Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Diversity Within Bachelor Of Social Work Programs: Perspectives And Interventions, Brian Warner

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Diversity is a term that has become increasingly relevant in the field of social work. Perhaps there is no other sector of the social work profession where diversity is more relevant than in higher education. With the ever changing ethnic and racial make-up of the United States, it is imperative that social work educators are able to convey the differences and/or challenges that working with diverse individuals will present. One of the easiest and most direct ways for this to occur is for the student body itself to be diverse. Yet, many social work programs have remained ethnically and racially …

Athletic Academic Reform: Does The Level Of Spending On Academic Services By Athletic Departments Affect The Academic Progress Rates Of Revenue Sports?, James W. Batley

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

This study examines the relationship between the level of spending on academic services per student-athlete for 22 athletic departments within the Division I structure and the recently established performance measure outlined in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Academic Reform: the Academic Progress Rate (APR).

The importance placed on student-athletes to learn, develop, and maintain academic eligibility has led to the implementation of a number of academic tutorial and support programs provided by college and university athletic departments. This analysis investigates the relationship between the level of spending on student-athlete academic services and student-athlete academic performance for two …

Public School Performance: Examining The Relationship Between Teacher Training Program And School Achievement, Lindsay Griffith

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Few would argue the importance of providing today‟s youth with a solid educational foundation, yet the United States ranks as low as 25th educationally among 34 OECD developed nations1 . Many researchers have studied the various factors affecting student performance in the K-12 educational system, but mixed, ambiguous, or conflicting results have led to a general sense of uncertainty regarding who to hold accountable. The research has tended to focus on teacher effectiveness or school funding. While those are among a wealth of valid inputs to examine, this study attempted to determine the viability of examining the effect of teacher …

Examining Kentucky Public Schools: Gender Differences In An Index Measure Of Accountability For Academic Standards, Khin Thazin Myint

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The Kentucky public education system has made progress over the past 20 years after a number of reforms beginning in 1990. A stated goal of these reforms has been not only to improve the overall performance of students in a school, but to also ensure that no student groups be allowed to fall behind. To accomplish this, the state has adopted and implemented goals that are shared with those of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, including school accountability and a goal of proficiency for all students by the year 2014. However the most recent analysis of three statewide …

An Analysis Of Bachelor's Degree Production By Kentucky Public 4-Year Universities: Before And After The Kentucky Postsecondary Education Improvement Act Of 1997, Jonathan Pruitt

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

With the passage of the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997, Governor Paul Patton and the Kentucky General Assembly sought to improve the standard of living and quality of life in the state through increasing the educational attainment of its citizens. The production of bachelor’s degrees by the state’s public four-year universities is a key driver in increasing educational attainment and, therefore, meeting the goals of the legislation. This paper uses interrupted time series regression analysis to evaluate whether Kentucky public four-year universities have increased the rate at which bachelor’s degrees are produced in the period of time since the …

Informal Karst Education In The United States And Internationally, Leslie A. North

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the abundance of karst terrains and the important role they play in a wide variety of roles including supplying freshwater drinking supplies, no single, comprehensive study investigates the role of informal education for the improved understanding and protection of the terrains. Commonly overlooked anthropogenic karst disturbances partially occur because of the poor dissemination of scientific information to the general populace and policymakers and budgetary and time constraints of municipalities, thus generating a need to use informal education to fill these shortcomings. The purpose of this study was to: 1) establish the status of and quantify the amount of karst-related …

A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study Of Teacher Effectiveness: Analyses Of Award-Winning Teachers In The United States And China, Xianxuan Xu

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

No abstract provided.

