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The Relationship Of Analysis And Performance In Henri Tomasi’S Concerto Pour Trombone Et Orchestre, Craig Owen Hull

Dissertations

Henri Tomasi’s Concerto pour Trombone et Orchestre is regarded as one of the most important pieces within the trombone solo repertoire. However, neither Tomasi nor his Concerto pour Trombone et Orchestre have received a notable amount of scholarly attention. This is likely due to Tomasi’s obscurity to a general audience and too few trombonists engaging in analytical and historical scholarly endeavors. However, the quality of the composer, his work, and the lack of scholarship surrounding it encourage such a study to exist.

The music theory discipline known as analysis and performance relies on analysis and historical context. The combination of …

Between The Lines And Behind The Lessons: An Educational Criticism Of Bridging Anti-Bias Possibilities In Colorado’S K-2 Standards And Classrooms, Grace Marguerite Breiten

Dissertations

In an era of standardized accountability in public education, anti-bias-oriented Colorado educators have sought to foster caring, courageous, and critically conscious citizens by affirming student identity, promoting diversity, demanding justice, and inspiring activism, all while adhering to mandated academic standards. The purpose of the qualitative Educational Critical and Connoisseurship study was to understand and describe how K-2 anti-bias-oriented educators teaching in public schools in Colorado interpreted and implemented Colorado’s Reading, Writing, and Communicating (RWC) and Social Studies (SS) standards using an anti-bias orientation. This study was guided by the following research questions:

Q1 In what ways are Colorado’s K–2 Reading, …

Reframing Health: A Phenomenological Inquiry Into The Lived Experiences Of Weight- Inclusive Healthcare Providers, Hannah Brass

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the unique lived experiences of healthcare professionals who practiced from a weight-inclusive lens. This study was guided by the following research questions:

Q1 What is the unique lived experience of a healthcare provider practicing from a weight-inclusive lens?

Q2 What are the significant experiences that have influenced the development of weight-inclusive providers’ attitudes (i.e., thoughts, feelings, and behaviors)?

Data from these findings were analyzed using Giorgi’s (2009) descriptive phenomenological method to discover rich descriptions and themes of weight-inclusive healthcare practitioners' experiences. The study explored the significant experiences and supports that influenced …

Protecting The Public: The Impact Of Continued Competence Regulations On Nursing Disciplinary Rates, Laura Katherine Blackhurst

Dissertations

Nursing competence is essential for the provision of quality, ethical, legal, safe patient care. NRBs serve a critical role in establishing standards for nurses that lead to the protection of the public. While most NRBs mandate some measure of ongoing competence, there is notable variation in NRB competence regulations. While competence regulations should reduce the need for nursing discipline, there is limited evidence regarding the effectiveness of these regulations in promoting public protection.

The purpose of this study was to explore how continued competence regulations impact the disciplinary rate of registered nurses. The following research questions guided this study:

Q1 …

Feedback Without Content Expertise: Exploring Teacher Perception Of Effective Feedback In Teacher Evaluations With Content Mismatch, Anna Keathley Bergeron

Dissertations

A key element of teacher evaluation systems is to support professional growth by providing teachers with feedback on their instructional practices and identifying opportunities for improvement. Despite this intent, research consistently indicates that teachers often perceive evaluation feedback as vague, generic, or disconnected from their instructional context. These concerns are particularly evident at the secondary level, where evaluators frequently assess teachers outside their area of content expertise. As a result, recent research suggests that a lack of content knowledge may serve as a barrier to providing meaningful feedback.

The purpose of this qualitative instrumental case study was to examine how …

Black Faces In White Spaces: Understanding School Belonging Among Black Adolescents At Nais Independent Schools, Letetsia Angelica Fox

Dissertations

Even though the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS) has been committed to diversity for the last 30 years, they often focus their diversity efforts on all students of color instead of specific groups such as Black students (Brosnan, 2001). By not focusing on the specific experiences of Black students at independent schools, independent schools cannot truly foster a strong sense of school belonging for Black students because they do not understand the distinct barriers and factors that contribute to the development of school belonging for Black students who attend their schools (Hall & Stevenson, 2007).

