Education Commons^™

Racial/Ethnic Differences In Possible Selves Of Diverse Adolescents: Implications For Higher Education And Mental Health, Viana Y. Turcios-Cotto

Master's Theses

There are striking disparities in the academic achievement of American youth, with Latino and Black adolescents attaining higher education at vastly lower rates than White adolescents. Though numerous reasons exist for these educational disparities this study examines possible selves as they may relate to educational achievement among Latinos. Specifically, this study investigates: a) racial/ethnic differences in the content and themes of expected possible selves held by young adolescents; b) within group differences among Latino students and their expected possible selves; c) racial/ethnic differences in the relation between higher education possible selves and current mental health adjustment. Written responses reflecting types …

Childhood Family Factors That Influenced The Enrollment Of College Students With Learning Disabilities, Abigail Kirk

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to use qualitative measures to investigate the childhood family factors that influenced the enrollment of college students with learning disabilities. Six participants were interviewed, all of whom were registered through the University Accessibility Center at a four-year university and were served at some point during their school years for a learning disability. Interviews were held in a confidential location and lasted approximately thirty minutes. The interview protocol was constructed in a way that allowed participants to reflect on their experiences and tell their story in their own manner. Planned prompts were included to solicit …

A Qualitative Analysis Of A Junior High School Eating Disorder Prevention Program, Janine Ruth Stickney

Theses and Dissertations

Past research conducted in the areas of diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders have provided information in regards to understanding the epidemiology, base rates, damages and longitudinal course of eating disorders. Few studies, however, have focused on prevention, especially in adolescents. In this particular study, students in a Utah junior high school health class received preventative curriculum called, Eating Disorders: Physical, Social, and Emotional Consequences. Ten, female participants were then interviewed to explore their thoughts and feelings about their experiences and to qualitatively ascertain the success of the prevention program.

Examining Implementation Processes Of Positive Behavior Support, Julia Helzer Rollins

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a summary of themes found in the meeting notes of school teams implementing school-wide Positive Behavior Support. Positive Behavior Support (PBS) is a systems change process of reorganizing a school's discipline structure to put in place a positive, teaching and reinforcing focus for the improvement of student behavior (Sugai & Horner, 2006). In recent years, education researchers have established that school-wide PBS is an effective way to deliver research- based interventions to improve student behavior (Colvin & Kameenui, 1993, Gottfredson, Gottfredson, & Hybl 1993; Taylor-Green & Kartub, 2000). This study focused on the implementation process in order …

Pushing Me Through: A Poetic Representation, Jessica Nina Lester, Rachael Gabriel

Catalyst: A Social Justice Forum

For many children and adults labeled learning disabled (LD), the very process of being identified and eventually labeled is oriented to as difficult to understand, disorienting, and just a taken-for-granted part of a system that names some ‘normal’, even gifted, while others are named abnormal. Minimal research exists that attends to the ways in which the official ways of talking about LDs are worked up in the everyday language of those most involved in the special education process, particularly the students themselves. Thus, in this article, we present, in an alternative form of writing (Richardson, 1997), a poetic representation of …

A Content Analysis Of Evaluation Instruments Used By Special Education Teacher Preparation Programs, Megan Sue Langford

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to conduct a content and component analysis of evaluation instruments used to evaluate preservice teacher performance by special education teacher preparation programs. Direct observation (DO) and summative evaluation (SE) forms were collected from a random sample of Special Education teacher preparation programs that are recognized by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). The forms were then coded for content and components based on predetermined categories to identify similarities and differences. Variances among the DO and SE forms indicated possible methods for evaluating preservice teacher knowledge, skills, and dispositions.

Early Childhood/Child Welfare Priority, Nancy Edick, Samantha K. Ammons, Melissa Cast-Brede, Ann Coyne, Karen Falconer Al-Hindi, Shari Hofschire, Lisa Kelly-Vance, Jay Killion, Sajda Qureshi, Bridget O. Ryalls, Peter Simi, Peter Wolcott

Foundational Documents

This is the executive summary of a white paper that describes the context, current capacity, areas of opportunity, and next steps for the UNO Early Childhood/Child Welfare Priority (ECCW). It responds to the need for comprehensive integrated systems of services designed to give all young children (birth through age eight) access to what they need in the early years to succeed in school and in life. In this context, UNO recognizes ECCW as critical to our metropolitan university mission. Further, we must come together with early childhood service providers, P-12 districts, parents, policy makers, other University of Nebraska campuses, community …

School Counselor Assignment In Secondary Schools: Replication And Extension, Jennifer L. Williamson

