Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Passion To Purpose: An Autobiographical Narrative Inquiry Into The Development Of The Summer Ace Program, Owen Hooper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students transitioning from high school to college are met with many challenges beyond academics including social acclimation, campus culture integration, and holistic wellness. Researchers agree that a successful and purposeful transition for incoming college students requires involvement and engagement with peers to help students adapt and increase their likelihood to graduate (Astin, 1999; Kuh, 2009; Tinto, 1998). This autobiographical narrative inquiry reflects on past experiences in assessing the needs of transitioning students at the University of South Florida and developing a purposeful programming model to support students. I aim to help the reader understand my personal commitment to these programs …

Qualitative Examination Of Sex Therapists' Perspectives Regarding Women With Low Sexual Desire, Tatiana C. Bryan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Female sexual desire disorder is often discussed in the literature, but there is a paucity of data on how sex therapists conceptualize and treat this disorder. To address a gap in the current literature, this study collected the perspectives and attitudes of clinicians working with patients presenting with low sexual desire. This qualitative study aimed to understand how sex therapists’ conceptualization of female sexual desire disorder is used to make decisions about diagnosis, treatment, and assessing patient progress. Grounded theory methodology was used to examine the attitudes and beliefs held by sex therapists. Results were used to generate a framework …

Oral Narrative Interventions Implemented By Teachers, Speech-Language Pathologists, And Parents, Megan S. Kirby

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children’s oral language skills in preschool through early elementary grades can predict reading, writing, and social outcomes ten years into the future. Oral narrative language, which includes storytelling, is a long-established cultural practice in communities around the world. Narratives are the monologic re/telling of a real of fictitious event and people have used them for centuries to entertain, make sense of current and past events, and provide instruction. Oral storytelling does not require physical materials and can be tailored to the cultural and linguistic values of the community in which they are used. Thus, the portability, utility, and ubiquitous nature …

Distributed Leadership: Formal Leadership, Barriers, And Facilitators For Multi-Tiered Systems Of Support, Joseph D. Latimer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Currently, educators are exposed to an increased environment of accountability, which prioritizes student academic achievement. That environment of accountability is reinforced by multiple pieces of legislation that also call attention to the implementation of multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). Even with these federal mandates, educators are continuously overwhelmed implementing MTSS and often leverage distributed leadership practices such as school leadership teams to carry out school improvement tasks. Both distributed leadership practices and MTSS are directly impacted by the practices of formal leadership (i.e., principals). In addition, enablers of and barriers to distributed leadership for MTSS should be investigated. This current …

A Macro Social Examination Of The Relationship Between Disabilities And Crime Using Neighborhood And County Level Data, Natasha A. Baloch

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last few decades, there has been a consistent increase in mental illnesses in the US population. This has also lead to increased interactions of those with mental illnesses and/or disabilities with law enforcement and the criminal justice system. Despite these instances, there is limited research on the relationship between disabilities, mental health issues and crime in the large body of criminological research. Further, the current extant research is a) outside the field of Criminology, b) primarily focuses on those with only intellectual or developmental disabilities and/or c) does not examine this relationship at the macro level, despite evidence …

A Case Study In Applied Behavior Analysis: Using Prevent-Teach-Reinforce Strategies To Decrease A Student’S Task Refusal, Kiersten L. Whitaker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Task refusal might hinder academic performance (e.g., grades, test scores, etc.); however,one model that has been proven to help decrease problem behaviors is the Prevent-TeachReinforce (PTR) model. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the PTR model on the assessment and treatment of problem behavior for one high school student’s task refusal. Results demonstrated the PTR model helped identify plausible functions of task refusal; furthermore, the PTR model led to the development of an effective intervention that was feasible, function-based, and resulted in decreasing task refusal. Keywords: classrooms, function-based intervention, prevent-teach-reinforce, task refusal

Evaluating Technology-Based Self-Monitoring Of Performance With Reinforcement For Students With Disabilities, Madeline Rose Risse

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study evaluated the use of a technology-based self-monitoring intervention augmented with differential reinforcement and focused on self-monitoring of performance to increase task completion and reduce off-task behavior in students with disabilities. Three students with disabilities served in an inclusive 5th-grade general education classroom participated in the study. A concurrent multiple baseline design across participants with an ABC sequence was used to evaluate the intervention outcomes. A general education teacher of the participating students implemented the intervention that involved student training on self-monitoring of performance (SMP) using an app and delivery of reinforcement contingent on task completion and accuracy of …

