Evaluating Perceptions Of Student Voice And School Membership Of 9th Grade Students And Teachers, Dan Beck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adolescence marks a developmental period of rapid cognitive, emotional, and physical growth where teenagers are tasked with establishing an identity and strong sense of self. Students and parents often report that transition to ninth grade is a formidable social challenge amidst increased academic demands and stress, and some research suggests that females have a more difficult time in the transition to high school than males. Student voice is a range of student opportunities to interact, collaborate, and partner with adults in an exploration of ideas and perspectives. However, student voice opportunities are often only available to a select group of …

Student Discourse And Problem Solving In A High School Mathematics Classroom, Natalie J. Chism

MSU Graduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to explore the problem-solving process and discourse in three high school Algebra 2 classes and analyze how discourse might be used to facilitate the problem-solving process. High school Algebra 2 students in this study were asked to engage in discourse with their peers in order to reach conclusions in open-ended problem-solving tasks. The teacher acted as the facilitator and encouraged students to act as the mathematical authorities. On two different days, students were given two different real-life problem-solving tasks and asked to reach possible conclusions to those tasks. Three research questions guided the study: …

The Pedagogical Impact Of Secondary Science Teacher Efficacy On Blended Learning Implementation: A Phenomenological Study, Allison Willemin

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

As new pedagogical approaches, such as blended learning, are implemented in classrooms, it is important to properly prepare the teachers to ensure fidelity of implementation. The descriptive phenomenological study examined the influence of secondary science teacher efficacy on overcoming obstacles and sustaining the Blended Learning pedagogical approach at a high school in the southern United States. Using purposeful sampling based on specific criteria nine teachers were selected to participate in the study. Through two interviews and a focus group, the researcher collected data based on the participants’ shared experience of implementing the flipped classroom instructional model. The data was themed …

Mentoring For Women On The Road To The High School Principalship, Audrey Rose Mcclary

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates women who are serving as assistant principals or new principals in high schools, and their mentoring experiences on their journey toward secondary school principalship. Women are significantly underrepresented in secondary school principalships, and they face a number of additional, gender-specific challenges (Thurman, 2004). Mentoring may be both part of the solution and part of the problem. First, it might not be adequate to support and recruit those with strong leadership potential into such positions and second, the dynamics of mentoring may not be sensitive to the particular challenges that women face. Examining the participants’ experiences through the …

Influence Of A Drama Based Education Program On The Development Of Empathy In Year 10, Western Australian Students, Scott Corbett

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this study was to understand which elements of the drama processes are most conducive to increasing empathy in adolescents. Empathy can have a significant impact on situational and dispositional pro-social behaviour in adolescents. It is positively related to moral development, healthy relationships and problem-solving skills; and negatively related to bullying behaviour, aggression, and victimisation. The practice of Creative Drama, in particular the work of Dorothy Heathcote and Bruce Burton, has informed drama programs that foster empathy in participants. This process, combined with the Actor Training system of Constantin Stanislavski, and the Forum Theatre model developed by Augusto …

Investigating The Effects Of Motivational Interviewing Compared To Action Planning On Supporting The Emotional And Academic Success Of Ninth Grade Students In Advanced Placement Classes, Kai Zhuang Shum

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High school students in accelerated curricula (i.e., Advanced Placement classes or pre-International Baccalaureate program) tend to report higher level of perceived stress compared to general education students due to additional academic demands that stemmed from accelerated courses (Suldo & Shaunessy-Dedrick, 2013). However, this group of students often receives limited if any targeted supports in schools because they tend to perform well academically (Suldo, O'Brennan, Storey, & Shaunessy-Dedrick, 2018). To address this gap in literature, this study investigated the efficacy of a targeted intervention in development to support academic and emotional success among students in accelerated curricula, namely the Motivation, Assessment, …

The Lived Experience Of Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder Transitioning From High School To A Liberal Arts College, Joseph D. Bishop

Dissertations

Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are transitioning into colleges and universities at a growing rate. All types of post-secondary institutions are seeing this influx, yet some are ill prepared to assist students with ASD, especially within the transition process. There is a gap in the research focusing on students with ASD within liberal art colleges. The purpose of this study is to understand the lived experience of students with ASD as they transition from high school to a small liberal arts college.

