Education Commons^™

The Ongoing Search For Democracy: A Comparative Analysis Of Racial Equality In Cuba And The United States, Michael T. Siderio Jr.

Honors Student Research

This Capstone Project is structured as a comparative analysis of the fight for racial equality for Afro-Cubans in Cuba and how it compares to racial equality for African Americans in the United States, specifically focusing on contemporary issues relating to employment and economic opportunities, as well as police brutality. Historical background will be given on each topic within the scope of racial equality, and a comparative analysis on how they are similar and how they differ will also be provided. The overarching goal of the research on historical background and doing the comparative analysis is to synthesize both respective movements …

The Central Valley Transportation Challenge, Christian Wandeler, Steve Hart

Mineta Transportation Institute Publications

The Central Valley Transportation Challenge provides underserved minority students, who are primarily from rural areas, with high quality transportation-related educational experiences so that they learn about transportation-related topics and opportunities in transportation careers. The CVTC is a project-based learning program that brings university faculty and students to K–12 classrooms in rural areas. The project operated with three main objectives: (1) support K–12 teachers’ understanding and implementation of the CVTC programs; (2) connect K–12 students with university faculty and students, and transportation professionals through the CVTC program; and (3) develop an online hub with transportation-related lesson plans and sequences. The results …

Teaching Inequality In Brazil: A Study Abroad Exploration Of Race, Class, Gender, Sexuality, And Geography, Edvan P. Brito, Anthony J. Barnum

Journal of Global Education and Research

This paper presents and analyzes a case study of a five-week study abroad course called Inequality in Brazil: An exploration of race, class, gender, sexuality, and geography. The course was constructed to teach social inequality in the context of Brazil by using place-based and experiential learning within the framework of critical pedagogy (Freire, 1989). By examining inequality through the lens of culture and geography, students were empowered to become student-teachers in their explorations of race, class, gender, and sexuality as they linked theory to practice and lived experience. This paper provides an example of how study abroad can be …

Outdoor Pursuits And Outdoor Learning At Rural Maine Schools: A Positive Outlier Approach, Lauren E. Jacobs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the barriers and facilitators to outdoor learning and outdoor pursuits (OPs) in some of the most rural isolated K-12 schools in Maine. The purpose was to understand why some of these schools incorporate a lot of OPs and outdoor learning into their curriculum while other schools do not. Outdoor pursuits and outdoor learning in school settings are worthy of study because they provide students with opportunities to increase physical activity, benefit from time in nature, and make important connections to local culture (Lim et al., 2017; Schafft, 2016; Trembley et al., 2015).

This study employed a comparative …

Economic Disadvantage, Nativity, And Academic Performance And School Punishment Among Latino/A Children, Yolanda Chavez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cultural explanations of how familial resource inequality negatively impacts the academic well-being of a Latino/a child saturate the literature. This study examines the relationship between economic disadvantage and academic performance and school punishment through Family Stress Process Theory, providing a contextual analysis of resource instability. The additional myriad of legal and social constraints that parental nativity provides for family members can moderate this relationship. Data was drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal measure of U.S. couples and their children in 20 large U.S. cities. Regression models indicate the relationship between economic disadvantage and academic performance …

Maternal Education And Changes In Parenting Beliefs, Values, And Practices, Becca E. Richards

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Mothers’ education level has been an important predictor of life outcomes across many different areas. Higher education in mothers has been associated with outcomes such as higher reading levels and decreased chances grade repetition for their child. Due to gaps in the research, this study emphasizes the importance of mothers’ beliefs about parenting, the practices they use, the amount of closeness they have with their child, and how they change when mothers return to school. This study used new mothers and their newborn children across time to understand whether mothers’ beliefs, practices, and values change when mothers return to school. …

Analysis Of Test Anxiety In Human Anatomy And Physiology I Students At The University Of Mississippi, Anne Piazza

Honors Theses

Student anxiety, specifically test anxiety, is common hindrance to student performance in various courses including Human Anatomy and Physiology at the University of Mississippi. Through a sequence of three surveys we collected demographic information, anxiety data related to the course, and test anxiety in general We researched factors that could potentially influence student anxiety such as at what point in the semester the student is evaluated, when students feel the most stressed, outcomes on previous evaluations, and perceived outcomes of the course. We also examined what effect the anxiety has on the student such as lowered performance, lowered test scores, …

Social Justice And The Us Food System: A Critical Course On The Human Dimensions Of Food, Ali Brooks

Food Systems Master's Project Reports

Our world is made up of overlapping political, environmental, and economic spheres that engender social injustice and inequality. Though separate societal issues can seem divergent and unconnected, they are all linked together by one universal necessity: food. Because everyone eats, everyone is connected to—and dependent on—food and the systems that govern it. However, the impacts of our industrial food system are not felt equally among people who hold different positions of power within it.

