Education Commons^™

The Shared Experiences Of Educators In Grades 7–12 Who Implement Lessons In Social–Emotional Learning Curriculum, Heathre C. Palige

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

Social–emotional learning (SEL) is used in public school classrooms throughout the United States. The problem that this researcher addressed in this study was that minimal understanding exists of the lived experiences of teachers who implement SEL in Colorado public schools in Grades 7–12. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore and to provide a clearer understanding of the lived experiences of six educators who implement SEL in Grades 7–12 in Colorado public schools. The study fills a gap in literature in understanding the experiences of teachers who use SEL in middle and high school. The literature review …

A Transitional Program From Elementary To Middle School, Savannah S. Shontere

Department of Occupational Therapy Entry-Level Capstone Projects

I created a program to promote a smooth transition from elementary to middle school for the students at Bradenton Christian School (BCS). Following my literature review and needs assessment, the program was designed to provide students with the tools and strategies needed to feel prepared for middle school, foster friendships, and advocate for themselves and their peers. Following the program implementation, I created educational resources for the faculty at BCS to continue the program in the future.

Creating Inclusive Classrooms With Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Melissa Kane

Doctor of Education in Secondary and Middle Grades Education Dissertations

This is a qualitative phenomenographic study that uses the theoretical frameworks of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) (Paris, 2012), Intergroup Contact Theory (Allport 1954), and Social Constructivism (Smagorinsky, 2007) to evaluate how 7^th grade students at a Title I middle school in the Southeastern United States experience the phenomenon of peer relationships in the context of a CSP writing unit. Students created, peer edited, and shared multimodal “Where I’m From” (Lyon, n.d.) poems in intentionally created groups. The researcher collected data via participant interviews, participant journals, and a researcher reflection journal. Findings indicated that students developed a better understanding of …

Investigating Correlations Among A Growth-Mindset Intervention, Students’ Math Anxiety, And Students’ Math Self-Efficacy, Anna Grace Chamberlain

Honors Projects

This paper details the methodology, data, and conclusions of a research study investigating the correlations among a growth-mindset intervention, math anxiety, and math self-efficacy. The study found that teaching students about mindset through an intervention approach did not make a significant difference in students’ math anxiety or math self-efficacy. Teacher-centered factors are discussed as having a greater impact on students’ math anxiety and math self-efficacy.

Impacting African American Student Achievement In The Middle School Stem Classroom By Teaching Mathematics Through Arts Integration And Design Thinking, Robert Lippert, Tjuannia R. Seals

Dissertations

Middle school is a transitional period in which many students experience content-specific teachers, travel between classrooms, and explore extracurricular activity options for the first time. Historically, African American middle school students have not fared well in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) on standardized assessments, performing significantly below their Caucasian counterparts in mathematics and science. From the beginning of their academic careers, a lack of access to quality teachers, excessive use of direct instruction strategies, and a lack of resources in their school communities, contribute to their overall apathy towards the subject matter and factor into their underperformance. As a …

Everyone Is On Their Phones: Eighth Graders' Struggle With Social Media In School, George Weinhardt

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This qualitative study examined social media in the school setting from the point of view of eighth-grade participants. This study implemented a focused ethnography, examining a group of individuals’ perspectives on a focused area of their shared culture. Using critical theory, this study examined qualitative data with the concepts of structures, subjectivity, and power at the confluence of social media and school for eighth-grade students. Qualitative data were collected using five semi-structured focus groups, artifact analysis, fieldnotes, and memos. The findings highlighted that eighth-grade students acknowledge that there is a struggle between social media and school. This struggle alters their …

The Not-So-Silent Period: Testimonios Of Recently Arrived Latinx Students, Teri M. Hutchinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore and amplify the experiences of recently arrived Latinx¹ students as interpreted through their testimonios in educational borderlands. Through increasingly xenophobic discourses around immigrants and their children (Pérez Huber, 2015), U.S. public schools have become entrenched borderland spaces wherein the humanity of recently arrived students is voided through silencing them with labels of linguistic deficiency and cramming them into one-size-fits-all educational programming (Fine et al., 2007; Flores & Rosa, 2015). There is demand for research that explores the experiences of these children, especially in light of their continued marginalization through neoliberal programming …

A Qualitative Study Examining The Literacy Experiences Of Male Middle School Students Inside And Outside Of School, Ari Raymond Colondres

