Digital Commons Network^™

A Program Evaluation Of Job-Embedded Professional Development In An Urban School District, Brian Metcalf

Dissertations

With the achievement gap African American and Latinx and their White peers widening rather than closing in Bullock County Public Schools and the overall proficiency level of students in both English Language Arts and Math at less than 15%, it’s apparent that quality teaching and learning is a concern. This coupled with teachers’ perception that professional development is ineffective made it evident that adopting a research based professional development model was necessary. This plan examines the current professional development model with an emphasis on Cycles of Inquiry. Since this requires a change in not only teachers’ belief systems but also …

Narrowing Attainment And Achievement Gaps Of High School African American And Hispanic Students: Policy Advocacy Document, Limaris Pueyo

Dissertations

School districts have focused reform efforts on increasing the participation of African American, Hispanic, and low-income students in advanced courses to narrow achievement and attainment gaps. Suburban School District adopted these areas in its strategic plan and invested significant resources to address patterns of achievement and course enrollment of these students. This study examined the district’s policy and practices that impact these students’ participation in Advanced Placement courses. Based on its findings, this study recommends revisions to school board policy regarding gifted programs and includes disaggregated metrics for the reporting of board goals based on race and socioeconomic status. The …

Advocating For One-Way Dual Language Programs In High School, Academia Bilingue, Anthony Grazzini

Dissertations

To reduce the achievement gap and stem the increasing dropout rate of English Learners (ELs), a one-way dual language program, Academia Bilingue, was introduced at Sterling High School. ELs then and now account for approximately 20% of the students in the district. A significant academic achievement gap had existed between ELs and their English-proficient counterparts. An alarmingly disproportionate number of ELs were dropping out. The purpose and moral imperative of this policy advocacy document was to actualize the stated mission and vision of the district, that all students have an education which meets or exceeds accepted standards of learning, through …

Teacher Professional Development And The Seven 21st Century Survival Skills: A Program Evaluation, Nykowanna Sloan

Dissertations

This evaluation examined the extent to which one 6-12 school in an urban school district used professional development to support teachers’ inclusion of 21st century survival skills (Wagner et al., 2008) in classroom instruction. Through collecting quantitative and qualitative data from stakeholders using surveys and interviews, this study revealed how effectively teachers are or are not being instructed to teach the post-graduate survival skills necessary for student success. This study included commentary on the needed changes in leadership determined by the evaluation of the program. Outcomes of this study outline an essential new program and a change in policy that …

Engaging In Self-Care: Do Mental Health Care Providers Practice What They Preach?, Nancy L. Lashley

Dissertations

Self-care has been identified as a critical protective factor against the adverse effects of career-related stress among mental health care professionals. The need for utilization of adequate self-care practices among mental health care professionals remains critical with the number of mental health care professionals endorsing clinically significant levels of anxiety, depression, and suicidal ideations. Research has identified the need and importance of self-care among mental health care providers as well as the adverse consequences of inadequate self-care. This literature review examined the methods and strategies mental health care providers are using to engage in self-care including complementary and alternative methods. …

Policy Advocacy: Transgender Students In A Public School Setting, Rob Mcelligott

Dissertations

The purpose of this policy advocacy paper is to encourage the State of Illinois to implement a statewide policy on how school districts can best support students undergoing a gender transition. It has been proven that students in the LGBTQ community are subject to more harassment and bullying than their straight, cisgender peers. It is incumbent on schools to provide a safe, caring environment for all students. This policy was analyzed from educational, economic, social, legal, and ethical points of view. The implementation of this policy will help to guide students who are struggling with their gender identity by helping …

The Impact Of Stigma On Adolescents Willingness To Seek Treatment, Alejandra Randol

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The focus of this study will be on how the stigma attached to mental illness impedes adolescent’s experiencing suicidal ideation & depression, willingness to seek out mental health services. The purpose of the study is to determine what action needs to be taken to address these issues to facilitate adolescent’s willingness to seek services. The study was qualitative and was conducted utilizing the constructivism approach with a theoretical orientation emphasized on the labeling and empowerment theory. The literature reviews focus on labeling of mental disorders and stigma, preventing factors and interventions that influence help seeking and mental health services utilization, …

An Evaluation Of The New Teacher Mentoring And Induction Program At A Title One Elementary School, Tamara Baker-Drayton

