Education Commons^™

Providing Services For A Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Student In A Small Midwestern Elementary School : A Qualitative Case Study, Candace L. Kist-Tahmasian

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Presented is a case study of an eight-year-old boy who is learning English as a second language in a midwestern elementary school. The number of students needing ESL and/or bilingual education is rapidly growing throughout the United States. Many non-urban schools and districts must now begin to meet these needs. Observations of the student in various school settings were done over a period of six weeks for a total of 24 hours. Interviews of key personnel provided additional information important to the study. Three themes of concern in regard to the student's educational situation became the focus of the case …

A Study Of The Motives, Barriers, And Enablers Affecting Participation In Adult Distance Education Classes In An Iowa Community College, Roger Joseph Rezabek

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to explore the motives, barriers, and enablers that affect adult students in their decision to enroll in community college distance learning credit classes.

Three methodologies were used in the study: an online focus group of distance learning and adult education experts, enlisted to identify the main issues and questions that would be used in interviews with distance students; a questionnaire distributed to a sample of 210 distance students to determine motives, demographic information, and to act as a screening device for the interviews; in-depth interviews with 23 community college distance learners in northeast Iowa, …

Dimensions Of Roles, Responsibilities, Training Background And Needs, Policies, And Procedures For Paraeducators Dealing With Students With Special Needs, Beverly Anne Plagge

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The problem of this research study was to delineate and synthesize the roles, responsibilities, skill level, and training background and needs of paraeducators working with students with special needs from a state that requires paraeducator certification and a state that does not require paraeducator certification. The five core areas of roles and responsibilities were: (a) instructional support, (b) behavior management, (c) diagnostic support, (d) classroom organization, and (e) personal care assistance from the special education paraeducator and the special education teacher who teams with the paraeducator. Very few differences existed between what paraeducators and their teachers felt were appropriate and …

The Impact Of Idea 1997 On Teachers' Beliefs And Collaborative Practices As Participants On Iep Teams At One Middle School, Mary Ann Walsh Schroeder

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the impact of the IDEA Amendments of 1997 on teachers' beliefs and collaborative practices as participants on IEP Teams at one middle school. Regular educators are now required to serve as members of IEP Teams for students identified with special needs, the majority of whom will now be served in the regular classroom. Collaboration, the process of interactions between regular and special educators to provide instruction in inclusive settings, was the practice investigated. This study examines laws and policies, teachers' beliefs, supports and barriers, collaborative practices, and evidence of change over …

The Reasons For Living Inventory For Adolescents (Rfl-A) : Validation In Three Adolescent Populations, Joe S. Rich

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study is intended to examine further psychometric characteristics of the Reasons for Living Inventory for Adolescents (RFL-A), a self-report measure developed specifically for use with adolescents. Three separate groups were utilized in this study: a psychiatric suicidal group, a psychiatric inpatient non-suicidal group, and a non-clinical control group from a local laboratory school. Specifically, the factor structure, discriminant validity, internal consistency reliability, and convergent validity of the RFLA total and subscales were examined. Overall, results indicated that the five-factor structure that was identified by Osman et al. (1998) was replicated. Further, results showed that the measure demonstrated adequate internal …

Conjoint Behavioral Consultation: How Effective Is Cbc With Ethnic Minorities, Tina L. Hoffman

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The literature over the past decade has provided evidence of the positive relationship between home-school collaboration and student success. Yet such educational partnerships are not as common as they should be, particularly among minority families and their schools. Empirical evidence of effective, culturally sensitive, homeschool partnership models focused on the individual-child level of collaboration is virtually absent in the literature. Conjoint Behavioral Consultation (CBC) is one model of home-school collaboration at the individual child level. CBC represents an expansion of traditional behavioral consultation. In CBC both parents and teachers serve as joint consultees to provide a more holistic view of …

Psychological Maltreatment : The Case Of Verbal Abuse, Majedah Khalifah

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of the present study was to explore the relationship between parental verbal abuse and children's emotional development (depression, anxiety, stress, self esteem, and anger). The participants were 29 male and 89 female college students whose average age was 19. Five instruments were used to collect data: Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21), Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory, Verbal Abuse Measure, Child Attitude Toward Parents Measure, and State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory. For data analyses, several tests were used. The Pearson correlation was calculated to see the inter-correlations of each emotional variable. A multiple regression analysis was used to find out what …

