Education Commons^™

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 Pacing On Academic Performance In Elementary School Students With Attention Difficulties, Emily Jane Fuller

Doctoral Dissertations

Researchers have investigated pacing and accuracy of students’ academic work. However, studies investigating the effects pacing have mixed results regarding accuracy levels and student acceptability. Fuller, Krohn, Orsega, Skinner, and Williams (2009) conducted a pilot study examining the impact of slowing students down on their accuracy levels. Specifically, Fuller et al. (2009) had computers deliver multiplication problems one at a time. In the no-delay condition a new problem was delivered immediately after students provided an answer to the previous problem. In the delay condition, after students entered the answer to a problem there was a 7-second delay before the computer …

Listening To Students: The Lived Experience Of Students Taking An Accountability Test, Laura Rutherford Crisp

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to understand the lived experience of students taking a high stakes test. The phenomenological method developed by Howard Pollio (Pollio, Graves, and Arfken, 2005, Thomas and Pollio, 2002, Pollio, Henley, and Thompson, 1997) at the University of Tennessee was utilized to explore the perceptions of the experience of fourth and fifth grade students who took the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) Achievement Test, an end of the year criterion-referenced, standardized achievement test given to students in Tennessee.

Nine students from two schools in East Tennessee were interviewed about their experience of taking the test. …

An Examination Of Potential Mediating Factors On The Seductive Details Effect In Learning From Text, Emily Kay Rowland Bryant

Doctoral Dissertations

Seductive details (SDs) are interesting, but not necessarily relevant, information that may be included in text to capture students’ attention. Unfortunately, including such details often hinders learning. Schraw (1998) differentiated between context-independent (i.e., interesting without surrounding context) and context-dependent (i.e., interesting only in light of surrounding context) SDs.

In the first study, 388 undergraduate students read six paragraphs describing Sigmund Freud’s psychosexual stages (i.e., target material). Participants in four groups also read one of two biographical paragraphs. The biographical paragraphs contained SDs about Freud that were either context-dependent or -independent to the target material and presented before (primacy) or after …

Resistance To Learning In Mandatory Training Contexts: Design And Construction Of A Diagnostic Instrument, Jonathan E. Taylor

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to design a valid and reliable instrument that contains original scales measuring learning resistance behaviors and cognitions, along with four other hypothetically related factors, resentment, disinterest, overconfidence, and perceived social norms. This process entailed constructing valid items for each of the five included scales; testing those scales for reliability using internal consistency analysis; and validating those scales using external criteria. The multiple scales were tested for intra-correlations to support or disconfirm a series of hypotheses reflecting the hypothetical relationships between learning resistance and the other four included factors. The resultant instrument contains five reliable …

Teacher Political Self-Efficacy: Construct Development And Validation, Mary Catherine Hammon

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to develop a reliable and valid psychometric instrument, the Teacher Political Self-Efficacy Scale (TPSE Scale), for measuring K-12 teachers’ political self-efficacy in abilities to engage in activities that may directly or indirectly influence education public policymaking. Using Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory as a theoretical lens and the TPSE Scale for measurement, the problem of weak classroom teacher voice in education public policy process is explored. Two separate studies confirmed the reliability of the TPSE Scale. Construct and other forms of validity were confirmed using additional measures of Political Efficacy as citizens, teacher Instructional …

Listening To Undocumented Mothers: The Experiences Of Undocumented Mexican Mothers Of High School Students Living In The U.S. And Receiving Social Services, Maria Alejandra Lopez

Doctoral Dissertations

The present dissertation is based on a phenomenological study on undocumented Mexican immigrant mothers of high school students who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and received social services. Most of these mothers have emigrated from rural areas of the central and southern Mexican States of Guanajuato, Michoacan, Queretaro, among others. According to the participants, socio-economic conditions forced them to leave their homelands hoping to find a better life in the U.S.

Ten undocumented mothers of high school students living in the U.S. were interviewed from a phenomenological perspective. They were monolingual Spanish speakers (only one …