Digital Commons Network^™

Pedagogical Content Knowledge In Early Mathematics: What Teachers Know And How It Associates With Teaching And Learning, Yinna Zhang

Dissertations

The study was designed to examine the profile of early childhood teachers' content-specific knowledge, also referred to as pedagogical content knowledge, in early mathematics (PCK-EM) and investigate how PCK-EM relates to the quality of their mathematics teaching quality and students' mathematical learning outcomes. A total of 182 teachers working with high need students from Pre-K through Grade 3 in an urban public school system participated in the study and analyzed a video of mathematics teaching through an online survey. The results painted a bleak picture regarding the profile of early childhood teachers' PCK-EM: as a whole, teachers' survey responses lacked …

Being And Becoming: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Racial And Ethnic Socialization Processes Of Fifteen Haitian Immigrants Living In The United States, Lud Abigail Duchatelier-Jeudy

Dissertations

This study examined and described the racial and ethnic socialization processes of 15 Haitian immigrant mothers, eight of whom were born and raised in Haiti and migrated to the United States after the age of 21 (Group A) and seven of whom were born and raised in the United States or born in Haiti and migrated on or before the age of the five and raised of the United States (Group B). The two groups of Haitian immigrant mothers were recruited from cities throughout the Northeast region of the United States.

Using Harkness and Super’s Developmental Niche as a theoretical …

Predictors And Profiles Of Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among African-American Adolescents And Young Adult Males Behaviorally-Infected With Hiv: A Classification Tree Analysis Approach, Israel Moses Gross

Dissertations

Adherence to antiretroviral therapy is crucial for thwarting disease progression and reducing secondary transmission, yet HIV+ youth struggle with adherence. The highest rates of new HIV infections occur in young African American men (YAAM), thus understanding reasons for non-adherence in this group is critical. Reasons for non-adherence can be complex and multifactorial, and innovative methods of exploration are needed for advancing prevention and treatment efforts. A sample of 387 HIV+ YAAM who reported currently taking HIV medications were selected from a cross-sectional assessment of 2,226 HIV+ youth from sites within the Adolescent Trials Network for HIV/AIDS Interventions (ATN) from 2009-2012 …

Latino Students In Suburban High Schools: An Examination Of School Malleable Predictors Of High School Graduation, Kira Jean Hicks

Dissertations

Despite recent gains, Latino students drop out of high schools in the United States at a higher rate than their peers and at a significant cost. As more Latino students move to the suburbs, it is important for suburban high schools to meet their needs and solidify their path to graduation. Practices that appear to be promising in keeping students on track to graduate have been developed and studied in urban education settings and need to be validated with other populations and settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the indicators that are predictive of on time graduation …

The Role Of Cultural Climate, Racial Identity, And Mentoring Relationships On African American College Success, Kia-Rai Michelle Prewitt

Dissertations

African American undergraduate students face numerous challenges in higher education including adjusting to college-level work, a new environment, increased responsibilities, building new relationships, and experiences with discrimination. The dissertation study examined whether cultural climate, racial identity, and mentoring relationships predicted academic success for African American undergraduate sophomores attending four-year colleges and universities. The researcher analyzed these constructs using data from the 2012 national data set of the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL) survey, an instrument containing over 400 items and scales measuring student demographic information, pre-college knowledge and experiences, college experiences, and educational outcomes. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression …

Theology And Ideology Critique, Silas M. Morgan

Dissertations

In modern philosophy, the concept of ideology has been a problem for the relationship of theology to politics. Especially in its Marxist usage, “ideology” refers to a specific effect that theology has in modern society so as to conceal or hide the material facticity that shapes human life and practical activity. This is one of the many reasons why theology, even in its political form, has not taken up “ideology” as a matter inherent to its critical form. The absence of theoretical attention to ideology in theology itself has led to the deficit of immanent critique, especially in political theology. …

The Trauma Thesis: Medical And Literary Representations Of Psychological Trauma In The Twentieth Century, Sarah Louise Eilefson

Dissertations

The historian Samuel Hynes has observed that World War I was not only the greatest military and political event of its time but also the greatest imaginative event. Soldiers and civilians struggled to comprehend the war’s devastation and the changes it produced while medical practitioners and artists examined the war as a site of extraordinary trauma. My project explores two of the many archives of trauma: the medical discourse through which trauma was defined; and representations of trauma in a variety of English language novels from the early and mid-twentieth century. I begin with a historical survey of the medical …

Competing Voices: Negotiating Power And Place In Mixed-Income Housing Development, Kimberlee S. Guenther

