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Exthpress: Lesley University Expressive Therapy Newsletter, Spring 2003, Lesley College

Expressive Therapy Newsletters

Lesley Expressive Therapy Newsletter was first published in Fall 1996 as The Untitled News. From Fall 1997, it was called Expressions. In 2001, it became Expressive Therapy News, and by Spring 2003, it was renamed Exth Press.

Threshold Yearbook, 2003, Lesley University

Threshold Program - Yearbooks

Yearbook published by the Threshold Program Class of 2003. Original volume available for browsing in the Lesley University Archives.

Introduction To Faculty Presentation Day Issue, Richard A. Matasar

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Experiences Of International Students At An Australian University: An Exploratory Qualitative Study, Andrea Halse

Theses : Honours

The number of international students studying in Australia has steadily increased over the last ten years providing many benefits both to the country and Australian universities. However, little is known about the transition experiences of these students and there has been little acknowledgment of the issues facing students adjusting to a new environment and learning context. Typical issues that international students encounter include; language difficulties, homesickness, culture shock, lack of background knowledge and skills, housing difficulties, developing new social relationships and adapting to their new environment. Much of the research has been in the form of questionnaires and surveys focusing …

The Effect Of Incorporating Interactive Concept Maps On Non-Major Adult Students’ Attitudes And Motivation Toward A Web-Supported Biology Course, Efrain J. Venezuela

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study aimed to investigate the effect of incorporating interactive concept maps, as an instructional strategy for teaching complex biological concepts, on non-major adult students’ attitudes and motivation toward a Web-supported biology course. The author hypothesized that the incorporation of interactive concept maps would have an affect on non-major adult students' attitudes and motivation toward a Web-supported biology course. Consequently, this study attempted to answer the following question: How would the incorporation of interactive concept maps influence non-major adult students' attitudes and motivation toward a Web-supported biology course?

This study was conducted with non-major adult students enrolled in upper-level, Websupported …

Implementing Therapeutic Conflict Management Groups To Decrease Serious Incidents Of Misbehavior In A Middle School Setting, Kelvin E. Rogers

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

A review of the literature indicated that there were concerns from the public and public school officials regarding too many serious acts of misbehavior being committed in our public schools, which included recent events of violence in Oregon, Colorado, and California that resulted in multiple deaths and injuries of students and staff. During the 2001-2002 school year at this writer’s site, discipline records indicated that several students were suspended off-campus for fights, verbal abuse towards their peers, weapons on campus, and gross defiance towards school authority.

In order to combat the amount of episodes of serious acts of misbehavior, 30 …

Making Teamwork Equitable With Online Technology: A Case Study, Joseph Luca, Catherine E Mcloughlin

Research outputs pre 2011

In many higher education institutions, teamwork is considered an essential part of the syllabus in helping to promote deep and meaningful learning as well as professional skills such as communication, collaboration and leadership skills. However, in many cases students are unhappy with teamwork activities, as they consider the distribution of marks to be unfair. In many cases, team members are all allocated the same mark regardless of the amount of effort or quality of work contributed by each individual. This case study attempts to resolve these issues by presenting a self and peer assessment strategy (supported with online technology) to …

Occupational Therapy: Creating A Way To Determine College Students' Assistive Technology Needs, Jeremiah Otteson, Stephanie Suedel, Kjersten Swanson

Occupational Therapy Capstones

No abstract provided.

Increasing Elementary Teachers’ Abilities To Utilize Technology To Enhance The Curriculum And Instructional Practices For Students, Rita Thomas

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to increase elementary teachers ability to utilize technology to enhance the curriculum and instructional practices for students. Technology was available in the work setting but teachers were not trained to use and integrate technology.

Teachers actively participated in the following activities: reading and discussing professional journal articles, reading and using information provided in digital newsletters, technology training sessions, collaborative planning sessions, and made a conscious effort to include technology as a component of instruction for students.

