Digital Commons Network^™

Neither Here Nor There: Transformational Leadership And Cultural Intelligence In Presidents Of U.S. Accredited Universities Located In Foreign Countries, Jeff Bourgeois

Dissertations

The role of a university president combines the symbolism of an institutional ambassador with the leadership responsibilities of a private-sector executive. When considering the cultural context of the university and the culture of the surrounding community, the demands of the presidential position become far more complex. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation currently lists 42 colleges and universities with institutional-level accreditation located beyond the borders of the Unite States, and two more listed as candidates for future accreditation consideration. Presidents of the 44 internationally located universities bearing U.S. accreditation must negotiate the potential for tension between the many cultures at …

Los Recién Llegados: Construyendo Collaborative Relationships Between Recently Arrived Salvadoran Parents And Educators In The Nation's Capital, Ingrid Tamara Colon

Dissertations

This qualitative study explored recently arrived Salvadoran parents in Washington, D.C. The primary purpose of this dissertation was to learn the perspectives that recently arrived Salvadoran parents have about their children's education to build and sustain collaborative relationships in schools. This study holds implications for schools, school administrators, teachers, teacher preparation programs, policy makers, and educational researchers serving recently arrived Salvadoran immigrants. Specifically, this dissertation calls for educators and stakeholders to directly learn from recently arrived Salvadoran parents to identify and address the unique needs of their children in U.S. schools.

This dissertation examined the following question: What perspectives do …

An Examination Of Multicultural Competence And Racial Colorblindness Among School Psychologists, Sandy D. Flores

Dissertations

The field of school psychology has developed a strong commitment to culturally competent practice. However, there is a lack of literature examining multicultural competence among school psychologists. The present study sought to address this need using a two-pronged approach. First, the study expanded the research base for a self-report multicultural competence scale by administering the measure to a sample of practicing school psychologists. Second, the study investigated the relationship between racial colorblindness and self-perceived multicultural competence among school psychologists by administering an additional racial colorblindness measure. Given that similar fields have identified the negative impact of racial colorblindness on multicultural …

The Challenge Of Leading Change: How Sources Of Authority And Change Management Models Intersect To Promote School Improvement, Samantha Joyce Lam

Dissertations

A gap in research exists that demonstrates how principals use their authority to make decisions and how that intersects with change management models. The purpose of the study is to examine how one elementary school principal has led change and how teachers perceive the effectiveness of the change. The study seeks to explore principal's and teachers' perceptions of the impact of the change on the school.

Through a bounded, qualitative case study design, the researcher used several techniques to gather data: teacher survey, principal interview, teacher interview, and document analysis. Multiple sources of data were used to adequately shed light …

Husserl And Community, Sean Stephen Petranovich

Dissertations

This dissertation is on Edmund Husserl's concept of personal community. I argue that Husserl's concept of community is based on his formal theory of parts and wholes. More specifically, it is argued that the terms Husserl uses to describe features of community in his later writings are already established early in his philosophical career. The first three chapters of the dissertation focus on Husserl's unique conception of community in general. The final two chapters turn to political communities from a Husserlian standpoint.

In the first chapter, I investigate how Husserl's account of the ontological structure of community is tied to …

Maintaining And Improving Academic Achievement In The Midst Of Significant Demographic Change: A Case Study Analysis, Aaron Raatjes

Dissertations

The research of Mei Jiun Wu (2013) indicates that demographic change greater than 1% has significant impact on the achievement performance of school districts. This study analyzes a single district that experienced an average of 1.25% demographic change per year consisting of an increase of non-White students from 2002 to 2015. Despite this compounding change, the district was able to maintain and improve academic achievement. This study utilizes Marzano and Waters' (2009) framework for school leadership as well as Lindsey, Nuri-Robins, and Terrell's (2009) Framework for cultural proficiency to better understand how the district was able to maintain and improve …