Curricular Assemblages: Understanding Student Writing Knowledge (Re)Circulation Across Genres, Adam Phillips

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation proposes that the field of Writing Studies (WS) as well as writing program administrators (WPAs) should integrate quantitative methods into curricular assessment in order to improve pedagogical practices within their curricula. Through the use of the theoretical framework of assemblage theory, a theory that has been underutilized within WS, and the lens of linguistic, cultural, and substantive (LCS) language patterns, this study attempts to identify and understand student writing knowledge circulation and recirculation within one local curriculum. As well, with the incorporation of technological tools such as RAND-Lex, WPAs and WS researchers can identify granular patterns within student …

Covid-19: A Developing Crisis For Quantitative Reasoning, Nathan D. Grawe

Numeracy

Assessment data show substantial learning losses resulting from pandemic-era teaching and learning. While all learning domains have been affected, mathematics performance shows particularly large losses among elementary and secondary school students. Advocates for quantitative reasoning in high schools and colleges should anticipate weaker levels of basic numeracy among entering cohorts for a decade to come. As a consequence, the urgency to reform curricula and student support has never been greater.

Justice Through Practice: Inquiry On The Development Of Preservice Teachers’ Teaching For Social Justice, Bethany Silva, Elyse L. Hambacher, Ruth Wharton-Mcdonald

Journal of Practitioner Research

This article reports on a collaboration among three teacher educators to facilitate pre-service teacher (PST)s’ equity literacy through a social-justice themed afterschool program for elementary-aged children that was embedded in PSTs’ coursework. The teacher educators engaged in practitioner inquiry (e.g., Anderson, Herr, & Nihlen, 2007; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009), posing the question, “What happens when preservice teachers use justice-oriented children’s literature to facilitate discussions about inequity with young children?” We used inductive analysis (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014) to observe themes across 17 PSTs’ written and videotaped reflections, collected over two semesters. Reflections pointed to a fear of the unknown …

Wwa Reflection: Losing Sight, Making Scholarship, Sabrina M. Durso

ABO: Interactive Journal for Women in the Arts, 1640-1830

No abstract provided.

Surveying The Landscape Of Numbers In U.S. News, John Voiklis, Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein, Bennett Attaway, Uduak G. Thomas, Shivani Ishwar, Patti Parson, Laura Santhanam, Isabella Isaacs-Thomas

Numeracy

The news arguably serves to inform the quantitative reasoning (QR) of news audiences. Before one can contemplate how well the news serves this function, we first need to determine how much QR typical news stories require from readers. This paper assesses the amount of quantitative content present in a wide array of media sources, and the types of QR required for audiences to make sense of the information presented. We build a corpus of 230 US news reports across four topic areas (health, science, economy, and politics) in February 2020. After classifying reports for QR required at both the conceptual …

Effectiveness Of An Early Literacy Intervention For Increasing Teen Parents' Child-Directed Speech And Conversational Turns, Deborah H. Christie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Children’s language ability upon entry to kindergarten is a powerful predictor of reading achievement throughout elementary school; yet disparities in children’s language growth have been detected as early as 18 months of age. These disparities have been linked to the quantity and quality of speech provided to children as they are learning to talk. The current study employed a single-case multiple-baseline across participants experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of an early literacy intervention to increase teen parents’ child-directed speech and conversational turns. The intervention was delivered one-on-one via videoconferencing by a teen parent peer coach. Participants included teen parents …

Narratives Of Success: How Honors College Newcomers Frame The Entrance To College, Cayla Lanier

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Starting college marks an important period of transition for young people, as they manage multiple changes at once and begin to establish identities independent from their parents. The first year college student experience has been the focus of a great deal of academic research, as scholars and practitioners seek to discover the best way to support students and ensure they remain successfully enrolled at the university. However, very little of this research attends to the specific experiences of Honors College students. Further, a focus on the communicative process of transitioning, or organizational socialization, may add to what is currently known. …

Teachers' Perspectives Of Implementing Restorative Justice, Antonio G. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of restorative justice in the school system is an emerging philosophy for handling student discipline that seeks alternative methods for solving problematic behavior than traditional or retributive approaches that are detrimental to the education and well-being of students. Student discipline is a controversial topic in education circles, resulting in many school districts looking to implement restorative practice program initiatives. Responses that are restorative, largely decrease the chances of recidivism. Zero-tolerance policies that were originally enforced to keep schools safe, have proven to not have the desired effect as intended, most arguably making schools less safe. There is a …

