Education Commons^™

"Is Someone Reading Us?" Fourth Grade Students Respond To Postmodern Picture Books, Elizabeth Anderson Swaggerty

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this naturalistic case study was to gain understanding about the comprehension strategies successful readers employ as they construct meaning while navigating through postmodem picture books. Participants were eight fourth grade students from a large suburban elementary school in Tennessee. Data included transcripts and field notes from ten individual think aloud sessions and five group book club discussions.

Themes identified from the think aloud sessions related to the ways in which students navigated through postmodem picture books include: emotional responses, general story problem solving and postmodem story problem solving. Themes identified from the group book club discussions related …

An Historical Analysis Of The Presentation Of Controversial Issues In Journals Published By The National Council For The Social Studies (Ncss): 1973 - 2003, Kimberlee Anne Sharp

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the stance the NCSS has articulated regarding the teaching of controversial issues across a thirty – year time frame, 1973 to 2003, and to determine the extent NCSS journals presented controversial issues of importance over that period. A corollary purpose was to identify the major controversial news events for each decade in order to determine the breadth of coverage of controversial issues articles in the NCSS journals. The journals examined for this dissertation were Social Education, Social Studies and the Young Learner, and Middle Level Learning.

One thousand eight …

Secondary School Principals' Perceptions Of The Value And Impact Of High-Stakes Tests On Content And Mode Of Instruction, Clifford Davis Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Critics of government policies that expand the use of high-stakes tests in public schools claim that these tests have a negative impact on student learning. At the building level, these policies have resulted in a great deal of pressure for educators to raise student performance on these tests.

The purpose of this study was to explore secondary school principals' perceptions of the value and impact of state-mandated tests on content and mode of instruction. The entire population of 541 middle and high school principals from public schools in Tennessee was selected to participate in this study.

Secondary school principals reported …

Weaving The Threads Of Relational Connectedness Between Women: Exploring How Women Make Meaning In Their Lives Through Relationships With Other Women, Lee Ann Alley Jolley

Doctoral Dissertations

The dearth of research on women's female friendships might suggest that a woman's relationships with her girlfriends are less important than her relationships with her partner, children, or parents. Few researchers have focused on the closeness of female friendships despite the fact that those studies that have been conducted have found those friendships to be significant, and over the course of a woman's life, of great importance to her growth and development.

This study took a phenomenological approach in order to understand the lived experiences of women regarding their female friendships, focusing on how women make meaning in their lives …

Community College Students’ Perceptions Of Their Rural High School Mathematics Experience, Caroline Munn Best

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study explores mathematics education from the perspective of community college students who are recent graduates of a rural high school. The research questions relate to the students’ perception of their understanding of rural, their rural high school experience, the factors that contributed to their preparedness or lack of preparedness for college-level mathematics, and the effect that their rural education had on their preparation for college. Students enrolled in a mathematics course at a suburban community college in East Tennessee were asked to complete a survey after midterm of fall semester 2005. Information about the location of their high …

Screening Mammography Compliance In Rural And Urban Women In Tennessee, Kathleen Conroy Brown

Doctoral Dissertations

Between 1990 and 2002, breast cancer mortality rates decreased by over 2% each year. Regular screening mammography is largely credited with the decline as it permits detection of breast cancer at its most treatable stage. In the United States approximately 75% of women over forty years of age report mammography screening within the past two years. However, rates vary by age, income, education, and residence.

The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of screening mammography compliance in women living in rural and urban areas of Tennessee; as well as the associated risk factors with special emphasis on …

Parent Perspectives Of Family Involvement In Children’S Education: Doing Whatever They Think It Takes To Help Children Grow And Succeed, Regina Marie Curran

Doctoral Dissertations

Research shows that when families are involved in their children’s education, children’s academic achievement increases. However, parents’ views of their roles in their children’s education do not always mesh with what school administrators define as family involvement. The purpose of this study was to explore parents’ perspectives on involvement in their children’s education. The research question that guided this study was, “What do parents perceive family involvement in children’s education to be?” The tradition of inquiry used in this study was the grounded theory method that focuses on the emergence of a theory rather than the testing of one. Fifteen …

Portfolio-Based Writing Assessment: An Investigation Of Postsecondary Practices, Sharynn Owens Etheridge

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary focus of this study was to identify the commonalities of portfolio-based writing practices as occurs in existing literature; to determine how portfolio assessment is used in postsecondary English programs; to assess whether portfolio-based writing produced improvement in student knowledge and skills; and to determine the impact portfolio-based writing assessment has had on departmental practices. To achieve this end, the researcher designed and administered a questionnaire and conducted follow up telephone interviews with Writing Program Administrators (WPAs) at colleges and universities with established portfolio-based writing assessment programs. Follow up mailings of questionnaires, electronic mailings, and telephone calls were undertaken …

