For The Love Of Teaching: Pre-Service Teachers’ Experience Of Moral Education, Anne Marie Foley Ruiz

Doctoral Dissertations

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Moral aspects of teaching arise each and every day, yet we lack information about how prepared teachers feel about this critical aspect of teaching. This multi-case study explores perceptions of five pre-service teachers in an elementary teacher education program in Western Massachusetts. A series of interviews explore their histories prior to the program and their experiences in the program as related to the pre-service teachers’ orientations to the moral work of teaching. Research questions address the awareness and self-efficacy of student teachers in implementing the moral aspects of teaching. Using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006), this study explores beliefs …

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The Gendered, Racialized, & Dis/Abled Experiences Of Neurodivergent Black Women Graduate Students Across Higher Education, Kat Stephens

Doctoral Dissertations

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Black women graduate students with dis/abilities; those identifying as neurodivergent are scarce in contemporary research. Throughout widespread disability studies, research, and the research on neurodiversity, this lack is consistent regarding minoritized race and gender groupings (Matthews, 2019; Strong et al., 2020). Larger neurodivergent, ADHD, and Autism conversations tend to skew toward White boys and men (Travers, 2018). The convergence of disability (race, gender, and place/space) as another marginalized community and diverse student population, is an additional gap in the literature, despite the benefits of DisCrit (Annamma et al., 2013). Black women graduate students with disabilities, specifically those identifying as neurodivergent …

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How Well Does The New York State Higher Education Opportunity Program Work For Black Men? A Mixed Methods Study, Michael A. Dejesus Iii

Doctoral Dissertations

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Previous research trended towards a deficit-oriented approach to understanding and explaining Black male underachievement. The past education research has focused on discussing the underachievement of Black males in Higher education. Finding solutions often were prescriptive in “fixing” behaviors in Black males to improve academic achievement. Additionally, there has been a trend towards race-neutrality in education policies, programs, and admissions criteria. And there is a lack of research on whether race-neutrality further exacerbates Black male underachievement by ignoring key race and gender targeted supports services that could improve Black male academic outcomes in higher education. While Black men have historically struggled …

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Professional Learning Cultures At Work: How Principals Serve As Catalysts For Learning, Christopher J. Tranberg

Doctoral Dissertations

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Principals are an influential factor in a child’s academic success (Manna, 2015; Louis et al., 2010; Waters et al., 2003). Although the path of influence is often indirect, principals affect student learning by developing and sustaining strong professional learning cultures (Hattie, 2009; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2012). As a result of the complexities surrounding principalship, a desire to understand the attributes, skills, and leadership actions of successful principals persists as an international focus of educational research. This study examines principalship through the experiences of various stakeholders within a school system utilizing a descriptive single case study ethnographic qualitative approach. This approach …

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Making Meaning Of Equity In A Computer Science For All Research Practitioner Partnership, Itza D. Martínez

Doctoral Dissertations

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This dissertation explored how a Computer Science for All (CSforALL) Research Practitioner Partnership (RPP) conceived of and addressed equity through their professional learning community (PLC) structure. Through an adapted equity framework, I analyzed qualities of equity literacy, as defined by Gorksi and Pothini (2018), as well as access and participation of three centrally located PLCs. Using qualitative methods, I examined the meeting artifacts, such as agendas, meeting notes, and video recordings, in order to understand how equity literacy developed over time. I also examined if and how established protocols, commonly used to facilitate collaborative work in PLCs, promoted equity literacy. …

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Applying Stakeholder Analysis To Lay The Groundwork For Conflict-Sensitive Education In The Somali Education Sector, Nina Aristea Papadopoulos

Doctoral Dissertations

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ABSTRACT

APPLYING STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS TO LAY THE GROUNDWORK FOR CONFLICT-SENSITIVE EDUCATION IN THE SOMALI EDUCATION SECTOR SEPTEMBER 2018 NINA ARISTEA PAPADOPOULOS B.A., University of South Carolina, Columbia M.A., American University, Washington, D.C. Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, AMHERST Directed by Ash Hartwell, College of Education This research represents the growing convergence of two previously discrete fields: education in conflict and crisis, and stakeholder analysis. Momentum for an improved and more sophisticated approach to education in conflict and crisis is gaining speed. We are now engaged in a crucial analysis of the interaction between the conflict or crisis and the education system, …

