Education Commons^™

The Relationships Between `Push' And `Pull' Factors Of Millennial Generation Tourists To Heritage Tourism Destinations: Antebellum And Civil War Sites In The State Of Arkansas, Kayla Diane Kesterson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated `push' and `pull' motivational factors which influence Millennial Generation tourists' decisions to visit heritage tourism destinations and their knowledge of Civil War and Antebellum heritage sites within the state of Arkansas. A descriptive, six-section survey was distributed to Millennial students from varying degree fields at three universities within Arkansas. Four hundred twenty-four participants completed the questionnaire with measures of demographic information, visitation and frequency to heritage tourism sites, push factors, pull factors, heritage tourism sites in Arkansas, and historic preservation participation.

The results of this study showed that although Millennial students do not visit heritage sites frequently, …

Transition Of Newcomer Youth In Ontario Educational Policies: A Critical Discourse Analysis, Cameron Scott

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Transition in school is an inherent function of each student’s educational experience. However, newcomer youth face unique transitional challenges. This qualitative study was conducted to answer how Ontario educational policies shape the transition of newcomer youth. A critical discourse analysis was used to analyze practical guides and policy texts, framed through critical policy sociology and critical pedagogy. Findings illustrated that a fractured policy landscape exists, where there is a heavy emphasis on literacy, language development, and language acquisition for newcomer youth, but there remains a lack of policies to support a more holistic transition. Dominant policy discourses serve to construct …

Internationalizing Canadian Higher Education Through North-South Partnerships: A Critical Case Study Of Policy Enactment And Programming Practices In Tanzania, Allyson M. Larkin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The contemporary internationalization of higher education promotes the formation of North-South (N-S) partnerships to facilitate access to new research sites and opportunities for international programming. This study conceptualizes N-S partnerships as an extension of internationalization policy. In the current context of internationalization, there is a reliance on higher education to produce economic benefits to support national economic objectives. There are particular concerns, however, with a practice of N-S partnerships that are enacted in communities located in the Global South. Internationalization policy does not adhere to the principles of N-S partnership outlined in multilateral agreements and is increasingly focused on the …

Degree Program Changes And Curricular Flexibility: Addressing Long Held Beliefs About Student Progression, George Dante Ricco

Open Access Dissertations

In higher education and in engineering education in particular, changing majors is generally considered a negative event - or at least an event with negative consequences. An emergent field of study within engineering education revolves around understanding the factors and processes driving student changes of major. Of key importance to further the field of change of major research is a grasp of large scale phenomena occurring throughout multiple systems, knowledge of previous attempts at describing such issues, and the adoption of metrics to probe them effectively. The problem posed is exacerbated by the drive in higher education institutions and among …

Short-Term International Service-Learning: Faculty Perceptions Of And Pedagogical Strategies For The Design And Implementation Of Successful Learning Experiences, Thomas Jacob Van Cleave

Dissertations and Theses

Faculty-led short-term international service-learning (STISL) experiences are thought to have great potential in developing students' global citizenship through combining study abroad and community service pedagogies. However, thorough investigation of the pedagogical strategies employed in STISL courses to achieve such outcomes has yet to be conducted. This qualitative narrative inquiry of STISL faculty at 7 different institutions across multiple academic disciplines and country service sites sought to fill that void. Data reveal a new conceptualization of STISL teaching, learning, and service success that involves culturally contextualized solidarity, global civic engagement, and global competence, which culminate into students' global agency. Emerging from …

Telling Tales Out Of School: Principals' Narratives Of The Relationship Between School Literacy And The Home Literacy Practices Of A Minoritized Culture, Wendy A. Crocker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Much of the literature in the area of school leadership pertains to the role of the principal in school improvement – specifically in raising reading and writing scores in large-scale assessments. However, what is less represented is how administrators who are confronted daily with the socially constructed and multiple representations of literacies demonstrated by the English Language Learners in their schools view the focus on reading and writing referred to in the literature as school literacy. This Narrative Inquiry explores administrators’ perspectives of the relationship between school-literacy and home-literacy practices of a minoritized culture taking as its case the …

