Digital Commons Network^™

Gera 2020 Conference Program, Gera Conference

Georgia Educational Research Association Conference

The Georgia Educational Research Association (GERA) is a state affiliate of the national organization, the American Educational Research Association (AERA), and one of Georgia’s most dynamic research organizations. GERA has approximately 150 members from universities and colleges; public and private schools; and state, local, public, and private educational agencies and institutions, covering disciplines in education, psychology, statistics, sociology, history, economics, philosophy, anthropology, and political science.

The Lived Experiences Of First-Generation College Students Of Color Integrating Into The Institutional Culture Of A Predominantly White Institution, Talisha L. Adams, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development Faculty Publications

As many colleges and universities continue to increase their enrollment and diversification of their student body, the number of first-generation college students of color will continue to rise. Colleges have been charged with the challenge of not only enrolling this student population but also ensuring that they are connected to the university and persist to graduation. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the lived experiences of first-generation college students of color at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). This study utilized individual in-depth interviews and a focus group to examine how first-generation students of color experienced college …

Read, Write, Rhyme: Increasing Reading Performance With Hip-Hop Texts, Crystal Monique Lavoulle

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

This presentation describes the Harlem Renaissance to Hip Hop Movement, a literacy program that uses best practices in literacy instruction to improve reading comprehension, critical thinking, and writing. Moving beyond educational hip-hop songs and videos, this presentation offers insight into effective ways to increase Georgia Milestone Assessment scores in both English language arts and social studies using a variety of hip-hop texts.

Building An Ecosystem Of Support: An Evaluation Of North Dakota’S Community School Programs, Mckenzie Haines, Shelby Hubach, Jeanette Joyce, Betty Li Simpson, Lucy K. Fredericks, Lyndsi Engstrom, Nathan C. Anderson

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Community school programs respond to students’ nonacademic needs so that they can focus on their learning. This session highlights a collaboration of organizations across North Dakota as they implement two community school programs. A shared evaluation plan supports the implementation of the two programs and will provide data to improve services provided to students.

Developing And Transitioning Faculty To Online Teaching, Barbara Serianni

SoTL Commons Conference

In the midst of decreasing trend in postsecondary enrollment, enrollment in fully online programs continues to trend upward (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Given the persistent growth of online learning in higher education as the result of adding fully online courses to traditional on-campus programs of study and the persistent development of new fully online programs, the question of instructional effectiveness must be asked. Are faculty in traditional 4-year public universities prepared to effectively deliver online instruction and support the needs of online students? If they are, how were they prepared? If they are not, how can they be prepared?

Aware I Am Alone: Intersections Of Solitude And Mindfulness, Richard Cleveland

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development Faculty Publications

This paper explores the relationship between solitude and mindfulness. Parallels between the two constructs exist, allowing them to complement each other in furthering the well-being of individuals and communities. Three perspectives through which mindfulness may assist in forming foundational understandings of solitude are presented; these comprise Theoretical, Practice, and Research. The Theoretical lens provides introductory understandings of both solitude and mindfulness. On this basis, integral parallels between the two constructs are outlined. Next, Practice reviews solitude that is fostered through mindfulness practices. Further, additional models for recognizing solitude as a part of mindfulness are proposed. Finally, Research …

Instructional Leadership Practices And School Leaders' Self-Efficacy, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Carter Akins, Antonio P. Gutierrez De Blume, Richard E. Cleveland, Summer Pannell

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development Faculty Publications

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate instructional leadership practices and the degree to which these practices predict the leadership self-efficacy of school leaders while controlling for years of experience as a school leader. With educational reform focused on school accountability, principals must attend to tasks that lead to school improvement. Identifying such tasks as instructional leadership practices and gaining a more comprehensive understanding of instructional leadership practices through leadership self-efficacy may contribute to school improvement. The methodology utilized a survey and the participants were 100 principals and assistant principals of public schools in the southeastern United States, …

Doctoral Candidacy Examination Scores And Time To Degree Completion, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Steven Tolman, Katherine E. Fallon

Department of Leadership, Technology, and Human Development Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between doctoral students’ candidacy examination scores and estimated time to degree completion, measured by dissertation progression.

Background

Time to degree completion in doctoral programs continues to be an issue and reasons for high attrition rates for doctoral students are broad and include varied core components of the academic pathway such as challenges with critical thinking during coursework, stress about passing comprehensive examinations, poor academic writing, and lack of knowledge around scholarly practitioner research.

Methodology

An ex post facto, correlational research design utilized quantitative data to determine …

Strengthening Middle School Students’ Commitment To Social Justice Issues: Building Connections With Teacher Education Candidates, Anne Katz

Department of Curriculum, Foundations, & Reading Faculty Publications

This article was published in Dragon Lode.

Student's Perceptions Of Smartphone Use At Home And At A High School Regarding A New Smartphone Policy: A Case Study, Ana Zurita

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The new generation raised in the digital era continues to present unresolved challenges for both parents and teachers. The purpose of this case study is to analyze students' usage of their smartphones in their lives, and understand the success of a new school policy on smartphone use at an arts school in the U.S. For this qualitative research, I interviewed ten participants from the high school. The literary review informs us that smartphones are potentially addictive, with negative effects for healthy mental, emotional and social child development, as well as a source of misleading information. As a consequence, smartphones in …

The Impact Of An Intensive Blended Learning Reading Intervention On Standardized Assessment Scores, Ashley M. Snyder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study documents the effects of the Language! Live intensive, blended learning reading intervention on the Georgia Milestones Assessment Lexile Scores. The purpose of the study was to determine the impact of an intensive blended learning reading intervention on the standardized assessment scores of middle school students who were at least two grade levels behind in reading at a Title I school in Georgia and aimed to establish if students who were significantly below grade level could make growth with the assistance of an intensive blended learning reading intervention. The study included the data of 133 students in two …