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Residence Directors As Residential Crisis Workers: Exploring The Role Of Campus-Based Critical Incident Stress Management In The Mitigation Of Compassion Fatigue, Noga Flory

Doctoral Dissertations

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Residence Directors, as a result of repeated exposure to their students' trauma, are prone to developing compassion fatigue. Research on the use of college-based Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) has been shown to foster collaboration, consultation, and increased stress debriefing among staff who respond to critical incidents on campus. CISM can teach Residence Directors means of recognizing work-related triggers, contribute to the normalization of stress reactions, and improve healthy coping and self-care strategies. CISM can also potentially help reduce or diminish the incidence of compassion fatigue and burnout, thereby improving Residence Directors' overall professional and personal quality of life and …

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Getting It Right: African American Male College/University Presidents And Their Early Cultivation Of Self-Efficacy, James Randall

Doctoral Dissertations

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GETTING IT RIGHT: AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS AND THEIR EARLY CULTIVATION OF SELF-EFFICACY MAY 2017 JAMES ANTHONY RANDALL, B.A., MOREHOUSE COLLEGE M.S.W., UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, COLLEGE OF SOCIAL POLICY AND PRACTICE Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by Joseph B. Berger Education remains the single most important means by which individuals in the United States can empower themselves economically, socially, and personally. In spite of this, a significant percentage of young African American males do not even appear to be competing or reaching for the educational opportunities before them as they rank the poorest amongst their peers in a …

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"How Many Generations Will Be Spoiled At The Cost Of Such Compromises?" The Resolution Strategies Of High School Principals In Value-Conflict Situations Between School Law And Moral Values In Azad Kashmir, Muhammad N. Khawaja

Doctoral Dissertations

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The phenomenon of ethical administration and decision-making in the context of school administration is a recent trend even in the Western scholarship on school administration. Although there have been a many academic endeavors in the last two decades of the 20^th century to explore the ethical dimension of school leadership mainly in the works of Greenfield (1985), Starratt (1991,1994), and Hodgkinson (1996). However, in the first decade of 21^st century, there have been much more concerted efforts to explore and propose theoretical models to explain the ethical dimension of school leadership. There have been a many attempts to …

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Implementing Universal Social And Emotional Learning Programs: The Development, Validation, And Inferential Findings From The Schoolwide Sel Capacity Assessment, Cheyne A. Levesseur

Doctoral Dissertations

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In order to effectively transport universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs into natural settings, it is important to understand implementation barriers that may hinder the likelihood of successful outcomes (Fixsen, Naoom, Blasé, Friedman, & Wallace, 2005). The current study is primarily based on the notion that within the planning phase of implementation, few technically adequate assessment measures targeting both organizational capacity (OC) and provider characteristics (PC) for SEL programming actually exist. The purpose is to extend the SEL implementation assessment literature by developing a new rating scale designed to measure SEL implementation barriers (School SEL Capacity Assessment [SSCA]) and …

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Using Social Network Analysis To Investigate The Relationship Between School-Based Team Communication Networks And Implementation Of Positive Behavior Support Systems, Shannon K. Barry

Doctoral Dissertations

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school-based team communication networks and implementation of school-wide reform efforts and initiatives, namely Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). The study employed social network analysis (SNA) to determine if a relationship was present between the structure and properties of the team communication network and the level of implementation of PBIS, the position and properties of the PBIS leadership team and the level of implementation of PBIS implementation, and the quality of internal process for collaboration of the PBIS leadership team and PBIS implementation. It was predicted that schools in …

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An Examination Of The Relationship Between Leadership Practices Of School Principals And Effectiveness Of School Counselor Practice, Yolanda D. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

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School counselors, whose role is often viewed as peripheral and isolated from teaching and learning, can help principals, teachers, students, and parents balance the duties and responsibilities involved in continuous student growth and performance. The purpose of this research is to examine the working relationship between school principals and school counselors and to assess how school principal leadership practices influence school counselor practice and effectiveness. This study utilized a conceptual framework that describes the relationship between concepts from the literature that may lead to school counselor effectiveness. This qualitative study investigates the leadership practices of school principals and how this …

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