Dissertations

Low performing Title I schools often experience a lower teacher retention rate when compared to schools with higher academic achievement. Vacancies are typically filled with new or inexperienced teachers who leave the school within a few years. To counter this problem, West Creek Elementary (pseudonym) introduced a comprehensive New Teacher Mentoring and Induction initiative. The program evaluation was a voluntary anonymous written survey with an optional in person interview conducted with the participants and administrators. Results indicated that the New Teacher Mentoring and Induction program was effective in enhancing teacher pedagogy, not effective in enhancing teacher retention, and that greater …

“Now Let Us Shift”: A Case Study Of Developmental Education Reform In A Hispanic Serving Community College, Audrey Marie Baca

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Background: Latina/o/x students who persist to college are likely to enter through community college (Contreras & Contreras, 2018) and until the enactment of California Assembly Bill 705, would have been susceptible to placement in developmental education courses (Rodriguez, Cuellar Mejia, & Johnson, 2018). The implementation of AB 705 shifted the requirements for new student placement in all 115 California Community Colleges. With compliance mandated by Fall 2019, the law required colleges to "maximize the probability" that entering students enroll and complete transfer-level English or mathematics within a one-year timeframe and within a three-year timeframe for students enrolled in English …

Social Workers' Perception On The Needs And Services For Foster Children With Special Needs, Jessica Joanna Jimenez, Winnie Wing Yang Lee

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Foster children are already at a disadvantage given that they tend to live in a home without their parents. Social workers have direct interactions working with children with special needs, and through interviews with the workers, we aimed to understand whether or not the services available are able to meet foster children’s special needs. The research on special needs children in foster care is quite limited. The purpose of the study was to identify social workers’ perceptions of the needs of special needs foster children and their access to services.

This study used qualitative interviews with open-ended questions to gather …

Can Algorithms Help Us Decide Who To Trust?, David De Cremer, Jack Mcguire, Yorck Hesselbarth, Ke M Mai

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithms is increasing within organizations to manage business processes, hire employees, and automate routine organizational decision making. This comes as no surprise, since the application of simple linear algorithms have been shown to outperform human judgment in the accuracy of many administrative tasks. A 2017 Accenture survey also revealed that 85% of executives want to invest more extensively in AI-related technologies over the next three years.

Learning Together: Cohort-Based Capacity Building And The Ripple Effects Of Collaboration, Sonia Taddy-Sandino, Mary Gray, Danielle Scaturro

The Foundation Review

Foundations frequently commission evaluations and are the primary audiences for findings. Grantee organizations, however, often don’t see the results, or they find in them limited value and relevance to their own work. Funders like the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation are quietly disrupting this status quo by exploring ways to fully engage grantees, co-funders, technical consultants, and evaluators in collective learning and reflection.

The foundation’s comprehensive, cohort-based capacity-building program, PropelNext, was designed to enhance the performance of promising nonprofits that serve America’s disadvantaged youth. With a combination of financial support, individualized coaching, and peer-learning sessions, grantees engage in a test-and-learn cycle …

Leader Behavior In Successfully Completing An Erp Implementation At An Army Installation, Roy T. Ray Jr

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has emerged as one of the breakthrough information technologies that can reshape business practices. The Army ERP systems are the central component of the Army’s business mission process. However, these ERP systems have yet to provide Army-wide, enterprise-level integration and resource visibility, which is needed to increase efficiency and effectiveness of Army operations and justify the cost of future ERP investment. Few companies complete their ERP implementation on time and within budget, and the incidences of underperformance and failure are incredibly high. Current research notes that the primary determinant of a successful ERP implementation is leadership. …

Leading With A Womanist Approach: A Culturally Relevant Trauma Recovery Model, Thema Bryant-Davis, Bemi Fasalojo

Education Division Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Analyzing The Impact Of Active Learning In General Education Mathematics Courses, Amanda Harsy, Marie Meyer, Michael Smith, Brittany Stephenson

ACMS Conference Proceedings 2019

This talk shares the preliminary results of a study that explores the general perceptions and attitudes of students in general education mathematics courses taught using primarily active learning- based methods (like group work, projects, and discovery learning), and compares them with those enrolled in a general education mathematics course taught in a more traditional and lecture-based method. We present an analysis of survey data collected throughout the semester, which explores the disposition and mindset of students, their mathematical confidence and anxiety, and perceptions of pedagogical methods used for the teaching of mathematics. We also explored how these perceptions and dispositions …

Catalytic Leadership: How A President's Language Influences National Outcomes, Codieann Dehaas, Fei Lu, Paul Yost, Stormy Mccarragher, Mackenzie Allison, Jessie Cannon

School of Psychology, Family, and Community Research Conference

This study investigated the extent to which potential-focused leader language (inclusive, future-focused, and honest) is catalytic. An analysis of US presidential speeches found language was related to historian ratings, unskilled worker wages, and an enduring legacy (internet and book references), but unrelated to social (e.g., patents) and societal (e.g., prison population) outcomes.

