Education Commons^™

Chicago’S 2013 School Actions: An Investigation Of Post-2008 Racial Neoliberal Policy, Sonya Mohini Roy-Singh

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Under the threat of a $1billion budget deficit, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) declared a "utilization crisis" and in 2013 closed 50 public schools, slated five schools to be turned around and declared the co-location of 23 schools in 11 buildings. This utilization crisis model, marketed by politicians as a cost cutting effort, has been implemented in many large cities across the United States. There are two commonalities across cities closing public schools deemed underutilized. First, these cities have gradually increased charter schools over the last decade. Second, the closing of schools deemed underutilized disproportionately impacted low-income, African American students. …

Exploring The Use Of Teaching Strategies To Impact The Academic And Social Challenges Faced By First-Generation College Students, Susan Smierciak Lueders

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have shown that roughly one-third of the total students at four-year universities are the first in their families to attend college. These students are commonly referred to as first-generation college (FGC) students. The percent of total college students who are FGC students is expected to rise as the children of working-class, predominantly “blue collar” baby boomers, and the children of immigrants reach college age and enter the college arena. However, these students often enter college with unique academic and social challenges that result in an attrition rate of almost twice that of non- FGC students. While numerous studies …

Migration And Parent Involvement: Ethiopian Immigrants In Chicago, Daniel Hasso Shashe

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

My study examines the experiences and perceptions of Ethiopian immigrants in Chicago particularly as they relate to their involvement in their children’s schooling. Through narrative interviews I was able to hear stories of migration, education, and life changes within families as they emigrated from Ethiopia and (eventually) settled in the US. Migration, conditioned by political contexts at home, circumstances of mobility, and available support structures, is translated into life experiences that are infused with emotion (of various sorts), hardship (and various strategies to understand it and deal with it), an evolving vision of life in the US, and a …

A Study Of The Impact Of Mental Contrasting And Implementation Intentions On Academic Performance, Suzanne Velasquez-Sheehy

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

According to the U.S. Department of Education, the national high school graduation rate is 81% and only 59% of college enrolled students in 2006 obtained a college degree within ten years of entering 9th grade (U. S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, 2014). Studies conclude that high school grades predicted academic performance no matter what type of high school the students attended and that students who had good grades went on to graduate from college as a result of self-efficacy, motivation, and academic goals (Bowen, Chingos, & McPherson, 2011). Limited research suggests that using mental contrasting and implementation …

Securing The Blessings – Cultivating Active Citizens: Public School Principals’ Perceptions Of How They Nurture A Democratic Way Of Life, Judith Marie Mccann Floeter

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

School leaders have the formidable responsibility to promote an educational environment that supports the growth of both the individual and the nation. School principals are uniquely pressured to comply with politically motivated demands to educate for a globally competitive labor force while they simultaneously promote and strengthen lifelong learning and a democratic ethos in their particular students. The thoughtful educator recognizes the complexities of this negotiation.

In this dissertation I examined the recent literature about schooling for democracy and conclude that public schools are vital to sustaining a democracy; current reform strategies impinge upon school efforts to teach children to …

Instructional Technology And Self-Directed Learning For Students' Academic Success, Vincent Demetrious Wiggins

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Student achievement in the public education system of the United States is ranked substantially lower compared to other countries. One of the initiated goals proposed by the United States government is to increase the number of college graduates by partnering with community colleges (Office of the Press Secretary, 2015). Community colleges are open enrollment institutions, which often assist students described as at-risk. To serve the community college population of students, special curricular strategies have been implemented.

One tool identified for meeting the goal of increasing college graduation for the population of students at-risk is utilization of instructional technology. Instructional technology, …

少壯不努力, 老大徒傷悲 (A Young Idler, An Old Beggar): Chinese Nationals In U.S. Classrooms And The Pedagogical Significance Of Globalization, Ann Marie Frkovich

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Over fifty thousand Chinese students are leaving China to study in US high schools. This interview-based, narrative inquiry study focuses on the experience of ten Chinese nationals now studying at a US high school and expands work done in comparative pedagogy by offering thick descriptions of the school experience in two cultures. This study makes the case that China’s changing culture is reflected in the stories and school histories of Chinese students who experience pedagogy as significantly different in China and the US. The push that drives students out of China includes high-stakes testing and public ranking systems and the …

Feminine Voice, Masculine Space: Understanding How Passion For Sport Emerges In Female College Student-Athletes, Jill Hollembeak

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Many sport sociologists argue sports play a significant role in creating culture (Horne & Manzenreiter, 2006; L'Etang, 2006). Yet, even as there has been a gender revolution in U.S. sports, media “coverage today misrepresents both the participation and the interest in women‟s sports across our population at large” (p. 3). A powerful entity, the media misrepresentation of the number of females competing devalues the importance participation plays in the lives of many females. Their status as “jock” causes potential negativity as they navigate college and their roles in society, and their status as “female” carries historical conditions in all realms, …

Supporting Adult Learners' Metacognitive Development With A Sociotechnical System, Kathryn Wozniak

College of Computing and Digital Media Dissertations

Metacognition is defined as thinking about and reflecting on one's cognitive processes. In learning contexts, strong metacognition leads to retention, academic success, and deep learning. While we know a lot about the metacognition of learners in grades K-12 and college, there are limited studies on adult learners' (24 and older) metacognitive awareness, how to support it, or the role technology can play, particularly since e-learning is quickly becoming the central mode of learning for adult learners. Thus, I have the following motivating research question: How can we support adult learners' metacognitive development in e-learning environments?

To better understand adult learners' …

Deathscapes In Neoliberal Times: Prisonfare, Workfare And Resistance As Potential Outcomes For Black Youth, Ebony Rose

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This paper defines and unpacks Loic Wacquant’s concepts of Workfare and Prisonfare, coupled with a discussion of Tendayi Sithole’s concept of Deathscapes and his appropriation of Achille Mbembe’s Necropolitics as to why urban schools are poverty storage facilities for black youth. I address the centrality of the states social and penal policies in the reconfiguration of urban schools under a death politic guided by the deployment of both a neoliberal-paternalism and antiblack racist methodology. I argue, through the creation of workfare and prisonfare those urban schools eradicate black existence by conditioning low-income black students for low-wage labor or the prison. …

Decolonial Futures And The Law: Reflections On Mitigating Projects Of Coloniality, Lauren Lystrup

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the codified logics of coloniality operating to exterminate, incorporate and make dependent the colonized. I bring Maldonado-Torres’ (2007) conceptions the ‘ontological colonial difference,’ an elaboration on Fanon’s (1968) ‘coloniality of being,’ and Mignolo’s (2010) ideas on the ‘modern/ colonial design’ into a reading of the law in order to demonstrate the persistence of colonial logics in the interrelated areas of knowledge production, international policy, and political dissent. I understand coloniality as dialectical in order to situate decoloniality as a relational and universalized process, rather than one that is particular, hyper-localized, and chronologically illogical, as is often conceived. …

Pre-Service Secondary Science Teachers’ Understanding And Use Of Modeling, Bryan J. Meeker

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the understandings and uses of models and modeling by pre-service secondary science teachers. Models and modeling are described at length within the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as being useful components of an effective science curriculum and have been analyzed in the literature. However, much of this research lacks real-world examples and usable techniques for instructors, creating misunderstandings about models and modeling. This work incorporates relevant literature as well as participant interviews in an effort to clarify these terms. Results of this study demonstrate a limited understanding of the use of models …