Education Commons^™

Examination Of The Impact Of Students' Skill Levels On The Effectiveness Of Evidence-Based Interventions For Improving Mathematics Fluency, Erica Fanning

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In recent years, many schools have attempted to address the academic difficulties of students with the use of response to intervention (RTI). RTI is a framework for matching instructional interventions with students’ academic skills in order to inform high-quality, evidence-based instruction. Numerous interventions, which have been derived from the acquisition and fluency stages of the instructional hierarchy, have been found to be effective. The present study employed a single-case multiple baseline across subjects design with an embedded alternating treatments design to examine the impact of students’ instructional level on the effectiveness of various interventions (fluency, peer tutoring, and combined, which …

Effects Of Two Prereading Activities On Comprehending Science Text: Reading Abridged Text And Learning Vocabulary Words, Audrey J. Fowler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The present study examined the effects of two prereading activities designed to improve fifth-grade students’ vocabulary learning and comprehension of science textbook content containing those words. Ninety-three fifth grade students participated in this study. The prereading activities consisted of students reading an abridged version of the text or receiving instruction on vocabulary words drawn from the text before reading the full text once. Students receiving these treatments were compared to a control condition in which students reread the full text passage twice but did not receive any prereading treatment. Students were grouped by reading ability levels into above average, average, …

An Examination Of Black Male Success In High School Mathematics, David Walters Jr.

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For a national sample of Black male students, what is the relative impact of instructional technology on 10th and 12th grade math scores? This dissertation employs two waves of the Education Longitudinal Study (2002 & 2004) and multivariate statistical techniques to explore the relative importance of instructional technology (implementation by teachers and training for teachers), student perception of math ability, teacher and school effects, as well as socioeconomic status on high school math scores for this unique population.

Bourdieu’s cultural and social capital, Coleman’s cultural capital and social action, Martin’s equity-based math education, and Gutierrez’s socio-political mathematics will serve as …

The Relationship Between Fragile Self-Esteem, Mindfulness, And Hostile Attribution Style, Robyn L. Haertel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study aimed to expand upon existing literature pertaining to self-perception, awareness towards the environment, and related attributions. Specifically, mindfulness and self-esteem, as well as the subset of fragile self-esteem, were examined as predictors of a hostile attribution style (HAS). Additionally, self-esteem and fragile self-esteem were investigated as correlates of mindfulness. Undergraduate students from across the country were invited via social media to participate in this online study. A total of 190 students completed four surveys used for data analyses: the Mindful-Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS; Brown & Ryan, 2003), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RES; Rosenberg 1965), Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale (CSWS; …

Understanding School And Interethnic Relations Of Mexican Immigrant Youth In A Post-Industrial Community, Roberto Martinez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a dearth of literature on how immigrant groups understand minority groups in the United States, in particular, African-Americans. Increased technology and more rapid global movement in the 21st Century challenges 20th explanations of assimilation (Chicago School) and necessitates more research focused on how immigrant groups and racialized minorities interact to negotiate new worlds. This ethnographic research was conducted over thirteen months during 2012 and 2013 in a post-industrial neighborhood in the northeast that had been the site of 11 purported anti-bias attacks against Mexican immigrants during the summer of 2010. Research questions focused on: 1) Mexican immigrant youth …

Socio-Economic Inequalities, Academic Failure, And Institutional Interventions: What Cuny Is Doing To Help Its High Risk Populations, Cynthia Constant

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There is a lack of adequate research of the City University of New York’s (CUNY) school-based programs and services that are designed to aid and empower students in achieving academic success. These programs serve an urban based student population. A substantial number of these students are of low income and from historically underrepresented cultural and ethnic backgrounds. A significant portion of these students also attend a community college like Kingsborough Community College (KBCC) in the CUNY system. For most of this student population academic success is not easily obtained. This study examines the rationale behind student failure, as well as, …

Excavating Eportfolios: What Student-Driven Data Reveals About Multimodal Composition And Instruction, Amanda M. Licastro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The pedagogical practice of asking students to compose in open, online spaces has grown rapidly in recent years along with an increase in institutional and financial support. In fact, in July 2013, the Association for Authentic, Experiential and Evidence-Based Learning (AAEEBL) announced the “coming of age” of ePortfolios as the percentage of higher education students using ePortfolios rose above the 50% mark in the U.S. (“About”). There are a host of constituent assertions that support the use of open online writing platforms in college-level courses. These claims include that writing publically cultivates digital literacy through broader audience awareness, facilitates interactivity …