My research uses a phenomenological approach in order to develop descriptive themes. I interviewed seven students who …

Cultural Proficiency Of High School Leaders In Relation To English Learners And Their Families In An Urban School District, Johanna Fawcett

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the cultural proficiency of school leaders in addressing the needs of English learners (ELs) and their families at a public, urban, grades 9 through 12 high school in Massachusetts, a Level 3 school in a Level 3 district with an achievement gap for ELs. The ELs and their families represented one-fourth of the high school’s student population; the school was located in a linguistically and culturally diverse community. The participants for this study were the 16 educational leaders of this high school. Three research questions guided this study: (a) To what …

Cariño In The Clase: Understanding How Teachers And Staff In San José Navigate Caring, Protecting, And Empowering Undocumented Latinx High School Students In The Trump Era, Nancy Haro

Master's Theses

Latinx students in low-income public schools face structural oppression that limits their educational and career opportunities. Those opportunities are further limited when we consider how many of those students might be undocumented. The current political climate is replete with anti-immigrant sentiment and has already created further difficulty for undocumented students with the recession of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Public high school teachers and staff play an important role in the lives of these students, for they interact in a space in which preparation for adulthood is the goal. However, these spaces do not exist in a vacuum but …

Using Phonics To Increase Reading Comprehension In English Language Learners, Lindsay Piekutowski

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Abstract

This paper discusses the implications phonics has on reading comprehension in the older English Language Learner. The subjects for this study were in the same Language Arts class in the Sheltered-Instruction Observation Protocol classroom, and they ranged from 15-20 years old. They were all in the same class because they were all Level III or IV with their language proficiency based on the WIDA ACCESS score in Speaking, Listening, Reading, and Writing. The study used Lexile scores from the Reading Inventory test used in the READ 180 classroom as the summative assessment of reading comprehension abilities. The focus for …

A Study Of Marshallese Student Attendance In A Northwest Arkansas Secondary School, Paula Lynn Floyd-Faught

Theses and Dissertations from 2019

Northwest Arkansas has one of the largest populations of Marshall Islanders outside of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The first know Marshallese immigrant arrived in the 1986, and the first Marshallese student in Northwest Public Schools arrived in the late 1980’s. Since that time, an estimated 10,000–12,000 Marshallese have settled in Northwest Arkansas (McElfish, 2016, p. 2). Almost 3,000 Marshallese students attend Northwest Public Schools, with Northwest High School having the largest population in the state. There is a perception that Marshallese students have lower attendance rates than peers, and this study was conducted to determine which factors most …

Mental Illness In Young Adult Literature: A Classroom Approach, Claire Ghent

Honors College Theses

As high school curriculum in the 21st century evolves, the need to increase exposure of diverse literature that reflects culture, gender, and ethnicity is growing. One crucial area often overlooked by educators, parents, and publishers is literature that provides attention to mental illness, in spite of the growing amount of adolescents who suffer from a mental illness. By increasing awareness of mental illness in the classrooms, teachers can reduce stigma and increase empathy in their students while still providing challenging and engaging literary interactions. One of the best vehicles to deliver mental illness and stigma education is young adult literature …

Cell Phones In Minnesota High Schools: Principals’ Perceptions Of Impact And Policy, David Holler

Culminating Projects in Education Administration and Leadership

As cell phone use has become commonplace in society, school leaders have debated the positive and negative impacts of permitting cell phone use in schools (Kiema, 2015). In 2015, New York City public schools removed their cell phone ban for 1.1 million students (Allen, 2015). A reason for reversing the ban was that the policy had a disproportionate impact on low students who were more likely to have their cell phones confiscated because of metal detectors in the schools they attended (Allen, 2015). The New York City cell phone ban also proved extremely difficult to consistently and effectively enforce (Allen, …

The Perceptions Of Female High-School Students Regarding Their Engineering Self-Efficacy, Joyce Russo

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to develop insight from the self-perceptions of a small group of female students attending an Oregon high school regarding their self-efficacy in engineering. To answer the guiding research questions, female students were asked to complete a survey to gather data on their described perceptions. Ten randomly selected students also participated in a study interview, and student artifacts were viewed to better understand the student experience with the engineering practices of the Next Generation Science Standards. Science teachers at the study-site high school were also interviewed to gather data on teacher perceptions of the …