This qualitative study sought …

Convergence And Divergence Of Opinion About Treatment Of Binocular Vision Disorders Among Vision Care Professionals, Sonia Young

Dissertations

There are three distinct professions prominent in the field of pediatric vision care. They are ophthalmology, optometry and orthoptics. All professions are integral to the detection and treatment of pediatric binocular vision disorders. However, distinct schools of thought exist to describe the best approach to pediatric binocular vision disorders and their treatments. Literature often highlights two opposing schools of thought represented by the “medical” and “behavioral” approaches. While there is academic debate about the merits and pitfalls of either approach, there is a paucity of nuanced perspectives which more closely resemble the ways in which pediatric ocular clinicians approach diagnosis …

“The Thorns Of The Most Severe Virtue”: Education, Religion, And Cultural Power In Michigan, 1798–1855, Kyle Christopher Vanderwall

Dissertations

This project seeks to demonstrate the centrality of education and religion as cultural power levers used by Americans, Odawa, and Catholic missionaries. Though the power of each culture was uneven, efforts to create educational institutions imbued with different denominations of Christianity, as well as continued contestation over land, remade the cultures of all involved. Americans privileged state-building practices, the Odawa acculturated to remain in Michigan when removal policies were enacted throughout the United States, and the Catholic church attempted to proselytize Indigenous communities.

Although the ethnohistorical method needed to be understood in order to write this project, it is not …

The Effects Of Fluency Building On Undergraduate Student Performance, Lauren B. Shibley

Dissertations

Online learning has become integral to higher education, with enrollment steadily increasing over the past decade and accelerating during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research highlights the importance of flexibility, learner autonomy, and self-regulated learning skills in this environment, with studies demonstrating that strategies such as mastery-based, self-paced instruction, fluency training, and timely feedback support student engagement and academic success. Early work adapting personalized instruction for online use (Pear & Crone-Todd, 1999) and subsequent studies on fluency practice (Quigley et al., 2018; Urbina et al., 2019) emphasize how these supports can improve concept retention. Despite these advances, more quantitative research is needed …

A Phenomenological Study Of Black College Students’ Belonging Built Through Meaningful Interactions With Black Staff At Predominantly White Institutions, Katelyn A. Hanley Semelbauer

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore how Black students at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) describe meaningful interactions with Black staff and how they make meaning of those interactions as it relates to building a sense of belonging. The conceptual framework for this study incorporates Strayhorn’s (2019) college students’ sense of belonging theoretical model as a foundation with Museus’s (2014) culturally engaging campus environment model as a lens for analysis of the findings.

Using a hermeneutical phenomenological approach, 12 Black undergraduate students were recruited to participate. Each of the students attended a public 4-year PWI in the Great …

Making Sense Of The Faith-Based School’S Mission: An Instrumental Case Study Exploring How The School’S Espoused Mission Is Enacted, Richard Mingerink

Dissertations

What happens in the space between a school’s espoused mission and the enactment of that mission in the classroom? For faith-based schools—institutions whose very identity rests upon a religiously grounded purpose—this question is not merely technical but existential. While these schools publicly espouse missions centered on a religious faith, research consistently suggests that what is proclaimed on paper is not always what is practiced in classrooms. The persistent gap between espoused mission and enacted practice raises a critical question: how do educators actually make sense of their school’s religious mission, and how does that sensemaking shape what they do?

This …

Generations At Work: Examining Differences In The Nonprofit Sector, Cory J. Bergeron

Dissertations

This non-experimental quantitative dissertation examined generational differences among non-management employees in the United States nonprofit sector, where multiple generational cohorts work side by side. The problem addressed is that nonprofit leaders’ limited understanding of how distinct generational experiences shape employees’ work-related attitudes and preferences can contribute to conflict, reduced engagement, and costly turnover in already resource-constrained organizations. Grounded in Mannheim’s generational theory and Becker’s human capital theory, the study conceptualized generational cohorts as groups whose shared formative experiences influence what they value in their work context and how those values translate into human capital that affects organizational outcomes.

