Secondary Education Commons^™

Investigating Sleep Education Criteria In Illinois Public Schools And Its Alignment With Evidence-Based Practices, Bayleigh T. Pasley

Masters Theses

The purpose of the current study was to examine high school health curricula regarding sleep prevention and intervention practices and whether instructional content aligned with best practice for this age group. Specifically, the Primary Investigator and her thesis chair developed the Sleep Education and Preventative Practices Checklist/Questionnaire (SEPPC and SEPPQ) as tools to evaluate the sleep content covered in different public high schools across Illinois. The SEPPC and SEPPQ were identical in that they contained 17 different items which looked at different sleep topics reviewed by current literature. The SEPPC/Q contained two main topics: adolescent sleep knowledge (11 topics/items) and …

Supporting Working Memory Development In Schools During Adolescence, Megan Bryant

M.Ed. Literature Reviews

This master's project investigates the multifaceted aspects of working memory in secondary school students and its relationship with academic performance. The findings from this project contribute to the existing literature by offering insights into the effectiveness of holistic interventions and memory strategies in enhancing working memory abilities and optimizing academic outcomes in secondary school students. This project reviews evidence about the relationship between emotional regulation, stress, and working memory to understand better how emotional factors impact cognitive functioning in the classroom setting. This analysis also aims to shed light on the trajectory of working memory development during adolescence and its …

Meta-Analysis Of Therapeutic Interventions For The Treatment Of Test Anxiety., Thomas Reece

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to be a practitioner-focused review of the current research into interventions for the treatment of test anxiety. As testing continues to be a large part of students’ academic experiences and the stakes of that testing grow for students, teachers, and schools, there is a need for a synthesis of the literature to provide teachers and schools with some guidance on how best to help their students succeed. In this review, I describe the phenomenon of test anxiety and the current theoretical questions concerning the relationship between test anxiety and test performance. I also …

Investigating Correlations Among A Growth-Mindset Intervention, Students’ Math Anxiety, And Students’ Math Self-Efficacy, Anna Grace Chamberlain

Honors Projects

This paper details the methodology, data, and conclusions of a research study investigating the correlations among a growth-mindset intervention, math anxiety, and math self-efficacy. The study found that teaching students about mindset through an intervention approach did not make a significant difference in students’ math anxiety or math self-efficacy. Teacher-centered factors are discussed as having a greater impact on students’ math anxiety and math self-efficacy.

A Par Reflection: The Power Of Teacher Voice, Anna Marie Warren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher voice is missing in systemic change. This PAR study explored some of the barriers in education today that prevent teachers from using their voices and the leadership skills needed to empower teachers to use their voices in change processes. The study was implemented on two secondary school campuses with two teams of PAR researchers. Data were collected using a triangulation of PAR forms, journal reflections, and Likert surveys. While identifying barriers hindering teachers from using their voice, the qualitative study also aimed to provide a platform where teachers could express and use their voice to cause change in their …

College Aspirations, Preparation, And Enrollment Of First-Generation College Students: The Role Of College Counseling Support, Jamilla Helena Jamison

CGU Theses & Dissertations

It is well documented that college degree attainment can impact lifetime earnings and social mobility. However, research shows that first-generation college students (FGCs) are less likely than their peers to enroll in college after high school. The influence of a college counselor at the high school level as an influential other may positively influence college-going rates for first-generation students and help to close educational attainment gaps between FGCs and non-FGCs. While previous research has examined lower college aspirations, academic preparation, and enrollment rates of FGCs, previous literature has yet to address the role of college counseling support on the four-year …

The Perceived Self-Efficacy Of School Counselors To Provide Interventions And Support To Students Using Substances And The Potential For Collaboration With School Psychologists, Monica Holtz

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

Substance use has the potential to impact a student’s academic success; however, school counselors are in a position to intervene and provide support to these students to potentially mitigate the impact of the students’ use. Research shows that school-based interventions are effective in reducing substance use, but school counselors may not feel clinically prepared to provide these services. A random sample of school counselors in the state of Virginia practicing at the middle and high school level completed a survey regarding their feelings and perceptions of substance use intervention and support, including their self-efficacy to provide services, level of training, …

Journaling As A Social-Emotional Teaching Practice To Promote Adolescent Mental Health, Mackenzie Robertson