Scenes From The Margins: A Participatory Action Research Study About The Praxis Of Womanhood As A Different Way Of Working In Male-Dominated Professions, Jane Bingham Henry

Doctoral Dissertations

“Scenes from the Margins” is about the experience of women working in male-dominated jobs. Jobs are gendered. They are not gender neutral as we had supposed, as the people who hired us had supposed. Jobs that have traditionally been done by men are done in a masculine way. The masculine “way of working” is not a way that women can work: either it doesn’t fit them (as in what to wear and where’s the restroom) or it doesn’t suit them (as in not conditioned to act that way) or it represents behavior expectations contradictory to expectations for female behavior (as …

A Study Of Japanese Ell Students In Mainstream Classrooms, Kazue Fujiwara

Doctoral Dissertations

In today’s educational arena, English Language Learner (ELL) children have to exert a great deal of energy to be accepted by their mainstream peers. They often shun their primary languages and cultural practices in an effort to become assimilated into the mainstream.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current socialization practices experienced by particular Japanese ELL intermediate schoolchildren in Masonville (pseudonym), East Tennessee. Much of my interest was sparked by Vygotsky’s (1978) work on the sociality of learning. Through this qualitative research study, I was able to present an in-depth understanding of issues surrounding these children and …

An Investigation Of The Dependability And Standard Error Of Measurement Of Words Read Correctly Per Minute Using Curriculum-Based Measurement, Brian Charles Poncy

Doctoral Dissertations

Generalizability (G) theory was used in two studies to assess the variability in words correct per minute (wcpm) scores caused by student skill and passage variability. Study one was a small “n” study with a sample of 14 third-grade students and study 2 had a sample of 37 third-grade students. Reliability-like coefficients and the SEM based on a specific number of assessments using different combinations of passages demonstrated how manipulating probe variability could reduce measurement error. Results of the two studies showed that 69% and 81% of the variance was due to student skill, 20% and 10% of the variance …

Understanding The Role Of The School Resource Officer (Sro): Perceptions From Middle School Administrators And Sros, Teresa Renee Robinson

Doctoral Dissertations

The safety of school children is on the forefront of American’s minds. Recent sporadic shooting of innocent children while they were in the care of school officials is once again raising concerns about the level of safety and security on school campuses. It is apparent that it is increasingly difficult to protect these children while they are at school and it is almost impossible for school administrators to do this alone. It is essential that community leaders, school officials, and school communities acknowledge the necessity of intervention programs to ensure that school campuses are safe and secure. One such intervention …

Implementation Of A Special Education Parent Advisory Committee: A Mixed Methods Investigation Into The Members’ Experience Of Parental Involvement With The School System, Jeffrey Brian Romanczuk

Doctoral Dissertations

This research was intended as a mixed methods case study of the initial effectiveness of one school system’s Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). It was not until well into the study that it became clear the phenomenon at the root of the this research was actually the broader one of special education parental involvement in the schools, with the Rush County (a pseudonym) School System’s Department of Special Education as the case study. Although phenomenological inquiry is primary, the mixed methods research design employed included both thematic development and verification based on data obtained by both qualitative and quantitative …

The Effects Of Consumer Perceived Value And Subjective Norm On The Adoption Of Mobile Data Services: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of American And Korean Consumers, Kiseol Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

Despite the explosive growth of mobile phone subscribers and rapid adoption of mobile data services worldwide, the usage of mobile data services is highly variable across countries. This study attempted to reveal the differences in mobile data service adoption behavior between American and Korean consumers since it has been reported that the national culture and usage of mobile data services between the two countries is different, but mobile penetration rate is similar between the two countries. This study attempted to explain the differences in mobile data service adoption behavior between American and Korean consumers in regarding the effects of consumer …

Female School Superintendents In Tennessee: Overcoming Barriers, Vicki Cameron Violette

Doctoral Dissertations

The school superintendency is the most gender stratified executive position in the United States, with men 20 times more likely than women to advance from the level of teacher to the top leadership role in a school district (Skrla, 1999). Although the majority of teachers in public schools are women, the majority of superintendents are men (Bell & Chase, 1993; Blount, 1998; Brunner, 1999; Grogan, 1996; Mertz, 1991; Shakeshaft, 1989; Skrla, 1999; Young, 1999). Though women have made slight progress in moving into superintendent positions during the past few years, there is still a disproportionate under representation of females nationwide …

A Content Analysis By Political Cultures And Values Of State Compliance Documents For The Federal Legislation, No Child Left Behind, Constance Didlake Cole

Doctoral Dissertations

Education policy designed at reforming the public schools in the United States has been a central concern in the policy arena for several decades. Most of the school reform policies have not provided the desired results. The federal mandate called No Child Left Behind, signed into law in 2002, promised school reform for all fifty states in terms of accountability for the achievement of all students, improvement of teacher quality, empowerment of parents, and promotion of school safety.

