Education Commons^™

Influence Of Choice On Motivation To Learn For Students With Autism: Effect On Student Interest, Writing Achievement, Latency, And Behavior, Theresa M. Haskins

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Improving learning outcomes and increasing motivation to learn for students with autism is a growing concern for educators today. While schools strive to fully include students with autism in general education classrooms, the number of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder continues to rise, increasing the need for effective interventions that educators can easily implement in their classrooms. This pilot study investigates the influence of choice on a second grade student with autism and his motivation to write. His teacher’s perception on the use and effectiveness of choice in her classroom is also examined. Using a single-subject baseline design, …

Individualism In Education Reform, Collin Scott Bertram

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Current education reform in the U.S. is based upon a business model with capitalist market principles. High stakes standardized testing is a tool that the business model reformers use to dismantle democracy while creating an environment where a democratic society will not thrive. One of the reasons that business-minded reformers are so successful in promoting their agenda is that our society is highly individualistic. The individualistic nature of society in the U.S. provides fertile ground for reform that not only harms our present vestiges of democracy but also endangers the possibility of a democratic society for future generations. A critical …

The Transfer Veteran Student Experience: Exploring College Choice, Transition, And Collegiate Experiences Of Veterans, Shaftone Bryne Dunklin

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The tragic series of events that took place on September 11, 2001, changed the course of this nation and became the catalyst for wars that have spanned for more than a decade. As a result, over 2 million veterans have been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), and Operation New Dawn. In 2008, President George W. Bush signed into law provisions for what has been commonly referred to as the Post 9/11 GI Bill. This legislation substantially increased educational benefits for veterans and has led to an increase of veterans enrolling in institutions of …

Study Of The Effectiveness Of Response To Intervention Used In Elementary School, Michelle Maskill

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to study the effectiveness of Response to Intervention strategies as they pertain to students’ scores on the Northwestern Evaluation Association (NWEA) test. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1) What are the different tiers of a three-tier RTI model? 2) Is one tier more effective than the others? 3) How does participation in the RTI model affect scores on the NWEA? and 4) What is the long-term effectiveness of participation in RTI, after services have been discontinued? This was a study conducted over four years in a select elementary school; the subjects …

Transformation Of Data Into Knowledge Within Higher Education, Mary E. Osborne

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Establishing institutional effectiveness has beleaguered U.S. higher education institutions for thirty years. One key element of institutional effectiveness is the ability of an organization to use data for effective decision-making. This study provides new insight into this critical component of institutional effectiveness by examining the transformation of data through several stages until it embeds into the institutional culture. A model of the environmental and institutional elements that result in transformation is proposed and tested. Data were gathered through a survey instrument administered to Institutional Research professionals at comprehensive regional universities and community colleges in the United States. The survey amassed …

School Leadership Skill Development, Richard Arthur Weigel

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between what is currently understood about skills for school leadership and the need for a greater understanding of those skills. The importance of developing leadership skills to improve school performance and effectiveness is great. In the field of school leadership, most leaders enter their roles without an understanding of the skills needed to be effective.

There is a societal desire to improve the performance of children in schools, and that improvement relies on skill development for school leaders. Skill development for school leaders begins with skill recognition. The lack of …

Service Learning Today: The Perceptions Of Teachers And Service-Learning Professionals, Katrina C. Freedberg

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the experience of service learning in schools today. Guiding this inquiry was the question, “How do service-learning professionals approach, implement, and perceive service learning, and to what degree do these elements affect how they collaborate with others?” To this end, I sought to learn more about how intentions and outcomes become translated by community service organizations, teachers, and students into actual service learning experiences. Based on individual interviews, the findings indicate the need to reconcile service-learning experiences with the ideals that inform them. The process of applying service learning is most characterized by the variety of motives …

Women's Access To The Superintendency: Pathways From The Elementary Ranks, Julie Marie Powell

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to describe the experiences of six women superintendents who began their careers as elementary principals. The central question was: What can we learn from the lived experience of women who came from a background as elementary educators and advanced to the superintendency in a variety of district contexts within Michigan’s traditional public school system?

The research design was a qualitative, interpretive, multiple case study approach using the data collection method of interviewing. Two conceptual frameworks – expectations states theory and feminist poststructuralism – provided the context for this research. Portraits of each of the …

Academically Gifted Adolescents Transferring To An Independent Gifted School: Effects On Academic Identity, Vanessa A. Lancaster

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Four gifted adolescents (2 males and 2 females) explore experiences transferring from multilevel schools to an independent gifted school from low- and high-income school districts in this phenomenological study. Semi-structured interviews inform this study demonstrating how changes in school context shape academic identity. Adolescent students discuss prior school perceptions of academic ability, how transferring schools affected academic ability, and challenges they overcame transitioning to an independent gifted school. Although participants all believed that prior schools did not meet academic and social needs, their academic self-concepts were strong. Three participants felt academic ability was stronger since transferring to an independent gifted …

Student Loyalty Assessment With Online Master's Programs, Ali Dehghan

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Relationship marketing is attracting, maintaining, and, in multi-service organizations, enhancing customer relationships. Educational programs and services, like those of businesses, depend highly on the repeated purchases of their loyal customers. The purpose of this descriptive research is to investigate the relationships between factors that may lead to student loyalty in online graduate educational programs. Specifically, the study seeks to examine the relationships between service quality, technology, trust, commitment and satisfaction, reputation and ultimately loyalty. A new model is presented, which includes the results of testing these variables.