Today’s industrial food complex operates on the capitalist principle of profit accumulation through exploitation, commodification, and extraction. This set of relations is not defined by scale …

From The Battlefield To The Classroom: An Exploration Of Post-9/11 Female Combat Veterans Who Completed Graduate School After Military Service, Arthur Littler Iii

Dissertations

Since 2011, approximately 200,000 service members transitioned from military service to the civilian sector each year (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2016). , 2014). According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2018 Employment Situation of Veterans Summary report, 8.9% of veterans were disadvantaged as they have little to no higher education. Without a financial support system to fall back on, transitioning veterans face the inevitable issue of homelessness. Research by Tsai, Hoff, and Harpaz- Rotem (2017) found the rate of homelessness among veterans has increased over the past decade with female veterans more likely than their male counterparts to …

Gendered Effects Of Covid-19 School Closures: India Case Study, Neelanjana Pandey, Emily Eunyoung Cho, Shilpi Rampal, Karen Austrian

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief summarizes a case study that assessed the gendered impact of COVID-19 school closures on education, health, well-being, and protection of adolescents in India. Based on surveys and interviews in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, findings point to the digital divide for girls as well as shared barriers to effective remote learning. Informed by the evidence, the study presents recommendations to scale up efforts to improve remote learning, reduce digital divide and strengthen teacher support, with a particular attention to addressing gendered differences.

Gendered Effects Of Covid-19 School Closures: Kenya Case Study, Faith Mbushi, Natalie Wyss, Emily Eunyoung Cho, Karen Austrian, Eva Ireri Muluve, Laura Muthoni, Beth Kangwana

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief summarizes a case study that assessed the gendered impact of COVID-19 school closures in Kenya. COVID-19 school closures escalated education inequalities especially for girls and young people in rural areas. These closures exacerbated adolescent mental health issues, food and economic insecurity, and experiences of violence. COVID-19 response programs implemented by both the Government of Kenya and non-state actors were not able to fully mitigate the impacts of school closures for adolescents, teachers, or schools. Continued efforts to understand the implications of school closures and to support vulnerable students are needed.

Gendered Effects Of Covid-19 School Closures: Pakistan Case Study, Iram Kamran, Tahira Parveen, Rehan M. Niazi, Maqsood Sadiq, Fatima Azeem, Emily Eunyoung Cho, Karen Austrian

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief summarizes a case study conducted to assess the gendered impacts of COVID-19 school closures on adolescent girls and boys in three districts in the province of Punjab in Pakistan. Data as well as discussions and interviews with adolescents, teachers, and parents shed light on difficulties in accessing and adjusting to remote learning, learning loss, deterioration of behaviors and health, and other effects. Based on these findings and further reflections by stakeholders on the successes and gaps of mitigation measures, the case study proposes recommendations for improved teacher training, digital access, alternative learning options, and a gendered focus in …

Gendered Effects Of Covid-19 School Closures: Bangladesh Case Study, Eashita Haque, Natalie Wyss, Emily Eunyoung Cho, Karen Austrian

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This brief summarizes a recent study on the impacts of COVID-19 school closures in rural communities in Bangladesh. It clarifies issues of remote learning access, management, and monitoring, as well as new strains on students’ time use. It also reveals general impacts on mental and physical health, economic status, as well as gendered effects including child marriage. Based on evaluations of mitigation measures, recommendations for comprehensive policies, provision of technical, financial, and social support, and improvements in education systems emerged.

Keeping Girls In Schools To Reduce Child Marriage In Rural Bangladesh: Endline Assessment, Sigma Ainul, Forhana Rahman Noor, Md. Irfan Hossain, Iqbal Ehsan, Mehnaz Manzur, Ubaidur Rob, Sajeda Amin

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

This report describes findings of changes over time attributable to the “Keeping Girls in Schools” study in Bangladesh that implemented skill-building activities for a two-year period in the districts of Chapainawabganj, Kushtia, and Sherpur. The project sought to bring about change in child marriage norms prevalent in the area by offering young girls a safe place to meet after school hours with mentors and teachers and to offer girls tutoring support and life-skills. The project was implemented by the Population Council with the cooperation of secondary schools in the community and was supported by UNICEF under the aegis of the …

Indigenous Mexicans In New York City: Immigrant Integration, Language Use, And Identity Formation, Leslie A. Martino-Velez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As indigenous Mexican immigrants migrate, settle, and raise families in the United States, parents, particularly women, and their children increasingly have contact with community institutions, such as schools. Despite their growing numbers in U.S. schools, indigenous children, youth, and their parents are often invisible due to their ethnolinguistic identities and undocumented status. Understanding what parents do to help their children is essential to understanding the first generation's integration and their children, the second generation.

