Education Commons^™

Nutrition And Education In An Urbanizing Nation, Molly Pritz

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Child malnutrition is a growing public health issue in Nepal, particularly in urban areas. Not eating enough, or not eating enough of healthy foods, can have life-long implications on development and cognitive ability. Because of its relevance to development within the country, many donor organizations and non-governmental organizations are working to promote child nutrition education programs. The purpose of this research is to investigate the implementation and structure of urban child nutrition educational programs involving treatment and prevention in Kathmandu, Nepal. Through qualitative interviews and field observations with three primary organizations, this research analyzes the patterns and disconnects between various …

Good To Great: A Case Study Of An African American Literacy Coordinator’S Role In Transitioning A School From Dependence On A Scripted Reading Program To Balanced Literacy, Kimberly A. Chase

Dissertations

This study considers the change process and the impact of race on the implementation process as a Literacy Coordinator transitioned an elementary school from Open Court to balanced literacy. A retroactive case study was used to examine the Literacy Coordinator’s actions and decisions, teachers’ perspectives, and the effects of race on the implementation. Findings suggested that the roles of the Literacy Coordinator involved duties that pull from the specific responsibilities of a reading specialist, literacy coach, reading educator, and an administrator. Furthermore, teachers reported a change in their practices and beliefs due to participation in the implementation process. Finally, findings …

Academic Service Learning Benefits Diverse, Urban Community College Students, Sharon S. Ellerton, Cristina Di Meo, Josephine Pantaleo, Arlene Kemmerer, Mary Bandziukas, Michael Bradley

Publications and Research

Urban community college students are a vulnerable population, often carrying one or more risk factors that predict they will not graduate or transfer to a four-year institution. This article presents evidence that academic service learning can provide support for urban community college students, increasing retention and providing multiple positive benefits. After participating in service learning, urban community college students report increased confidence in their ability to learn and apply course content knowledge, general education knowledge, and workplace skills as well as an interest in civic engagement.

Working Students’ Perceptions Of Paying For College: Understanding The Connections Between Financial Aid And Work, Mary Ziskin, Mary Ann Fischer, Vasti Torres, Beth Pellicciotti, Jacquelyn Player-Sanders

Mary B. Ziskin

For many students at urban commuter colleges, the process of financial aid is unknown or mysterious; and so they work—often many hours a week—to pay expenses that financial aid might have covered. Missteps, unforeseen events, and limited resources can have severe consequences for the academic progress of these students. The broader study, of which this paper is a part, represents an effort to explore and describe students’ college-going, working, family responsibilities, and academic success at three commuter institutions in a metropolitan region in the Midwest. The encompassing project aims to introduce new qualitative data and situated description into the study …

Principals' Lived Experiences In Childhood Poverty Impacting Resiliency Of Students In Poverty, Jonathan Rasmussen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The number of children living in poverty within the United States is on the rise, which translates to more public school students experiencing those risk factors associated with poverty. Given the severity of the negative effect living in poverty has on the likelihood of academic success, paired with the current climate of accountability in U.S. public schools, it is imperative that educational leaders understand how to create a school culture that fosters resilience in students from poverty. The purpose of this study was to examine principals' lived experiences in childhood poverty impacts the decisions they make. More precisely, it examines …

Pathologizing The Poor: Implications For Preparing Teachers To Work In High-Poverty Schools, Kerri Ullucci

Education Faculty Publications

The recent economic downturn highlights that poverty continues to be a significant social problem. Mindful of this demographic reality, it is imperative for teacher educators to pay close attention to the manner in which teachers are prepared to educate students from impoverished backgrounds. Given the number of frameworks that offer reductive recommendations for teaching students from impoverished backgrounds, we seek to accomplish two goals with this work: (a) to summarize mythologies about poverty that impact student–teacher relationships and (b) to offer new perspectives on educating students from impoverished backgrounds by providing anchor questions teacher educators can explore with pre-service teachers.

Urban Biking Meets Community-Engaged Research And Service-Learning, Tessa Mckenzie

Division of Community Engagement Resources

No abstract provided.

Urban Pets As Social Practice: Constructing Pets With A Purpose, Carrie Pope

Middle School Resources

I developed this lesson in my fourteenth year of teaching. I had just transferred to sixth grade general art after primarily teaching pottery classes in a high school for thirteen years. I was at a low income, high poverty school and was having a difficult time engaging my students. I had seen Robert Marbury’s work about ten years earlier and had wanted to do something with it but had never had the opportunity. Recognizing the student's need for play, I first approached this lesson with one class bringing in several garbage bags of stuffed animals my daughter had discarded.

The …

Phenomenological Study Of Urban Elementary Principals: Reading-Proficient Students With Learning Disabilities, Elizabeth Theis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Changes in the demands on educational leaders have necessitated shifts in the roles and responsibilities of school principals. Meeting the needs of students with disabilities is among the critical challenges that administrators face today. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of elementary school principals where students with Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD) demonstrate reading proficiency. Phenomenological research was conducted to identify the themes associated with effective school leadership, related to this specific population, students with SLD. Informal, non evaluative observations were conducted in conjunction with analysis of leadership summaries that were submitted by teachers who were …

The Effect Of Urban Form On Wellbeing, Thomas E. Astell-Burt, Xiaoqi Feng

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

The purpose of this Evidence Check was to conduct a rapid review of existing evidence on the impact of the built environment on mental health and psychological wellbeing (hereafter referred to collectively as wellbeing). A total of 103 studies were reviewe d after a systematic search of the literature. Most studies used the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale, the General Health Questionnaire, or the Kessler scales to measure wellbeing.

