Education Commons^™

“I Didn’T Feel Alone”: A Phenomenological Study Of University Branch Campus Graduates, High Impact Practices, And Student Persistence, Jesse Raymond Neimeyer-Romero

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

University branch campuses play a vital role in today’s higher education field. Branch campuses help facilitate the delivery of knowledge, development, and learning opportunities to populations that may not have any other prospect in regard to pursuing their educational goals. Branch campuses have also become a new way for institutions of higher education to collaborate and work together to serve students’ interests. Yet, despite enrollment growth across thousands of higher education branch campuses that exist in the United States, the literature on branch campuses is scant. Furthermore, branch campuses, like their main campus counterparts, have a responsibility to ensure that …

Relationships Among Authentic Leadership, Manager Incivility And Trust In The Manager, Ohood Ali Alkaabi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There have been growing concerns about manager incivility toward new graduate nurses which hinders their adaptation to the workplace environment. Manager incivility impairs the relationship between managers and their staff. Furthermore, nursing managers have a significant responsibility to facilitate new graduate nurses' transition into the nursing profession. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to examine the relationships among authentic leadership of managers and new graduate nurses’ experience of manager incivility and their subsequent degree of trust in their managers. Secondary analysis of the baseline data using a non-experimental, correlational design was conducted. A random sample of 1020 new graduate …

Toward An Emerging Theory Of Leadership Competencies For Early Care And Education Systems Leaders, Julianne Zvalo-Martyn

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify the competencies that early care and education systems leaders should possess as perceived by a panel of early childhood systems leadership experts. This study also identified which leadership competencies experts perceive will have the most impact on transformation of the field into an organized system of practice.

Methodology: This study used a mixed-methods Delphi approach consisting of three electronic surveys to identify competencies needed by early care and education systems leaders as perceived by a panel of national experts. Round 1 consisted of open-ended questions. Round 2 asked the panelists …

Analysis Of Grade Variances In Multisection Calculus Classes, S. Paul Shaffer

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore grade variances associated with multisection calculus grades. The method for the project was quantitative examining grade distribution patterns that existed between calculus sections at a public university void of an over-arching grading policy during the case study. Results showed that different grade distribution patterns by different instructors were primarily due to student-centric characteristics. The significant findings suggest that student grades are firmly in control of students. Only when course grade averages were at the extreme did evidence suggest that instructor-centric characteristics played meaningful role in student grade determination.

Teaching To Assess: An Evaluation Of Assessment Education For Secondary Teacher Candidates, Daniel M. Frederking

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the assessment instruction of a four-year undergraduate secondary education program and its alignment to the teaching standards and the summative teacher licensure assessment. Document analyses were conducted on the program’s syllabi as well as the assessment portions of the InTASC standards and the handbook of the edTPA. Results highlighted several areas of misalignment in the areas of categorical concurrence, depth of knowledge, and range of knowledge. Also of note, preservice teachers in different secondary subject areas are receiving different amounts of assessment instruction. Additionally, local edTPA data was examined to highlight areas of strength and weakness. Students …

“…But You Don’T Know Me Like The Sun; You’Ve Never Seen My Horizon” (Bennett, Cole, Segal, And Warner, 2015, Track 3): Exploring The Invisibility Of A Hyper-Visible Black Woman In Education, Janae' Alfred

Dissertations

As a Black woman in the field of education, I feel as if I am not valued or seen as an equal member of the institution. This has been extremely evident as I served as an Instructional Coach in a predominately Black public school district where the teachers and administrators were predominately White. Race has come to the forefront as a prominent barrier for effective Instructional Coaching across the color line. In this dissertation, I reflect on my experiences as an Instructional Coach and analyze them through the lens of Critical Race Theory using autoethnography as a research method. My …

School Leadership And Appreciative Inquiry In Culture Of Care, Anthony Jones

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This capstone project was part of a group project completed by five school and district administrators in Hillsborough County, Florida. The project began because of our passion for teachers who are able to establish a culture of care in their classrooms that support students academically but transform their learning through experiences that enable them to be more highly engaged and productive students, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, perceived academic abilities, and backgrounds.

