Education Commons^™

Rising Above The Adobe Ceiling: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study Of Mentoring And Social Capital Influences Among California Latina Nonprofit Leaders, Belinda Hernandez

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Empirical research studies that focus on the experiences of Latinas in executive leadership are limited. In its entirety, workforce research has overlooked how social and cultural experiences influence this group’s leadership development. This gap in research has failed to uplift the Latina executive voice and their achievements. Addressing this gap has the potential to influence distinctive workforce practices and future scholarship. Utilizing an asset-based perspective, this study presents counter narratives that intentionally focus on exploring Latina leaders’ voices. The importance of intersectional experience and social identities illustrate non-monolithic, yet aligned, experiences among study participants.

This foundational dissertation explored mentoring phenomena …

"It's All Because I Like The Person That's Teaching Me": Masculinities, Engagement, And Caring Relationships In Secondary Schools, Cristy Lauren Weggelaar

Dissertations and Theses

U.S. schools face a well-documented gender gap within some important educational and social indicators. In the United States, boys and young men are significantly more likely than girls and young women to be diagnosed with a learning disability, leave high school without a diploma, receive failing grades in core classes, and be suspended or expelled from school. This study uses an interpretive research framework to investigate the relationship between this gender gap in education and constructions of masculinity, social and cultural capital, agency, caring and resistance in secondary schools. Data collected through interviews with young men who engaged in acts …

Early Care And Education Testimonios At The Borderlands, Jennifer Torres Siders

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Latinas represent a large proportion of the United States early care and education workforce, and thus have the potential to wield significant influence over the growth and development of millions of American children. However, the voices of Latina early childhood professionals often are missing in both research and mass media. Instead, social, political, and academic frames cast Latinas as foreign regardless of nationality, uneducated notwithstanding expertise, and passive despite action and influence. This testimonio analysis draws on Chicana feminist epistemology to re-center the perspectives of Latina child care providers and reveal more authentic insights on how they understand and perform …

Roles Of Parents’ Capitals In Children’S Educational Opportunities, Liping Pan

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Bourdieu, the French sociologist, proposed some significant concepts (e.g., habitus, capital and field) to help to explain how social agents play roles in social occurrences. Among his theories, Bourdieu’s trilogy of economic capital, social capital and cultural capital has now been used as a powerful theoretical framework to explain class reproduction and education equity. Over the past decades, his theories have begun to be introduced and recognized in Chinese academic world. And this research attempts to see whether this western theory works in the Chinese educational context.

Shanghai, one of the biggest cities in China, has a huge migrant population. …

Students And Faculty Indivisible: Crafting A Higher Education Culture Of Flourishing, Eileen K. Camfield

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three separate articles addressing related issues central to the culture and future of higher education. The questions that animate the investigations are: In what ways is writing self-efficacy forged in the learning relationships between student and instructor? In what ways, if any, do traditional assessment practices impact student development? In what ways, if any, does institutional culture shape faculty identity, and what is gained or lost in the process? These queries stem from concerns about possible disconnects between visions of higher education's potential and actual practices in the classroom. The dissertation uses grounded theory to …

Peer Mentorship And Cultural Capital Among High School Students, Crescentia Fatima Thomas

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Peer mentorship and school connectedness was reviewed here through social capital and cultural capital lenses. The relationship has been interwoven to create an idea of how to shape an environment which can foster cohesiveness among students. Peer mentorship has been indicated as a significant contribution to cross-aged grade levels with the improvement in attendance, behavior, social activities, and school awareness—which are encompassed in the term, school connectedness. In regards to college access and college knowledge, peer mentorship here, assists with the transfer of social capital and cultural capital. Students were able to develop relationships and gain knowledge passed on from …

Men Making Meaning Of Eating Disorders: A Qualitative Study, Robin Leichtman

ETD Archive

There is a stark contrast between the research and published accounts reflecting women's experiences in coping with an eating disorder in comparison to men's narratives. Because of this, many medical and mental health providers do not consider an eating disorder as a possible diagnosis when men present with symptoms associated with an eating disorder. This notion was confirmed by Menstuff┬« (2012), who reported men are often not diagnosed and/or are embarrassed by being diagnosed with an eating disorder because eating disorders have become more associated with a problem women or gay men experience. Assumptions that eating disorders are a female …

The Physics Of School Culture: Unleashing Student Voice In The Quest For School Improvement, Henry Elizarraraz Yzaguirre

