Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons™

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

School Psychology

Theses/Dissertations

2013

Institution
Keyword
Publication

Articles 1 - 30 of 69

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Lunch Buddy Mentoring For Bullied Children: Four Case Studies And A Thematic Analysis, Samantha Gregus Dec 2013

Lunch Buddy Mentoring For Bullied Children: Four Case Studies And A Thematic Analysis, Samantha Gregus

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lunch Buddy (LB) mentoring, a type of school-based mentoring, holds promise as a selective intervention for children who are chronically bullied (Elledge, Cavell, Ogle, & Newgent, 2010). This study expanded upon previous research (Elledge et al., 2010) by utilizing a case-study approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods to gain more evidence about the palatability of the intervention and to uncover possible mechanisms by which the intervention is working. Participants were four elementary school children in grades four and five who had been identified as bullied based on child and teacher reports. Quantitative data were collected at multiple points during the …

Go to article

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Progress Monitoring As A Second Grade Mathematics Intervention, Courtney L. Bartlett Psyd Dec 2013

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Progress Monitoring As A Second Grade Mathematics Intervention, Courtney L. Bartlett Psyd

All Student Scholarship

Progress monitoring has been shown to be effective for gauging student growth in the area of mathematics. Likewise, self-graphing has been shown to improve student achievement in education. The present study investigates the effectiveness of progress monitoring as an intervention with a self-graphing component for second-grade students in the area of mathematics. This research examines the impact of progress monitoring on increased math skills, accuracy, and generalization to universal screening assessments. While results were variable, students’ accuracy improved upon implementation of progress monitoring. All-together, results suggest that progress monitoring with selfgraphing can be an effective intervention.

Go to article

A Comparison Of Behavioral And Academically-Focused Goals Within The Mystery Motivator: Effects On Disruptive Behavior And Academic Performance, Christina Michelle Hardy Dec 2013

A Comparison Of Behavioral And Academically-Focused Goals Within The Mystery Motivator: Effects On Disruptive Behavior And Academic Performance, Christina Michelle Hardy

Dissertations

Class-wide group contingencies are effective for decreasing inappropriate behavior and increasing academic performance. An interdependent group contingency, a subtype of group contingencies, sets a specific goal for performance across the class, and a reward is delivered only if the group meets the specified criterion. One interdependent group contingency, the Mystery Motivator, has been designed to target behavioral or academically-based goals; however these goals have guided the type of data collected. There are no published studies, to date, that compare behavioral and academic goals and the effects of each type of goal on both decreasing disruptive behavior as well as improving …

Go to article

Improving The On-Task Behavior Of Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders Using An Ipad-Created Video Self-Modeling Intervention, James Hood Babcock Psyd Oct 2013

Improving The On-Task Behavior Of Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders Using An Ipad-Created Video Self-Modeling Intervention, James Hood Babcock Psyd

All Student Scholarship

Developing effective and efficient methods to increase the on-task behavior of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) is an important step in improving the academic performance and outcomes of this population. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a video self-modeling intervention to improve the on-task behavior of two school-age students with EBD. To demonstrate the feasibility of using emerging technology to carry out an evidence-based intervention, this study utilized an Apple iPad to capture, edit, and display self-modeling videos promoting on-task behavior during independent math work. A multiple baseline across subjects design was employed in order to evaluate the …

Go to article

Mental Illness Prevention: Exploring Effective Coping Strategies For School-Aged Children, Julie-Anne Mccarthy Aug 2013

Mental Illness Prevention: Exploring Effective Coping Strategies For School-Aged Children, Julie-Anne Mccarthy

Psychology Graduate Publications

Anxiety Disorders are the most prevalent mental illnesses in Western society, affecting the population in multiple ways. Onset for many anxiety disorders is as early as childhood or adolescence. The earlier the onset, the more chronic or severe it may be; it is important to focus on preventing anxiety disorders before they are developed. Research has shown that adaptive coping strategies can work as a mediator between stress and mental health. The current study explored effective coping strategies for young children in the general population, in an effort to further expand our knowledge about coping in children, and increase the …

Go to article

Analysis Of The Role Of Homework In Predicting And Improving Exam Performance, Charles E. Galyon Aug 2013

Analysis Of The Role Of Homework In Predicting And Improving Exam Performance, Charles E. Galyon