The Efficiency And Effectiveness Of Self-Monitoring For Increasing Fourth Graders' Work Completion, Stacy S. Jeffrey

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This research study investigated the efficiency and effectiveness of self-monitoring as an individual intervention technique. Data were collected for 10 weeks in a public elementary school in a small city in central Iowa. The subjects were 1 fourth-grade regular classroom teacher and 1 of her students and 1 special education teacher and 1 student from a fourth-grade regular classroom in which the special education teacher team-taught. Both teachers had willingly volunteered to participate in the research study and later identified a student in their class who had low rates of work completion. None of the 4 subjects had received formal …

Perceptions Of Iowa High School Principals On The Relationship Of Leadership, School Size, And Socioeconomic Level To School Culture, Kevin Wayne Fiene

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

American society is changing. Consequently, public schools are being called to change as well. Previous reform efforts have failed to bring about substantive change and improvement. Current reform efforts are calling for the changing of school culture. What factors influence school culture? What role does leadership, school size, and socioeconomic levels play in developing school culture?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of leadership, school size, and socioeconomic level to school culture utilizing the Competing Values Framework. The Competing Values Framework provided four ideal culture types and eight leadership roles. Culture types included group, developmental, rational …

An Evaluation Of Adhd Assessment, Intervention, And Progress Monitoring Practices In One School According To Best Practice Recommendations, Kristin M. Briggs

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study investigated the quality of ADHD assessment, interventions, and progress monitoring practices in a school building. Education personnel were also surveyed (n = 8) to gain further insight into the current school policies and practices for ADHD. Barkley's 1990 model of ADHD assessment and intervention was chosen as the standard of best practice in which current practices were compared. One school was selected for participation in the study. All students on medication for ADHD in kindergarten through twelfth grades served as subjects (n = 13). Data analysis revealed that seven of these student files (54%) did not include documentation …

Adolescent Depression : Further Examination Of Gender Differences, Elizabeth Marie O'Neill

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study was designed to examine pertinent research questions that remain unanswered by past investigations of adolescent depression. Specifically this study investigated potential differences between high and low scoring depressed adolescents, and whether gender is an influential variable for consideration. Subjects were 175 adolescent boys and girls from a laboratory school in Midwestern Iowa. Subjects were divided into four groups based on gender and responses two questions on the BDI-A. Specifically, the four groups were: boys who scored at or above IO on the BDI-A (sub-clinical group--boys), boys who scored below 10 on the BDI-A (control group--boys), girls who scored …

Forgiveness Education As A Factor In Adolescent Adjustment To Parental Divorce, Amy L. Knupp

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

An educational intervention with forgiveness as the goal, was implemented with five adolescents who had experienced a parental divorce. The adolescents were all from a Midwestern city, ages 12-14, and Caucasian. The goal of the intervention was for the experimental participants to forgive their parents for a hurt associated with a parental divorce. An exploratory design with a static control group was used. Five subjects volunteered for the forgiveness education intervention, comprising the experimental group, and five subjects agreed to fill out pre- and post-test measures, for monetary reimbursement, composing the control group. The educational intervention lasted 10 weeks, and …

The Relationship Between Phonemic Awareness And Preschool Children's Literacy Activities, Cheryl M. Geurts

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between preschool children's phonemic awareness and the literacy activities in which they choose to engage. Children (N=l4) in the study were observed twice weekly for 12 weeks in the normal preschool environment. Data collection was divided into two phases. The first phase consisted of watching one child at a time for 15 minutes and recording everything that child did during that time. The next phase c~ data collection consisted of watching the entire class and indicating on checklists what the children were doing during free play, circle time, and …

Circle Of Friends And Attitudes Toward Children With Adhd And Other Disabilities, Joan E. Mccrory

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is an occurring disorder which · affects about one child in every elementary classroom. Children with ADHD are at risk for having poor peer relations. Research has shown that over SO¾ of children with ADHD have poor peer relations. Studies of various interventions with children who have ADHD and poor peer relationships have yielded mixed results. Psychopharmacological therapy has shown no positive effect on peer interactions. Behavioral interventions; behavior therapy and medication; cognitive-behavioral therapy; and cognitive-behavioral therapy and medication have all found favorable results, although not many combination treatments have been examined for their impact …