Honors Projects

Given the current state of education in the United States, there has been an influx in the number of adolescents diagnosed with a mental illness or have experienced struggles with their mental health. Because of this, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) strategies have been introduced further into adolescent education to bolster the skills students learned in their youths. To assist in the promotion of the five SEL competencies, different journaling strategies can be introduced to impact adolescent mental health positively and continue to practice SEL for life beyond high school. The purpose of this research is to introduce these strategies to pre-service …

An Examination Of The Social Emotional Skills Necessary To Promote College And Career Readiness For A Rural California High School, Anna Austin Whitesides

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Data from the National Center for Education Statistics suggest that as academic standards continue to rise, students' mental health continues to decline (Carr, 2022). Public schools today have a unique opportunity to support the ongoing learning of students, while also encouraging the development of social and emotional skills that will benefit students’ academic performance, as well as their general wellbeing. While schools today follow rigorous state standards and support academic learning, many students attending rural high schools are graduating without the skills necessary to be successful in college or career (Farrington et al., 2012).

This mixed-methods case study examines the …

Addressing High School Student Stress: Exploring Student And Teacher Perceptions Of A Modified Dbt Steps-A Curriculum, Greg C. Hatzis

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (Ed.D.)

The problem of practice investigated is high school student stress and the many detrimental effects. The setting is a public high school in Southwestern Connecticut in a community that places a high value on academic achievement and college acceptance. A root cause analysis identifies two actionable drivers of change in teacher practices and the lack of student self-management skills. A review of scholarly knowledge and local practices leads to an investigation of strategies to mitigate the problem. This review identifies Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents (DBT STEPS-A) as a high leverage strategy to address …

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …

Impact Of Person-Environment-Occupation Model Training On Teacher Transition Problem-Solving, Taylor Dreste

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, there is currently no universal framework or model that is applied to the transition planning process for students with disabilities, other than the transition mandates set forth by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, 2004). This often results in educators picking transition plan goals and interventions from a “bank”, without taking into account the “whole child.” The following study examines the effect of the Person-Environment-Occupation (PEO) model, pioneered by Law et al. (1996), on a teacher’s ability to consider personal, environmental, and occupational variables when planning for post-secondary employment for students with disabilities. Furthermore, this …

Siblings Of Children With Intellectual Disability: Social Validity Of A Skills Group Experience, Michelle Bryant

Educational Specialist, 2020-current

A review of literature has shown that siblings of students with intellectual disability benefit from various types of interventions and value supports (Prusty, 2016). Few studies investigate intervention acceptability and effectiveness of such interventions in the educational environment despite the major role that school plays in children’s lives. Professionals such as exceptional education teachers, school counselors, school psychologists, and school social workers often serve these populations of students and their families, are involved in behavioral support teams, and play a key role in intervention development and implementation. In the present study, the Behavior Intervention Rating Scale (BIRS; Elliot & Treuting, …

School Psychologists And School Counselors’ Perceptions Of Preparation Received For The Provision Of School-Based Mental Health Services, Sherika Mckenzie

Education (PhD) Dissertations

School psychologists and school counselors are increasingly playing an essential role in the provision of school-based mental health services (SBMHS). This is especially true in California. Unfortunately, there are a few studies that have examined how California school psychologists and school counselors perceive their training to provide SBMHS, how they perceive their role in providing these services, and what they regard as their needs for professional development. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which California school psychologists and school counselors believe that their formal pre-service education and later in-service professional experiences have prepared them to …

Art Therapy In Public Education, Sophie Edelman

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

This literature review explores the history of art therapy in education. By understanding the history it is clear that art therapy has always been a positive force for students. By learning from the successes and challenges in our history we are better able to plan for future programing and expansion of art therapy programs. Because art therapy was developed in part by educators, the history of art therapy itself is linked with the history of art therapy in schools. In today’s application of art therapy in education there are three models most typically used. The research discusses the strengths and …

Text Messaging Between School Counselors And Students: An Exploratory Study, Nicholas R. Gilly