Using a …

“We Have Not Failed Our Country In The Past; We Shall Not Fail Her In The Future.”: The Army National Guard In Peace And War During The Interwar Period And World War Ii, Bearington C. Curtis

Dissertations

This dissertation explores one of the most fundamental questions in the War & Society field of American history: how the American people organize for war and how the citizenry has negotiated with themselves and their government to formulate a compromise that is culturally acceptable and militarily practical. Addressing such an elemental yet sweeping question of how a society organizes for war necessitates engagement with a broad swath of historiography, including institutional history, traditional and new military history, cultural assumptions of race and masculinity, politics, and civil-military relations. By taking a holistic approach, the various interests that shaped American military policy …

Pro Rege Chr. Brass Band: A Century Of Sound, Jonathan T.J. Henneveld

Dissertations

The Christian Brass Band Pro Rege of Heerenveen, The Netherlands, celebrated its one hundredth birthday in 2024. As one of the most prominent community-based brass bands in the region, Pro Rege is part of a Dutch wind ensemble tradition that goes largely undocumented. While they and other bands like them function as cultural and educational institutions, academic literature remains limited, almost ignoring them completely. This dissertation wishes to address this oversight by providing an historical study of the brass band from its establishment in 1924 to the present day.

Starting out in the Dutch ensemble tradition of the Fanfare band, …

Having Our Say: A Sociological Examination Of English Instruction In Urban High Schools And Effects On Black And Latino Identities, Jena Marie Escareno

Dissertations

This interdisciplinary study integrates a macro‑sociological perspective on language bias with an examination of English language instructional policies and practices that shape the identities of Black and Latino former urban high school students. Its purpose is to apply a sociological framework capable of illuminating the intersections of language, race, and social justice. By bridging linguistic, sociological, and educational theories, the study seeks to explain why current approaches to language instruction remain ineffective for urban learners and may inadvertently harm minority cultural identities.

Persistent disparities in urban academic achievement often highlight race and ethnicity as explanatory factors without acknowledging how these …

Unpacking American Reception Of Glocalized Non-English Content In The Netflix Era, Sur Govindarajan

Dissertations

The swift growth of streaming services has revolutionized the worldwide distribution of media, making it possible for non-English and non-English-adjacent content to reach American consumers on a never-before-seen scale, which is sometimes perceived as an indication of increasing cultural tolerance. However, while a lot is known about what audiences see, far less is known about how they really understand and assess these stories. There is a fundamental vacuum in our understanding of audience reception as a lived, meaning-making process because previous research has mostly focused on consumption patterns. In order to close that gap, this study examines how American audiences …

Host Families’ Perspectives Of The Impact Of The Commodification Of Education On The Student-Host Family Relationship In Study Abroad, Guadalupe Bustamante

Dissertations

The growing commodification of education has reshaped study abroad in ways that extend beyond marketing and program design. While homestays have traditionally been viewed as the ideal format for cultural immersion and language acquisition, research has largely overlooked how these trends affect the student-host family relationship from the family's perspective.

This study examines whether, and, if so, how Spanish host families perceive their roles and relationships with the American students they host have been impacted by these trends. Using a qualitative exploratory case study design, the research focused on representatives from eight families in Madrid, who have hosted U.S. students …

Perceptions And Practices: A Qualitative Study Of Middle Grades Physical Science Teachers’ Knowledge And Use Of Formative Assessment, Michelle Morgan

Dissertations

Declining content mastery scores in middle grades physical science across the River Valley School District, as reflected in College and Career Ready Performance Index data, have raised concerns about instructional practices and the use of formative assessment. Although formative assessment is widely recognized as a high-impact practice, limited research has examined how middle school physical science teachers’ conceptual knowledge aligns with their instructional planning and classroom practices. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore teachers’ knowledge of formative assessment and the relationship between their stated beliefs and instructional practices. Participants included five eighth-grade physical science teachers …

