Education Commons^™

Exploration Of The Reflective Supervision Relationship: Meaning Making, Communication, And Transformative Learning In Educational Environments, Elizabeth Betsy Stoelt

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Reflective supervision is ongoing professional development, often utilized by the social work field that originates from infant mental health supervisory practices. Reflective supervision increases one’s capacity to become aware and manage the strong emotions that are inherent in direct service work and understand relational dynamics within families and between professionals and family members. Using the 3 central tenets of collaboration, reflection and regularity, the goal of reflective supervision is to develop and maintain effective service delivery by understanding the practitioner’s positionality. This study utilized the practice of reflective supervision with five educators over a 10-week period of time. The goal …

Speech And Language Assessment Of Internationally Adopted Children, Lindsey Clifford

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This paper consists of three distinct articles, all related to the speech and language assessment of internationally adopted children. The first article, “Speech and Language Assessment of Internationally Adopted Children,” is a qualitative study that explored how speech-language pathologists (SLPs) would conduct a speech and language assessment of internationally adopted children. The assessment of this population of children can be challenging for many reasons, and there is limited knowledge of what methods SLPs are currently using. In-depth interviews were conducted with five SLPs who had at least two years of experience working in a public school setting to learn how …

The Experiences Of Black Men Living On Campus At A Pwi And Belonging, Jeanette Zalba

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study aimed to examine the experiences of Black men living on campus at predominately White institutions (PWIs) and their sense of belonging. Perception of social support, connectedness, and acceptance with the campus community was used as the operational definition of sense of belonging used for this study. Research suggests that Black men have less belonging than their White counterparts at PWIs and that living on campus can positively influence the development of sense of belonging. However, the literature lacks Black men’s experiences in the residence halls at PWIs and influences on sense of belonging. This qualitative study utilized a …

A Critical Race Critique Of Campus Climate And Belonging For First-Generation Students Of Color At Historically Black Colleges & Predominately White Institutions, Samantha Gale Aaron

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to assess whether and how higher education campus climate, policy, and practice influence belonging for first-generation students of color. Through the lens of critical race theory, the study further juxtaposes those experiences through the testimony of students at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Grounded theory informed my qualitative survey and interview tools through which I examined belonging through three standards: social, which explored belonging through peers, groups, and the environment; personal, which explored belonging through the respondent’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions; and institutional, which explored belonging through practice, …

What Did Y’All Do?: Using Counter-Storytelling To Recall Student Affairs Professionals’ Response To Anti-Black Racist Incidents At One Predominantly White Institution In The Midwest, Darquillius J. Mayweather

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study paints a picture of student affairs professionals’ work after a string of anti-Black racist incidents at a predominantly White Midwestern university. In this study, student affairs professionals were asked to recount their responses to three anti-Black racist incidents at the university during the fall semester of 2016:
• September, 20, 2016, “KKK Leave N*****s” at Sing Hall;
• September 21, 2016, “Fuck U N*****s” at Mise Hall; and
• October 31, 2016, “leave n*****s” at Cord Hall.

This study used critical race theory (CRT) counter-storytelling methods to uncover frontline student affairs professionals’ responses to anti-Black racist incidents at …

Getting To The Heart Of Leading As A Cognitive Coach, Kimberly Coupe Pavlock

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

While the expectations and challenges facing K–12 educational leaders are considerable and significantly increasing, the support they receive in training, leadership development, and ongoing support has been limited in range and relevance. Although Cognitive Coaching is not a leadership development program, per se, Cognitive Coaching is a model of coaching that has been highly regarded and frequently requested by administrators, teachers, consultants, and literacy coaches in K–12 education, and the components of this coaching model can serve as a basis for leadership development. Previous research about Cognitive Coaching has highlighted the benefits of Cognitive Coaching for students, teachers, administrators, and …

Using Grounded Theory To Understand How Commuter Students Develop A Sense Of Belonging, Amy M. Barnhart

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study is concerned with the fact that commuter students persist at a lower rate than their residential peers. As colleges and universities seek to increase educational attainment rates, understanding why commuter students struggle with retention is important. Research shows sense of belonging can positively affect intention to persist. As such, the guiding research question for this study was as follows: How do commuter students develop a sense of belonging in their university? This research was conducted at a large, public, primarily nonresidential, doctoral university in the Midwestern United States. This study utilized constructivist grounded theory methodology to understand how …

Technology And Its Impact On Parental Involvement In K-12 Education, Kenyuano Jones

