Digital Commons Network^™

Issues Of Engendered Entitlement: Who Owns The Classroom? Who Owns Knowledge?, Dorothy Radius Kasik

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation examines the ways in which first year female college students have been prepared by educational systems in our culture to handle knowledge and the acquisition of knowledge during the first year of college experience. It is the contention of the author that women are not actively encouraged in our culture to take ownership of educational concepts in the same way as men. This happens for two reasons, first that because women's methods of interaction in the classroom might differ from men's those methods might not be perceived as acceptable or taken seriously; and second that a woman's discomfort …

The Role Of Shame In Writing: How Lived Experience Affects The Writing Process, Carol Kountz

Doctoral Dissertations

Writing fluently without disabling apprehension requires an ability to control ideas despite the occurrence of censoring thoughts or shameful sensations. Such ability is characteristically lacking in apprehensive or blocking writers, who, therefore, have difficulty in composing. To understand the psychological and social factors that impede the writing process, and to give writers and compositionists insight into the features of writing that result in "writer's block," I held conversational interviews with twenty-four people who designate themselves as apprehensive writers about their literacy experiences and writing behavior. Analysis of these interviews shows that these people, in anticipation of a real or inward, …

Differences In Achievement Across Item Types On The Advanced Placement United States History Examination: The Relationship Of Sex, Gender Identity, Cognitive Orientation, And Conception Of The Nature Of Historical Knowledge To Domain-Specific Academic Performance, Fred J. Wetzel

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explored the reasons why males outperform females on the AP US History examination, a three-part, college-level test taken by large numbers of high-achieving grade 11 students each year. Males tend to outperform females on the overall test, and on the multiple-choice section. Females show relatively stronger performance on the examination's document-based question (a section that requires analysis of original historical documents). Performance on the standard-essay part of the test does not consistently favor either sex.

Moving beyond explanations that rely on sex-related generalized differences in ability and interest, the study explored the possibility that performance was dependent on …

The Teaching Portfolio As A Vehicle For Professional Growth, John James Freeman

Doctoral Dissertations

This study considered the utility of the teaching portfolio as a structure which might enhance the professional growth of public school teachers. The study was guided by the question: Does the development of individual teaching portfolios support reflection, self-assessment, and professional development on the part of teachers who develop portfolios? Other issues considered were reasons for developing portfolios, the nature of artifacts included in portfolios, structures which support teachers in the development of their portfolios, changes in classroom practice which may result from portfolio development, plans for future portfolio use, and suggestions which portfolio developers might have for others considering …

Interdisciplinary Holocaust Curriculum Guide For The Middle School, Shana Golding

Honors Capstones

The object of any curriculum guide is to present educators with a working tool. The Interdisciplinary Holocaust Curriculum Guide for the Middle School provides a framework for teaching the Holocaust. The rationale for developing this curriculum guide is to offer educators a resource from which they can create their own lesson plans. I developed the guide on the premise that the goal of Holocaust education is to empower students with the knowledge to prevent another Holocaust from occurring. My philosophy, as well as the activities presented in this guide, reflect this. In keeping with the philosophy of the National Middle …

Extending The Reach: Exploring What It Means To Be A Parent Of A Hostel Adolescent Assisting With Their Child's Career Development : A Case Study, Julie A. Howell

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Research indicates that parents are an important influence on the career development of their children, but, that they have often been considered as an untapped resource. Rural high school aged students, who reside in metropolitan hostels, often live with their parents for less than 15 weeks per year. How do their parents contribute to their career development? This one year research explored the involvement of parents of hostel children, in the career development process of their youth. Through a case study, an analysis described what it means to be a parent of a hostel adolescent with respects to how they …

Implementation Of Least Restrictive Environment (Lre) In Nevada Rural Schools According To The Rachel H Standard, Laurie Magee Flanders

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Public Law 94-142, the Education of All Handicapped Children Act (1975); Public Law 101-476, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (1990); and Public Law 105-17, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Amendments of 1997 require that all disabled students be placed in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) in their educational settings; In 1994 the Ninth Circuit Court established the Rachel H. Standard, which provides a guide for school districts in determining the Least Restrictive Environment for their disabled students. All school districts within the authority of the Ninth Circuit must comply with the standard set forth in Sacramento City Unified …

Family And Service Coordinator Agreements In The Development And Implementation Of The Individualized Family Service Plan (Ifsp), Byoung-In Lee

