Education Commons^™

Access Barriers To Higher Education For Rural Community College Students, Shanda Carter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose for conducting the study was to examine factors related to rural low-income, first generation college students' obstacles to community college enrollment. The study examined barriers students overcame to attend college and focused on rural college students from two community colleges in Missouri and Arkansas. The following questions guided the research:

1.What attendance barriers did rural community college students identify as being most difficult for them to overcome?

2.Were there differences between the self-identified attendance barriers based on gender for male and female rural community college students?

3.Were there differences in attendance barriers for rural community college students based …

The Impact Of Urbanicity On Student Engagement At Small, Residential, Liberal Arts Colleges, Todd Clark

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study analyzed the impact of urbanicity on student engagement at small, residential, liberal arts colleges. Data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) were analyzed from 29 schools (14 rural and 15 urban) using five scalets developed by Pike (2006) and six demographic variables from the NSSE survey. This analysis determined how urbanicity impacts student engagement and which group of students is particularly affected from among the demographics studied. The effects of urbanicity were measured in three ways: aggregate student data, school level data, and within-school data. These analyses showed that urbanicity does significantly impact student engagement, though …

Teacher Perspectives Of Professional Learning Community Teams With Respect To Their Collective Inquiries: A Case Study, Allen Pratt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the perspectives of secondary level teachers in East Tennessee who are involved in Professional Learning Community (PLC) teams regarding both the environment and sharing of best teaching practices. The study examined PLC teams to better understand how the team design, interaction, and the process of collaboration enabled teachers to coexist as adult learners. The basic research question lies in what are teacher perspectives of PLCs relating to the environment of the collective inquiry and the transfer of knowledge at the secondary school level. The study examined PLC teams to better …

Stakeholders' Perceptions Of Dropout Prevention Strategies In A Rural Ninth Grade Academy, Shawn A. Davidson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dropout rate among Georgia high school students is a critical issue within the United States’ educational system. As a result, large numbers of programs have been created to reduce the dropout rate. This study examined the stakeholders’ perceptions of dropout prevention strategies in a rural ninth grade academy to examine effective dropout prevention programs implemented at the school. Participants in the study included administrators, teachers, and students who dropped out of the academy between 2009 and 2012. Interviews were conducted to gather information from the participants. In addition, school and district documents related to prevention programs at the academy …