Education Commons^™

Examination Of The Collaboration Between Career Technical Education And Core Teachers In Linked Learning Pathways, Lucia M. Van Scyoc

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine how teachers in Linked Learning Pathways rate the effectiveness and identify the impact of the collaboration strategies of a shared purpose, interdependent team and focus on results as they are used in the integration of career and technical education and core academic courses. This also included identifying and describing the criteria used by teachers to determine positive impact in identifying positive collaboration strategies.

Methodology. A mixed method research design, consisting of quantitative and qualitative data, was used to conduct this study. Specifically, an explanatory sequential design model starting with …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Exemplary National Blue Ribbon Elementary School Principals In Improving Student Learning Through Effective Coaching Conversations With Their Teachers: A Phenomenological Study, Colleen Flavin

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to discover and describe how exemplary National Blue Ribbon elementary school principals improve student learning through effective coaching conversations with their teachers. A second purpose was to explore the barriers they encountered to holding these conversations and the actions to overcome these barriers.

Methodology: This study utilized a phenomenological design. The primary source of data collection was a standardized open-ended interviews. Using inductive analysis, the data were coded and themes were identified that aligned to the research questions.

Findings: Data analysis revealed that exemplary National Blue Ribbon elementary school principals used coaching conversations …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Exemplary National Blue Ribbon Elementary School Teachers In Improving Student Learning Through Effective Coaching Conversations With Their Principals: A Phenomenological Study, Kristin Watson

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to discover and describe how exemplary National Blue Ribbon Elementary School teachers improve student learning through effective coaching conversations with their principals. A second purpose was to explore the barriers they encountered to holding these conversations and actions they took to overcome barriers. The theoretical framework for this study was grounded in Lev Vygotsky’s sociohistorical viewpoints of development which relies on social interaction as an ingredient in the process of learning.

Methodology: This study employed a qualitative methodology utilizing in-depth and semi-structured interviews of 12 participants. Participants were identified in collaboration with the …

Disrupting Poverty: The Impact Of Academic Optimism And Organizational Citizenship Behaviors On Student Achievement In California High-Poverty Secondary Charter Schools, Derek King

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Disrupting Poverty: The Impact of Academic Optimism and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors on Student Achievement in California High-Poverty Secondary Charter Schools

by Derek King

One of the byproducts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the commissioning of a study by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare to better understand the disposition of the nation’s educational system. By 1966, the most comprehensive educational study to date was completed, the Equality of Educational Opportunity (Coleman et al., 1966). The findings shocked the nation by concluding that familial poverty restricted a student’s academic achievement, rendering all school-based interventions …

A Mixed-Methods Study Examining Effective Practices For Increasing Secondary Student Enrollment In Career And Technology Education Courses, Richard E. Radcliffe Jr

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

A Mixed-Methods Study Examining Effective Practices for Increasing Secondary Student Enrollment in Career and Technology Education Courses

by Richard Radcliffe

The purpose of this exploratory mixed-methods study was to discover and explore the factors that encouraged and discouraged enrollment in Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways at California comprehensive high schools. In addition, this study examined the recruitment methods used by CTE pathways and sought to determine which ones were most beneficial. A sample of district CTE administrators from Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties were interviewed to develop the initial findings of this study, and then upon …

The Role Of The Secondary Principal As A Transformational Leader In High Performing, Project Based Learning Schools In California, Daniel P. Ching

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The Role of the Secondary Principal as a Transformational Leader in High Performing, Project Based Learning Schools in California

by Daniel Ching

Purpose: California (CA) schools are facing increased pressure to implement new content standards and perform well on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). The new standards focus on higher level thinking skills, technology, and skills that cross multiple content areas. These expectations are aligned with project based learning (PBL) as an instructional model. However, there are very few models for PBL schools that are considered high performing. To implement PBL in high schools requires …

Below The Surface Of Special Education Administrator Turnover, Amy Meeks

Dissertations

The field of special education administration has experienced a shortage of high quality special education leadership candidates for several decades. If school districts are to effectively address the turnover of educational leaders, they must know what is happening that affects turnover of their leadership team. The intent of this study was to determine what dynamics and perceptions contribute to special education administrators remaining on the job or leaving the position. The literature indicates a need for studies to address why these administrators remain in their roles. The literature also indicates a need for identifying what influences their decisions to remain …

Afrocentric Curriculum: A Paradigm For Healing And Education, Ameer Akinwale Ali

Dissertations

As a result of the plight of some African-American men, changes are needed to improve the US mental health system’s curriculum and practices in order to produce sustainable positive outcomes culturally-relevant therapy is key to addressing the needs of this under serviced population. Afrocentric psychotherapy provides one promising culturally relevant framework to address the needs of African-American men clinically. The purpose of this study was to explore and observe a culturally-relevant curriculum in action and, more specifically, to document perceived affects derived from using an Afrocentric curriculum with African-American men in therapy through a series of in-depth interviews and observations. …