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Before school counselors can carry out the duties and responsibilities outlined as part of a comprehensive school counseling program, they must know which students they are responsible for helping. The topic of assigning students to school counselors has only recently been seen in the educational research arena in a study by Akos, Schuldt, and Walendin (2009). The current study attempts to replicate and extend the findings of Akos, Schuldt, and Walendin by addressing the questions of how secondary school counselors are assigned and what are their perceptions of their assignment. In addition, the study attempts to determine whether a particular …

After The Final Bell: The Self-Directed Learning Practices Of Elementary Teachers, Susan Renee Wagner

Doctoral Dissertations

Are elementary teachers self-directed learners? If so, do their learning activities outside their classrooms translate into their classrooms? The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship, if any, between elementary teachers’ self-directed learning and activities in their classrooms. A two phase, mixed methods design first utilized a quantitative study from which the results were used to denote the type of data collected in the second, qualitative phase. The quantitative Phase I of this study involved using a survey instrument in order to identify self-directed learners and identify categories of teacher learners. These quantitative data were gathered through the …

Examining The Effect Of Medical Risk, Parental Stress, And Self-Efficacy On Parent Behaviors And The Home Environment Of Premature Children, Kathryn Woods

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between medical risk and parenting stress and the extent to which parental self-efficacy moderates the relationship between medical risk, parenting stress, specific parenting behaviors (i.e., parental responsivity, acceptance of child, parental involvement) and the home environment (i.e., organization of environment, learning materials, variety in experience, and IT-HOME total score) of premature children. Participants included 72 parent-child dyads with premature children between the ages of 7 and 35 months corrected age. Measures included parent reports of medical risk, stress, self-efficacy, and the IT-HOME. Results show that medical risk was not significantly …

Assessing The Efficacy Of A Modified Therapeutic Community On The Reduction Of Institutional Write-Ups In A Medium Security Prison, Lee Maglinger

Dissertations

This study explored the impact a modified Therapeutic Community (TC) had on reducing institutional disorder as documented by institutional write-ups. Substance abuse treatment programs are typically evaluated in terms of their ability to prevent relapse and reduce recidivism. The current study examined the efficacy of a modified TC in relation to these parameters but also explored its overall impact on prison safety and security for both the inmates and staff of a medium security prison located in Kentucky. Specifically, the number of institutional write-ups exhibited by clients participating in a modified Therapeutic Community was compared with the number of write-ups …

The Effects Of Check In/Check Out On Levels Of Problem Behavior And Academic Engagement In Elementary School Students, Leila Mullooly Miller

Master's Theses

Previous studies have largely evaluated the effects of check in/ check out (CICO) using office discipline referrals (ODRs). However, ODRs are not always reliable measures of student behavior, and direct observation is known to be an accurate tool for behavioral measurement. Due to this, the current study used direct observations to evaluate the effects of CICO on levels of problem behavior and academic engagement for a group of elementary school students. One second, one fourth, and one sixth grade student served as participants. Results indicate CICO is effective in decreasing problem behavior and increasing academic engagement. Data from teacher ratings …

Lead And Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Meta-Analysis, James Kenneth Goodlad Iii

Master's Theses

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is thought to have a significant neurological component, and several brain structures have been implicated. Environmental variables like lead have been shown to affect brain structures, which in turn impacts cognitive development and behavior. Some studies have begun to associate environmental variables like lead with the inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive symptoms of ADHD. This meta-analysis examined the association between different components of ADHD (including attention problems and hyperactivity/impulsivity) and level of lead exposure in children and adolescents. Articles focusing on the association between lead and inattention or hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms were gathered from the online databases PsycINFO and Medline. …

The Relationship Between The Functions Of School Refusal Behavior And Family Environment, Rachel Marie Schafer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The current study examined the relationship between the functions of school refusal behavior and family environment characteristics in a community sample of youth. The primary aim was to determine the family environments most strongly associated with each function of school refusal behavior in an ethnically diverse, community-based sample of youths referred to the legal process for absenteeism. Hypotheses for the current study were based on the premise that family environment characteristics of the community sample of youths with problematic absenteeism would generally resemble those identified in previous clinical samples. The first hypothesis was that youth who refuse school primarily to …

Portraits Of Empowerment Exhibited By One Million Signatures Campaign Activists, Manijeh Badiee

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Iranian women have shown themselves to be anything but victims (Afkhami, 2009; Price, 1996; Shiranipour, 2002). Although they live in an oppressive regime (Nafisi, 1999; ―Symbolic annihilation,‖ 1999), grassroots efforts of their One Million Signatures Campaign transformed gender politics in Iran (Khorasani, 2009). The Campaign has become international, and Iranian Americans have played a prominent role in furthering its message (Tohidi, 2010).

Iranian women‘s struggles reflect the global phenomenon of women‘s movements (Ferree, 2006). Empowerment is used to conceptualize such movements, but few studies have explored individuals from the Middle East (e.g. Dufour & Giraud, 2007).