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

Part C of Public Law 105-17 (originally Part H of Public Laws 99-457, 101-476, and 102-119), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997, strengthened incentives to states to provide services for infants and toddlers, from birth to age three, who have disabilities or are at-risk for developmental delays. The law and its regulations require that the Individualized Family Service Plan (IFSP) is a written plan for services to be developed and implemented for the child and family. Inclusion of family members as full participants in the design and implementation of services is emphasized; This study was designed to …

Special Education Students: Which Ones Are Prepared To Receive A High School Diploma?, Rhoton Titus Hudson

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This study sought to determine whether statistically significant differences between students with disabilities who pass and those who fail the Nevada High School Proficiency Examination are accounted for by demographic variables alone, or if they can also be attributed to educational variables. To establish the basis for this study, legislation such as IDEA and Goals 2000 was examined, recent literature was reviewed, and court cases involving testing students with disabilities on standardized and minimum competency tests were studied; The study follows 965 students with disabilities who were in the eleventh grade during the 1998--99 school year through five administrations of …

Instrument Development And Validation For Use In A Health Education Program, Joanna Lynn Blockey

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

This study was conducted to establish the validity and reliability of a dependent measure instrument developed specifically for health education programs geared to expectant mothers and their significant others who smoke; This study's instrument was distributed to 201 randomly chosen college students participating in health education, general education, educational psychology, and communication studies classes at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas; Results from this study found that the instrument has merit. The confirmatory factor analysis, which proved the instrument's reliability, isolated three different areas of study: beliefs about smoking in general; the effects of smoking on pre- and post-natal babies; …

Tear Down These Walls: New Genre Public Art And Art Education, Gaye Leigh Green

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

Public genre art education follows the lead established by the professional art world to engage the public with artforms that depart from traditional media usage and intentions to encourage collaboration, the demystification of art processes, and societal reconstruction. Termed new genre public art, Suzanne Lacy (1995) described in Mapping the Terrain: New Genre Public Art a new sensibility exhibited in the past three decades by artists who deal with the most profound issues of our time “in manners that resemble political and social activity but is distinguished by its aesthetic sensibility”.

A Comparative Study Of 1-12 Public School Systems Of The United States And People's Republic Of China, Sean Xiong Chi

All Graduate Projects

The purpose ofthis study was to recognize and extrapolate the major similarities and/or differences between the public education systems of the United States and the People's Republic of China. The researcher was primarily concerned with the examination of similarities and differences in origin, evolution, structure, organization, curriculum, funding, law and governmental regulations in Grades 1-12 school systems in the two countries. The researcher's analysis of the project was intended to provide other educators and researchers with a picture of the nature of the two school systems. There is no value judgement of either country's educational system in this comparative study.

A Decade Of Indecision: The Effects Of Federal Student Financial Aid Policy From 1987 To 1996 On Within-Year Persistence Of Four-Year Undergraduate Students, James Erwin Cofer, Sr.

Theses and Dissertations

Almost from the inception of the student loan program in the 1960's, there has been speculation about the impact of debtload on student decisions about attending college, persisting in college, and life decisions after graduation. However, little research has been done on this area. As Congress debates funding higher education, the question arises once more of the impact of loans on college student attendance. This study examines the influence of student debtload on college persistence, for the time periods 1986-87 and 1995-96, almost an entire decade. Using the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) of 1986-87 and the National Postsecondary …

A Study Of The Attitudes Of Junior-High And Middle-Level Principals Toward Parent Involvement In Arkansas, Marian G. Lacey

Theses and Dissertations

The study is a replication of a study by Brittle (1994) that researched attitudes of elementary principals toward parent involvement in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The 1997 Arkansas study identified and analyzed the attitudes of middle-level and junior-high principals toward parental involvement. The population for the study consisted of all middle-level and junior-high principals in the state of Arkansas. Data were analyzed using descriptive and correlational statistics to answer the research questions. The study revealed how strongly Arkansas middle-level or junior-high principals believe in parent involvement. Information concerning the principals' perceived role in implementing and fostering parent involvement in their …

Incentive Schemes For School Attendance In Rural Bangladesh, Sajeda Amin, Gilda Sedgh

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This paper examines the impact of two incentive schemes on school attendance in rural Bangladesh: a food-for-education program for poor primary school children and a female secondary school scholarship scheme. The data come from an in-depth village study, before and after the programs went into effect. Both programs provide direct financial incentives to families to send their children to and keep them in school. The data also allow for an assessment of an informal school program sponsored by BRAC, a national non-governmental institution, at the study sites. School enrollment in the target population increased more rapidly than would have been …

Elementary Education Discipline Assessment 1998-99, Assessment Of Student Learning Committee

Assessment of Student Learning Reports

No abstract provided.

