Education Commons^™

Victim Impact: The Manson Murders And The Rise Of The Victims’ Rights Movement, Merrill W. Steeg

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Three Prongs Of Knowledge For Black/African American Parents To Prepare Them To Assist Young Black/African American Children Navigate Through Systemic Racism, Diane R Miles, Diane R. Miles

Graduate Liberal Studies Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This dissertation focuses on three prongs of knowledge in parent education programs for Black/African American parents. These three prongs of knowledge fortify and enhance Black/African American parents' effectiveness in their role. This dissertation focuses on Black/African Americans' parenting experience because of the unique challenges they and their children face in a country that does not always value them or respects their humanity. Living in a country where systemic racism is foundational, Black/African American parents and their children have added challenges presented by this reality. It is systemic racism that creates the need for additional knowledge to ensure that Black/African …

Technology As A Tool For Support: Classroom Teachers And Resource Specialists In Collaboration And Communication Practices, Mackenzie Jones

Education | Master's Theses

Classroom teachers and resource specialists face hectic schedules that include supporting students and meeting the core curriculum standards. In order to support students with disabilities in the classroom, collaboration between classroom teachers and resource specialists is essential. With busy schedules and increasing demands that teachers face, there is an urgent need to support teachers with effective systems of collaboration. This research focuses on the problem of unorganized and ineffective systems of support, which teachers face when trying to collaborate and communicate with their colleagues. While many prior studies address the significance of providing time for educators to collaborate in the …

Overcoming The Void: Obstacles To Authentic Culturally Relevant Teaching, Lindsay Rowe

Education | Master's Theses

This study explored how teacher perceptions of professional development (PD) on culturally relevant teaching (CRT) and a lack of student voice impede authentic implementation of CRT. Culturally relevant teaching involves utilizing student backgrounds and voices to shape curriculum and pedagogy. However, a review of the literature revealed that student voice is largely missing in CRT research. Additionally, teacher responses to PD were not frequently discussed in studies exploring implementation of CRT. The purpose of the study was to better understand student desires for education and teacher responses to PD on CRT. Research was conducted at a 7-12 public school in …

“Fixed Mindsets” And The Deprecation Of Youth Voice, Brenham Cozine

Education | Master's Theses

This research explored reflective writing as a tool for understanding critical consciousness, with 10th and 11th-grade history students as a form of engaged research toward understanding self-efficacy and civic agency. It was situated in a framework of Critical Race Theory (Bryant et. al., 2015) critical consciousness (Furman, 2012; Shih, 2018), and Participatory Action Research (Maguire, 1987). Through in-depth interviews, focus groups and reflective writing prompts with 9 students and a faculty member, the findings showed that the deprecation of youth’s voice by adults affects youth’s sense of self-efficacy and perceived abilities to create meaningful change. It was further found that …

Motivation And The Young Writer: Reimagining John Dewey's Theory Of Experience, Billy Cryer

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Issues of motivation remain a perennial topic among teachers of English Language Arts and first-year college composition courses. While modern evidence-based research in educational psychology has yielded fruitful avenues for harnessing motivation in writing instruction, in recent decades, industrious composition scholars have also turned to history for insights on composition pedagogy. In this study, I also embark on a historical excavation to glean from our composition forebears regarding motivation in writing instruction. In particular, I examine how the educational writings of John Dewey were translated into the English classroom during the Progressive Era. More specifically, I seek to recover how …

Learning From Home…Less Students: A Study On What We Can Do To Reach Homeless Youth During Covid-19, Marcy Twogood

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone project is on reaching homeless youth during this time of distance learning. Student homelessness is an issue because it is harder for teachers to reach them than a student with stable living conditions. According to the scholarly literature, schools are struggling to reach homeless students during the pandemic due to their lack of an address, wifi, and/or in-person interactions with their teachers. An argument is made that if schools identify students’ challenges, they can provide adequate resources. Upon interviewing the assistant principal, school counselor, who has access to students and their emotional needs, and a …