Wilson Fundations Program Evaluation For An Urban Kindergarten Setting, Tonika Rene' Terrell

Dissertations

Many urban schools, throughout the United States of America, experience major academic challenges in preparing Kindergarten students to become proficient readers, to achieve academic success throughout the formal educational process. The purpose of this research study was to examine how the implementation of the Wilson Fundations Program, in an urban Kindergarten setting, impacted student literacy achievement and growth. The Wilson Fundations Program is a systematic, explicit, and highly structured mult-sensory language program for students in K-3 grade. The Wilson Fundations is based on principles of the Wilson Reading System which provides instruction for a comprehensive reading, spelling, and handwriting program. …

Being Wise Before Wisdom: The Historical Development Of Phronēsis From Homer To Aristotle, And Its Consequences For Hans-Georg Gadamer's Hermeneutic Ethics, Giancarlo Tarantino

Dissertations

Hans-Georg Gadamer claims that the Aristotelian concept of "phronesis" or "practical wisdom" plays a decisive role throughout the process of interpretation and understanding. Scholars have often been divided over just what this means or entails for hermeneutics. This dissertation argues for a strongly ethical reading of Gadamer's claim, based on (1) a Gadamerian view of the nature of concepts and conceptuality, and (2) an historical reconstruction of the development of phronesis from Homer to Aristotle. Recovering forgotten and underappreciated historical features of phronesis allows for a critical revaluation of Gadamer's philosophy as a whole, including the outlines of an "emotionally …

Correlation Of The Boost Risk Stratification Tool As A Predictor Of Unplanned 30-Day Readmission In Elderly Patients, Carol K. Sieck

Dissertations

Carol K. Sieck

Loyola University Chicago

CORRELATION OF THE BOOST RISK STRATIFICATION TOOL AS A PREDICTOR OF UNPLANNED 30-DAY REAMDISSION IN ELDERLY PATIENTS

Risk stratification tools can identify patients at risk for 30-day readmission but available tools lack predictive strength. While physical, functional and social determinants of health have demonstrated an association with readmission, available risk stratification tools have been inconsistent in their use of variables to predict readmission. The Better Outcomes by Optimizing Safe Transitions (BOOST) 8 P's tool is a risk stratification tool developed by the Society of Hospital Medicine but has no published validation studies. The theoretical …

Modeling Mortgage Assessment With Computational Argumentation Theory And Defeasible Reasoning, Henrik Szucs

Dissertations

In the mortgage lending business of a bank, a key focus area is risk analysis, which supports the mortgage awarding process and the prediction of the risk of defaulting (repayment issues). The standard risk assessment method at most banks is a scorecard calculation. A new way of predicting the defaulting is proposed using Defeasible Reasoning (DR) and computational Argumentation Theory (AT), areas of interdisciplinary research, in the discipline of Articial Intelligence (AI). Argumentation is formalised by reasoning models which are inspired by human reasoning. For a more realistic representation AT employs DR which is a non-monotonic reasoning process, meaning that …

The Evaluation Of Ensemble Sentiment Classification Approach On Airline Services Using Twitter, Zechen Wang

Dissertations

In the field of sentiment classification, much research has been done on reviews of topics such as movies, software and books. Little research has been done in the airline service domain. In the airline industry, the use of social media as a customer service tool has become a growing phenomenon. The research conducted by Wan and Gao (2015) has proposed an ensemble classification approach for airline service sentiment classification using Twitter data. In accordance, the objective of improving the performance of ensemble classification approach is the primary consideration. This research proposed new hybrid classification approach that uses the state-of-art approach …

"Witness" And "Bearing Witness" In The Legal Settings Of The Pentateuch And The Gospel Of John: An Intertextual Study, Franklin A. Marti

Dissertations

This dissertation studies the words “witness” and “to bear witness” in the Pentateuch and in the Gospel of John, and at the same time presents an intertextual connection between these books.

The study begins with an introduction in which I present the background and statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, the delimitations and the methodology.

