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Examining Barriers With Implementing Augmentative And Alternative Communication In A Midwest School, Ashley Renee Fields

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in a Midwest urban public school system have experienced barriers that prohibit the effective use of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The result has left some students with speech language impairments (SLI) without the communication skills for meaningful relationships and success in and out of school. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to determine the perceived barriers of 8 local school SLPs regarding the successful implementation of AAC and their suggestions for addressing the problem. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with the SLPs. Data collection and analysis were grounded by Ely's conditions of …

Principals' Experiences Initiating, Implementing, And Sustaining Change Within Their School, Lennart Theodore Erickson Iii

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many research studies have investigated the role of the principal in implementing change. Despite the information gleaned from those investigations, principals continue to struggle with initiating, implementing, and sustaining change in their schools. Guiding this narrative inquiry study were theories related to principal leadership, educational change theory, and the theories associated with school culture, with the intent to understand the experiences of principals as they initiated, implemented, and sustained change in their schools. This study explored the challenges and successes principals experienced along with the specific actions that contributed to successful implementation. Five principals from southern Idaho were interviewed. Narratives …

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Response Impact On Graduate Students, Sean Eric Kil Patrick Gay

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The roles that universities played in the response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster were significant and varied; however, there was limited study on participating graduate students. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of disaster response on graduate students' personal and academic development. This study examined research questions about the perceived impact on academic and personal identity development. Empowerment, cognitive content engagement, general systems theory, and utilitarianism formed the theoretical foundation. This study used a transcendental phenomenological approach to examine the subjects' experiences in the context of involvement in disaster response. The primary source of data was …

Teachers' Perspectives On Implementing Social-Emotional Learning Standards, Sheila Youngblood

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem this study addresses is the extent to which social-emotional learning programming is effectively implemented. Since social-emotional learning programming has emerged as a significant aspect of U.S. education, man states have included social-emotional standards and programming as an essential part of the curriculum. Researchers have found that effective reform includes not only emphasis on academic and standardized test scores, but also on social-emotional influences. As a school reform initiative, a Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program is being implemented at a Midwestern high school. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive interview study was to explore the perceived effectiveness of the …

Effects Of Common Core Curriculum Standards On High School Students With Disabilities, Nancy Beth Thompson Loedding

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This case study examined the effect of implementing the Common Core Curriculum Standards (CCCS) on students with disabilities (SWD) in a county in northeast Georgia. The study investigated teachers' perceptions regarding the effect of implementing the CCCS in high school English language arts and mathematics classes on the academic success of SWD and their ability to graduate from high school with a regular diploma. Information was also gathered to determine if teachers offered additional supports to SWD as part of the increased academic expectations of the CCCS. In addition, teachers were asked about the preparation they received prior to teaching …

Speech-Language Pathologists On Multicultural Counseling Competency, Denise Moore Revel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite reports of speech-language pathology graduate-level programs focusing on multicultural competence, the literature suggests speech-language pathologists are not adequately educated and trained to be culturally competent. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of public school-based speech-language pathologists' graduate-level academic instruction and the clinical practicum experiences in multicultural competence, specifically in the area of multicultural counseling. Guided by the theory of multicultural counseling and therapy, this study used a phenomenological approach, employing semistructured, in-person interviews with 7 participants. The inclusion criteria used for selecting study participants included: having a master's degree in speech-language pathology, graduation from an …

Self-Perception As A Predictor Of Academic Performance In Adolescents With Learning Disabilities, Kirk Lamar Rhodes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Adolescents often suffer with negative feelings and low self-esteem, leading to an overall negative self-perception. Prior researchers have linked adolescent self-perception, academic performance, and learning disabilities, but more research is required. This quantitative study examined relationships between self-perception of reading, writing, spelling, and mathematics competence. In addition, global self-worth was examined through the Harter-Renick Self-Perception Profile for Learning Disabled Students (HRSPP). Student academic performance as measured by Stanford Achievement Test-10 Total Reading (SATrd) and Total Math (SATmh) scores among adolescents with learning disabilities were also examined. Student records from the Green School were gathered (n = 128), with their perceived …

Factors Influencing The Adoption Of Learning Management Systems By Medical Faculty, Kristy Burrough