Dissertations

Public housing internationally is undergoing a transformation due to the implementation of mixed-income policies. Based on two years of research in Chicago and Sydney, this project aimed to understand how resident leaders experience this transformation and the strategies they used to contribute to placemaking in new communities. The research also investigated new methods of conducting community-based, participatory research that emphasized resident perspectives and inquiry. Findings show that resident leaders utilize negative narratives about public housing to make claims to new neighborhoods. The research also revealed that highly stigmatized, but demolished places continue to function in people’s lives through the process …

Factors Impacting Student Outcomes In Multicultural Counseling Courses, Kathleen Kordesh

Dissertations

This study explored how complex factors related to student characteristics (e.g., demographics, levels of racism) and instructor characteristics (e.g., demographics, level of multicultural competence, teaching strategies) are related to student outcomes in multicultural counseling courses (e.g., levels of racism and levels of multicultural competence at the end of the semester). Data collection yielded a sample of 21 students and six instructors. Findings suggest that instructors are a significant factor in how much students develop with regards to gaining multicultural knowledge, but not in how much students develop with regards to gaining multicultural awareness. Multivariate analysis of student responses suggest that …

The Role Of Vocational Hope In The Social Cognitive Career Theory: A Test Of Three Models, Andrea Lynn Carr

Dissertations

This study is the first to empirically explore the potential role that vocational hope serves in the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). Vocational hope was proposed as a mechanism through which at-risk youth could develop a positive future orientation, an essential component of the career development process (Brown, Lamp, Telander, & Hacker, 2012). Measures assessing vocational hope, hope related self-efficacy beliefs, hope related outcome expectations, and educational and occupational goals were completed by 147 diverse adolescents. Structural equation modeling partially supported vocational hope serving as a partial mediator of the relationships between self-efficacy beliefs and …

Daddy Is Involved: How Do African American Fathers Participate In The Education Experiences Of Their High School Children?, Gregory Pierre Baker

Dissertations

Parents have tremendous influence in the lives of their children. As a result, it is valuable to investigate how high school parents participate in their children's high school education experiences. African American fathers in particular, have been placed under scrutiny by the media and general population for not being involved in the education experiences of their children, while the research literature dispels this generalization.

This study investigates how African American fathers, in a suburban community, participate in the education experiences of their high school children. This research study took place at a Du Page County, Illinois, high school under the …

Public Relations: Diaspora, Media, And The State(S) Of American Literature, Nathan Allen Jung

Dissertations

Like any good public relations campaign, this dissertation aims to offer a persuasive interpretation of certain key facts. The facts, as I see them, are as follows: first, a great number of contemporary novels and poems explore the personal and social consequences of diasporic migration. Second, these texts, along with their print and electronic paratexts, share a pervasive interest in media. And third, these works are rarely read in conversation with one another, despite their mutual concern for migration and media. Owing to this last point in particular, scholarship has failed to fully address the broader media theories developed in …

Easing My Burden: A Grounded Theory Study Of Kidney Transplant Recipients' Experience With Their Transplant Coordinators, Gwen E. Mcnatt

Dissertations

Organ transplantation holds the promise of new life or better life for thousands of Americans every year. Transplantation involves a process that stretches over time beginning at referral, moving to transplantation and long term care. The transplant coordinator is considered an integral part of this care. Transplant coordinators are considered so important to the care of these patients that transplant centers are required to have at least one transplant coordinator by federal regulations.

The role of the transplant coordinator, however, is not well defined. Although many of the role dimensions attributed to transplant coordinators are consistent with nursing practice, the …

Emergent Literacy Skills In Print And Electronic Contexts: The Influence Of Book Type, Narration Style, And Attention, Kathryn Joyce O'Toole

Dissertations

Preschoolers can learn words and story content from traditional print books, but there has been no direct comparison of their learning from print and e-books while controlling for narration style. Additionally, very little empirical work has utilized a tablet e-book as the majority of research has examined learning from computer e-books. The current project examined how 4-year-olds (N = 100) learned words and story content from four different book reading contexts: a print book read aloud by a live adult, a print book narrated by an audio device, a tablet e-book read aloud by a live adult, or a tablet …

The Role Of Neighborhood And Parenting In The Development Of Effortful Control And Subsequent Social Competence During Early Childhood, Edna Y. Romero