Following the introduction chapter 1 deals with the review of the literature from ANE documents to ancient Jewish interpretation. I conclude that even though the Code of Hammurabi and the Hittite treaties are documents with different purposes, they reflect a similar feature: …

A Study Of The Pokot Cultural Worldview: Missiological Implications For Seventh-Day Adventist Witness Among The Pastoral Nomads Of Kenya, Haron Matwetwe

Dissertations

Seventh-day Adventist witness among the nomadic peoples of the East Africa region is faced with a number of challenges. Although the Church enjoys relative success in reaching most communities, its growth and development appears restricted to locations occupied by the settled communities. Unfamiliarity with nomads’ cultural structures and values is partial explanation for why missionaries have failed to effectively connect with the nomads thereby hampering the establishment of a more vibrant mission work in pastoral nomadic regions.

This qualitative research sought to describe the Pokot cultural worldview as a step toward understanding their socio-cultural context and identify barriers to effective …

The Relationship Between Transmission Of Sexual Knowledge, Sexual Attitude, And Culture, Esther M. Hooley

Dissertations

Purpose

Sexual knowledge is important for healthy development of adolescents and adults. Currently, there is no consistent mode of introducing the topic of sex to an individual who has not previously learned about the topic. If a shift were to occur in transmission of sexual knowledge, whether by creating a consistent mode, a culture-specific mode, or focusing on sexual attitude rather than behavior, future populations would be positively influenced. If the educational system, religious organizations, and families could be informed of an appropriate and meaningful way to communicate sexual knowledge to adolescents, negative sexual outcomes have the potential to decrease …

Development And Application Of Self-Awareness In Project Leadership: A Multiple Case Study Of Department Of Defense Project Managers, Jeffrey Brian Hart

Dissertations

Problem

This study explored how Project Managers (PMs) in the Department of Defense (DoD) come to understand, develop, and apply self-awareness in leading their projects. The DoD invests heavily in developing their project leaders by providing training, experiences, developmental assignments, and other tools such as self-assessments presumably to help them lead more authentically and become more self-aware as a way to improve project management. Despite this investment, it is unclear how self-awareness is actually developed in PMs and integrated into their leadership practice. In view of the importance of self-awareness in leadership, more understanding is needed on how self-awareness is …

Cultural, Linguistic, Curricular And Financial Stories Of Andrews University International Undergraduate Students And Their Experiences Of Coping During The Academic Year 2014-2015: A Narrative Study, Renaude Etienne Saint-Phard

Dissertations

Problem

The internationalization trends indicate that global growth of international students moving from one country to another is predicted to exceed 7.2 billion in 2025 (IIE, 2011)). This crossing of borders inevitably evokes that international students confront multifaceted challenges in their host country. Although many facets of research have addressed their multilayered challenges, most of these studies do not give a voice to international undergraduate students nor do they seek to understand their cultural, linguistic, curricular, and financial narratives. Most importantly, these studies do not explore how international undergraduate students cope with their challenges. It is essential to understand how …

Mindset, Academic Motivation, And Academic Self-Efficacy As Correlates Of Academic Achievement Among Undergraduate Students In Communication Sciences And Disorders Programs, Heather Loraine Ferguson

Dissertations

Problem

Higher education serves many stakeholders including students, parents, faculty, staff, university administrators, and other contributors. Those stakeholders are all linked with one purpose: the success of the student. That success or failure is most commonly measured by achievement through grade point average (GPA). The academic demands within the college/university setting is high. Limited academic achievement can result in academic failure, being placed on academic probation, even losing scholarships and grants. Students enter college, progress through college, and often graduate without having a real understanding for what it truly takes to be academically successful and what factors may contribute to …

Patriots And Practical Men: British Educational Policy And The Responses Of Colonial Subjects In India, 1880-1890, David Thomas Boven

Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the interplay between educational policy implemented by the British colonial authorities in India and the religious and ethnic communities impacted by these policies. It first considers educational policies promulgated from the earliest days of rule by the British East India Company until the Hunter Commission of 1882. Following this survey, the dissertation considers Indian reactions to these systems and colonial structures of education between 1880 and 1890. Those colonizing India had planned to use education as a means of stabilizing and strengthening their own rule on the subcontinent. As the British colonizers steadily overran the subcontinent, …

Research Practices Of Music Educators: A Review Of The Journal Of Research In Music Education, Clifton Brent Mcreynolds

Dissertations

Music Education researchers face the same challenge of producing valid, reliable, and thorough work as any field in education. A content analysis was conducted on the Journal of Research in Music Education from 2011-2016 to determine what research trends were occurring and whether or not those trends are continuations of existing literature. Investigation included distributions of research designs as well as the four components Crotty recommended for quality research. Findings supported previous research indicating more qualitative studies within the journal. Also, for those articles having three or four of Crotty’s components, qualitative coding of these components were categorized into constructive-where …

Let’S Give Them Something To Talk About: Supporting Primary African American Students’ Language Through Dialogic Reading, Jessyca Denise Bryant

Dissertations

Abstract Using an action research approach, the African American teacher–researcher investigated the appropriation and effectiveness of dialogic lessons and culturally relevant books to develop and improve primary-grade African American students’ language and literacy skills. Specifically, this study investigated whether changes in the kinds of questions posed during reading interactions resulted in extended thoughts, more complex sentence constructions, and the inclusion of new vocabulary words. Dialogic reading is an invaluable tool for teachers to utilize with students challenged with language differences upon entering school. Lessons were expressly designed to engage and scaffold students in their development of language and literacy skills. …

Supporting Students With Disabilities Entering The Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Field Disciplines, Karen Marie Dishauzi

Dissertations

Extensive research exists on female, African American, and Hispanic students pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field disciplines. However, little research evaluates students with disabilities and career decision-making relating to STEM field disciplines. This study explored the career decision-making experiences and self-efficacy for students with disabilities. The purpose of this research study was to document experiences and perceptions of students with disabilities who pursue, and may consider pursuing, careers in the STEM field disciplines by exploring the career decision-making self-efficacy of students with disabilities. This study documented the level of influence that the students with disabilities had or may …

The Writing Development Of Multilingual Youth In A Spanish Immersion School, Angela Billur Layton

Dissertations

Language immersion schools offer students from diverse backgrounds with an opportunity for language enrichment education. Yet few studies attend to students’ perspectives on writing and multilingualism in immersion schools. The purpose of this study was to explore how four students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds were developing writing and multilingual competencies at their Spanish Immersion Elementary School (SIES). This research investigated children’s emerging theories of writing and how school policies afforded and constrained practice. Further, this study examined the developmental trajectory of one trilingual student’s writing over time. This qualitative inquiry drew from two research traditions: ethnographic case study …

The Illumination Of Racial Understandings As Revealed In Teacher Education Students' Interpretation Of Written Text, Carolyn Marie Fuller

Dissertations

This study utilized a basic qualitative research design to explore how teachers enrolled in a graduate level social justice course read and respond to racialized texts, referenced as the “critical reading tasks.” These “critical reading tasks” included the constructs of: racial identity/positioning, historical time frame, characters/personal attributes, language, class, and intersectionality. Additionally, the following research questions guided the study: In what ways do teacher education students evoke, interpret, construct or misunderstand race, racism and anti-racism? And how do these understandings change over time, as participants revisit the readings? In what ways do participants describe the emotionality associated with revisiting racialized …

Learning Language With Technology In A Hybrid University Eap Course, Jerol Brent Enoch