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact technology, specifically the Student Information System’s (SIS) parent portal has on parent involvement in K-12 education. Parents who participated in the study were asked questions in the fields of special education; social economic status; parent workshops; use of technology, including the parent portal; parent beliefs; parent–teacher relationships; and their involvement in schools. The data were collected from parents of K-12 students through a survey and was analyzed to determine if there were relationships between variables as well as to show two-way relationships and path analysis. Based on the findings, it …

Why Do I Teach Math This Way: A Qualitative Examination Of How Teacher Experiences Impact The Implementation Of Instructional Practices, Carrie A. Heaney

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Since the 1960s, there has been an effort among the mathematical education community to shift instructional practices from a focus on arithmetic, memorizing rules, and completing practice worksheets to instructional practices that allow students to see mathematics as content that requires thinking and pattern explorations. Many mathematics teachers have not fully embraced these shifts in instructional practice. This study aimed to examine secondary mathematics teachers’ experiences and how those experiences connect to teachers’ implementation of student-centered instructional practices in the lessons they design. This qualitative study utilized a grounded theory approach to examine how a teacher’s experiences as a student …

Black Women At The Crossroads: Agency, Interruptions, And Oppression In Education, Kimberly D. Ferrell

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation utilizes intersectionality, critical race feminism (CRF), Black feminist research and case studies to explore Black women’s oppression in education. This research study contributes to a growing body of work on Black females’ experiences of marginalization socially and educationally. The aim of this research was threefold: (a) to provide a theoretical analysis on the marginalization of Black females in society and exercising agency; (b) to explore my own memories and amplify my voice through an autoethnography, highlighting personal lived experiences of oppression in education; and (c) to provide a qualitative analysis on Black women oppression, amplifying the voices of …

Speech-Language Pathologists On The Autism Spectrum, Rebecca Freeman Barnett

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis consists of three journal articles for publication that addresses three different aspects of the research that examines the state of diversity in the field of speech-language pathology (SLP) as it pertains to autistic representation and possible implications. In the first article, Demographic Analysis of Autistic Speech-Language Pathologists, the purpose was to determine the demographic differences between SLPs that identified on the autism spectrum and those that did not. A mass survey was conducted of SLPs in the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio. It was concluded that 2.98% of SLPs self-identified on the autism spectrum. Chi-square analyses found …

An Historical Analysis Of The Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School At The University Of Pittsburgh, Scott Meyer-Kukan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Laboratory schools in the United States have been in existence in some form since the establishment of normal schools in 1839. Heavily criticized in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, many laboratory schools would close their doors for a variety of reasons. One laboratory school in particular, the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School, was established under a unique charter agreement between the Falk family and the University of Pittsburgh. The school opened its doors in the fall of 1931 and is still in operation today. The primary purpose of this qualitative historical analysis was to understand the functions and purposes of …

Quantitative Analysis Of Contributing Factors Of Career Success And Overall And Academic Resilience In Higher Education: A Refinement Of Tinto’S Theory To Stop Latinx Oppression, Andreia Gendera

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

It is indeed a fact that diversity helps to build a better economy, and diverse businesses are proven to be healthier and more successful, but the lack of diversity in the workforce and educational environment, shows that the pipeline is not moving Latinx people enough. Latinx community is the largest minoritized community in the United States, substantially impacting the country’s economy and society, but the United States Census Bureau (2020) estimates that out of the 2% of the population 25 years and older who have a doctorate degree only 0.11% is Hispanic of any race, including Latinx. The purpose of …

Exploring The Influence Of A School-Based Therapy Dog Reading Program On Reluctant Readers’ Motivation To Read And Reading Fluency In The K-4 Setting., Laura A. Carino

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This mixed-methods research study focuses on students’, teachers’, and parents’ perceptions of the influence therapy dogs in schools can have on reluctant readers’ attitudes about reading and motivation to read at school and at home as well as exploring changes in the participants' oral fluency. Eight student participants read to our school therapy dog in a 1:1 setting two times each week throughout a six-week period. Before beginning the sessions, each student completed a reading perception survey to serve as a baseline for each child's motivation to read. Each student was also interviewed, seeking information about each child's feelings about …

Help Wanted: The Call For Transformative Women Leaders In Higher Education, Lisa Emery

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research considers the need for transformative change in higher education admissions policies and student success initiatives in the wake of significant impending changes in the demographics of the college-going population. The role of the chief enrollment management officer (CEMO) was examined for its potential to shape policies around access and equity within an institution. It is predicted that hundreds of CEMO positions may become available due to high turnover within the next few years, creating an opportunity for more women to step into this executive-level role. In this causal comparative quantitative study, data was collected from 211 current CEMOs …

Resistance, Education, And Rites: An Ethnographic Study On Afrocentric Community Education, Micala Darcel Evans

