Education Commons^™

A Mixed Methods Study On Urban Educators’ Feelings Of Preparedness To Implement Practices That Impact Social And Emotional Learning In A Mid-Pandemic Environment, Emily Dittmer

Dissertations

The purpose of the mixed methods study was to evaluate urban educators’ perceptions of their preparedness to implement social and emotional learning strategies in their classrooms/workspaces as well as to understand what the educators’ experiences were as their students returned to a five day a week school schedule after a year and a half of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those involved in the study included educators from four K-8 public charter schools located in an urban Midwestern environment. Quantitative data was obtained through the administration of two identical surveys that were completed by volunteer participants at two different …

Inclusive Communities? Collaborative Communication Practices Between Stakeholders Supporting Secondary Students On The Autism Spectrum, Christina R. Holly

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Communication is vital for effective partnerships and quality relationships between stakeholders supporting secondary students on the autism spectrum (AS) who experience many challenges upon their transition to secondary school: multiple teachers, diverse student cohorts, unstructured breaks, noisy classrooms and unpredictable changes to routines. Successful outcomes for students are more likely if supporting stakeholders collaborate with open communication channels.

This qualitative two-phase study is underpinned by the value-creation framework for social learning, developed by Wenger-Trayner and Wenger-Trayner (2020), which emphasises that all community members, regardless of their perceived community competence or experience, can add value to forming community solutions. Phase One …

Professional Learning Community Perceptions For Propelling Academic Growth In A Rural North Carolina School System, Steven E. Howard

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Small rural schools often struggle to facilitate true professional learning communities (PLCs) when there is one teacher per grade level in the building. The district selected for this study contained four elementary schools with one teacher per grade level and a combined middle and high school to collect perception data. Utilizing a concurrent triangulation design method, this dissertation set out to answer three research questions by analyzing the perceptions of PLCs from the lens of teachers and administrators. The research questions focused on collective efficacy impacts, student achievement impacts, and the COVID-19 pandemic impacts on PLC operations. These impacts were …

A Case Study Of Parentschool Relationships: How Spanish-Speaking Latino Parents Of Elementary Multilingual Learners Perceive Parental Involvement In Schools, Ingrid Corpuz

Theses & Dissertations

This study examined how Spanish-speaking Latino parents of multilingual learners (MLs) perceived their participation in the school community and their role in the educational process of their children. It explored several factors that can influence the involvement of Spanish-speaking parents in their children's education. Social capital, cultural capital, and social learning theories guided this study to provide a deeper understanding of the parental involvement of Spanishspeaking Latino parents in schools. Ten participating parents shared their experiences and described their view of parental involvement in their children’s school. This study concluded that Spanish-speaking Latino parents displayed characteristics of highly involved parents, …

The Role Of Museums In Educational Pedagogy And Community Engagement, Katherine E. Weber

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Museums provide exceptional opportunity for experiential and social/emotional learning that often cannot be simulated elsewhere. Schools and communities, however, are not taking full advantage of what these spaces have to offer. Learning science has indicated the need for more progressive education initiatives, making stronger partnerships between museums, schools, and communities imperative. Data was collected through surveys and interviews with museum education departments and K-12 teachers in the Chicagoland area to discuss available programs, usage, outcomes, and feedback for improvement. Analysis of data reiterated the positive role museums play in creating well-rounded, critically-thinking, emotionally intelligent individuals, who are civically engaged and …

Social Emotional Learning For Latino Students, Norma Guzmán

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to examine how teachers teach Social Emotional Learning (SEL) to Latino students in transitional kindergarten through second grade. Latino students experience academic and emotional challenges due to parental education, language barriers, cultural difference, environmental challenges, and poverty. Integrating SEL into the classroom environment can be beneficial for Latino students to meet academic, social, and emotional development. A review of the literature supports that SEL can be a methodology to integrate into the school or classroom environments which support Latino achievement. As such, the classroom instructor is the critical participator in integrating SEL into the …

Black Children's Development Of Self-Regulation Within Stressful Contexts Of Parenting: Investigating Potential Buffering Effects Of A Kindergarten Social-Emotional Learning Program, Eli Labinger

Dissertations and Theses

Children living in poverty are at an elevated risk for experiencing academic, social-emotional, and behavioral difficulties when beginning kindergarten, and early educational achievement gaps between economically disadvantaged and advantaged children are known to persist and widen over time. Black children face additional challenges related to racism, marginalization, minoritization, and oppression--processes which may, like poverty, impact their development by affording them fewer of the high-quality experiences that are critical for early learning. Fortunately, evidence-based social-emotional learning (SEL) programs offer tools to promote the social-emotional and behavioral competencies that support children's school readiness and early learning, and may counteract the adverse impacts …

