Digital Commons Network^™

Parental Involvement In The Lives Of College Students: Impact On Student Independence, Self-Direction, And Critical Thinking, Patrick Thomas Spence

Dissertations

Recent studies have noted the increasing communication between parents and students while students are in college (College Parent, 2007; Hofer & Moore, 2010). The most recent study noted that the interaction between parent and student during the last year of college averages over 13 times a week (Hofer & Moore, 2010). While many articles in the popular press have offered conjecture as to the developmental impact of this new data, very little has been done to understand the nature of the contact between parents and students as it relates to developmental outcomes (Carroll, 2005; Hoover, 2008). This study provides insight …

Promoting Thymopoiesis With Age: Potential Role Of The Transcription Factor Foxn1, Erin Christine Zook

Dissertations

It is known that the elderly are more susceptible to illnesses and infections and respond poorly to immunization. A contributing factor to a decrease in the immune response in the elderly is the decline in the production of naïve T cell by the thymus. In the thymus, the notch receptor expressed on early T cell progenitors (ETP) binds to its ligand expressed on thymic epithelial cells (TEC), signaling ETP to develop through a series of developmental stages before maturing into naive T cells. Because ETP are non-self renewing, the thymus relies on the bone marrow (BM) for a continuous supply …

Intimate Partner Violence As A Risk Factor For Ptsd In Female Survivors Of Domestic Violence: A Meta-Analysis, Selena Tramayne

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to conduct two meta-analyses investigating the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptomatology in female survivors of domestic violence. The first meta-analysis investigated the relationship between physical violence and PTSD symptomatology while the second meta-analysis investigated the relationship between psychological abuse and PTSD symptomatology. A moderator variable, recruitment setting, was investigated to see whether recruitment setting changed the relationship between physical violence and PTSD symptomatology and/or the relationship between psychological abuse and PTSD symptomatology. For both meta-analyses, a medium to large effect size was found. Recruitment setting was not …

Perceptions, Attitudes And Acceptability Of Hiv Testing Among Sub-Saharan African Immigrants In Chicago, Rita Ndidi Amadi

Dissertations

HIV testing is a primary strategy in HIV prevention and is associated with a myriad of benefits including positive behavior changes and enhanced access to HIV care services and support. However, African immigrants delay testing and are often diagnosed with late stage HIV infection and symptoms suggestive of AIDS. Little attention has been devoted to understanding the barriers to testing among sub Saharan African immigrants in the United States.

This cross sectional survey, conducted in partnership with African community organizations in Chicago, used multistage sampling techniques to reach this hard to reach population. It attempted to elucidate the HIV testing …

Neighborhood Attachment Among Latinos In Low-Income Communities, Kathleen Bachtell

Dissertations

Neighborhood attachment, defined as an individual's feelings about their social commitment to a particular community, has been a central focus of studies involving space and place (Smith 1975) and community activism (Guest and Lee 1983, Crenshaw and St. John 1989) in the U.S. Yet despite the advancement of this work and a growing body of qualitative research exploring the dynamic experiences of immigrants and their descendants in particular communities, it is not clear how being born in the U.S. versus Mexico or Latin America impacts the formation of neighborhood attachment among Latinos. This limits our understanding of urban renewal, as …

The Role Of Professional Learning Communities In Developing And Using Common Formative Assessments, Diane Gmitro Betts

Dissertations

The goal of professional learning communities (PLC) is for teachers to come together to discuss and examine student learning and ultimately to make instructional changes that can lead to improved student learning. The formative use of assessments that are commonly agreed upon by this community of teachers is believed to enhance their improvement efforts. This study used a multi-case study qualitative approach to examine how elementary teachers working within a PLC apply the tenets and utilize the structure of DuFour, DuFour, Eaker and Many's (2006) PLC model to develop and use common formative assessments as a means for improving learning. …

