Education Commons^™

An Orphanage In Mexico: Four United Nations' Human Rights Of Children And Wolins' Prerequisites For Efficient Group Care Through The View Of The Manager And Staff, Lucia Beatriz Quesnel Galván

Dissertations and Theses

In Mexico there are officially 1.8 million orphaned children, without counting non-orphaned children deprived of family, who also need care; of these, only 657,000 are living in 703 orphanages. Mexico's government invests less than 2% of its budget toward protection of children. There is a lack of substantive research or official assessment of orphanages. According to the scant research found, the children's human rights most frequently violated in Mexican orphanages are the rights to nutrition and health care, to be protected from further victimization, to free expression and participation, and to not be exploited. This study was carried out through …

Information Literacy In The First Year Of Higher Education: Faculty Expectations And Student Practices, Meredith Esther Michaud

Dissertations and Theses

Information literacy is widely acknowledged as important for student success in higher education. Information literacy is the ability to sort through a large amount of available information, decide what is useful and believable, and apply it in an effective and ethical way. Faculty members have expectations regarding information literacy for students in the first year of college, while students have information literacy practices that may or may not match those expectations. In my study, I examined the alignment of faculty member information literacy expectations and student information literacy practices, focusing on freshman students and faculty members who teach freshman students …

Perceptions Of Hmong Parents In A Hmong American Charter School: A Qualitative Descriptive Case Study On Hmong Parent Involvement, Kirk T. Lee

Dissertations and Theses

Parental involvement plays an essential role in the United States (U.S.) educational system. However, parental involvement poses many challenges for Hmong parents in American schools. Many assumptions are made on the parts of teachers, staff, and Hmong parents about parents' roles pertaining to their involvement in their children's education. Hmong parents struggle to reconcile beliefs, attitudes, and values that they bring with them from Laos with the expectations found in the U.S. due to their unfamiliarity with the U.S. educational system.

This study employed the used a qualitative, descriptive case study approach to examine the perceptions of Hmong parents involvement …

An Examination Of School Readiness: How Is The Construct Defined For Children Who Are Blind?, Lisa Joann Mcconachie

Dissertations and Theses

An increased focus on school readiness exists as students enter public school for the first time. Given unique challenges for students who are blind and use braille, school readiness in the transition to and preparation for kindergarten is even more critical to their future academic success. If children who are blind and use braille as their primary learning medium have the necessary school readiness skills entering kindergarten, they will be better prepared to participate in the academic classroom. There is a need for additional research to illuminate the skills needed for school readiness for children who are blind and use …

Social Capital And Cultural Identity For U.S. Korean Immigrant Families: Mothers' And Children's Perceptions Of Korean Language Retention, Su-Jin Sue Jung

Dissertations and Theses

Through increasing immigration, the U.S. society is becoming more linguistically and culturally diverse. Yet, as many U.S. language minority groups seek to assimilate, they face many challenges. One challenge is that their home language does not match the dominant language, English, that their children are learning at school. For Korean communities, maintaining Korean language presents a problem for families, especially for the mothers and children. The purpose of this study was to explore the U.S. Korean immigrant mothers' and children's perceptions of and experience with maintaining the Korean language and the effect that has on the development of social capital …

Evaluating An Assessment Instrument For The Oregon Environmental Literacy Plan, Susan Mae Duncan

Dissertations and Theses

This mixed methods study evaluated the validity, and reliability of an instrument designed to assess a middle school student's proficiency in systems thinking as described in the 2010 Oregon Environmental Literacy Plan. In Stage 1, a forum of middle school students, formal, and non-formal educators used the Delphi technique to reach consensus regarding which skills were important to include in a scoring guide for systems thinking. In Stage 2, the scoring guide was field tested by formal and non-formal educators using a sample of students' work. The two groups' scores were compared using Cohen's kappa to make inferences regarding inter-rater …

Women As Transformational Leaders: Learning To Lead In The Community College, Jennifer R. Grove-Heuser

Dissertations and Theses

Community colleges face a growing crisis in leadership and a critical aspect of this crisis is a shortage of leaders. The representation of women leaders in community colleges has increased more than other sector of higher education. This upswing suggests that community colleges are the most likely place for women to achieve executive leadership status. Yet, community college history is grounded in male dominance and women leaders remain marginalized in the community college system. The purpose of my study was to examine some of the factors that contribute to women executive leaders' success specifically: (a) how women experience their leadership …

The Impact Of Daily 5 And Cafe Literacy Framework On Reading Comprehension In Struggling Fourth Grade Readers: A Case Study, Sandra Lee Duty

Dissertations and Theses

For decades, struggling readers have been a central focus of American public schools. In the United States, many students who struggle with reading comprehension are not receiving high-quality instruction that ensures comprehension of text. Elementary teachers are faced with the challenge of how to structure and organize literacy instruction that ensures growth in reading comprehension for struggling students.

The purpose of this case study is to explore the impact of a reading framework on fourth grade struggling students’ reading comprehension, attitudes and engagement. This case study looks specifically at the impact of the Daily 5 and CAFÉ literacy framework that …