Digital Commons Network^™

Teacher Experience And Perception Of Feedback Literacy In The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, Carla B. Mills

Dissertations

Writing instruction in schools remains a significant area of concern even after decades of awareness that students are not performing at proficient levels upon high-school graduation. This phenomenographic case study investigated teacher feedback literacy at the secondary level through interviews with teachers of writing-intensive International Baccalaureate Diploma Program courses and document analysis. Areas of feedback literacy strength included teacher awareness of designing positive class environments, attending to the socio-emotional needs of their learners, extensive use of both rubrics and exemplars, and frequent provision of verbal feedback. Document analysis revealed the presence of explicit instruction in written feedback, rubric use, and …

Bridging The Gap: A Qualitative Case Study Of Pre-K Teachers' Literacy Professional Development Needs In The Context Of Georgia's Early Literacy Act (Hb 538), Deborah Lissimore

Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how school-based pre-K teachers in Georgia perceived their literacy professional development needs within the context of the Georgia Early Literacy Act, House Bill 538, and to examine the role of teacher leadership in supporting their professional learning. Although the Act established evidence-based literacy requirements and professional learning expectations for kindergarten through third grade educators, comparable supports for school-based pre-K teachers were not clearly defined. Participants included five certified pre-K teachers employed in a Georgia public school district. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and researcher field notes, with member …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of African American Female Leaders In Public K-12 Schools In Georgia, Tyisha Davis

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how the intersectionality of race and gender shapes the leadership experiences of African American women in public K–12 schools. Despite comprising a significant portion of the educator workforce, African American women remain underrepresented in school leadership positions nationally, warranting deeper examinations of their professional pathways and daily realities. This qualitative study employed interpretative phenomenological analysis, guided by an intersectional framework, to understand the lived experiences of 10 African American female educational leaders across K–12 settings in Georgia. Principals, assistant principals, instructional specialists, and a superintendent engaged in semi-structured interviews analyzed through …

Perceptions Of Family Involvement And Its Influence On High School Attendance: Voices Of Families And Mathematics Teachers, Amber Phillips

Dissertations

Chronic absenteeism continues to be a growing concern in high schools, particularly in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. Although family involvement has been widely studied in elementary and middle schools, less is known about how families and mathematics teachers experience school-based family involvement at the high school level. This qualitative case study explored those perspectives at a rural high school in Northwest Georgia. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with five families and five upper-level mathematics teachers, and a focus group was conducted with eight mathematics teachers. Interview and focus group transcripts were analyzed using structural and focused coding to …

Ai You Can Trust: Understanding The Role Of Structural Assurance And Situational Normality In The Use Of Generative Ai, Olushola Bunmi Abayomi

Dissertations

The rapid growth of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) has increased its use in productivity, content creation, and decision support; however, adoption depends on user trust, as GenAI performs tasks that are often associated with human judgment. Drawing on the Trust in Technology Model, this dissertation examines how structural assurance and situational normality influence Trust in GenAI, and how Trust in GenAI affects trusting intentions and users' willingness to depend on GenAI. Structural assurance and situational normality, captured through several factors, were modeled as antecedents of Trust in GenAI and, in turn, trusting intentions. The model was tested using survey-based experimental …

Identifying The Threshold: Using Regulatory Focus As A Predictor Of Ceo Adaptibility During Environmental Changes, George B. Constantine Iii

Dissertations

Building on research on CEO turnover and strategic leadership, this study examines how decision makers' regulatory focus shapes strategic decision-making and how this can contribute to performance decline, often resulting in CEO replacement. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, the study theorizes that measurable chronic regulatory focus attributes influence decision makers’ capacity to adapt to environmental change—conditions under which prior research suggests executives may become rigid and persist with established strategies. Despite its relevance for strategic adaptation, such chronic trait behavior has received limited attention in the current business literature. To address this gap, effectuation theory is integrated into a simulation-based …

Praise That Empowers: Training Preschool Teachers To Linguistically Adapt Behavior-Specific Praise For Hispanic Students, Claudia Abril Ochoa