The Impact Of Individualized Structured Reading Intervention On High School Students In Special Education: An Action Research Study, Nikki Clark

Theses and Dissertations

Reading skills comprise the following three categories: decoding, fluency, and comprehension. All three of these skills are necessary for students to become successful readers in and out of academic settings. Many students in special education read far below their grade level; difficulty reading is particularly challenging for such students because, in addition to limiting academic success, under-developed reading skills compromise students’ academic and functional independence. This study aimed to examine how a structured, individualized reading intervention may help high school students in special education – students who have been diagnosed with one specific disability or a combination of approved disabilities …

Perspectives Of High School Photography Teachers Regarding Visual Literacy, Kristi Oliver

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study investigated the perspectives of high school photography teachers regarding visual literacy. A qualitative methodology that used a phenomenographic research design was employed to gain understanding about the perspectives of high school photography teachers in their conceptualization, perceptions, and experiences surrounding visual literacy. A survey/ questionnaire was used to explore participants’ paths towards becoming a high school photography teacher, the amount of years they have been teaching, and their geographic location. Participants perception of school demographics such as school size, community contexts, racial, ethnic, and economic diversity were also collected. Additional prompts were designed to investigate curricular influences, …

Academic Success Indicators Associated With Immediate Postsecondary Enrollment, Alexandria C. Johns

Education Dissertations

The primary aim of this study was to examine the predictive relationship between human capital academic success indicators and student enrollment or non-enrollment in a postsecondary institution or program. For this study, the researcher analyzed academic records, demographic information, and National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) reports from two comprehensive high schools in one school district to address the research question. A direct logistic regression was used to examine the predictors that influenced the decision of high school graduates from the class of 2017 to enroll in a two-year college, technical college, four-year college, or non-enrollment immediately after graduation from high school. …

Teacher Perceptions Of An International Baccalaureate Diploma Program In A Mid-Western Inner-Ring Suburban High School During The First Seven Years, Charles E. Kelly

ETD Archive

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program (IBDP) has grown exponentially around the world and particularly within the United States over the past decade, and numerous studies have been conducted on a wide range of issues related to the IBDP and the other three IB Programs—the Primary Years, Middle Years, and Career-related Programs. Much of the research, naturally, focuses on student achievement within the IBDP and the ways in which the Program benefits students who participate. Fewer studies have been done on teacher perceptions of the IBDP. Typically, when teacher perceptions are investigated, the focus is on their perceptions of student achievement, …

White Paper: The Effects Of Block Scheduling And Traditional Scheduling On High School Student Achievement, Lesley Mizhquiri

EDUC 17: What Works in Education?

Since the National Education Commission on Time and Learning published Prisoners of Time in 1994, which criticized the use of traditional schedules and asked readers to think differently about class scheduling in schools, the use of block scheduling in high schools has increased. However, there is still a lack of well-implemented and well-designed studies that explore the effects of block scheduling on high school student achievement. The purpose of this white paper is to investigate the effects of block and traditional scheduling on high school student achievement, as measured by grade-point averages and standardized test scores, by analyzing ten research …

Teachers’ Perceptions And Strategies Implementing The Alabama Reading Initiative To Teach Literacy, Latanya Williams-Collins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A report from a 2015 descriptive study of the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) showed that 85% of the participants who were trained in strategies to address students’ reading difficulties in high school were not implementing them. Teachers’ implementation of ARI was the focus of this study. Pragmatism was the epistemological framework of the study, and Roger’s diffusion of innovation theory was the conceptual framework used to support the study. The purpose and corresponding research questions examined the extent of ARI implementation, reasons for not implementing those strategies, and ideas for future professional development in ARI. Six content-area teachers who taught …

Thoughts Of A First Year Teacher: Know Your Students, Caitlin King

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This Ethnographic Narrative is a research based look into the lives of socially disadvantaged students in a low-income area. It breaks down the assets and needs of each student individually and discusses how to better help them academically and socially based on their individual personalities and needs. The narrative also discusses the community in which these individual students live and attend school, it looks at research on the community to determine how each student is affected by the city that they live in. Finally the narrative concludes by looking at the teacher over the course of this past year and …

Talented High School Students' Perceptions On How Their Parents Influence Their Achievement, Michael Fitzgerald