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this ethnographic study is to examine the lived experiences of students attending a predominately Latino urban high school in the southwest region of the United States, using interviews, focus groups, and observations to gain an insight on student engagement and disengagement from school. Riverview High School was selected as the prime site for exploring student engagement based mainly on the poor student population of color, low school retention rate, and high suspension rate. Three focus groups were identified of about 6 students each for a total of eighteen 11th grade students. Each focus group was digitally recorded …

Black American Intergenerational Perspectives On Education, Black Identity And Whiteness: A Socio-Cultural And Historical Analysis, Denise G. Yull

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

The aims of this study are to explore the socio-cultural contexts and experiences of Black Americans and their perspectives on the quality and value of education in their lives and to better understand how the socio-historical idea that Blacks are inferior has influenced the perception and disenfranchisement of Black youth in the U.S. educational system. This dissertation presents a qualitative study, incorporating historical documents and oral history interviews to collect first person accounts of the educational experiences of 53 Black people reflecting 4 different generations. The study found differences in the salience of race/racism in schools for individuals based on …

Liberation Is Not Always So Liberating: Rethinking Paulo Freire's Critical Pedagogy For The Writing Classroom, Joshua Daniel Shinn

Theses Digitization Project

The goal of this project is to reconsider the ways in which liberatory and/or critical pedagogy, and its desire to combat the "banking" method of education, can unintentionally create some of the same institutional and ideologically oppressive classroom conditions that more traditional methods of instruction have been charged with creating. This thesis first discusses the origins of liberatory pedagogy and its effect upon education, the writing classroom, and critical pedagogues.

Grading Participation In College Courses : Instructor Attitudes And Practices, Susan L. Rogers

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

An exploratory study was launched to redress a gap in the literature that is expressed as an assumption that "most" college instructors grade participation in undergraduate courses. A sample of 521 instructors at a large, northeastern public university was surveyed to assess their attitudes and practices in grading participation in undergraduate courses of 50 students or less. A survey instrument was developed for the purpose of this study and subjected to principal components analysis, and this instrument yielded 7 subscales of acceptable reliability (Cronbach's alpha ≥ .70). Results suggest that the majority of instructors across disciplines incorporate a "participation" factor …

Catholic Schools And Student Academic Performance;Does The Urban Catholic School Experience Mitigate Ethnoracial Disparity?, Lanny K. (Lanny Keith) Hollis

ETD Archive

This study examined an inner-city Catholic high school to ascertain the possible existence of an achievement gap. Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses examined academic indicators (GPA and Math and Science OGT results) and demographic and school variables. Students (258 Black, 101 White, and 55 Hispanic) completed questionnaires, which were matched with school data and confirmatory alumni focus groups. Analyses revealed no significant differences (ANOVA) among academic indicator means. Correlations were found between academic indicators and length of Catholic education, good behavior, extracurricular participation, high-school-graduation-oriented peers, and teacher caring scores. Regression models found positive student behavior, peers, female gender, extracurricular …

Reading In-Between The Lines: Exploring The Experience Of Cultivating Cultural Awareness With White Teacher Candidates In A Liberal Arts University In Georgia, Holley Morris Roberts

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was to explore the use of critical literacy (Freire, 1998) to assist predominately White teacher candidates in their preparation to teach diverse groups of students. Seven White females, who were born and reared in Georgia, participated in the study. These participants were encouraged to critically examine their personal, racial, and cultural roots through autobiographical papers, literature circles using African American children's books, critical reflective papers responding to the literature circles, conversations, and interviews. Three bodies of research provided the theoretical framework for the study: White identity theory (Kunjufu, 2002, McIntyre, 1997, Wise, 2008), critical literacy theory (Freire, 1974, …

Lessons In Character Development, Virginia Lizette Escobar

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of the project was to provide first grade teachers at the Baldwin Park Unified School District with teaching approaches, tools, and strategies in instructing their students in character development education. These approaches, tools, and strategies will support students' academic learning as they develop a deeper comprehension of responsibility skills.

The Framing Of Truancy : A Study Of Non-Attendance Policy As A Form Of Social Exclusion Within Western Australia, Jan Gray

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Truancy is a product of socially constructed knowledge. The final product of this knowledge provides insight into the defining features of current societal beliefs, values and fears, becoming a powerful framing influence for definitions of acceptable patterns of school attendance and behaviour. In this sense, the perceived incidence of truancy within a community has far more impact on the creation and enactment of public policy associated with young people who do not regularly attend school than the incidence itself. This does not deny the incidence of truancy, nor the empirical data indicating correlates of truancy, illiteracy, crime, poverty and unemployment. …

Factors Which Cause Families To Home School Their Children In Northeast Tennessee, Tony G. England

