Education Commons^™

The Relationship Between Role Models, Socioeconomic Mobility Beliefs, And Academic Outcomes, Christian Koeu, Marisol Espinoza Garcia

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Objective: This study aims to provide insights into the relationships between role models, socioeconomic mobility beliefs and the education outcomes of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. While previous studies highlight the positive influence of role models on academic and career aspirations, the specific relationship between role models and socioeconomic beliefs remains unexplored. Our study addresses this gap by examining whether the presence of role models relates with more optimistic socioeconomic beliefs and how these beliefs, in turn, affect academic outcomes (academic engagement, academic intentions, and grade point average [GPA]). Additionally, we investigate the influence of role model characteristics to …

Parity In Higher Education In Prison Programs: Does It Exist?, Michael Lee Griggs, Vianey Luna

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The expansion of college-in-prison (CIP) programs, especially in California, where incarcerated college enrollment increased from 11,472 students to over 15,000 in two years, has spotlighted higher education for incarcerated individuals. This increase, supported by legislation that expands funding for CIP programs and allows time off sentences for successful course/degree completion, is further bolstered by the restoration of Federal Pell funding for incarcerated students after a 28-year ban. Despite the acknowledged benefits of CIP programs in reducing recidivism and enhancing post-release outcomes, existing research highlights the need for additional exploration into the quality of CIP programs. Senate Bill 416 further emphasizes …

We Want It That Way: Post-Traditional Transfer Student Advising Expectations As They Transition To The Four-Year University, Jessica Davis

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Post-traditional students (typically defined as individuals who are at least 25 years of age, have experienced a gap in their educational journey, care for dependents, and who generally work full time [American Council on Education, 2022]), represented 35% of the post-secondary undergraduate population enrolled full time at four-year universities in the United States during the Fall 2019 term (NCES, 2020). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of post-traditional transfer students and how their community college advising experience may have shaped/informed their advising expectations at their current university. Data was collected from six participants who …

A Mixed Methods Design Exploring Factors And Experiences Of Ed.D. Graduates And Time To Degree, Brian Willess

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In higher education, the extended time-to-degree of doctoral students creates a gap between those who graduate on time and those who do not. This delay is due to program structures, relationships, and dissertation writing. Academic success requires timely program completion and increases career opportunities for graduates. A long time to degree increases the risk of non-completion, especially during dissertations. Attrition, persistence, and dropping out have been studied, but why students graduate on time needs more examination. Most studies focus on Ph.D. students and programs with different requirements and time-to-degree, so new research must include Ed.D. students and examine doctoral graduates' …

Vamos A Pláticar: The Sense-Making Process Of Career Services Practitioners At California Community Colleges In A Guided Pathways Epoch, Claudia Estrada-Howell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The California Community College system and its vision for success, which includes a focus on increasing students' degree and certificate completion, as well as increasing the percentage of existing Career and Technical Education students who report being employed in their field of study is highlighted. To help support these goals, the California Community College System has adopted the Guided Pathways framework. This framework requires all campuses to fundamentally redesign their programs and support services to ensure they are clear, more educationally coherent pathways to credentials that in turn prepare students for success in the workforce and further education. To do …

The Relationship Between Covid-19, Student-Parent Gpa, And Childcare Needs, Karina Ventura

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Being a college student comes with its responsibilities and challenges. Additionally, being a parent also comes with responsibilities and challenges. For those who classify as both student and parents, there is double the work. The student-parent population in colleges has increased over the past few years and it is important to ensure that their support needs, such as childcare, are taken into consideration. When the COVID-19 pandemic shifted learning to online and childcare centers shut down, student-parents felt the consequences. The purpose of this study was to examine how a student-parent support program (CCAMPIS) impacted academic progress and persistence from …

Transforming Black Students’ Higher Education Experiences And Lives: A Proposal For The Csu, Don Lundy

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

For decades, a racial “achievement gap” has persisted in U.S. higher education. Specifically, White students have outperformed Black students on a number of indicators, including college admissions, standardized test scores, and graduation rates. This graduate project considers several explanations for this persistent inequity. The root of the problem, it argues, is U.S. higher education’s history of racism and exclusion and the oversaturation of whiteness in these institutions. In other words, U.S. higher education was built for and continues to serve White students at the expense of Black students. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) show us that when whiteness is …

