Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

How Much Do You Care About Education? Exploring Fluctuations Of Public Interest In Education Issues Among Top National Priorities In The U.S., Dana Nehoran

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It is well known that a strong education system produces citizens who are more engaged in civil and social duties, with obvious benefits to society and the individuals. Policymakers who have the power to help improve the education system frequently rely on the news or the polls to better understand the issues involved, but these tools are often unable to answer customized questions on the public view with a large enough coverage.

Monitoring the American public interest in education over the years is not new. In fact, a number of national polling agencies have tracked education as part of their …

The Experience Of The Local Control Accountability Plan, Angela Carter Pascual

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In 2013 the California Legislation passed a new K-12 School accountability mandate.

The Local Control Accountability Plan was sought to increase the educational equity for targeted student groups in addition to allowing school districts to mine a diverse set of local school data to develop goals in the 8 priority areas that speak to the needs of their local students. A requirement of the LCAP was that school districts include a diverse set of stakeholders to work in a collaborative manner to develop, critique, and refine local goals. Stakeholder groups are required to consist of district-level administrators, teachers, staff, students, …

Connections: Social Media And Parents Raising Children With Profound Multiple Disabilities, Amy Ann Terra

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Parenting plays an important role in many adult lives. Parenting a child with profound multiple disabilities results in a distinct parenting experience. This qualitative phenomenological study examined the role of social media in the lives of parents raising children with profound multiple disabilities. Five parents raising children with profound multiple disabilities were interviewed, and resulting themes were identified.

Consistent with previous research, parents described the initial adaptation to their child’s disability-related needs as the most challenging period of their parenting to date. Adaptation was followed by an acclimation to a new normal of their parenting experience. Parents described moving from …

Designing Leadership: Using Design Thinking To Create, Practices, And Implement A Formal Leadership Development Program, Jon Samuel Wedding

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine what happens when design thinking is used to create a leadership development program, increase leadership competencies, and participants perceptions of design thinking. This study uses action research to examine the experiences and design thinking to create a leadership program in a formal hierarchical. This study collected data during a two-cycle action research process. The findings from this study revealed that design thinking can be used to create a formal leadership development program. The ability to use design thinking’s human centered design can also help increase the leadership competencies of trust and collaborations. …