Esl Students' Attitudes And Communicative Competence, Sadiq H. Midraj

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The intent of this study was to investigate the relationship between attitudinal and motivational variables and successful English as a second language (ESL) learning among ESL international students in the State of Indiana. To carry out this intent, the students' achievement on the TOEFL test, which was used to measure the participants' attained language proficiency, was related to anomie, integrative motivation, instrumental motivation, willingness to communicate with people from other cultures, and willingness to spend time and to learn English. Lambert-Gardner's questionnaire concerning attitude and motivation was modified and administered. Fifty items were prepared to measure five independent variables that …

Promoting Self-Efficacy In Postsecondary At-Risk Readers: A View Of The Effects Of Using An Instructional Model Based On Cooperative, Active, Critical Thinking Unified Strategies (C*A*C*T*U*S)., Phyllis L. Simpson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Nationwide, between one-third and one-half of all students who enter colleges and universities today are identified as needing some remediation. Many developmental freshmen do not have a realistic perception of their learning skills, their ability to activate their prior knowledge, nor a high degree of self-confidence in either their self-image or their inferencing ability to learn in today's college classroom. The review of the literature served as a basis for designing a cooperative, active, critical thinking unified strategy model (named by acronym C*A*C*T*U*S) for educating "at-risk" readers in developmental education. Furthermore, the literature review on self-efficacy and empowerment action-oriented teacher …

Beliefs And Practices Of Middle School Language Arts Teachers., Suzan Anderson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study is to examine the instructional beliefs and practices of middle school language arts teachers as they relate to developmental appropriate/inappropriate instruction. Developmentally appropriate instruction is defined as matching the curricula to the level of children's emerging mental abilities. If the learner is seen as a growing individual with developing abilities, then the aim of education should be to facilitate this development. This in turn means that the curricula must be studied and analyzed to determine that level of mental ability that is required to comprehend curriculum materials (Elkind, 1970). There is some concern that what …

An Evaluation Of Student Support Services At Southeastern Louisiana University., Lavanner Showers Brown

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of Student Support Services (SSS) at Southeastern Louisiana University as these services relate to grade point averages and retention rates. Four groups of 45 students were selected for the study. Forty-five SSS freshmen participants were matched on their at risk classification with 45 non-SSS participants. Forty-five SSS sophomores and 45 non-SSS contemporary sophomores were also matched according to the at risk classification. First generation and low income students who scored 18 and below on the ACT, and had earned a high school grade point average of 3.0 or less constitute …

Dyslexic College Students: Quest For Literacy., Frances Grace Crochet

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The initial purpose of this study focused on an Orton-Gillingham phonics remediation program and the effect the program had on college students. The emphasis of the study changed due to the fact that the Orton-Gillingham phonics program did not impact the college students' learning, which was mainly due to the students having previously received some form of phonics instruction. The students had learned to compensate for their poor spelling ability through invented spelling, and the use of the computer and the spell checker. The other accommodations that decreased their need for knowledge of a spelling program were the use of …

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Principal Leadership Style And Student Academic Achievement In The Philippines., Mary Sylvette Tanjuan Gunigundo

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Principal leadership has been identified to be a crucial factor in the success of a school. One measure of school success is student academic achievement. Effective school literature suggests that there exist a relationship between principal leadership and student academic achievement. Thus, this study explored the relationship between principal leadership style (transformational, transactional, or laissez-faire) and student academic achievement in the Philippines. Three control variables were considered in examining this relationship and these were teacher educational background, student population, and student socio-economic status (SES). This study was conducted in thirty-six elementary public schools in the Philippines. The revised Multifactor Leadership …

Logistic Regression And Item Response Theory: Estimation Item And Ability Parameters By Using Logistic Regression In Irt., Necati Engec

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the utility of logistic regression procedures as a means of estimating item and ability parameters in unidimensional and multidimensional item response theory models for dichotomous and polytomous data instead of IRT models. Unlike the IRT models, single logistic regression model can be easily extended from unidimensional models to multidimensional models, from dichotomous response data to polytomous response data and the assumptions such as all slopes are the same and intercept is zero are unnecessary. Based on the findings of this study, the following preliminary conclusions can be drawn: Item and ability parameters …