¿Cómo Le Va A Mi Estudiante En Clase?: Increasing Parent Involvement For Latinx Elementary Students, Lisset Ochoa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Parental involvement in the education of Latinx elementary students is truly essential. If a student does not receive the guidance or commitment from their parents while they are young, they may struggle in their education. Early parental involvement, it is claimed, will increase children's motivation to learn while also encouraging cognitive and emotional competencies. It is necessary to incorporate resources that increase parental involvement so that Latinx parents are aware of the help their students need. Two teachers, the vice principal, and two parents were interviewed in order to learn more about the resources that would be useful to both …

Increasing Financial Literacy Awareness Among High School Seniors, Ismael Loza Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper attempts to bring an awareness to the lack of financial literacy education in high school curriculum. Over 50 percent of all high school graduates go into the workforce or college lacking sufficient financial literacy education to effectively manage their money, their savings, and credit. Most high schools offer personal finance and economics courses as an elective rather than a requirement. Many of these high schools have a very high student body population which come from socioeconomically impacted backgrounds. A lesson plan was made in an attempt to educate 12'th grade senior AVID students on the topic of financial …

Educating Elementary Children On Prosocial Behaviors, Sylvia Vega

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Many young children have not yet developed prosocial behaviors that allow them to properly express themselves. Gaining prosocial behavior skills can lead to having positive peer relationships and better communication with their classmates and/or caregivers. This paper addresses the need for prosocial behavior curriculums in elementary schools.

You Had Me At Student Advocacy: Creating A Space For Students To Succeed In A Covid-19 World, Marina Morales

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this Capstone Project is on the effects the COVID-19 pandemic has had on students' success. This is important because the level of student advocacy during this unprecedented time is a direct reflection of some of the deeper issues surrounding equity engraved into the current education system. Identifying and addressing these issues allows the movement to be made towards fixing them. This creates a better chance of permanent change long after the pandemic. The primary stakeholder perspectives chosen were parents, students, and educational professionals. Three action options emerged from an analysis of the data and were explored as …

Are You Listening Students? It’S Me, Zoom: Engaging High School Students During Distance Learning, Sally Ryan

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus of this capstone project is to improve student engagement during online learning. Over a year ago, schools had to shut down due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, and online instruction began. Teachers and students had to adjust to this new mode of instruction. And although new technology made this transition more manageable, students' needs in an online learning environment differ from face-to-face instruction. Distance learning has presented many challenges this past year because most of our school systems are not set up for K-12 schooling to be remote. An evidence-based argument is offered that without proper student engagement, learning …

“Want More Student Participation??... Bring On The Engagement!!”, Armando Palmerin

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Student engagement in the classroom is vital to academic achievement across all grade levels. This is especially true during middle school, where in-class participation can have a positive impact on emotional and cognitive development. Due to COVID-19 and school closures, students were forced to attend class virtually which had a negative impact on class engagement. Therefore this Capstone project focuses on how middle school teachers are keeping their students engaged during distance learning. This is an important issue that needs to be addressed because if students are not participating in their synchronous class meetings then they are not learning. It …

Are You Really Okay?: The Truth And Reality Behind Mental Illness In Middle School Students, Genesis M. Amaro

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The focus issue addressed in this Capstone Project is the effects of mental health disorders on the education of middle school students. This is an important issue for students, parents, and educators because there is a critical connection between mental health and the academic performance of middle school students. It is argued that mental disorders have drastic, negative effects on the success of students in education. The primary stakeholder perspectives chosen were two parents, two middle school students, and one middle school educator, because their personal thoughts, experiences, and opinions give an insight into the relationship between mental health and …

Intellectual Access And Spirituality: The Twin Urgencies Of Responsible American Education, Matthew Schmitz

Educational Studies Honors Papers

America is increasingly, and perhaps overwhelmingly, becoming a society characterized by political divisiveness. At its most extreme form, Hannah Arendt argues such a division can make us vulnerable to a loneliness that destroys our confidence and leaves us dependent on ideologies. A renewed sense of spirituality and intellect are prime candidates for helping us develop a healthy relationship with ourselves that can help counteract this loneliness. Not only that, but fully accessing our intellectual and spiritual sides can give us the confidence to tackle democratic republican citizenship the way Thomas Jefferson envisioned it. Here, Jacques Rancière helps us to construct …

