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Establishing Practical Equivalence Of Factor Loadings In Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Christopher Edward Shank

Dissertations

This dissertation compares the performance of equivalence test (EQT) and null hypothesis test (NHT) procedures for identifying invariant and noninvariant factor loadings under a range of experimental manipulations. EQT is the statistically appropriate approach when the research goal is to find evidence of group similarity rather than group difference; despite this, the conventional approach to measurement invariance analysis relies upon NHT. EQT has proved effective for invariance detection using global model-data fit statistics in simulated and real-world data (Counsell et al., 2020) but its use in partial measurement invariance (PMI) analysis for evaluation of factor loading differences between groups has …

Beneficial Effects Of Exercise On Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Content And Endplate Morphology In Skeletal Muscle Of Aging Male And Female Rats, Juliana M. Vangyseghem

Dissertations

Premenopausal women display lower incidence and severity of neurological disease compared to men of the same age, yet these populations are often treated similarly. A decline in neuromuscular function is associated with aging, which may be partially explained by a decline in neurotrophic factor expression with age. A possible way to maintain neuroprotection would be to regulate the production and release of a target-derived neurotrophic factor, such as glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF). GDNF has been shown to be the most potent survival factor for motor neurons and GDNF content of skeletal muscle has been shown to increase with …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Heavy-Metal Oxoanion- And Phosphonate-Binding Nanojars, Pooja Singh

Dissertations

Nanojars are an emerging class of anion-binding and extraction agents. These supramolecular coordination complexes (2 nm wide) exhibit exceptional anion binding strength that points to their possible application in the recovery of toxic or valuable anions from water bodies. Nanojars of the formula (TBA)2[XO3/42−⸦{CuII(μ-OH)(μ-pyrazolate)}n] (TBA = tetrabutylammonium cation; XO3/42− = anion; X = Se, Te, Cr, Mo, W, HP, HAs, HV; n = 26 – 36) are synthesized from Cu2+, OH−, pyrazole and the TBA salts of various anions. Nanojars possess hydrophobic exteriors with an array of pyrazolate ligands and hydrophilic interiors with a …

Identity And Alterity In A Comedy Series From Santa Cruz, Bolivia, During The Presidency Of Evo Morales, Anita L. Zandstra,

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the construction of social identity and social difference in and through Neo/Los Mismos, a Bolivian comedy series produced during the presidency of Evo Morales (2006-2019), the country’s first president to claim an Indigenous identity. These years were characterized by profound divisions between the Bolivian highlands, home to Morales’s base of support, and the opposition based in the lowlands department of Santa Cruz. This qualitative study takes an interdisciplinary approach to social identity and social difference during the Morales era, drawing on concepts from linguistic anthropology, literary criticism, and humor studies, and tracing connections between Neo/Los Mismos and …

Unlocking Potential: Analyzing The Impact Of Special Education Services On The Assessment Outcomes Of Students With Learning Disabilities, Kaitlyn Billops

Dissertations

Since the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 2004, there has been a notable increase in the enrollment of students receiving special education services (National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2022). However, despite advancements in special education programming and service delivery, academic performance for students with disabilities still falls behind their general education peers, particularly on state summative assessments (Aron & Loprest, 2012). Disparities in academic achievement on these assessments can be attributed to various factors, including assessment practices, students' comfort levels during testing, and the severity of their disabilities. Assessing the efficacy of special education …

A Case Study Of The Organizational System Of Articulation At A Midwestern Regional Public University, Katherine J. Giardello

Dissertations

Quantitative research has long shown lagging community college transfer student completion rates, in addition to excess credits earned and lengthened time-to-degree for transfer students that do earn a bachelor’s degree (Horn & Skomsvold, 2011; Jenkins & Fink, 2016; Simone, 2014; U.S. GAO, 2017). Scant qualitative studies exist related to student transfer, particularly the academic enterprise of articulation and the university perspective on transfer.

This qualitative study takes up the cause, using organizational and systems theories (Birnbaum, 1988; Clark, 1983; Cohen & March, 1974; Morgan, 2006; Senge, 1990; von Bertalanffy, 1972; Weick, 1976) to frame a single site case study with …

Shedding Light On Shadow Casts, Kiara Durbin

Honors Theses

On Sunday, November 12, 2023, Kalamazoo’s pioneer American Sign Language-interpreted shadow cast performance took place in Shaw Theatre at Western Michigan University. Clue is a mystery-comedy based on the beloved board game, loaded with witty dialogue and physical comedy. It was the perfect vehicle for the Kalamazoo county’s premiere American Sign Language (ASL) shadow cast—a special performance where the interpreters are directly onstage following the movements, dialogue, and intonation of the actors. It was produced through a unique collaborative effort of Western Michigan University’s Department of Theatre, Stage Hands, a Michigan-based ASL performance interpreting company, and Theatre Kalamazoo, a local …