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

A literacy gap is a difference between a person’s ability to read for understanding and meaning-making and their anticipated ability to read for their grade level. A larger proportion of males are at least one or more years below grade level in reading ability compared to their female peers. This reading difference is called the gender literacy gap. Students over one year below grade level are at an increased risk of dropping out of high school and face the possibility of diminished lifetime earnings. Gender, low levels of motivation, low socio-economic status, low engagement, and school perceptions of literacy are …

Influence Of Restorative Practices On The Middle-School Classroom, As Reported By Teachers: A Qualitative Case Study, Julia Y. Andrews

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine middle school teachers’ perceptions of the influence that restorative practices have on the middle school classroom environment. For the purpose of this study, seven middle school teachers were selected who have implemented restorative practices in their middle school classrooms to provide feedback. Findings suggest that overall restorative practices have a positive influence on the classroom. The findings from this study can be used with teachers, administrators, counselors, parents, and school and district support staff to help create a positive campus culture between students and adults in middle school classrooms. The …

Student Preferences About Student-Teacher Communication And Student Perceptions Of Teacher Presence In An Online Middle School, Kyle M. Doty

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative survey study was to determine how middle school students in fully online language arts courses perceived their teachers to be present and what methods of communication with the teacher middle school students desired. The purposive sample was composed of 100 sixth and seventh grade language arts students from a large virtual school in the southeastern United States. Student responses were overwhelmingly skewed, and results from the survey indicated a statistically significant finding. Students in online middle school find their teachers to be present and desire to be communicated with using text messages first and …

Reading And Writing Like A Scientist: Implementation Of Disciplinary Literacy Strategies In A Middle School Science Classroom, Cameron K. Boyette

Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning

This study examined what happened when disciplinary literacy strategies were implemented in a middle school science class along with the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of these strategies. The researcher implemented disciplinary literacy strategies that went along with the scope and sequence for seventh-grade science at the time of implementation of the study. She collected data through surveys, observations, and interviews with students and teachers. Data were analyzed through the constant comparative method and coding. When disciplinary literacy strategies were implemented, students showed compartmentalization of reading and writing to their ELAR classes. Teachers showed negative perceptions of their students’ literacy abilities. …

School Climate And Teacher Self- Efficacy: Teacher's Perspectives, Jennifer Prado

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Teacher self-efficacy is used to describe how a teacher feels about their ability to perform the tasks related to teaching. This qualitative study focused on how teachers’ perceptions of their school climate affect teacher self-efficacy in eight middle school teachers in Arkansas. Participants were Arkansas middle school teachers with three or more years of experience. The typical participant was a 43-year-old female with an undergraduate degree in education, a master’s degree, and 16 years of classroom experience. A request for participants was sent to the superintendent of every district in Arkansas that had at least one middle school with the …

Self- And Socially-Regulated Learning In Middle School Science Classrooms: A Multiple Case Study, Lauren Cabrera

Theses and Dissertations

Students must employ self-regulated learning (SRL) and socially-regulated learning (soRL) in the science classroom, which includes a wide array of independent and collaborative learning activities. However, little is known about how student SRL and soRL co-occur in students’ learning and how the classroom teacher influences that regulation in situ (Cabrera et al., in preparation; Panadero et al., 2015). This explanatory, sequential case study analyzes classroom video data from six middle school science classrooms. The study uses an integrated coding scheme that captures SRL and soRL behaviors, soRL modes, and targets of regulation (Greene & Azevedo, 2009; Hadwin et al., 2018; …

Learning By Playing: A Curriculum Utilizing Improvisational Theater To Develop Prosocial Behavior Skills And Self-Efficacy In Young Adolescents, Lynn Lovett Barr

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Prosocial behavior requires competency in social-emotional skills including interpersonal skills, conflict resolution, and emotional regulation. During the developmental stage of early adolescence, youth are learning these skills and are more likely to engage in prosocial behavior if they feel efficacious in them. However, most social-emotional learning programs focus on conceptual knowledge in these areas without providing sufficient opportunities for practice, which does not allow students to develop sufficient procedural knowledge and self-efficacy. Improvisational theater offers a solution to this problem; used in concert with social-emotional lessons, it provides practice scenarios and procedural learning opportunities. This project consists of a curriculum …

“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 …

A Place Of Yes? Experiences Of Educators Participating In Site-Based Teacher-Led Reform, Elizabeth Hind