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite recommendations by the Association of American Medical Colleges regarding

the adoption of technology in medical universities, faculty are still reluctant to adopt new

learning technologies. The purpose of this qualitative interview study was to determine

the factors existing in the adoption of learning management technology among late

adopters within the faculty of colleges labeled as comprehensive academic medical

centers. Using the Everett Rogers diffusion of innovations theory as its framework, this

study sought to ascertain the factors late adopters identify as preventing them from

adopting technology and to determine what measures they suggest to increase technology

adoption among their …

The Design, Implementation, And Evaluation Of A Professional Development Program, Ellen Riina Hirsch

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Ineffective professional development is a longstanding problem in education. Locally, the school district in the study lacked a comprehensive system for evaluating their secondary level professional development programs. The purpose of this case study was to investigate the district's professional development program, specifically examining its perceived strengths and weaknesses. The conceptual framework of the study was systems theory and the adaptive schools reform model. The research questions examined the perceptions of various school personnel on their experiences with the current professional development program at the study district's high school. Individual interviews were conducted with a purposeful sample of 3 teachers, …

Raising Texas State Biology Exam Achievement Scores For Students With Disabilities, Nancy Kay Larkin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The No Child Left Behind Act changed the way educators taught students with disabilities (SWD), as this population has now become part of all districts' annual yearly progress. The problem this qualitative study addressed was that many biology teachers in a Texas suburban district were not effectively implementing evidence-based strategies for SWD. The study's conceptual foundation was based on Vygotsky's cognitive development theory that students achieve at higher levels when working in their zone of proximal development with support from peers or adults. The guiding question was intended to determine what strategies biology teachers were using to provide this support …

Second Chance For School Dropouts In Kenya Through Adult Education, Lombo Lombo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Most Kenyan high school dropouts do not have a school reentry option, and without a high school diploma, they lack access to tertiary or higher education institutions for training and career development. This case study was an investigation of how an adult learning center in Kenya educated high school dropouts and helped them to gain access to vocational training or higher education. The research questions addressed the pedagogy, learning experiences, and curriculum of the Baraka Adult Learning Center (BALC) and also focused on how the BALC met students' aspirations, needs, and goals based on the perceptions of teachers and adult …

Increasing School Commitment By Listening To Veteran Teachers' Needs And Concerns, Carrie Mcatee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The role that support systems play in new teachers' levels of school commitment has been widely documented. However, veteran teachers' levels of commitment have not been as closely studied. According to the department of education in a Southeastern state, the veteran teacher attrition rate at a Title I school in an urban school district was in the double digits for several years. High veteran teacher attrition rates and low levels of commitment can cause problems such as loss of continuity of instruction for students. The purpose of this study was to identify veteran teachers' perceptions of their levels of school …

School Bullying And Teacher Professional Development, Demita Sidonia Parson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Bullying has become a serious concern in many American public middle schools in recent years. Inadequate professional development (PD) in bullying prevention and response strategies has compounded this problem. The overarching purpose of this study was to increase understanding of the growing problem of school bullying. Bronfenbrenner's socioecological theory, which states that environment and relationships influence student behavior, served as the conceptual framework for this qualitative study. Guiding research questions, grounded in socioecological theory, were used to examine middle school teachers' views of PD and their perceived skills in responding to or preventing bullying. Through purposeful sampling, 8 middle school …

Middle School Teachers' Experiences With Cross-Curricular Connections At The Incident Level, Melita M. Penchalk

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many curricular innovations, including cross-curricular teaching, are started in schools without adequate teacher preparation and support, reducing the effectiveness of the interventions in supporting student learning. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the implementation of the cross-curricular connections teaching technique in middle schools. Research questions focused on how middle school teachers experienced implementation of cross-curricular teaching at the incident level and how teachers perceived cross-curricular teaching and its long-term value. Myers-Briggs personality type theory informed the study, supporting the postulation that teachers are more comfortable teaching from their personality types. Data from 10 middle school teachers …

Development Of A Nursing Informatics Competency Assessment Tool (Nicat), Alphonsa A. Rahman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nursing workforce competency in informatics is crucial to providing safe patient care, improving quality, and reducing healthcare costs. Assurance of informatics competency in a workforce with increasingly diverse educational preparations, demographics, and informatics skills poses significant challenges. The question addressed was the lack of nursing informatics competency assessment tool relevant to bedside nursing. The purpose of this project was to develop and review a new nursing informatics competency assessment tool designed to address the individual educational needs of newly hired nurses. The tool was designed to measure nurses' competency in computer literacy, informatics literacy, and informatics management skills recommended in …

Listening To First-Year Community College Students, Mary Elizabeth Drake

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

First-year community college students are often from underrepresented groups who are unaccustomed to voicing their needs or to being recognized for having more and varied needs than other groups. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain an understanding of the factors that may engender or prevent success through listening to what first-year community college students have to say. Research questions addressed what students identified as challenges and successes during their first year and how first person accounts can contribute to the information college personnel need to understand.