Concurrent Vs. Terminal Augmented Feedback In The Learning Of A Discrete Bimanual Coordination Task., Cynthia Marie Hadden

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Two experiments compared the effects of concurrent and terminal augmented feedback in learning a bimanual coordination task. In the first experiment, twenty-four participants practiced a discrete bimanual task that required a 90$\sp\circ$ phase offset of the upper limbs under one of two feedback conditions: concurrent or terminal. Participants in the concurrent feedback group received feedback as they performed the task during acquisition. Participants in the terminal feedback group received feedback after they completed each acquisition trial. Results indicated that concurrent group was able to more accurately produce the target figure during acquisition than the terminal group. Unlike earlier studies which …

Vocational Education And Recidivism At The Louisiana Correctional Institute For Women., Henry Elbert Sanders Jr

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Recidivism is a phenomenon causing growing concern. When released criminals return to crime, the costs become immeasurable. Victims can never be adequately compensated for personal losses, and the nation cannot halt the spiraling costs of maintaining prisons housing mostly repeat offenders. The nation is spending upwards from 98 billion dollars on crime, annually. Public opinion opposes education for inmates, yet, with the nation's prisons operating near capacity, a millennium approaches that promises another wave of prison construction resulting in exponential leaps in the costs of incarceration. A marketing concept asserts that attracting people to a product is half the battle. …

Education For Liberation As (An) African-American Folk Theory., Denise Marie Taliaferro

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

African American people have historically expressed great faith in education as a path toward liberation. It is an idea--education for liberation--that is pervasive in African American discourse. It is well documented in research that focuses on the efforts of African Americans to educate themselves despite slavery, the fall of reconstruction, a brutal Jim Crow system, and desegregation in lieu of integration (Anderson, 1988; Lerner, 1972; Watkins, 1993). Yet despite our faithful proclamations, we have been represented otherwise in mainstream educational discourse. Intellectual inferiority, cultural deprivation, underachievement, and at-risk have been some of the terms used to explain the consistent and …

Analysis Of Perceptions Of The 1997 Louisiana Legislature Toward The Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service., Pamela Burgess Hodson

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The study determined the perceptions that the members of the 1997 Louisiana Legislature held of the Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service (LCES) and identified factors that affected the perceptions. The factors included in the study were: familiarity with LCES programs, perception of effectiveness, sources of LCES information, and participation in LCES programs. The study also determined the association of selected characteristics with Legislators' perceptions. Of the 144 legislators contacted, 109 surveys (76%) were returned. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the personal characteristics of the legislators and correlation coefficients were calculated. Stepwise multiple regression at the.05 level was used to develop …

An Exploratory Study Of The Consumer Behavior Of Working Adolescent Females., Diane Denais Sasser

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

Employment of high school students has been growing steadily since the mid-1960s (Cole, 1991). Today, more than 40% of all high school students who work are employed at least part-time (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1995). Working adolescents may view their earnings as a sudden windfall of income to be used as discretionary income. This "premature affluence" may reinforce inappropriate consumer behaviors such as spending beyond means which may become established habits into their adult lives (Bachman, 1983). The cognitive development of these adolescents may be at the concrete operational thinking stage which inhibits them from handling adult behaviors in …

Using Mathematical Modeling For The Prediction Of Success In Developmental Math., Kathy Rogers Autrey

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

This exploratory study was primarily designed to determine the possibility of developing a discriminant model to predict success in developmental mathematics. The sample included 402 students enrolled in a developmental math class at Northwestern State University, a small public school in North Louisiana, in the fall semester of 1996. Demographic, achievement and attitudinal variables were used in the development of the model. High school GPA, social enrichment scores from the College Student Inventory, and black were factors identified as significant in the model. Although limited in its predictive ability, the model does provide faculty and advisors with additional information to …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between Teachers' Orientations In Reading Process And Instruction: Four Case Studies., Carrice Lou Cummins

LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses

The beliefs that teachers hold about how children learn are often reflected in the instructional practices they use to help children become readers. The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to identify teachers' beliefs regarding how reading takes place and how reading develops, (b) to examine the instructional reading practices implemented in teachers' classrooms, and (c) to explore the relationships between teachers' theoretical beliefs and their instructional practices in providing appropriate reading instruction. Qualitative methods informed this study by providing case studies of four primary grade teachers, giving detailed accounts of their theoretical beliefs--process and instruction. Two of the …