An analysis of the data revealed that five of six outcomes were met. The following outcomes of the applied …

Evaluating An Advisory Program In A Community School District, Lydia C. Alvarado

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation describes the results of a formative evaluation of the implementation of instructional techniques in an advisory program and the staff’s commitment to the program. The question that this study addressed was, Are the faculty members implementing instructional techniques (group dynamics techniques, group discussion techniques and critical thinking questioning techniques) during the advisor-advisee period?

To address the above concern, the advisers received staff development on instructional techniques that would assist them in conducting their advisory lessons. The instructional techniques consisted of (a) group dynamics techniques, (b) questioning techniques in discussion groups, and (c) critical thinking questioning techniques. Informal …

Teaching Fifth Grade Students With Learning Problems To Self-Regulate Writing Utilizing Mnemonics, Mary Angela Gioscia

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide students with learning disabilities the opportunity to improve their writing skills. Students were expected to organize information and utilize correct spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure in order to write independently on grade level. This was not happening. For years the writer witnessed the struggle that students with learning disabilities had encountered with written language. Graphic organizers, writing programs, and modifications made to the curricula did not solve the problem of fifth-grade students with learning disabilities to demonstrate grade level writing.

In her research the writer discovered the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between High-Frequency Hearing Loss And Exposure To Loud Sounds Among Female College Students, Tania Langhan Lafournaise

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Development Of An Entrepreneurship Certificate Program At Athens State University, Brenda Harper

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was to develop an Entrepreneurship Certificate Program at Athens State University. Awareness in the field of entrepreneurship has increasingly become an integral part of educational institutions’ accepted curriculums. However, Athens State University has no curriculum in place that provides, produces, and develops leadership in the area of entrepreneurship. Additionally, the strong economic growth in new and existing businesses the area has experienced has not kept pace with the demand from local businesses and industries to train the new work force terrain.

The writer examined the benefits of an entrepreneurship education as well as the essential elements of …

Methods Of Improving The Reading Comprehension Skills Of Seventh-Grade Literacy Students, Mellanie L. Robinson

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to improve the reading comprehension skills of seventh-grade students. A majority of the students in the writer’s literacy class scored poorly on the following reading comprehension instruments: the Standardized Test for the Assessment of Reading (STAR), the Science Research Associates test (SRA), and a reading selection from the Jamestown Signature Reading Series. Failure to succeed on these tests can be discouraging for adolescents and can cause them to develop negative attitudes towards the concept of reading as a whole.

For several months, the writer read multitudinous pieces of educational literature from credible sources (e.g., Middle …

Development Of A Career Planning And Placement Model With A Plan For Implementation And Evaluation, Thwanda L. Davidson

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to provide a suggested comprehensive career planning counseling and effective placement services for students at Anderson College with a plan for implementation and evaluation. This development project enabled the researcher to review several components of Career Services models for inclusion in the design appropriate for the students.

The college has not provided comprehensive career planning counseling and effective placement services. A number of students are unemployed, dissatisfied, and frustrated, or at least the ones calling the college are having difficulty finding employment. The researcher conducted an investigation to identify significant information pertaining to the intent …

Improving Student Achievement By Infusing A Web-Based Curriculum Into Global History, Robert A. Scheidet

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The arrival of Internet use in today’s classrooms has moved the learning environment beyond the drill and practice use of computers. The creation of a web-based curriculum enables students to have access to the global network of multimedia information while being engaged in self-directed learning activities. This study investigated whether infusing web-based computer technology into the global history curriculum could increase the percentage of students achieving mastery level and increase student interest and motivation in schoolwork. Studies have shown that achievement does increase when computer technology is utilized in the classroom because it individualizes the educational process; incorporates constructivist learning …

A Northwest Florida School District’S Response To Chartered Public Schools, Vivian L. Green

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to examine the impact of charter schools on a school district and to develop a strategic marketing plan for the School District of Okaloosa County. With the proliferation of charter schools, home schools, and other schooling options within the School District of Okaloosa County, the typical orientation of school staff members at traditional public schools must be broadened to include marketing of the school and its services.

