Education Commons^™

Resource Use And Success In Life Science Graduate Education, Maryrose Weatherton

Doctoral Dissertations

Given that attrition rates for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) graduate programs have been higher than 50% for more than a decade, increasing student success in graduate programs has long been a focus of research in higher education. However, previous research has paid little attention to the opinions and experiences of graduate students themselves. Graduate students’ lived experiences may be critical to understanding factors driving graduate attrition and to improving STEM graduate programs broadly. This dissertation explored two understudied aspects of the graduate student experience: students’ definitions of success and their use of resources.

I used interviews and surveys …

A Critical Policy Analysis Of Inclusive Education Policies In Countries Ratifying The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities, Julie A. Sears

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this critical policy analysis was to examine the alignment of 16 selected countries’ national level inclusive education laws and policies to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities article 24 Education. The first part of the study examined the laws and policies of Shogren and Turnbull’s (2014) core concepts of disability laws, which apply to article 24. The core concepts examined were (1) antidiscrimination, (2) integration, (3) individualized and appropriate services, and (4) prevention and amelioration. The second part of the study assessed the laws and policies for possible exclusions for students with …

Behavioral Tendencies In Youth With Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities During Play Activities, Erin M Podgorski

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Per-Pupil Expenditures On Sol Pass Rates, Meghan Flynn

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Post-Concussion Experiences Of Collegiate Student-Athletes, Kaitlin Iris Singer

Doctoral Dissertations

Sports-related concussions are a major public health concern affecting a significant number of collegiate student-athletes. Medical and public health research has addressed every aspect of concussion management processes including concussion education, medical diagnosis, recovery, and returning to sport and classroom. This research has led to several best-practices for concussion management. Since 2010, the NCAA has mandated that its member institutions maintain concussion management policies and procedures. However, the current recommendations, based primarily on medical research, have been found in quantitative studies of the behaviors and practices of athletic trainers, coaches, and student-athletes to be ineffective. To date, no studies have …

Effectiveness Of Proloquo2goTm In Enhancing Communication In Children With Autism During Aba Therapy, Taylor Eastin Krcek

Doctoral Dissertations

Autism is a bio-neurological developmental disorder presenting in early childhood that has a profound effect on an individual's ability to communicate. The iPad® with the Proloquo2Go^TM app is a multilingual Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) solution designed to assist people who have difficulty speaking or cannot speak at all. This study examines the effectiveness of the Proloquo2Go^TM app delivered via iPad® to enhance the tacting, manding, and verbal completion repertoires of children with autism. Participants included five children between the ages of three and four years old diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and with low to …

The Relationship Between Demands And Resources And Teacher Burnout: A Fifteen-Year Meta-Analysis, Tammy Marie Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis explored the phenomenon of teacher burnout— the biggest contributor to teacher attrition (Owens, 2013; Unterbrink, 2014; Yu, 2015). The focus of this study was to use meta-analytical procedures to explore the relationship between burnout dimensions (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of personal accomplishment) and specific demand and resource correlates. Demand correlates included work overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and student misbehavior. Resource correlates included peer support, supervisory support, and decision-making. This meta-analytical research method encompassed fifteen years of published and unpublished studies from January 2000 through January 2015. A total of 116 studies met the following inclusion …

The Research-To-Practice Gap: Practical Strategies For Common Core In The Inclusive Classroom, Jillian M. Gentry

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Acculturation And Identity Development Of Deaf Ethnic Minorities, Glennise Candice Schlinger

Masters Theses

This study examined whether experiences in the family and the education systems could influence Deaf ethnic identity development. Data were collected via administration of the Deaf Acculturation Scale (DAS). Participants’ responses were assessed as outlined by the developers of the DAS (Maxwell-McCaw & Zea, 2011). Results suggested that parents’ attitude towards their child’s deafness may affect the deaf individual’s identity development. Semi-structured interviews were also conducted with four deaf ethnic minority participants: One Venezuelan American and three African American. Two hearing parents (both mothers) also participated in the interview: one Venezuelan American and one African American. Thematic analysis was used …

(Un)Packing Your Backpack: Educational Philosophy, Positionality, And Pedagogical Praxis, Yvette Prinsloo Franklin

Doctoral Dissertations

In this philosophical research project, the author examines the question: How can the case be made that there is an imperative need to change the trajectory of current efforts to reduce “achievement gaps” in the United States and (re)vision a transformation of our school settings through conscious-raising sensitivity regarding issues of equity towards equality amongst educators that harnesses the work of philosophy of education scholars? She engages the reader in a theoretical hike through a philosophical argument for attending to philosophical theories of education, extending the work of Jane Roland Martin regarding sensitivity and drawing heavily on the scholarship of …

Impact Of Interpreters Filling Multiple Roles In Mainstream Classrooms On Communication Access For Deaf Students, Heather Rebecca Lawson

Masters Theses

Educational interpreters nationwide fill a variety of roles in their schools, including interpreter, tutor, assistant, consultant, and others, and the impact of these roles on the interpretation of classroom discourse is uncertain. In order to provide deaf students with the free appropriate public education they are promised through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, we need to know more about the roles educational interpreters are filling and their impact on a deaf student’s access to the classroom discourse. This study was a quantitative study using naturalistic observation of a high school classroom with a deaf student and an interpreter, augmented …

Career Development And Employment Concerns Of Employment-Seeking Students With Psychiatric Disabilities, Sarah Charlotte Helm

Doctoral Dissertations

Although some literature chronicles the career development of college students with other types of disabilities, students with psychiatric disabilities have been practically invisible in research focused on this topic. Yet evidence suggests that the number of students with documented psychiatric disabilities attending institutions of higher education is on the rise. Thus, the purpose of the study was to describe the career development and employment concerns of employment-seeking students with psychiatric disabilities.

A qualitative research design was used to gain in-depth information from the perspective of students with psychiatric disabilities, specifically case study. The participants were seven undergraduate students from three …

The Discursive Construction Of Autism: Contingent Meanings Of Autism And Therapeutic Talk, Jessica Nina Lester

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation was a discourse analysis study, drawing upon discursive psychology, poststructural understandings of discourse, conversation analysis, and a social relational model of disability. The purpose of this study was to explore how autism was performed as an interactional event among children with autism labels, the therapists who work with them, and their parents, in the context of a pediatric therapy setting. I interrogated how the participants’ everyday discursive practices were shaped and, at times, constrained by the social and political institutions that often work to define autism and the related, official plans of treatment. A total of 12 families …

Assessment Of Cognitive Abilities In Children With A Pervasive Developmental Disorder Using The Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test, Bobbie Ann Burton

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was designed to examine the utility of the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT; Bracken & McCallum, 1998) for use with children who have been diagnosed with a pervasive developmental disorder (e.g., autistic disorder, asperger’s disorder, pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified). The goal was to determine whether distinct cognitive profiles on the UNIT exist within this population and between those with and without a pervasive developmental disorder: a) Do children with a pervasive developmental disorder earn significantly lower mean scores than a demographically matched control group on the UNIT Full Scale Intelligence quotient? b) Do children with a pervasive …

Conditions Surrounding Four Mexican Females’ Quest For A Higher Education In A Southeastern United States Community, Sharon L. Hixon

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative case study collection followed 4 self-identified college-bound Mexican immigrants as they moved from their senior year of high school through their first semester of college. The purpose of this study was to learn about the young women’s aspirations and expectations and how their aspirations and expectations were or were not in harmony with the actuality of their lives.

To meet this goal, the researcher interviewed the female participants three times. These interviews took place in high school and the first semester of college. The researcher began each interview with a predetermined list of questions, and added additional questions …