Dissertations

Children’s engagement in early ages is critical for promoting behavioral, academic, and social-emotional outcomes. However, engagement in classroom activities may be difficult for young children who have not mastered the primary language used in early childhood education settings (i.e., English). Research regarding engagement in English Language Learners (ELLs) in preschool settings, as well as cultural and/or linguistic adaptations of classroom interventions to serve this population is limited. Behavior-specific praise (BSP) has been an effective strategy to improve behavior in preschool classrooms. The current study used a multiple-baseline design across three Head-Start teachers to test the efficacy of in situ training …

Ramsey Chains In Graphs, Ritabrato Chatterjee

Dissertations

The research in this work deals with decomposition of graphs and Ramsey theory, two popular areas of research in graph theory due to numerous fascinating problems and the sheer mathematical beauty of the subjects. A decomposition {G₁, G₂, ..., G_k} of a graph G into subgraphs of G is ascending if the subgraph G_i is isomorphic to a proper subgraph of G_i+1 for i = 1, 2, ..., k − 1. The well-known and long-standing of Ascending Subgraph Decomposition Conjecture states that every graph has an ascending subgraph …

Masculinity, Psychological Flexibility, And Machismo: An Initial Examination Of Relationships To Interpersonal Violence, Geraldine Granados Todd

Dissertations

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a grave problem in many areas of the world. Latin American countries have some of the highest rates of IPV in the world. One factor potentially impacting these rates has been hypothesized to be traditional machismo. Machismo is a complex construct that has proven difficult to define. A substantial challenge lies in distinguishing the characteristics that are unique to machismo from broader masculine gender role norms. Additionally, machismo seems to have a more “positive” side to it, encompassing loyalty to family, honor, and responsibility. This has been coined caballerismo. Studies looking at the impact of …

Evalutating Self-Instructional Training Materials To Teach Caregiver Implementation Of A Reading Program, Ky'aria Moses

Dissertations

Approximately 69% of fourth grade students and 70% of eighth grade students performed below the proficient level on the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading assessment, highlighting ongoing gaps in early literacy skills (NAEP, 2024). Caregiver implementation of instructional reading strategies can positively impact children’s literacy development; however, training is often required to ensure fidelity. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (TYC), is an evidence-based Direct Instruction reading program designed for caregiver implementation, yet its written self-instructional Practice Guide may be insufficient for developing fluent instructional delivery. Research suggests that programmed instructional formats incorporating active …

“Dynt Of Dede:” Reading The Medieval Combat Scene Through The Helmet-Cleave Motif, Andrew Sherwood Thomas

Dissertations

This research explores the continuity of chivalric combat descriptions throughout medieval literature. By tracing the history, development, and distribution of the helmet-cleave motif, this study is able to examine combat scenes spanning a wide reach of time, genera, and language. The purpose of this work is to suggest a reading methodology for the chivalric combat scene that appropriately situates it in its cross-textual context and so reveals the nuance of its expression and the value in its study.

Despite the volume of surviving combat descriptions in medieval literature, they remain underrepresented in the scholarship due to their apparent repetitious and …

Severity-Informed Analysis Of Staff-Worn Personal Protective Equipment Use In An Applied Behavior Analysis Clinical Setting, Trey Ximenez

Dissertations

Staff who provide care for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and intellectual disability experience high workplace injury rates, particularly in applied behavior analysis settings (Hardesty 2020; Hardesty et al., 2025; Romani et al., 2020). Despite these elevated risks, organizations lack evidence-based criteria for determining what protection to recommend to staff based on documented injury outcomes (Irwin Helvey et al. 2024). This study examined how staff injury characteristics are associated with staff-worn personal protective equipment (PPE) use in an inpatient neurobehavioral unit. A retrospective analysis of 1,998 staff injury incidents from 105 patients (2020-2024) tested whether injury severity, injury type relevance, …

Tier 2 Literacy Interventions In Low-Income Schools: Implications For Breaking The Cycle Of Poverty, Morgan Koch