Human development theories and models of student persistence informed this study. …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of Caregivers' Support For Their Preschool Children's Language And Social Skills Development, Sheri Stein Blum

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Some children have difficulty communicating due to a lack of age-appropriate language and social skills. Researchers have explored how music and language share features that shape language processing. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenological analysis was to explore the experiences of caregivers of preschool children who participated in a music-based program and to understand their perspectives related to children's language and social skill development. Learning style and sensory integration processing theories were used as framework to provide foundations of skills in this study. Research questions addressed caregivers' choices related to this program for their children, their experiences of their children's …

Student Perceptions Of Effective Learning Strategies For National Council Licensure Examination Preparation, Lori Jean Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this study was to examine efficacious instructional strategies that the New England Community College (NECC) nursing program could implement in the curricula to improve National Council Licensure Examination Registered Nurse (NCLEX-RN) first-time pass rates. Effective strategies from students and nursing program faculty had used were investigated. Such strategies support student nurses in their efforts to succeed on the first administration of the exit examination. The rationale for this study and resulting project was that they could improve NCLEX-RN first-time pass rates and positively impact the local hiring of qualified nurses. Guided by Knowles's adult learning theory, key …

An Offender's Perspective Of Correctional Education Programs In A Southeastern State, Boderick Bennett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many offenders are incarcerated in U.S prisons with the intent of rehabilitation; however, a majority of these offenders will be released with limited options for employment. Recidivism has been linked to unemployment. The purpose of this multiple case study was to examine the lived experiences of 20 offenders involved in correctional education programs while incarcerated to explore their correctional education experience within the context of postincarceration employment. The theoretical foundation of this study was based on Bandura's self-efficacy theory. Narrative data were elicited pertaining to offenders' perceptions of past education experience, correctional education experience, and their perceived impact of the …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Impact Of Standardized Testing And Remediation On Students With Disabilities, Janie M. Mora

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

At ABCD High School, students with disabilities (SWDs) pass state-mandated English High School Assessments (HSA) at a lower rate than do their nondisabled peers, even with remediation. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of appropriate remediation for preparing SWDs for the English HSA. The theoretical foundation for the study was based on social constructivism with an emphasis on individual experiences. The 3 key research questions investigated how teachers perceive their role in the delivery of remediation, how they describe the remediation program, and what factors they say influence their ability to remediate SWDs effectively. Data were …

Relationships Among Adult Student Performance And Satisfaction Variables For One Campus Of A Career University's Mba Programs, Curtis G. Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of adult learners has grown significantly since World War II, and workplace environments have expanded to embrace many new areas of expertise and knowledge. The expectations of these learners in terms of the courses offered by career universities have become increasingly diverse. University personnel need to find ways that optimize and align courses offered with those expectations. The purpose of this correlational study was to understand the relationships between outcome variables in adult education programs and students' perceptions of the quality of their educational programs. Five historically tracked variables were examined: program GPA, job placement rate, program completion …

Principals' Perceptions Of The Bully Busters Program In Combating Cyberbullying In Elementary Schools, Sheila Ann Cuffy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Over time and with both the increasing ubiquitousness of the Internet and children's technological knowledge at young ages, cyberbullying has grown more widespread and acts of bullying have become more intense. However, little is known about the effectiveness of different antibullying programs for decreasing cyberbullying behaviors. This study addressed that gap in the literature by exploring one elementary school's use of the Bully Busters program for combating cyberbullying. The decision-making model was used as the conceptual framework for this qualitative interview study. Participants were 3 principals from 3 schools using the program. Data were gathered from the participants via interviews …

A Case Study Of The Effectiveness Of A Summer Transition Program For First-Time Ninth Grade Students, Jonathan Wickert

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High schools have undertaken numerous approaches to reduce the number of first-time 9th grade students who do not move to 10th grade with their cohort. The purpose of this study was to determine if a summer program successfully transitioned 9th grade students from middle school to high school environments. Guided by the stage-environment fit conceptual framework, this study explored the effectiveness of a summer transition program at acclimating first time 9th grade students to physical, social, and academic environments. A mixed-method design was used in the study. A t test was used with a sample of approximately 400 archival 9th …