Overcoming Resistance To Bim: Aligning A Change Management Method With A Bim Implementation Strategy, Bim Tudublin, Sarah Macloughlin

Capstone Reports

The adoption of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the Irish construction industry has risen from 10% in 2011 to over 70% in 2018. Where there is criticism towards BIM concerning its ability to reduce environmental impact, it is not about the ambition to adopt BIM but more so the capacity to embed BIM within the industry. The National BIM Council introduced a Roadmap to Digital Transition for Ireland’s Construction Industry 2018-2021, which defines a strategy to transform the construction industry to digital. This research paper explores how small to medium size companies within the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry …

Validation Of External Organizational Justice Assessment Through Replication, And Examination Of Extraversion, Core Self-Evaluations, And Self-Monitoring As Moderators Of The Relationship Between External Organizational Justice And Organizational Outcomes: A Two-Part Dissertation, Clifton E. Luther

Doctoral Dissertations

In the first portion of this two-part dissertation, I attempted to replicate the findings published in Toaddy (2012), illustrating the relationships between External Organizational Justice (EJ) and a collection of organizational outcomes. In the second portion, I examined how the variables of Extraversion, Core Self-Evaluations (CSE), and Self-Monitoring (SM) moderate the relationships that were established in Toaddy (2012). The implications of this research attempted to illustrate the role that self-assessed personality factors can play in explaining and predicting the behavior of employees due to their perceptions of moral/immoral behaviors of their employers toward external entities. Cases that illustrate the importance …

Missed Shots: Increasing Flu Vaccine Documentation Utilizing A Clinical Reminder In A Student Health Clinic, Noelle Simms

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Objectives: The primary purpose of this evidence-based practice project is to increase influenza vaccination documentation in the student health setting utilizing a standardized clinical reminder.

Participants: 1,337 undergraduate and graduate students at a private university is Southern California.

Methods: A clinical reminder template was created and added to the intake form in the electronic medical record. The medical assistants complete the template with the patient. The provider then orders the vaccine or educates the patient based on the documented refusal reason.

Results: During the 10-week implementation period there was a 46% increase from baseline in flu vaccine documentation at the …

God’S Story, Our Story Telling, Re-Telling And Re-Storying, Kara Carter

Consensus

No abstract provided.

Do Not Miss Your Shot: Improving Follow-Up In Patients Receiving Long-Acting Injectable Medications, Mary O'Hara

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Background: Serious mental illness including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder affects 1 in 24 adults in California. These chronic disorders are difficult to treat and often sabotaged by medication nonadherence. Long-acting injectable (LAI) medications are one strategy to combat medication nonadherence. Effectively providing treatment with LAI medications can be challenging at the clinic level.

Objectives: Reduce the number of days without medication by reducing the number of days between injection due date and injection administration for patients receiving LAI medications.

Design: Establish appointments for all injection visits. Standardize visit protocol for injection encounters to optimize provider time. Arrange immediate follow-up and …

Explaining The Collapse Of The Industrial Workers Of The World Through Historiography, Kayla B. Gmyr

University Honors Theses

Growing out of the labor militancy and political radicalism of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the revolutionary union Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) grew to be one of the most radical working-class movements in American history, containing 150,000 members during its peak in 1917. However, by its Congress in 1924, the union nearly collapsed beneath the weight of state repression, vigilante killings, organizational weaknesses, and political divisions, after which it remained on the fringes of labor politics. Many authors of varying backgrounds and decades have sought to explain the decline of the IWW, emphasizing either repression, internal …

Brand Logo Shape And Brand Personality, Kyle P. Gold

University Honors Theses

Brand logos are a critical element of brand image equity in the process of visually conveying brand values to a consumer base. While previous studies have discussed logo design elements like color, typography, and complexity on their ability to convey brand attributes - little research has been done on logo shape. This study examines the relationship between brand logo shape - that of the geometric outline of a logo - and the concept of brand personality. To accomplish this, stimuli was created and presented via survey to test if consumers could recognize brand personality factors from a series of designed …

The Relationship Of Leadership Patterns To Usage Patterns And Suitability Of Information Technology For Decision-Making Of Nursing And Non-Nursing Academic Administrators In Higher Education, Martha J. Morrow

Dissertations

This dissertation describes the relationship of leadership patterns to computer usage patterns and the suitability of information technology for decision making among academic administrators in higher education in the Nursing departments and Arts and Science Departments of universities in the United States and its provinces.