Education (PhD) Dissertations

This study examined the experiences of four teachers who participated as mentors in a teacher-designed and -implemented creative community at a middle school in southern California. Using the arts-based research methodologies of poetic inquiry, narrative inquiry, and painting, the researcher explored how teachers experience teaching and learning when they deconstruct structures that perpetuate standardization and choose to approach education as a place of yes, freed from the parameters of mandated curriculum, the idea of education as product, and high- stakes accountability measures. The study revealed that the qualities of the creative community had a humanizing effect on its participants, allowing …

Middle School Parent Involvement: Perceptions In Two South Carolina School Districts, Jessica Vanvalkenburgh

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This study was created to explore the parent involvement perceptions of teachers and parents of middle school students in two South Carolina districts. The study is grounded in Epstein et al.’s (2019) theory of overlapping spheres and six typologies of parent involvement. An exploratory mixed methods study was used to gather research. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to determine the perceptions of teachers and parents at five different sites. Cronbach’s alpha was used to test reliability, and a MANOVA test was used to test for mean differences of dependent variables. Univariate ANOVA tests were used to further explore differences …

Parental Involvement In Middle School: The Parent's Perspective, Brittany D. Orange

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Over the years, parental involvement has been studied from the perspectives of administrators and teachers. The purpose of this phenomenological study is to expound upon parental involvement from the parent’s perspective. The researcher’s goal is to understand the reasons why parents choose to get involved and the strategies they consider beneficial and a hindrance in facilitating their involvement. Parental involvement declines as students move through the K-12 system (Benner, Boyle & Sadler, 2016). As students move to middle school, the educational structure changes. Students go from having one teacher to multiple teachers, which presents a challenge to parents, as they …

An Investigation Of Parental Involvement And Student Academic Achievement In Middle School, Laura Smokoska

Masters Theses

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the relationship between parental involvement and student academic achievement in middle school. Additionally, this study investigated whether there were patterns among parental involvement and student academic achievement among different ethnicities. The study was conducted in a diverse school in the Chicago suburbs to determine parental involvement levels and student academic achievement levels among different ethnicities. The study had 41 student and parent participants who took a survey about parental involvement at home and parental communication with the school. In addition to the surveys, students’ final English grades, final science grades, and …

Teaching The Sun As Simile: Bringing Nature Into Language Arts Middle School Classrooms, Stormy Kage

Master of Arts in Professional Writing Capstones

Teaching the Sun as Simile is an essay that explores an interdisciplinary approach to teaching middle school English Language Arts (ELA) by infusing nature and environmental studies. This essay defines emerging concepts of new literacy studies and eco-criticism, literacy, and composition as it relates to ELA pedagogy. Also, it provides an explanation for the importance and relevance of using nature to develop an ecosystem of better readers, writers and communicators in middle school general ed and special ed classrooms.

Perceptions Of Restorative Practices Among Black Girls: Talking Circles In An Urban Alternative Middle School., Vanessa Marie Mcphail

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that Restorative Justice approaches have shown promise in terms of their impact on school climate, student behavior, and relationships. The purpose of this study is to explore Black female students’ perceptions of Restorative Practice (RP) talking circles at an alternative school. The study examined literature on Zero Tolerance, School Discipline Disparities, African American Female students, Intersectionality, Restorative Justice, and Alternative Schools. A qualitative case study method was used for this study, drawing from two sources: (a) face-to-face interviews and (b) observations of the Black female students who attend the alternative school and participate in the talking circles. Analyses …

The Impact Of Structural Supports On The Success Of Students Of Color In The K-16 Educational System, Brandis Jones, Sherry Holmes

Dissertations

Collective Abstract

This collective dissertation contains the efforts of two practitioners in the field of education who possess a shared vision for designing student experiences with the mission of preparing all students for success in secondary and post-secondary education. The researchers believed that by creating structural supports for students in underserved populations, these same students will increase their educational attainment and access to long-term career opportunities. With successful completion of postsecondary education and with increased career opportunities, students can improve their lives, their families’ lives and the lives of members of their community.