Forgotten Histories: The Need For A Multi-Narrative Approach In Teaching Social Studies, Madison Smith

Honors Projects

This paper discusses the idea of using a multi narrative approach to teaching social studies and focuses on a presentation meant to bring about change among teachers. The presentation used to present at the Ohio Council for Social Studies Annual Conference in October of 2020 brings this concept to the forefront and provides practical ways in which teachers can implement this approach when teaching history. A multi-narrative approach focuses on combining and using multiple sources from multiple perspectives with the intention of creating a more inclusive story of how events played out. The typical way in which history is taught …

Barriers To Post-Secondary Success, Douglas Swanson, Najeana Henderson, Maritza Sloan

Dissertations

This study reviews factors that prior studies have identified or failed to consider as barriers to post-secondary success. The three main areas include academic success for Latinx students after high school, organizational systems and their impact on African-American students’ postsecondary readiness, and what workers think of their high school education with regards to career preparedness.

Five factors are identified as major barriers for Latinx students to continue in a higher education system. A survey of former students from Saint Louis, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, metroplex area identified 56 Latinx students that participated in an initial survey. This led to a …

Transcending Absence, Transforming Presence: Undocumented Migrants And The Navigation Of Forced And Chosen Space, Daniel Bloch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

By its very nature, undocumented migration challenges the notion of set, static borders, at once rendering them transcend-able while also throwing into stark relief the power and control exercised by the state over undocumented migrants along the arc of their journeys. Two main questions guide my analysis: 1) How are migrants forced to enter and navigate geographic space and zones of exclusion? and 2) How do migrants subvert enforced spaces – often categorized by limbo and uncertainty – both by marking them with their presence and by creating alternative spaces? I consider two compelling examples: In Chapter One, using the …

Fostering Music Performers In The 21st Century: A Contemporary Professional Perspective Toward A New Curricular Agenda For Graduate Study In Music, Andre Januario

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

What if the core curriculum for graduate students in music performance were designed to prepare students to succeed in the world of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

This dissertation offers a hypothetical answer: a structured and systematic academic curricular framework for music graduate students of performance of concert music (especially those in terminal degrees, such as doctoral students), along with music instructors, professional music performers, school administrators, and college professors, seeking to prepare such students for achieving and maintaining a music career more in keeping with the current work environment, especially those skills demanded by the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the …

Science In Early Childhood Education, Olivia Kocina

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Science is often limited or absent in an early education classroom. It is important to give children an outlet to experience science in the classroom or through lesson plans. Having science at an early age can provide children the opportunities to build up their reasoning, to question things about the world, and later in life to feel more confident in other STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) activities or areas. To address this need, I created a 3-day program for 3 to 5 year-olds at Little Learners of Aptos School in Aptos, California.

Enhancing Emotional Regulation In First Graders, Clarissa Miller

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Emotional regulation is the ability to have control over one’s emotions; and typically develops in early childhood. Once children reach school age, they tend to be able to manage their emotions. When children are not able to regulate their emotions, they may have poorer social skills, and have challenges when learning in school. To help children further their emotional regulation skills, I have created a three-day lesson for a first grader class at Robert H. Down Elementary School in Pacific Grove, California.

Increasing Kindness Among Kindergartners, Jenique Ruiz

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In most elementary school curriculum, prosocial skills, such as the concept of kindness, are absent. When young children have underdeveloped prosocial skills, social relationships and academic achievement may suffer. Children need these skills to successfully interact with their peers and to achieve academic goals. To address the lack of prosocial skills in the curriculum, I have created a three-part lesson about kindness for Kindergarten students at George C. Marshall Elementary School in Seaside, California.

The Nature Of Primary Source Instruction In Social Science Methods Courses, Judith Loraine Bee

Theses and Dissertations

137 Pages

Teachers are the key to shifting the way learning happens in the classroom. However, teachers are not always skilled in inquiry, critical thinking, and historical impact. Teaching with primary sources provides a context from which to educate preservice teachers in these essential skills. This dissertation focuses on the nature of primary source instruction in preparing preservice teachers to teach social sciences at the K-8 level. This qualitative study explores education methods professors’ practices for educating preservice teachers to use primary sources in their classroom instruction. Social Science methods professors in Illinois were observed, interviewed and an analysis of …

The Uses, Understandings, And Values Of Student Strucutral Assisting Metatexts In College First Year Composition Courses, Joseph Ryan Dundovich

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis offers a look into the perceptions, views, and experiences of first-year composition students into being offered a large amount of choice/agency in their major summative writing projects, but also accountability and guidance during their process in the form of resources called ‘structural assisting metatexts’. The major question that guided this study is the following:

- How do first year composition students use, understand, and value forms of structural assisting metatexts during the writing/creation process?

