Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Identifying Successful Strategies Within An Extrinsic Reward System To Improve Behavior In The Alternative School Setting, Christian Burner

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify strategies that are successful within a school-wide extrinsic rewards system to improve alternative school student behavior in the alternative school setting. A second purpose was to rate the effectiveness of the identified strategies for improving alternative school student behavior in the alternative school setting.

Methodology: This study used a Delphi method, consisting of 3 rounds, to collect data from alternative schoolteachers who are experts in implementing strategies within a school-wide extrinsic rewards system. In Round 1, participants were asked to identify strategies to improve student behavior in the alternative school …

School Principals’ And Counselors’ Focus On College-Going: The Impact Of School Leader Expectations And Primary Counseling Goals On Postsecondary Education, Jungnam Kim, Rachel Louise Geesa, Kaylee Mcdonald

Journal of College Access

The purpose of this study was to examine how school counselors’ and principals’ primary counseling goals and expectations impact postsecondary enrollment in order to learn what best helps students achieve their postsecondary goals. It was found that school counselors’ expectations of students were positively related to students’ postsecondary education decisions. Further, it was found that principals’ primary school counseling goals regarding preparing students for postsecondary education was significantly related to an increase in students’ decisions to receive this education. These findings support existing evidence that school counselors’ high expectations and principals’ primary goals are crucial in promoting college-going culture, which …

Mental Health And Discipline In California Community Schools, Damien Phillips

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed method study was to determine if there is a difference in achievement, absenteeism, graduation rates and suspension for students enrolled in community schools that do and don’t have access to school-based mental health services. In addition, it was the purpose to identify and describe the practices most effective in improving attendance, reduction of suspension, achievement and graduation as perceived by community school employees.

Methodology: This mixed-method dissertation attempted to determine the difference between California county community schools for expelled students who have had access to school-based mental health and those who do not as …

Mental Health Of Students: A Teacher Resource, Kathryn Seguin

Honors Projects

Mental Health of Students: A Teacher Resource is a professional website regarding the four main types of mental health disorders, which are anxiety, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and substance use. The website also includes both a detailed list of legal responsibilities of teachers and a list of school personnel to be involved in improving the mental health of students. The objective is for the website to be used for the educational basis of teachers regarding mental health issues in their students and is a compilation of research information collected from several sites.

Evaluating School Counseling Site Supervisors’ Level Of Preparedness To Supervise, Amanda G. Stuckey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate school counseling site supervisors’ level of preparedness to provide adequate supervision to school counselors in training and determine if any variables could predict the level of preparedness. Professional School Counselors in the United States (N=86) were asked to complete a survey about how prepared they believed themselves to assist a supervisee in developing each ASCA (2019c) School Counselor Professional Standards and Competencies, as well as their training and experience with the supervisory process and supervision models.Results from this study indicate a clear need for continued training, as well as specialized training relevant …

An Evaluation Of The Trauma-Informed Approach Implemented At A Title I Elementary School, Aleli Vazquez

Dissertations

An Evaluation of the Trauma-Informed Approach Implemented at a Title I Elementary School assesses the merits of the implementation of an intervention to support the social emotional ability and stability of students within elementary schools; called the Trauma Informed Approach. Many children attending elementary schools bring diverse and complex experiences to the classroom setting. Students with multiple adverse childhood experiences attend the educational system. Many students have a more difficult time concentrating and succeeding due to anxiety and lack of physiological needs being met. These needs must be met to secure positive learning gains for these students.

For data gathering …

Let's Talk About Death: An Open Forum For Challenging And Changing Uri’S Response To Student Bereavement, Molly Beluk

Senior Honors Projects

When my father passed away in March 2020, I felt discord and inconsistency in how the faculty responded to my grief. This project is designed to understand how the University of Rhode Island currently supports students after they have experienced a death loss and determine ways we can improve student support moving forward. This project’s praxes include a faculty survey on current supports; study of other universities’ student bereavement policies; and facilitation of a forum with faculty, staff, and administrators. Students who experience a loss in their college years “are at risk for decreased academic performance and dropout” (DeSpelder and …

University Course Evaluations: A Study Of The Influence Of Faculty, Student, And Course Variables, Tyesha De’Shuan Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Course evaluations impact faculty’ annual evaluations and have become somewhat controversial, yet course evaluations in faculty evaluations persist as a common practice across universities. While many scholars find this success-based tool effective in assessing teaching effectiveness, others question the validity and reliability of this measurement and are opposed to using this tool as a mean of determining faculty members’ success. The purpose of this study is to provide a more in-depth examination of course evaluations by analyzing faculty, student, and course variables. Analyses were performed to address the following research question: “To what degree do faculty gender, faculty race, faculty …

Beating The Odds: Perseverance And Its Influence On Male Students’ Perceptions In Overcoming Generational Poverty, Grady C. Bailey Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined the perceived influences that male graduates from Title I high schools attribute to their success. During the last 30 years the poverty gap has not narrowed and in some cases it has increased. This study hoped to provide evidence of supports needed by looking at males who overcame generational poverty. This study included qualitative data collection from interviews of 15 male participants. Nine themes emerged in the findings of perceived influences by these participants. The nine themes identified where 1) Success has two components; internal and external, 2) School personnel and programs guided success, 3) Change …

Alcohol Abuse Rising Like Covid, Christine Chasek

Counseling Faculty Publications

Alcohol use is a common coping response to stress. Historically, it has increased during times of catastrophic events. The COVID-10 pandemic can be placed in both of those categories.