Black English And Culture Meet The Mainstream Classroom, Giselle Robitaille

MA TESOL Collection

Learning English can often be a critical factor in people’s lives, and the choice to disengage from learning out of sheer frustration can have devastating psychological and social effects for people who need to acquire English in order to be able to fulfill academic, personal and professional goals. While I was not able to find statistics on a global level, it is easy to believe that English language learners do disengage frequently. This is most obvious in the United States where the Standard English (SE) model of teaching black children has resulted in a high level of disengagement with learning …

A Study Of Fifth Grade Students’ Perceptions And Attitudes Of A Self-Contained Versus A Departmentalized Middle School Classroom, Mitzi Hanks

Master of Education Research Theses

This study examines students’ perceptions and attitudes toward entering a departmentalized middle school program after experiencing a self-contained elementary setting and if those perceptions and attitudes are reflected in their overall grades. In this longitudinal qualitative study, forty students were surveyed at the end of their last year in a self-contained classroom regarding their perceptions of entering the focus school’s departmentalized fifth grade program. Students remaining in the study group were surveyed again at the end of their fifth grade year to gain information on their attitudes toward departmentalization after completing the program. Data was collected from students’ end of …

Seeing Crucibles: Legitimizing Spiritual Development In The Middle Grades Through Critical Historiography, Audrey Lingley

Dissertations and Theses

Advocates of middle grades reform in the United States argue that curriculum and instruction, as well as leadership, organization, and community relationships, should be informed by knowledge of the developmental characteristics of 10 to 15 year-olds within physical, social, emotional, psychological, cognitive, and moral domains. Noticeably absent from their conception of human development are spiritual developmental characteristics of young adolescents.

This interdisciplinary research was a critical constructivist (Kincheloe, 2008) inquiry of the following question: What is the educational relevance of spiritual development in middle grades education? To study this question, critical historiographical research methods (Villaverde, Kincheloe, & Helyar, 2006) were …

The Message 2.0: Perceptions Of Success From Members Of The Founding Class Of Mc Squared Stem High School, Jeffrey D. Mcclellan

Dissertations

This dissertation examines the methods of learning from the student’s perspective in order to understand what made the first graduating class of MC Squared successful. The conceptual model of student success composed of non-academic factors of motivation, social connectedness, and self-management was used for the lens from which to understand the six students in depth. Through the research, it was uncovered that diversified learning environments, a mastery based assessment system, and an unwavering acceptance of students within a challenging and supportive environment are essential to the success achieved at MC Squared STEM High School. Lastly, the seminal contribution of this …

A Case Study Of After-School Activities In One School That Is Making Progress In Closing The Achievement Gap, Susan Robin Shugerman

Dissertations and Theses

Closing the achievement gap has been a national conversation for several decades and a priority for educators and researchers. By looking closely at one school which is showing exceptional success with closing the achievement gap for low income students and English language learners, this study seeks to understand how school personnel and parents view after-school activities and ways in which those activities may be impacting students who are making significant gains in spite of the achievement gap. After-school activities have been shown to bring many positive outcomes for students. That said, there is much that we do not yet know …

From A Northern Home To A Southern School: Cultural Imperialists Or Just Stubborn Yankees, Janel Janiczek Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the cultural influences on the lives of northern teachers in southern schools. During the 1860s, white, northern, middle-class women traveled to southern homes to begin and maintain schools for the recently freed slaves. Each woman carried with her an independent set of cultural systems that predetermined her perspective for educating the African American students. Furthermore, the northern relief agencies, Freedmen's Bureau agents, southern white citizens, and southern freedmen all had their own opinions for the education of the students. Although much time has elapsed between the 1860s and 2013, the same topics …

Disciplinary Practices In The Elementary School Setting, Alicia Macnabb

Senior Theses and Projects

With an ever growing understanding that American Public School Systems are not successfully serving the needs of their students the amount of research on education, discipline, racial disparity, and student achievement is vast. However, the amount of literature that contextualizes the experiences of students, teachers, and school staff remains limited. In my study, I focus on the local reality of Pharos Elementary School, a high-poverty school in Hartford, CT. My study examines how misbehavior is defined in the school context, what form of discipline practices are used, and what effect that has on school climate. I used a mixed method …

The Heart Of Teaching: Using Emotional Intelligence To Improve Student Achievement, Scottie Billiter

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University by Scottie Billiter on March 6, 2013.

