Digital Commons Network^™

Implicit Bias: An Unconscious Barrier To Family Engagement, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This teaching case study illustrates the need to engage all parents in schools as they enhance the community’s cultural capital and cultural wealth. In order to engage parents from various races and ethnicities, educational leaders should understand the role implicit biases play in inhibiting equitable parent participation. In this case study, the author provides a framework to enhance parent engagement. The author also suggests that educational leaders use an instrument to assess their implicit biases and determine the biases held by parents as well. Finally, community cultural wealth is defined and an explanation is provided on how parent participation can …

Common Data Set 2019, Uno Office Of Instituional Effectiveness

Common Data Sets

Common Data Set (2019-2020) for the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

The Leadership Stories Of Students Of Color At Predominantly White Christian Institutions, Sharia Hays

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

Leadership has been identified as an important component of higher education and the college student experience (Dugan, 2006; Komives, Dugan, & Owen, 2011; Shertzer & Schuh, 2004; St. John, Rowley, & Hu, 2009). Although there has been an in-crease in leadership initiatives across higher education, many institutions, specifically dominantly White Christian institutions have struggled to find ways to involve students of color in leadership. Utilizing a phenomenological approach, this study explored the leadership experiences of 11 students of color from 3 dominantly White Christian institutions (DWI). This article will provide a broad overview of the study while focusing on how …

A Descriptive Multicultural Phenomenology For Culturally Responsive Leadership, Christopher J. Kazanjian, David Rutledge, Sandra M. Gandarilla

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

As public schools in the United States continue to diversify in culture, educational leaders committed to multicultural education seek qualitative research methodologies for understanding phenomena in order to build culturally responsive leadership initiatives and interventions. This paper argues that a phenomenological research methodology is appropriate and relevant to understand cultural phenomena in the 21st century school. To serve this, the authors elaborate on a descriptive multicultural phenomenological research methodology for educational leaders. A phenomenological framework positions educational leaders to understand the nature and essence of personal experience. This approach will help educational leaders better understand the experiences of the diverse …

Enhancing English Learners' Academic Resilience: A Professional Development/Learning Design Study, Mabel E Lamprea Altuve

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This professional development/learning design study sought to create, evaluate, and refine a learning experience for English language learning (ELL) teachers that provided them with additional instructional tools to support improvement of Multilingual Learners and English Learners’ (MLs/ELs) academic resilience. MLs/ELs are one of the fastest growing groups of students in U.S. schools with one of the lowest academic performance and graduation rates. These students are also a vulnerable and resilient population that could have been exposed to distressing and adverse experiences. ELL teacher preparation has concentrated on fostering language and literacy development; still, MLs/ELs’ achievement gap fails to close significantly, …

Why Do I Have To Know This? Engineering In A Globalized Society, Caleb Cunningham

Honors Theses

Through a pilot comparative study, this thesis examines the problem-solving of chemical engineering students and chemical engineering faculty. Specifically, the thesis examines the extent to which individuals include global factors (cultural, social, environmental, and economic) into their engineering solutions as specified by ABET. Several hypotheses were investigated in this pilot study: (i) having a study abroad experience would increase the likelihood that participants included the global factors of interest, (ii) the type (PUI, Research Intensive, Unique) of institution students attended would impact how individuals approached the problem, (iii) students with similar career aspirations would approach the problems similarly, (iv) having …

“Does It Have To Be A Real Story?” A Social Semiotic Assessment Of An Emergent Writer, Ted Kesler

Publications and Research

Standardized writing assessments based in linear progressions position teachers for deficit views of young children’s emergent writing development. Consequently, the researcher videorecorded a writing assessment of his son, Daniel, at age 5 years, 4 months, as he composed a story across pages of a blank book, using an assortment of writing tools. Data sources included the transcription of the writing session and Daniel’s final product. The researcher first used open coding then coding based in systemic functional linguistics. Based in ecological and social semiotic perspectives, the researcher shows how Daniel’s writing development was expressed interpersonally, with the emerging text functioning …

Culturally Responsive Leadership: Beliefs, Espoused Practices And Supports In High Performing Urban Schools, Jessica Schofield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The racial academic achievement gap, identified as the underachievement of racially, culturally, ethnically, and linguistically diverse (RCELD) students and documented by research, is visible in all education organizations (Griner & Stewart, 2013; National Center for Education Statistics, 2019; O'Connor, Hill, & Robinson, 2009). Since the United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, repudiating the concept of separate but equal, laws concerning the need for equal education access have been enacted and educational policies have been created and implemented, but this achievement gap continues to exist (Williams, 2011). Culturally responsive leadership and culturally relevant …