The two parts of the writing process that were specifically researched in conjunction with their correlating metatexts are the topic selection (with the Proposal …

Investigando Los Éxitos Y Las Dificultades De Implementar Un Programa De Inmersión Dual A Través De Las Perspectivas De Tres Administradores, Victoria E. Slaybaugh

World Languages and Cultures

This Modern Languages and Literatures senior project investigates and analyses the successes and struggles of implementing a dual immersion program through interviews with three dual immersion principles. In interviewing three highly experienced administrators, ample information was collected on why some programs are prosperous while others see little success. Each individual principal had unique and valuable input, especially with regard to why their respective schools changed programs from 50/50 to 90/10, why they implemented K-12, and even why they chose to eliminate the program entirely. Using supplemental studies to more thoroughly examine the historical and social context of dual immersion, this …

A Case Study Of The Experiences Of Black Female Faculty At Research-Intensive Schools Of Social Work, Lashawnda N. Fields

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Representation has improved over the past 40 years among Black female faculty members in social work schools; however, low academic rank and distribution of this demographic across institutions is one way in which predominately White institutions (PWI) of higher education perpetuate racial inequalities. Higher education, in general, continues to result in negative experiences and poor outcomes for Black female faculty members such as time to tenure, low academic rank, and feelings of isolation. However, little is known about the experiences of this demographic in schools of social work, particularly those identified as research-intensive (R-1) Carnegie-designated institutions of higher education. This …

Hidden Power: Journalistic Representations Of Mental Health Labels, Elise Anguizola Assaf

Education (PhD) Dissertations

Individuals with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the U.S., and the language used to construct representations of these individuals has the ability to perpetuate or diminish stereotypes about these individuals. The purpose of this case study was to explore and describe the representations of mental health in online newspaper articles published by three national publications – The Washington Post, The New York Times, and USA Today. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was used as the methodological framework, including an analysis of semiotic choices, dominant perspectives, and causality. The case study allowed for data collection using …

Achieving Positive Mental Health And Academic Achievement For Students With Behavioral And Emotional Issues In Elementary School, Reynalda Fuentes

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Elementary students, their peers, and teachers today are being affected by emotional and behavioral issues that some students struggle with at school. In order to understand why it is affecting their academic achievement and mental health, this report answers the following research questions to investigate how these problems affect schools, classrooms, and teachers, as well as what appears to be contributing factors to this problem, and what are some of the solutions. In review of the literature on preventions and interventions placed at elementary schools the research shows that frameworks such as The Multi-tiered System of Supports, and the incorporation …

Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years Of History & Membership, Jessica E. Nantka

Museum Studies Projects

The purpose of this master’s thesis project is to examine the formidable globalized service organization, Zonta International (ZI), which has impacted women around the world for 100 years. I utilized essential practices in the Museum Studies Master of Arts program at SUNY Buffalo State to create this project in association with an exhibit, Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years of History & Membership, presented at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum from November 5 – November 23, 2019. The use of digitized images, documents, and artifacts within the Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Collection owned by The Buffalo History Museum, have been …

Redefining A Highly Qualified Teacher, Sabrina Ochoa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This research paper reviews the qualifications of a “Highly Qualified Teacher” as described by the No Child Left Behind Act that was published in 2001. Further research was done to determine if these qualifications were sufficient enough to qualify a teacher as “highly qualified”. A number of scholarly reviewed articles and journals were analyzed to dictate augmented qualities that should be premeditated when considering an applicant as highly qualified. Aside from additional experience and content knowledge, researchers suggest teachers should have qualities that improve their relationships with their students and their staff. Teachers' content knowledge does not necessarily mean they …