Doctoral Dissertations

Homework is one of many factors thought to improve students’ academic performance, given that homework provides a means for students not only to master course content, but also to develop valuable study habits, improve their time management, and learn to work independently. Unfortunately, college students commit considerably less time to homework than is conventionally thought necessary, and their answers to homework questions frequently indicate an erroneous and/or incomplete understanding of the course material. The current study examined relationships between potential predictors of and trends in exam performance in a large undergraduate educational psychology course. The relationship between homework completion, homework …

Go to article

Early Identification And Improvement Of Variables Related To Course Success, Carolyn Anne Blondin Aug 2013

Early Identification And Improvement Of Variables Related To Course Success, Carolyn Anne Blondin

Doctoral Dissertations

The process of identifying and improving factors related to early exam success or failure in an undergraduate setting (Ed Psych 210) was divided into 2 separate studies. The first study was a retrospective analysis of 2 years’ of data that compared high and low performers on the first course exam with respect to their subsequent success in the course. Mean comparison between initially high (N = 158) and low (N = 163) performers revealed significantly higher means for those in the former group across several academic variables (i.e., critical thinking, grade point average, subsequent exams, practice exams, quiz …

Go to article

Academic Work Ethic: Predicating Student Assignment Choice And Evaluating The Academic Work Ethic-Student Measure, John Thomas Parkhurst Aug 2013

Academic Work Ethic: Predicating Student Assignment Choice And Evaluating The Academic Work Ethic-Student Measure, John Thomas Parkhurst

Doctoral Dissertations

There were several objectives associated with the following three-study dissertation. The initial study was designed to replicate and extend previous research on the partial assignment completion effect (PAC), effort, and students’ assignment choice behavior. Our focus was to determine if individual differences, specifically work ethic, may explain why some students chose to continue to work on a partially-completed assignment as opposed to completing a different, lower-effort assignment. Our experimental and correlational results extended research on PAC and effort by suggesting that individual differences in work ethic may influence students to choose to finish what they started, even when it requires …

Go to article

The Roles Of Stress Appraisal And Self-Efficacy In Fostering Resilience To Improve Psychosocial Outcomes Following Negative Life Events Among College Students: A Multiple Mediation Analysis, Jennifer Anne Cody Aug 2013

The Roles Of Stress Appraisal And Self-Efficacy In Fostering Resilience To Improve Psychosocial Outcomes Following Negative Life Events Among College Students: A Multiple Mediation Analysis, Jennifer Anne Cody

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation study was to explore the interrelationships between stress appraisal, self-efficacy, and psychosocial outcomes (i.e., resilience and self-concept) within the context of negative life events among college students. Participants (n = 220) were undergraduate students enrolled at a large southeastern university. Study participants completed the Life Experiences Survey (Sarason et al., 1978), the General Self-Efficacy Scale (Sherer et al., 1982), the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (Connor & Davidson, 2003), the Multidimensional Self-Concept Scale (Fleming & Courtney, 1984), and the Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983). Two hypothesized models of multiple mediation were proposed to explain the …

Go to article

Effects Of Check In/Checkout With A Fading Procedure On The Academic Engagement And Problem Behavior Of Elementary School Students, Leila Mullooly Miller Aug 2013

Effects Of Check In/Checkout With A Fading Procedure On The Academic Engagement And Problem Behavior Of Elementary School Students, Leila Mullooly Miller

Dissertations

Though preliminary research indicates Check-In/Check-Out (CICO) is an effective intervention for improving problematic behavior in a variety of populations, the literature is limited in several ways. Several studies have relied on indirect measures of behavior, such as office discipline referrals (ODRs) and teacher ratings, to determine the effectiveness of CICO. However, indirect measures are not always reliable indicators of student behavior change, whereas direct observation is known to be an accurate tool for behavioral measurement. Therefore, the current study evaluated the effects of CICO on levels of problem behavior and academic engagement for a group of four elementary school students …

Go to article

Examining College Students' Use Of Protective Behavioral Strategies From The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Melissa Ann Bonnell Aug 2013

Examining College Students' Use Of Protective Behavioral Strategies From The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Melissa Ann Bonnell

Dissertations

Previous studies on college alcohol use suggest that approximately 65 - 73 percent of college students drank alcohol within the past 30 days (Johnston, O’Malley, Bachman, & Schulenberg, 2011; Nelson, Xuan, Lee, Weitzman, & Wechsler, 2009). Researchers also suggest that with increasing levels of alcohol consumption, students are more likely to experience alcohol-related consequences such as missing class, involvement with the legal system and expulsion from school. Therefore, prevention efforts have attempted to reduce the associated economic and personal consequences experienced with increased alcohol consumption. Protective behavioral strategies (PBS) such as using a designated driver, setting a predetermined time to …