The intent of this study was to analyze state educational documents that have been developed to comply with the No Child …

Teachers' Classroom Food-Related Practices And Perceptions Of The School Nutrition Environment, Marsha Lynn Spence

Doctoral Dissertations

Objective: This research project consisted of three studies designed to investigate intermediate school teachers’ classroom food-related practices and perceptions of the school nutrition environment

Setting: The setting for this project was a rural county in the southern region of East Tennessee

Design: This project used a mixed-methods approach to investigate teachers’ food-related practices and perceptions of the school nutrition environment, including grounded theory methodology, secondary data analysis, and a cross-sectional survey.

Analyses: For the first study, the transcribed data were coded using open, axial, and selective coding and constant comparison of data. For the second study, descriptive and inferential statistics …

Instructional Leadership And Academic Performance In Tennessee High Schools, Denise Minton Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

During this era of high academic accountability, principals are expected to be learning leaders and to orchestrate their schools' academic improvement. Despite these high expectations, few studies have linked principal instructional leadership behavior with student academic achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine if differences in instructional leadership behavior existed between principals of high-achieving, high-performing, low-achieving, and low-performing schools.

The population of this study was public high school principals in Tennessee. Two hundred seventy-six (276) principals whose schools' State of Tennessee Report Cards contained three years of academic achievement and academic performance data were surveyed using the Principal …

Attachment Styles And Use Of Defense Mechanisms: A Study Of The Adult Attachment Projective And Cramer's Defense Mechanism Scale, Paul Matthew Hoffman

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between adult attachment and maturity of defense mechanisms. 100 undergraduate students were given both the Adult Attachment Projective (AAP) and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), which was scored for defense mechanism use with Cramer's Defense Mechanism Manual (DMM).

The AAP's four scoring categories were condensed into two groups reflecting secure and insecure attachment. These were then compared to the three levels of defenses that the DMM scores for: denial, projection, and identification. These defenses exist on a hierarchy with denial being the most primitive and identification being the most mature. …

Crises, Deficits, And Ideologies In The Congressional Debates Of The Nclb: How Presidential Influence Impacted Early Childhood Education Initiatives, Winnifred Diane Hall

Doctoral Dissertations

The No Child Left: Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, was proposed by President George W. Bush in January 2001, debated by the 107^th Congress of the United States throughout the following spring, and signed into law on January 8, 2002. The need for reform was predicated on the belief that there was a crisis in education and that our schools were failing to adequately prepare children to succeed and compete on a global level. Reading was singled out as a particular area of concern that the new legislation would address. This qualitative study sought to discover how the Bush …

Using A Previewing Strategy To Enhance Reading Comprehension Of Secondary Students, Ashley Delores Williams

Doctoral Dissertations

A multiple-baseline-across-participants design was used to evaluate the effects of the TELLS procedure on reading comprehension levels, reading comprehension rates, and words correct per minute on previewed and un-previewed passages in three ninth-grade students with reading skills deficits. Results showed an immediate increase from baseline to intervention phases across all three students and dependent variables. However, these increases were not maintained. Effect sizes across all three students were from moderate to large, suggesting that the TELLS procedure had an affect on reading comprehension levels and rates, as well as words correct per minute. Thus, the TELLS procedure is an effective …

Interdependent Group Contingencies With Randomly Selected Components Applied To Class-Wide Performance In The Accelerated Reader Program, Danielle Nicole Pappas

Doctoral Dissertations

The Accelerated Reader (A/R) program is a computer-based reading program employed by numerous school systems that provides comprehension quizzes over 10,000 books that have been rated for difficulty level. The quiz information is used to provide feedback to educators. The A/R program is designed to incorporate the elements of choice and reinforcement. Despite the research that supports the use of choice and reinforcement to increase academic behaviors, the A/R reading program has not been successful in increasing the sustained silent reading behaviors of all students enrolled in the schools using this program.

