Education Commons^™

High Expectations And Teacher Implicit Biases In A Culture Of Care, Jacqueline K. Haynes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This graduate project was part of a group project completed by five school and district administrators in Hillsborough County, Florida. The project began because of our passion for teachers who are able to establish a culture of care in their classrooms that support students academically but transform their learning through experiences that enable them to be more highly engaged and productive students, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, perceived academic abilities, and backgrounds.

My project component looked at research on teacher expectations and their effects on student success. Why does the color of a child's skin tone trigger lower expectations ...

Exploring Young Children’S Digital Composing Practices, Megan D. Cross

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the many layers involved in young children’s meaning-making as they digitally compose. Utilizing a multimodal, social semiotics theoretical framework to analyze children’s digital compositions using a composing app, this study was designed around one research question: What is the nature of three and four-year-old children’s multimodal meaning making while using a composing app? The qualitative study involved four focal participants from a three- and four-year-old classroom, who attended an inquiry-based lab school in the southeastern United States.

The data were collected over a period of eight weeks, where the children were invited to tell ...

Teacher Attitude And Self-Efficacy Differences Regarding English Language Learners And Disabled Learners., Miriam Carballo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There has been little research combining both groups of students who were English Language Learners (ELLs) and Exceptional Student Education (ESE) students in relation to teacher attitudes and self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to compare teacher attitudes and self-efficacy related to instructing either ELLs with or without disabilities in elementary schools

Teachers from six elementary schools in the XYZ Excellence School District participated in a 52-item comprehensive survey. Two questionnaires and the demographic form were combined to create one comprehensive questionnaire totaling 52 questions for the purposes of this study. Teachers were solicited to participate in the study ...

Learning In The Margins: The Educational Experiences Of An African American Male With Disabilities, Aisha Holmes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African American males with disabilities meet challenges in K-12 public education and higher education. Educational practices often focus on a deficit interpretation of the abilities of African American males with disabilities. Educational stakeholders who do not reflect their layered identities of race, gender, ability, and socioeconomic status often make educational decisions for this student population. The purpose of this study is to include in the educational conversations the voice of an African American male with disabilities who experienced K-12 public education and higher education. Using narrative inquiry and analyzed through the lens of DisCrit, findings from the study revealed two ...

Improving Elementary Students’ Complete Mental Health: Examining The Added Impact Of A Teacher-Focused Strengths-Based Intervention, Mollie Mccullough Headley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teaching is considered one of the most challenging professions, often associated with high levels of occupational stress and job turnover that perpetuates additional negative outcomes including depleted funding for school districts, poor education quality, and reduced student academic performance. Research shows that teachers are an integral part of the classroom with the power to positively influence students’ perceived classroom support and emotional competence (Jennings & Greenberg, 2009). Positive psychology has facilitated school-based initiatives that foster feelings of subjective well-being (happiness) through the implementation of brief, scripted activities (i.e., Positive Psychology Interventions; PPIs) that reflect the thoughts and behaviors of happy people (Layous & Lyubomirsky, 2014). Studies have demonstrated the positive impact of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) for adults (Bolier et al., 2013) and youth including a multicomponent, multitarget PPI (i.e., Well-Being Promotion Program) that improves students’ well-being (Suldo et al., 2015). McCullough’s (2015) investigation of the efficacy of a strengths-based intervention (Utilizing Signature Strengths in New Ways) on elementary teachers’ well-being revealed promising effects on teacher reduced emotional distress, increased life and work satisfaction, and SWB. This study examined the additive impact of teachers’ participation in the brief strengths-based teacher intervention (SBTI) on elementary students’ social and emotional outcomes, as reflected in levels of SWB, psychopathology, as well as classroom engagement and relationships among teachers and students. Concurrently, these elementary students took part in a Classwide Well-Being Promotion Program, a 10-week intervention targeting a variety of positive psychological constructs (i.e., positive relationships, gratitude, kindness, character strengths, hope) with additional parent and teacher components. A total of 7 classes (4 fifth grade; 3 fourth grade) within one large elementary school received the classwide, multicomponent student intervention in spring 2016, while 3 teachers were randomly assigned to participate ...

