Digital Commons Network^™

The Relationship Between Response To Intervention Implementation And Student Achievement, Carla Moran Mccaleb

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between Response to Intervention (RTI) implementation and student achievement in reading. The study used primary data derived from the winter STAR reading diagnostic screener collected from third, fourth and fifth grade students in the RTI process. These scores were then compared to the archival data collected in the fall STAR reading diagnostic screener from the same students.

Paired-tests were performed in order to determine if there was a relationship between RTI implementation and student achievement in reading. The study sample represented in this investigation was 125 students …

An Exploration Of How Disability Support Services Are Evaluated In Select Community Colleges, Donna Anita Walker

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative multi-site study was to explore how disability support service programs are evaluated in select Illinois community colleges through the use of the CIPP (context, input, process, and product) program evaluation framework. Stufflebeam’s (1969) CIPP model of program evaluation was adapted for this study. The study was undertaken to determine the following: (a) the fundamental elements of these programs; (b) why and in what ways the programs are implemented; (c) the evaluation process and impact on services; and (d) the influence of the knowledge base and skills of the director.

Based on the study findings, while …

Giving My Heart A Voice: Reflection On Self And Others Through The Looking Glass Of Pedagogy: An Autoetnography, Vera L. Neyman

Dissertations

To improve students academic outcomes this auto-ethnographic dissertation examines my teaching practice in the Ukraine and in the United States, and the similarities and differences between the two educational systems. This study, designed in the form of auto-ethnographic vignettes, explores the effect of my personal and professional metamorphosis on the academic advancement of my students, and investigates the conditions that molded me into a teacher I am today. Through the reflections on the process of self-development as an individual and a teacher, I discovered that building the relationship of trust between school and family is an underlying condition for improving …

Pre-Kindergarten And Kindergarten Teachers' Perceptions Of Kindergarten Readiness, Joshua Aaron Bressler

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a difference in perception between pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers on kindergarten readiness. In addition, this study sought to find out if there was any difference in PEAK assessment scores between those students who attended pre-kindergarten versus those students who did not attend pre-kindergarten.

The instruments used for this research were the Pascagoula Early Assessment for Kindergarten (PEAK) scores and the Kindergarten Readiness Questionnaire. The PEAK scores measured students‟ readiness by assessing their knowledge on language, writing communication, math, and fine motor development from the onset upon entering kindergarten. The …

Bitter-Sweet Home: The Pastoral Ideal In African-American Literature, From Douglass To Wright, Robyn Merideth Preston-Mcgee

Dissertations

Discussions of the pastoral mode in American literary history frequently omit the complicated relationship between African Americans and the natural world, particularly as it relates to the South. The pastoral, as a sensibility, has long been an important part of the southern identity, for the mythos of the South long depended upon its association with a new “Garden of the World” image, a paradise dependent upon slave labor and a racial hierarchy to sustain it. For African Americans, the rural South has been both a home and a place of violence and oppression, particularly during the period of slavery through …

Running In Absentia, Jeffrey David Tucker

Dissertations

Running in Absentia is a collection of short fiction, short-short fiction (also known as flash fiction), and poetry, with a critical introduction.

The Post Deployment Lived Experience Of U.S. Military Troops After Combat-Related Blast Exposure, Shirely A. Jett Phd

Dissertations

Blast-induced neurotrauma (BINT) is a newly emerging re-occurrence of an old combat-related injury in U.S. military troops returning from deployment in Afghanistan and Iraq. BINT is leading to a silent epidemic of symptomatic troops who face barriers to accessing healthcare and suffer debilitating symptoms in silence. The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to discover the meaning of the lived experience of U.S. troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq after combat-related blast exposure. Eleven service members and veterans ranging in age from 21 to over 30 years old participated in semi-structured face to face interviews. These service members and …