Shading Liveable Cities: Exploring The Ecological, Financial And Regulatory Dimensions Of The Urban Tree Canopy, Nicole T. Cook, Rachel Hughes

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Trees are known for their positive impacts in cities including: the provision of shade, reducing heat island effects, improving amenity, reducing social vulnerability, processing carbon and improving health outcomes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, greening policies at the local and state level have proliferated. Despite these initiatives, tree cover remains stubbornly uneven. A cursory analysis of vulnerability and tree-cover by location shows that those who are most vulnerable to extreme heat events often live in those parts of cities that are most poorly shaded. Drawing on a new set of 50 online questionnaire and face-to-face interviews with local council officers in Melbourne conducted …

Implementation Of School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports In The Neoliberal Context In An Urban Elementary School, Deanna Adams

Dissertations - ALL

This research is a two-year ethnographic case study of a School-wide positive behavior supports (SWPBS) school leadership team, at an urban elementary school in central New York, during their first two years implementing SWPBS. SWPBS is a framework for implementing a school-wide behavior management system that focuses on proactive rather than reactive behavior interventions. SWPBS was recommended in No Child Left Behind and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act as a positive alternative to punitive discipline policies and strategies and as a tool for reducing office discipline referrals and suspensions, as well as improving academic achievement.

Using in-depth interviews, participant observation, …

Induction Of The Novice Teacher In Urban Schools, Janice Marie Ridley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

New teachers entering the urban pre-K-12 school setting require an induction program to perform their teaching duties. Despite modifications to improve an existing induction program, novice teachers in a Midwestern urban school district were underperforming in the classroom, leaving administrators to address new teacher turnover and a disrupted learning process for students. Drawing from Knowles's adult learning theory and state guidelines to fulfill federal legislation mandates for proper induction, this qualitative case study was designed to explore beginning teachers' perceptions of the modifications in the district's induction program. A sample of 8 novice teachers was recruited to participate in open-ended, …

Urban Carbon Governance Experiments: The Role Of Australian Local Governments, Pauline M. Mcguirk, Robyn Dowling, Clare Brennan, Harriet Bulkeley

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Cities, and particularly urban local governments, are now widely recognised for their part in the complex, multilevel landscape of climate governance and carbon reduction. Nonetheless local government projects and initiatives are often framed as of limited value, outside the formal governance framework, and unable to contribute systematically. In contrast, this paper locates these initiatives as already part of the way in which governing climate and carbon is conducted and as governance experiments. We provide a descriptive analysis of these initiatives across Australia's capital cities, highlighting the domains, mechanisms, and partners through which they operate. We illustrate the enactment of experimentation …

Life In The Gayborhood: Safety, Difference And Change In The Urban Gay Neighbourhood, Scott J. Mckinnon

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Book review of: Amin Ghaziani There Goes the Gayborhood? Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2014 (280 pp). ISBN 9-78069115-879-2 (hard cover) RRP $64.00.

Shading Liveable Cities: Exploring The Ecological, Financial And Regulatory Dimensions Of The Urban Tree Canopy, Nicole T. Cook, Rachel Hughes, Elizabeth Taylor, Stephen J. Livesley, Melanie Davern

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Recognising the critical role of tree cover in the context of urban resilience and vulnerability, the objective of the Shading Liveable Cities project was to better understand the different factors shaping the provision and maintenance of the urban tree canopy in suburban contexts.

Urban School Principal Rated As Highly Effective: Support And Culture For Co-Teaching, Michelle San

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The recent revisions to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) and the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) promoted a movement toward meaningful inclusion, which has led to an increase in interest in co-teaching (Friend, Cook, Hurley-Chamberlain, & Shamberger, 2010; Nichols, Dowdy, & Nichols, 2010). When co-teaching is effectively executed both students with and without disabilities benefit academically and socially (Friend & Cook, 2007). Researchers indicate that a key factor in effective co-teaching is administrative support (Friend et al.; Dieker & Murawski, 2003; Murawski & Dieker, 2008; Murawski & Dieker, 2004; Scruggs et al., 2007). …

Effectively Preparing Special Education Teachers: Success In Urban Environments, Gabrielle Siegenthaler

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This literature review examines the level of preparedness of pre-service and novice special education teachers, specifically teachers pursuing education careers within urban school districts. Research studies were reviewed to indicate what teaching methods are regarded as effective in relation to behavior management. It was found that using culturally responsive teaching has been proven to be effective within urban settings. Studies were also examined to determine if first-year teachers were well prepared and what teacher preparation programs could possibly implement to ensure that future educators are well equipped to effectively teach and manage the growing special education population of students in …