Retaining And Supporting Graduate Racially Minoritized Students: A Critical Analysis, Patricia Y. Gills

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to critique the racial status quo of a school psychology graduate training program by gaining the perspectives of former and current racially minoritized students from the program. Additionally, this study aimed to utilize this information to provide implications for how to dismantle the racist and oppressive structures within the school psychology program. This study also aimed to analyze the success of research recommendations in helping racially minoritized students defeat the systemic barriers to completing a school psychology program. I conducted one-hour, semi-structured interviews of eight school psychology graduate racially minoritized students from the school psychology program. I …

“Practice Basic Hygiene, And You’Ll Stay Healthy”: How Primary School Reading Textbooks Transmitted Cultural Education In The Soviet Union, Victoria Storozenko

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Russia’s Cultural Revolution, beginning after the October Revolution in 1917, produced a broadly defined understanding of culture and cultural education at Russian schools that encompassed even basic hygiene and health. Drawing from postdoctoral research, this paper discusses the Cultural Revolution’s impact and its ideas on cultural education as presented in textbooks for 10-year general education schools in the Soviet Union. Discourse analysis revealed that the schoolbooks acted as an interface between a functional education system and changes in its surrounding environment, especially changes due to the Cultural Revolution. Amid today’s COVID-19 pandemic, the study’s findings raise several questions about what …

Quantitative Literacy And Guns, William Briggs

Numeracy

Briggs, William. 2017. How America Got Its Guns: A History of the Gun Violence Crisis; (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press). 352 pp. Paperback: ISBN 978-0-8263-5813-4. E-book ISBN 978-0-8263-5814-1.

Quantitative literacy and statistics are just two of many disciplines required to understand the problem of gun violence in America. However, it’s also useful to appreciate their limitations in an issue that is so complex.

Be Careful! That Is Probably Bullshit! Review Of Calling Bullshit: The Art Of Skepticism In A Data-Driven World By Carl T. Bergstrom And Jevin D. West, James B. Schreiber

Numeracy

Bergstrom, C. T., & West, J. D. 2021. Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. NY: Random House. 336 pp. ISBN 978-0525509189

The authors provide a journey through the numerical bullshit that surrounds our daily lives. Each chapter has multiple examples of specific types of bullshit that each of us experience on any given day. Most importantly, information on how to identify bullshit and refute it are provided so that reader finishes the book with a set of skills to be a more engaged and critical interpreter of information. The writing has a quick and lively …

Lessons From The Pandemic, Nathan D. Grawe

Numeracy

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of quantitative literacy--for policy makers and the public at large. While all aspects of numeracy have been shown relevant to the past year, our need for broader statistical literacy appear particularly pressing. Pandemic experiences may motivate greater interest in developing numeracy skills.

Development And Validation Of A Scale To Measure Songwriting Self-Efficacy (Sses) With Secondary Music Students, Patrick K. Cooper

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Social cognitive theory was developed to explain how individuals learn, in part, by witnessing the behavior of others. Self-efficacy is a construct within social cognitive theory which indicates the beliefs that an individual can be successful at a task under specific situational demands. The sources of self-efficacy include self-evaluating past experiences to predict future success, comparing our abilities to those around us, the verbal and social feedback we get from others, and the physiological feelings we experience when engaged in or thinking about the task. Measures of self-efficacy have been shown to be accurate predictors of successful learning outcomes, achievement, …

School Nurses’ Attitudes And Perceptions Toward Supporting Students With Chronic Health Conditions In An Ecological System, Destiny L. Singleton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Chronic health conditions impact one in four school-aged youth (Van Cleave, Gortmaker, & Perrin, 2010). Supplemental to the medical challenges that students with chronic health conditions face, they also are at risk for a variety of academic, behavioral, and social-emotional adversities. Using an ecological approach for addressing the diverse needs of students with chronic health conditions has been deemed valuable due to the array of key stakeholders, institutions, policies, and cultural norms that impact the development of the pediatric population. A key stakeholder in supporting the functioning of school-aged children with chronic illnesses is the school nurse. School nurses’ skills …

Directing Attention In Second Language Phonological Contrast Learning, Laura Conover

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Why are some people better at learning new languages than others? There is a rich body of research examining this issue from multiple perspectives and at all levels of language. This study attempts to add to that knowledge at the most fundamental level of language by examining potential influences on the learning of novel phoneme contrasts. The purpose of this study was to explore whether individual differences in attentional capabilities would help adults learn a non-native phonological contrast, and whether providing explicit directions that would guide the learners’ attention could help boost their performance. VCV recordings of the Thai /p/ …