The Role Undocumented Student Resource Centers Play In Supporting Undocumented Students In Higher Education, Cynthia Boyzo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Undocumented Students face many challenges in their daily lives. Accessing higher education is a challenge alone. Many undocumented students get discouraged to attend higher education due to financial constraints. The students that do attend institutions for higher education encounter different challenges. According to Murillo (2017), 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school each year nationwide; however, only half (49%) attain a degree or enroll in college. Many institutions have developed Undocumented Student Resource Centers to provide a safe and welcoming environment for undocumented students. The purpose of this study explored how Undocumented Student Resource Centers support undocumented students throughout their …

Experiences Of Latina Student Mothers In The Transfer Pipeline: An Interpretive Phenomonological Analysis, Aurora Vilchis

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Characteristics of who today’s college student is has drastically changed over the years with more students over age 25, may have dependents, employed full-time, attending school part time and likely a parent. These students are known as post-traditional students who make up 85% of undergraduates nationwide. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand the experiences of Latina students, who are mothers, and have successfully transferred from a community college designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) to a four-year public higher education institution also designated as an HSI. Data was collected from eleven participants who shared their experiences …

Language Ideologies In First Year Composition Textbooks, Joanna Clevenger

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This thesis examines how standard language ideologies are perpetuated in the five most frequently assigned first year composition textbooks from four higher education institutions in Southern California’s Inland Empire. Standard language ideologies position one variation of a language as superior, correct, appropriate and the normal variation of a language which everyone should be able to speak. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, the five textbooks were analyzed in order to uncover the embedded power and hegemony over women, people of color, and those from a lower socioeconomic status which are prevalent throughout society because they are unchallenged and widely accepted as the …

Radicalizing First Year Composition: A Novice Educator’S Venture Into Revolutionary Teaching, Xochilt Trujillo Flores

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

­­This project is based on my experiences and reflections as a novice instructor on implementing educational practices which center a critical, feminist, anti-racist pedagogical approach in a first year composition course. Using my own experiences of teaching FYC as a central focus, this project will collect data through teacher-reflective journals. Those journals will be focused on how radical pedagogy shapes my approaches to teaching and how I experience/implement that approach in my day-to-day practices. In doing so, this project aims to address the persistent gap between theory and practice, particularly in the context of novice educators’ experiences in a …

Welcoming Families With Children To Csusb: Making An Intergenerational Difference, Leslie Leach

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Coming back to school after a gap in your education can be a daunting task. For students with children (SWC), the undertaking has different challenges than their classmates. Providing resources geared towards their success plays a significant role in the student's ability to complete their education. It also allows the SWC to feel a sense of belonging within their institution of higher learning. This project analyzes other California State Universities' family housing programs to advocate a similar program at California State University, San Bernardino. Using the Communication Theory of Identity (CTI) and Organizational Identity (OI), I can illustrate how resources …

Enhancing The Relationship Between Students And Teachers In A Socially Distanced World By Humanizing Online Education: A Guide For Higher Education Instructors, Gilma Linette Ramirez Reyes

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

To maintain and continue to build long-lasting professional, educational, and personal relationships, this project provides a formal academic way of teaching for instructors, but it also that reflects what the heart of teaching should be about. It shows how instructors can facilitate care and demonstrate genuine positive intentions to their students when facilitating learning in an online environment. This goes beyond the only course content materials presented and moves to an educational experience that is cultivated through the student-instructor community.

The humanizing approach to online instruction for this project is defined as the center of communication and presence which includes …

Exploring Latinx Alumni Donor Motivations At Hispanic Serving Institutions, Monica Alejandre

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Higher education is a funding priority every state should invest in. However, the great recession of 2008 left a catastrophic impact on how public universities in the United States are funded thus mobilizing higher education institutions to seek external support. This focus has led to public universities developing advancement programs to cultivate and solicit alumni support. With the average alumni giving rate at 10% across the nation and 2.8% more specifically for HSIs, and more Latinx students graduating with their bachelor’s degrees, it is important for universities to understand philanthropic motivations among their Latinx alumni population.

This study explored Latinx …

These Hips Don’T Lie: Examining The Engagement Of Latina/O Students Participating In High-Impact Practice Service-Learning Projects At A Hispanic Serving Institution, Felix Zuniga

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

While college access has been improved for Latina/o students, there is still the challenge of graduating Latina/o students with equitable academic outcomes (Bates et al., 2018). Hispanic-Serving Institutions are the sites that enroll the majority (67%) of Latina/o students in college; two out of three Latina/o students attend these broad-access, open-enrollment, minority-serving institutions known as HSIs (Excelencia, 2021). Universities across the United States are aware of the changing demographics of higher education but are slow to change policies and practices to become “student-ready” (McNair et al., 2016). Critical research on how Latina/o students experience higher education practices for student retention, …