Supporting Students With Disabilities Entering The Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Field Disciplines, Karen Marie Dishauzi

Dissertations

Extensive research exists on female, African American, and Hispanic students pursuing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field disciplines. However, little research evaluates students with disabilities and career decision-making relating to STEM field disciplines. This study explored the career decision-making experiences and self-efficacy for students with disabilities. The purpose of this research study was to document experiences and perceptions of students with disabilities who pursue, and may consider pursuing, careers in the STEM field disciplines by exploring the career decision-making self-efficacy of students with disabilities. This study documented the level of influence that the students with disabilities had or may …

Let’S Give Them Something To Talk About: Supporting Primary African American Students’ Language Through Dialogic Reading, Jessyca Denise Bryant

Dissertations

Abstract Using an action research approach, the African American teacher–researcher investigated the appropriation and effectiveness of dialogic lessons and culturally relevant books to develop and improve primary-grade African American students’ language and literacy skills. Specifically, this study investigated whether changes in the kinds of questions posed during reading interactions resulted in extended thoughts, more complex sentence constructions, and the inclusion of new vocabulary words. Dialogic reading is an invaluable tool for teachers to utilize with students challenged with language differences upon entering school. Lessons were expressly designed to engage and scaffold students in their development of language and literacy skills. …

Perception Of Consultation Among Professional School Counselors, Teachers And Mental Health Professional Counselors, Brenda Lorraine Bryant

Dissertations

Abstract This is a study concerning the perception of consultation among school counselors, teachers, and mental health professional counselors (MHPCs) working collaboratively in the public school setting for the benefit of the academic and behavioral success of students. Although there are many consultation models and theoretical views (Brigman, Mullis, Webb, & White, 2005; Caplan, Caplan, & Erchul, 1995; Erchul & Conoley, 1991; Erford, 2011; Kampwirth, 2006), this study utilized the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) framework for consultation in schools. Although MHPCs are not considered school counselors by definition, and they are not compensated by school districts, they still serve …

The Writing Development Of Multilingual Youth In A Spanish Immersion School, Angela Billur Layton

Dissertations

Language immersion schools offer students from diverse backgrounds with an opportunity for language enrichment education. Yet few studies attend to students’ perspectives on writing and multilingualism in immersion schools. The purpose of this study was to explore how four students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds were developing writing and multilingual competencies at their Spanish Immersion Elementary School (SIES). This research investigated children’s emerging theories of writing and how school policies afforded and constrained practice. Further, this study examined the developmental trajectory of one trilingual student’s writing over time. This qualitative inquiry drew from two research traditions: ethnographic case study …

Factors That Affect Reattempting The Emergency Medical Technician Cognitive Certification Examination, Kim Darlene Mckenna

Dissertations

Certification as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) is often the entry point for firefighting careers and is a pre-requisite to enter Advanced EMT or paramedic programs. EMT candidates in most of the United States must pass the National Registry of EMTs cognitive examination (NREMT-C) to be eligible for state licensure. Many candidates who fail their first NREMT-C attempt never take even one of the five additional possible attempts within the specified two-year time frame. Using binary logistic regression with de-identified existing NREMT test data from 2007 though 2012, this research attempted to develop a model to show the relative contribution …

Integrating Digital Literacy And Traditional Print Text: A Focus On Struggling Readers During Guided Reading, Andrea Heckman-Hughes

Dissertations

This action research examines how digital literacies can be integrated into guided reading groups with struggling readers. It looks closely at the way a well-planned text set, both digital and print, can support struggling readers in their literacy learning. Using critical discourse analysis (CDA) and multimodal analysis, I analyzed observations, interviews, and documents to understand how struggling readers engaged with both digital and print texts, transliteracy skills, as well as with each other. Findings revealed that the support of a text set, both teacher and student driven, supported student engagement, comprehension, and development of transliteracy skills. With teacher support, students …

The Illumination Of Racial Understandings As Revealed In Teacher Education Students' Interpretation Of Written Text, Carolyn Marie Fuller

Dissertations

This study utilized a basic qualitative research design to explore how teachers enrolled in a graduate level social justice course read and respond to racialized texts, referenced as the “critical reading tasks.” These “critical reading tasks” included the constructs of: racial identity/positioning, historical time frame, characters/personal attributes, language, class, and intersectionality. Additionally, the following research questions guided the study: In what ways do teacher education students evoke, interpret, construct or misunderstand race, racism and anti-racism? And how do these understandings change over time, as participants revisit the readings? In what ways do participants describe the emotionality associated with revisiting racialized …