How Do Open Educational Resources (Oers) Impact Students? A Qualitative Study At New York City College Of Technology, Cuny, Cailean Cooney

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis reports on findings from a study conducted with students using open educational resources as the primary course material in their Health Psychology course. The study took place at New York City College of Technology (City Tech), of the City University of New York (CUNY), a comprehensive college located in Brooklyn. Students were assigned the OER by their course instructor, who developed it as part of a library funded pilot initiative. Two research instruments were employed to collect qualitative data from students: a survey and one-on-one interviews with a smaller student sample. Both survey and interview items asked students …

The Remedy That's Killing: Cuny, Laguardia, And The Fight For Better Math Policy, Rachel A. Oppenheimer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Nationwide, there is a crisis in math learning and math achievement at all levels of education. Upwards of 80% of students who enter the City University of New York’s community colleges from New York City’s Department of Education high schools fail to meet college level math proficiencies and as a result, are funneled into the system’s remedial math system. Once placed into pre-college remedial arithmetic, pre-algebra, and elementary algebra courses, students fail at alarming rates and research indicates that students’ failure in remedial math has negative ripple effects on their persistence and degree completion. CUNY is not alone in facing …

Fragmentation And Multiplicity In Cuban-American Identity: In Cuba I Was A German Shepherd By Ana Menéndez And Memory Mambo By Achy Obejas, Daimys E. Garcia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Maria Lugones offers a new way of perceiving the world, which makes visible that fragmentation is not a valuable and transgressive understanding of identity, as Western philosophy and some political theory suggests. What Lugones believes in, as a strategy of resistance to the dominant gaze, is multiplicity – mestizaje. Using Lugones’s framework, this thesis will look at the different aspects of Cuban-American characters in In Cuba I was a German Shepherd by Ana Menéndez and Memory Mambo by Achy Obejas. Each novel offers insight into how characters develop and understand themselves (and others) when they use language that shows that …

Bilingual Latino Middle Schoolers On Languaging And Racialization In The Us, Sarah Hesson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores bilingual Latino middle schoolers’ articulated understandings of their language practices as well as the links between language practices and processes of racialization and discrimination in the US. The research was conducted in the context of an after-school program whose explicit aim was to not only document students’ experiences, but to use those experiences as a basis for generating individual and collective critical understandings among participants. The findings of this case study center on the ways youth understand processes of racialization, translanguaging, and translation in the context of an English-dominant society, and how these understandings are connected to …

Understanding The High School Dropout Process Through Student Engagement And School Processes: Evidence From The Educational Longitudinal Study Of 2002, Tara Marie Mastrorilli

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dropping out of school has been viewed as a final stage in a cumulative process of disengagement. In recent years, the construct of engagement has received increased attention leading policymakers and scholars to suggest that efforts to increase engagement in school could reduce high school dropout rates. Using data from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), this study examined the predictive relationship between tenth-grade students’ engagement and dropping out of high school. Engagement was viewed as a meta-construct comprised of multiple dimensions within three domains: behavioral, emotional, and cognitive. Additionally, this study examined how school processes, specifically administrator control …

Bullying And Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence From The National Longitudinal Survey Of Youth, 1997, Jessica Lum

Theses and Dissertations

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 (NLSY97) is used to study the effect of bullying on human capital accumulation. Findings suggest that adolescent bullying has a significant and negative impact on the highest educational level attained, as well as income earned as an adult.

Science, Symptoms, And Support Groups:Adhd In The American Cultural Context, Kealy D. Fallon

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a cultural analysis of the behaviorally- and psychiatrically-defined disorder ADHD, socio-historically contextualizing it in the United States and exploring ethnographically how people affected by it talk about and organize their experience of its symptoms.

Hunting For Financial Literacy, Georgia Sozou

Theses and Dissertations

This paper summarizes and explores the results of a survey conducted at Hunter College of the City University of New York that surveys 211 students. It examines the relationships between the students’ individual characteristics, previous personal finance education and the levels of financial literacy of the Hunter College population.

