Education Commons^™

English Language Learners: A Quantitative Study Of Digital Home Access And Its Relationship To Reading Achievement In Grades Four And Eight, Schalea S. Sanders

Theses and Dissertations

Today’s world is highly digitized and requires digital access and literacy for educational, professional, and personal success. Students from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds, such as English Language Learners and those from households experiencing low-income, often face additional challenges accessing digital devices and high-speed Internet at home. Researchers have yet to fully examine how digital access relates to reading achievement among students in the U.S. K-12 public school system. The current study used correlational secondary data analysis to examine relationships among home access to digital devices and high-speed Internet and student reading achievement outcomes. In addition, the association between digital home access …

Local Voices: Counterstorytelling And Retention Of Faculty Of Color In Oregon's Community College System, Kristin Christophersen

Dissertations and Theses

The Oregon community college system employs a full-time faculty workforce that is overwhelmingly White. This study aimed to research why the representation of faculty of color in the state’s community colleges remains low by conducting interviews with faculty of color about their experiences at these public 2-year institutions using counterstorytelling as research methodology. Using critical race theory as a theoretical framework, this study collected and analyzed the counterstories of seven faculty of color in a variety of institutions and regions across one state about their experiences with institutional racism and how it impacts their persistence strategies and retention patterns.

Teacher Instructional Strategies Impacting Rural, High-Poverty Student Academic Outcomes, Erin Kinney Burt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is an abundant amount of interest among educators surrounding what actions can be taken by the government, local representatives, school boards, administrators, and teachers to assist rural, high-poverty students flourish academically. An uninspiring truth related to this subject is many times, a student receives the education the state and local communities are able to provide based on the quality of teachers they are able to retain and the resources available. Instructional strategies teachers implement could influence the quality of education students receive and could leave a community in a constant cycle of dependency and hardship. The purpose of this …

Inclusion For Students With Intellectual Disabilities: A Philosophical Reconstruction Of The Student To Expand Access And Its Benefits, Derek Thomas Myles Daskalakes

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This dissertation attempts a philosophical rethinking of the concept of the student in educationally relevant disability law for the sake of expanding access to general education settings for students with intellectual disabilities (ID), without committing to the approach known as full inclusion. I show that students with ID receive significantly less access to general education settings in comparison to other student populations, and that empirical studies show this to be harmful to their learning and developmental outcomes. Discussion of this problem in the inclusion literature assumes one of two positions that separately support either maintaining the status quo regarding the …

A Quantcrit Investigation Of The Discriminatory Practices In Texas Education Funding, Stuart Andrew Keogh

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

The Texas constitution guarantees citizens a "general diffusion of knowledge" and an "efficient system of public free schools." However, the state has often failed to provide sufficient funding to meet this constitutional mandate. Many school districts, especially those serving low-income or minority communities, have been chronically underfunded. This has led to unequal access to quality education. As a result, there have been numerous lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of Texas's school funding system. Plaintiffs argue that the state has violated the education clause of the constitution by failing to adequately and equitably fund public schools. Despite several legislative attempts at reform, …

The Use Of Amicus Briefs To Influence A Supreme Court Decision: Framing Espinoza V. Montana (2020), Anita F. Morgan

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to examine how amici curiae frame policy preferences in amicus briefs submitted before the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case, Espinoza v. Montana (2020). The questions addressed in this study were what dominant policy frames do interest groups use to frame policy preference in Espinoza v. Montana (2020), and which (if any) policy frames found in the amicus briefs emerged in the written opinions of the United States Supreme Court?

Five a priori codes based on Semetko and Valkenburg’s (2000) generic frames were used to analyze 18 out of 45 …

Three Essays On Student Enrollment Responses To General Household And Education-Specific Assistance Programs, Usamah Wasif

Economics ETDs

Greater educational attainment is associated with an increase in expected income, lowering of internal discount rates, and improved financial and health literacy. Income transfers have the potential to positively impact educational attainment by either reducing the direct cost of college attendance or by inducing an income effect that nudges students to decrease labor supply and devote greater time to studies. Whether assistance leads to more education depends on the circumstances, particularly the educational stage and assistance type. High school students may react differently to assistance relative to college students and both may react differently to general household income transfers compared …

It's Just Who I Am: A Narrative Inquiry Of The Emergence Of Culturally Responsive School Leaders, Bm Towns