Go to article

Using Brief Experimental Analyses To Identify Effective Math Interventions For Early Elementary Students, Chelsi Ronatta Clark Aug 2013

Using Brief Experimental Analyses To Identify Effective Math Interventions For Early Elementary Students, Chelsi Ronatta Clark

Dissertations

athematics difficulties, this study aimed to use a brief experimental analysis (BEA) to identify effective interventions within a response to intervention (RTI) framework. Participants included four lower elementary school students who exhibited marked problems in mathematics. The effects of mathematics interventions to increase mathematic computational fluency and accuracy were assessed during the BEA. The intervention that produced the greatest gains during the BEA was compared to the intervention that produced the least gains during an extended analysis phase. It was hypothesized that: (a) during a BEA of math interventions, students will demonstrate differential responding across interventions; (b) during a BEA …

Go to article

First-Generation Latinos At Pacific Northwest University: Their Adjustment And Experience During Freshman Year, Marco Antonio Aguirre Aug 2013

First-Generation Latinos At Pacific Northwest University: Their Adjustment And Experience During Freshman Year, Marco Antonio Aguirre

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis details the lived experiences of ten first-generation Latino students at a large public university in the Pacific Northwest. Their experience and adjustment reveal that they relied on their friends and family, especially their parents for the male participants, for support and encouragement. The help these students received in the form of caring and social capital from faculty and staff during their freshman year ensured that they made a successful adjustment to college. Participants cite influential people and programs that motivated them to succeed and become comfortable in the college student role.

Go to article

Experiences Of Resident Assistants With Potentially Suicidal Students: Identification, Referral, And Expectations, Katherine M. Bender Jul 2013

Experiences Of Resident Assistants With Potentially Suicidal Students: Identification, Referral, And Expectations, Katherine M. Bender

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

Resident Assistants (RAs), living on campus and tasked with advising students while keeping them safe, are in a position to identify and refer students who may be at risk for suicide or other mental health issues. This study examined RA ability to identify students at risk for suicide, RA comfort in working with students at risk for suicide, RA actions taken when working with students who may be at risk for suicide, and RA expectations for shared information about students the RAs have referred for counseling because they may be at risk for suicide. The study found that RAs report …

Go to article

How We Understand Intelligence And Why It Makes A Difference : A Literature Review, Maya Golden May 2013

How We Understand Intelligence And Why It Makes A Difference : A Literature Review, Maya Golden

Graduate Student Independent Studies

Investigates theories of intelligence and examines the educational implications of contrasting views. Following a personal reflection on the subject, the author conducts an extensive review of the related literature. The author indicates that the quality of a student's educational experience is greatly impacted by the view to which his or her teacher subscribes.

Go to article

Supporting The Development Of Executive Functioning Skills In Sixth Grade Students, Anne Davidson Anderson May 2013

Supporting The Development Of Executive Functioning Skills In Sixth Grade Students, Anne Davidson Anderson

Graduate Student Independent Studies

This integrative master's project explores how teachers can support the development of executive functioning skills in sixth grade students at the particular school where the author is a learning specialist (though many of the findings and recommendations can be generalized to other settings).

Go to article

Context And The Assessment Of Peer Preference: The Lunch Table Rating Scale, James Thomas Craig May 2013

Context And The Assessment Of Peer Preference: The Lunch Table Rating Scale, James Thomas Craig

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study reports on the development and initial evaluation of a novel peer-report measure of lunch mate preference. The Lunch Table Rating Scale (LTRS) was designed to assess peer preference within a narrow but important Social context while limiting the unwanted influence of reputational bias on peer ratings. Psychometric properties of the LTRS were examined using a sample of 298 fourth-grade students. The LTRS demonstrated good internal consistency and adequate stability over a four-month interval. LTRS scores were positively correlated with Social preference scores from a traditional classroom sociometric instrument and negatively correlated with self-, teacher-, and peer-reported levels of …

Go to article

Stop The Madness! College Faculty And Student Perceptions Of Classroom Incivility, Christina M. Nutt May 2013

Stop The Madness! College Faculty And Student Perceptions Of Classroom Incivility, Christina M. Nutt

Ed.D. Dissertations

Classroom incivility is causing major concern, nation-wide, to college administrators, faculty, and students. The damage caused by student incivility has been associated with a decrease in student learning, the deterioration of the classroom learning environment, lower faculty morale, and reduced student retention rates. The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental fixed research design was to explore and compare college faculty and student perceptions of type and frequency of classroom incivilities at a private college in order to provide a foundation for the development of strategies to reduce uncivil behaviors and increase student success. Study results demonstrated that faculty members and students, …