Esol Educational Programs For Secondary Slife: Planning For Educational Equity, Terri L. Mossgrove

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students with Limited or Interrupted Formal Education (SLIFE) are a sub-group of English Learners (ELs). Policies related to the language education programming for secondary SLIFE in United States public brick and mortar schools were examined through applied policy research using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) for document analysis. Documents for this analysis included the 1990 Florida Consent Decree, District English Language Learner (ELL) Plans, as well as district English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Programs, and a sampling of school based ESOL program information shared on public facing websites. The study focused on current practices in one state related to secondary …

Behavior Analytic Interventions For Promoting Skill Acquisition In Individuals With Asd: Two Case Studies, Taylor Marie Comber

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This report describes two case studies that used behavior analytic interventions to promote skill acquisition during structured instructional activities for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The first study examined the effects of presession pairing (PSP) implemented by a teacher in the natural classroom setting for a 6-year-old with ASD whose problem behavior was associated with gaining access to attention and escaping from task demands. Results showed PSP augmented with a visual cue resulted in increased on-task behavior and decreased disruptive behavior. The second study examined the use of discrete trial training (DTT) for a 16-year-old female adolescent with ASD …

A Critical Look At The Failure Of Mainstream Economics, Joseph M. Dipoli

Journal of Global Business Insights

Book Review

Foundations of real-world economics: What every economics student needs to know (2nd ed.), by John Komlos, New York, Routledge, 2019, 306 pp., $42.95 (Paperback), ISBN 9781138296541.

Many people in the United States of America are dissatisfied with the outcomes of the economy and some are suggesting measures that seem socialistic. The time has come to recognize that mainstream economics as taught in our schools is not serving students at all. The research sharing platform of the Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association (LACEA) states that John Komlos’s textbook Foundations of Real-World Economics: What Every Economics Student Needs to …

Generic Expectations In First Year Writing: Teaching Metadiscoursal Reflection And Revision Strategies For Increased Generic Uptake Of Academic Writing, Kaelah Rose Scheff

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines how student uptake of academic genres in First Year Writing (FYW) are challenged by the concept of writing expectations. Previous research on uptake has focused on uptake between genres with little attention to the role of writing expectations on the event of uptake or how to translate these expectations to students pedagogically. Identifying pedagogical uptake strategies for students to use across academic genres provides instructors with insight into student challenges in FYW and strategies for students to understand their own writing on a metacognitive level by assessing writing expectations. My thesis investigates uptake of academic writing in …

Success And Sustainability Of Sponsored International Development Programs In Education: A Narrative Inquiry, Sara Beth Leikin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In a 2008 working paper published by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the authors lamented that, despite billions of dollars in investment in global education initiatives, access to education had been improved in targeted areas, but the return on investment with regards to learning outcomes was “much less impressive” (Gillies & Jester Quijada, 2008). From 2012-2017, USAID engaged in the Egypt STEM Schools Project (ESSP) along with four partner organizations with the goal of building model science and mathematics public schools that would challenge the educational status quo by providing students with hands-on, constructivist learning and providing an alternative …

Problematizing Florida’S Extended Reading Time Policy: A Critical Investigation Of Place, Demographics, And Curricula, Carrie L. Gentner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate Florida’s extended reading time (ERT) policy as enacted during the 2016-2017 school year. This policy requires elementary schools ranking among the 300 lowest performing in the state, as measured by state assessments, to provide an additional hour of reading instruction beyond the regular school day. Extending upon the work of a pilot study suggesting an overrepresentation of minoritized students within low 300 schools, this study presents the geographic, demographic, and socioeconomic distributions of the ERT mandate for a criterion sample of seven districts. Further, the pilot study indicated an underrepresentation of minoritized …

How Social Workers Count: Numbers And Social Issues Came To Be, Michael A. Lewis

Numeracy

Lewis, Michael Anthony. 2019. Social Workers Count: Numbers and Social Issues (New York: Oxford University Press) 224 pp. ISBN 978-0190467135.

This essay introduces Social Workers Count: Numbers and Social Issues by Michael Anthony Lewis. Inspired by the seminal work of Bennett and Briggs, Lewis shares how he came to write a math book for social workers to meet new demands as the field has developed to include more quantitative concepts. The result is a book that may be of interest to many in the quantitative reasoning movement in the social sciences and beyond.