Education Commons^™

Predicting Student Success: Factors Influencing Nclex-Rn® Rates In An Urban University's Pre-Licensure Programs, David M. Foley

ETD Archive

As the US population becomes more diverse, schools of nursing are faced with the formidable challenge of graduating diverse groups of competent students who will pass the NCLEX-RN® and serve an equally diverse public in the safest manner possible. Although institutions of higher learning have adopted plans to enhance diversity among nursing graduates, tension is created between these initiatives and the academic rigor required by nursing education. In particular, schools of nursing in diverse urban metropolitan areas face unique challenges educating increasing number of men, minorities, and students for whom English is a second language (ESL). Stanton-Salazar’s (2011) Social Capital …

Institutional Agents In The Lives Of Chagrin Falls Park Youth, Alison Taylor Kaufman

ETD Archive

This qualitative case study researched how adults from a community center and school acted as institutional agents in assisting youth navigating between community and school settings. The research was conducted in the context of Chagrin Falls Park, a historically marginalized community in the Cleveland metropolitan region. The research included semi-structured interviews with eleven participants across three participant categories, including institutional agents from Kenston Local Schools and Chagrin Falls Park Community Center and young adult Kenston graduates. The research explored: (1) the perceptions and roles of institutional agents in how Black youth construct identities, relationships, and navigate between institutional and community …

Exploring The Coping Strategies Of Female Urban High School Seniors On Academic Successes As It Relates To Bullying, Brenda Elaine Brooks-Turner

ETD Archive

Bullying has become a worldwide problem of pandemic proportion and degree. (Thomas, Bolen, Heister & Hyde, 2010). In the United States over thirty-five percent of school-aged students were directly involved in bullying incidents. Tragic news stories about suicides and school violence raised awareness about the importance of addressing this global issue (Van Der Zande, 2010). To date reports further indicate that more females are involved in indirect relational bullying than males. Unfortunately, as technology becomes more and more accessible, relational bullying has become one of the fastest growing epidemics (Brinson, 2005; Rigby & Smith, 2011).

Current research explanations were limited …

A Comparative Analysis Of Female Leaders In Urban Educational Settings, Larraine Freeman Fuller

ETD Archive

The purpose of this research was to explore the ways in which race and gender impact the leadership effectiveness of female leaders in urban school districts. An effective educational leader demonstrates certain leadership qualities. Realizing that barriers will inevitably accompany the leadership role assumed, the leader must be able to identify these barriers and work to overcome them.

Six educational female leaders participated in this study. As a result of this study, four themes emerged. The themes identified how the leaders viewed their leadership style, ways to lead effectively and how others perceived them. The information that was revealed through …

Persistence Redefined: Why Men Stay, Karie A. Coffman

ETD Archive

The research addressed factors affecting degree completion for adult male students. This qualitative case study explored factors that contributed to the persistence of undergraduate adult male students and their perception of their role within the campus community. The research considered: 1) how adult male undergraduate students described their ability to persist until degree completion; 2) what factors contributed to persistence; 3) what types of social interactions enabled participants to persist; and 4) how adult male undergraduate students described their relationship to the campus community. Data were collected through interviews with nine nontraditional male graduates who earned a baccalaureate degree within …

Design And Production Of A Hydrogel Forming Polypeptide: Engaging High School Students In Protein Design, James K. Deyling

ETD Archive

Bioinks are a class of hydrogel that have the potential to be the ink used in the creation of printed organs, connective tissue, and other important structures within the body. One class of material that may be a suitable bioink hydrogel is elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs), which are synthetic biopolymers inspired by the naturally existing connective tissue elastin. ELPs consist of a repeat pentapeptide sequence (GXGVP)n, where X is any of the 20 naturally existing amino acids other than proline. These biomolecules are capable of exhibiting environmental responsiveness when exposed to certain stimulus such as salt concentration, temperature, and pH, depending …