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The problem which this researcher investigated centered around the motivational factors which caused parents to educate their children at home. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors as perceived to cause families to home school their children. This study of home school education offered the opportunity to examine the dynamics within home schooling families as they conducted a non-traditional educational alternative. The study may provide information and insight to assist public school policy makers in considering inclusion of program components presently perceived as missing. Two home school associations in upper East Tennessee responded to a home school …

A Portrayal Of The Work Life Of Tenured African-American Female Faculty Working Within Historically White, Public Institutions Of Higher Education In Virginia, Carol A. Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to portray the experiences of African-American tenured female faculty employed within Historically White, public institutions of higher education in Virginia. This study is a portrait of the career paths, teaching experiences, institutional experiences, community and personal activities, work life, and the future of African-Americans. The study focused on personal experiences and provided a grounded recording for other African-American female faculty members employed within comparable institutions of higher education. The interviews also addressed educational preparation, mentoring, expectations, frustrations, difficulties, cultural and collegial experiences. Participants' audio taped responses were transcribed. Similarities that evolved from the discussions …

Identity Development And Student Involvement Of African-American Undergraduate Students At Historically White Colleges And Universities In Southern Appalachia, Rosemary G. Bundy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study of African American undergraduates at Emory & Henry College, Tusculum College, Western Carolina University, East Tennessee State University, Appalachian State University, and University of North Carolina at Asheville was conducted to determine students' stages of identity development, level of involvement in campus activities, and demographic characteristics within historically White Southern Appalachian colleges and universities, both public and independent. Three research questions were answered by analyzing 21 null hypotheses using the t-test and the chi square test. Hypotheses were tested at the.05 level of significance. Data collected in this study revealed that the students' perceptions of identity development and …

Influences Of Censorship Challenges On State Textbook Adoption Criteria Which Affect School Curriculum, Karen Marie Moore

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study explored censorship in the public schools through the analysis of the changing textbook adoption criteria of the twenty-two adoption states to determine if new, subtle challenges of censorship suggest previously undiscovered effects on the established school curriculum. Adoption criteria (1975-76 and 1985-86) from the twenty-two adoption states were requested. State statutes were also reviewed. A content analysis focusing on the specified criteria needed for text adoption and the amount of public participation in the adoption process was conducted. It was found that few requirements have been added to the textbook adoption criteria since 1975 although some changes have …

The Backgrounds, Achievements, Aspirations, And Attitudes Of Educators In Tehran (Iran)., Mohssen Ghandi

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Problem: To investigate various aspects of the Tehran male educators as to their backgrounds, achievements, satisfactions, aspirations, and attitudes.

Purpose: The general objective was to add to the understanding of the Iranian educators living in Tehran, and to provide background information about the educators for Iranian organizations involved in teacher education programs, in the professional growth of educators, and in helping to satisfy the teachers' needs. The major objectives were to determine: 1) the present status of the educators, 2) whether differences exist among primary school teachers, secOndary school teachers, and university professors, 3) the attitude of the educators toward …

A Content Analysis Of Current Iranian Elementary Reading Textbooks For The Presence Of Social And Moral Values, Maryam Tajeran Ghandi

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It was the investigator's concern to discover

1) to what extent the selected sixteen Iranian middle-class social and moral values were present in the content of the elementary reading textbooks currently used in Iran,

2) with what frequency and level of intensity the values were presented, and

3) was there a time-ordered developmental sequence of the identified social and moral values from lower to upper grade levels?

The purpose of the study was to collect data from the seven elementary reading textbooks which have been published by the Ministry of Education of the Government of Iran and are used by …

Attitudes Toward Educational Aspirations Among Selected 13-17 Year Old Chinese-American Students And Their China-Born Parents : An Exploratory Study, Jeffrey Craig Lee

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The preset study was undertaken to collect data which would help to identify any changes that have occurred concerning the attitudes and perceptions to be found between the identified generations. The study will specifically attempt to find out whether the change has in any way given the female the opportunity to strive for greater educational accomplishment and potential than was true of previous generations.

Although some research has been conducted on the China-born Chinese and their American-born children whose birth dates fall between 1940 and 1949, few studies have been reported concerning the children of the China-born Chinese who are …

Relationship Between Socio-Economic Status And Achievement In Mathematics For Three Hundred Eighth-Grade Children In Modesto, California, John Maurice Jennings

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study is devoted primarily to a consideration of socio-economic status in relation to achievement in mathematics. However, a review of socio-economic status in relation to intelligence (as revealed in studies in the field) is first made because of the wide use of intelligence tests in an attempt to determine the child’s ability to succeed in school.

A Study Of The Values Of Public High School Students In Louisiana., Perry Lawrence Davis

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.