Si Se Puente! Validation And Puentistas Beyond Undergraduate Studies: Sustaining Latina/O/X College Achievement, Frances Valdovinos

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Latina/o/x are the fastest growing group in the United States and in the state of California. Higher education has also encountered a growth in Latina/o/x students pursuing higher education. Yet, despite this continuous rise higher education is less likely to retain the Latina/o/x student population. The purpose of this interpretive phenomenology study was to discover what factors of the Puente Program supported and prepared the Latina/o/x participants in facilitating transfer and college achievement during their undergraduate studies. Through the use of validation theory and the lived experiences of the participants, this study allows for a better understanding of the way …

Validating And Culturally Responsive Pedagogies: Examining The Effects Of First-Year Seminar Course Redesign At A Hispanic-Serving Institution, Joanna M. Oxendine

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

A substantial amount of research exists regarding the efficacy of first-year seminar courses (FYSC); unfortunately, most existing FYSC research has been undertaken at predominantly white institutions and has tended to present college-going and the transition to college within the dominant narrative. Where addressed at all, the efficacy of FYSC’s for students of color has typically been framed via a deficit model lens and has not taken into account certain pedagogies known to better support Latinx, African-American, or other minoritized students. Led by the overarching purpose of exploring how intentionally incorporating culturally relevant and critical pedagogies in first-year seminars might be …

Graduate School Awareness For First-Generation Latinas: Cracking The Glass Ceiling - A Validation Study, Deborah D. Grijalva

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

At this time, the Latinx population is the fastest-growing population in the United States. Latinas account for one in five women in the United States, and by 2060 Latinas will likely make up one-third of the nation’s females. Education is the foundation for both personal and economic well-being, especially as the job market continues to demand higher levels of educational attainment. The Latinx population continues to make up a large portion of the workforce. Latinas’ attendance and admission rates at the graduate level are low. Studies have found that Latinas have obtained the lowest percentage of graduate degrees compared to …

Exploration Of Ipass Reform At A Public, Comprehensive Four-Year University: An Intrinsic Case Study, Maria Domingo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Students enroll in universities to earn degrees as a way to improve social and economic competitiveness. However, many large, comprehensive universities are having difficulty in supporting students to ensure timely graduation and are seeing a large number of students stop out before a degree is earned. Academic advising is seen as an effective strategy to help improve retention and completion rates in universities. However, large comprehensive universities often lack the resources to ensure students receive the support needed to ensure completion. We know four-year graduation rates are rare, and there are numerous factors contributing to this issue. Thus, universities and …

"Paradise...They Make You Feel At Home": A Case Study On Understanding The Role Of An Undocumented Student Resource Center And Its Influence On The College Journey Of Undocumented Students, Rosa Olivia Rosas

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Access to U.S. higher education for undocumented students has been challenging over the years despite recent legislative and organizational changes that have afforded some the opportunity to enroll in post-secondary institutions (Conger & Chellman, 2013; Juárez, 2017; Pérez, 2010). Of the approximately 65,000 undocumented students who graduate from high schools across the country every year, only 7,000-13,000 enroll in post-secondary institutions annually (Gildersleeve & Hernandez, 2012; Muñoz, 2013). However, most recent data reveal that an estimated 98,000 undocumented students graduate from high schools across the country every year (Zong & Batalova, 2019). Despite these challenges, undocumented students are resilient and …

Millennial Generation College Students: Observations And Experiences Of Counseling Faculty At Selected California Community College Districts, Antoine Thomas

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Higher education, specifically the California community colleges, is being inundated with a large new generation of students called millennials. They are the majority student group enrolled in record numbers at California Community Colleges. California community colleges continue to evolve in order to accommodate millennial generation college students. A phenomenological design was utilized, using face-to-face interviews. This research explores the phenomenon of “millennial college students (millennials)” through the lived experiences of California community college counseling faculty who interact with them. Their observations and experiences could prove to be informative and help advance the purpose of this research.

The following are the …

“The Skills You’Re Developing, They Don’T Go Away”: An Intrinsic Case Study Exploring On-Campus Student Employment As A High Impact Practice, Amanda Salazar

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Many low-income, first-generation college students have no other choice but to work to help offset the costs associated with earning a college degree (Savoca, 2016). Meanwhile, colleges and universities have the opportunity to leverage on-campus employment as a high-impact practice (McClellan, Creager, & Savoca, 2018). High-impact practices (HIPs) are known to increase retention, persistence, and completion (Kuh, 2008). If structured with intentionality and purpose, on-campus jobs can offer low-income, first-generation college students the opportunity to participate in a HIP, while simultaneously earning an income (McClellan et al., 2018).

