadership In The United States, Fatima Ann Samson Nicdao

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Though women are overrepresented in education as classroom teachers, they continue to be underrepresented in decision-making leadership positions in education administration (Bynum, 2016; Coleman, 2003; Fuller, 2013; Grogan & Shakeshaft, 2011; Moorosi, 2018; Robinson et al., 2017; Torrance et al., 2017). The cause of the low representation of women in decision making has been attributed to a wide range of reasons spanning from ingrained patriarchal mindsets, societal biases, lack of professional networks, misconceptions of women in leadership, and the lack of leadership opportunities.

Other causes of gender inequality in educational leadership are linked to a lack of a systematic mentorship …

Learning Wakanda: Assessing The Responses Of African-American Children And Their Caregivers Toward Concordant Educational Media, Cameron L. Coleman

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Screen-based educational media, as an extension of the schooling process whose history has mirrored brick and mortar institutions, have traditionally espoused narratives of Eurocentricity, shifting relatively recently to multicultural yet simultaneously raceless narratives. While many viewers have learned from and been inspired by these media, the enthusiastic response to the film Black Panther (2018), as demonstrated by financial earnings and sustained social media energy, revealed an intense yearning in the Black community for media positively centering the strengths and successes of Black lives. Launched from the sociocultural fervor for Black concordance in media, and extending concordance into the educational media …

Let The Children Come To Me: Accommodating And Embracing Catholic High School Students With Intellectual Disabilities, Hani Zubi

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Current state and federal legislation mandate public schools to provide a vast array of educational services for students with disabilities. Catholic high schools are, for the most part, exempt from laws requiring them to provide those same services. Although many Catholic schools attempt to assist students with disabilities, the students they are willing to accept and accommodate generally have learning disabilities categorized as mild to moderate, who may not need the scope and breadth of services available to them in public schools. However, they are bound by their identity as Catholic to include and embrace all members of the community. …

Straight From The Source: Black College Presidents Tell Their Stories, Steven Purcell

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Students on college and university campuses across the United States are becoming more racially diverse. However, leadership on college campuses is not trending toward more diversity, particularly in higher administrative posts such as the presidency. To better understand this stagnate trend of college president diversity, this critical narrative study examined the lived experiences and insights of six current or former college presidents who identify as Black. The participants in this study are a unique cohort of individuals who have served as presidents/chancellors at institutions where Black students are not the majority ethnic/racial group on campus.

More specifically, this study sought …

The Limits Of Inclusion: Teacher Beliefs And Experience With Inclusion Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Allegra Johnson

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

General education teachers are critical contributors to the successful inclusion of students labeled with learning disabilities in general education classrooms. Similarly, teacher beliefs about disability labels significantly influence how teachers include or exclude students labeled with a learning disability in their classrooms. This qualitative study investigated eight secondary general education teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion and their experiences teaching students labeled with a learning disability from a Critical Disabilities Studies perspective. Data were collected using an innovative qualitative method, Q methodology, in order to surface distinct perspectives within the group about inclusion and the experience of teaching students labeled with a …

African-American Male Perceptions On Public Schooling After Discipline: A Contextual Portrait From The Inner City, Kevin William Smith Jr.

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Literature shows that one of the major issues affecting the achievement of inner-city African- American male students in public-schools is the ineffectiveness of disciplinary procedures. These studies have shown a direct positive relationship between student behavioral problems and academic failure. This study was an attempt at answering Noguera’s (2008) call for understanding more fully how African-American males come to perceive schooling, in particular their discipline experiences, and how environmental and cultural forces impact this perception of their behavior and performance in school. This was a qualitative study that heard the stories of inner-city African-American male students who were pushed out …

Edifying The Spirit Of Love And Liberation In The Education Of Young Children: Lessons From Critical Pedagogy And Reggio Emilia Inspired Educators, Seyedeh Zahra Agha Seyed Yousef

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In an age of adultism in which children have been perceived as mere drains on society, schooling often has been viewed as a means to an end. Due to the fact that a capitalistic society requires future workers, children have been socialized in the necessary skills and knowledge required to fulfill their future job requirements. Consequently, schooling often has taken place in the form of the banking model in which students are treated as empty vessels to be filled up by the knowledgeable teachers, and then to regurgitate said knowledge on assessments to prove their understanding. I challenge this antiquated …