School Leaders' Perceptions Of Students' Antisocial Behaviors, Faye Britt

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There was a problem regarding students' antisocial behavior in a small rural school district in Washington State. Public data within the district indicated increasing incidents of students' antisocial behaviors. However, perceptions of school leaders regarding this problem were not known. As a result, there was a need to gain an understanding about school leaders' perceptions of students' antisocial behaviors in order to suggest potential solutions to reduce students' antisocial behaviors, as these perceptions are closely associated with their intent to address the problem. Bandura's theory of self-regulation provided the conceptual framework for collecting and analyzing data. Using an instrumental case …

Self-Efficacy, Locus Of Control, And Parental Involvement On Students' Academic Achievement, Helen Faye Clay-Spotser

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Minority students are lagging behind their non-minority peers in academic achievement. Compounding this problem is the lack of research on minority students' perceptions on their connections to school, their feelings of autonomy, and their relationship with their parents. These variables are important considerations in this problem, as Ryan and Deci's self-determination theory suggests a strong relationship between student performance in school and students' perceptions of their intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. To address that gap, this cross-sectional, quantitative research study examined the relationship between minority high school students' perceived self-efficacy, locus of control, and parents' educational involvement on their self-reported academic …

Perceived Self-Efficacy Of Secondary General Education Teachers In The Inclusion Classroom, Pamela Sime-Cummins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) has been linked to the academic success of students. This association has been found in contexts where teachers have received training relevant to working with the student population being served. In the suburban Pennsylvania school district targeted in this study, there was little district-sponsored professional development (PD) available to general education teachers regarding strategies for teaching students with disabilities in the inclusion setting. The purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to determine whether a difference exists in perceived TSE when instructing in the inclusion setting compared with the traditional setting, and whether an association exists linking prior …

Teacher Interventions Based On Childhood Bullying Experiences, Marcia Rushin Teemer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Guided by Premack and Woodruff's theory of the mind and Bandura's social learning theory, this qualitative study examined the issue of bullying at school, and whether teachers' childhood experiences of bullying had effects on how they, as adults, handled bullying situations in their classrooms. Convenience sampling was used to administer the Bauman, Rigby, and Hoppa Handling Bullying Questionnaire to 22 middle school educators with three or more years of teaching experience at the participating school, to determine their responses to bullying scenarios. Twelve educators completed the questionnaire. Data collected from the questionnaire were analyzed for frequencies of responses. Teachers' responses …

Understanding Doctoral Success Factors In Online Education Programs, Carissa Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The doctoral student completion rate in the United States is approximately 57% across all disciplines. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to investigate doctoral students' perceptions of program completion across multiple online doctoral programs at a single university. The quantitative component examined differences in 4 doctoral program completion-related factors between students in 2 capstone completion stages and 6 academic programs. The qualitative component included an analysis of student perceptions of program completion. Attribution theory was used as a framework to understand the ways that personal attributions influence the success of the participants. The Doctoral Completion and Persistence Scale (DCPS) …

An Outcome Evaluation Of An Evidenced-Based Leadership Framework On Nursing Retention In A Tertiary Medical Center, Robbie Gail Robbie

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An evidence-based leadership (EBL) framework is an intervention designed to facilitate organizational changes such as the reduction of nursing turnover and the improvement of nursing job enjoyment. This project provides an overview of the effect of nursing turnover on an organization, presents the components of the EBL framework, and provides an evaluation of the influence of EBL on nursing turnover and job enjoyment. The EBL framework provided a method for reducing variance in leadership skill and behavior by outlining specific methods necessary to reduce inconsistency. The project objective was to determine if the implementation of an EBL framework for 820 …

Effect Of Sleep On Vigilance, Short-Term Memory, And Learning In College Students, Ayesha Uddin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite years of research supporting a link between sleep and cognitive functioning, little research has focused on the effect of sleep on cognitive factors in the college population. According to the trace reactivation hypothesis, sleep plays a crucial role in memory consolidation and learning. Cognitivism further indicates that the processing of information is limited when sleep is restricted. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the effect of sleep on vigilance, short-term memory, and learning; an additional goal was to test whether these variables influence grade point average (GPA). Sleep and GPA data were collected using self-report questionnaires. …