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Talented students are an underserved population in American schools today. Despite being identified as talented in a certain domain, many of these students are not developing their potential into outcomes of advanced achievement and skill. Research shows that parents play a critical role in developing their children’s talent. To change the cycle of underachievement, we need to start working with the talented students to get their perspective on what helps them. This is a qualitative case study of four talented high school students to discover their perspective on how their parents influence their achievement and motivation to learn. Multiple interviews …

How Two High School Teachers Conceive Of Student Voice, Value It, And Foster It, Katherine Mary Mccleary

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory study was to examine two high school English teachers’ experience as they worked together to purposefully implement increased student voice in their classrooms. The study focused on how a convenience sample of teachers designed, implemented, and reflected upon classroom assignments and lessons with the intention to increase student voice and ownership in the classroom. Teachers each participated in four individual interviews, four partnership observations and three classroom observations as they related to student voice implementation.

Data from the interviews, partnership observations and classroom observations were analyzed using qualitative methods and through the lenses of …

Labor Experiences Of Public High School Counselors: Neoliberalism, Productivity, And Care, Avery Harwood

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis explores the day-to-day realities for public high school counselors inside their schools. The national average student-to-counselor ratio in public high schools in the U.S. is 482:1. This is almost double the recommended counselor caseload by the American School Counselor Association, which recommends 250 students per counselor. However, counselors’ inflated caseloads are not the only reason why counselors are overworked. Using a year’s worth of ethnographic research, I analyze the bureaucratic and care labor practices of counselors and the ways in which their labor exploitation reflects years of neoliberal discourse influencing the functioning of public education. This neoliberalization of …

Teaching Writing: Genre Lessons For Teaching Writing In The Homeschool High School Classroom And Beyond, Teagan R. Knoblich

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Most high schoolers in America operate with basic writing skills at best (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). Students who are educated at home, or homeschoolers, may be only marginally better in their writing skills, if at all. A review of materials available to home educators for the instruction of their homeschool students revealed that available writing curricula does not do a good job covering more than a few basic writing forms, such as research and narrative. This creative project aimed to create writing instruction materials that could be used by home educators to teach their high school students how to …

Preservando Nuestra Lengua Materna: A Project Based Curriculum Created For High School Spanish For Native Speakers Class, Angela Tovar Alvarado

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

It is projected that by 2050, Latinos in the United States, who are a minority, will move to become a majority. With an increasing influx of Native Spanish speaking students in our schools, it is more than likely these students will take some type of Spanish class in their high school career. For many native Speakers, Spanish is their dominant the language, but the mechanics behind the language are unknown to them. In this paper, I review the literature on the history of Spanish language classes in the United States, and discuss how project-based learning (PBL) in the Spanish language …

High School Engineering Students’ Identities And Interest In Stem, Morgan Lane

Theses and Dissertations--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

With a national push toward improving STEM education, it is imperative for researchers to study what makes students want to pursue STEM education and STEM careers. To learn about this in the context of one high school’s engineering program, this study used student interviews to gain insight into how student identities influence their interest and experiences in STEM. Five components of student identities were revealed to be influential on a student’s interest in STEM: (1) an early interest/skill in STEM, (2) familial involvement in STEM, (3) self-motivation, (4) gender, and (5) socioeconomic status.Race/ethnicity, peer influence, and teacher influence did not …

The Effects Of Problem-Based Learning: A Literature Review, Brianna Nettleton

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reviews the existing research of problem-based learning (PBL) and its implementation at a secondary level. The goal of the research is to determine if PBL should be implemented with students in a secondary math classroom. The author reviews the effects of PBL on student learning, as well as identifies various implementations of the method including tools that can be added to the method. The challenges of PBL for both the student and the teacher are explained and implications for educators are described. Since its initial introduction in medical school in 1969, PBL has continued to expand to undergraduate …

Exploring High School Students' Attitudes Towards Reading, Heather G. Crivilare

Masters Theses

This study explored high school students’ attitudes towards reading as both a recreational activity and academic endeavor; while there are numerous studies regarding the reading habits of younger children, there is a deficit of research into the reading habits of students beyond the middle school years. This study surveyed and interviewed freshmen-through-senior students in a medium-sized, rural Illinois high school about their habits as readers in order to explore the relationship between different environmental factors and reading, as well as between reading habits and college readiness. This study found a gender gap in reading enjoyment favoring female students; a decline …