The present study addressed …

Does Being Rural Matter?: The Roles Of Rurality, Social Support, And Social Self-Efficacy In First-Year College Student Adjustment, Allison L. Bitz Phd

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

One out of every three first-year college students will not return for a second year of college (Postsecondary Education Opportunity, 2010). Due to a variety of factors, minority students are at an even higher risk of dropping out of college. Rural youth, comprising approximately 22% of the nation’s total youth, form a significant minority population; yet the rural student experience in college has not yet been widely considered in research. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore college adjustment and its predictors among first-year students, with an emphasis on the role of rurality in college adjustment. Social self-efficacy, …

Factors Associated With Participation And Retention In A Group Treatment For Child Sexual Abuse, Mollie Dittmer, Grace Hubel, David J. Hansen

McNair Scholars Research Journal

The current study examines factors associated with participation and retention in a child sexual abuse (CSA) outpatient program. Participation and retention are vital if children are to receive the intended benefits of treatment designed to promote healthy coping following CSA. However, little is known about factors that impede or encourage families to consistently attend sessions. Several factors possibly related to child participation and retention were examined, including demographic variables such as income level and education, characteristics of the abuse, and parent and family pretreatment functioning. Participants in the sample included 175 children and adolescents and their non-offending primary caregivers seeking …

A Reliability Generalization Of The Overexcitability Questionnaire-Two (Oeqii), Russell Warne

Russell T Warne

Reliability generalization (RG) is a meta-analysis that combines and synthesizes reliability coefficients from different studies to ascertain the average observed reliability across studies. An RG study was conducted on previously reported data from 16 samples of the Overexcitability Questionnaire–Two (OEQII) with a combined N of 5,275. Cronbach’s alpha was found to be consistently higher on all OEQII subscales when scale variance was high and the sample consisted of adults. Sample size, gender composition of the sample, number of items from the subscale used, and location of sample (United States or a different county) had varying effects on observed alpha levels …

Public Perception Study 2011: Mental Illness, Drug And Alcohol Abuse, Oscar T. Mcknight

Oscar T McKnight Ph.D.

This study examined the public perception of mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse. Field-interviews with participants occurred "on the street" with no difficulty. Participants offered ten general recommendations to professionals developing programs for mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse. The public stressed the professional responsibilities of physicians, pharmacists, counselors and teachers to prevent drug abuse.

The Effects Of Daycare On Children's Socialization In The First Three Years Of School, Alison Pomykacz

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role that daycare may play in a child's socialization during his/her first three years of school (K-2). In particular, this study focused on the time spent in daycare per week compared with various social and academic realms. Information was obtained through parent and teacher questionnaires. While there appeared to be a wide variation among the children's hours per week spent in class, when these numbers were compared to the teacher observations, there was no apparent significance.

Birth Order And Its Effect On Depression In Adults, Sambul Zaidi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to find the relationship between birth order and depression. It hypothesized that first-borns are more susceptible to depression than laterborns. Subjects were male and female undergraduate students from Rowan University. These students were over the age of 18 and were kept anonymous. The study collected data from fifteen participants by using a Birth Order survey which included questions about personality traits that pertain to a certain birth order position. Each subject was asked to indicate the exact birth order rank and if they have experienced depression or signs of depression. Results showed that differences …

Social Goals In Urban Physical Education: Relationships With Effort And Disruptive Behavior, Alex C. Garn, Nate Mccaughtry, Bo Shen, Jeffrey J. Martin, Mariane Fahlman

Kinesiology, Health and Sport Studies

This study investigated the relationships among four distinct types of social goals, effort, and disruptive behavior in urban physical education. Social responsibility, affiliation, recognition, status goals, along with effort and disruptive behavior in physical education were reported by high school physical education students (N = 314) from three urban schools. Findings from correlation and structural equa- tion modeling analyses revealed that social responsibility goals had a positive relationship with effort and an inverse relationship with disruptive behavior. Social status goals demonstrated a positive relationship with disruptive behavior and no relationship with effort. Social recognition goal results were mixed, as …

A Student's Guide To Overcoming The Pressure To Succeed In Higher Education [Brochure And Video], Amber R. Sellers, Tori Holmes

Counseling Concepts and Applications for Student Affairs Professionals (CNS 577)

All college students experience some sort of internal and/or external pressure to reach their definition of success. Family members, friends, professors, future employers, coaches, student organizations, and most importantly, students themselves expect certain behaviors to lead to a successful collegiate career (Newton, 2000). This video highlights the experiences and viewpoints of one student’s struggle with residual stress and offers support resources found on most campuses across the country. With the prevalence of stress and anxiety related disorders found within today’s collegiate population (Levine, 2005), this video hopes to raise awareness and assist struggling students who are seeking relief by providing …

