Education Commons^™

Middle School Grow Your Own Teaching Program, Andrew J. Vondran

Dissertations of Practice

Middle School Grow YOur Own Teaching Program

This dissertation addresses the teacher shortage in the United States of America. The profession of education has struggled to find teachers to fill vacancies and it is being felt throughout the country. This is not just in the rural areas or areas of low socioeconomic status. Even high paying districts are feeling the squeeze. Many school districts are trying to combat this problem in different ways, especially Grow Your Own teaching programs. Many of these programs run by school districts are focused on high school students, although there has been a lack of …

Perceptions Of Mental Health Support Services Among South Asian Students, Naina Richards

Dissertations of Practice

ABSTRACT

PERCEPTIONS OF MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT SERVICES AMONG SOUTH ASIAN STUDENTS

Naina Richards, Ed.D.

Department of Counseling and Higher Education

Northern Illinois University, 2023

Katy Jaekel, Director

This qualitative research study aimed to identify stigmas surrounding mental health that influenced South Asian graduate students’ help-seeking behavior while enrolled in higher education. Findings from this study suggest that cultural stigmas associated with mental illness foster concerning attitudes among South Asian students that equate mental illness with weakness and thus, promote minimization of personal mental struggles to avoid negative labeling and judgement. Recommendations from this study encourage university student support services to …

¡Puedes Hacerlo! A Qualitative Case Study Exploring The Experience Of Latina Community College Students With Aspirations To Transfer, Sandra Pizano

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examined the motivation and source of support for first-generation Latina community college students who aspire to transfer to a four-year institution. The study is informed by Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth model, to explore how participants navigate their school environment and the vertical transfer process through an asset-based lens. The study aims to dismantle the deficit narrative that is many times told about communities of color. Eight students who self-identify as first-generation community college Latinas, plan on completing an associate degree within 1-2 semesters of the interviews, and have identified a transfer four-year institution were interviewed for this study. …

A Survey Research Study Of Conference Attendance And Change: What Do Educators Gain From Anti-Bias/Anti-Racist Professional Development?, Erin Rae

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Research studies suggest that professional development would betterprepare the 84% White teaching force to serve diverse classrooms. Schools have begun providing professional development with desired outcomes of better serving their diverse student body. This research study focused on educators who received summer camp-style immersive anti-bias/anti-racist professional development and examined the relationships between aspects of educator change as measured by a survey instrument (n=57). The research found that teachers were likely to make anti-bias/anti-racist classroom practice changes after attending the social justice summer camp. By better understanding educator change proceeding summer camp style conferences, this study offers implications for implementing anti-bias/anti-racist …

Marginalized Community College Students' Perspectives Of Their First Time In Honors And Experiences With Tracking, Trina Sotirakopulos

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Many of the variables that determine college admission are beyond a student’s control, including the academic track they were assigned as early as primary school—often referred to as “ability-grouping” or skills-homogeneous classes. Even in higher education, students feel the effects of unequal sorting and sifting from tracking. The purpose of this study was to learn from marginalized community college students who were in low and middle track courses in high school. The study located how socially marginalized students taking honors courses for the first time perceived their past experiences with tracking, current opportunities in community college honors, and ways tracking …

University Faculty Perceptions Of Mandatory Online Training As Related To Training Self-Efficacy, Motivation, And Utility, Tori Austin

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Organizations spend millions of dollars training employees in ways to improve their skills –recently through mandatory professional development delivered virtually or through online asynchronous platforms. This research investigated how social exchange theory and self-efficacy theory inform faculty participants’ motivation to transfer such knowledge and skills from mandatory online trainings into their workplace practices. Faculty who had attended mandatory online training were asked to complete a 25-item survey about their motivation to transfer information from the training into their workplace practice as well as their perceived utility of training and their training self-efficacy. This study examined the extent to which motivation …

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Physical Therapists’ Pyschological Characteristics And Feedback Methods, Dustin Cox

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Providing treatment interventions to clients with chronic pain is a complex task for any professional. Research suggests that clients with chronic pain experience declines in physical, emotional, and psychological quality of life. Client’s that have chronic pain have complex effects from dealing with this condition in their lives. Hashmi and colleagues found that clients with chronic pain (i.e., pain lasting > three months) process pain through the emotional and reward circuitry in the brain. The literature base provides evidence that clients with chronic pain who receive psychologically based interventions along with physical rehabilitation have better outcomes than individuals with chronic pain …