The Impact Of Targeted Remediation On Reading Growth Among Remedial Middle School Students, Jennifer Givens

Dissertations

Many middle school students enter secondary education with below grade-level reading skills and are unable to demonstrate measurable growth without structured intervention. This study examined relationship between participation in a targeted Remedial Education Program (REP) English Language Arts (ELA) course and reading growth, as measured by the Northwestern Evaluation Association’s Measures of Academic Progress (NWEA MAP) Reading assessment. A quasi-experimental design compared fall-to-winter MAP Reading RIT growth between students enrolled in REP and academically similar students receiving special education services but not enrolled in REP. This study also investigated whether the effects of the intervention varied based on gender or …

Students’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Impact Of I-Ready On Students’ Math Achievement, Tanisha L. Wright

Dissertations

This semester-long qualitative study included semi-structured interviews to gather ideas, opinions, and impressions (perceptions) regarding the i-Ready Program, a computer-based solution used to address students’ math deficiencies.  The researcher interviewed three teachers who volunteered to participate. These teachers had at least five years of teaching experience and at least two years of i-Ready use. The researcher also interviewed eight students with varying learning abilities. Parental consent was obtained to conduct the interviews.

Although this program is very popular and used in multiple school districts, this research aims to determine whether it is the best solution for our school district in …

A Case Study Of Experiential Learning In A High-Poverty Middle School, Diona F. Brown

Dissertations

This study examined the impact of experiential learning on student achievement in a high-poverty Title I middle school and explored how school leaders perceive and support its implementation. Grounded in experiential learning, active learning, and social justice theories, this research aimed to better understand how instructional practices can improve outcomes for students facing economic and educational challenges. A convergent parallel mixed-methods design was used. Quantitative data were collected through pre- and post-assessments administered to two groups of eighth-grade mathematics students: one receiving experiential learning instruction and the other receiving traditional instruction. Qualitative data were collected through surveys of school administrators …

Recruiting And Retaining Teachers In A Rural School District: A Case Study, Gerald J. Bavero

Dissertations

         This exploratory case study aimed to understand the specific strategies that rural school leaders employ to address the challenges associated with recruiting and retaining teachers in rural schools.  It sought to understand the effectiveness of these strategies within the unique economic and cultural landscape of South West County and to identify practices that could inform broader educational policy and practice in this and similar rural settings.  A qualitative case study approach utilizing semi-structured interview questions was conducted to discover what teacher recruitment and retention strategies school leaders implement and how teachers perceive these strategies.  Findings indicate both formal and informal …

A Phenomenological Study Of Teachers Who Use Oral Reading To Foster Student Reading Fluency And Engagement, Donyetta Grimes

Dissertations

The National Reading Panel (2000) recommends oral reading instruction as a means to improve overall reading fluency and reading comprehension. Oral reading fluency is a necessary foundational skill, and students who have not mastered it by the end of third grade, when students transition from learning to read to reading to learn, become struggling adolescent readers (Ming, 2018). Furthermore, there is a lack of research on reading fluency past the primary grades (Makebo et al., 2022). Additionally, research gaps exist when considering teachers’ actual practices during reading instruction (O’Sullivan et al., 2009). This gap is particularly concerning considering that teachers …

Restorying The Reader: Adolescent Narratives Of Identity, Context, And Motivation, Jennifer R. Gardner

Dissertations

This present study examined how adolescents narrate their reading experiences and what those narratives reveal about reading identity, motivation, and engagement. This study responds to a persistent problem in literacy education: adolescent reading is often framed through disengagement or reduced to isolated constructs, while students’ lived reading experiences across school, home, digital, linguistic, and social contexts remain underexamined. Guided by Self-Determination Theory, Intersectionality, and Reader Response Theory, this study centers on adolescent voices and treats these participants’ stories as the primary avenue of understanding how they experience and interpret their reading lives and selves. Data were collected through narrative interviews, …