Us School Counselor State Licensure Requirements For Program Evaluation, Michael S. Trevisan, John C. Carey, Ian Martin, Narayankripa Sundararajan

Journal of School-Based Counseling Policy and Evaluation

Using qualitative content analysis (Cohen, Manion, & Morrison, 2007), we examined the expectations of states in the US regarding program evaluation content for school counselor licensure. Results show that 43 states maintain some form of program evaluation expectations for licensure, up from the 19 identified by Trevisan (2000). Twenty-eight states require licensure tests that purportedly align with CACREP, ASCA, or maintain a state developed licensure test that measures program evaluation content. Twenty-one states explicitly mention alignment of their curriculum with CACREP, ASCA, or both. The depth and scope of the program evaluation requirements that could be identified are ambiguous and …

Transition Services: Building Successful Collaborations Among School Professionals, Kimberly F. Frazier, Kristi Perryman, Suzanne Kucharczyk

Journal of School-Based Counseling Policy and Evaluation

Students who have significant disabilities have the same aspirations as their non-disabled peers: living productive, enriched, and self-determined lives. Adolescent-to-adulthood transition services have the potential to help position students with disabilities to obtain the best possible outcomes, thereby helping them lead full and included adult lives. It is vital that school and community-based support professionals act in concert with students with significant disabilities and their families to develop and implement successful transition services. This article discusses how partnerships across disciplines can help position students with disabilities for the best possible outcomes during the crucial period of their transition from the …

A Phenomenological Study Of Teachers And Mental Health Paraprofessionals Implementing The Jesse Lewis Choose Love Program, Kristi Perryman, Erin Popejoy, Julia Conroy

Journal of School-Based Counseling Policy and Evaluation

This study examined the lived experience of teachers and mental health paraprofessionals implementing the Jesse Lewis Choose Love curriculum in an alternative school setting. Social emotional learning curriculum implementation within the unique structure of alternative schools is important to investigate in order to better understand the unique needs of those providing services to students in this setting. This study utilized open-ended written prompts and two focus groups with teachers and mental health paraprofessionals for 10 weeks of implementation of this social emotional learning program. Participants reported changes in students and themselves and an increase in group cohesion. Five identified themes …

Development Of The Taxonomy Of Policy Levers To Promote High Quality School-Based Counseling: An Initial Test Of Its Utility And Comprehensiveness, Oyaziwo Aluede, Barb Brady, Yuan Ying Jin, Mohammad Mahboob Morshed, John C. Carey

Journal of School-Based Counseling Policy and Evaluation

This article is the second of a two-part series that describes the development of the Taxonomy of Policy Levers to Promote High Quality School-Based Counseling. A previous article (Morshed & Carey, in press) described the development of the Taxonomy using content analysis of existing published descriptions of policy levers used to promote quality school-based counseling. This present article tested the utility and comprehensiveness of the Taxonomy by having experts from South Korea, Nigeria, and West Virginia review policies in their regions.. They analyzed the utility and comprehensiveness of the Taxonomy by using it to describe the school-based counseling policy landscape …

Development Of A Taxonomy Of Policy Levers To Promote High Quality School-Based Counseling, Mohammad Mahboob Morshed, John Carey

Journal of School-Based Counseling Policy and Evaluation

There is a lack of an established framework or taxonomy in the academic literature to systematically analyze school counseling policies. This study was conducted to fill in this gap. Specifically, the researchers propose an initial taxonomy developed based on review of relevant school counseling policy documents and research. The proposed taxonomy has 21 policy levers grouped under seven policy foci covering school counselors’ initial competence, continuing competence, effective school counseling practices, planning and evaluation of school counseling, distinct school counselor roles, hiring of school counselors, and the continual improvement of school counseling system. The Taxonomy is still in a developmental …

Brain Science And Parent-School Relationships In A Title 1 Elementary School In Massachusetts: A Basic Qualitative Study, Arij Rached, Simone Elias, Linda Wilson-Jones