Dissertations

This study examined the development of a mastery-based Tier 2 reading and writing curriculum prototype designed to improve the coherence and consistency of literacy intervention in high-poverty educational settings. Using the Design Thinking process, stakeholder feedback from educators, administrators, instructional staff, and parents informed the development of the prototype through the Empathy, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test phases. The curriculum was evaluated by 15 education professionals through a mock implementation, usability survey, and focus group discussion. Findings suggested that participants perceived the prototype as practical, well organized, and supportive of more efficient and consistent Tier 2 literacy instruction, while also …

The Influence Of Shape Complexity And Exploratory Behavior On Grasping, Mckenzie Gunter

Dissertations

People can orient and configure their hands in many ways in order to grasp objects. The current study investigates how object shape and hand placement influence graspability of objects, and how experimentally imposed constraints on grasping type alter grasping behavior. In a recent study, Gunter and Hajnal (under review) found that the ratio of object curvature and maximal handspan is the variable that defines the affordance of graspability. The current study aims to extend these findings by employing a more precise measurement of finger placement in two experiments using 3D printed objects as stimuli. To capture varying complexities of object …

Vulnerability In The Dark Triad: Insecure Attachment And Relational Aggression In The Peer Relationships Of College Students, Summer Boggs

Dissertations

Research on relational aggression (i.e., a type of aggression in which the aggressor harms others by damaging their relationships, reputation, and/or feelings of social acceptance) with college students has identified several important correlates, including anxious and avoidant attachment styles. Moreover, the personality traits captured by the Vulnerable Dark Triad (VDT; i.e., borderline, the antisocial component of psychopathy, and vulnerable narcissism; Miller et al., 2010) have demonstrated positive relationships with both relational aggression and insecure attachment. This study examined the relationship between insecure attachment and relational aggression among college students (N = 560), testing VDT traits as partial mediators of …

The History Of Poro College From 1902-1965, Chajuana V. Trawick Ferguson

Dissertations

This study investigates the development, operation, decline, and historical erasure of Poro College, the first multimillion‑dollar, minority‑owned higher education institution and vertical beauty‑culture enterprise, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone in St. Louis, Missouri. Drawing on Poro College documents, Black newspaper archives, National Trust for Historic Preservation records, and interviews with individuals knowledgeable about the institution, the research addresses four central questions: how Poro College was developed; its impact on students, employees, and the surrounding community; its relevance for current and future minority women educators and entrepreneurs; and the factors that contributed to its closure and eventual demolition. Evidence from the …

Knowledge, Physician Communication, And Psychological Predictors Of Willingness To Engage In Dementia Risk Reduction Across The Lifespan, Thomas Fisher

Dissertations

Dementia represents a growing global public health concern, with increasing evidence suggesting that a substantial portion of dementia risk may be attributable to modifiable lifestyle and health-related factors. However, relatively little is known about public knowledge of these risk factors, willingness to engage in dementia risk reducing behaviors, and psychological factors that may be associated with willingness. The present study examines these factors among adults living in the United States across the lifespan. Participants (N = 308) completed an anonymous online survey assessing dementia risk-factor knowledge, willingness to engage in dementia risk reducing behaviors, primary care provider communication regarding dementia …

The Weight We Carry: An Arts-Based Narrative Screenplay Of Academically Successful African American Male Students, Freddie Mcgee

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine, understand, and creatively represent the stories of African American male college students from low-income backgrounds who were raised by single parents and were academically successful. Guided by the overarching research question — What are the stories of academically successful African American male college students from lowincome homes who single parents raised? — The study sought to understand how participants navigated institutional racism and systemic barriers while achieving academic success, and how they resisted deficit-based stereotypes and expectations in higher education.