The Lord Opened Her Heart: Women, Work, And Leadership In Acts Of The Apostles, Teresa Jeanne Calpino

Dissertations

This dissertation will explore two women in The Acts of the Apostles, Tabitha (Acts 9:36-42) and Lydia (Acts 16:11-15) who have been routinely ignored by scholars, or mentioned only in praising the apostle associated with their story. As a result, stereotypical categorization has swept these important characters from their rightful place into relative obscurity. In fact, an examination of their stories set against the expectations of women in Greco-Roman antiquity reveals their unconventional situations. In particular, this dissertation takes special notice of the ways in which representations of the `ideal woman' in the Greco Roman world are at variance with …

The Systemic Impact Of The Implementation Of The Response To Intervention Model In Elementary Schools, Annette Robin Cronin

Dissertations

The intention of this study was to examine three factors regarding the implementation of the Response to Intervention (RtI) model. First, the study discovered what professional development opportunities were afforded to administrators and certified faculty to support the implementation of the RtI model within schools that make AYP and those that did not make AYP. Second, the study investigated the awareness and utilization of Early Intervening funds within schools that make AYP and those that did not make AYP. Lastly, this study examined how schools monitor student progress within the RtI model for schools that made AYP and those that …

The Effects Of Curriculum And Social Capital On Post-Secondary Educational Attainment Among Public High School Students: A Multi-Level Analysis, Elisabeth Davis

Dissertations

Using a social capital framework, the current study examined the effect of curriculum and cohort size in addition to parental and teacher social capital factors on public high school students' likelihood of college attendance. Using Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling with the ELS (2002), student and school level factors were examined on the likelihood of postsecondary educational attainment among public high school students. At the student level, girls, students with higher SES, more intergenerational closure and higher parent and teacher educational expectations were significantly more likely to pursue postsecondary enrollment. At the school level, lower percentages of girls in the cohort, …

Yo Hablo Ingles: The Influence Of Motivation And Group Cohesion On Learning English In A Workplace Setting, Adam Henry Dehoek

Dissertations

Immigration reform is a current and controversial issue in the United States and around the globe. Although it is unlikely that comprehensive immigration reform is immediately forthcoming in the United States, plans proposed by both liberal and conservative law-makers require those applying for long-term residency to hold employment and demonstrate a working knowledge of the English language. Given that these goals are often difficult to achieve in tandem, enacted immigration reform may suggest that businesses offer English language courses on the job in order to facilitate the legalization process. Answering important questions regarding the process of successful language acquisition, particularly …

The Direct And Indirect Impact Of Pain Intensity, Weight Status, And Activity Involvement On Social Competence Outcomes In Children And Adolescents With Spina Bifida, Bonnie S. Essner

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test a mediated effects model in which youth with spina bifida who have greater pain, are more overweight, or have worse motor control were expected to have fewer friends and to display worse social performance in part because their higher degree of condition severity interferes with their involvement in developmentally-appropriate activities.

Data for the current study were drawn from the first wave of a larger, longitudinal study of psychosocial adjustment of children and adolescents with spina bifida. The sample was comprised of 108 children and adolescents with spina bifida and shunted hydrocephalus, ages …

Perceptions Of Middle School Teachers On The Quality Of Professional Development, Safurat Anike Giwa

Dissertations

Professional learning and professional development are the essential tools employed in schools, districts, and universities in order to increase teachers' knowledge and skills. To gain the most from professional development in middle schools, the experiences and activities must be based on standards. Few researchers explore how teachers think about the context, process, and content of current professional development at the middle school level. This dissertation examines how teacher learning is demonstrated in professional development activities and experience and assesses whether middle school teachers' perceptions of their professional development experiences is aligned to the standards of Learning Forward (2001) (formerly the …

Culturally Responsive Teaching: An Investigation Of Effective Practices For African American Learners, Antonia L. Hill