Funding The Fundamentals: A Peace First Teacher’S Recommendations For Increased Quality Sixth Grade Curriculum To Effectively Engage And Educate An Increasing Quantity Of Students., Pamela Gonzales

Capstone Collection

In the United States, the top 20% of the population owns 85% of the wealth. This leaves only 15% of the wealth for the rest of the population. This clear disparity of wealth, in combination with the common practice of racial segregation (created by 300 years of inequality) has direct correlations to violence in United States cities. Boston is one of these cities. Impoverished minority neighborhoods are struggling because they exist in a society that is essentially ignoring them. There are fewer opportunities in poor minority neighborhoods, particularly for young people. As a result, a cycle of violence has continued …

Paradise Lost, Found Or Created? Expectations Between Teachers And Vulnerable Children: Case Study On Peace House Secondary School, Northern Tanzania, Kelli Bee

Capstone Collection

The orphans and vulnerable children of northern Tanzania are offered a unique opportunity of education if selected to attend Peace House Secondary School. The school selects the most needy of this ostracized demographic and offers high quality education by focusing on student-centered techniques.

This study investigates the expectations between students and teachers using ethnographic methods carried out in 2010 and 2011, including student-wide survey, classroom observations and interviews with both teachers and students. Student perspective was intentionally of particular focus in data collection.

The study found that expectations which were shared by all participants revolve around passing exams. Students are …

Reciprocity And Reflection: Creating An Evaluation Plan For Proworld Belize, Kelly Kocher

Capstone Collection

The evaluation plan for ProWorld Belize is intended to focus on the primary principles of service-learning, which include reciprocity between the community served and the service providers, as well as reflection on the interaction between the program participants and the community served. This plan aims to facilitate ProWorld’s mission to empower communities, promote social and economic development, conserve the environment, and cultivate educated compassionate global citizens, by addressing the needs for mutual relationships and intentional self-reflection in service-learning. This plan offers assessment tools for including community partners in the evaluation process of ProWorld Belize’s programs and for evaluating the cross-cultural …

International Service-Learning Program In Guatemala On Mayan Education, Language Maintenance & Social Activism: A Program For The City College Of New York, Cuny, Kenneth Yanes

Capstone Collection

ABSTRACT: The CLC program design, International Service-Learning Program in Guatemala on Mayan Education, Language Maintenance & Social Activism: A Program for The City College of New York, CUNY, proposes a six-week program with a chief focus on service, research and experiential learning. The program aims to introduce all participants to the current issues in Mayan culture and society through lectures and service-learning activities at Casa Xelajú and affiliated NGOs in the Quetzaltenango area. As an international service-learning program, its participants will be incorporated to assist host organizations that have a similar interest to the curriculum of the course. Participants are …

Perceptions Of Access To Education: Inclusion And Exclusion For Non-Karen Refugees In Mae La Camp, Matthew Gross

Capstone Collection

Mae La refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border is the largest of the seven “Karen” refugee camps in the area and is considered the center of education for refugees. Continued fighting inside Burma between the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and the ethnic armies as well as the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis in 2008 have greatly altered the demographics in Mae La refugee camp. Perceptions of Access to Education: Inclusion and Exclusion for Non-Karen Refugees in Mae La Camp attempts to understand, through qualitative data, how non-Karen speaking refugees perceive their access to education. Is education in Mae …

Cognitive Load And Its Major Pedagogical Implications, Focus On Education In Jordan, Bassam Kutkut

MA TESOL Collection

Through my teaching experience in Jordan, I noticed the amount of work students had to do. I noticed the tremendous amount information they received from their teachers on a daily basis. I also noticed that students forgot most of the information they learned in class right after their exams. I was wondering if that’s the right way of teaching. Then, after my study at SIT, I learned that this is a cognitive overload that can impair the learning process.

Cognitive load refers to the information processing abilities in the human memory system which has limitations. When these limitations are exceeded, …

Voices Of Parolees Who Have Chosen A Community College Element Within A Reentry Program, Kristi S. Potts

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe and understand how parolees experience participating in the community college element of a reentry program. This program was located in a Midwestern county and the parolees who chose to participate in the higher education aspect of this reentry program were a small subset of those who participated in the overall reentry program. Research questions included: What influences a parolees' decision to enroll in the community college element within a reentry program? How do such parolees describe their experiences as a student in a community college? How do such parolees describe the …

Bayesian Item Response Theory: Statistical Inference And Power Analysis, Jason W. Bodnar