A Longitudinal Corpus Investigation Of Grammatical Stance Markers In The English Argumentative Writing Of Chinese Students, Man Deliang

Student Works (2020-2029)

Evaluation is considered crucial for successful academic writing (Hunston, 1989, 1994; Hyland & Jiang, 2016; G. Thompson, 2001). It conveys the values and judgement of the writer, maintains the relations between the writer and reader and organizes the discourse (G. Thompson & Hunston, 2000). Despite the importance of evaluation, the use of evaluative language in academic writing has shown to be difficult for both L1 and L2 users of English. One active strand of research in English for academic purposes gives considerable attention to the use of linguistic markers of stance. While there has been growing research interest in stance …

Assessing Teacher Pedagogical Knowledge: The Video Assessment Of Teacher Knowledge (Vatk), Peter D. Wiens, Jori S. Beck, Christina J. Lunsmann

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This study examines the creation and implementation of a video-based assessment of teacher knowledge of effective teaching called the Video Assessment of Teacher Knowledge (VATK). The VATK was developed with the intention of creating an easily administered, standardised assessment that can potentially provide information on teacher candidate knowledge of teaching at important points during their training programmes and into the teaching field. The theoretical framework upon which the VATK was developed and the process for item creation are described. Classical test theory and item response theory analysis were conducted to determine the measure’s potential for use in future studies. Analyses …

Developing Text-Based Writing And Working Through The Revision Process, Valerie Clark

Masters Theses

A narrative continuation is designed to assess a student’s ability to comprehend a text selection and use their own creativity to redesign the text’s conclusion. This study took a narrative continuation writing assessment and analyzed the process which 41 sixth grade students followed, specifically looking at the prewriting and revision procedures. The goal was to determine if the supports and resources provided were effective for the type of writing and student population. Throughout the process, students’ behaviors which indicated motivation levels were noted (participation in discussions, level of focus, attentiveness, and amount of redirection required). Student work was then reviewed …

Effects Of Aromatherapy On Academic Success, Perceived Stress, And Coping Skills Of Graduate Students, Lakisha S. Witter

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This quasi-experimental study will explore whether the use of aromatherapy increases students’ academic success and coping skills and decreases the level of perceived stress in graduate college students.

Border Crossing On Sacred Grounds: An Indigenized Decolonized Educational Research Paradigm For Use In Contemporary Globalized Schooling Systems, Estella Valles

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Presented in this work is an adapted quantitative research paradigm for use in the field of education, specifically designed for work with Indigenous/marginalized populations coined "Diachronic Research Methodology" (DRM). The model is grounded in a post-positivist, decolonization-model, that is embedded in feminist and critical race theory. DRM is presented as a counter-approach to the traditional empiricist, research methods; a process which, historically, has allowed for a limited and biased understanding of Indigenous/marginalized populations. DRM challenges Western epistemologies and worldviews which have promoted the idea of one-grand-narrative for all humans, a view argued as beyond problematic and unethical, particularly for Indigenous …

Factor Structure Of Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale For School-Teachers In Hong Kong, Chi Hung Leung, Ming Tak Hue

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study investigates the perceptions of teaching competency in multicultural classrooms held by 421 teachers at 16 schools in Hong Kong. The aims of the study are (a) to use confirmatory factor analysis to validate a culturally appropriate version of the Multicultural Teaching Competency Scale (MTCS), (b) to assess three types of multicultural-teaching competency, and (c) to provide recommendations for teacher-education institutes and policy makers on developing effective training in multicultural education. The results indicate that a tripartite model assessing skills, knowledge, and relationships, the core features of multicultural-teaching competency as assessed by the MTCS from a Hong Kong sample. …

Testing For All: An Exploration Of Disproportionality In The Georgia Alternate Assessments, Kelly D. Childers, Meagan Arrastia-Chisholm, Katharine S. Adams, Heather M. Kelley Ph.D.

Georgia Educational Researcher

Public schools use standardized testing to measure students’ academic achievement at the conclusion of each school year. Students with severe cognitive disabilities are evaluated through the Georgia Alternate Assessment (GAA). The purpose of this descriptive study was to describe the demographic characteristics of students who took the Georgia Alternate Assessment (GAA) and students who took the Georgia Milestones End of Grade Assessment (EOG) in English/Language Arts using publicly available data from the 2014-2015 academic year. Additionally, the study investigated disproportionality of certain student groups who took the GAA and EOG in English/Language Arts. A series of chi-square analyses resulted in …

How The Change To Online Learning Affected Chinese Language Teaching In California Schools Due To The 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, Jing Ren