Dissertations

Diversity increasingly characterizes the population of the United States. As the number of African Americans, Latina/os, and Asian populations increase, there will be drastic implications for teaching and learning in classrooms where students of color dominate. The purpose of this mixed methodological study was to examine the characteristics, practices and frequency of use of fifty -two strategies employed by two teachers in a predominately African American urban public school to determine their impact on student learning and engagement. The fifty-two effective and culturally responsive strategies used in this study were created by Dr. Johnnie McKinley, Professor in Educational Psychology at …

Preschool Educators' Perceptions Of Practice In Facilitating/Modeling Oral Language Acquisition And Development, Nicole Alissa Jones

Dissertations

Preschool educators are linguistic models for their students. They prompt students to speak. Educators who are able to understand the critical nature of their role in the students' oracy development and to deliberately encourage conversation may have a profound impact on preschoolers who may be at risk. Oracy is self-expression prompted by discourse activities such as questioning, labeling, turn-taking in conversation, and it is stimulated by a variety of speech events, such as playing or otherwise interacting with peers and adults.

This study explored how preschool educators behaved as models in facilitating oral language acquisition and development. The goals of …

Superintendent Leadership And Student Achievement In Suburban High Schools: A Sequential Explanatory Mixed Methods Analysis, Steven Reese Kellner

Dissertations

This research study explored the critical nature of the connection between student achievement and superintendent leadership. A great deal of scholarship has addressed either student achievement or leadership and previous evidence has suggested the impact of both parental education and racioethnicity on student achievement, but few studies have investigated the relationship between the superintendent's leadership authority and the achievement of his or her students.

The central research questions of this study are:

1) To what degree does parental education predict high school student achievement in suburban Chicagoland?

2) To what degree does racioethnicity predict high school student achievement in suburban …

Mystery Motivator Calendar: An Interdependent Group Contingency, Variable Ratio, Classroom Intervention, Eva Aleksandra Kowalewicz

Dissertations

Classroom behavior management problems are often seen as one of the primary barriers to achieving an educational environment conducive for academic and social-emotional growth of students. The literature indicates there is a need for evidence-based, easy-to-implement classroom behavioral interventions that align with the positive behavioral support philosophy. This study examined the effectiveness of the Mystery Motivator Calendar, an interdependent group contingency, variable-ratio, classwide intervention as a tool for reducing disruptive classroom behavior in eight diverse, general-education elementary school classrooms across seven different schools. The study employed a single-case, ABAB (baseline, intervention, withdrawal, reinstatement and follow-up), changing criterion design. The effectiveness …

Social And Emotional Learning In The Schools: The Effects Of Whytry As An Alternative To Suspension Program, Kathy Kula

Dissertations

The purpose of this program evaluation is to analyze the effects of WhyTry as an alternative to suspension program on the attitudes related to social emotional learning and behaviors of high school students who display negative behaviors and have been suspended. This mixed-model design will utilize both quantitative data such as students' percentage of class failures, attendance rate, and pre-test and post-test results in addition to qualitative data from student semi-structured interviews, teacher reports, and parent reports. The results will be in the form of a comparative case study that employs descriptive statistics and direct quotes from students.

Measures Of Executive Functioning And Their Relation To Functional Outcomes In A Sample Of Youth With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (Add), Amy Marie Lyons Usher

Dissertations

The current study examined two commonly used neuropsychological assessments of executive functioning in a sample of children and adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The Test of Everyday Attention for Children (TEA-Ch) is a performance-based, objective measure of executive functioning, and the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Functioning (BRIEF) is a subjective, parent-report measure. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to establish the factor structures of these measures to determine their appropriateness with a sample of youth with ADHD. The association of these assessment tools with functional outcomes (academic achievement, social functioning) was examined to establish their ecological and incremental validity. …

Crisis Preparedness, Charles Maida

Dissertations

School disaster planning is important because schools are places of frequent mass gathering. An estimated 53 million children in the United States attend public and private schools each day. As mass gathering places, schools are prone to mass injury in a natural disaster and unfortunately may serve as a terrorist target (Graham, 2007). Schools must prepare for the worst and hope for the best, because the worst disaster to occur is not preparing for disaster in the first place. Comprehensive crisis management plans must be in place, practiced, revisited, and altered to remain effective.

