Education Commons^™

“In The Skin I’M In…I Represent A Different Version Of What Help Looks Like:” Black Women Sport Psychology Professional’S Experiences In Applied Sport Psychology, Sharon R. Couch

Doctoral Dissertations

Black Feminist Applied Sport Psychology (BFASP) is a culturally inclusive theoretical framework for centering Black women’s experiences in applied sport psychology (Carter et al., 2020; Couch et al., 2022). For the past two decades, (White) Feminist applied sport psychology professionals (FASPPs) described the experiences of Black women as unique but were overlooked in research and participant pools due to the prioritization of White women's and Black male sport experiences. (Carter & Davila, 2017; Carter & Prewitt-White, 2014; Gill, 2020; Hyman et al., 2021). The purpose of this study was to explore the life and work experiences of BASPPs (i.e., faculty, …

The Policy Feedback Loop: Exploring English Learner (El) Policy, Policy Implementation, And The Relationship Between Policy, Research, And Practice, Nathan D. Koerber

Doctoral Dissertations

This study will explore the EL policy implementation process and offer evaluative feedback by systematically reviewing the history of US federal educational language policy and its impact on schools and classrooms, as well as the role research, has played in the development of EL policy. Additionally, this study will explore how current language policy implementation impacts programming and practices in both the UK and the US through two separate case studies, as a means of providing evaluative feedback on the policies.

The purpose of this study is to elucidate the complicated history of EL policy and its impact, as well …

Cover, Copy, And Compare: An Effective Strategy For Asl Acquisition For Students With Dyslexia?, Sara Evans

Doctoral Dissertations

A single subject, multiple baseline study was designed to determine the benefits of Skinner’s Cover, Copy, Compare (CCC) intervention for students with dyslexia who are learning American Sign Language. (ASL). The number of educational institutions offering ASL as a foreign language is on the rise; ASL has become the third most taught language in the U.S. (Mitchell, 2006). However, there is a misconception that it is an easier language to learn than orthographic languages. In fact, ASL is a complex language with its own grammatical rules including complex syntax and semantics. Learning a visual language may present a unique challenge …

The Use Of Ell Specific Assessment Accommodations: A Comparative Case Study Of Classroom Practices, Natalia Yeremina Ward

Doctoral Dissertations

Access and equity of instructional and assessment practices used with English Language Learners (ELLs) have been in the forefront of educational research. In recent years, the developments in computerized assessment design and the prevalence of Universal Design for Learning have complicated the already complex terrain of literacy and language instruction and assessment of ELLs. Within this context, the present study focuses on the daily experiences of two third-grade ELLs in a small city school system in the southeast United States. Through classroom observations, interviews with teachers and administrators, and document analysis, this comparative ethnographic case study aims to explore systematic …

Siwi In An Itinerant Teaching Setting: Contextual Factors Impacting Instruction, Rachel Machelle Saulsburry

Doctoral Dissertations

In the last 40 years, there has been a shift in where deaf and hard-of-hearing (d/hh) students have been educated (Foster & Cue, 2009), with a majority of d/hh students now spending at least part of their school day in the general education classroom instead of residential or day-schools for the deaf. Many of these students receive specialized support from an itinerant teacher. D/hh children have unique language needs due to their access (or lack thereof) to natural language for acquisition purposes. Insufficient access to language, ASL or English, may be due to: delays in identification and/or amplification, auditory input …

The State Of Inclusive Practices For English Learners In Georgia’S Elementary Schools: A Mixed Methods Study Of The Esol Push-In Model, Eileen Pabilona Galang

Doctoral Dissertations

One of the school restructuring efforts in English as a Second Language education has been inclusion, like the “push-in” model (Platt et al., 2003). In the push-in model, English Learners (ELs) remain in their core academic classes instead of being “pulled out” for language instruction by the English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher. In addition, ELs receive content area instruction from their General Education (Gen Ed) classroom teacher for reading, language arts, mathematics, science, or social studies in the push-in setting (Alston et al., 2014).While push-in and collaborative teaching models are widely implemented, these collaborations between and among …

Positionality And Its Effects On Pedagogy: Examining The Identity Categories Of Race, Class, And Gender Of English As A Second Language (Esl) Preservice Teachers., Hollie Marie Nawrocki

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the identity categories of race, class, and gender in preservice teachers, and how the nexus of those identities impacts their teaching practices, especially when teaching English Language Learners (ELLs). The topic of teacher beliefs of preservice teachers has been well researched. However, there were gaps in the literature concerning the positionality of preservice teachers with specific regard to race, class, and gender. This study sought to address gaps in the existing literature by examining the participant perceptions of race, class, and gender of preservice English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers and …

Urban Elementary Teachers’ Perspectives And Practices, Meredith Elise Murray

Doctoral Dissertations

Urban teachers alone cannot solve the complex social and economic problems that plague urban communities and schools; however, their efforts to effectively educate inner-city youth can begin to break the cycle of disadvantage. Therefore, urban teachers’ perspectives are essential in understanding the process of effectively instructing urban youth. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives and practices of five urban educators through a postpositive theoretical lens. Participants for this study were five urban educators kindergarten through fourth grade, all of whom were teaching at one urban school. The participating teachers were chosen by criterion sampling with the …

(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 …

Decolonial Multiculturalism And Local-Global Contexts: A Postcritical Feminist Bricolage For Developing New Praxes In Education, Katharine Matthaei Sprecher

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents a conceptual bricolage that explores complex, reflexive, and interrelated dimensions of educational praxes. My work is grounded in the assertion that the ever-changing, local-global nature of contemporary societies requires new approaches to curricula, pedagogies, policies, and practices in U.S. schools to meet the challenges and opportunities of a global era. Presenting my research and findings as four articles, I begin with a dialectical analysis of theoretical and pedagogical literatures to develop an adaptable framework for decolonial multicultural education. In Article 1, I demonstrate how this framework synergizes aspects of social reconstructionist and critical multicultural, global, and …

Toward A Philosophy Of Race In Education, Corey V Kittrell

Doctoral Dissertations

There is a tendency in education theory to place the focus on the consequences of racial hegemony (racism, Eurocentric education, low performance by racial minorities) and ignore that race is antecedent to these consequences. This dissertation explores the treatment of race within critical theory in education. I conduct a metaphysical analysis to examine the race concept as it emerges from the works of various critical theorists in education. This examination shows how some scholars affirm the scientifically discredited race concept by offering racial essentialist approaches for emancipatory education. I argue that one of consequences of these approaches is the further …

Teachers’ Experience Of Working With Underachieving Students: A Comparative Phenomenological Study Of Teachers In South Africa, Russia, And The United States, Maria J. Oreshkina

Doctoral Dissertations

This research project presents three phenomenological studies: (1) teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in South Africa, (2) teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in Russia, and (3) teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in the United States. It also involves a comparative study of teachers’ experience of working with underachieving students in the three countries. All teacher participants in these studies were recommended as expert teachers who displayed qualities of teacher professionalism such as (1) commitment to learners; (2) the ability to make decisions in complex and ill-defined contexts; (3) reflective practice; and (4) a body …