Variations In Experience And Meaning: Accounts Of Leadership Involvement And Identities With Special Education And Disability, Roderick James Jones

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study focused on retired school principals’ involvement in special education. More specifically, it explored various ways former principals conceived of their leadership identity and accounted for their level of involvement in special education and with students identified or identifying as disabled. The following research question guided this study: How do former principals account for their involvement with special education and/or disability? The study’s subquestions were: What are principals’ accounts of being, becoming, and remaining involved with special education and/or with disability?; In what ways do principals attend to special education and/or disability?; and How ...

An Analysis Of The Self-Perceptions Of Women Leaders In Higher Education, Angela Mclendon

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to (a) investigate perceptions of women administrators in higher education as they relate to their positions and (b) learn more about women’s perceptions as they relate to gender in leadership in higher education. and (c) determine where we need to go from here in terms of improvement. Investigating these issues in the 21st century will give us a current temperature and a snapshot of where we are and where we need to go from here as it relates to women leaders in higher education.

The focus of this study was women who are ...

Early Identification Of Students In Accelerated Curricula With Signs Of Academic And Emotional Risk: Working With Teachers To Identify At-Risk Students, Elizabeth D. Storey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

As part of a comprehensive, multi-tiered system of support for students’ emotional, academic, and behavioral success, effective universal screenings are essential to identify students who may benefit from early intervention and targeted prevention services (Strein, Kuhn-McKearin, & Finney, 2014). Although many screening procedures and methods have been developed and evaluated for general education populations, more research is needed on screening procedures designed for one traditionally underserved population in school-based mental health services—students in accelerated curricula (namely, students in Advanced Placement classes or in the International Baccalaureate program; AP/IB). When teachers are involved in universal screening procedures, regardless of student population served, training strategies to improve teacher accuracy in identifying students at-risk have resulted in gains in teacher knowledge of mental health disorders, but not improvements in accuracy (Deacon, 2015; Moor et al., 2007; Veira et al., 2014). This study examined prevalence of academic and emotional risk among 352 9th grade ...

Perceived Roles Of Academic Advisors In Pursuing Internationalization At Public State And Community Colleges In Florida, Tony W. Long

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research study investigated the perceptions of academic advisors in the Florida College System (FCS) concerning globalization, internationalization, and their role in the process of internationalizing their colleges. Participants in the study included 54 academic advisors from 15 of the 28 colleges in the FCS. The sample was comprised primarily of female advisors with master’s degrees, who had been working in higher education for less than 13 years. This was a nonexperimental, quantitative study and analyses included descriptive statistics, ordinary least squares regression, and Pearson’s product moment correlations.

The results revealed that the responding advisors believe that globalization ...

Behavioral Thermoregulation And Thermal Mismatches Influence Disease Dynamics In Amphibians, Erin Louise Sauer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Amphibians are currently the most threatened vertebra taxa on the planet. Hundreds of species are thought to have gone extinct while thousands more have been listed as threatened or endangered over the past few decades. Habitat loss, invasive species, climate change, and disease are all thought to have partially contributed to these declines. Two pathogens in particular, infectious viruses in the genus Ranavirus (simply referred to as ranavirus) and the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), have been associated with global mass mortality events of amphibians. Virulent pathogens such as these tend to impose strong selective pressures on their hosts driving the ...

Exploring The ‘Spaces Between’: Teachers’ Perceptions Of Teacher Leadership Within Professional Networks, Cynthia B. Bauman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The enactment of teacher leadership can be challenged by both policy initiatives and school contexts (Anderson & Cohen, 2015; Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). However, teachers can have a positive influence on each other and their broader school community by building capacity for leadership, innovation, and student achievement through the relationships, or networks, they develop and maintain (Baker-Doyle, 2015; Hovardas, 2016; Hunzicker, 2012; Moolenaar, Sleegers, & Daly, 2012). This single exploratory case study takes place in a Title I elementary school and uses a combination of Social Network Analysis and content analysis to uncover patterns in teacher professional networks, the context in which they exist, and teachers’ perceptions of the influence of these networks on their sense of themselves as teacher leaders. The study focuses on four constructs: teacher leadership, teacher efficacy, instructional innovation, and professional networks. The concept of social capital is used to explore the connection between networks and teacher leadership. Symbolic interactionism frames the analysis of the nature of relationships that emerge within these networks. Findings indicate that teachers linked their identities as leaders with a culture of leadership, exchange of advice, shared values, and high expectations for themselves and their students. Interview responses demonstrated they believed in their collective capacity to accomplish a shared mission of student achievement; they trusted in and supported each other through their professional networks.