The researcher developed a strategic marketing plan for targeted schools within the School District of Okaloosa County. Development of the plan included the following planned solution interventions: (a) …

Linking Transition Best Practices To Student Outcomes For Students With Mental Retardation, Deborah Joy Kennedy

UNLV Retrospective Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to focus on best practice components in transition programs for students with mental retardation. This was accomplished by determining: (a) post school outcomes; (b) the extent to which the transition plan reflected current best practices; (c) which predictor variables were the most important in predicting positive outcomes; and (d) the extent of student, parent, and agency involvement in the transition process; The participants in this study (n = 16) were parents of students with mental retardation who graduated, dropped out, or aged out in the 1999--2000 and 2000--2001 school years in a southwestern state. …

The Role Of Homework In Relation To Student Achievement, Rita Bernard

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

St. Anna School is a small, parochial school located in Leominster, Massachusetts. Homework is an academic requirement for all students in Grades 3 through 8. At the middle school level, Grades 6 through 8, students are given between 1 and 2 hours of homework 4 nights per week. Parents expect homework. Teachers assign homework. Students should do homework. Although parents, teachers, and students are aware of the existence of homework, students still failed to complete homework. Why did students fail to complete homework? Interviews were conducted with middle school teachers, students, and parents to find out why students failed to …

Island Of Tranquility: Rhetoric And Identification At Brigham Young University During The Vietnam Era, Brian D. Jackson

Theses and Dissertations

The author argues that beyond religious beliefs and conservative politics, rhetorical identification played an important role in the relative calmness of the BYU campus during the turbulent Sixties. Using Bitzer's rhetorical situation theory and Burke's identification theory, the author shows that BYU's calm campus can be explained as a result of communal identification with a conservative ethos. He also shows that apparent epistemological shortcomings of Bitzer's model can be resolved by considering the power of identification to create salience and knowledge in rhetorical situations. During the Sixties, BYU administration developed policies on physical appearance that invited students to take on …

Family Connectedness And Sexual Risk-Taking Among Urban Youth Attending Alternative High Schools, Christine M Markham, Susan R Tortolero, S Liliana Escobar-Chaves, Guy S Parcel, Ronald Harrist, Robert C Addy

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

CONTEXT: Youth in alternative high schools engage in risky sexual behavior at higher rates than do their peers in regular schools, placing themselves at an increased risk of sexually transmitted disease and unintended pregnancy. Family connectedness is associated with reduced adolescent sexual risk-taking, although this association has not been tested among alternative school youth.

METHODS: A sample of 976 urban, predominantly minority alternative high school students in Houston, Texas, were surveyed in 2000-2002. Survey data were analyzed using logistic regression to determine whether family connectedness is related to sexual risk-taking.

RESULTS: Overall, 68% of students reported ever having had sex. …

Evaluation Of Elementary Teachers’ Technology Skills To Enhance Curriculum Integration Through A Staff Development Model, Marie Fuller Walker

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to assess elementary teachers’ current skills and abilities in technology. The problem was that there was no evidence, hard data, or documentation of any evaluation of the technology skills of the elementary teachers of the Coatesville Area School District. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the technological skills and abilities of the elementary teachers to determine whether and to what extent it hindered the desired outcomes and to facilitate planning more effective staff development to address the technology skill levels of the faculty in order to enhance curriculum integration.

This study combined the …

Educators’ Perceptions Of The Purposes, Procedures, And Goals Of The Gifted Education Programs In Suffolk Public Schools, Phyllis L. Sharpe

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Suffolk Public Schools implemented gifted education programs to meet the needs of students with exceptional abilities and to comply with state mandates. Baseline data were needed to complete an evaluation of these programs. This study sought to examine the perceptions of the gifted education programs among Suffolk Public Schools’ educators. Specifically, this study consisted of 23 interviews with central office and building-level administrators, gifted education teachers, and general education teachers on the elementary and middle school levels and review of archival data. Analysis of these data addressed the perceptions of the programs’ purposes, goals, identification practices, instructional practices, and expected …

Providing Character Education Towards Resiliency For An Alternative Education High School, Anita L. Herron

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation was designed to address the need to improve the educational profile of an urban alternative education high school that failed to meet one or more of the state's standards for achievement, attendance, and school performance. A character education curriculum holistic case management program was developed to address this problem.