Parental Support Of Latinos In Higher Education, Maria Lorena Meza Phd

Dissertations

Many universities grapple with Latino student retention issues. Latinos are the largest and fastest-growing ethnic group in the United States, yet they also are the group that has the least amount of formal education. The literature suggests that parental support helps Latinos succeed academically in elementary, middle, and high schools. However, there has been little research on how or even whether Latino parental support influences academic success at the postsecondary level. Consequently, there is a lack of knowledge about (a) Latino parental behavior and attitudes during the years their children attend college and (b) the relationship between parents' behavior and …

Exploring The Growth Of Text-Reading Fluency In Upper-Elementary English Language Learners During Instruction Based On Repeated Reading, Katharine Staub Harrison Edd

Dissertations

For the large population of school-age English language learners in California and the United States, the challenge of learning a second language while learning academic content is formidable. Learning to read English skillfully is key to their success. Reading instruction focused on development of oral text-reading fluency has shown strong potential for accelerating the general reading achievement of native-English-speaking children, but there is a lack of concomitant research on English language learners. This dissertation describes a formative experiment with the goal to improve, in 9 weeks, the general reading achievement of 17 English language learners in Grades 3, 4, 5, …

A Comparative Content Analysis Of Five Spelling Programs In The 1st, 3rd, And 5th Grade, Katherine N. Davis Edd

Dissertations

This study investigated the content of five widely used spelling programs at three grade levels. Five spelling programs, Houghton Mifflin, Scholastic Spelling, Sitton Spelling, Words Their Way, and Treasures were analyzed. The following questions guided the study: To what extent do current spelling series reflect research-based practices and what underlying theoretical framework is stated or implied in each series? What types of spelling strategies, activities, and techniques are represented in student workbooks and teacher edition books? Two sub questions included: Do they reflect current research and/or the theoretical frameworks stated or implied in each series and do spelling programs provide …

Moon Landing, Jennifer Ann Marquardt

Dissertations

The following short stories began and were finished—at least as finished as they appear here—during my time at the Center for Writers.

Vocabulary Acquisition In Learning English As A Second Language: Examining The Involvement Load Hypothesis And Language Anxiety With Taiwanese College Students, Hsin-Chia Cheng

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Cultural Competence And Racist Attitudes Of Direct Patient Care Registered Nurses In A Midwestern State, Linda K. Hardy

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Interest-Based Instructional Strategies Secondary Teachers Use To Promote Student Engagement And How Administrators Support Their Work, Dawn Marie Macy

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Attitudes Toward Multimedia (Karaoke) And Popular Culture When Learning English As A Foreign Language In Taiwan, Chen-Yin Lee

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Self-Efficacy And Retention Among Ethnically Diverse Nursing Students, Jacqueline Carol Lewis

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Between Readability Level Of Mississippi's Middle Schools' Websites And Seventh Grade Language Arts Mct2 Scores, Anna Marlene Graves Pickard

Dissertations

Today’s educators face the unprecedented challenge of increasing achievement for all students. One response has been to increase and improve parent involvement and school-to-home communication through the use of school websites. The quantitative section of this study analyzed the readability grade level of the website as it relates to state test scores. For the qualitative section of the study, a sample of middle school principals’ levels of interest and involvement with parents through the website and other methods of communication for student achievement were examined through the use of principal interviews.

Seventh grade Language Arts MCT2 scores from 205 Mississippi …

How To Remain Childlike, Billy Ray Middleton

Dissertations

How to Remain Childlike examines themes of place and identity, focusing on how regionalism impacts the individual’s perception of self. The stories herein, set in the post-millennial South, focus on characters with a worldly recognition of prevailing misconceptions that cast Southerners as unsophisticated and anti-intellectual. Though these characters recognize the beauty of the South, they possess ambivalence toward the region, a desire to be less insular and more cosmopolitan. This ambivalence, a love for the South coupled with a longing to escape it, highlights the importance of place in the process of self-definition.