Students’ Opportunity To Learn Surface Area And Volume In Middle Grades Mathematics Textbooks, Sofia Hatziminadakis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

I conducted a content analysis to examine the treatment of the surface area and volume concepts within four published middle-grades mathematics textbook series. In particular, I examined the treatment of the surface area and volume concepts in terms of the location of surface area and volume lessons in the textbook and the number of pages and lessons devoted to these concepts. I also investigated the sequence of the instructional blocks of surface area and volume lessons. In addition, I evaluated the tasks included in these lessons in regards to the performance expectations of students, the types of visual representations of ...

Including Children With Learning Differences: Experiences Of Independent School Teachers, Lisa M. Lockhart

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There are various types of private schools. This study focused on independent prep schools termed as “British style” (Cooper, 1988 p.19). These select, independent prep schools have a long and distinguished history in the United States. Many, if not all of these schools, have stringent admissions requirements. However, due to special considerations given to certain constituencies (siblings, children of alumni, etc.) there are times when students who are accepted to the schools may display learning or behavioral characteristics that are incongruent with the original mission of the school. In addition, sometimes learning and/or social issues do not present ...

The Impact Of Prior-Prior Year On Federal Student Aid Eligibility, Valerie A. Mockus

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Each year, millions of Americans complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in hopes of securing federal, state, and institutional funding to support their educational goals. The FAFSA recently changed the age of tax data used to determine eligibility for aid, including the Federal Pell Grant—eligibility for which is often used as a proxy for students with the highest need. This study includes a comprehensive review of the extant literature on the subject of prior-prior year. It is also the first look into the actual impact of the recent shift from Prior Year (PY) tax information to ...

Heart Rate Variability Analysis As A Means Of Real-Time Hypercapnia Detection, Joseph Dituri

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The motivation for this research is the high prevalence experienced by divers of carbon dioxide (CO₂) issues and concerns throughout their lives. Additionally, CO₂ is naturally occurring, the product of oxidative metabolism, and is undetectable to human senses. Current CO₂ sensor or detection technology is limited to high-cost machines such as arterial blood gas monitors and end tidal CO₂ monitors, or more modern technology relying upon bright lights which measure blood flow. The light technology is notoriously unreliable and does not produce a very effective heart beat allowing a user to detect minimal changes. Heart Rate ...

Negotiating My Rainbow: A Self-Study Exploring The Relationship Between Beliefs About Identity And Classroom Practice, Amanda Colborne

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teachers bring parts of themselves, among them, gender, age, and race into the classroom. In addition to the routine stress of teaching, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people have the added stress of managing the expression of their sexual orientation in the classroom. This study explores the ways in which my own identity as a lesbian influenced my beliefs about teaching, my “pre-active” curricular-instructional decision-making, and my “interactive” curricular-instructional decision-making (Jackson, 1966). A self-study methodology is used to explore these relationships. Data sources include journaling, lesson plan artifacts, student work samples, photographs of my classroom, an observation and critical ...

Smart Start For Trauma: A Multiple Baseline Design, Sarah E. Dickinson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to address gaps in the trauma treatment literature related to the expense and inaccessibility of evidence-based interventions for children with disabilities who have experienced trauma. Another aim of this study was to provide additional support for a newly piloted intervention for children with disabilities who have experienced trauma. This intervention is known as Smart Start: Parenting Tools for Children with Developmental Delay, Social-Emotional Concerns, and Trauma. A non-concurrent multiple baseline method was used to determine whether there was a functional relationship between the intervention and children’s challenging behaviors for five caregiver-child dyads. In ...

Testing The Validity And Utility Of A Career And Technical Education Programs Of Study Evaluation Instrument, Alisha D. Hyslop

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to build on the research already completed by the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) in the development of ACTE’s quality Program of Study Framework and accompanying evaluation instrument to examine the validity of the instrument’s results and its utility when used independently by local educators in a pilot test. The study used a two-phase mixed-methods design. In the first phase, 39 participating programs were evaluated using the instrument, consisting of 102 items organized into 12 elements. Representatives of participating programs, either teachers or administrators, then provided quantitative and qualitative feedback ...