Go to article

Academic And Mental Health Functioning In College Students With Chronic Medical Conditions, Casey Lawless May 2013

Academic And Mental Health Functioning In College Students With Chronic Medical Conditions, Casey Lawless

Honors Capstone Projects - All

As medical technologies continue to improve, what used to be considered terminal illnesses are now becoming chronic medical conditions. Studies have consistently shown that children and adolescents with chronic illnesses are more absent from school than their healthy peers (Fowler, Davenport, & Garg, 1992; Taras & Potts-Datema, 2005), and perform poorly in school despite having equitable intelligence levels (Sexson & Madan-Swain, 1993). However, despite thorough documentation of this phenomenon in younger children, there is a lack of research on the effects of chronic illness among college students. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of chronic illness …

Go to article

Who We Are: Incarcerated Students And The New Prison Literature, 1995-2010, Reilly Hannah N. Lorastein May 2013

Who We Are: Incarcerated Students And The New Prison Literature, 1995-2010, Reilly Hannah N. Lorastein

Honors Projects

This project focuses on American prison writings from the late 1990s to the 2000s. Much has been written about American prison intellectuals such as Malcolm X, George Jackson, Eldridge Cleaver, and Angela Davis, who wrote as active participants in black and brown freedom movements in the United States. However the new prison literature that has emerged over the past two decades through higher education programs within prisons has received little to no attention. This study provides a more nuanced view of the steadily growing silent population in the United States through close readings of Openline, an inter-disciplinary journal featuring …

Go to article

Gender And Grade Differences In How High School Students Experience And Perceive Cyberbullying, Jeremy D. Doucette Apr 2013

Gender And Grade Differences In How High School Students Experience And Perceive Cyberbullying, Jeremy D. Doucette

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Gender and grade differences in how high school students experience and perceive cyberbullying was examined through a survey and focus groups with youth in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Survey findings revealed that boys reported cyberbullying more often than girls on most items while girls reported experiencing cyberbullying more often than boys on most items. Grade alone did not account for significant differences, but interactions with gender were sometimes found. The focus groups revealed that most students believe that girls cyberbully more than boys, but that boys are more likely than girls to view cyberbullying as a form of joking, and to …

Go to article

Message Framing Effects In The Delivery Of Sleep Hygiene Information To Parents Of Elementary And Middle School Children, Aimee L. Blackham Apr 2013

Message Framing Effects In The Delivery Of Sleep Hygiene Information To Parents Of Elementary And Middle School Children, Aimee L. Blackham

Doctoral Dissertations

In order to achieve all the benefits of sleeping, adequate quantity and quality of sleep are required, particularly for children and adolescents because of the issues of physical, emotional, and psychological development. Recent reviews of the literature have concluded children and adolescents consistently do not get enough sleep, and childhood sleep problems have serious negative effects on children and their families. Self-help guides have been proven to be effective, but the particular framing of the message is vital to its overall persuasiveness. Many researchers have found that these framing effects are important to the overall persuasiveness of a message. However, …

Go to article

Trauma And Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In Therapeutic Day School Students: Prevalence In This Population And Effective Treatment Programs, Monica Roberts Apr 2013

Trauma And Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder In Therapeutic Day School Students: Prevalence In This Population And Effective Treatment Programs, Monica Roberts

Dissertations

This survey-based, comparative study investigated the percentage of students at a suburban Chicago therapeutic day school who meet criteria for clinically significant levels of PTSD as compared to students in a general education setting. The directional hypothesis was that students placed at therapeutic day schools have a higher prevalence of PTSD than a general population of students. The method used was a survey assessment called the Child PTSD Symptom Scale (CPSS) given to 16 students at a suburban Chicago therapeutic day school. These CPSS scores were analyzed and statistically compared to CPSS scores of an already published study with students …

Go to article

Teachers' Mental Health Literacy And Capacity Towards Student Mental Health, Tamara D. Daniszewski Mar 2013

Teachers' Mental Health Literacy And Capacity Towards Student Mental Health, Tamara D. Daniszewski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The current youth mental health care system is ineffective at meeting the needs of Canadian youth. More than ever, teachers are placed on the frontlines of mental health care provision, including identification and intervention delivery. The present study explored teachers’ mental health literacy and capacity in the context of providing help to their students. Secondary data from a large-scale survey of teachers in one Ontario school board was analyzed to assess teachers’ current levels of knowledge, awareness and comfort levels in student mental health care. Teachers were compared based on teaching experience, school division, and school location, in terms of …