Dissertations

The regulatory pharmaceutical approval process is flawed in that industry clinical trials (ICTs) are always powered for efficacy and rarely powered for safety. The key safety parameter is the adverse event (AE). This practice may result in efficacious products with confounded safety. An ICT’s ability to be powered for detecting AE trends may improve patient safety. Therefore, this dissertation’s purpose was to determine if power analysis resulted in feasible sample sizes for substantiating AE hypotheses. AEs were modeled with three Bayesian 2PL IRT models. The unidimensional latent trait, transfusion-related AE, was modeled as a patient predisposition for experiencing an AE. …

Death By Boredom: The Role Of Visual Processing Theory In Written Evaluation Communication, Stephanie D. H. Evergreen

Dissertations

Evaluation reporting is an educational act and, as such, should be communicated using principles that support cognition. This study drew upon visual processing theory and theory-based graphic design principles to develop the Evaluation Report Layout Checklist intended to guide report development and support cognition in the readers of evaluation reports. It was then reviewed by an expert panel and applied by a group of raters to a set of evaluation reports obtained from the Informal Science Education evaluation website with maximum variability sampling. Results showed fairly high exact percent agreement and strong to very strong correlation with the author’s ratings. …

Learning Organization Principles: The Impact On A Midwest State Government As Perceived By Its Employees, Rosalee Billingslea Rush

Dissertations

This study sought to determine the extent to which learning organization constructs influence performance in state government. The overarching purpose was to examine the relationship between Peter Senge’s five learning disciplines and organizational performance.

The study utilized an ex post facto survey design. The sample population was composed of supervisors and professional and administrative staff within the 19 agencies of a Midwestern state government. Participants were administered an instrument that asked them to rate their perception of the organization and its performance along seven dimensions of learning. Of the randomly selected 381 participants, 110 (or 28.9%) returned the survey instrument. …

Creating A Learning Environment To Increase Early Adolescent Motivation: A Dissertation, Mark Logan

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study focuses on early adolescent motivation in school. It is an inquiry that seeks to understand the factors that contribute to students’ engagement in their learning through student and teacher perceptions. I examined significant research often cited as impacting motivation, including early adolescent development, middle school structures, transitions, student/teacher relationships, and parental involvement. I surveyed 345 sixth grade students on their perceptions of their own learning, thoughts, and behaviors. Participating students attended schools with various middle school age configurations, including K-8, K-12, 5-8, and 6-8. Schools represented public and charter public schools and were located in urban, suburban, and …

Perceived Satisfaction Of Counseling Doctoral Students With Their Dissertation Chairperson: Examining Selection Criteria And Chairperson Behaviors, Cheryl Warren Neale-Mcfall

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

The relationship between doctoral students and their chairperson has been linked to students' successful completion of their dissertation and program of study (Gardner, 2009; Lovitts, 2001). It is often the case that failure to complete the dissertation is what prevents doctoral students from completing their degree. When students do not successfully complete their degrees, attrition rates rise and programs and students feel the burden, both financially and as an investment of time. (Bair & Haworth, 2004). Studies indicate that many students fall short of completing the dissertation, or take much longer than expected, due to a lack of supervision or …

A Qualitative Investigation Of The Use Of An Art-Based Technique In Counselor Group Supervision, Cheryl Shiflett

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

While the counseling community embraces the use of creative approaches in counseling and supervision, few researchers have attempted to empirically describe the process of including an art-based technique into counselor group supervision. A grounded theory design guided the exploration of the factors and processes of including one art-based technique into six counselor supervision groups. Six doctoral-level supervisors who were trained in an art-based technique known as the visual case processing method introduced the method to their group supervisees who were completing a semester-long practicum or internship. Data collection methods included individual and focus group interviews, observations of visual case presentations, …

Certification Of Financial Aid Administrators, Stacey A. Peterson

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

The certification of financial aid administrators has been debated for over 37 years. A job satisfaction survey conducted by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA, 2008a) revealed that college and university administrators' perceptions of the efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of the services provided by the financial aid office have a direct effect on the job satisfaction of financial aid practitioners. The study also hinted at a possible link between these perceptions and the resources allocated to the financial aid office. Open-ended comments collected as a part of the survey suggested that while members of the financial aid …

Education And Economy: The Impact Of Investment In Human Capital Through Education On Unemployment, Zafer Pirim