To better understand this, I conducted an ethnographic research study at a bilingual Head Start program in New York City, in East Harlem, where many undocumented …

When Trauma Comes To School: Toward A Socially Just Trauma-Informed Praxis, Catriona O'Toole

International Journal of School Social Work

Given the prevalence and devastating consequences of childhood trauma, there has been a surge in initiatives to help schools become trauma-informed. However, despite the growing adoption of such initiatives, a number of concerns have been expressed. These include the lack of attention paid to issues of power and inequality including poverty, racism, and community violence as well as the power of adults to neglect, mistreat or abuse children. Contemporary approaches can also serve to inscribe deficit-based perceptions of children, reinforcing negative stereotypes and stigmas; and they tend to overlook the possibility that schools themselves can contribute to students’ distress, especially …

Moving From Harm Mitigation To Affirmative Discrimination Mitigation: The Untapped Potential Of Artificial Intelligence To Fight School Segregation And Other Forms Of Racial Discrimination, Andrew Gall

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

The African American And The California Basic Skills Requirement For Teaching, Willie C. Thomas Ii

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examines why the passing rates of African Americans on the CBEST are the lowest in California at 60%. Madkins (2011) identified licensure testing as a significant reason why African Americans cannot enter the teaching progression. According to Darling-Hammond et al. (2016), California has an ongoing credentialed teacher shortage. An even more significant need is for teachers of color. According to the California Department of Education (2021), 60% of the state’s educator workforce is White, while the state student body, multicultural and multilingual, is only slightly more than 22% White. While licensure testing for teachers is required in all …

Student Loan Debt And First-Generation Community College Students, Sandra A. Fuentes

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The rising costs of college attendance and changes in financial aid packages leave students with little option other than to incur a debt of some amount. Unfortunately, colleges often fail to provide adequate financial literacy and student loan information so prospective students planning to attend college can make informed decisions. Student loans may seem attractive in the short term because, unlike other loans, repayment does not begin immediately. However, the accrual of student loan debt leads to long-term financial consequences, including the opportunity to build economic wealth after graduation. Utilizing a basic qualitative research design, I explored first-generation community college …

Disappearing Acts: The Declining Numbers Of African American Teachers In Public School Settings, Catherine F. Lewis-Brownfield

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

African American teachers are slowly leaving the classroom, causing an imbalance in the student/teacher ratio (NCES, 2019). According to the National Center for Education Statistics, African American teachers make up 3% in California and 7% nationally. This study sought to understand the reasons for the decline in the number of African American teachers in public school settings. Due to the decline in their numbers, African American students have suffered high dropout rates, low standardized test scores, and low college attendance (Gershenson, Hart, Hyman, Lindsey, & Papageorge, 2017). This qualitative study examined the obstacles current African American teachers face and the …

Black Women At The Crossroads: Agency, Interruptions, And Oppression In Education, Kimberly D. Ferrell

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation utilizes intersectionality, critical race feminism (CRF), Black feminist research and case studies to explore Black women’s oppression in education. This research study contributes to a growing body of work on Black females’ experiences of marginalization socially and educationally. The aim of this research was threefold: (a) to provide a theoretical analysis on the marginalization of Black females in society and exercising agency; (b) to explore my own memories and amplify my voice through an autoethnography, highlighting personal lived experiences of oppression in education; and (c) to provide a qualitative analysis on Black women oppression, amplifying the voices of …

Who Is Anointed? The Psychological And Social Justice Implications Of Gifted And Talented Programs In The United States, Emma Caroline Gossett

Senior Projects Spring 2022

This paper explores the repercussions of gifted and talented programs in the United States, looking specifically at resulting psychological effects and social justice implications. This analysis is positioned within the discussion of global power struggles for technological advancement. After the success of the Russian Sputnik satellite in 1957, the United States bolstered initiatives in education to ensure they were producing students who could contribute to the prowess of the nation. Gifted programs allowed for a more in-depth focus on those children deemed useful to the labor market. This resulted in additional pressures placed on certain students to excel. The anointment …

Voicing Derbarl Yerrigan As A Feminist Anti-Colonial Methodology, Vanessa Wintoneak, Mindy Blaise

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The paper voices Derbarl Yerrigan, a significant river in Western Australia, through three imperfect, non-innocent, and necessary river-child stories. These stories highlight the emergence of a feminist anti-colonial methodology that is attentive to settler response-abilities to Derbarl Yerrigan through situated, relational, active, and generative research methods. Voicing Derbarl Yerrigan influences the methodological practices used as part of an ongoing river-child walking inquiry that is concerned with generating climate change pedagogies in response to the global climate crises and calls for new ways of thinking and producing knowledge. In particular, the authors found that voicing as a methodology includes listening and …

An Unspoken Story Of Education: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of Racism In Education, Elisa A. Perez-Garcia

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Privilege is when one voice is the norm, but some children’s voices are underheard within research. Extensive research has demonstrated that Hispanic face multiple barriers within the education system. This study examines how whiteness within the education system can impact a Hispanic student’s perspective of the world. An autoethnographic approach is used to analyze five stories. A grounded theory approach identified emergent themes from the stories shared. The four themes that emerged among the stories were intersectionality, privilege, social construct, and microaggression. It demonstrated minority students’ experiences and interactions could profoundly affect how they view their identity. There are measures …

Agroecology Curriculum Proposal, Emily Kuhn

Pitzer Senior Theses

The purpose of this research is to establish the viability of an Agroecology major at Pitzer College. I begin by problematizing Industrial Agriculture and making a case for Pitzer College to become a higher education leader in the global paradigm shift towards socially and ecologically just food systems. The proposed curriculum compiles pre-existing classes, objectives expanded from the EA field group, and an internship component embedded at five local land-based learning partner sites. I conducted a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis of the Environmental Analysis field group as a potential host for the agroecology track, including study abroad …