Closing The Loop: Data-Informed Decisions For Program Success, Megan Slayter

Measures of Success Series

Join Megan Slayter, Professor and Associate Director from the School of Theatre and Dance, as she shares about the multi-year process that she and her colleagues used to develop one example learning outcome to assess the Bachelor of Arts in Dance program, “students are able to articulate and apply a personal aesthetic related to their career goals”. Along the way, she will discuss the tools used for this process, and show how dance faculty integrated assessment data with understanding of the changing landscape of the field of dance to make data-informed decisions to prepare students for success in a wide …

Learning From Our Assessment Heroes: The 2023 Mini Grant Recipients, Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

Measures of Success Series

Come and meet the 2023 University Assessment Steering Committee’s Assessment Mini Grant awardees. Learn about key accomplishments of these WMU instructors and administrators as they share highlights from their assessment projects focused in a variety of subjects and areas ranging from anthropology, finance and commercial law, geological and environmental sciences, Fulbright Foreign Student Program, history, and interdisciplinary health.

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session ,March 14, 2024, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

Acceptance of the Agenda

Approval of the Minutes

Remarks by the Chair Pro-Tem

Remarks by the President

Updates by the Faculty Senate President

Updates by the Western Student Association President

Capital Intern Program Presentation: Cultivating a Leader: WMU Student's Journey in the

Capital Intern Program

Public Comments Regarding Action Items

Action Items

Consent Items

• Liquor License – Multiple Events
• Curriculum Proposals
• Personnel Report
• Annuity and Life Income Funds Performance Report
• Operating Cash Investment Performance Report

General Public Comments

Hidden Opportunity: The Advantages Of Synchronizing Multiple Knowledge Bases, Emily Gross, Soley Somma, Jon Crossno

University Libraries Faculty & Staff Presentations

There are many advantages to synchronizing your knowledge bases that benefit your library. However, with reduced staff, the rapid changes across e-Resources, and working with multiple vendors, synching knowledge bases can seem daunting. Panelists will share why and how they chose to synchronize knowledge bases to support their library's strategy.

A Wide-Angle View Of Prekindergarten Through 12th-Grade Teachers’ Beliefs About Language Correction, Mike Metz, Matthew J. Gordon, Thanh Nguyen

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This article explores patterns in teachers’ reported correction of student language use in speech and writing. The authors use the concept of language correction in student writing and student speech as a proxy for prescriptive approaches to teaching about language. By conducting a large-scale survey of all language and literacy teachers from preschool through 12th grade across an entire state, the authors were able to identify patterns in teachers’ approaches to teaching about language that smaller case studies and nuanced qualitative studies have not yet documented. They examine differences in teachers’ self-reported correction of student language use across teacher characteristics …

“Not A Stereotype”: A Teacher Framework For Evaluating Disability Representation In Children’S Picture Books, H. Emily Hayden, Angela M.T. Prince

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Researchers and educators have explored representations of people with marginalized identities in children’s picturebooks for over 30 years. Disability has not been widely acknowledged as a marginalized identity nor explored as an aspect of diversity prevalent in classrooms. In the United States, over seven million students are identified with a disability, and most will spend the majority of their school day in general education classrooms. Like other diverse students, they may not see their identities mirrored in classroom literature. Picturebooks featuring main characters with a disability are rare, and some still foreground medical models, limiting individuals with narrow, ableist notions …

Relational Literacies And Restorative Justice: “We’Re Part Of Something Bigger And As Big As The Collective”, Erica Holyoke

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Restrictive instruction and punitive discipline often run parallel in schools, prompting a continued need to provide authentic learning opportunities that value children’s literacy strengths in an inclusive community. Restorative justice has been identified as a pedagogical stance in addressing harmful policies in schools, and it is most often examined in secondary contexts and specifically in relation to discipline—rarely in relation to young children’s literacies and learning. This multisite case study explored the intersections of restorative practices and literacy learning in elementary classrooms (K–3) across three schools in the same large public school district in the United States. Using relational literacies …

Disability Representations And Portrayals In Picture Books With The Coretta Scott King Award, Sohyun Meacham, Shuaib J. Meacham, Irenea Walker, Bryce Davis

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study analyzed how people with disabilities are portrayed in picture books with the Coretta Scott King Award (CSKA) to address the intersectionality of African/African American racial identity and disabilities. Disability critical race theory was foundational for this study. The pool of 134 picture books that received the CSKA from 1971 to 2020 was used as the data for the systematic content analysis. For analysis, the researchers utilized a qualitative approach that guided axial coding and selective coding in looking for emerging themes. They found that 13 picture books portrayed African/African American characters with disabilities. The majority of these books …

Editorial Review Board Vol. 63 Issue 1

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

No abstract provided.