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

The impact of investment in human capital on economy has always been discussed in the literature. Existing studies in the literature generally focus on short term impacts of investment in human capital. While some studies see significant impact, some other ones see little or no impact. This study manipulated data that was cover a long span of time, a 25-year period. In this study the researcher inquired whether there is a significant correlation between education and economy in terms of the impacts of investment in human capital on unemployment over a long span of time. In this empirical study panel …

Ethically Speaking: Academic Librarians' Perceptions Of Information Privacy, Intellectual Freedom, And The Usa Patriot Act, Alicia Carol Willson-Metzger

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

This study examined five research questions relating to U.S. academic librarians' perceptions of and attitudes toward intellectual freedom, information privacy, and the USA PATRIOT Act: 1) Do academic librarians' self-perceived levels of affiliation with the American Library Association affect their attitudes toward the USA PATRIOT Act (2001)? 2) Do academic librarians' self-perceptions of affiliation with the American Library Association affect their attitudes regarding intellectual freedom for librarians and, if so, in which direction? 3) Does the USA PATRIOT Act (2001) compromise intellectual freedom as practiced by academic librarians? 4) Does the USA PATRIOT Act (2001) make academic librarians rethink …

Namaste: Pedagogical Methods For Designing Yoga & Art Experiences For/With Teen Participants, Tiffani Olivia Bryant

English Theses & Dissertations

Within this study, teens are asked to analyze yoga studio homepages in relation to their experiences with the practice of yoga. This dissertation research engages the teen girls as participants responsible for co-designing the learning constructs through which they make meaning out of their experiences. This research is rooted in informational design, experiential design, and design practices for a teen demographic through the artifact of yoga.

Participant observation is used to examine how eight teen girls understand yoga as a practice, internalize their experiences with yoga, and thusly communicate what they have learned about yoga and a sampling of digital …

A Narrative Inquiry Into The Learning Experiences Of Deaf Individuals In Tennis, Robbie Jane. Carmichael

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Deaf individuals do not have equal access to participating in sports as their hearing counterparts in the United States. Tennis is one sport to which this lack of access applies. The purpose of this qualitative, narrative research study was to add to the research literature by illuminating the learning experiences of Deaf individuals in tennis in the United States. This study was built on a tripartite conceptual framework consisting of motivation, interaction, and the flow experience. The study explored how tennis influenced other aspects in the lives of Deaf individuals. These other aspects included exposure to the game, learning opportunities, …

You Don't Know What You Don't Know: Investigating The Information Needs Of Clients Of Web Based Public Sector Information Services, Julie Ann Johnson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research grew from two frustrations. The first was the personal frustration experienced when attempting to find information on websites; especially government websites. Often the sites were loaded down with all sorts of information such as corporate organisation charts and press releases but lacked the information which would allow clients to interact effectively with the agency or meet their information needs and move on. The second frustration was that of Edith Cowan University students who battled with a diverse, overlapping and incomplete set of both online and paper based resources as they sought to make decisions about their selections of …

The Impact Of Attachment Disorder On The Family And Child, Stephanie Durocher

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

John Bowlby's attachment theory suggests that based on their needs for protection, comfort and nurturance, infants form attachments with their primary caregivers. The initial relationships a person has with others will serve as a blueprint for all future relationships. This connection has a significant influence on every area of a person's life, including cognition, physical and emotional health, future relationships, education and development of values. When an infant's needs are met with inconsistency, abuse or maltreatment, the influence on a child's life and those caring for the child is widespread. This study sought to explore the impact caring for a …

History Education And Identity Formation: A Case Study Of Uganda, Takako Mino

CMC Senior Theses

History education builds the foundation of a common past necessary for the formation of group identity. Evaluating History curricula is important because group identity guides people’s political behavior. This Uganda case study demonstrates how different actors have manipulated History education in order to enhance the saliency of ethnic, national, and regional identities. The expansion of nationalized education and the teaching of Ugandan, East African, and African history have contributed to fostering the rise of national consciousness in Uganda. Greater awareness of national identity has promoted national integration while marginalizing non-school educated people.