Science For All: Utilizing Native And Everyday Language To Increase Academic Performance And Student Engagement For High School English Language Learners, Lashanda K. Whitworth

Dissertations

In public high schools across the U.S. high stakes assessments are seen as a lever to facilitate high-quality education and to gauge student learning. English Language Learners are mainstreamed into content classes and despite having low English proficiency scores are expected to perform as well as English first students and are required to take district and state mandated biology assessments. At the research site, ELLs comprise 25% of students and consistently score below the other subgroups in biology. This quasi-experimental study tested whether using disaggregate instructional strategies—incorporating ELLs’ native and everyday language—increases learning gains, academic growth, and engagement in a …

Chilling Or Galvanizing: Perceptions Of Controversial Issues In The Social Studies Classroom, Patrick Leahy

Dissertations

This study explores social studies teachers' perceptions of the use of controversial issues in their content and classrooms. Through a case study approach, it explores the decision-making process of social studies teachers in Georgia, contextualized by the current political environment, including the enactment of divisive concepts laws such as Georgia’s HB 1084, the Protect Students First Act, and increasing scrutiny over what is taught in public schools. Findings reveal that while the literature and advocates critical of divisive concepts laws tend to argue that these laws have a chilling effect on the discussion of controversial issues, the reality is more …

Exploring Teachers’ Lived Experiences: The Impact Of Wellness On Student Engagement And Behavior In Third-Grade Classrooms, Tiffany L. Jackson

Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study explored teachers' lived experiences implementing student wellness initiatives in the classroom and examined their views on how these initiatives affected student engagement and behavior. In this study, participants had the opportunity to express their views on implementing wellness practices in the classroom and on how these initiatives impacted student engagement and behavior. The research was guided by theoretical frameworks related to wellness, emotional and social intelligence, and relational perspectives. Semi-structured one-on-one interviews were the primary data source, and interview notes will serve as secondary data. This study addressed three research questions: (1) What are teachers' lived …

First-Year Seminar’S Influence On Thriving In First-Year Students, Chelsea Miller

Dissertations

First-year students struggle with attrition. Prevention of attrition has various interventions on such first-year seminars. Typically, these interventions use academic outcomes to measure effectiveness. Prior research supports that students enrolled in first-year seminar benefit academically from the intervention. However, these outcomes do not fully capture all the possible benefits of this intervention. This leaves room for research on other possible outcomes. Thriving as a construct incorporates both academic and social elements. Thriving is a possible outcome that could capture the benefits of first-year seminars. This study examined how much of the variance in thriving was explained by participation in first-year …

Nomophobia In Early Adolescence: An Exploration Of Prevalence, Academic Performance, And School Policy In United States Middle School Students, Christopher Otero

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine nomophobia among middle school students, investigating its relationships with grade level, smartphone OS, school smartphone policy, and academic performance. Grounded in Social Cognitive Theory, the research utilized a sample of 85 U.S. middle school students to address three research questions:

Q1 What relationships exists between middle school students’ grade levels, smartphone operating systems, school smartphone policy, GPA, and nomophobia levels?

Q2 To what extent do middle school student’s grade level, smartphone operating system, and school smartphone policy predict nomophobia?

Q3 Is nomophobia a significant predictor of GPA in middle school students?

Findings …

Wrestling With Morality: A Study On Moral Identity And Social Behavior In Individual Sports, Julia Isabella Ybarra

Dissertations

The development of moral reasoning and social behavior in adolescents and young adults is critical to healthy functioning. Sport participation is frequently assumed to promote positive developmental outcomes; however, the moral implications of participation in combative sports such as wrestling remain debated. Wrestling differs from many team and individual sports due to its physically dominant and one-on-one competitive structure, raising questions regarding how involvement may relate to moral identity, moral disengagement, and social behavior. The purpose of this exploratory quantitative study was to examine associations among moral identity, moral disengagement, and prosocial and antisocial behavior in adolescent and young adult …