Re-Positioning A School District To Embrace Equity And Change: A Qualitative Examination Of Central Office Leaders’ Experiences With Implementing A Desegregation Plan, Tamara L. Warner

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Leadership at the district level is a contributing factor to student achievement and the overall success of individual schools and school districts. However, with respect to leading equity-oriented transformations, most research has centered on the work of leaders and administrators at the school-building level. Considering their direct involvement in formulating and executing equity-framed change initiatives, understanding the role and influence of central office-based leaders is paramount. Designed as an instrumental case study, the process of executing a court-ordered desegregation plan was utilized to assist in deepening the understanding of the role of school district-based leadership as it relates to developing …

Webinar: Engaging Youth To Choose Car-Free Mobility, Autumn Shafer

TREC Webinar Series

Today’s youth are tomorrow’s riders, bikers, walkers, voters, and transportation planners. As more transit agencies begin to offer free fare passes to public middle and high school students, it is important to have good communication strategy in place to encourage transit usage so they don't miss out on the potential to affect behavior change.

Thus, transit agencies need to develop age-appropriate messaging strategies and tactics that promote youth car-free mobility.

This webinar will present results from a NITC research project that sought to create and evaluate communication messaging that fosters more positive attitudes, intentions, and behaviors related to transit and …

A Mixed-Methods Study Of How Elementary Principals Build Trust With Staff Using Weisman’S Five Domains Of Trust Model, Diana Escalante

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to identify and describe how elementary school principals establish trust with staff using the 5 domains of competence, consistency, concern, candor, and connection (Weisman, 2010). In addition, it was the purpose of this study to determine the elementary school principals’ perceived degree of importance for the 5 domains of consistency, competence, candor, concern, and connection for building trust.

Methodology: This mixed-methods research design used quantitative and qualitative data to analyze the research questions related to trust between elementary school principals and their staff. This study used both surveys and in-person interviews. The …

Employee Engagement And Burnout: A Quantitative Study Of Their Correlations With Job/Organizational Satisfaction, Sarah Burnett

Dissertations

Since Kahn introduced the concept of employee engagement in 1990, the focus on motivating employees has been en vogue in practitioner literature. The federal government as well now measures its agencies annually on how well they implement conditions conducive to engagement. Federal agencies are also ranked annually as “Best Places to Work” based on their aggregated score on three survey items deemed to represent job/organizational satisfaction. The concept of burnout, or the so-called “erosion of engagement”, however, has received significantly less attention. To begin to fill this void in the literature, secondary survey data from the 2017 Organizational Assessment Survey …

Monetary Equilibrium And The Cost Of Banking Activity, Paola Boel, Gabriele Camera

ESI Working Papers

We investigate the effects of banks’ operating costs on allocations and welfare in a low interest rate environment. We introduce an explicit production function for banks in a microfounded model where banks employ labor resources, hired on a competitive market, to run their operations. In equilibrium, this generates a spread between interest rates on loans and deposits, which naturally reflects the underlying monetary policy and the efficiency of financial intermediation. In a deflation or low inflation environment, equilibrium deposits yield zero returns. Hence, banks end up soaking up labor resources to offer deposits that do not outperform idle balances, thus …

Empowering Filipino American Young Adults Through Culturally Relevant Leadership Experiences, Donnaly Y. Atajar

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore the leadership development of Filipino American young adults. As an advisor for Lakas Mentorship Program in the Inland Empire, I explored the following question among program staff and mentors: How could I use culturally relevant curriculum to foster personal and professional development for young Filipino American leaders? I evaluated the impact of four cycles centered on leadership training and improving program practices to understand how to deepen engagement and facilitate positive transformation. I found that the following contributed to meaningful engagement: intentional leadership opportunities, institutionalized program structure, and peer mentorship and community …