The results of this study concluded that satisfaction with the program has the …

Theocratic Governance And The Divergent Catholic Cultural Groups In The Usa, Charles L. Muwonge

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigated how the Roman Catholic Church, as a bureaucratic organization, governs the widespread and divergent Catholic cultural groups in the United States. The purposes of this research were (a) to examine the nature of the ecclesiastical governance structure in the Vatican, (b) to explore the nature of the American Catholic cultural environment, (c) to analyze the types of relationships between the divergent American Catholic subcultures, and (d) to establish ways in which ecclesiastical authorities in the Vatican govern the American Catholic cultural environment.

This study was historical in nature and longitudinal in scope. This study examined the relationship …

Preparation Of Career And Technical Education Teachers For Working With Students Who Have Special Needs, Mary Sunisloe

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research study looks at the preparation of Career and Technical Education (CTE) teachers working with students who have special needs. If the CTE teachers have been prepared through formal education and updated training, participate in the IEP process, and have access to and use goals and objectives of students who have IEPs, then CTE teachers will feel prepared to work with students who have special needs. Specifically this study looked at three areas: how much formal education CTE teachers had as well as up-dated training for working with students who have special needs within the last twelve months; if …

The Socialization Of Students At A Midwestern College, Matthew S. Rader

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to understand and explain the overall culture and subcultures of Prairie College (a pseudonym) and how those cultures socialized students to persist or depart from the institution. In accordance with the higher education student retention theory and research of Braxton (2000), Kuh and Love (2000), and Kuh (2001), there is potential for an institution of higher education to serve and retain greater numbers of students when administrators understand the institutional culture (Morgan, 1996; Mintzberg, 1979; Spindler, 1988) in which they work as well as that of students they serve.

Qualitative research methods were used. …

How Participation In Aphasia Support Groups Influences Perceptions Of Aphasia, Sally Jakeway

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Local Education Foundations As Alternative Revenue Streams For Public School Districts, Douglas M. Busch

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

As school district revenues are reduced by state allocating agencies, local school district administrators and school boards frequently evaluate alternative sources of possible revenue. One emerging source of revenue that many school districts explore is a local education foundation. Local education foundations are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that are affiliated with their local public school district. This study seeks to understand the problem that local school district leaders face when dealing with the complex issues that shape the success, impact, and viability of local education foundations. This mixed methods study used a cultural and symbolic framework to analyze local education foundations …

An Analysis Of University Student Academic Self-Entitlement: Levels Of Entitlement, Academic Year, And Gender, Tiffany Brook Hartman

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Academic self-entitlement is a rapidly increasing phenomenon that is becoming a problem in universities today. Self-entitled students expect high grades for minimal effort and tend to be highly demanding; they exhibit strong emotions when outcomes fail to meet their expectations. This type of student behavior increases the burden placed upon unprepared faculty, emphasizes performance goals rather than learning goals, and threatens to place the core values of education at stake. This study investigates whether relationships exist between student gender, year in school, and academic self-entitlement. University students were assessed using the Academic Entitlement Scale (Achacoso, 2002). A two-way MANOVA revealed …

Assessing The Relationship Between Classroom Interaction And Perceived Student Learning In Videoconferencing Remote Sites: A Social Learning Approach, Kevin M. Hankinson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In distance education via videoconferencing, students at classroom remote sites learn without the physical presence of their teacher and other classmates at the host site. As a result, the learning experience of remote site students differs from host site students. Therefore, instructional leaders should make every effort to minimize the adverse effects of videoconferencing on the learning of remote site students.

This study invited Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme remote site students who participated in videoconferencing to share their perspectives on the role of interactions on their learning. Specifically, this study explored the presence and strength of relationships …

Perceptions Regarding The Michigan Merit Curriculum Reform Policy And Its Impact On Cte And Dual Enrollment In A Southeastern Michigan High School, Winifred L. Green

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Michigan joined Arkansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Rhode Island in the high school reform effort. The Michigan Merit Curriculum (MMC), mandated in 2006, contained a new set of statewide graduation requirements. This qualitative case study used focus group interviews to examine the perceptions of students, teachers, parents, and key administrators in a southeastern Michigan high school about the effects of the MMC on students’ performances and outcomes as they relate to Career and Technical Education (CTE) and dual enrollment, and about problems that emerged from the MMC. Five themes emerged from the data: Transparency and Communication for Dual Enrollment, Loss …

Racial Battle Fatigue, Role Strain, And African-American Faculty At Public Community Colleges, Tamara N. Stevenson

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

African Americans remain disproportionately underrepresented in the faculty ranks at institutions of higher education in the United States. The faculty role is critical to the quality and exchange of teaching and learning, particularly at public community colleges. The extant literature documents how “chilly” campus climates and racially charged encounters can be harmful to African-American faculty. Moreover, along with the traditional responsibilities and demands of the faculty role, African-American faculty members contend with racism, discrimination, and an anti-Black sentiment in academia as a microcosm of society, likely resulting in race-related role strain. Overall, this exploratory study sought to understand the nature …