Community-based strategies have been successful in …

African American Male Student-Athletes: Identity And Academic Performance, Kathryn Mary O'Brien

Dissertations

The purpose of the current research was to examine racial, male and athletic identities and their individual and collective impact on the academic performance of African American male Division I student-athletes (AAMSAs). Data was collected using the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI), the Male Role Norms Scale (MRNS), and the Athletic Identity Measurement Scale (AIMS). The MIBI is a measure of racial identity and is comprised of seven subscales: (1) centrality, (2) private regard, (3) public regard, (4) assimilation, (5) humanist, (6) minority, and (7) nationalist. The MRNS takes status, toughness and antifemininity into account to calculate a masculinity …

Educational Leaders Serving Language Minority Students (1965-2001), Jenny Maria Neal

Dissertations

This study analyzes three legislations that affected education for language

minority students. The research starts with a historical overview of the foundation of the

United States and the education of the non-English speaking population. It examines the

conditions that led to the first Bilingual Education Act of 1968, the changes that appeared

in the Bilingual Education Act of 1974, and the development of Title III of the No Child

Left Behind Act of 2001. The country's response to English language learners and their

individual learning needs is looked at throughout each listed time period, as well as the

implications for …

Neuropsychological Functioning, Parenting Behaviors, And Healthcare Behaviors Among Youth With Spina Bifida, Lauren Kelly O'Hara

Dissertations

Objective This study was designed to examine whether neurocognitive functioning (attention and executive functions) and parenting behaviors (acceptance, behavioral control and psychological control) are associated with medical adherence and autonomy among preadolescents and adolescents with spina bifida. Methods Questionnaire and observational data were collected from a sample of 8 to 15 year olds with spina bifida (n = 139) and their mothers, fathers, and teachers. Youth also completed neuropsychological testing. Results Youth with spina bifida demonstrated impairment on measures of attention and executive function, based on questionnaire and test data. Attention, executive function, and parenting behaviors were associated with medical …

Transnationalism, Immigration Stress And Subjective Well-Being Among Ecuadorian Immigrants In London, Lucia E. Orellana-Damacela

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore antecedents to transnational practices among Ecuadorian immigrants in London, and to determine the connection between these practices and their subjective well-being. The study examined the extent to which Ecuadorians stay linked to their home country via various transnational practices, and the association with relevant demographic, immigration and integration factors. This research also aimed at examining the relations that immigration stress and transnational practices had with subjective well-being, as measured by perceived transnational social support, self-esteem, and psychological well-being. Overall, the findings from this study indicate that gender, socio-economic status, having family in …

Cruel Sorority, Or, Feminizing Enjoyment In American Romance, Carina Dionne Pasquesi

Dissertations

"Cruel Sorority, or, Feminizing Enjoyment in American Romance" analyzes the often-overlooked anti-social figures and affects found on the margins of American Romanticism. Symptomatically registering dissatisfaction and rage at the foreclosure of democratic possibility and public life, these feminized figures represent violent reactions against the dominant disciplinary institutions (e.g. marriage, motherhood, domesticity, slavery) that impoverish their lives. In keeping with the rich imaginative possibilities within the romance genre but often exceeding and redefining these conventions, these figures break with the reformist/inclusive logic that pervades works of the period. This project participates in recent critical discussions in American studies that deal with …

The Computer Integration Into The Efl Instruction In Indonesia: An Analysis Of Two University Instructors In Integrating Computer Technology Into Elf Instruction To Encourage Students' Language Learning Engagement, Pius Nurwidasa Prihatin