Dissertations

Today’s college campuses are offering increased alternatives to the traditional face-to-face classroom, including hybrid or blended courses that combine online and face-to-face elements. Language learning is no exception. This instrumental case study examines the affordances and constraints of integrating technology into a hybrid language classroom, following one teacher’s construction of an undergraduate, hybrid English for Academic Purpose (EAP) grammar class for ten international students in their first year of study at an American university. Drawing on data from this single classroom case, findings address both the instructor’s and students’ perceptions of course content and delivery, knowledge expression activities, and classroom …

Moving Words/Motion Pictures: Proto-Cinematic Narrative In Nineteenth-Century British Fiction, Kara Marie Manning

Dissertations

In the broadest sense, this project is about nineteenth-century narrative texts and optical toys, or those devices that were originally created to demonstrate scientific knowledge related to vision but that would also become popular for home and public consumption. I argue that nineteenth-century British writers borrowed and adapted the visual effects of such toys, making fiction as participatory as the toys themselves in the development of image culture and the viewing practices that would become necessary for the production and dissemination of cinema in the early twentieth century. Narrative fiction, then, should be considered along with the other precursors of …

Targeted Professional Learning To Implement A Biliteracy Model: A Change Leadership Plan, Nicole M. Robinson

Dissertations

With the achievement gap for students with Limited English Proficiency (LEP) and their non-LEP peers widening rather than closing in Brighton School District 32 (pseudonyms are used throughout this change plan), it became clear that a change of the bilingual program model was necessary. This change plan examines the need for change in the current traditional Transitional Bilingual Education program to an extended Developmental Bilingual Education model with an emphasis on teaching for biliteracy. Because altering the bilingual program model requires a significant change in teaching practices and beliefs, this plan focuses on implementing a targeted professional learning plan to …

La Sexualidad Como Vehículo De La Identidad De Género, Sexual Y Nacional En La Novelística Panhispánica Del Siglo Xxi, Leticia Isabel Espinoza

Dissertations

The search for identity in twentieth-century Spanish-language literature has primarily been seen through the rewriting of history to better suit new generations. For instance, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez’s novel about the origins of Colombia and Latin America, fictionalizes historical facts and rewrites history to question the very identity of Latin American countries. However, the search for identity in twenty-first-century Spanish language novels is unique in the sense that it does not look for identity through history, but through sexuality. Due to the lack of research in this area, the purpose of this study is to demonstrate …

The Impact Of Gifted Schools On The Academic Self- Concept Of Gifted Students In Saudi Arabia, Mohammad Alhanaya

Dissertations

Academic self-concept and gifted education are of particular importance to the field of education. Positive academic self-concept is correlated with several favorable educational outcomes but can be impacted by various educational factors such as ability grouping. The purpose of this study was to investigate the academic self-concept of gifted students in mixed ability schools and gifted schools in Saudi Arabia and determine the predictors of academic self-concept including school type, grade point average (GPA), grade level, class ranking, and gender. The sample of this study was 147 male and female gifted students in grades seven, eight, and nine enrolled in …

Examining Teachers' And College Students' Perspectives Toward E-Textbooks As An Educational Tool, Nariman Ali Alawami

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to understand the perspectives of teachers and students regarding their use of specific e-textbooks in a higher education learning environment. The e-textbooks used by the teachers and students were examined in order to determine functions and features to focus on during the inquiry. This study was particularly interested in the design of e-textbooks and how they are used by both teachers and students in the learning process. The participants in the research were also prompted to suggest improvements to e-textbooks. A case study approach was used as the methodology to examine three teachers represented …

From Novice To Independent Researcher: A Content Analysis Of Phd Student Blogs, Sarah J. Cox

Dissertations

The work of completing a PhD is complex, requiring a student to make sense of many uncertain processes in multiple contexts as they move toward independent scholarship. A setting that provides support in learning the tasks of PhD-related work is the informal learning environment of the Internet. Social media sites, such as blogs and wikis, supply a vast number of resources related to PhD work. Of particular interest to this study, are blog sites maintained by students who are sharing practices related to PhD work. It is possible to use a qualitative method to explore what blogs show us about …