Journal of Research Initiatives

Bandura's (1977) social cognitive theory contends that people think, learn, and perform based upon a sum of personal (e.g., beliefs, emotions, behaviors), social (home-school relationships), and environmental (school culture). Also, research has already determined that collaboration between home and school leads to better children's social-emotional learning (SEL) (August, Anderson, & Bloomquist, 1992; Cooper & Redfern, 2016; Grant & Ray, 2018). Thus, a basic qualitative research tradition was used to better understand elementary public-school parents' perceptions of the impact of parent-school relationships on children SEL development in a Title 1 school in Massachusetts (MA). Thru the lenses of brain science, a …

Searching For A “Home”: Examining The Experiences Of Confucian Asian College Students With Third Culture Kid Backgrounds, Yuima Mizutani

Dissertations

Third culture kids (TCKs) spend their childhood and adolescence outside of their home countries. Because of their unique backgrounds, TCKs and adult TCKs face challenges including identity development, low self-esteem, lack of connection with their home countries, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, adjustment disorder, and others. Although the number of TCKs is increasing due to globalization, this population has been understudied. Moreover, most existing research has focused on TCKs in Western countries. Few researchers have studied Confucian Asian adult TCKs; that is, adult TCKs from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and others. Confucian Asian countries have collectivistic cultures …

Generation Covid-19: Navigating Life's Transitions, Christine Chasek

Counseling Faculty Publications

Every generation has face significant events and hardships that shape the way they view the world.

The Therapy Box In The Classroom: A Function-Based Multi-Component Directive Play Therapy Treatment Package Intervention, Susan E. Elswick, Melissa Hirschi, Maria Elena Delavega, Laura B. Casey

International Journal of School Social Work

The Therapy Box is a behavioral intervention being researched to determine its effectiveness as a Response to Intervention (RtI) Tier 2 and Tier 3 behavioral intervention for identified students. The Therapy Box assists students with developing self-regulatory skills and increasing their social-emotional literacy while providing a supportive, caring, and safe classroom environment. The Therapy Box is a treatment package that encompasses the theories of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), the use of functional behavior assessments, B.F. Skinner's theory of manding, Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior (DRA), and Directive Play Therapy. The hypothesis is that the student will be able to mand …

Flooding Schools: School Mental Health Providers And The Climate Crisis, Erik J. Reinbergs, Sarah Fefer

International Journal of School Social Work

This study provides an example of using a problem-solving model to explore the impact of the climate crisis on schools. Using publicly available climate change and flooding prediction data, we estimate that by 2100, assuming a “medium” climate change scenario, more than 1677 schools in the coastal United States are expected to flood every year and more than 2262 schools are expected to flood every 10 years. Within the data, “medium” is defined as warming levels that will lead to an estimated five feet of sea level rise by the year 2100. Limitations in the data suggest these numbers are …

Prioritizing School Social Workers' Roles And Responsibilities To Combat Oppression In K-12 Schools: Perspectives From Educators With Anti-Oppressive Orientations, Ashley-Marie Hanna Daftary

International Journal of School Social Work

This study used a subset of data from a larger qualitative research study that investigated anti-oppressive practices in K-12 education. Eleven educators with anti-oppressive orientations provided insight into various ways school social workers can combat oppression in K-12 schools. A flexible coding approach was used to analyze the data. Findings suggest that school social workers should consider prioritizing the following activities to combat oppression in schools: 1) Provide leadership in social justice work and anti-oppressive practice; 2) Increase visibility and integration on campus and in the classroom; and 3) Complement student interventions with psycho-education and social-emotional support for teachers. The …

The Strong Resiliency Program For Newcomer Youth: A Mixed-Methods Exploration Of Youth Experiences And Impacts, Claire V. Crooks, Nataliya Kubishyn, Maisha M. Syeda, Lynn Dare

International Journal of School Social Work

Many refugee and immigrant youth face significant adversity, pre- and post-migration, as well as during their migratory journey. Although these youth demonstrate considerable resilience, there is also an opportunity to bolster coping skills and adjustment with group-based interventions in schools. We utilized a mixed-methods approach to describe the impacts of one such program, as experienced by youth (n=19). The program is a ten-session strengths-based resilience intervention that promotes relaxation skills, healthy coping, communication, and problem-solving. There is also one individual session focused on helping each participant share their journey narrative. Youth from six intervention groups participated in this study through …

Tasks And Impact Of School Social Work In Switzerland As Perceived By Teachers, Principals And School Social Workers – A Multilevel Analysis, Werner Wicki, Roland Künzle, Marianne Mueller, Uri Ziegele, Karin Stadelmann, Kurt Gschwind

International Journal of School Social Work

To investigate whether the perceptions of school-based professionals regarding the tasks and impact of school social work (SSW) converge or diverge, this study collected survey data among 638 teachers, 41 school social workers, 62 principals, and 23 special education teachers distributed over 92 Swiss schools. After constructing several scales measuring the tasks and the impact of SSW via principal factor analyses, ANOVA’s were carried out to compare the mean perceptions of the included professionals. To prove for related perceptions between teachers and school social workers multilevel analyses were performed by including additional exploratory variables such as school context and personal …

