Education Commons^™

America’S Middle Schools: Examining Context, Organizational Structures, And Instructional Practices, Ryan Alverson, Mike Dicicco, Shawn A. Faulkner, Chris Cook

Middle Grades Review

The education of the young adolescent has consistently posed a challenge to the educational community. While the general belief is this age group (10-15-year-old children) would benefit from a specialized educational approach, historically, both the junior high school model of the early 1900s and the more current middle school concept have struggled to be fully implemented and embraced by the educational community. With almost a decade passing since the last national survey focused on middle grades schools (McEwin & Greene, 2010, 2011), researchers seek to reassess the context, organizational structures, and instructional practices of middle schools in the United States. …

A Case Study Of A School-Based Expanded Learning Summer Program, Karen S. Scott

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

For the Expanded Learning Summer Program (ELSP), at a midsized public school system in the Northeast, providing high quality programming that engages student interest and fosters active learning by all children was a top priority. This case study, undertaken during the summer of 2017, provided insight into how the ELSP aligned with the relevant literature on high quality programming for youth-focused summer learning programs and suggested improvements to improve quality. Using a case study research design, I sought to understand how the ELSP, funded through a federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, aligned with benchmarks of high quality short-term …

"Well, You Could Be A Murderer..." And Other Reasons Why I Should Stop Using Dating Apps: A Personal Narrative About Dating In The Age Of Technology, Gabriella Granillo

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Dating isn’t easy. I’m sure we’ve all had that thought before. How are we even supposed to meet people nowadays? In the grocery store? At the mall? In a library? No! Why not utilize the one thing that we, as humans in the 21st century, can’t seem to live without, our cellphones! We have just about everything else at our fingertips, why not have the next best thing, a relationship, a hookup, or just a friend with just a swipe and a touch of the phalanges?I have been using dating apps off and on for about six years, and I …

The Triple Burden: Black Women Leaders In Predominantly White Institutions Of Higher Education, Nadia Mitchell

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Black women face greater challenges than their white female, Black male, and white male colleagues within predominantly white institutions of higher education (PWIs) because institutional and systemic oppression encourages ideologies that promote white supremacy culture. As such, Black women remain severely underrepresented in positions of leadership in PWIs. This narrative inquiry reports the stories of five Black women’s experiences as leaders in PWIs in the northeast region of the United States and sheds light on the factors that impact their empowerment and sustainability.

Black women leaders navigate a number of issues in PWIs. The burden of taking on additional work …

Opportunities And Challenges Of Utilizing Restorative Practices (Rp) With Students With Disabilities: Exploring Special Educators’ Experiences With Rp, Mika Moore

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Restorative Practices (RP) are rapidly being adopted in PreK-12 schools throughout the United States as these institutions seek ways to both improve school climate and utilize alternatives to harsh zero-tolerance discipline policies. RP offers a proactive, relational, and reactive framework in which schools can intentionally build community, foster trust, and provide opportunities for students, staff, and community members to address and repair harm when it occurs. As more schools move towards implementing RP, it is important to consider the experiences of teachers tasked with implementation. In particular, special educators represent critical implementers of RP as they can accommodate and modify …

Vermont Special Educators’ Perceptions On The Inclusion Of Students With Disabilities In Universal Positive Behavioral Interventions And Supports (Pbis), Cassandra L. Townshend

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

AbstractOver the last 25 years, there has been an increased body of research on best practices to address the social, emotional, and behavioral well-being of all students in schools. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) has consistently demonstrated effectiveness in attending to all students’ social, emotional, and behavioral wellbeing – including students with disabilities (Simonsen et al., Feb., 2020). Despite PBIS being implemented in over 27,000 schools in the United States (Horner & Sugai, 2015) and in over 50% of schools Vermont, minimal research has been conducted on the experiences of special educators and their perceptions of PBIS practices on …

Networked Improvement Community Hub Leadership: A Unique Case Study Of State Education Agents Of Change, Lori Dolezal

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) are emerging, yet few empirical studies have examined implementation factors, efficacy, and outcomes. Fewer have examined structures, dispositions, and behaviors of NIC hub leadership, especially hubs led by State Education Agencies (SEAs). This unique, qualitative case study explores adaptive leadership and emerging improvement leadership models in the context of a NIC hub operated exclusively by an SEA. Through semi-structured interviews and document reviews, this study investigates how SEA hub leaders establish conditions to build educator capacity for continuous improvement within a NIC model, focusing specifically on leadership structures, behaviors, and mental models. Provisional findings demonstrate alignment …