This study employed a critical, arts-based, qualitative narrative inquiry approach grounded in …

Black Adolescents' Understanding Of Racial Trauma: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis, Winifred Wilson

Dissertations

Over the past two decades, scholars have increasingly recognized that chronic stress from racism can cause racial trauma in Black individuals. However, research on the impact of racial trauma on Black adolescents remains limited. Understanding the language and experiences of Black adolescents is essential for identifying and addressing the biopsychosocial effects of racial trauma. This study used interpretive phenomenological analysis to examine how 12 Black adolescents (9 boys, 3 girls, aged 14-17) from the Midwest conceptualize, experience, and cope with racial trauma. Participants completed two interviews: an initial session exploring their understanding and experiences, and a member-checking interview (completed by …

Analysis Of A Process-Based Approach To Case Formulation And Treatment With Acceptance And Commitment Therapy, Callum Smith

Dissertations

Process-Based Therapy (PBT) is a novel approach to clinical research and practice. PBT is proposed as an alternative model to classic diagnostic frameworks. It emphasizes conceptualizing psychological problems through adaptive and maladaptive processes of change. The aim of current PBT research is to develop reliable methods of organizing change processes into network models. In network models, change processes are presented in nodes connected by lines and arrows to represent the interacting relationships between those processes for a given individual. The present project aims to evaluate the inter-rater reliability and predictive validity of a novel semi-structured interview method to aid in …

Love’S Dialects: Proposed Additions In Emotionally Focused Therapy For Intercultural Couples, Nicola Heurich

Dissertations

Intercultural romantic relationships have become an increasingly prominent feature of contemporary society due to globalization, migration, and cross-cultural exchange (Livingston & Brown, 2017). However, these partnerships are also associated with elevated levels of relational distress and higher rates of conflict, separation, and divorce, underscoring the need for culturally responsive approaches in couple therapy (Bustamante et al., 2011; Genç & Su, 2021).

Research on intercultural couples remains limited both within and beyond Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and despite increased recognition of cultural factors, there is still insufficient guidance on navigating differing cultural contexts within a dyad (Linhof & Allan, 2018).

The …

Measuring Administrative Hiring Confidence Of Music Teachers In The Context Of Shallow Hiring Pools, Aaron M. Strum

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify and measure the confidence of K-12 administrators in hiring music faculty. This study also aimed to analyze administrators’ perspectives and confidence in key stages of the hiring process, including defining job expectations, posting, advertising, interviewing, and selecting highly specialized music teachers in K-12 settings. Confidence of K-12 administrators can be gauged through their understanding of how well an applicant aligns with the specific needs of the school’s program. Three research questions guided this investigation: (1a) How confident are K-12 administrators in their understanding of music teaching pedagogy when interviewing music teacher candidates …

Eusocial Caste Specialization Under Abiotic And Biotic Stress In A Stingless Bee, Tetragonisca Angustula, Kristin M. Robinson

Dissertations

Eusocial insects rely on division of labor to achieve high colony efficiency and provide essential ecosystem services, but specialization may also constrain colony resilience when workers operate near their physiological or behavioral limits under abiotic and biotic stressors. How specialization mediates these responses remains poorly understood, particularly in stingless bees (Tribe: Meliponini). Using the agriculturally relevant stingless bee Tetragonisca angustula, which possesses a specialized soldier subcaste, I investigated how a high degree of worker specialization influences physiological tolerance and predator responses across worker subcastes.

In this dissertation, I quantified variation in thermal tolerance and desiccation resistance among worker subcastes …

Blueprints For Resilience: A Delphi Study Of Architects' Competencies In Gulf Coast States, Richard J. Cantu

Dissertations

This study identifies and defines core competencies for licensed architects practicing in Gulf Coast states, emphasizing their critical role in protecting health, safety, and welfare (HSW) amid the region’s unique environmental challenges. Hurricanes, flooding, climate-induced risks, and other coastal hazards demand specialized expertise that existing architectural competency models do not adequately address. Leveraging Delphi’s research design, this study engaged Gulf Coast experts to develop and refine a region-specific competency framework across four iterative rounds. The findings highlighted the essential knowledge, skills, and abilities required for resilient and sustainable architectural practice. The study advances architecture’s human capital development (HCD) by addressing …