My focus in this group project was an exploration of how Walker Middle Magnet School became more diverse while increasing student achievement during the conversion to a ‘reverse …

The Influence Of Student/Administrator Ratios In K-6 Elementary Schools On Summative Teacher Evaluation Scores, James Ferguson Weidenborner

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This cross-sectional, correlational, explanatory study aimed to explain the influence of administrator/student ratios on the percentage of teachers that receive effective or highly effective ratings on their summative evaluations scored by the administrators at those schools. Other school and student variables were included with administrator/student ratios as controls. The aim was to be the seminal study that provides research on factors (school and student) outside of the teacher evaluation process that influence the ratings teachers receive. Poverty and per-pupil expenditures influence teacher summative evaluation scores with regression models having R squared values of 6.3% and 6.2%. Administrator/student ratios do not …

Investigating The Effectiveness Of A Community Leadership Program Based On The Experiences And Perceptions Of Alumni Participants, Sandi Wolff

Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation investigated the perceptions of alumni who participated in a civic leadership program (LP) in a large, metropolitan city with over 1.7 million residents in its local community. The program, with a 42 year-long history, had no formal data on its participants, the program, or its efficacy. The research investigated the expectations, experience, and engagement of participants over its 42-year history. To examine these concepts, the study was motivated by three research questions: (1) What is the relationship between the participants’ program satisfaction and the program elements? (2) To what extent did the program meet expectations, based on participant …

Developing An Implementation Plan For Program Success: Sjsu Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-Cert), Waynette Fernandez Santos

Master's Projects

San Jose State University would benefit from the implementation of the Campus Community Emergency Response Team (C-CERT), a program that many higher education institutions use to train community members in disaster preparedness. With a C-CERT program, trained people are empowered to know how to conduct themselves during an emergency, and learn how to keep themselves, their friends and colleagues safe. This research surveyed and interviewed emergency management professionals in other higher education institutions to determine best practices for C-CERT implementation. The goal of this research was to analyze other higher education institutions’ C-CERT success, identify what characteristics make their C-CERT …

An Evaluation Of The Criteria Used To Assess Title Ix Responsible Employee Training Programs At Large, Four Year Primarily Residential Institutions, Catherine Hopkins

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this study were to: (a) discover the intended objectives that selected institutions of higher education had for their “responsible employee” training programs and (b) identify what data were collected to determine if the “responsible employee” training programs were meeting those objectives. I surveyed the Title IX Coordinators at 144 primarily residential and highly residential institutions using a 20 question electronic survey. The top four reported training objectives were that the responsible employee learn how to: appropriately respond to a student; understand their legal duty to report; cite the information that students must be informed about; and know …

Examining The Meaning Of Course Evaluation, Tyesha Stewart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teaching evaluations significantly influence faculty members’ annual evaluations and progress toward tenure and promotion within academic programs in higher education. Those with consistently strong, positive, teaching evaluations have been deemed effective instructors and often validated with increases in salary, teaching awards, and promotion and tenure. This is especially the case when strong course evaluations are received in addition to documented scholarship and research activities and positively evaluated professional service. However, questions are being raised about the meaningfulness of students' ratings of course instruction. Do these measures effectively assess competence as instructors or do they measure other unknown processes in the …

Factors And Circumstances Related To Teacher Retention In Rural, High Poverty Districts In South Carolina, Neal Vincent

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

According to the literature related to teacher retention in rural, high poverty districts, South Carolina researchers are predicting a major shortage of teachers based on the number of college students enrolled in education majors. Another area of concern is the retention of teachers in high poverty districts and schools. A qualitative study was therefore conducted to investigate the factors and circumstances related to teacher retention in rural, high poverty, South Carolina districts. Specifically, data was collected and analyzed to determine why long-serving teachers have remained in the same district for at least four years instead of transferring or leaving the …

School Climate: A Comparison Of Teachers, Students, And Parents, James A. Jacobs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the benefits of positive school climate and to measure the perceptions of school climate for intermediate grades in a Northeast Tennessee School district. An online school climate survey was used to collect responses from participants in intermediate grades and focused on the 3 major components of school climate: school engagement, school environment, and school safety. Data were collected for 2 consecutive years in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. Response totals included 1,955 student responses, 116 teacher responses, and 210 parent responses that were analyzed and used for this study. Of the student totals, some students that …

A Study Of The Protective Factors That Foster Resilience In Teachers, Zundra Gates

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare the protective factors of teachers in various fields: discipline, tested and non-tested subject areas, and teacher certification route. The study involved 161 kindergarten to twelfth grade Mississippi teachers who were full-time during the 2016-2017 school year. The 36-item Resiliency Questionnaire was used to measure the presence of six protective factors. The six protective factors that were examined on the questionnaire are: purpose and expectation (PE), nurture and support (NS), positive connections (PC), meaningful participation (MP), life guiding skills (LGS), and clear and consistent boundaries (CCB). A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) test …

The Influence Of An Electronic Attendance Monitoring System On Undergraduate Academic Success, Charles Childress