ETD Archive

Culturally Responsive School Leadership is one of the most essential elements of the academic and longitudinal success of minoritized students from urban hyper-ghettoized communities. Despite the impact of Culturally Responsive School Leadership, the focus on improving learning has centered teachers instead of their leaders. Upon this realization, this study set out to center the Culturally Responsive School Leader, their context within the landscape of leadership and education, the history of Black Americans, and the frameworks of cultural and social capital as critical to the manner in which Culturally Responsive School Leaders engage with their students, families, communities, and the educational …

Supporting Teacher Retention Through A Trauma-Informed Lens, Nicole C. Reddig

Honors Theses

This thesis explores the relationship between trauma-informed practices and teacher burnout and turnover. For the past decade, schools across the United States have seen high levels of burnout and turnover amongst their educators. At the same time, young children are experiencing high levels of exposure to traumatic events in childhood, affecting their behavior, social and emotional health, and ability to learn. While teachers play an important role in the support system for these students, they are also at risk for experiencing secondary trauma and burnout. To mitigate the effects of trauma, trauma-informed practices have been introduced in schools to respond …

Connecting School Finance Policy With Practice: A Site-Based Expenditure Report Study, Julia Chapdelaine Pontarelli

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the policy requirement of site-based expenditure reporting which is a requirement of the newest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Every Student Succeeds Act. For the first time, the federal government has required school districts to report site-level expenditure data publicly. In Illinois, the tool used to meet this federal reporting requirement is Site-Based Expenditure Reporting. In this study, I focus on how school finance leaders understand, process, and implement the site-based expenditure reporting requirement while considering concepts of equity and adequacy. Sensemaking theory offers a helpful conceptual lens for understanding how …

The Language Of Power: An Investigation Of How The Macropolitics Of Education Policy Affects The Micropolitics Of Schooling English Learners, Catherine E. Vannatter

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

The population of English Learners (ELs) continues to increase across the United States, and these students persistently perform below their native English-speaking peers in measures of academic achievement. Federal government leaders passed the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in 2015, which modified how state and local educational agencies identify, instruct, assess, and reclassify ELs and revised what funding EL programming could receive. In this multiphase study, I investigated how the macropolitics of federal and state policy became enacted in the micropolitics of a mid-sized school district in Kentucky. Through an initial phase of document review followed by a mixed methods …

Making Parents Experts: Parents For Public Schools At The Turn Of The 21st Century, Mikayla Jordan

Honors Theses

There has been a long history of debate in the United States about whether centralized or decentralized control of schools is better or more desirable for the education of the nation’s children. This conversation has been shaped heavily by changes in federal education policy since the mid 20th century such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994, No Child Left Behind in 2001, and the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015. The voices of parents have always been a prominent part of this dialogue as local citizens and as experts on …

Access To Opportunity: School Choice And The Experiences Of Non-English-Speaking Latino Families In New York City, Christian Toala

Theses and Dissertations

Districts across the United States have embraced school choice as a means to improve educational outcomes. Independent and charter management organization backed schools have entered the public educational market in an attempt to provide parents with more educational options. The marketing and branding of public schools, both traditional and charter, has also increased as schools and districts compete to attract more students. Furthermore, in addition to this school system, the Catholic school system of New York continues to increase its competitive strive in enrollment. In New York City, there has been an increase in charter school applications and in the …

The Impact Of Federal, State, And Local Policy On The Pedagogy Of Ell Assessment In New Mexico Public Schools, Cheryl Anne Ford Ed.D.

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

ABSTRACT

The impetus for this study came from the understanding that bilingualism and multilingualism are innate components of America’s immigrant and Native American cultural fabric. With issues ranging from writing ELL policy to developing English as a second language (ESL), pedagogical support, to identifying the non-static, cultural, and linguistic needs of ELLs, their intersection and impact on bilingual education in New Mexico’s public schools was the focus of this study. To ensure a nonbiased focus on that narrow intersection, a qualitative methodology with a grounded-theory genre and an emic approach was used to address the research question: How do cumulative …

Economics Of Higher Education Productivity, Uchenna K. Oparah

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

How does spending affect academic outcomes in higher education institutions? Postsecondary schools incur costs to provide services to its student body. In this study, I introduce multiple outcome variables, a two-stage production function, and current-year expenditures on core services to evaluate how school spending affects academic outcomes.

