Secondary Education Commons^™

The Role Of Aesthetics In Classroom Design: Implications For Engagement And Equity, Giuliana Barraza

Master's Theses

The desire for achieving greater equity in education has been a prevalent topic of research, with many studies indicating that the current education system in this country is designed in a way that exacerbates initial inequities and has a negative impact on student motivation and engagement (EOCD, 2012). While existing scholarship mostly discusses equity and engagement through the lens of curriculum and instruction, the power of physical classroom environments and aesthetic elements present in those environments is less explored. With student populations becoming more diverse, there is a greater need for new tools for teachers to utilize in pursuit of …

A Leadership Change. A Culture Shift...And A Police Riot: The Story Of How The Highest College Going High School In San Francisco Became The Lowest Graduating School In The District, Emmanuel Padilla

Master's Theses

Thurgood Marshall Academic High School, located in San Francisco’s Bayview, Hunters Point, scored the third lowest in the most recent Academic Performance Index (API) Report. Based on the median household income, the Bayview is a low-income community and according to San Francisco data, is a high crime neighborhood. The odds are against Marshall to provide exceptional service to their students, but it once did. In 2001, Marshall had the highest college-going rate in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD). Today, only 20% of its student body would be considered college ready. This study will look into what happened to …

Intergroup Dialogue With High School Participants, Meaghan E. Kachadoorian

Master's Projects and Capstones

Liberatory education facilitates identity expression, promotes empathy and understanding across difference, and builds capacity for recognizing and resisting oppressive social structures. However, many students’ educational experiences lack intentional practices that subvert societal intolerance. Without these practices, education can perpetuate social group divide without empowering students to create social change. The practice of dialogue, specifically critical intergroup dialogue, brings together participants from various social group identities in facilitated conversations in pursuit of social transformation. This project is an exploration of intergroup dialogue with high school students. For the research, I carried out a phenomenological study by co-facilitating a dialogue group with …

Building Engagement Through Developing Students’ Sense Of Self-Control, Natalia Sanchez Gonzalez

Master's Projects and Capstones

Students who enter public schools in the United States in the latter part of their academic career may lack the English language proficiency or capital necessary to successfully participate in mainstream content courses. Students such as these, known as late arrivals, face even greater difficulties when they enter academic institutions that or not equipped to provide language supports that ensure students can access content. Arriving at a later age and grade level, places additional pressure on educators and students to enter mainstream language classrooms. With little control or access to be active participants in the new academic settings, these students …

Neighborhood Strategizing: Understanding Community Collaborations Within California Bay Area Public Schools, Windi Hazzard

Master's Projects and Capstones

For the better half of a century, education policy has been guided by economics and profit. One after another, every U.S. president since the 1960s has championed legislation that reflects neoliberal ideals of competition and profitable skills. Through the standardization of the public school system, education has become a marketplace rather than an environment for cultivating empowered learners and critical thinkers. The purpose of this field project is to show how communities are challenging the current education system in order to influence education policy in San Francisco, California. I interviewed four participants from two organizations that advocate parents’ rights as …

Strategies For First-Year University Esl Students To Improve Essay Writing Skills, Mengjie Wei

Master's Projects and Capstones

This project provides a writing guidebook for first-year university level English as a Second Language (ESL) students and teachers. Most ESL students have difficulties in academic English writing, especially first-year university ESL students. Due to the differences in linguistic and education backgrounds, first-year university level ESL students desire a writing guidebook that is appropriate for them; ESL teachers should be provided with professional teaching methods and materials in delivering lectures too. By applying Schema Theory and Stephen D. Krashen’s Monitor Model, strategies for students and teachers are professionally designed in this guidebook.

In order to help ESL students better their …

Cultivating Student Voice: Writing As A Tool For Multilingual And Multicultural Students To Develop Language, Identity, And Cultural Competence, Gaeun Lee

Master's Projects and Capstones

The importance of using writing as an educational tool to English learners cannot be understated. It is critical for youth learning English as their second language to be encouraged to value their first language, culture, and identity by writing. Unfortunately, many teachers overlook the significance of the writing activity, which can be greatly helpful to develop the English learners’ language and cultural competence and their identity, specifically for multilingual and multicultural youth.

This project is developed with the purpose of cultivating student voice by using writing as a tool. The project is based on the two theories: the affective filter …