Many students struggled on their educational journeys …

The Student-Leader Voice In Restorative Justice Practices, Amanda Wagner

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

As more and more schools work to develop equitable and effective discipline strategies many are turning to restorative practices. However, there is no one correct way to implement a successful restorative justice program so schools are left to experiment with different practices and procedures to determine what works best for their school community. Research suggests that there are numerous benefits to developing a restorative program at a school but studies largely exclude the student perspective. Since students are a central part of a meaningful restorative justice program, it is important to hear their voices and experiences. The purpose of this …

Personal And Leadership Development In The Middle School Environment: The School Strong Initiative, Ashley Kunkle

M.A. in Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers

Schools today are extremely focused on the academic rigor demands of standards and literacy that students aren’t learning the skills necessary to become self-initiating individuals and leaders. Through the School STRONG Initiative, students and teachers will have an outlet for community, technical skills enhancement, and leadership and coaching development. With this program in place, schools will transition from the traditional schooling approach, to an authentically led learning organization.

Translanguaging Practices For Educational Equity: Moments In A Bilingual Middle School Classroom, Luz Y. Herrera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs in New York City largely follow a 50-50 model: half of the instruction is in English while the other half is in another target language. In NYC, as well as the rest of the country, these programs are typically English-Spanish due to the large Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. Bilingual programs also tend to strictly separate languages and often insist that teachers and students only use the designated language according to the school or district’s particular language allocation policy.

This qualitative case study challenges the strict separatist language model of some dual language bilingual …

Claim, Evidence, And Reasoning: Evaluation Of The Use Of Scientific Inquiry To Support Argumentative Writing In The Middle School Science Classroom, Gabriela Mastro

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

In light of the essential science and engineering practices identified by the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), this study focuses on the specific science and engineering practice, "engage in argument from evidence," and how classroom practices can serve to strengthen this skill (National Research Council, 2012, p. 71). The NGSS focus on inquiry necessitates students’ use of argument, particularly in writing, to communicate their knowledge and scientific findings and to develop an understanding of scientific practice. The purpose of this teacher action research study is to evaluate the influence of inquiry-based argumentative writing exercises, based on the Argument Driven Inquiry …

Students’ Experience Of Flow In A Critical Literacy Unit In A 6th Grade English/Language Arts Classroom, Barbara E. Mcclure

Doctor of Education in Secondary and Middle Grades Education Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure students’ experiences of engagement as conceptualized by flow during a critical literacy unit in a 6^th grade English Language Arts class. A total of 61 respondents replied to an 18-item survey consisting of 14-Likert scaled items, one identifier, two open-ended questions, and one multiple-choice question three times a day for five days. In addition, respondents completed a 7-item survey consisting of one identifier, three demographic questions, and three Likert-scaled items. All respondents were sixth grade students at a middle school just outside of a large city in the Southeastern United States. …

A Study On The Effectiveness Of A Pilot Inquiry-Based Middle School Science Program On Non-Cognitive Outcomes And Academic Achievement, Rui Meira Dionisio

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The randomized research study assessed the effect of an inquiry-based science (IBS) program on non-cognitive outcomes and academic achievement. The study was the result of a grant that was awarded by Professional Resources in Science and Mathematics (PRISM), a program affiliated with Montclair State University in conjunction with Bristol-Myers Squibb, and part of the New Jersey Statewide Systemic Initiative (NJSSI). The NJSSI is a partnership of schools, districts, colleges and universities, science centers, businesses, and museums dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of science, mathematics, and technology in New Jersey. The quantitative research study utilized an IBS instructional program …

Perceptions Of Co-Teaching In The Middle School English Language Arts Classroom, Joseph M. Downey

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the perceptions of the co-teaching model in the middle school English Language Arts classroom. Data was kept over a three-week period and tracked through individual interviews with teachers in the English Language Arts department. Each interview included the same number of questions with the same prompts. These questions led teachers to discuss their experiences implementing co-teaching, working with a co-teacher and the time and effort that went into the process. As a result of the data collected, I was able to analyze the findings into specific themes including the roles and …

The Effect Of A College-Going Intervention On The College-Going Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of Middle School Students, Kaley D. Mitchell

Education Dissertations

The need for students of all backgrounds to access and persist in postsecondary education informs a need for additional support related to postsecondary attainment for all people. Social cognitive theory (SCT; Bandura, 1987) and social cognitive career theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) both support the design, implementation, and measurement of college-going interventions that work to enhance self-efficacy, a mediator in college interest, choice, and attendance. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a college-going intervention on the college-going self-efficacy beliefs of a group of diverse middle school students. Specifically, this study examined the …