The Role Of Attachment And Language In Analogical Reasoning, Tamra Elizabeth Beckman

Dissertations

The present study examined the relationships between attachment and analogical reasoning within two domains: social reasoning and physical reasoning. Verbal reasoning was assessed as a possible mediator of these relationships. This study was conducted with 67 typically-developed children between the ages of nine to 11 years of age who were recruited from The University of Southern Mississippi's student population and from schools in Hattiesburg, MS and Ocean Springs, MS. Attachment security was assessed using the Kerns Security Scale (Kerns, Klepac, & Cole, 1996), and verbal reasoning was assessed with the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children-3rd edition (Weschler, 1991). Analogical reasoning …

Is There A Correlation Between Differentiating Instruction And English Language Learner Achievement?, Melissa Monique Deangelo

Dissertations

Minority students and English language learners are underachieving. Schools with a culture of every student, every day, have the ability to break generational cycles and to change the future of these students that has been predicted by circumstances. This case study examined and analyzed the differentiated instructional practices and implementation at three elementary schools, and determined if there was a correlation between differentiated instruction and success of English language learners. More specifically, the purpose of this case study was to examine (a) the extent of the principles of differentiated instruction present in the classroom (b) differentiated instruction in response to …

The Readiness Of Adults With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder For Self-Directed Learning, Melissa Sue Wright

Dissertations

This study investigated the readiness for self-directed learning of adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), as well as their overall educational experiences. Using Guglielmino’s Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale for Adults (SDLRS-A), the researcher investigated whether the following factors were significantly related to adults with ADHD and their readiness for self-directed learning: gender, age of diagnosis, treatment for a period of at least six months, level of education, and the existence of co-morbid conditions. Fifty-four adults who were at least 18 years old and self-reported a formal diagnosis of ADHD participated in this study. There were 22 (41.5%) males and …

The Effects Of Coping On The Psychological Well-Being Of Inidividuals Who Are Late-Deafened, Jill Marie Meyer

Dissertations

Abstract Recent research supports the application of the theory of adaptation to various groups of individuals with disabilities. The premise of the theory is that individuals with certain disabilities may have greater difficulty adapting to their newly acquired level of functioning (Diener, Lucas, & Scollon, 2006). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between disability factors and psychosocial outcomes, specifically psychological well-being, in a sample of individuals who lost their hearing after age 12. Coping was examined to determine if it was a mediator of the relationships between the disability factors (age of onset, severity of disability, …

The Impact Of A Saturday Enrichment Program With A University Partnership In An Urban Elementary School, Jenny Ellen Gray

Dissertations

The Saturday Enrichment Program (SEP) was an idea conceived by the faculty at a large university in partnership with a surrounding school district that is characterized as urban. The idea of the SEP was to create a whole extra day of learning for students that was a departure from the regular routine of Monday through Friday class. The SEP was designed to be a more relaxed, hands-on, student driven program that followed a Project Based Learning (PBL) philosophy. The teachers were pre-service teachers (PSTs) from the university. This study sought to answer the research question; what are the perceptions of …

Invariance In The Factor Structure Of Translated Instruments: Multiple Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis And Mimic Models, Fatma Ayyad

Dissertations

When factorial invariance is established across translated forms of an instrument, the meaning of the construct crosses language/cultures. If factorial invariance is not established, score discrepancies may represent true language group differences or faulty translation. This study seeks to disentangle this by determining whether cultural/linguistic variance can be decomposed separately from construct variance intended in the measuring instrument.