Finding The Gifted Child's Voice In The Public Elementary School Setting: A Phenomenological Exploration, Keely S. Porter

Dissertations and Theses

Who are talented and gifted (TAG) students and how do we meet their unique needs in the elementary school setting? The body of literature clearly articulates the unique intellectual, social and emotional needs and characteristics of TAG students. Additionally, the literature supports the implementation of differentiated teaching strategies and affective curriculum to help meet these unique needs. This descriptive phenomenological study allowed gifted children, in fifth grade from a Pacific Northwest suburban elementary school, to share their lived experiences through reflective narratives and art. The data collected generated a central theme of Friends and general themes of Awareness, Feelings, Learning, …

Quartz Hill High School Agricultural Education Program: A Guide To Restarting, Revising, And Rebuilding The Agricultural Education Program At Quartz Hill High School, Luke Gocke

Agricultural Education and Communication

At one point in time Quartz Hill High School had a successful Agricultural Education program. The program utilized the principle of Agricultural Education to develop each student to be a contributing member of society. The purpose of this project was to create a booklet on how to rebuild a high school agricultural education program. It was designed to help the author gain knowledge about agricultural education programs, to set a foundation for how one would rebuild a program, and to create new ideas on how to diversify a program of agricultural education. The booklet is designed to help the administration …

Student Characteristics And Targeted Based Cognitive Tier Ii Interventions, Patrick M. Billups

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Tier II student characteristics and outcomes on a standardized reading assessment. Ninety students who scored in the lowest third on a Virginia standardized reading test were placed into one of three instructional groups: 1) a control group consistent with instruction from previous years, 2) a “teacher selected” treatment group in which teachers determined students’ cognitive processing deficits and administered a chosen intervention, and 3) a “tested” treatment group in which students were administered the Woodcock Johnson III Tests of Cognitive Abilities (WJ-III) and assigned interventions based on the results. …

The Impact Of A Grade Nine Transition Program On Student Success In The Piedmont Region Area Of North Carolina, Phillip Jermaine Johnson

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of the Grade 9 transition program at an urban high school in the piedmont area of North Carolina. Grade 9 is a pivotal year that determines which students prevail and which students fail to finish high school (Hertzog, 2003). It is essential that schools put in place components that ease the transition into high school and provide ongoing support.

Investigation measuring instruments that were used by the researcher included a student survey and a teacher survey which involved Grade 9 students and those teachers who taught Grade 9 students. The data that …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Cultural Change In A Challenged High School During The Implementation Of The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, Victoria Crowell

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Academically failing schools are under scrutiny from government education administrators, policymakers, and the general public, due to chronic inabilities to lower dropout rates and to educate students who can pass high-stakes graduation assessments. States’ efforts to adhere to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act have led to the development of accountability systems to determine adequate yearly progress (AYP) and to assign schools grades, as well as wholesale reassessment of current educational programs, which are often replaced with more rigorous curricula.

Among curricular programs that have been sought as reform measures for academically failing schools is the International Baccalaureate Program …

"A Song For You" As Tribute To The Daughters Of The South: Illuminating The Work Of Black Women Principals, Beverly Cox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Curriculum can be understood as a place of both struggle and possibility, where curriculum workers engage in complicated conversations about self, society, and the purposes of education (Pinar, 2004). Although curriculum theorists have contributed much to discussions of how to improve the current state of education, little attention in the field is given to the role that leadership can play in educational transformation (Ylimaki, 2011). This study contributes to the field of curriculum studies by exploring the ethics of care of Black women public school principals in the South.