Evaluating The Zones Of Regulation® Intervention To Improve The Self-Control Of Elementary Students, Stephanie Ochocki, Andy J. Frey, David A. Patterson, Freida Herron, Natalie Beck, David R. Dupper

International Journal of School Social Work

School social workers provide social, emotional, and behavioral interventions for elementary-age students within multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) when disruptive behavior and deficits in self-control are observed. Secondary/Tier 2 cognitive- and behaviorally-oriented interventions that target self-control have been shown to impact positive outcomes in academic, social, emotional, and behavioral realms for elementary-age students. This study sought to evaluate the Zones of Regulation® intervention for elementary-age students identified with disruptive behavior via a small randomized controlled trial (N = 63). Students were identified for disruptive behavior concerns through a universal behavior screening process and were randomly assigned to the intervention group …

School Social Work In Vietnam: Development And Capacity Building Through International Collaboration, Leticia Villarreal Sosa, Nguyen Thu Ha

International Journal of School Social Work

International collaborations and exchanges have been a part of the social work profession since its beginning. The internationalization of social work is firmly established with the presence of multiple international social work organizations. In the specialization of school social work, there are opportunities for exchange through an international school social work conference held every two to three years. It was at this conference that the authors met to initiate a collaboration in support of the development of school social work in Vietnam. This paper discusses the collaborative efforts and project funded by a Fulbright Specialist grant to support the development …

Angry White Men On Campus: Theoretical Perspectives And Recommended Responses, Kyle C. Ashlee, Pietro A. Sasso, Christina Witkowicki

Journal of Critical Scholarship on Higher Education and Student Affairs

In this article, the authors explore a rise in violent protest among white college men, theoretical interpretations of this trend, and recommendations that student affairs educators can implement to address the harmful acts of white male on campus. By examining hegemonic masculinity, the theory of dispossession, anomic protest masculinity, and white men’s disengagement in college, student affairs professionals can begin to understand the larger contemporary trend of student activism among white college men. Moreover, evaluating common strategies for engaging college men, including behavior-only approaches, bad-dogging accountability practices, and white privilege pedagogy, educators can gain perspective on how current responses in …

Doc’Apella: A Vocal Performance Group Designed To Reduce Stress And Prevent Burnout Among Medical And Health Sciences Students, Kristy J. Carlson, Laura E. Newton, Paul J. Brosnihan, Steven P. Wengel, Jayme R. Dowdall

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: Burnout is common among health professions trainees characterized by emotional exhaustion induced by repeated stressors. Although traditional stress management activities to promote wellness are effective in reducing stress short-term, alternative approaches are needed with the potential for long-term impact. To address burnout among students at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), a vocal group was formed to provide a creative outlet. The purpose of this study was to determine the students’ motivation for joining Doc’Apella and assess the impact on burnout.

Methods: Students enrolled in a health sciences program were invited to participate during the 2018-19 academic year …

The Evaluation Of The Jostens Renaissance Incentive Program And The Impact It Has On Students At A Southwest Florida High School, Saneik Buchanan

Dissertations

As state requirements for academic achievement continue to become more rigorous, school administrators and counselors strive to create positive school environments. Therefore, administrators and counselors must find creative incentive programs tailored to meet the needs of respective school settings, such as the Jostens Renaissance incentive program. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of the Jostens Renaissance education incentive program at one Title I high school in Southwest Florida by studying the relationship among students’ GPAs, attendance, and disciplinary issues before participation in the program. The evaluation was a quantitative, quasi-experimental design that utilized pre-existing data of …

Refugee Perspectives On Transitioning From Higher Education In The United States To Life Post-Graduation, Jessica S. Clarkson

Capstone Collection

In 2019, only 3% of refugees had access to higher education. Using qualitative research methods of surveys and semi-structured interviews, this study explores the perspectives of two student affairs professionals and six individuals with formal refugee status granted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and in possession of a refugee travel document, who have not yet been resettled and are pursuing higher education in the United States. It focuses on the students’ preparation for and transition to life post-graduation, since UNHCR supposes that pursuing higher education abroad may be a viable ‘complementary pathway’ toward resettlement, self-reliance, and/or …

Staying Serene In A World Of Uncertainty, Christine Chasek

Counseling Faculty Publications

American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote a very powerful prayer in 1932; you may recognize it. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And the wisdom to know the difference."

The nation was in turmoil when it was written. The Great Depression had a hold on our country, people were out of work, the land turned to dust, and families were starving. Niebuhr was looking for a way to comfort people and give them a sense of direction in a dark time. The Serenity Prayer became that source of …