Dissertations

Investing in human capital development increases education levels, workplace skills, and boost individual abilities. Undergraduate students who attend class and perform well are more likely to get jobs, due to their development of workplace skills. State governments, as the funding bodies for public universities, are finding it beneficial to increase the number of college graduates because a citizenry that is prepared for the job market is ultimately good for the state. States recognize that an increase in education can produce job opportunities for citizens. University administrators can employ tactics to increase graduation rates, one of which is monitoring students’ class …

Institutional Mentorship For Bridge Program Students: Fostering Meaningful Engagement, Elizabeth Hoehn Mcdermott

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study explored the relationships between at-risk, bridge program students and institutional mentors. The purpose of this dissertation was to learn more about the ways that bridge program students’ relationships with institutional mentors may (or may not) influence students’ development of academic confidence and campus engagement. Bridge programs are designed to foster student mentoring relationships with both faculty members who teach within the programs, as well the administrators and staff members (usually student affairs professionals) who run the program. Thus far, the research on bridge programs has been overly focused on predictive student attributes and quantitative outcomes (e.g. GPA or …

Measuring Implementation Success Of Pay Structures And The Role Of Human Resources In Higher Education, Derek Spencer Smith

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to determine if a new salary structure initiative for university staff employees would reduce variance in pay. The initiative was purposed to identify and describe the appropriate components of a pay plan that could be established by an HR unit in higher education. The treatment was tested with a quasi-experimental design using a before/after approach with classified personnel at a Midwestern university. The treatment was the implementation of the new pay plan. The final tool created was named the Pay Structure

Initiative (PSI). The analysis showed that variance in pay was reduced after the …

Having Or Serving: Perceptions Of Hsis, Rebecca Gates

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Despite substantial growth within the Latinx population and its access to higher education, there are still significant gaps with regard to degree attainment. In 2015, 36% of U.S. adults aged 25 and older had at least a bachelor’s degree. However, only 15% of those adults were Latinx, the lowest percentage amongst any racial/ethnic minority (NCES, 2016). While 67% of non-Hispanic White students entering four-year colleges complete their degree in six years, only 47% of Latinxs do so (Carey, 2009). These gaps represent an attainment disparity within higher education based upon population demographics. The purpose of this study was to address …

Dragon Ambassador Manual: A Guide For Dragon Ambassadors And Supervisors, Jamie Wepking

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This Action Plan B Project is the creation of the Dragon Ambassador Manual. This comprehensive manual was created to aid in the supervision of the Dragon Ambassadors and to provide information and resources to Dragon Ambassadors as they participate in the student leadership program.

Significant research exists that student leadership programs provide great service to our student leaders, faculty, staff, and campus communities. Implementing this manual to Dragon Ambassador program will allow the involved student leaders to work with prospective students and their peers more effectively while creating meaningful experiences and interactions.

Prospective students of MSU Moorhead will benefit from …

Teacher Retention: Advice From Missouri's Top Districts, Joshua Flores

Educational Specialist Scholarly Papers

Teacher attrition, particularly within the first five years of teaching, is a persistent problem that negatively impacts schools, school districts, and communities across the globe. Missouri, in particular, is one state that reports higher rates of teacher attrition than the national average. This beginning exploratory analysis of a few of Missouri’s top teacher retaining districts looks to offer suggestions, recommendations, and strategies aside from raising salaries or increasing benefits packages that schools, their leaders, and districts can implement to bolster teacher retention.

Parents With Criminal Record History And Their Experiences Navigating Parental Involvement In An Urban Elementary School: A Case Study, Stephanie White

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Capstones

This dissertation examined the experiences of parents with criminal record history who want to participate in their child’s education. A convergent mixed methods design aided the researcher to quantitatively measure levels of involvement within a high poverty, urban elementary school with the Parent Survey of Family and Community Involvement in the Elementary and Middle Grades (Sheldon & Epstein, 2007) and qualitatively with an embedded case study (Yin, 2014) with parents (n=3) as embedded units of analysis. Participants in the case study had to navigate around a rejected volunteer background check and restrictive school district policy to be involved in the …

Understanding Progress Toward Degree Completion For Student Veterans In The Post 9-11 Era: A Focused Life History Narrative, David T. Vacchi

Doctoral Dissertations

Veterans have long-succeeded in higher education, but because available data on contemporary student veteran success has been difficult to uncover, some question the success of this reemerging student population. While data is emerging that suggest student veterans are succeeding in higher education, this study sought to reveal factors that contributed to the success of graduating student veterans in the hopes that these factors can be nurtured in current and future generations of student veterans to help ensure their success as students. Using a new method, the focused life-history narrative, and a conceptual model grounded in nontraditional student theory and Astin’s …