Racial/Ethnic Matching Of Clients And Therapists In Mental Health Services: A Meta-Analytic Review Of Preferences, Perceptions, And Outcomes, Timothy B. Smith, Raquel R. Cabral

Faculty Publications

The effects of matching clients with therapists of the same race/ethnicity have been explored using a variety of approaches across several decades. We conducted a meta-analysis of three variables frequently used in research on racial/ethnic matching: Clients' preferences for a therapist of their own race/ethnicity, clients' perceptions of therapists, and therapeutic outcomes. Across 52 studies of preferences, the average effect size was d = .63, indicating a moderately strong preference for a therapist of one's own race/ethnicity. Across 81 studies of individuals' perceptions of therapists, the average effect size was d = .32, indicating a tendency to perceive therapists of …

Beyond Multiple Regression: Using Commonality Analysis To Better Understand R2 Results, Russell Warne

Russell T Warne

Multiple regression is one of the most common statistical methods used in quantitative educational research. Despite the versatility and easy interpretability of multiple regression, it has some shortcomings in the detection of suppressor variables and for somewhat arbitrarily assigning values to the structure coefficients of correlated independent variables. Commonality analysis—heretofore rarely used in gifted education research—is a statistical method that partitions the explained variance of a dependent variable into nonoverlapping parts according to the independent variable(s) that are related to each portion. This Methodological Brief includes an example of commonality analysis and equations for researchers who wish to conduct their …

Sociocultural Analysis Of Second Language Learner Beliefs: A Qualitative Case Study Of Two Study-Abroad Esl Learners, Jin-Suk Yang, Tae-Young Kim

Dr. Tae-Young Kim (김태영, 金兌英)

Framed in Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (SCT) of mind, this paper explores second language (L2) learning beliefs in study-abroad (SA) contexts. Previous research on learner beliefs has relied mostly on survey methods, while regarding belief as a static, internal representation of experience that is resistant to change. Due to the concern regarding the prevalence of a cognitive orientation, this qualitative research examines two L2 learners’ belief changes and their impact on motivated L2 behaviors from an SCT perspective. The data were collected mainly through pre- and post-SA interviews and monthly-collected journals with other triangulating methods such as L2 learning autobiographies and …

Gender Differences In Korean Secondary School Students' Learning Styles And L2 Motivation, Yoon-Kyoung Kim, Tae-Young Kim

Dr. Tae-Young Kim (김태영, 金兌英)

To date, gender differences in learning style has not been investigated from the perspective of L2 motivational self-system (Dörnyei, 2005, 2009). This study investigates the perceptual learning style preferences, ideal L2 self, ought-to L2 self, and motivated L2 behavior of 495 Korean male and female secondary school students. The results of the analysis, which is based on survey questionnaires, revealed that the female students were more strongly orientated towards visual learning, while the male students preferred kinesthetic learning. In addition, the female students exhibited a more vivid ideal L2 self and more motivated L2 behavior. The visual and the ideal …

The Loss Of Neighborhood Secondary Schools: How The Distance A Student Lives From Their School Can Affect Their Academic Achievement, Gillian Armstrong

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the distance a student lives from their school influences their academic achievement. In detail, this study has correlated the distance in miles a student lives from his or her school with their grade point average at the end of their freshman and junior years. Data has been collected from 100 participants at two private high schools in southern New Jersey, Our Lady of Mercy Academy and Saint Augustine College Prepatory School. Both schools are grades ninth through twelfth. Both schools are Catholic schools but you do not have to be Catholic …

Increasing Students Self-Esteem Through The Implementation Of The Bucket Filler Lesson Plans, Jenna Norton

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which positive psychology can impact the educational system. Twenty-three second grade students enrolled in Berlin Community School, located in Berlin New Jersey participated in this study. All students were enrolled in a regular education classroom and assumed to be learning at the appropriate age group level. The Piers-Harris 2 Self-Concept Scale was used to measure student's self-esteem as a pre-test and a post-test assessment. The experimental group received the implementation of the Bucket Filler Lesson plans in hopes that their self-esteem would improve upon completion of the lessons. The …

Holding My Breath: The Experience Of Being Sikh After 9/11, Muninder Kaur Ahluwalia

Department of Counseling Scholarship and Creative Works

This article is based on the author’s experiences after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City and the impact of the attacks on her life as a New Yorker, an academic, and a member of a Sikh family and community. To position the author’s narrative, her reflection integrates race-based traumatic stress (Carter, 2007), a model suggesting that individuals who are targets of racism experience harm or injury. The author outlines lessons learned that affect her both personally and professionally, including (a) Paralysis can happen but advocacy and allies are healing, (b) Trauma changes the work, and (c) …