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

This exploratory case study examines the impact of text messaging on mentoring relationships when used as an outreach between school counselors and high school students, where established relationships are lacking. An SMS gateway was used to mediate communication between school counselors (N=2) and students (N=5) over a three-month timeframe. The SMS gateway converted email, sent from counselors, to text messages, which were received on mobile devices of students and allowed students to respond back to counselors. Findings indicate that the use of text messaging may ease scheduling of face-to-face meetings between counselors and students, but evidence does not support any …

What's In A Label? Unpacking The Meaning Of Achievement Labels From Tests, Francis O'Donnell

Doctoral Dissertations

As a result of federal accountability policies, achievement level labels from statewide assessments are ascribed to public school students 17 times between grades 3 and 12. Depending on students’ performance and state of residence, they may be labeled inadequate or in need of support, below proficient or approaching expectations, level 3 or on track—to name a few examples. These labels are delivered through individual reports for students and parents as well as group reports for teachers. In spite of their widespread use, research on how achievement level labels are interpreted is minimal. The aim of this …

Educational Achievement, Engagement, And Persistence In Choctaw Nation: A Study Of The Success Through Academic Recognition Program, Suzanne Delap

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma has developed a unique initiative to support academic achievement within their tribal territory. The Success Through Academic Recognition (STAR) program is an example of an Indigenously-developed approach to supporting students from grades 2-12, with the hope of promoting achievement, persistence, and engagement. To study the STAR program, a mixed-methods approach was employed to first analyze quantitative demographic and performance data collected from a cohort of high school students from 2014 to 2018. Next, phenomenological interviews were conducted within the same cohort, to describe the lived experiences of STAR students within the Choctaw community. The database …

Interdisciplinary Collaboration In Exemplary Counseling-Enriched High School Programs: Integrating College & Career Readiness And Mental Health Wellness For Students With Emotional Disturbance, Amira S. Mostafa

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods multiple-case study was to describe how interdisciplinary collaborative teams support the college and career readiness and the mental health wellness of adolescents with emotional disturbance. A secondary purpose was to explore how team members describe and rate the importance of their interdisciplinary collaboration using the four essential elements (reflection, flexibility, newly created roles, and interdependence) based on the model established by Mellin (Mellin et al., 2010). Lastly, this study sought recommendations from team members on improved practices supporting adolescents with emotional disturbance.

Methodology: An explanatory sequential mixed methods multiple-case study design explored the …

Rural Adolescent Education Reframed: Can Social Justice, Lewin’S Topology, And Aesthetics Aid Reform Efforts?, Judith F. Upjohn

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyze how changes in classroom-level conditions can help underperforming students thrive despite established school structures that discriminate against and exclude those students from learning opportunities.

Every year, millions of US public school students fail to graduate high school (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2018), despite numerous ongoing education reform efforts (Berkshire & Schneider, n.d.; Strauss, 2017). A large percentage of these students attend rural schools (Arnold, Newman, Gaddy, & Dean, 2005; Status of Rural Education, 2018). The rural conditions of adolescent students adversely affect their educational performance and achievement (Howley …

Bully-Victimization, Depression, And School Connectedness In Early Adolescent Students, Irene Gonzalez-Herrer

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

During early adolescence, schools play a significant role in the development of students. An issue that continues to be a serious concern for students, parents, teachers, and school officials in the U.S. and around the world is bullying. The primary purpose of this study was to examine school connectedness as a mediator between bully-victimization and depressive symptomatology in early adolescence. The secondary purpose of the study was to explore how gender and bullying classification groups (i.e., bully, victim, bully-victim, and non-involved) may relate to levels of reported school connectedness. The current study found low school connectedness partially mediated the relationship …

Building Young People’S Capacity For Critical And Transcendent Engagement: Examining The Institution, The Community, And The Individual As Protagonists Of A School Setting, Livia Dittmer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

As a powerful socializing force in Western society, schools have significant influence on young people’s development into adulthood. As powerful agents of societal maintenance and change, adolescents have significant influence on communities and institutions such as schools. In this embedded case study, I use structuration theory, German Critical Psychology, and systems thinking to examine the dynamic relationship between institutional structures and student agency in a school setting. I specifically examine the influence of this relationship on young people’s capacity for critical and transcendent engagement, constructs described further in this work. In the setting of Nancy Campbell Academy (NCA), an international …

The Impact Of Mental Health Issues On Academic Achievement In High School Students, Patricia Lea Sutherland