Go to article

The Student's Perspective: Exploring Ethnic Group Variances In Bullying Behavior Using Mixed Methods Research, Stephanie Grunewald Jan 2013

The Student's Perspective: Exploring Ethnic Group Variances In Bullying Behavior Using Mixed Methods Research, Stephanie Grunewald

Dissertations

Although bullying is a widely recognized problem among school-aged youth, current research has failed to adequately consider whether ethnicity impacts students' involvement in, and perceptions of, bullying behaviors. This study employed a mixed methodology to examine how an ethnically diverse sample of students in seventh and eighth grade described and perceived bullying within their school. Initially, the Student Comprehensive Assessment of Bullying Behavior-Revised (SCABB-R) (Varjas, Henrich & Meyers, 2008a) was administered to students attending a suburban middle school in the Midwest (N = 750; 391 males, 359 females). Individual interviews were then conducted to further explore students' perspectives of bullying …

Go to article

Assessing Stages Of Team Development In A Summer Enrichment Program, Marcella Charlotte Wright Jan 2013

Assessing Stages Of Team Development In A Summer Enrichment Program, Marcella Charlotte Wright

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Collaborative problem solving teams are an important component of successful schools. Groups move through a predictable pattern of development and it has been proposed that teams move through a similar development. The main objective of this study was to determine whether the teams that were formed during the Marshall University Summer Enrichment Program in 2012 displayed a pattern of development similar to group development. The study found that high performing teams develop similarly to groups.

Go to article

West Virginia School Psychologists' Role In Providing Mental Health Services In Schools, Cassandra K. Richardson Jan 2013

West Virginia School Psychologists' Role In Providing Mental Health Services In Schools, Cassandra K. Richardson

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the current roles of practicing school psychologists in West Virginia in providing mental health services in schools. A needs-assessment survey developed by the West Virginia School Psychologist Association (WVSPA) was distributed to all the school psychologists in West Virginia in order to determine the main services being provided in the state. The results indicated that school psychologists in West Virginia are spending a very small amount of their time providing school-based mental health services such as counseling and crisis intervention. Results also indicated that no relationship exists between years of experience, highest …

Go to article

Interpretation Of The Wisc-Iv Working Memory Index As A Measure Of Attention, Talya J. Colliflower Jan 2013

Interpretation Of The Wisc-Iv Working Memory Index As A Measure Of Attention, Talya J. Colliflower

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The WISC-IV Working Memory Index is often interpreted as a valid measure of attention and concentration. Students who score low on the WMI are frequently viewed as having attention difficulties. If the WMI is accurately interpreted as a measure of attention, then students who score low on this composite should present with attention deficits in the classroom. Data of students who were referred for an evaluation to determine special education eligibility were compared to determine the accuracy of the interpretation of the WMI and its relationship with the Inattention and other scales on the Conners 3rd Edition – Teacher Form. …

Go to article

Student Characteristics And Targeted Based Cognitive Tier Ii Interventions, Patrick M. Billups Jan 2013

Student Characteristics And Targeted Based Cognitive Tier Ii Interventions, Patrick M. Billups

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Tier II student characteristics and outcomes on a standardized reading assessment. Ninety students who scored in the lowest third on a Virginia standardized reading test were placed into one of three instructional groups: 1) a control group consistent with instruction from previous years, 2) a “teacher selected” treatment group in which teachers determined students’ cognitive processing deficits and administered a chosen intervention, and 3) a “tested” treatment group in which students were administered the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-III) and assigned interventions based on the results. …

Go to article

Predicting Proficiency On The Ohio Achievement Assessments Using I-Ready Diagnostic, Terra Ann Jones Jan 2013

Predicting Proficiency On The Ohio Achievement Assessments Using I-Ready Diagnostic, Terra Ann Jones

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Ohio’s schools are held accountable for ensuring that students become proficient in reading by the end of third grade. Curriculum-based measures are often utilized to help monitor student progress toward proficiency goals and pinpoint those students who are at risk for falling below state standards on standardized tests. Using data from third grade students in a rural county in southern Ohio, this research determines what score on the I-Ready Diagnostic must be obtained in order to achieve proficiency on the Ohio Achievement Assessments (OAA) reading component. Data were compared and a Pearson Product Moment Correlation of 0.71 was determined. A …

Go to article

Next Last