A Biographical Study Of Bernard Lafayette, Jr. As An Adult Educator Including The Teaching Of Nonviolence Conflict Reconciliation, Rozelia Maria Kennedy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the life and work of LaFayette, nonviolence and conflict reconciliation from an adult education perspective. This study explores LaFayette’s life from an early age through his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, his contributions to adult education, and his current views on social change. The nonviolence conflict reconciliation LaFayette teaches is based on the philosophy and strategies of Martin Luther King, Jr. During the last 50 years, LaFayette has been kidnapped, threatened, and survived ventures into hostile environments in his effort to teach nonviolence philosophy, strategies, and methods.

This historical/biographical ...

Une Analyse De La Vertu Dans Trois Tragédies Historiques De Pierre Corneille, Mariela Saad-Delgado

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Theologians, philosophers, moralists, artists, men and women of letters of the seventeenth century were interested in the notion of "virtue" and the place it should occupy in the education of children and in the life of adults. Because of this interest, literary genres of this period, and more specifically plays, provide us with many references of the word "virtue".

This concept is presented as one of the essential characteristics to be found in a hero and a heroine. However, "virtue" is not a constant concept, for its meaning is determined by the socio-political context, the author's philosophy, and the ...

Positive Deviance As A Framework For Understanding Motivations And Barriers To Exercise For University Students At Campus Recreation, René Dario Herrera

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to use qualitative research methodologies to better understand motivations and barriers to exercise for university students at campus recreation. The secondary purpose was to identify any correlations between physical activity habits and academic success. Ethnographic data obtained from a positive deviance sample and critically analyzed with feminist and postmodern theory could provide additional validation for campus recreation's value in positively contributing to the academic success of university students.

Participant observation, questionnaire, cultural domain analysis, interview, and focus group provided qualitative data.

Results indicate university students who frequent campus recreation to exercise are highly ...

Eustress In Advanced Placement (Ap) And International Baccalaureate (Ib) Students, Amanda C. Moseley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eustress, the positive response to stress, is a relatively understudied concept. Most of the research on eustress has been concentrated in the occupational and management setting. Empirical studies of eustress in adolescents are absent, even though youth experience unique sources and magnitudes of stress. Specifically, Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) students report more stress than their general education peers but excel in their rigorous academic program. Eustress is related to a variety of positive psychological and physiological outcomes among adult samples, which makes it an important concept to explore in adolescent samples. Many constructs such as self-efficacy, hope ...

The Relationship Between First Year Student Expectations And Persistence Into The Second Year Of College, Ashley Baltuch Dees

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Incoming first year students have varying expectations for their college experience. As Florida public education budgets are more closely aligned with student persistence and graduation rates, it is vital institutions retain more first time in college students. The purpose of this study was to better understand how first year student college expectations on academic preparation, co-curricular involvement, socializing, and institutional commitment relate to persistence into the second year of college at one of Florida’s large, preeminent public research universities.

This quantitative study utilized the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE) in order to better understand incoming student expectations ...

Examining The Relationship Between A Co-Curricular Service-Learning Experience And Moral Competence, Jamie Burns Burriss

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Short-term service-learning experiences such as alternative breaks are increasing in popularity due to the focus on service in higher education and the institution’s responsibility to ensure students are graduating with the skills needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive, global economy and contribute to a democratic society as citizens who address societal needs. To meet this demand, colleges and universities continue to explore ways to increase civic engagement in the form of curricular and co-curricular programs. Additionally, faculty and administrators in higher education are intensely seeking a revitalization of the public purposes of higher education, which include educating for ...

Evaluating The Efficiency And Correspondence Of Trial-Based And Session-Based Functional Analyses In Controlled Settings, Sarah M. Gonzalez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Functional analyses (FAs) are used to identify the maintaining contingencies of problem behavior. However, FAs present some limitations. Functional analyses can be time consuming. In this study we evaluated the efficiency and correspondence of a modified trial-based FA versus a session-based FA, in a controlled setting. We conducted both the trial-based and session-based FAs with five subjects that engaged in problem behavior. On average, the trial-based FAs were completed in 32.8% less time than the session-based FAs, and took 40% less meeting and calendar days than the session-based FAs. Based on the analyses of four Board Certified Behavior Analysts ...

Money Matters: An Examination Of Special Education Characteristics In Efficient And Inefficient Texas School Districts, Pakethia Harris

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study veers from the traditional perspective of examining school efficiency or productivity as a cost minimizing process, in which educational inputs are minimized to achieve maximum outputs (student performance). Instead, it provides a critical examination of the dominant, cost minimizing assumption associated with efficiency models and suggest schools instead behave similarly to budget maximizers as presented in Niskanen’s (1971) seminal budget maximizing framework. The study examines the relationship between total student expenditures and subsequent student outcomes, establishing the relative efficiency of Texas school districts using stochastic frontier analysis within a budget-maximizing framework. Additionally, the study investigates how special ...