The Possibility Of Cognitive Kindness, Karen Yu

Measures of Success Series

Empowering everyone’s very best thinking has perhaps never mattered more. And yet for all the value that colleges and universities place on learning and thinking, we often work in ways that are forcefully counter to this goal. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can be more cognitively kind. Across various levels and aspects of higher education, we’ll explore some ways to intentionally apply what science tells us about how our minds work to design interactions, processes, and spaces that better empower and liberate each person’s full cognitive potential. Along the way, we’ll also see how cognitive kindness can …

Bfa Show, Emma Hampel

Honors Theses

The senior thesis show within the Frostic School of Art serves to mimic what the working artist will one day hope to achieve regularly: having their work in solo exhibitions throughout museums and galleries across the world. Thus the thesis show is not only an incredible learning experience, but also a crucial indicator of a student’s preparedness for life as a graduated artist. Through the experience of hosting one’s own show and reception, the artist will need to curate and create a collection of themed works for the exhibition, handle the layout, installation, and deinstallation of said exhibition, and promote …

National Research Center On Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

National Research Center on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Book Review Of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Coping With Addiction By Andrea Smith, Phd And Linda Dannison, Phd, Deborah Langosch

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Book Review of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Coping with Addiction

By Andrea Smith, PhD and Linda Dannison, PhD

It Takes A Village To Raise A Grandchild: Developing Communities Of Support For Grand-Families On Pei, Canada, Christina Murray, Laura Bain, Nora Spinks, Donald Avery

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

In this practice brief, we outline our research focused on grandparents raising grandchildren in Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada. Specifically, we highlight a series of collaborative community workshops implemented as part of our research project. Using a participatory action research approach, we worked with grandparents raising grandchildren to co-design and implement the workshops, which we titled It Takes a Village to Raise a Grandchild. These workshops brought together grandparents raising grandchildren and key community members, including clergy, educators, healthcare providers, politicians, social services, child services, and researchers. The goal of these workshops was to build awareness and increase understanding …

Grand Connections: A Workshop Series To Support Grandparents Caring For Grandchildren Under 5, Kathy Kinsner

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

A workshop series for grandparents caring for grandchildren under five was developed by ZERO TO THREE and piloted online in 2021 as part of a multi-year effort to create resources specifically for grandparents and kinship caregivers. Seven workshops, each 90 minutes long, offer a unique 3-generation approach: Grandparents receive the latest information on child-rearing, strategies for collaborating with their grandchild’s parents, and opportunities to connect with their grandchildren through read-alouds and art activities. Workshop materials (detailed lesson plans, slide decks, and grandparent handouts) are available online at no charge to organizations wishing to run a program of their own.

Of …

A Global Perspective On Intersecting Social And Systemic Barriers Experienced By Grandparent-Caregivers: A Qualitative Systematic Review, Schola N. Matovu, Deborah M. Whitley, Heather M. Young

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Globally, many grandparents are taking on the caregiving role for their grandchildren without public or government interjection of support, particularly financial assistance for basic needs such as housing, health care and living expenses. This paper aimed to broaden understanding of social and systemic barriers experienced by grandparent-caregivers across the globe. Of the 2,828 relevant grandparent caregiving studies identified in the literature, 34 representing eight countries met our inclusion criteria to answer the research question and the focus of this paper: What are the social and systemic barriers experienced by grandparent-caregivers across the globe? We utilized Noblit’s and Hare’s (1988) meta-ethnography …

Editorial Remarks: Celebrating Our 10th Anniversary!

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

We are pleased to announce GrandFamilies is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2024! It has been ten years since the first issue was published in 2014. We are very proud of the journal’s success due to the many researchers, service practitioners and policy reviewers who, over this decade, consider GrandFamilies a preferred publication outlet to disseminate new and original knowledge on grandparent-headed families.

We thank our readership for their loyalty to the journal, which to date spans 165 countries, clearly demonstrating the journal’s global impact! Our readers are primarily from academic institutions, government agencies, public service organizations, and commercial groups. …

Editorial Page

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Editorial Page

Table Of Contents

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Table of Contents

Call For Papers

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Call for Papers

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Submission Deadline: October 15, 2024

Complete Issue Vol. 7, Issue 2

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Complete Issue Vol 7(2)

Senior Recital, Concetta Brehmer

Honors Theses

My honors thesis was presented in the form of my senior clarinet recital. It was performed on Sunday, February 4th at 3pm. The music in this program consisted of unaccompanied solo repertoire such as Blush by Jean Ahn, and a Bach Cello Suite on bass clarinet. There will be accompanied works such as the Mozart Clarinet Concerto 1st movement, and Premiere Rhapsodie by Claude Debussy. Lastly, the recital will also contain chamber music, such as my clarinet quartet playing Histoire Du Tango by Astor Piazzola, and a vibraphone/clarinet duo called Oil & Water by Josh Gottry. This recital encompasses works …

Accessibility In Asl Through Dance, Jocelyn Supanich

Honors Theses

My honors thesis project was a dance for camera or a dance film that I created as my senior capstone project for my BA dance degree. I wanted to create a film that increased awareness surrounding the accessibility of American Sign Language (ASL) for dancers and through dance. I wanted to show how dance and ASL can be seen as similar through the lense of them both being languages and ways of communicating using movement of the body. This idea is where the title stems from: “Expression in Motion”. Both ASL and dance are forms of expressing oneself, and they …