The program provided students with a three-focus educational strand instructional program: Case management intervention, academic diagnostic assessment, and an individualized planning and instructional curriculum to achieve school success. The writer presented a comprehensive intervention service that required all participants to attend a mandatory orientation, community-based involvement, consultation, and …

School Resource Officers: Effective Or Ineffective In Reducing Discipline Referrals And Increasing School Safety?, Cornelius B. Leach

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This report describes a program for reducing the number of discipline referrals for fighting, threats, and possession or use of weapons. The total school population was involved in this intervention program. All middle schools in the school district had 2 School Resource Officers (SRO) on campus to produce a safer school environment. The problem with the discipline referrals was documented through the archival data of discipline referrals from the 2000-2001 school year.

An analysis of probable cause data gathered indicated that low or moderate supervision, lack of parental involvement, and lack of knowledge about writing discipline referrals were factors leading …

Case Study Of Public School 370 And Implementation Of An Education Program For Disabled 18- To 21-Year-Old Detainees, Dawn A.J. Downing

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This applied dissertation describes an alternative public high school for adjudicated youth. This report discusses the legal and social issues that justify the need for the implementation of an education program for 18- to 21-year-olds detained in the Baltimore City Detention Center. Analysis of internal and external data sources indicated the need for this case study.

The focus of this study was creating a learning community where educational staff and security staff work together to provide an appropriate education for adjudicated students. The relationship between educators and correctional staff can be an uneasy one when the security and education staffs …

An Evaluation Of An Alternative High School As A Learning Organization, David K. Moore

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The problem that was addressed by this evaluation study was the failure of a majority of the students who entered the Alternative Program at Miami-Douglas MacArthur Senior High School South (MDMS) to return to their schools of residence. Of those who did return, over 60% were unsuccessful. The systemic changes that were needed to resolve this problem required the faculty to function as an effective learning organization as described in the research of P. Senge. Evaluation research was conducted to determine to what extent MDMS staff was functioning within each of the 5 disciplines of a learning organization.

The data …

Improving Student Social Skills In An Elementary School Setting, Gloria Mckibbin

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

Teachers and administrators reported an increase in the number of school violations regarding verbal and physical assaults. This aggressive and inappropriate behavior created a negative school climate and detracted from the academic process, as teachers were spending more time redirecting students who were misbehaving rather than teaching.

A social skills program that focused on empathy, social problem solving, and anger management was developed and implemented with fourth-grade students to improve their prosocial behavior in the classroom environment. Using cognitive behavioral strategies such as modeling, roleplaying, and cuing and methods to assess their own behaviors during group lessons, discussions, and exercises, …

Development Of A Historic Preservation Outreach Program With Evaluation Plan For The University Of Arkansas At Little Rock History Department, Franklin Allen Latimer

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

The problem is that the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program (AHPP) is ignoring the large potential constituency on the state’s college campuses. By ignoring this potential constituency, the agency is not meeting its goal of educating the public on historic preservation to the fullest extent and the agency is missing an opportunity to recruit people into working for preservation of the state’s cultural resources. This project was intended to develop a preservation outreach program to facilitate delivering information on the state’s historic resources as well as services offered by AHPP to the students in the history department of the University of …

The Relationship Between The Academic Achievement And Social Development Of First And Second Grade Students Identified For Participation In Early Intervention Program Classrooms, Freda Doster

Abraham S. Fischler College of Education ETD Archive

This study focused on the academic and social development of elementary school children who were at-risk for academic failure due to economic and social disadvantages. The school targeted for this study had a school-wide Title I program, which served approximately 665 students in kindergarten through second grade. The targeted school served a population that was characterized by high levels of poverty and illiteracy.

The preponderance of risk-factors reflected in the targeted population, combined with the academic and social concerns reflected in the student population, suggested attention needed to be focused on identifying intervention strategies which would meet the needs of …