Self-Efficacy And Stem Career Interest In Black And Latino Middle School Students: A Study On The Next Generation Science Standards, Whitney Mccormick

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

With only 11% of the current Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) workforce being Black and Latino men and women, there is a crisis of underrepresented individuals in STEM fields. The construction of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and the mantra “all standards, all students,” represents an attempt to increase access to science for more students, and increase their self-efficacy about STEM subjects, as low self-efficacy is cited as one of the main causes of disinterest in STEM subjects. This study examined the relationship between students’ self-efficacy in STEM fields and their career interests, specifically in a population of …

Transformative School-Community-Based Restorative Justice: An Inquiry Into Practitioners' Experiences, Ariane White

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

As restorative justice gained popularity in schools as a potential strategy for helping to reverse the deleterious effects of zero-tolerance policies, numerous misunderstandings and misapplications have emerged. This study focused on the experiences of school-based restorative justice practitioners and sought to foreground their voices and perspectives to highlight what is necessary for restorative justice work in schools to be effective. Critical narratives were used to elucidate participants’ perspectives and to allow their voices to serve as the focal point for the study. Findings were as follows: (a) the depth and ongoing nature of preparation practitioners undertake to sustain restorative justice …

Talking About Whiteness: The Stories Of Novice White Female Educators, Stephanie Goodman

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, the largest group of educators, historically and presently, are white middle-class women, yet there is a rising population of racially diverse students creating a persistent dissonance and disconnect between the culture of the white teacher and their students. In this study, I sought to discover how the racial identity development of novice white female educators evolved, given their common participation in the Teach for America program. Using the conceptual frameworks of critical race theory, critical feminist theory, and the body of scholarship in critical whiteness studies, I conducted a critical narrative inquiry of eight novice white …

Beyond Colonizing Epistemicides: Toward A Decolonizing Framework For Indigenous Education, Samuel B. Torres

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

American schooling and Indigenous peoples share a coarse relationship mired by devastating periods of forced removal, indoctrination, and brutal assimilation methods. Over the course of more than a century of failed education policy—though often veiled in good intentions—Indigenous peoples have yet to witness a comprehensive Indigenous education program that fundamentally honors the federal trust responsibility of the United States government. On the contrary, with a contemporary approach of apathy, invisibility, and institutionalization, it is not difficult to see the legacy of settler colonialism continuing to wield its oppressive influence on Indigenous communities. Wolfe’s (2006) claim that “invasion is a structure, …

Critical Bicultural Masculinities: Reframing Community College Success Among Latino Immigrant Male Students, Rene Lozano Esquivel

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

By employing critical narratives, this qualitative study examined the lives of Latino male immigrants and their educational experiences in the California community college system. Seven Latino male immigrants matriculated at a community college participated in the study. The study utilized Critical Bicultural Theory and Latino Masculinity Theory frameworks to analyze the male students’ narratives. Findings speak of their unique racialized and gendered experiences as they navigate their community college educational experiences. This study contributes to the field by identifying what Latino immigrants need to co-construct their own educational success in a way that employs their strong familial and cultural knowledge. …

Examining The Relationship Between Educational Technology And Morality: A Case Study Of An American Catholic Middle School, Joe Daccache

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

The growing interest in educational technology is matched by a corresponding increase in concern about its effects on children and adolescents. With demand for implementing technology on one hand, and the moral consequences that could result from it on the other hand, integrating a one-to-one computing program (1:1 program) in Catholic schools remains a subject in need of more thorough study. This study sought to examine the various advantages, challenges, and ethical questions related to implementing the 1:1 program in a Catholic middle school. While several studies demonstrate the positive impact of 1:1 program on students’ engagement and academic achievement, …

Addressing Teacher Shortage: A Historical Policy Study On Teacher Credentialing In California, Liza Moritz Mastrippolito