The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to explore on-campus employment …

Figured Worlds: A Phenomenological Study Of Community College Faculty Leaders, Quinton Bemiller

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Despite the importance of community colleges in higher education, community college faculty are understudied. Although the community college has been defined as a teaching institution, its faculty also serve in non-teaching leadership roles. The purpose of this research study is to know (1) what the experiences of community college faculty in leadership roles are, (2) how their roles have changed over time, (3) what factors motivated faculty to accept non-teaching roles, and (4) how faculty have navigated the transition. Data were obtained from open-ended, semi-structured interviews using an Interpretive Phenomenological approach. Qualitative data were transcribed, coded, categorized, and then organized …

Higher Education Financial Health - A Case Study Of The California State University (Csu), Amber Blakeslee

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Higher education is in a challenging financial time. Overall, states are investing considerably less in higher education than they did a decade ago and students are paying significantly more in tuition and fees. Simultaneously, the higher education landscape is changing – changing in terms of demographics, modes of delivery, workforce needs, funding and cost structures, and perceptions of value. Almost every day there is a new media story about a college or university experiencing financial difficulties. With decreasing confidence from campus financial officers in the long-term sustainability of their institutions and campus closures expected to escalate in the coming years, …

Instructor Humor As A Tool To Increase Student Engagement, Carl Christman

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

As various stakeholders examine the value and quality of higher education, a greater emphasis is being put on educational outcomes. There is constant focus on improving the quality of undergraduate education and one of the keys to this is understanding what makes a good instructor. Effective instructors rely on a variety of tools and techniques to engage their students and help them learn. One common tool that instructors in higher education rely on in the classroom is humor.

The primary research question this study is attempting to answer is: In what ways, if any, does humor infused instruction promote high …

“I Didn’T Feel Alone”: A Phenomenological Study Of University Branch Campus Graduates, High Impact Practices, And Student Persistence, Jesse Raymond Neimeyer-Romero

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

University branch campuses play a vital role in today’s higher education field. Branch campuses help facilitate the delivery of knowledge, development, and learning opportunities to populations that may not have any other prospect in regard to pursuing their educational goals. Branch campuses have also become a new way for institutions of higher education to collaborate and work together to serve students’ interests. Yet, despite enrollment growth across thousands of higher education branch campuses that exist in the United States, the literature on branch campuses is scant. Furthermore, branch campuses, like their main campus counterparts, have a responsibility to ensure that …

When Writing Becomes Nightmare: Helping Students Pinpoint Writing Topics, Carla Capelo

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

When deciding on topics for academic research papers, many students face difficulties that vary from choosing themes whose scope is too extensive to be satisfactorily analyzed in the given task, to selecting topics that are too limited, to not being able to make a decision on a topic at all. Such struggles seem to manifest themselves in both native and non-native speakers of English. Despite extensive research on the writing process and its strategies, be it for academic writing or other genres, and even research focused on writers’ difficulties, previous research has found little about the troubles students must overcome …

Developing Oral Proficiency And Motivation Through Script-Based And Improvisational Drama, Muhammet Çağrı Güzel

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Utilizing drama has long been an innovative and dynamic concept as a part of a communicative approach in English classrooms around the world. Teaching languages through drama offers many beneficial opportunities for learners. Nevertheless, traditional methods are still the widely held teaching structures across the globe, which results in an increase in the number of demotivated learners who often hate and fear to practice one of the challenging skills when learning a foreign language- speaking- as it is a productive language skill. Not only do the traditional methods bring negative emotional and psychological outcomes, but it also causes a gradual …

Student Censorship In The Social Work Classrooms, Lisa Kozlowski

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Through the evolution of the field of social work, a divide in its ideologies has emerged and certain political and ideological groups such as the religious and conservatives have become underrepresented. As a result, over the years the liberal philosophies have emerged as the dominant group. This has led to a decrease in diversity within the field. Recognition of biases in the field of social work is difficult. Through a qualitative analysis method, this study was meant to explore if social work students feel they are free to share openly in the classroom, and if they are accepting of all …

The Academic Library And Social Justice: A Q-Study Of Librarian Attitudes, Risa Maureen Lumley

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study took place on the campus of a Hispanic-serving institution, and used Q methodology to assess the attitudes and perceptions of academic librarians toward a social justice role for the university library. Among librarians and others in higher education, there is a great deal of confusion around social justice as a concept because over the past forty years, it has often been subsumed under, or diverted by the neoliberal discourse of multicultural education, which conflates social justice with providing equal opportunities for under-represented students primarily as a means of enabling them to obtain jobs and become consumers in our …