Education Commons^™

Understanding The First-Year Experience Of Traditional-Aged, College-Ready Students At A Private, New England Liberal Arts College, Patrick Flynn

Educational Studies Dissertations

The current study’s research problem concerns the forty-year trend of college-ready, traditional-aged students stopping out of undergraduate programs across the United States. While literature concerning gender theory, the college transition, emerging adulthood, and college student development provide a foundation for considering the problem, there have been very few studies conducted concerning the FYE of this study’s participants, a set of five white cisgender males. Understanding their FYE at a substantive level will lead to further research and hopefully open pathways to increasing retention.

The present study collected significant data concerning the daily experience of five students with the hope of …

Reacting To Classroom Design: A Case Study Of How Corrective Actions Impact Undergraduate Teaching And Learning, Mikael André Powell

Educational Studies Dissertations

It is commonly accepted that physical space has some effect on the educational experience and that teachers and students may respond with remedies if the actual classroom design (which encompasses the physical classroom, including furniture and fixed equipment) inhibits teaching and learning. Corrective responses include efforts to lean to see, or hear and be heard, rearrange furniture, and change class activity due to the nature of the physical space. I conducted this qualitative research to determine what constitutes typical remedial or corrective responses to the classroom, how prevalent these actions are, and the perceived effect of these actions on the …

Leading Between The Lines: Exploring The Development Of Identity Among Literacy Specialists, Peter Joseph Lancia

Educational Studies Dissertations

This dissertation study addresses the phenomenon of literacy leadership through a multiple case study of four practicing veteran literacy specialists in elementary schools in different New England cities. Using qualitative methods of data collection and analysis, namely extensive interviews and the Voice Centered Relational Method, respectively, narrative portraits were created that suggest themes related to their role, preparation, and ongoing development as well as models of leadership in their schools. In addition, the portraits suggested how the social context of their schools impacted the development of their identity, particularly in the relationships they built among colleagues and principals. With a …