Education Commons^™

The Journeys Of Six Mom Pedagogues: Enacting Personal Convictions And Disrupting The Status Quo, Macy Halladay

Doctoral Dissertations

Home education or “homeschooling” began to re-emerge in the late 1960’s in the US, parallel to civil rights initiatives and shifting educational policies (Murphy, 2014). Nevertheless, few studies have been dedicated to examining the lives and practices of homeschool parents (Goldberg, 2021; Lois, 2006; Ray, 2021). Rather, topics have centered on homeschool demographics, academic outcomes, and challenges (Hauseman, 2011; Isenberg, 2007; Lines, 2000; Shepherd, 2010).

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the lived experiences of six homeschool mothers’ everyday lives and the meanings assigned to their pedagogical decisions and related feelings in their journeys of becoming Mom …

What Am I Reading To My Students? A Critical Content Analysis Of Best-Selling Latinx Children's Picture Books, Amy Maples

Doctoral Dissertations

Diversity in children’s literature has been explored significantly within the past several decades. For Latinx children’s books, scholars have found issues surrounding representation and authenticity. Books involving Latinx stories and themes are underrepresented in the publishing industry, and portrayals of Latinx individuals and groups are often stereotypical and culturally inauthentic. This study sought to contribute to the research base surrounding representation in Latinx children’s literature by critically analyzing narratives and themes in best-selling Latinx children’s picture books. Using a qualitative critical content analysis guided by Latinx Critical Theory and Critical Whiteness Studies, I examined the top ten best-selling Latinx children’s …

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 …

Investigating The Existence Of Word Callers, Rhonda Rae Dejournett

Doctoral Dissertations

Numerous investigations of reading ability have identified students who demonstrate adequate oral reading fluency rates but fail to reflect understanding on measures of reading comprehension (Buly & Valencia, 2002; Catts, Compton, Tomblin, & Bridges, 2012; Hamilton & Shinn, 2003; Jenkins, Hudson, & Johnson, 2007; Jorm, 1983; Meisinger, Bradley, Schwanenflugel, Kuhn, & Morris, 2009; Morris, 1998; Torppa et al., 2007). This group of struggling readers is sometimes referred to as word callers; however, there has been debate among scholars (Hamilton & Shinn, 2003; Stanovich, 1993) regarding whether such a group exists, if the term is a misnomer (Spencer, Quinn, & Wagner, …

Exploring A Semi-Virtual Reality System Impacting Learning Curves Of College Students, Hongbiao Yang

Doctoral Dissertations

Virtual reality (VR) is a trending technology used in a broad range of fields including education and has become one of the most promising directions for educators. In this research, the investigation focuses on how the semi-immersive VR application can be used for educational purposes by exploring the VR factors and the interactions between these factors. A theoretical learning framework is also proposed to offer an explanation for the beneficial effects of education brought by VR at a high level.

This research consists of three parts. First, this research will introduce the development of Walk-in-Place Learning System (WIPLS), a semi-immersive …

Expert Elementary Readers: A Profile Of Reading Proficiency, Shelley Watson Burton

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined, through think-aloud protocols, the metacognitive processes that proficient fourth-grade readers use while they read to explore what types of thinking are present in successful elementary-school readers. Using an embedded mixed methods design, I studied the reported thinking processes of 12 proficient, fourth-grade readers to determine what these readers reported thinking as they read informational texts and what types of patterns were evident in their thinking. Several common themes emerged from the analysis of the students’ think-alouds and the findings indicated that the participants applied multiple, similar reading strategies while reading to aid their comprehension.

Viewing Power, Politics, And Loss: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of The Mass Media’S Representations Of Teacher Unions In The United States And The Consequences Concerning Policy, Melissa Ann Harness

Doctoral Dissertations

From 2011 to 2012, in Wisconsin, Governor Scott Walker and legislative republicans passed ACT- 10, a law severely limiting public sector/teachers union’s collective bargaining rights. This legislative effort shocked the nation with the bold move toward stricter regulations concerning the public sector, as Wisconsin is historically one of the most progressive states concerning labor within the United States. Teachers unions within the state took ACT-10 as an assault on their very profession. Shortly before the passing of the act, sit-ins and protests abounded within the capital of Madison that caught attention from both the local and national media.