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

This research study investigates how Chinese language teachers in California made the change from in-person learning to distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, how they set up and taught virtual classes and what their reactions were to the online transitions. Teachers utilized various interactive tools and strategies to teach students in their virtual classrooms. Parental involvement with the child’s education at home increased. Some public school district polices caused greater reductions in student participation than others. Teachers applied various communication strategies to engage students in creative ways while teaching online. This together with curriculum development and assessment design required that …

Multiple Intelligence Assessment In Teaching English For Young Learners, Ernawati Ernawati, Hana Tsurayya, Abdul Rahman A. Ghani

REID (Research and Evaluation in Education)

There are many schools in Indonesia that provide English as one of their subjects. English has been taught from elementary schools, even in Kindergarten. Ironically, teaching English in most rural schools still uses a conventional method such as memorizing and translating. Many teachers cannot afford to provide well-designed, meaningful exercises for students to use on a one-to-one learning basis. As a result, students seem not having interest in learning English. Based on this reason, this study was conducted to identify students' intelligence through Multiple Intelligence Assessment to get effective approach in teaching English for young learners. The participants are an …

Developing A Problem-Based Local History Module To Improve The Critical Thinking Ability Of Senior High School Students, Novita Mujiyati, Warto Warto, Leo Agung Sutimin

REID (Research and Evaluation in Education)

This research aims at developing a problem-based local history module as learning media to improve the critical thinking ability of Senior High School students. This research employed a research and development (R&D) method referring to ADDIE development design. The procedure of designing ADDIE development included (1) analyzing to identify the learning media needed, (2) designing to organize the material of module corresponding to basic competency and indicator, (3) developing to obtain the finished product of module through validation and limited and large-scale trials, (4) implementing the module during learning process, and (5) evaluating to find out the effectiveness of module. …

Examining Three Approaches To Supporting English Learners By Leveraging Technology, Jillian Conry

Teaching and Learning Theses and Dissertations

This three-article dissertation examines three distinct approaches to supporting English learners (ELs) by leveraging technology. Framed by the third generation of cultural-historical activity theory (Engeström, 1987; 2001), this research illuminates ways different stakeholder groups within varying activity systems support ELs, by examining technology as 1) an instructional tool in the classroom, 2) a mechanism for family engagement, and 3) a means for preparing teachers to serve ELs. Types of technologies implemented in these studies include various online multimodal tools (e.g., VoiceThread, Zaption), learning management systems (e.g., EdModo, Canvas), social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter), and mixed-reality simulation (MRS; e.g., Mursion). …

The Case For Grammar: What Preservice Teachers Need To Know About Metalinguistic Awareness, Aimee Schoonmaker, Kerry L. Purmensky

Journal of English Learner Education

The present study focused on preservice teachers’ grammar knowledge and its importance for their future students’ understanding and use of language, particularly English Learners. This quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest study investigated the grammar knowledge of preservice teachers who were enrolled in an undergraduate applied linguistics course at an urban university in the southern United States. The results confirmed prior research which found that preservice teachers are not knowledgeable enough about English grammar when explaining sentence level errors. This study demonstrated that preservice teachers’ basic understanding of English grammar can be increased in a short time, particularly in the recognition of simple …

Teacher Trainees’ Reasoning About Teaching Mathematics To English Learners In An Era Of Core Content State Standards, Sultan Turkan, Megan Schramm-Possinger

Journal of English Learner Education

Research has indicated over the years that English learners (ELs) are not supported to achieve their goals in learning academic content and acquiring English. Despite a growing body of research on the essential teacher knowledge-base for teaching ELs and effective linguistically-responsive teacher education, there is still a dearth of research on candidate content teachers’ reasoning and instructional decision-making especially regarding teaching mathematics to ELs. This paper explored how a group of ten future mathematics teachers reasoned about a handful of scenarios illustrative of teaching mathematics to ELs. Qualitative analyses of the candidates’ discourse revealed that pre-service mathematics teachers’ perceptions of …

The Effects Of Background, Classroom Assessment Competence, Self-Efficacy, And Self-Perceived Assessment Skills On Classroom Assessment Practices Of Teachers In India, Manognya Murukutla

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Teacher-conducted assessments are necessary to gather important information to facilitate student learning and academic success. Unfortunately, there is an inconsistency in teacher knowledge of assessment and assessment practices. While previous research identified a gap in teacher competence and teacher perceptions of their competence, and this affects classroom assessment practices that then impact student learning, the research is limited, outdated, and not grounded in any theoretical framework. This study addresses gaps in literature and establishes self-efficacy as a theoretical framework in which classroom assessment can be studied. Data were collected in India, and a path analysis and a Kruskal Wallis non-parametric …

What Is A Learning Ecosystem?, 21cleo Research Team

21CLEO Research Project Blog Posts

During the past year, we've come to realize that the term learning ecosystem is widely used, but not usually defined or widely understood. Rather than taking the term for granted, we crafted this blog post to

• explore the origins of the term,

• discuss what it has come to mean, and its limitations

• explain how and why we are using the term in our study despite its limitations.