Culturally And Linguistically Responsive Instruction In An Rti Framework: Supporting Emergent Bilinguals In The Secondary Classroom, Lisa Auslander

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the impact of teacher team collaboration and planning around culturally and linguistically responsive instruction for emergent bilingual students in a secondary school setting supported by a targeted intervention system. To provide a context for the importance of this study, the dissertation begins by 1) including observations of both academic teacher team and guidance collaboration to understand the strategies used to plan instruction and guidance interventions for students drawing on existing research around professional learning communities and guidance structures; and 2) use of an existing observation protocol and frameworks to identify key practices and characteristics of culturally and …

Imaginary Subjects: Fiction-Writing Instruction In America, 1826 - 1897, Paul Collins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Imaginary Subjects: Fiction Writing Instruction in America, 1826-1897 is a study of the confluence of commercial, educational, and aesthetic developments behind the rise of instruction in fiction-writing. Part I ("The Predicament of Fiction-Writing") traces fiction-writing instruction from its absence in Enlightenment-era rhetoric textbooks to its modest beginnings in magazine essays by Poe and Marryat, and in mid-century advice literature. Part II ("Fiction-Writing in the Classroom") notes the rise of fiction exercise from early Romantic-era primers upwards into mid-centuryhigh-school level textbooks, and from there into Harvard composition exercises; this coincided with an increasing emphasis by author advocacy groups on writing as …

Using The 2011-12 Schools And Staffing Survey, Restricted File Version, To Identify Factors Associated With The Intent For African American Math Teachers To Turnover, Bisola Neil

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Using data from the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey, Restricted File Version, this study examines the factors that place African American teachers of mathematics at risk for turnover using Lynham’s General Model of Applied Theory Building methodology. Univariate statistical analysis found that of the three million plus public school teachers in the United States during the 2011-12 school year, 161,360 were certified math teachers were teaching mathematics full time and 11,070 of these teachers were African American. By centering this empirical study of turnover on the African American math teacher, this dissertation highlights turnover factors that uniquely impact African American …

Expecting Success: Factors Influencing Ninth Graders' Science Self-Efficacy, Elizabeth Donahue

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What factors influence ninth grade students’ expectations for success in science? Using social cognitive theory and bioecological systems theory as theoretical frameworks, this dissertation employs data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) to examine the relative impact of teacher practices and their perceived attitudes on students’ science self-efficacy. Further, as they relate to this broader issue, the relative impact of student subjective task value and teacher characteristics is also investigated.

It has been well documented that U.S. students are not achieving at satisfactory levels in science. Education policy has focused on improving science teacher quality as one …

What Are The Barriers And Conduits To College Success For Academically Vulnerable Students?, Marisol Zacarias

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What are the barriers and conduits to college success for academically vulnerable students? Employing two theoretical frameworks—ecological systems theory and intersectionality—this thesis interrogates two concepts: grit/persistence and support. To do this, data were collected from a group of academically vulnerable students of color from low-income backgrounds via two methodologically different venues: a focus group in 2012 and follow-up one-on-one interviews two years later, in 2014. From the focus group, two themes emerged: discouraging messages and hope. Two years later the follow-up one-on-one interviews produced two additional themes: balancing act and support. Building positive peer relationships was identified as a key …

Coalescence Of Research: Urban Advantage As A Learning Organization Structured To Support A Culture Of Inquiry, Marianne Williams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a mixed methods study of the Urban Advantage Program- a Middle School Science Initiative formed by the New York City Department of Education and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in collaboration with New York City’s science culturally rich institutions – the Bronx Zoo, the Staten Island Zoo, the Hall of Science, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Queens Botanical Garden, the New York Botanical Garden, and the New York Aquarium. Unprecedented in size and scope, UA brings together the largest school system in the largest city in the United States in a partnership with eight large …

Response And Responsibility: The War Veterans’ Art Center At The Museum Of Modern Art (1944–48), Laurel Humble

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

From 1944–48 the Museum of Modern Art, New York (MoMA) offered free art classes to World War II veterans through an experimental educational initiative called the War Veterans’ Art Center. This project was run by Victor D’Amico, who served as the museum’s first Director of Education from 1937–69. Building on an existing institutional ethos of experimentation and civil service, D’Amico and his colleagues explored the role of creative engagement in facilitating the transition from military service to civilian life. As they experimented with new pedagogical approaches, they also worked to articulate and share their innovative methods with other professionals and …

Imagining A "Poethical" Classroom, Erica Kaufman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation begins at the crossroads of three fields—creative writing, contemporary poetics, and composition studies—and attempts to unite what is normally kept separate: the teaching of freshman composition and contemporary poetry. It is rooted, then, in the following anomalies: few students (unless they are English majors) encounter contemporary poetry; and few living poets (who often earn their livings as adjuncts, teaching composition) ever engage in a conversation about composition pedagogy. Fewer still teach the kind of poetry they write. Through a qualitative study of student writing in composition courses, this project investigates how encouraging students to engage with this form …