Development And Validation Of A Scale To Measure Songwriting Self-Efficacy (Sses) With Secondary Music Students, Patrick K. Cooper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social cognitive theory was developed to explain how individuals learn, in part, by witnessing the behavior of others. Self-efficacy is a construct within social cognitive theory which indicates the beliefs that an individual can be successful at a task under specific situational demands. The sources of self-efficacy include self-evaluating past experiences to predict future success, comparing our abilities to those around us, the verbal and social feedback we get from others, and the physiological feelings we experience when engaged in or thinking about the task. Measures of self-efficacy have been shown to be accurate predictors of successful learning outcomes, achievement, …

Socio-Emotional Learning As A Core Standard In Early Education: Producing Competent Adults, Talia Maras

University Honors Theses

A child’s foundational emotional proficiency is highly predictive of their academic success. It is therefore imperative that center-based, federally funded, public childhood education systems provide their students with a curriculum that facilitates the development of a strong socio-emotional baseline on which to build their cognitive, academic abilities. Drawing on government reports by the US Department of Education and empirical publications from an academic perspective, this paper reviews the nature of current efforts to reform the childhood education system, as seen through the implementation of the common core standards of learning. I review the quality of education that is provided by …

Perceptions Of Urban Secondary Science Teachers Regarding Social Learning Professional Development, Mary Kaye Macauley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Traditional classroom environments may not motivate students to learn and may lack interactive connections between educators and learners in the classroom. The problem addressed in this research study is the lack of understanding of science teachers' use and perception of innovative social learning strategies implemented in urban classrooms. The purpose of this research study was to establish urban science teachers' perceptions regarding social learning strategies within their classrooms. The conceptual framework of Hall and Hord's levels of use was used. The research questions addressed in this study focused on the perceptions and experiences of secondary science teachers in a large, …

An Exploration Of Trust In Community Leadership Contexts, Richard Hudanick, Kimberlie M. Straatmann, Michael Miller, Andrea Harper, Joshua White

Dissertations

This qualitative exploratory study of effective community engagement process examines community leader’s perceptions of their experiences and the role fostering and building trust plays in producing sustainable change in a Midwestern regional context. The purpose of this study was to explore how trust interacts with asset-based thinking and social learning experiences, including trauma-informed awareness, meaning-making, and empathy, to support community engagement efforts. The research team interviewed 26 individuals who were selected via purposive sampling. Study participants were active in their communities and practitioners in their respective professions. The study identified five overarching themes that emerged from participant interviews, including themes …

The Relationship Between School Climate And Graduation Rates From A Control Perspective: Comparing Georgia Public High Schools, Nathan Hand

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the body of literature regarding decisions school leaders make when developing strategic plans to improve student outcomes. This study investigated whether there is a significant relationship between the school’s climate and graduation rates for public high schools in the state of Georgia when controlling for potential covariates. Like most states, Georgia legislatures have increasingly placed more responsibilities on schools to graduate students on time. For this study, "on time” refers to students who graduate within a four-year cohort, beginning when students enter the ninth grade. Research over the last decade suggests …

Undergraduate Engineering Students' Agency In Professional Socialization : Evidence From A Capstone Design Lab, Michelle Mora

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Two national priorities were instrumental in this study of an undergraduate engineering program: (1) Higher education’s roles and responsibilities for the preparation of a workforce competent in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; and (2) Accountability-related questions regarding the value-added effects of professional education programs on aspiring STEM students. A recent report suggests that policy makers and the public do not know whether current initiatives are accomplishing their goals and leading to nationwide improvements in undergraduate STEM education (Committee on Developing Indicators for Undergraduate STEM Education et al., 2018). One reason is that national, state, and institutional undergraduate data systems often …

The Role Of Virtual Communication Platforms In Academically Supporting Post-Secondary Students, Eldora M. Fosmire

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

While many consider college students to be digital natives, who are at ease with multiple forms of technology, many of these students do not adapt these skills for academic purposes. Retention concerns for college students often prompt support staff to seek out and adopt technology approaches to promote completion. This study provided a virtual learning platform to deliver academic support and sought to promote learning community interaction for rural and urban post-secondary students. A subset of vocational major programs that prepare students for employment after completion served as a participant pool. However, participants in the study chose not to use …

The Impact Of Professional Development Grounded In Social Learning On Community College Faculty Efficacy, Shanika Shantell Strickland-Davis

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

Community college faculty have experienced a shift in focus from access to access and student success. Given this shift in responsibility for student learning, community college faculty should be sufficiently prepared to teach a diverse student body and subsequently uphold beliefs regarding their ability to bring about desired outcomes of student engagement and learning. Given preparedness is a measure of self-efficacy, professional development for community college faculty is a critical investment in the support and development of teacher efficacy and faculty skill.