Dissertations

Computer technology has been popular for teaching English as a foreign language in non-English speaking countries. This case study explored the way language instructors designed and implemented computer-based instruction so that students are engaged in English language learning. This study explored the beliefs, practices and perceptions of university faculty in integrating computer technology into English instruction. This research was conducted in English education program in Sanata Dharma University, Indonesia. Communicative language teaching, Engagement Theory, and learner-centered principles were used as the pillars for developing the theoretical framework. The researcher conducted interviews, observed the classroom situation, and reviewed teaching instruments. This …

A Mediational Model Predicting Adjustment In Affluent Adolescents: The Role Of Parental Perfectionism, Perceived Parental Pressure, And Organized Activity Involvement, Edin Randall

Dissertations

The current cross-sectional study evaluated the relative contributions of parental perfectionism (i.e., self-oriented, other-oriented, and socially prescribed), perceived parental pressure, and organized activity involvement (i.e,. intensity) on depressive symptoms, anxiety, substance use, and life satisfaction in a sample of affluent adolescents. Findings indicated that parental perfectionism, and specifically other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism, is an important contextual factor negatively influencing affluent adolescent adjustment. Additionally, perceived parental pressure was found to have robust associations with adolescent adjustment and to explain the link between parental perfectionism and adolescent adjustment. Furthermore, the current study revealed a synergistic association between intensity of organized activity …

The Differences Between Novice And Experienced Public Middle School Principals In The Decision To Remediate A Tenured Teacher, Andrew James Reuland

Dissertations

School principals in Illinois face an ethical dilemma when evaluating tenured teachers. Giving an unsatisfactory rating and placing a tenured teacher under a remediation plan opens the door to a time-consuming process filled with legal and financial issues that will strain relationships in the school. However, giving a less than honest rating results in leaving the teacher in the classroom and not making decisions in the best interest of students.

Presented here is a review of current research on evaluating tenured teachers and a framework of ethical lenses that can be applied to a principal's decision-making. This study looks at …

Teachers' Concerns Regarding The Implementation Of Integrated Thematic Instruction: A Study Of Primary Grade Teachers In Kanisius Catholic Schools In Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Catur Rismiati

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore primary grade teachers' stages of concern and their implementation of an educational reform initiative called Integrated Thematic Instruction (ITI) in Indonesia. The Indonesian minister of education mandated primary grade teachers to implement ITI in 2006. Using a convenience sampling method, 150 Kanisius primary grade teachers participated in the study. The data collection method used was a questionnaire that consisted of three parts: The Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ), the Integrated Curriculum Implementation Scale, and demographic questions. The data analysis employed in this research were descriptive, a one way ANOVA test and multiple …

Examining The Transition Experience Of Students From Multiage Elementary Programs To Single-Grade Classrooms At The Middle School, Cindy Lynn Ruesch

Dissertations

Multiage programming is a school reform option used throughout the United States. Much of the current literature focuses on the short-term benefits of multiage programs, particularly at the elementary level, with little consideration for long-term effects or for what might happen to students once they leave the multiage classroom and enter middle school. While there has been significant research that generalizes the transition experience of the general population of students, there has been limited research conducted on this transition experience for this specific population, the multiage elementary student.

The purpose of this simultaneous, mixed methods study was to provide an …

Internet Support Groups For Parents Of Children With Add: An Examination Of The Characteristics Of Group Members And The Impact Of Social Support On Parent Functioning, Kriston B. Schellinger

Dissertations

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most common childhood psychiatric disorders and is associated with a variety of difficult behaviors. In addition, parents of children with ADHD experience significantly greater parenting stress and psychological distress than parents of children without ADHD. However, social support is a beneficial coping tool associated with increased mental and physical well-being in those experiencing stress. Although many turn to family and friends for social support, people sometimes go outside of their immediate support network and seek support groups. In recent years, Internet support groups have become a popular alternative to face-to-face support groups. However, …