Why They Stay: A Qualitative Study Of Experiences Of Veteran Low-Incidence Self-Contained Special Education Teachers Who Remain In The Profession, Jessie Leyden

Dissertations

Persistent shortages of special education teachers in the United States have intensified the need to understand not only why some educators leave, but why others choose to stay. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the experiences of veteran special education teachers working in low-incidence, self-contained classrooms who choose to remain in the profession. With a particular focus on the factors that contribute to their retention beyond the first three years, the study involved a sample of ten low-incidence, self-contained teachers from a variety of states across the country. Using semi-structured interviews, the study explored how these …

Black Women Science Teachers’ Contextual Knowledge Shapes Technology Integration To Support Culturally Responsive Teaching In Secondary Science Classrooms, Ashley M. Thomas

Dissertations

The number of Black and Brown high school students entering college to study science and technology majors is declining. Because they encounter shared intersectional experiences in the science and technology fields, Black women have a unique connection with their students that builds on teaching practices grounded in culturally responsive teaching (CRT). The mixed methods study was bounded to one school district that had a CRT initiative and provided training to its teachers. The study used a pre-validated survey regarding the perceptions of CRT in a technology-supported learning environment and identified the tools and practices Black female science teachers (BFSTs) use …

Interplay Of Atomicity, Polarization, And Quantization On Performance And Reliability In Gan Finfets, Salim I. Almenshad

Dissertations

GaN based nanoscale high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) are the next generation of transistor technology that features the unique combination of higher power, wider bandwidth, low noise, higher efficiency, and temperature/radiation hardness than conventional AlGaAs and Si based technologies. However, enhancement mode operation for nanoscale channel region is the most recent needed area of research. As well as reliability of these devices remains a major concern. The main objective of this proposed research is to numerically investigate the role of atomistic inhomogeneity and quantization in low-dimensionality lateral tri-gated AlGaN/GaN FinFET devices. It is shown that 3-D configured AlGaN/GaN FinFETs with narrow enough …

Optimizing Few-Shot Learning In Pruned Large Language Models With Task-Specific Prompts, Danyal Aftab

Dissertations

Few-shot learning enables large language models to efficiently perform tasks given only a limited number of labeled examples. However, training these models entirely from scratch requires substantial computational resources, making it challenging for many organizations to fully leverage their potential. This thesis explores how structured pruning, task-specific prompting, and parameter-efficient fine-tuning can be combined to preserve few-shot learning capabilities in compressed LLMs, while also extending their utility to real-world recommendation systems.

In this research, we propose the Tailored LLM framework, which first reduces model size through structured pruning and then enhances few-shot learning performance using carefully designed prompts. We experiment …

A Trombone Studio Teacher's Guide To Non-Injury-Related Embouchure Changes, Austin A. Handley

Dissertations

This dissertation is a pedagogical guide for trombone studio teachers who will lead students through embouchure changes. These changes and adjustments are normal in brass pedagogy, but there is limited literature that addresses how teachers should identify the need for change, initiate the process, and support students through it. There are a growing number of resources available about embouchure injury and dysfunction, rehabilitation, and long-term prevention. This leaves a gap for teachers who are trying to help students using an inefficient embouchure setup.

The purpose of this study is to provide a practical resource for teachers by examining the experiences …

The Relationship Between Depression And Cognitive Proficiency Index Across Biological Sex, Angela N. Ferdinardo

Dissertations

Depression is a widely studied mood disorder, and understanding its effect on cognitive functioning has become an important area of research. While research has examined relationships among depression, working memory, and cognitive deficits, limited research has explored depressive symptoms and cognitive proficiency across biological sex. Depression manifests similarly in men and women, though men are more likely to experience irritability, impulsivity, and anger, while women tend to experience sadness, stress, and sleep disturbances (Johns Hopkins Medicine, 2023). Women are also more likely to seek treatment and cope differently than men. This study examined the relationship between depression and cognitive proficiency …