Preparing Teachers To Work With Students With Emotional Regulation Difficulties, Dana E. Gottesman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Difficulty with emotional regulation is a symptom common to many child psychological disorders and classroom-related problems. However, many children with emotional regulation difficulties do not receive adequate support in their classrooms. Although a variety of procedures have been used to help students improve their emotional regulation, there are very few studies that focus on training teachers to deliver classroom-based interventions that are designed to target a broad range of children with difficulties in emotional regulation. This current investigation measured the impact of a professional development program on emotional regulation on teachers’ responses to students with emotional regulation difficulties and their …

Bilingual French Initiatives In Public Schools: A New York Story: New Opportunities, Diversity And Shared History And Values, Claire Jm Arnod Horikawa

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The French bilingual programs in New York City public schools show the liveliness and diversity of the Francophonie. The French dual language programs in particular also reunite very different interests. There are the expected interests of communities wanting to keep a home language strong. Francophone parents wanting their children to use the language as an asset for a head start in the education race. English speaking parents, attracted by the language and its culture and wanting to give a head start to their monolingual children, as the world of business, and of science is multilingual. Schools and school principals are …

Alien, Illegal, Undocumented: Labeling, Context, And Worldview In The Immigration Debate And In The Lives Of Undocumented Youth, David A. Caicedo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A key element of investigating attitudes towards unauthorized immigrants in the United States has been political orientation, yet few studies have examined the influence of such orientation on labels relevant to the immigration debate. The current dissertation project examined these attitudes among young adults using survey, focus group, and interview methodologies. Level of agreement on various statements regarding unauthorized immigrants was examined in Study I, definitions given for the labels ‘illegal’ and ‘undocumented’ were explored in Study II, and the lived experience of undocumented youth in two community colleges was investigated in Study III. It was hypothesized that: I) attitudes …

Studies In The Creation And Implementation Of School Cultures: Two New York City Stand-Alone Charter Schools, Olivia-Beate A. Franzini

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In the last thirty years the United States has seen a rise in charter school education and with that an influx of discussion over the best way to successfully educate college and career ready students. Many of these charter schools have their own unique philosophy on education and disciplinary codes to aid in the attainment of their success. The following case studies were conducted through participant observation in two start-up charter schools. At the time of study both institutions were in their second year of creation. These schools have opposing philosophies on education; the first School “A” is an independent …

Exploring The Uses Of Cultural Funds Of Knowledge Among Ethnic Minority Immigrant College Students In Their Constructions Of Learning Identities Within A Collaborative Photovoice Project, Stacey Jennell Cooper

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Today’s college classrooms are distinguished by an increase in ethnic minority and immigrant student populations, yet there is little reflection of such diversity in the curriculum and teacher preparation and practice. Ethnic minority immigrant students bring with them into learning spaces much valuable cultural knowledge. If validated, this knowledge can become an essential resource from which these students can draw in creating their learning identities and goals.

This study explored how a group of ethnic minority immigrant community college students created potential identities in relation to learning by drawing on their culturally and historically informed funds of knowledge, including values, …

Filología Reflexiva: Hacia Una Pedagogía “Evaluadora”. Reflexión Y Evaluación Del Campo Filológico Español (1936-1968), Jose Antonio Losada Montero

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This doctoral thesis offers an original and valuable contribution to the study of the genealogy of the literary canon between 1939 and 1968. During Francisco Franco´s dictatorship, Spanish Universities underwent a series of important changes in its academic and management configuration and in the way Spanish elites envisioned Higher Education inside the regime. This research focuses in the role that Spanish scholars, inside Hispanic and Modern Language Departments, played in this renegotiation of a new and crucial sociopolitical mission for College Education. By focusing on the period between 1939 and 1968, a moment of sociopolitical instability and conservative literary and …

Towards Collaboration Between Lawyers And Social Workers: A Content Analysis Of Joint Degree Programs, Ifem E. Orji

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Collaboration is a central issue in the interdisciplinary education of social work and law students. Joint JD/MSW degrees have the potential to promote collaboration between practitioners of law and social work in areas where their practices converge. The 1969 recommendations by the National Conference of Lawyers and Social Workers (NCLSW) to establish these joint degree programs assumed that collaborative learning would occur within them. However, prior research has not investigated whether or not this occurs. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine whether evidence of the intent to promote collaboration was present in written materials associated with joint degree …