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In 2016, the Detroit Independent Freedom School Movement (DIFS) was established out of the need for positive educational activities for children of the dismantled Detroit Public Schools (DPS). The movement was organized by Detroit community members who created grassroots organizations in response to decades of destruction created by State Emergency Management. This empirical ethnographic study explored the historical evolution of freedom schooling and how volunteers empower residents with community education in Detroit, Michigan. Through a narrative inquiry of volunteer community organizers, the analysis explored the use of Afrocentric methods as a means for political resistance while grounding the experience in …

Understanding The Experiences Of Black Boys In Suburban Schools: An Examination Of Social Influences On Identity, Achievement And School Relationships, Tyrone L. Weeks

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The achievement of Black boys in public schools continues to be a major focus of concern for educators and researchers. Consequently, educators and researchers have looked to issues of engagement and identity as key variables relative to achievement. Numerous theories point to adverse environmental factors contributing to the achievement disparities affecting Black boys in schools, but limited research has sought to elevate the voices of Black boys to understand how they identify with schools, as well as the social factors that contribute to their social and academic identities. In this qualitative research, focus groups were used to engage with Black …

Educators' Perceptions Of Using Twitter As A Professional Development Tool, Bradford Lusk

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Educator professional development has the power to affect day-to-day educational practice. Every school district wrestles with planning professional development for improving educators professionally to better student achievement. With the largest portion of the budget being spent on personnel, developing educators and staff professionally should be a school district’s main priority. Taking into consideration the nature of adult learners and changes in educational and technological resources, professional development is ripe for a change. The purpose of this case study was to explore educators’ perceptions of using Twitter to receive and engage in professional development over a five-week period. Interviews of the …

Punk Pedagogy: Teaching To Confront Intersecting Discourses Of Domination, David Jagusch

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Through the utilization of autoethnography and critical discourse analysis, this dissertation explores the applications of punk rock, its ethos and its philosophies, in the world of education. The overarching research questions driving the direction of this work are as follows: (a) What would an actualized punk pedagogy be characterized and defined as within the context of contemporary urban education in the United States? (b) How could such a pedagogy be applied in order to contest current inequalities and inequities that are the direct results of education being grounded in historical discourses of domination? and (c) How does punk relate to …

The Relationship Between Schools, Communities, And Funding Structures: A Case Study Of Huron Valley Schools, Julie A. Bedford

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Under Proposal A, all public schools in the state of Michigan receive a per-pupil foundation allowance. The context in which a school district exists is not a part of this centralized funding system. As a researcher and 30-year practitioner, I believe context matters and policy becomes relevant at the point of implementation. Equal funding does not automatically make it adequate. Therefore, I designed a case study of Huron Valley Schools to examine the causal relationship that exists between this centralized funding system, the school district, and the communities that exist in the district. To understand the current policies and practices …

It Can’T Be A Farce: Teachers’ Perceptions Of Restorative Practices In An Urban Charter School, Ali Yehia Bazzi

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to understand teacher perceptions of restorative practices in an urban charter school. This study sought to illustrate how teachers conceptualize restorative practices and use it in their classrooms. This research study utilized a single-case study design. The study examined teacher perceptions of restorative practices through the lenses of five urban charter school teachers. The findings suggest that restorative practices have shown promising results in terms of building a collaborative school culture that embraces staff and students for who they are, helps build lasting relationships between students and teachers, and above all, encourages a more …

The Blackbird's Sonnet And Other Tales: Stories Imagining An Art-Eco-Mad Ethic, Jacquie Pruder St. Antoine

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Writing about experiences as a white, middle-class Madwoman, this dissertation explores the intersections between Mad studies and EcoJustice education using an arts-based, specifically poetic inquiry and fiction-based research, and autoethnographic approach. Weaving together the creative and academic, this writing is combined memoir, fiction, poetics, and theory on living Mad in a saneist, anthropocentric culture. In considering hierarchized thinking across disciplines, this collection of manuscripts examines how arts-based and autoethnographic approaches provide holistic, engaged, and accessible opportunities to Mad scholars to resist and explore experiences of oppression, Othering, and dominance while exploring how these ideologically relate to the larger living world. …

The White Gap In Culturally Relevant Pedagogy Towards Integrity: An Autoethnography Of White Racial Identity, Kelly Weingust

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

It has been over two decades since the theory of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) was posed by Ladson-Billings (1995), yet little has changed in the lives of Black students and students of color. Across the literature, researchers revealed many White teachers lack awareness of self and others. This qualitative analysis utilized the narrative form and process of autoethnography to examine how my White racial identity evolved across context and time and how this racial identity impacted my teaching practice. This study began with journal entries of significant cultural experiences and events I recalled from early childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. I …