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Teacher education enrollment has decreased 74% since 2013. Simultaneously, attrition rates have increased, with 20-50% of new teachers quitting within the first five years. These combined factors have brought California into a new teacher shortage, necessitating fast-track pathways to credentialing. Fast tracks and lowering of requirements often result in teachers not being prepared to teach as they begin their careers, and as data illustrates, children in high-poverty communities of color are those who are predominantly taught by non-credentialed teachers. This dissertation is a historical policy study on how educational policies enacted in California to address shortage have affected the supply …

Pastoral Care, Mission, Tradition And Community: Alumnae Perceptions Of A Catholic Female Single-Sex High School, Samuel Torres

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the experiences of Saint Mary’s High School alumnae from the freshman class of 1949 through the graduating class of 2010 in order to identify what has sustained the school over the decades. Years after graduation, alumnae held memories of their school experiences that resulted in personal and long-lasting qualities that continue to have significant impacts on individuals and the institution. Data was gathered through written journals and interviews. The Appreciative Inquiry (AI) model was used to analyze the context of alumnae experiences. Using the AI model, multiple categories arose as positive notables mentioned by the participants. …

We Wear The Mask: Stories Of The Black Girl Middle School Experience In Predominantly White, Elite, Independent Schools, Tina B. Evans

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examined the experiences of Black middle school girls who attend predominantly white, elite, independent schools in the Greater Los Angeles area. Using Critical Race Theory, Black Identity Theory, and Black Feminism Theory as a conceptual framework, this qualitative research explored the role of race, class, gender, and parental support as contributing factors to the development of participants’ racial consciousness. Utilizing timeline interviews and critical narratives to explore the lived histories of each student and parent participant, data analysis included content coding based on themes that emerged throughout the narrative examination. An analysis of the narratives of student participants …

Impact, Implementation, And Insights Of Peace Education: A Case Study Of The M.A. In Peace Studies And Conflict Transformation Program At The University Of Rwanda, Sarah M. Doerrer

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Higher education is arguably critical for healing and stabilization in postconflict contexts, by developing leaders who value peace and have the skill sets to achieve it in various sectors. A rapidly growing body of literature concludes that peace education in particular has great potential to transform postconflict communities, both in higher education and at other levels of schooling. Yet there exists little rigorous analysis of the decisions faced by educational leaders responsible for implementing such programs, particularly those in postconflict settings where the needs are uniquely challenging.

This qualitative investigation documented the M.A. in Peace Studies and Conflict Transformation program, …

Exploring The Experiences Of Black Teachers With School Administrators In Los Angeles County, Geneva D. Matthews

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Teachers in California, like in many other states, are leaving the profession at an alarming rate, thus creating a severe teacher shortage. Specifically, Black teachers are leaving and this problem warrants thorough exploration in an effort to increase Black teacher retention. The objective of this dissertation was to unpack the different factors that contribute to job dissatisfaction among Black teachers in secondary public schools in Los Angeles County. In particular, the study investigated the role school leaders played in their dissatisfaction through a phenomenological study that interviewed 10 Black teachers. Using critical race theory (CRT), this study found that there …

Creating Scholar Athletes: Investigating The Academic Support Provided To High School Student Athletes In Southern California High Schools, Melinda Love

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This study used semi-structured interviews of athletic directors to present a descriptive narrative of academic support provided to student athletes in five Southern California high schools. These interviews highlighted what supports were provided as well as structures that would better support student athletes. The impetus of this study was the mixed findings regarding the academic performance of student athletes in comparison to their non-athlete peers. While high school students must satisfy academic requirements to remain eligible to participate, California high schools are not required to provide academic support to their student athletes (California Interscholastic Federation, 2017). Without an obligation to …

Creating Creators Cinema Project: Transforming Lives Through The Arts, Christian Quintero

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

This work centered on the Creating Creators Cinema Project (CCCP), a for-profit organization that works with K-12 school districts in California to integrate student filmmaking into core subjects. The qualitative case study documented the experiences of CCCP’s founders, the teaching artists who mentor filmmaking youth, and the students participating in year-long projects, providing a “thick description” of the creation, implementation, and impact of the program in a high school setting. The research addressed the dearth of arts programs in urban schools and their connection to representation in arts fields, particularly filmmaking. The study utilized three frameworks: Critical Pedagogy, Constructivism, and …