The empirical analysis includes 28 group sample parameter estimates from four outcome variables, the pooled sample, and group samples for each of six sectors. The fixed effects/instrumental variable (FE-IV) instructional expenditure parameter estimates were positive for 20 of the 28 group samples. The sign and size of the estimated academic output effects varied …

The Postsecondary Enrollment Of Black American Men: The Perceived Influence Of Environmental Factors, David V. Tolliver, Iii

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, there has been a consistent under-enrollment of Black American men who have enrolled and graduated from four-year colleges and universities. The result of this lack of educational attainment is problematic, as it can be seen in lower employment rates, higher under-employment rates, higher rates of incarceration, poorer health, and even a lower quality life. Institutional leaders and policymakers have struggled to find solutions for increasing the participation of Black American men with largely mixed results. Most of these programmatic attempts, however, have been limited in their approach and have not taken into account family and informal …

Connecticut Pre-K Policy, Parental Choice, And The Trinity College Community Child Center, Manny Rodriguez

Senior Theses and Projects

Traditional public schools in Connecticut have been pushed out by newer options since the landmark Sheff vs. O’Neill decision, which called for the development of magnet schools. The influx of magnet schools to Connecticut has caused traditional preschools like the Trinity College Community Child Center (TC4) to experience more competition and lose potential enrollees and revenue. For this project, I sought to discover how the growth of magnet pre-k programs has influenced how families choose schools for their 3-to-5-year-old children. I analyzed data from the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood, the Connecticut State Department of Education and conducted 10 semi-structured …

The Relationship Between Professional Development, Instruction, And Student Achievement In Elementary Mathematics, Linsey Sims

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many school districts acknowledge professional development (PD) as an approach that can change teaching practices and improve student achievement. Because elementary teachers often struggle to provide instruction for mathematical proficiency, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the strength of the relationships among teacher participation in math PD courses, Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) implementation scores, and student achievement. The theoretical framework for the study is based on Guskey’s model of teacher change. The research questions pertained to the strength of the relationship between the following pairs of variables: (a) teacher participation in math PD and …

A Comparative Analysis Of Military And Non-Military Parent Engagement In Public Elementary Schools, Robin G. Fisher

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was a comparison of military and non-military parent engagement levels in public elementary schools. A parent survey was used to collect data on the parent engagement levels of military and non-military parents to determine if there was a significant difference between the two populations, while controlling for income and education. In addition, the parent engagement levels of the military parents were analyzed based on the percentage of military students in each school. The objective was to determine if a higher percentage of military students in a school would increase the military parent engagement. Open-ended questions …

Schooling And Civic Behavior: A Global Perspective, Ian Kingsbury

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

National governments confront different challenges to the goal of creating model citizens, as well as different ambitions in the type of citizen that they wish to create. The United States government faces a tension in determining the role of education in shaping the social order. As a liberal democracy that extols the virtue of individual liberty, the United States should allow educational pluralism to flourish. Paradoxically, however, a nation of immigrants might require an education system that turns students into “proper Americans” who honor the precepts of liberty, equality, and self-government. I draw from domestic and international studies to inform …

Teacher Diversity Issues Among Hispanics And English Language Learners (Ells): Perspectives Of Administrators And Teachers In A Mid-South Town, Samantha Juncia Julien

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although the English Language Learner (ELL) student population is steadily increasing, the American teaching workforce remains mainly white and monolingual. This sector has yet to reflect the change in ELLs and teachers of color, who will be able to adequately provide culturally responsive instruction to these students. There is an urgent need to recruit and train teachers in culturally responsive pedagogy with the purpose of providing educational, cultural and social supports for the growing ELL population in the country (Farahnaz, 2012). Because of this, the American educational system is revamping some of its earlier pedagogical approaches, including the introduction of …

Acculturation Experiences Of Asian Indian Immigrant Math And Science Teachers In A K-12 Urban School District In Ohio, Loveleen Sharma-Chopra

ETD Archive

The study examined the acculturation experiences of Asian Indian immigrant math and science teachers in a K-12 urban school district. The study was preceded by a pilot study in 2008 to develop a protocol for dissertation, which examined the acculturation experiences of professional Asian Indian females and cultural values conflict in the United States. The current research investigated if being a math or science teacher in an urban school district has influenced the participants’ acculturation process in the United States. Framed in social constructivism theory, the researcher used the phenomenological approach to investigate the meaning-making process of immigrant professional teachers …

High School Discipline Policies And The Teacher-Student Relationship, Sara Elizabeth Nardone

ETD Archive

Relationships play a central role of human development by fostering connection and growth in individuals (Josselson, 1992). Adolescence is a stage of development in which relationships are perhaps most integral because they help youth navigate the changes that come with this developmental phase. Teacher-student relationships are one of the most influential relationships for youth because teacher-student relationships impact students’ academic achievement and educational experience (Ellerbrock et al., 2015; Wilkins, 2014). There are many factors that contribute to positive teacher-student relationships. An area of research that has not gained as much attention regarding teacher-student relationships is discipline in schools. High schools …