A Survey Of Clinical Research Education And Perceptions Among Research Staff Within An Urban Hospital Setting, Francesca Picotte

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Health centers are uniquely positioned to address the growing need for uniform clinical research training, which leads to scientific advances in improving overall population health outcomes. This study surveyed 44 clinical research professionals for their current baseline of research competency and perceptions, within a single medical campus in Michigan, to obtain the current baseline of education research competency for the suggested development and implementation of a future clinical research training curriculum. Clinical study coordinators and senior staff physicians accounted for 50% (22) of the survey respondents. Most of the participants 93% (41) reported that the primary source of their research …

Settler Colonialism, Ecojustice, Schooling, And The Historical Displacement Of Indigenous Cultures In Centra Asia, Nigora Erkaeva

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research provides critical discourse analysis (CDA) of primary archival materials that captured the experiences of Central Asian people in the early 1900s first by the Tsarist and later the Bolshevik governments in Central Asia (CA). Using two postcolonial theories, an EcoJustice theoretical approach and settler colonialism, I parse out colonial discourses that created a new social, economic, and ecological order which drastically altered the ecosystem and lifestyles of both pastoral nomads and sedentary populations like the merchants, farmers, craftsmen, and intellectuals. Using archival materials, I tell the story of how these settler colonizers first degraded Central Asian people and …

Student Success And Geography: An Analysis Of Contributing Factors That Determine College Academic Achievement And Persistence Of Black Males, Lamarcus D. Howard

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to analyze the relationship between academic and nonacademic determinants of academic achievement and persistence and to identify how university geographic location influences the likelihood of Black male persistence. Quantitative data was drawn from the 2012/14 Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) Longitudinal Study (BPS: 12/14) conducted by the U.S. Department of Education National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) to explore third-year academic achievement and persistence for Black males. This study identified two research questions, guided by the theoretical frameworks of Tinto’s student institutional departure model and Astin’s Input-Environment-Output model to assess Black male decisions to stay …

From College To Career: Do You Know How To Behave? Impact Of Instructional Practices On Soft-Skill Competencies, Robbya R. Green-Weir

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Background: Soft-skill competencies are essential for successful careers. However, recent graduates lack in soft skill development. The reason may be because there is no set list of soft skills. Soft skills are subjective and poorly defined in Health Administration and competency models are not defined in terms of attitudes, behaviors, or dispositions for training and development of students.

Purpose: Provides a platform for health administrators to define soft skills more clearly by drawing on research conducted by the Healthcare Leadership Alliance [HLA]. This research also examines health administration programs to gain a better understanding of why graduates lack soft skills. …

Using Unfolding Case Studies In A Traditional Classroom Setting To Enhance Critical Thinking Skills In Pre-Licensure Bachelor Of Science Nursing Students, Elaine M. Lloyd

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Nursing education reform is needed for today’s generational mix of pre-licensure nursing students to prepare them to effectively care for clients’ ever-evolving healthcare needs. This mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study was designed to measure if the use of unfolding case studies (UCS) in a traditional classroom setting (TCS) would (a) enhance critical thinking skills of the experimental group more than the control group as measured by the Health Science Reasoning Test (HSRT), (b) explore if course content examinations were higher in the experimental group versus the control group, (c) explore the perceptions of a subset of Bachelor of Science Nursing (BSN) pre-licensure …

A Comparative Analysis Of The Experiences Of African American Students At Eastern Michigan University During The Civil Rights Era And In The 21st Century: A Historical Case Study, Maria A. Jackson-Smith

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation examined links between Reconstruction and Civil Rights Era educational policies and practices and the impact of Eastern Michigan University’s (EMU) institutional policies and practices on black students. This historical case study delineated the experiences of black EMU students who attended the institution at the end of the Civil Rights Era and during the first two decades of the 21^st century. The study is significant because, despite landmark Civil Rights Era legislation whose objective sought to narrow the achievement gap, the retention rates of black students at EMU remain disproportionate to those of white students in the …

Polymer Chemistry Education To Increase Student Awareness Of Plastic Pervasiveness And Environmental Impact, Victoria Hill

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

A polymer-pollution-focused laboratory sequence was written to teach general chemistry concepts in a course for pre-service elementary teachers. Students experienced the difficulties related to polymer pollution clean-up and made bio-based materials to see possible alternatives. In order to determine whether this laboratory sequence changed student understanding of the importance of polymers and their environmental impact, student opinions were gathered with pre/post-course sequence surveys, observations, post-laboratory surveys, and focus group interviews. These same data collection methods were also used to determine the likelihood that the pre-service elementary teachers would teach these polymer and environmental laboratories or their concepts in the future. …