Dissertations

The current study examined ecological predictors of the trajectory of effortful control (EC) across ages 4, 5, and 6 in a community sample of young children (N = 796). The specific goals of the study were to examine poor neighborhood quality as a predictor of EC development, to evaluate the moderating role of supportive and hostile parenting in relation to poor neighborhood quality and EC development, and to determine if the interaction between poor neighborhood quality and parenting predicted change in children’s social competence through the mediating role of EC. Data were analyzed using latent growth curve modeling (LGM). Results …

Mandated Reporting: An Examination Of Training And Practice Of School Psychologists, Katie Nicole Bradshaw Sears

Dissertations

This study sought to explore the training opportunities, knowledge, confidence in intervening, reporting behaviors, and types of supervision received and given in the areas of child maltreatment and mandated reporting by practicing school psychologists. Little is known about school psychologists' knowledge of child maltreatment and specific mandates about reporting suspicions of abuse or how to appropriately respond to disclosures of abuse (Arbolino et al., 2008). Given school psychologists' unique role in schools working directly with children, it is not uncommon for school psychologists to either suspect maltreatment is occurring or to hear a disclosure of maltreatment directly from a student. …

A Multi-Method Analysis Of Body Mass Index, Physical Activity, And Executive Functions Among Urban Minority Girls, Amanda K. Ward

Dissertations

Recent evidence suggests that the summer months represent an especially vulnerable time of year for weight gain, inactivity, and cognitive decline, particularly among adolescent girls. To explore these issues, this study examined the relations between changes in physical activity (PA), body mass index (BMI), and executive functions (EFs) among a sample of sixty-eight, 10-to 14-year-old girls participating in a four-week, community-based summer camp. Objectively measured PA data (i.e., accelerometer), BMI measurements, and EF neuropsychological assessments were conducted prior to the first week of camp and during the last week of camp. Results revealed that girls increased in all measurements of …

The Project Approach Meta-Project: Inquiry-Based Learning In Undergraduate Early Childhood Teacher Education, Adam S. Kennedy, Erin Horne, Kelcie Dolan, Cindy Herrera, Naomi Malutan, Kathleen Noetzel

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article describes a case study involving the planning, phases, and outcomes of an exploration of the Project Approach led by four teacher candidates as part of an undergraduate early childhood teacher preparation program. Four undergraduate junior-level teacher candidates investigated the phases of the Project Approach during their junior year; this work took place during a 26-week learning module comprised of a seminar and part-time student teaching placement in a preschool setting. The candidates aligned the stages of their investigation with the phases of the Project Approach, which provided a framework complementary to that of action research, within which the …

A Multiyear Investigation Of Combating Bullying In Middle School: Stakeholder Perspectives, David L. Shriberg, Mallory Burns, Poonam Desai, Stephanie Grunewald, Rachel Pitt

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

Working collaboratively to address bullying among middle school students is an ongoing challenge. This study used participatory action research to collaborate with key stakeholders within a middle school to identify needs and implement more effective practices. Extensive qualitative and quantitative data are presented, along with process recommendations for bringing different stakeholders together for a sustained change effort.

Paradoxes In Physical Health, Robert Crosnoe, Aida Ramos-Wada, Claude Bonazzo

Faculty Publications - Department of Sociology

This chapter reviews the evidence from social science and medical research that sheds light on this potential immigrant paradox in health -- when, where, and for whom it holds or does not apply. In doing so, two important points need to be kept in mind. First, the existence of the paradox does not necessarily mean that immigrants are doing than everyone else. Rather, it means that they are doing better than social and economic positions suggest that they should be. Second, paradox may apply in general but not hold in specific domains of health for certain subgroups or at certain …

Ethnic Identity Maintenance Within The Latino-American Church: A Structuration Perspective, Charles W. Choi, Deborah Berho

Faculty Publications - Department of Sociology

The Latino ethnic/immigrant church plays a significant role in maintaining the ethnic identity of its congregants. Through the perspective of structuration theory, this qualitative analysis investigates how the activities of the church impact its members and how an individual might contribute to the cultural structure of the Latino church (i.e., duality of structure). Interviews of 25 pastors from Spanish-speaking congregations in both urban and rural settings in Oregon resulted in several themes including the initial planting of the church, the denominational structure, the emergence of a new multiethnic cultural identity, generational differences, and the influence of Spanish.