The use of group contingencies has been effective …

The Impact Of Societal Values On Kuwaiti Women And The Role Of Education, Zaha F. M. M. Alsuwailan

Doctoral Dissertations

Schools, as vital transmitters of societal values, help to shape students’ values and personalities. In Kuwait, female students are subjected to a continuous stream of messages from teachers and textbooks regarding the social roles they are expected to occupy. The school system, however, is a reflection of a larger Kuwaiti society that emphasizes the value of appropriate gender roles. This societal norm has its roots in Kuwait’s history and past traditions. In order to understand the effects of this value on Kuwaiti women, I have probed the past of Kuwait while tracing the ways in which the roles of Kuwaiti …

Developing Math Automaticity Using A Classwide Fluency Building Procedure For Students With Varying Processing Speeds, Philip K. Axtell

Doctoral Dissertations

In order to investigate the influence of a with-in child variable (e.g., cognitive processes) and an external variable (e.g., particular intervention) on the acquisition of math fluency, or automaticity, a Detect, Prompt, Repair (DPR) treatment procedure was employed (external variable) for students with varying processing speed scores (internal variable). Forty-five students were randomly assigned to either the experimental group (DPR math intervention) or the control group (reading intervention) according to a true experimental design. After covarying pre-test scores, the DPR treatment produced a significantly higher (p = .016) adjusted mean math scores (M = 47.53, SD = 3.26) …

Relationship Of Service Coordinators’ Family-Centered Service Delivery And Maternal Empowerment In Tennessee’S Early Intervention System, Fred W. Coulter

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to assess mothers’ perceptions of family- centered practices and how these practices influenced their feelings of empowerment. The review of literature included examining the basis for family-centered practices and the conceptualization of empowerment. Twelve studies that reported a relationship between family-centered practices and empowerment were reviewed in detail.

The current study was conducted as a component of the Pathways to Family Empowerment Project, whose purpose is to evaluate service delivery and family empowerment of Tennessee’s Early Intervention System. The collected data were responses of 370 mothers to the Family-Centered Program Rating Scale (FamPRS) …

Teachers’ Awareness Of Making Decisions For Their Classrooms, Mary Kathryn Fitzgerald

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to achieve an understanding of the lived experiences of teachers’ awareness of making decisions for their classrooms, by using phenomenological methods involving dialogic interviews and hermeneutic analysis of the resulting texts. Eight early childhood teachers participated in open-ended interviews during which they were asked to describe specific times when they were aware of making decisions for their classrooms. The findings indicated that the teachers in this study were aware of (1) the multiple facets of the process of deciding, (2) the self as decision-maker, and (3) the constraints and possibilities found in individual teaching …

Measuring The Safety Climate Of Steel Mini-Mill Workers Using An Instrument Validated By Structural Equation Modeling, Michael Edward Hall

Doctoral Dissertations

The research study entitled "Measuring the Safety Climate of Steel Mini-Mill Workers using an Instrument Validated by Structural Equation Modeling" created and field tested a new theory based safety climate instrument validated by structural equation modeling. The study also established an employee safety climate profile at three steel mini-mill locations in the United States. The safety culture of the employees and subcontractors at three locations was measured using the newly created Hall Safety Climate Instrument. The instrument was designed to measure safety climate of an organization where employees are required to practice a high level of safety skills and consistently …

A Mode Comparison Between Mailed And Internet Surveys, Craig T. Laymen

Doctoral Dissertations

This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted as a mode experiment using a questionnaire to collect data on student technology usage at a small, private Christian College. The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze response rates and times from a self-administered questionnaire delivered by Internet or mail. Follow-up interviews reported reasons why participants did not respond. Two randomly selected samples (stratified by traditional and adult categories) were assigned to receive the questionnaire by mail or Internet. Randomization for each sample was proportional, based on key variables used in the study. The first sample (traditional category) consisted of 124 …

The Taped-Problems Intervention: Increasing Multiplication Fact Fluency Using A Low-Tech Time Delay Intervention, Elizabeth Mccallum

Doctoral Dissertations

Fluency, the ability to respond both accurately and rapidly is a crucial step in skill development (Haring & Eaton, 1978). Fluency is important from a variety of theoretical viewpoints. A cognitive processing model suggests that being automatic with respect to a particular task allows one to free up cognitive resources (i.e., working memory) for more difficult aspects of the task. A behavioral approach suggests that fluency allows for more opportunities to respond within a given timeframe and therefore more opportunities to gain reinforcement. Finally, from a choice theory perspective, students are more likely to choose to engage in tasks that …

Specialized Understanding Of Mathematics: A Study Of Prospective Elementary Teachers, Margaret Viola Moss

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation study informs the field on how, when and where a specialized understanding of math (SUM) might be developed within a teacher education program by focusing on the three following research questions and related methodology.

1) What are the strengths and weaknesses in prospective elementary teacher’s specialized understanding of mathematics as they enter their mathematics methods course?

The Number and Operation and Geometry items from the Content Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics instruments, which have been developed at The University of Michigan’s Learning Mathematics for Teaching Project, were administered to 244 prospective elementary teachers at four universities during the first …