By exploring the life experiences of Black female principals from the …

Powerful Print: Identifying The Influence Of Narrative Reading Over Student's Opinion Formation, Sarah A. Lord

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the ways in which reading works of fiction affects the formation of student’s opinions and attitudes by using literature circles discussions and journal writing. It uses Louise Rosenblatt’s (1938) Reader Response Theory supported by Lev Vygotsky’s (1962) writings about the social dynamics of language development. Methodologically I followed the example of literature circles set forth by Janice Almasi and Linda Gambrell (1994, 1995).

Participants were fifth grade students in a rural South Georgia elementary school who participated during the 2010-2011 school year. The students participated in small peer-led discussion groups. The students chose the books they would …

Reimagining The Liberal Arts In An Age Of Technoscientific Progress, Melanie Moore Watson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following study will investigate the impact of dismantling liberal arts curriculum during an era of dramatic technoscientific progress. I will explore the development of the posthuman focusing specifically on the areas of virtual reality and biomedicine. As I unravel the implications that virtual reality and biomedicine will have on society in the coming decades, I will describe how a new liberal arts curriculum must be entertained by educators in order to maintain innovation, play, and ethical considerations in posthuman developments. In order for our students to become contributing members of a global community, they must be given the opportunity …

The Voices Of Reason: Counterstories Of The Urbanization Of A Suburban Black School In Georgia, Shana Hunt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This inquiry explores the discrepancy of educational opportunities in a Black suburban public school near Atlanta, Georgia. Predominately Black suburban schools in the South have become increasingly similar to Black urban schools. Both Black urban and suburban schools have become places of complacency for teachers and students. There is an incessant fluctuation of teachers and an increase in low expectations for academic success in Black suburban schools. Both Black urban and suburban schools have limited funding while White schools, many times less than ten miles away, experience the benefits of magnet programs, cutting-edge technology and rigorous curricula. Many Black suburban …

Casting Minority Gifted Students: The Pedagogical Impact Of Cinema On The Culture Of Schooling, Deborah F. Burnette

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

African American students are significantly underrepresented in gifted education programs. This dissertation creates a space where gifted education, African American students, media literacy, and teacher perceptions intersect in the field of curriculum studies. Media literacy will be utilized to critique popular films by gifted endorsement teacher-students and myself. Due to the low number of states that require pre-service teachers to study gifted characteristics of children it is left up to gifted teacher endorsement programs to train teachers. By using media literacy to examine films in gifted teacher endorsement programs, I assert that the under-representation of African American students in the …

The Laughter Behind: Curriculum Of Place, The Hypermasculine Imperative, And The Critical Education Of A Southern Cop, Frank Gene Jordan Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the thoughts and ideologies that actuate the daily behaviors of Southern rural police officers as they pertain to practices consonant with social justice and equity. The research focus is the author’s own experience as a 21-year Southern rural police officer who ultimately obtained the position of chief of police while concurrently developing a firm commitment to ensuring social justice in his own practice and that of his subordinate police staff. The central question asks how a White male police officer from impoverished and politically and socially conservative ancestral roots could acquire a sincere concern for, and devotion …

Housing Patterns, Academic Performance And School Choice: An Inquiry Into The Relocation Experiences Of African-American Families, Courtney Jones-Hall

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative inquiry explored the educational relocation experiences of AfricanAmerican families residing in predominately-White and northern Gwinnett County, Georgia, who relocated to pursue improved educational opportunities for their children. For poor families or African- American families with limited resources, school choice is determined largely by where one lives. Historical oppression at the local, state and federal level has encouraged the concentration of African-American families into segregated communities and segregated housing patterns (Massey & Denton, 1998; Rice, 2009; Squires & Kim, 1995), which are often associated with educational inequality (Royce, 2009). The historical oppression and racial injustices in society challenges us …