Education Commons^™

Transgender People On University Campuses: A Policy Discourse Analysis, Doris Andrea Dirks

Dissertations

The goal of this study is to examine the language used to discuss transgender people on university campuses. My main research question was: What do university reports describe as problems and solutions for transgender people in universities? The primary data for this study consists of 16 reports issued at four Big Ten schools from 1992-2010. These reports address the inclusion of gender identity and expression in nondiscrimination policies, the status of transgender people on university campuses, or both. This study employs policy discourse analysis, a hybrid methodology that analyzes written documents using feminist, critical, and poststructural theories in order to …

Teachers And Their Struggle With Personal Satisfaction As Young Mothers, Katherine Homer

Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to explore how the day-to-day experiences of teachers who are working mothers of young children shape their level of comfort and satisfaction with the dual role they live. This investigation also explored the dynamics of teacher retention by understanding the dilemmas female teachers with young families encounter. There is limited literature on working mothers who are high school teachers. There are many different issues this study examined to gain a better understanding of the complexities of the lives of women who are high school teachers while raising young children.

This study consisted of six …

The Factors That Are Related To Native American Community College Students' Intent To Persist, Garnet Laureen Williams

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

More than half of Native American higher education students choose community colleges as their institution of choice. However, when compared with other ethnic groups, Native American/Alaska Natives (NA/AN) students earn the second-lowest number of associate degrees and the lowest number of bachelor's degrees. Despite this substantive gap, few studies have explored the factors related to Native American community college students' intent to persist. With the projected population surge of NA/AN residents over the next 15 years, more research on the factors related to Native American community college students' intent to persist in college is warranted.

This ex post facto study …

Teacher Understandings Of Responsibilities For Reading Instruction In Stage One And Two English Courses Of Study In Western Australian Schools, Liana Strutt

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of the study was to explore secondary teachers’ understandings of their responsibilities towards students who demonstrate poor literacy skills with regard to the Reading Outcome in the Western Australian English Courses of Study. As an experienced secondary English teacher, the researcher was aware that the reading demands of senior secondary classrooms were challenging for some students and that many teachers were unsure of how they should respond to the needs of the students. Since the education reforms which began in Western Australia in the late 1990s and the subsequent introduction of Courses of Study in 2006, a great …

From Essay To Resumé : A Study Of Writing Genre And Discursive Positioning In Senior School English, Jennifer Shand

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In 2004, the Western Australian government signalled its intention to increase the school leaving age from 15 to 17 by 2008 (Carpenter, 2004). During the period from 2004 to 2006, increasing numbers of young Western Australians completed twelve years of secondary school. For English faculties in Western Australian schools, this resulted in a notably diverse cohort of students undertaking compulsory English studies in their final two years of school. The central aim of this thesis was to examine what it means to be a writer in senior school English. In doing so, the thesis investigated the construction of student writing …

Filipino American Educational Leaders In Northern California K-12 Public Schools: Challenges And Opportunities, Cynthia Manalo Rapaido

Doctoral Dissertations

The assumption that all Asians are model minorities is incorrect. The largest group of Asian American people is comprised of Filipino people followed closely by Chinese people; although Filipino people comprise the largest population, they lag behind Chinese and other Asian American groups with respect to academic achievement. Hence, Filipino American people are underrepresented as educational leaders in K–12 public schools in California.

Compared to other Asian ethnic groups, Filipino American people have (a) a lower achievement level for academic success, (b) a lower percentage enrolled in college in the United States, (c) a lower percentage 25–29 years of age …

The Theological Literacy, Beliefs, And Practices Of Lay Administrators Of Marianist-Sponsored Seconday Schools In The United States, John F. Thompson

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past 45 years, there has been a dramatic decrease in the number of religious and priests working in Catholic schools in the United States. Currently, 96% of all elementary and secondary faculties are comprised of lay men and women (McDonald, 2010). This same phenomenon can be found in Marianist-sponsored secondary schools in the United States. Prior to accepting a leadership position in a high school, Marianist brothers and priests were formed in a comprehensive theological and spiritual framework which incorporated the study of scripture, Church history, magisterial documents, liturgical prayer, moral theology, and other spiritual practices. Lay men …

Philosophy For Teenagers: Finding New Relevence In Old Concepts, Andrea Monteath

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In 2008, the Curriculum Council of Western Australia launched a formal curriculum of philosophy and ethics education for upper secondary students. This thesis is a writing project that provides a new teaching text in support of this course. The thesis is composed of two components, a creative project and an essay. The creative project is a work of non-fiction entitled, Philosophy for Teenagers: Finding New Relevance in Old Concepts, and has been researched and designed employing the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) Philosophy and Ethics course model. Philosophy for Teenagers aims to provide an innovative introduction to concepts such …

Professional Learning Communities And First-Year Composition Instructors., Erinn Bentley

Dissertations

This study is situated within the field of writing teacher education and investigates the professional development of first-year composition instructors. The purpose of this study is to examine the flexibility of one K-12 teacher professionalization model, the professional learning community (PLC), for offering first-year composition instructors ongoing support and for promoting instructors' pedagogical content knowledge growth.

This study builds upon scholarship within the field of rhetoric and composition to examine current trends in training graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) who teach first-year composition courses (Dobrin, 2005; Latterell, 1996; Pytlik & Liggett, 2002; Tremmel & Broz, 2002; Yancey, 2002). Such research indicates …

How Politics, Economics, And Technology Influence Evaluation Requirements For Federally Funded Projects: A Historical Study Of The Elementary And Secondary Education Act From 1965 To 2005, Maxine R. Eversley-Gilling

Dissertations

Program evaluation does not take place in a vacuum. Its context is the interaction of political, economic, and technological developments that influenced the formation of federal policies for mandated evaluation requirements. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965 established policies to provide “financial assistance to local educational agencies serving areas with concentrations of children from low-income families to expand and improve their educational program” (Public Law 89-10—Apr. 11, 1965). This legislation also had another consequence: it helped drive the establishment of educational program evaluation and the field of evaluation as a profession.

The purpose of this study is …

Influences Of Morality In Theatre For Children, Ashleigh Merle Lutes

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this thesis is to examine current practices and suggest strategies and support for effective ways to teach morality with and through theatre. Using theatre as a moral training ground creates opportunities for children to learn to make positive choices throughout their lives.

Access Denied: The Rhetorical Construction Of Undocumented Students In Postsecondary Education, Yanira Estrada Figueroa

Theses Digitization Project

This thesis analyzes rhetorically the 1982 Supreme Court case Plyer v. Doe, sections of the Welfare Reform Act and the Illegal Immigratiom Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, and the 2011 version of the proposed Development, Relief and Education for Minors (Dream Act) in order to trace the underlying beliefs and assumptions that justify refusing undocumented students support for and thus access to postsecondary institutions.