Social learning theory specifically speaks to a means of increasing self-efficacy. As a professional development practice, social learning …

An Alternative Pathway To College: A Qualitative Case Study Of An Adult Learner In An Online Competency-Based Education (Cbe) Bachelor’S Degree Program, Fang Chen

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

My dissertation research investigated an adult learner’s experience in an online competency-based education (CBE) bachelor’s degree program. The purpose of my study was to understand how CBE was transforming the practices of traditional post-secondary education and how CBE was serving the needs of students, particularly nontraditional adult students in higher education.

The methodology used in this dissertation research was a qualitative case study. The participant was an adult learner enrolled in an online CBE bachelor's degree program at a public institution. My case study used a series of face-to-face interviews, document analysis, participant-guided web tours, and participant observation to collect …

Examination Of An Independent School’S Site-Based Summer Program, Susan W. Keogh

All Theses And Dissertations

This study examined the summer program offered by a pre-kindergarten through grade twelve independent school. Three levels of theory, individual, group, and organizational, were utilized to analyze the experiences of students and instructors. The variety of opportunities and instructional design elements, the intentional alignment to the traditional school year, collegial discussions connecting summer learning and the school year, and evidence of the school’s mission were examined.

Findings revealed a wide-range of educational experiences and the benefits of continuous learning that are evident the following school year. Class designs incorporated instructional elements supported by individual learning theories. Academic standards and expectations …

Teen Perceptions Of Cell Phone And Internet Sexual Messaging: Trends And Predictors, David Gregg

Wayne State University Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to propose and test a predictive model for high school sexting in order to better understand influences and characteristics that contribute most to one’s decision to sext. Sexting was defined as either sending or receiving photos, videos, or text messages that contained full nudity, partial nudity, sexual requests, or comments of a sexual nature. Rates and typical recipients of sexual content were also examined in this study. A sample of 314 high school students in an urban area of Southeast Michigan were surveyed. Males were found to more frequently report engaging in nearly …

The Social And Emotional Learning And Character Education Of K-12 Online Students : Teacher Perspectives, Anna Warwick Nolan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

ABSTRACT

Teachers' Experiences Concerning The Rise In Student Aggression, Doris Massey Works

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This research study addressed the problem of aggressive and disruptive behaviors for kindergarten through Grade 12 students in a school district located in Southeastern United States. The study examined classroom teachers' daily lived experiences with student aggression. Using a phenomenological design and guided by the frustration aggression theory and the social learning theory, the research questions explored teachers' responses to what can be done to help with disruptive and aggressive students and how social learning could help students with these behaviors. Data were collected from interviews with 5 individual teachers who had experienced aggressive and disruptive behaviors; data were also …

A Mixed Methods Case Study Exploring The Outcomes Of Implementing A Digital Learning Management System In A Fourth Grade Language Arts Classroom, Sarah C. Mayberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Classrooms of today are in continual flux and state and local mandates are constantly reforming the curriculum in order to help prepare students to compete in a global society; in addition, advancements in technology have greatly impacted today’s students and how they learn as well as the way teachers instruct. As educators, we need to recognize what our students need to become successful citizens in today’s society, which often requires students to be critical evaluators of various types of information and requires them to become literate across a wide range of literacies. Not only is it critical that classroom teachers …

Assessing The Relationship Between Classroom Interaction And Perceived Student Learning In Videoconferencing Remote Sites: A Social Learning Approach, Kevin M. Hankinson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In distance education via videoconferencing, students at classroom remote sites learn without the physical presence of their teacher and other classmates at the host site. As a result, the learning experience of remote site students differs from host site students. Therefore, instructional leaders should make every effort to minimize the adverse effects of videoconferencing on the learning of remote site students.

This study invited Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme remote site students who participated in videoconferencing to share their perspectives on the role of interactions on their learning. Specifically, this study explored the presence and strength of relationships …