Sexual Orientation Microaggressions In High Schools, Marti Lee Baricevic

Dissertations

Sexual orientation-based discrimination in schools has evolved from primarily blatant, overt forms to include subtler and ambiguous forms. Recent research has found that same-gender-attracted youth are more resilient in managing school-based discrimination than previously reported. Within the framework of Symbolic Interactionism, this dissertation used a basic qualitative approach, influenced by Grounded Theory methods, to investigate sexual orientation microaggressions in high schools, strategies employed by same-gender-attracted students in managing sexual orientation microaggressions, and the relationship between microaggressive experiences and sexual identity. Fourteen adolescents, ranging from ages 16 to 19, from seven separate schools, who self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer, …

The Experiences Of International And Foreign-Born Students In An Accelerated Nursing Program, Myrna L. True

Dissertations

More international and foreign-born people are choosing to live in America than ever before, many permanently. During the past decade, both education and healthcare have been acutely affected by this change in the national population. To address the need to provide effective healthcare to all ages of a diverse population as well as provide quality educational experiences for international and foreign-born students who enroll in American nursing programs, professional nursing has consistently revised and updated healthcare delivery practices and nursing program curricula. Research consistently addresses the provision of healthcare delivery to a diverse population, but in comparison little has been …

Exploring The Interactions Between Writing Pedagogy And Technological Knowledge In Online Writing Consultation, Christopher Ryan Schott

Dissertations

Online writing consultation continues to advance from mere asynchronous email systems to more technologically rich synchronous venues. Technologies, such as chat rooms and video conferencing software, to even more immersive and interactive virtual environments, have created complex and rewarding spaces for writing consultations to take place. However, most professional conversation, training, and research for online writing consultation focuses on two aspects of online writing consultation—technological knowledge, often fixated on learning to use a technology to teach, and pedagogical knowledge, knowledge about writing and tutoring practices, which are often based in traditional face-to-face tutoring processes. This study looks at how writing …

Up In Smoke: Using In-School Tobacco Education And Media Literacy To Reduce Smoking Initation Among 7th Grade Students In A Suburban Setting, Cynthia Ford Pulley

Dissertations

ABSTRACT Purpose The uptake of smoking by youth under the age of 18 increases the likelihood that they will become lifetime smokers. The CDC recommends best practices regarding tobacco prevention. Among them are Community Policies for tobacco-free zones, community initiatives, anti-tobacco media campaigns, and access to quit-smoking resources. The last of these best practices is a recommendation to provide education in the schools. The subject of this research was the implementation of an in-school tobacco curriculum based on Media Literacy, which provides youth the ability to critically evaluate media messages that equate the “cool” smoking habit with beauty, confidence and …

Impact Of A Growth Mindset Intervention On Academic Performance Of Students At Two Urban High Schools, Lisa Brougham

Dissertations

Urban high school students have greater challenges with respect to retention and graduation rates than their non-urban peers (Farrington et al., 2012). Many academic initiatives have attempted to resolve the problems of retention and poor academic performance with little sustained success. For this study, the empirical literature was reviewed to identify a remedy for poor academic performance that may be implemented by school counselors. Focusing on non-cognitive skills, specifically developing a growth mindset, has shown promising results (Aronson, Fried, & Good, 2002; Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007; Yeager & Dweck, 2012). The underlying theoretical framework for this study is Dweck’s …

Transforming To 21st Century Learning Environments: Best Practices Revealed Through A Study Of Exemplar Schools, Kelly S. Wilbert

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Transforming to 21st Century Learning Environments: Best Practices Revealed through a Study of Exemplar Schools

by Kelly Wilbert

As the world’s economy shifted from the Industrial age to the Knowledge age, the prerequisites of current and future careers also transformed. Trends revealed that students in school now are preparing for jobs that do not currently exist. Investigating strategies to meet the challenge of transforming instructional practices was a focus of this research. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to identify and describe best practices used at elementary schools in California recognized as exemplary by the Partnership for …

Decision-Making In The Foster Care System, Julie E. Bertram

Dissertations

This study documented and analyzed the processes of mental health treatment decision-making, in the context of family support teams, within the foster care system. The research questions explored engagement, perceptions, and self-rated empowerment among family support teams that serve adolescent foster youth with mental health concerns. The sample consisted of 23 participants from core support teams and 36 other adolescent and adult team members who were involved in the study. Data collection methods included observations at family support team meetings and court hearings, 34 semi-structured individual interviews, a self-rated empowerment scale, and informal conversations in the field. Analysis of non-survey …

Learning Language With Technology In A Hybrid University Eap Course, Jerol Brent Enoch