To answer …

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 Impact Of Stability Ball Seating On Behavior And Academic Achievement Among Elementary School Students In Grades 1 Through 4., Sheila R. Borders

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was designed to answer three questions: 1) What is the impact of stability ball seating on the behavior of students in grades 1 through 4? 2) What is the impact of stability ball seating on the mathematics scores of students in grades 1 through 4? and 3) What is the impact of stability ball seating on the reading scores of students in grades 1 through 4? Research has shown that stability ball seating is linked to behavior and academic achievement among students diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study examines the …

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 …

Examining The Relationships Among Parents’ Perceptions Of Their Children’S Special Educational Needs, Their Beliefs About Parental Involvement, And Their Decision To Homeschool, Mary Lee Morse

Doctoral Dissertations

The school choice option of homeschooling has grown rapidly over the past two decades. An estimated 1.77 million K-12 students in the United States (3.4% of the total school-age population) were being homeschooled during the 2011-2012 school year. The purpose of this study was to gather data from homeschooling parents that would contribute to the understanding of parental involvement with school choice and of parental involvement with educational organizations. More specifically, this study determined the proportion of families in the sample (N = 333) who had children enrolled in public or private school before making the decision to homeschool …

Gender In Head Start Preschool Classrooms: Children's Experiences And Teachers' Perceptions, Swapna Anil Purandare

Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers who have studied the process of socialization have found that preschool is one of the first social exposures to direct teaching of societal norms including norms about gender-roles. Further, it has been found that there is a difference in teachers’ behavior toward boys and girls in preschool classrooms but most studies on gender differences in preschool classrooms have been conducted with middle-class populations. Thus, the primary purpose of this study was to examine how preschool age children from low-income families (in Head Start) might have different experiences in their classrooms depending on their gender.

In order to achieve the …

Thinking And Reading Among College Undergraduates: An Examination Of The Relationship Between Critical Thinking Skills And Voluntary Reading, Kimberly Tanner Hawkins

Doctoral Dissertations

Many scholars have weighed in on what it means to think critically. Although there has not been agreement on a clear definition for the term “critical thinking,” scholars have agreed on some common skills involved in critical thinking. These skills—inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, analysis, evaluation, and inference are the same ones involved in the ability to read and read well. While many studies have involved critical thinking in college students, none has examined critical thinking and its relationship to reading. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between voluntary reading, academic achievement (as measured by GPA), …

Self-Direction And Technology Use Among New Workforce Entrants, Lila Louise Holt

Doctoral Dissertations

With the knowledge age evolving, colleges and universities should be ever vigilant to assure that the pedagogies practiced are adequately preparing future workers with skills required to keep pace (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006). Business managers have identified self-direction and technology use as increasingly important in the 21^st century (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2006), yet a gap in research of pedagogies that advance self-directedness and promote technology use has been found. To help identify new pedagogies, the purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between self-directed learning (SDL) and technology use of people …

The Relationship Between Racial Identity And The Socialization Of Black Ph.D. Students At Predominantly White Institutions, Ferlin Garbe Mcgaskey

Doctoral Dissertations

Successful graduate student socialization has been characterized as the acceptance and adoption of disciplinary values and beliefs into the students’ identity (Bragg, 1976; Weidman, Twale, & Stein, 2001). Some scholars assert that assimilating the values and beliefs of the discipline may be difficult for Blacks students as their cultural beliefs and values may be incongruent (Antony, 2002; Tierney & Rhoads, 1994). Surprisingly, there appears to be no empirical studies exploring this assertion for Black Ph.D. students. The purpose of this study was to determine if cultural beliefs and values influence the socialization experiences of Black Ph.D. students. Specifically, using racial …

In Their Own Words: Perspectives On Hbcu Institutional Quality From Hbcu Administrators, Chutney Nichole Walton

Doctoral Dissertations

College rankings such as US News & World Report (USNWR) are used as benchmarks for measuring quality in higher education (McManus-Howard, 2002). These ranking systems utilize traditional measures of academic excellence such as academic reputation, student selectivity, and financial resources, to assess institutional quality in higher education, which appear to disadvantage institutions with specialized missions such as historically Black colleges and universities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe indicators of the institutional quality of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as identified by administrators at four different HBCUs.