Educators’ Practices Involving Deaf Multilingual Learners: A Single Case Study, Mary Christine Thomas

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this single case study was to identify instructional strategies, that takes into account language and culture, used by professionals and educators involved in the instructional process of DMLs at an elementary school in the southeast. The central research question for this study was: What educational assessments and instructional strategies, that takes language and culture into consideration, are used in the education of DMLs? The theory that guided this study was Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978, 2012) as it incorporates students’ culture and social interactions with peers and teachers into the learning process. This was a qualitative single …

No Habla Espanol: Are Monolingual Teachers Getting The Support They Need?, Rosa I. Castillo-Rocha

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

For this Capstone Project, the researchers investigated how monolingual teachers view the support and resources they received to teach English Language Learners (ELL) and what they thought could be done to improve their teaching effectiveness. An evidence-based argument is offered that monolingual teachers were not being provided with effective support and resources. More specifically, three themes emerged from an analysis of the data obtained from interviews of monolingual teachers and administrators. Based on the emergent themes, an action was undertaken to help monolingual teachers better address the needs of ELLs. This is an important issue for monolingual teachers because the …

Do My Students Understand? Automated Identification Of Doubts From Informal Reflections, Siaw Ling Lo, Kar Way Tan, Eng Lieh Ouh

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Traditionally teaching is usually one directional where the instructor imparts knowledge and there is minimal interaction between learners and instructor. With the focus on learner-centred pedagogy, it can be a challenge to provide timely and relevant guidance to individual learners according to their levels of understanding. One of the options available is to collect reflections from learners after each lesson to extract relevant and high-value feedback so that doubts or questions can be addressed in a timely manner. In this paper, we derived an approach to automate the identification of doubts from the informal reflections through features analysis and machine …

Measures For Comparing An Augmentative And Alternative Communication Application For Use Within A Kindergarten Curriculum, Anna Camille Johnson Mckelphin

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to measure the influence of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) with symbol-supported communication applications (apps) on stimulating kindergarten students to increase expressive language in the general education setting in an elementary school located in Washington, DC. The study sample size was 31 students. The research aimed to identify these tools as an effective strategy to assist kindergarten students in using more verbal language, thereby lowering the risk of communication frustration and increasing the expression of learned knowledge. Language data usage was collected by viewing speech acts as operators in a planning system, then integrating …

Educators’ Perceptions Concerning The Leading Factors Of Mathematics Achievement In Top-Ranking Nations Around The World, Kendra Snow

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of post-secondary mathematics educators from countries considered to be highly successful in the area of mathematics based upon results of international assessments. Four instructors were randomly selected from a homogenous sample within the nations of Canada, China, Japan, and Singapore to contribute information about the phenomenon of mathematical achievement. Frameworks from SRI International (2009), Matthews (2013), and Schoenfeld (2014) were integrated to design this study focused on curriculum, pedagogy and instructional approach, teacher knowledge and expectations, and organizational and social climate as possible factors that support student mathematical proficiency. Interviews …

A Mixed-Methods Study Of Applying Andragogical Practices To An Online Tesol Teacher Training Course At A Midwestern University, Daisy Anne Mary Skelly

Dissertations

Preservice teachers needed to be prepared to teach culturally and linguistically diverse learners, because English learners continued to enroll in new geographic areas. In response to the reauthorization of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act, requirements for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students were added to teacher certification programs at the state level. Universities offering teacher certification programs addressed new program requirements in different ways, including adding competencies to existing courses or creating new courses. The purpose of this mixedmethods study was to investigate the knowledge, pedagogical skill, and self-efficacy levels of preservice teachers and their perceptions of English …

German Entries In Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia V, Julia Wulandari, Shabrina Nabila Kiasati

International Review of Humanities Studies

Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) is an official Indonesian defining/monolingual dictionary. In the KBBI V offline language features, there are 27 German entries have been absorbed into Indonesian. Hence, this research focuses to analyse which German entries contained in KBBI V, does the lexical meaning of those entries in KBBI V differ from the German defining dictionary, and what characters of Germany is represented in those entries. This research applies qualitative method, and the lexical meaning of the 27 German entries in the KBBI V are compared to the German defining dictionary as the ground to analyse the experience alteration. …