Translated forms of the God Mediated Control factor of the Belief in Personal Control Scale (BPCS) (Berrenberg, 1987) was analyzed across multiple samples for measurement and structural invariance among American native English speakers, Arab native Arabic speakers, and Arab bilingual Arabic/English speakers. …

Identifying Key Factors In Implementing And Sustaining Response To Intervention: A Comparison Of Schools Currently Implementing Rti, Carrie Ann Schwierjohn

Dissertations

Since the reauthorization of IDEIA in 2004, school leaders across America have labored toward implementing a new process or model called Response to Intervention, in the hopes of lowering the high rates of students identified as Learning Disabled and increasing overall student achievement, by providing skilled interventions to struggling students. As schools and district administrators push to effectively implement the key features outlined by state and federal legislation, many schools lack the strategies, resources, and tools to ensure quality implementation of the RtI model. Research indicated that improper implementation and a lack of fidelity to the prevailing characteristics of the …

The Socioeconomic Achievement Gap In Mathematics, Adam Meador

Dissertations

Currently in the United States a gap exists in the education of high and low socio-economic students. There is an education available for the socioeconomically challenged and a different system of education for those who live in a higher socioeconomic status. The purpose of this study was to explore the achievement gap in mathematics for elementary students. Specifically, the gap between the students’ scores who attended a school with a free and reduced price meal percentage below 25% and students’ scores who attended a school with a free and reduced price meal percentage above 75% was explored. Additionally, the focus …

Pax Ecclesia: Globalization And Catholic Literary Modernism, Christopher Wachal

Dissertations

The transnational turn in literary studies has brought new rubrics and critical vocabularies to the study of cultures experiencing the destabilizing effects of globalization. It gives special attention to the ways cultural forms, including literature, must be reformulated in the absence of the coherence of the nation-state. Often unremarked upon, however, is the role of religion in providing other channels of affinity around which to cohere. Many writers in the 20th century respond to the shocks of globalizing modernity by writing in light of particular faith traditions, especially the aesthetic strategies and thematic concerns that characterize the Catholic literary tradition. …

Thinking Through The Phenomenon Of Trust: A Philosophical Investigation, Jeffrey M. Courtright

Dissertations

Jeffrey M. Courtright

THINKING THROUGH THE PHENOMENON OF TRUST: A PHILOSOPHICAL INVESTIGATION

The phenomenon of trust is historically underrepresented as a topic of serious investigation in Western philosophy. This dissertation investigates the integral role that trust plays in enabling and sustaining meaning and significance in human existence. This thesis is substantiated in the following ways.

First, I explicate various senses and ways of thinking about trust in the work of two historically important philosophers, Plato and Nietzsche. I show that Socrates, in Plato's dialogue Phaedo, articulates the feeling of being entrusted with life, a feeling that one experiences as a …

Images Of God, Imago Dei And God's Relationship With Humanity Through The Image Of Mary's Breast Milk: A Focus Upon Sor María Anna Águeda De San Ignacio (1695-1756), Neomi Dolores Deanda

Dissertations

This dissertation presents an original contribution to the academic field of Theology, specifically Constructive Theology, because it begins the retrieval work of a woman's voice from seventeenth and eighteenth century Mexico, an entire area of historical and theological thought which has been globally under-explored. Analysis of María Anna Águeda de San Ignacio's eighteenth century original publications give a glimpse into this woman's official authority during her time, which also presents a historical woman's voice who has held ecclesial authority.

This project engages María Anna Águeda de San Ignacio's work to draw theological insights and further expand understandings about notions of …

Patriarchy, Christianity, And The African Hiv/Aids Epidemic: Rethinking Christian Marriage In Light Of The Experiences Of Hiv Positive Women In Tanzania, Melissa Danielle Browning

Dissertations

Given that women and girls carry the heaviest burdens of the African HIV/AIDS epidemic, their lived experiences should be the starting point for any pedagogy of prevention. In light of this claim, this dissertation project uses qualitative fieldwork with HIV positive women living in Mwanza, Tanzania to ask why marriage is an HIV/AIDS risk factor. By beginning with women's experience as a hermeneutical lens, this dissertation seeks to establish a creative space where African women can imagine new alternatives to HIV/AIDS prevention that would promote human flourishing and abundant life in African communities. The aim of this dissertation is to …