Data were collected from 12 in-depth interviews with administrators …

"Expanding Horizons": Examining Master’S Level Counseling Students’ Experiences With Mentors, Shelley Elizabeth Salter

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the experiences of master’s level counseling students who have a counselor education faculty member as their mentor. Seven master’s level counseling students between the ages of 25-30, from a state university, voluntarily participated in this study. Participants were six female students and one male student. Four participants were mental health counseling majors, while three were school counseling majors. Data were collected through a demographic survey and semi-structured interviews. Three themes were developed based on participants’ experiences. They were (1) “going above and beyond,” (2) “guide you and explore options,” and (3) …

A Comparison Of The Wellness Levels Of Victims Of Domestic Violence With A Local Female Population, Tara Zeruie Harvey

Doctoral Dissertations

This research project is an investigation into the wellness levels of victims of domestic violence. Wellness was measured using the Five Factor Wellness Assessment by Meyers and Sweeney (2005). The research is grounded in a theoretical trifecta comprised of the works of Alfred Adler, Hiram Maslow and the global concept of wellness as defined by Jane Meyers and Thomas Sweeney. An exploratory factor analysis was run on the Five Factor Wellness Assessment to assess the goodness of fit for the population being studied. Wellness levels were assessed upon intake into a domestic violence shelter and compared with the national normative …

“Holla If You Hear Me”: A Conversation With Black, Inner-City Youth On Career Preparedness Programs, Theressa N. Cooper

Doctoral Dissertations

This research study specifically addressed; how vocational preparedness programs effect the career aspirations of Black youth, within the context of the Middle Tennessee Council Boy Scouts of America’s Exploring program. The goal of this research is to represent Black youth participating in a vocational preparedness program. Interviews, journals, and rich, thick descriptions are utilized in this work.

Using the lens of narrative inquiry and cultural studies, I hoped to further the field of career development through the experiences of some of its key players, African American youth. Within the context of their stories five major themes surfaced around the ideas: …

The Effects Of The Interspersal Procedure On Persistence With Computer-Delivered Multiplication Problems, Emily R. Kirk

Doctoral Dissertations

An across-subjects, post-test only design was used in two experiments to assess the impact of interspersing additional math problems (i.e., briefer problems and/or longer problems) among target math problems on students’ persistence when completing computer-delivered math multiplication problems. In Experiment 1, high school students who worked only target problems completed 32% more target problems and worked 22% longer than those who had briefer problems interspersed. Problem completion rates were significantly higher for those who had briefer problems interspersed. These results suggest that altering assignments by interspersing additional, briefer discrete tasks does not always enhance, and in some instances may hinder …

Revisiting The Iceberg: A Study Of Technology, Self-Direction, And The Learning Projects Of Small Business Owners, John David Harrison

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine and describe the learning projects of a selected sample of small business owners in a community in the Southeastern United States. The study included the revision and modernization of Tough’s (1971) Learning Project Interview Schedule. A total of 35 small business owners were interviewed using a modified version of Tough’s Learning Project Interview Schedule. The schedule consisted of 10 learning project and seven demographic items that were adapted or created by a collaborative research team at the University of Tennessee using Tough’s (1971) Interview Schedule. Data revealed that participants had a …

An Exploration Of The Relationships Among Wellness, Spirituality, And Personal Dispositions Of Practicing Professional Counselors, Laura Marinn Pierce

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between wellness, spirituality, and personal dispositions of practicing professional counselors. A sequential, mixed-methods case study design was utilized to achieve this purpose. Thirty professional counselors completed three assessment instruments measuring wellness, spirituality, and personal dispositions. Five of these counselors also participated in the qualitative portion of the study. This included the review of photographs of their offices and copies of their résumés and professional disclosure statements as well as participation in a telephone interview.

Following the use of Pearson Product Correlations to analyze relationships in the data from the assessment …

For A Moment I Feel Free: Homeless Women And A Garden-Based Learning Program, Catherine Ann Pierce

Doctoral Dissertations

A recent study conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2007) concluded that in January 2005 at least 754,147 people were homeless on an average day. Families with children are the fastest-growing sector of the homeless population and comprise 40% of the homeless population. Most of these families are headed by single women and reside in shelters rather than on the streets. Loss of one’s home, the conditions of shelter life, and the physical and sexual abuse that often precipitate homelessness result in diminished self-efficacy and hope. There is an urgent need to mitigate the psychological traumas …

A Conversation Between Confucius And Dewey On Individual And Community — A Hope For Human Unity, Hongmei Peng

Doctoral Dissertations

The relationship between 'individual' and 'community', or others, is a focal concern in philosophy both in China and in the Euro-western world. Individualism and collectivism, the two entirely different traditions of philosophy that describe a different relationship between 'individual' and 'community', have a long polemic history and are still practiced in our everyday lives. They play an essential role in schools in terms of the way teachers teach our children and relationships children develop with their classmates. This dissertation is a philosophical comparative effort to explore the conceptions of individual and community, and the relationship between the two in Confucian …