Learning Prosociality Through Experience: Modeling The Outcomes Of Postsecondary Study Abroad And Service Learning, Christina Monte

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT LEARNING PROSOCIALITY THROUGH EXPERIENCE: MODELING THE OUTCOMES OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY ABROAD AND SERVICE LEARNING MAY 2018 CHRISTINA R. MONTE, B.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST M.S., DREXEL UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Dr. Ezekiel Kimball In recent years, study abroad and service learning programs have experienced rapid growth on college campuses. Study abroad requires students to travel to another country and experience a different culture while service learning exposes students to differences that exist in their own communities. Study abroad has the ability to internationalize the student experience. Service learning can help students recognize the needs of …

Educational Leaders’ Perspectives On Their Preparation, Practice, And Professional Development In Mtss, Jodi Drury

Doctoral Dissertations

The role of school leaders today directly impacts students and staff. Research into educational leaders’ perspectives and experiences with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) provides a lens to help examine the culture of training and constructs of knowledge, of school leaders. The five research questions that drove this research study were: (1) What are school leaders in rural counties in Western Massachusetts current knowledge of MTSS implementation? (2) What experience do these school leaders have with implementing MTSS? (3) What training on MTSS did these school leaders receive? (4) Do these school leaders feel prepared to implement MTSS? (5) What …

The History Of Massachusetts Transfer And Articulation Policies In Contexts Of Evolving Higher Education System Structure, Coordination, And Policy Actors, Daniel De La Torre, Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Community colleges carry out dual missions providing occupational and collegiate preparation in local communities across the United States. These institutions prepare students for advanced study via transfer policies that lead to enrollment in baccalaureate institutions. State higher education systems use transfer and articulation policies to strengthen academic pathways between two-year and four-year institutions. These policies rely on established governance to facilitate student transfer between sectors. The transfer and articulation literature stresses the importance of statewide policy guidelines, yet little has been written about the process of transfer policy development involving state higher education governance and policy groups and actors. The …

Principal And Teacher Beliefs About The Impact Of Cbas On School Performance: Five High Performing High Schools In Oregon, Kevin Jon Ricker

Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative study examined how school leaders work within the structure of individual district collective bargaining agreements to improve student achievement. The study examines real or perceived barriers to improving student achievement within educational organizations from the perspective of the principals and teacher-leaders.

This study included two qualitative instruments, one for building principals and one for the building teachers, administered in five Oregon high schools recognized as successful by the Oregon Department of Education in 2014-2015. This dissertation determined the impact collective bargaining agreements had on the ability of high school principals to reduce educational disparities and close the achievement …

American Indian Student Motivation At A Tribal College, Rebecca L. Izzo

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between motivational characteristics of American Indian college students attending a tribal college. The Inventory of School Motivation (ISM) was utilized to identify motivational constructs. The literature in general continues to portray American Indian students as the lowest academically achieving subgroup as well as having a lack of persistence and high dropout rate in higher education. This study identified areas that support motivation to attend college, which then can be shared with the tribal college to develop programs and innovations to recruit and sustain American Indian students in education, as well as …

The Pedagogical Impacts Of The Common Core State Standards On Elementary Mathematics Teachers Of The Deaf And Hard-Of-Hearing, Nathan E. Harrison

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This study explored the intersection of the Common Core State Standards and the field of Deaf Education, specifically the impact of the Common Core on the pedagogy of elementary mathematics teachers of the deaf. Pedagogy was defined as the union of the philosophy and methodology of teaching a teacher uses.

This study made use of an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design, which included a phase of quantitative data collection through a survey of elementary mathematics teachers in Deaf Schools in Common Core states and a phase of qualitative data collection through interviews with a sub-sample of participants from the …

A Case Study Of The Characteristics For Successful First Time Passing Of The National Physical Therapy Exam In The University Of New Mexico Doctor Of Physical Therapy 2012-2017 Cohorts, Beth-Anne Moody Jones

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Abstract

A Case Study of the Characteristics for Successful First Time Passing of

the National Physical Therapy Exam in

The University of New Mexico Doctor of Physical Therapy 2012-2017 Cohorts

Name:

Beth Moody Jones

Degrees:

B.S., Physical Therapy, University of Vermont, 1982

M.S., Orthopedic Physcial Therapy,Old Dominion University, 1994

D.P.T., A.T.Still University of Health Sciences, 2004

Ed.D., University of New Mexico, 2018

Not passing the National Physical Therapy Exam (NPTE) has significant consequences. If a student does not pass the NPTE on the first attempt they can retake the examination, however a student may only take the examination a maximum …