The Intervention Path: The Experiences Of Mothers Seeking Help For Their Child With Atypical Behavioral Development, Renee Hoopes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pre-school aged children experience challenging behaviors at a relatively common rate. Research shows that approximately 10–25 % of preschool-aged children engage in challenging behaviors to a greater degree than would be expected for their age (Lavigne, Gibbons, Christoffel, Arend, Rosenbaum, Binns, Sawon, Sobel & Isaacs, 1996). Problem behaviors are often the result of a child not following a typical developmental trajectory. Atypical development appears when a child either lags behind or jumps ahead of typical peer progress in physical, cognitive, behavioral, and social development or in adaptive life skills. When children with challenging behaviors are left untreated, their everyday functioning can become significantly impaired, and many will require more intensive supports and services over time (Kauffman, Mock & Simpson, 1996). The presence of chronic challenging behaviors negatively impacts important aspects of a child's development and puts him or her risk for a number of adverse circumstances over time, including a dysfunctional family life, conflicts within interpersonal relationships, alcohol and drug use, physical and sexual assault, suicide, academic failure, unsuccessful employment, and involvement with the justice system (Boulter & Rickwood, 2013; Durand & Hieneman, 2008). The purpose of this study was to develop a better understanding of the interventions parents try for their children. Including their thoughts, feelings and perceptions of each intervention. Previous research has provided insight into factors that influence parents’ help-seeking process and how parents begin the help seeking process (i.e., seeking formal or informal support). However, little is known about their thoughts, perceptions, and feelings towards the different types of interventions used and how they’ve affected their children's problem behaviors.

Qualitative methods were used to better understand their help-seeking journeys. The experience of 5 mothers raising children with complex and challenging behaviors were captured through open-ended interviews in this study.

The results of this study found several notable themes to emerge from the interviews of mothers raising children with atypical development. Specifically, several mothers reported a typical pregnancy and early development. Participants described a difficult first year with feeding their child, their child not meeting developmental milestones and having several unique quirks. Several parents also described their infant as experiencing higher rates of sickness when compared to other infants. Parents also described the age in which problem behaviors were first identified in their child, who first became concerned with their child’s behavior and their initial help seeking steps. Parents described behaviors of concerns including; difficulty eating, delayed speech and motor development and restricted interests. Themes emerged that described the parent’s process in seeking out early interventions for their child which included the evaluation process and the therapies that were first recommended to them. At the conclusion of the evaluation, parents were typically given a diagnosis. Themes emerged that discussed ...

Teacher Perceptions Of Students With Conduct Problems With And Without Callous Unemotional Traits, Casie L. Peet

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Conduct problems describe behaviors that violate either age-appropriate societal norms or the rights of others. They include: physical or verbal aggression, theft, lying, arguing with authority, defiance, violation of rules, property destruction, fire setting, and truancy. Among youth with conduct problems, a subset display features known as callous-unemotional (CU) traits. CU traits, or interpersonal callousness, are exemplified in behaviors such as: (a) absence of remorse or guilt, (b) lack of empathy and, (c) callous use of others for personal gain (Frick & White, 2008). This study aims to fill the gap of examining these students in schools and which practices are ...

Developing Teacher Efficacy In High Poverty Schools, Dawn Stites

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This capstone project was part of a group project completed by three principals in elementary schools in Hillsborough County, Florida. The project began because of our passion to understand effective teachers. Our collective goal was to have more engaged teachers which would create more engaged students resulting in greater student and teacher success.

Our overall group project purpose was to discover the behavior and characteristics an engaged teacher demonstrates and how these behaviors affect the learning environment and the students that are in that environment. The project was guided by the question, how does a culture of engaged teachers develop ...

Social And Emotional Learning And Student Achievement In A Culture Of Care, Odalys G. Pritchard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This capstone project was part of a group project completed by five school and district administrators in Hillsborough County, Florida. The project began because of our passion for teachers who are able to establish a culture of care in their classrooms that support students academically but transform their learning through experiences that enable them to be more highly engaged and productive students, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, perceived academic abilities, and backgrounds.

My focus in this group project looked at social emotional learning, student behavior, and student achievement in high needs schools. Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and its related activities ...