Audit, Accountability And Commitment: School Business Officials' Perceptions Of An Audit Regime, Michael A. Torak

Dissertations - ALL

Prior research has suggested that models intended to explain the organizational commitment of public employees have not accounted for the substantial and often intense external controls imposed on public organizations. A public scandal involving corruption and mismanagement in a New York State public school district resulted in the state legislature implementing a program of reforms intended to increase the financial accountability of public school districts. The aim of this exploratory, multi-subject qualitative study is to gain insight about how financial managers in public school districts experienced the reform and think about external controls that feature an extensive regimen of auditing. …

Privileged Resistance: Prisoners Of Conscience In The United States, 1980-2013, Anya Stanger

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation tells the story of modern anti-war prisoners of conscience in the United States-people who are incarcerated for six months or more as a result of nonviolent resistance. It explores how they intentionally use and learn about their own privilege in solidarity actions that land them in the belly of the imperial beast; the prison. It traces the lives of forty three such prisoners of conscience, from discernment of action through release, to show how "who they are" (in terms of their visible identities and private senses of self) impacts their experiences, the ways they are understood, and their …

Screens And Stereotypes: The Transmission Of Images Of Women Of Color On Twitter And Television, Sherri Marie Williams

Dissertations - ALL

For decades African-American women and Latinas have lamented the abundance of negative and unrealistic images of them reflected on television. Such images appear to be pervasive today on reality television shows, the most popular television show genre, where many historic negative stereotypes of women of color are conveyed. Social television, the practice of watching television and simultaneously commenting on social media, is now common among viewers. The aim of this research is to determine if the same old stereotypes of women of color on television are finding their way to the new medium of Twitter. This study is a textual …

All Joking Aside: The Role Of Religion In American Jewish Satire, Jennifer Ann Caplan

Dissertations - ALL

Jewish humor is a well-known, if ill-defined genre. The prevalence and success of Jewish comedians has been a point of pride for American Jews throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. What I undertake in this dissertation is to isolate one particular form of humor-namely satire-and use it as a way to analyze the changing relationship of American Jews to traditional religious forms. I look at the trends over three generations, the third generation (who came of age in the 40s and 50s), the Baby Boom generation (who came of age in the 60s and 70s) and the contemporary generation (who …

Students' Attitudes Towards Socially--But Not Scientifically--Controversial Subjects: Evaluating Ways In Which These Attitudes May Be Shifted, Benjamin Elijah Carter

Dissertations - ALL

Chapter1: Numerous anti-science bills introduced into state legislatures reference the "strengths and weaknesses" of scientific subjects, but the subjects they target, most commonly evolution and global climate change, are not topics of contention within the scientific community. This brief work provides a researched rebuttal to the notion that evolution and climate change have strengths and weaknesses of the form implied by anti-science legislation while providing examples of actual scientific disagreement about these subjects. The disagreement is not, of course, about whether or not evolution or climate change are factual occurrences, but rather over ideas such as the finer points of …

Essays On Local Political Economy In Brazil And The United States, Evan Andrews

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation covers different aspects of political institutions and fiscal policy in local governments. The first essay examines the political consequences of an increase in the district magnitude (the number of open seats) for legislatures. The second essay studies how the size of a local legislature affects the size and composition of public spending. The third essay develops and tests a theory of how transaction costs might affect the use of earmarked revenues by local budgeting authorities. The last essay compares the relative impacts of factors that might make a local government more likely to adopt own-source revenues. These questions …

Shusterman’S Thinking Through The Body And Everyday Aesthetics, Tom Leddy

Faculty Publications

How does Richard Shusterman’s Thinking Through the Bodyapply to the issues of everyday aesthetics? As it turns out, many chapters contribute significantly to everyday aesthetics, in particular the work on architecture, self-styling, the body as background, lovemaking, and the process of making a photographic portrait. Shusterman’s concentration on the art of living has special importance to everyday aesthetics. Current debates within the field of everyday aesthetics also raise problems for somaesthetics. I also question the limits of somaesthetics and Shusterman’s rejection of defamiliarization in making the ordinary extraordinary.

The Scientist, 2015, San Jose State University, College Of Science

The Scientist (College of Science)

No abstract provided.

White Woods And Blue Jasmine: Woody Allen Rewrites A Streetcar Named Desire, Verna Foster

English: Faculty Publications and Other Works

The film's reviewers almost invariably commented on the parallels with Streetcar, many noting, too, that Cate Blanchett, who plays the title character, Jasmine, had also successfully played Blanche Dubois in Liv Ullmann's 2009 production of the play at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.2 But for all the similarities in character types and plot structure and for all the allusions to specific lines in Streetcar, the themes of Blue Jasmine are very different from those of Williams's play because the story that Allen tells also channels the fall of Bernie Madoff and his wife, Ruth. The flashbacks are a filmic equivalent …