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

An adolescent’s time in school is not merely academic; they are developing socially, physically, and emotionally. Prior research has demonstrated a correlation between a student’s poor academic performance and his/her need for emotional and mental health support. This research project sought to answer the following research questions: 1) Do mental health services in a high school setting help facilitate students’ academic achievement? and 2) Does a focus on mental health issues improve overall health and well-being in high school students? Participants for this study are 10 staff members (including teachers, administrators, counselors, and others) of a high school in San …

Diverse Students’ Perceptions Of The Proactive Circle Process In A Restorative Practice Intervention, Shana M. Little

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Restorative practices have been introduced as a school wide intervention to reduce the cultural disparity in school discipline. The purpose of this intervention is to promote healthy student-teacher relationships. The research on restorative practices as an intervention for minority students has shown to be effective, through school discipline data and teacher report. The current study used individual interviews with high school students to explore their perception of restorative practices, specifically proactive circles, and its effectiveness. Results showed cultural differences in student’s understanding or perception of proactive circles. Additionally, participants believed proactive circles helped or improved their communication skills and social …

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

Increasing School Social Worker Supports For Schools In Illinois: Policy Recommendations For Supporting Student Learning And Growth., Kizawanda A. Olowe

Dissertations

Administrators and board members at the Illinois State Board of Education recommended that schools with certain demographics hire one social worker for every 350 students. The policy has yet to be implemented despite high rates of student poverty, lagging test scores, school bullying, suspensions, and an increased number of school shootings. The Illinois State Board of Education’s social and emotional learning standards guide educators and policy makers to interact and educate each student. School social workers equipped with the necessary skill set provide services, implement district-wide social and emotional learning programs, and work with various stakeholders to monitor progress. A …

Learning Strategies Employed By College Aged Students With Disabilities: The Link Between Metacognition, Motivation, And Working Memory, Michael Rodriguez

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is two-fold. First, we want to understand the levels of metacognitive awareness of learning strategies in undergraduates with learning disabilities. Previous research states that recall is the most effective method of studying, but most students prefer to reread their notes or textbook which is ineffective. Second, we want to explore the link between Working Memory and metacognitive awareness of learning strategies in undergraduates with learning disabilities. The learning strategies that college students with and without disabilities is examined, we found that students in both groups preferred the usage of the same strategies equally. The most …

Examining The Perceived Influence Of A Comprehensive Youth Development Program For Promoting Black Male High School Persistence, Richard Gray Walker

Dissertations

Black male youth in the United States drop out of high school at a rate consistently higher than their White counterparts. A lack of academic persistence contributes to lower workforce participation rates among Black Americans, which leads to lower national productivity and unrealized personal prosperity. Youth development research has developed an extensive body of knowledge regarding possible causes and contributing factors of minority high school dropout. Literature shows youth experience higher dropout rates when they grow up in adversity. Adversity risks such as dysfunctional families, cultural discontinuity between home and school, dysfunctional neighborhoods, or low-expectations from teachers contribute to graduation …

It Takes Two: Compatibility Of Perspectives Between Students And Teachers And The Effects Effort Has On Student Academic Achievement And Subjective Well-Being, Leah E. Bracey

Senior Projects Spring 2017

This research study examined the unique matching of perspectives between teachers and students on the notion of who is assumed to be responsible for student academic achievement and subjective well-being. Students (N=190) in grades 9-11 and teachers (N=19) from a Newark, New Jersey public magnet high school completed various locus of control, classroom climate and well-being psychological questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and correlational tests were conducted for the analysis of the data. The surveys provided an in depth understanding of the distribution of perspectives which existed in this academic institution. Students found themselves, more often than not, feeling responsible for their …

A Mother's Spiritual Journey With Her Disabled Son: An Autoethnography, Margaret C. Higgins Edd

Dissertations

Abstract

This autoethnographic research delves into a mother’s experiences with her disabled son over thirty-five years. Beginning with a thick description of the crib accident that resulted in physical and cognitive disabilities that profoundly change the course of both mother and son’s life, this research chronicles the search for meaning, community, and healing as they negotiate the realms of medicine, education, career, family, and spirituality. Models of disability that seek to explain various ways in which society often views disability are examined, but none resonate with the researcher’s intimate experiences nor satisfies her deepest needs for insight and healing. Making …