Dissertations

Today’s college campuses are offering increased alternatives to the traditional face-to-face classroom, including hybrid or blended courses that combine online and face-to-face elements. Language learning is no exception. This instrumental case study examines the affordances and constraints of integrating technology into a hybrid language classroom, following one teacher’s construction of an undergraduate, hybrid English for Academic Purpose (EAP) grammar class for ten international students in their first year of study at an American university. Drawing on data from this single classroom case, findings address both the instructor’s and students’ perceptions of course content and delivery, knowledge expression activities, and classroom …

Factors Influencing Accessibility To American Public Higher Education, Angela Leanne Bryan

Dissertations

Since their inception in the early 1900s, community colleges have been about making higher education accessible. While their initial purpose was to overcome the geography barrier to higher education, the mission of community colleges and higher education on the whole has expanded over time to mitigate other barriers to higher education to include gender, race, religion, and socioeconomic barriers. As public support for higher education has changed over time, institutions have had to change their tuition and fee structure to make up the budget shortfall created by the decreases in public funding. How have these changes impacted accessibility to public …

Effect Of Small Class Setting On The Algebra I Achievement Of Ninth-Grade Students, Lisa Kissire

Dissertations

The effects of class size on student outcomes has been widely studied at the elementary level. Many such studies have found important relationships between class size and outcome in the areas of academic achievement, student discipline, and teacher retention. However, little attention has been given to the examination of how class size may affect student outcomes in the middle school and high school levels. The purpose of this nonexperimental study was to examine the effects of class size setting, gender, socioeconomic status, and school configuration on the Algebra I achievement of ninthgrade students. Participants were drawn from four rural schools …

The Effects Of Explicit And Systematic Phonemic Awareness Instruction On Reading For English Language Learners, Annette Freeman

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to find effective phonological instruction for improving reading comprehension and oral language proficiency of ELLs. In addition, this study was conducted to inform school administrators without ESL certification about best practices in ELL education so they could make informed, school-wide decisions for better serving ELLs before entry into secondary schools.

The sample included first and second-grade students identified as ELLs in two Northwest Arkansas elementary schools. The two schools were selected based on their similar student demographics of grade configuration, ethnicity, and poverty rate. All students selected for the study were identified as ELLs …

Effects Of Tli- Versus Nwea-Interim Assessment On Academic Achievement Of Sixth- And Seventh-Grade Students, Walt Davis

Dissertations

This project focused on two online providers, The Learning Institute (TLI) and Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA). The purpose of this dissertation was to provide additional research concerning the effects of interim assessments (TLI versus NWEA) and gender on literacy and mathematics achievement for students in Grades 6 and 7 in Northwest Arkansas. Of the four included school districts, two used TLI and two used NWEA as their interim assessment. For all four hypotheses, the independent variables were gender and interim assessment type. In the first and second hypotheses, the dependent variable was literacy achievement as measured by student performance on …

Effects Of 1:1 Computing By Ses On Student Motivation, Engagement, And Literacy Achievement, Bryan Appleton

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate the effectiveness of the combination of 1:1 computing with collaborative instructional strategies. In the first and second hypotheses, exposure to a 1:1 computing environment in a literacy classroom (participation versus no participation) and SES (participating versus not participating) were the independent variables. The dependent variable for Hypothesis 1 was positive student motivation. The dependent variable for Hypothesis 2 was positive student engagement. Hypothesis 1 revealed that the interaction between the independent variables was significant. In the two groups participating in the 1:1 Program, the students not participating in the free and reduced …

An Analysis Of The Act Sub-Scores’ Ability To Predict The Outcome Of College Algebra Through The Lens Of Modern Chaos Theory, Johnathan Jay Mcewen

Dissertations

ACT scores are widely used to predict outcomes in coursework and serve as placement guidelines for college level courses such as college algebra. Due to a changing college environment, the appropriateness of these placement decisions takes on a new, more critical light. Given the rate of success for current predictions in college algebra, and the resulting consequences for misplacement, this study examines the predictive potential of the ACT scores through the examination of non-linear variables and a metaphorically chaotic interpretational lens.

The literature base for this study reveals, almost to exclusion, the use of linear models for the prediction of …

Faculty-To-Faculty Incivility As Perceived By Nursing Faculty, Melinda Lofton Sills

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the perceived presence of workplace incivility among nursing faculty in associate, baccalaureate, and graduate nursing programs and whether there was a significant difference between workplace incivility behaviors, occurrence of incivility, extent of incivility, and engagement of incivility among the three groups. A convenience sample of faculty from nursing programs accredited by Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing and Commission of Collegiate Nursing Education in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, and Tennessee completed the Incivility in Nursing Education-Revised (INE-R) survey. The final sample included 169 nursing faculty.

Based on the results of the study …