Validation Of A School Climate Instrument Using A Rasch Rating Scale Model, Audrey Conway Roberts

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

A new ESSA indicator of school quality and student success provides flexibility to broaden a states’ definition of school and student success. Educational research has found school success is in part determined by a school’s climate and should be considered in improvement/reform strategies (Cohen et al., 2009; Thapa et al., 2013). Yet, school climate research is often difficult and time consuming, and employs a variety of conflicting definitions and dimensions, instruments, and empirical approaches to determining school climate. Given these significant limitations with current measures, the purpose of this study was to validate an instrument measuring school climate based on …

Teacher Educators’ And Pre-Service Teachers’ Preparedness To Use Ict: A Western Australian Perspective, Huifen Jin

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

With the ongoing development of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), a wide variety of devices, software and apps are available that could be used in education. As a result, universities and schools are adopting different policies and strategies for integrating these new technologies. As teachers are a key element in the implementation of educational innovation, teacher educators and pre-service teachers need to be confident in using ICT effectively in teaching and learning.

This study proposed to investigate how teacher educators’ and pre-service teachers’ integration of ICT in their teaching and learning. A mixed methods design, that included both quantitative …

A Case Study: The Effects Of Restorative Justice Course On African-American Students In An Urban School., Troy D. Washington

Theses and Dissertations

This ethnographic critical case study investigated the usefulness of a restorative justice course as an alternative to punitive discipline in a high school setting, the goal of which was to holistically address ways to effectively deal with conflict, safety and wellness issues of African-American students in an urban high school. The researcher has worked closely with the school and identified the strengths of an under-utilized approach that has the potential to completely eradicate excessive suspensions and expulsions. Given the research purpose of studying a model of discipline with possible replication at other sites, the research approach was that of a …

Locating The Possibilities For Upward Mobility: Educating English Learners In A Segmented Opportunity Structure, Lyndsie Marie Schultz

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Immigrant families often view education as the pathway for upward mobility in the U.S. However, the location of schooling for children impacts the quality of the education they receive and their subsequent opportunities for assimilation and upward mobility. The segmented assimilation model does not explain assimilation fully because it ignores the impact of education for English Learning (EL) children. This dissertation integrates opportunity structure literature into the segmented assimilation framework by focusing on the education available to ELs in the location of settlement to examine possibilities for EL assimilation in a more holistic manner. The first study looks at how …

The Impact Of Tracking Students In Mathematics On Middle School Student Achievement Outcomes, David P. Glasner

ETD Archive

The purpose of this study was to explore whether and how tracking structures in mathematics courses at the middle school level relate to differences in achievement between white and black students. This study used propensity score matching to compare the achievement outcomes of students enrolled in advanced mathematics classes, with students of comparable ability and background enrolled in grade-level math classes. The study sample was comprised of 1,510 students. Results from the study show that enrollment in an advanced-math course was associated with statistically significant improvement in math achievement for average-ability students. In addition, study results show that increases in …

Social Capital And Academic Achievement Of African American Male High School Students, Sabreen Ayesha Mutawally

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although more researchers have focused on academic deficits of male African American students, it is also important to understand the social factors that contribute to those who perform at a proficient level. Drawing on social capital theory as forwarded by Coleman and Putnam, this qualitative case study of 3 African American male high school students examined how their parent(s), teacher, mentor, peer or sibling, and pastor or community leader influenced the creation of social capital surrounding the students' academic achievement. Interview protocols and research interview instruments were developed and used to collect data from a total of 16 research participants, …

Permission To Engage: Examining The Educational Experiences Of Active Duty Army Enlisted Soldiers Enrolled At Hopkinsville Community College, Tracey Y. Folden

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

The military has long-standing partnerships with institutions of higher education (Leporte, 2013; Parks, 2015 & Massie, 2016). These partnerships have been significant over time because the United States Army has incentivized civilian education via the Army enlisted ranks and promotional structure (Wilson, Smith, Lee & Stevenson, 2013). Researchers are beginning to recognize service members as adult students who need specific supports in an educational setting (Wilson et al., 2013; Leporte, 2013; Parks, 2015; Massie, 2016). Enlisted soldiers arrive on college campuses with identities ascribed and molded by the military. Thus, their primary identity is soldier not student (Nagel & Kleykamp, …