Education Commons^™

Facilitating Equitable Classrooms, Sara Arndt, April Guenzler

Instructional Modules for Professional learning Responding to Opportunities and Valuing Educators (IMPROVE)

Public education serves all students and works to close the achievement gap currently present in our society. This module aims to help assist educational stakeholders best support all students through differentiation and best practices. Most of the suggestions and strategies can work in any classroom environment. At the core of this module, however, one must understand that respect is essential between all stakeholders ­ especially teachers and students ­ to have an effective classroom community.

Visit professional learning module.

Supporting Education, Research, And Training In The 21st Century, Glynis M. Bradfield, Adam Fenner, Petr Činčala

Faculty Publications

The expanding array of digital devices accessing the Internet around the globe provides new opportunities to collaborate in educating Adventist teachers and educational leaders to continue the teaching ministry of Jesus Christ in the 21st century. Partnerships among the Curriculum and Instruction Resource Center Linking Educators (CIRCLE), the Adventist Learning Community (ALC), and the Institute of Church Ministry (ICM) now connect more Adventists to education and training resources electronically than ever before.

Review Of Children's Rights 0-8: Promoting Participation In Education And Care By M. Kanyal, Lori Imasiku

Faculty Publications

The book Children’s Right’s 0-8 discusses the right to participate in education and decision making for young children. The title itself was somewhat unclear as the book limited the discussion of children’s rights to participation and one must only assume that the 0- 8 is in reference to the age of children. Though the title itself is unclear, the contents of the book are well developed and can be a useful tool for those who work with young children as caregivers or educators. The theoretical development of child participation makes this a book suitable resource for researchers and scholars.

Effects Of Education On Victims Of Domestic Violence, Julette N. Anderson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this project was to improve support for victims of domestic violence. To that end, this project developed an evidence-based program to provide information about domestic violence including safe and confidential ways to seek assistance, rights as cohabiting intimate partners, and the resources available to community members. Several approaches were used to develop, validate, and plan for implementation and evaluation of this program, which was developed for 3 sites in Broward and Miami-Dade counties where the project is situated. The program logic model and the social ecological model, including the individual, relationship, community, and societal levels, were used …

Computer Anxiety And Computer Self-Efficacy Of Older Adults, Elizabeth Diane Cooper-Gaiter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many older adults (aged 55 and older) need training to acquire computer knowledge and skills. Using computers and the Internet could provide access to vital resources for improving older adults' health and maintaining their connections with family and society. This study examined 2 psychological constructs--computer anxiety and computer self-efficacy--that have been shown to impact a person's successful use of computers and related technology. Guided by Bandura's self-efficacy theory, which emphasizes the importance of adult learners being motivated and taking charge of their learning, this study examined the impact of a computer knowledge and skills workshop on older adults' computer anxiety …

Why Latino American Community College Students Drop Out After One Semester, Rosa Delia Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate why many Latino America students at an urban community college in the state of Maryland who were enrolled at least part-time and were U.S. citizens or permanent residents did not continue their education into the second semester. Guided by Tinto's model of student integration and student persistence, this study explored the reasons these students dropped-out using the students' words to describe barriers to success, factors that influenced their decisions not to return for their second semester, and what they believed could have made a difference in their decisions. Five Latino …

Analysis Of An Early Intervention Reading Program For First Grade Students, Elizabeth Nicole Matthews

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Poor early literacy performance in public elementary schools has been a concern for many years. To that end, the purpose of this study was to examine an Early Intervention Program (EIP) in a public school. First grade students at the participating elementary school struggled with reading skills and were not meeting the grade standards of the local school district. In order to remedy this problem, the school implemented early support to provide struggling students with specific and targeted small group reading instruction. This quantitative program evaluation was intended to explore the effect of the EIP used at the participating elementary …

Secondary Principals Who Are Mothers: Balancing Home And Career, Turina Parker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Working mothers who are school leaders face challenges as they attempt to manage competing time demands and personal and professional responsibilities. A need exists for existing school leaders, as well as women aspiring to school leadership, to understand the coping strategies used by mothers who are also school principals. To that end, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the experiences of mothers who are school principals. Strategies used to navigate multiple roles were examined through a role conflict lens. Three overarching research questions guided this study to focus on how female principals with children accommodate their dual …

Creating Professional Learning Programs That Recognize Teachers As Adult Learners, Nicole Marie Lowe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

According to recent research, approximately 40-50% of teachers leave the profession within the first 5 years, creating a constant need for teachers. There is evidence that creating a supportive working environment through effective professional learning, drawing on adult learning theory, may reduce teacher turnover and increase student performance. This study explored teachers' perceptions about the professional development offerings available to them, how these perceptions influence their decisions to remain at the school, and what types of professional learning experiences teachers want to experience. Fourteen high school teachers participated in individual interviews and 2 focus groups, which were analyzed inductively for …

Faculty Perceptions Regarding Best Practices In Clinical Dental Hygiene Assessment, Brenda Kaye Walstead

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative case study explored faculty perceptions regarding best practices and uses of assessment in a dental hygiene program at a small northwestern college. It was discovered that faculty in the program were assessing students in their clinical courses using widely varied methods, designs, and scoring tools. Faculty neither calibrated processes nor communicated about this problem. In addition, a review of the assessments in this local setting indicated a significant gap in the current guidelines for best practices in clinical assessment procedures. Knowles' adult learning theory served as the foundation for this study. Research questions were designed to obtain clinical …

A Phenomenological Study Of High School Teachers' Motivation As Related To Teacher Performance Management, Richard Hugh Wildman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher motivation factors prominently in the sustainable development of educational institutions, and relate to self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and retention. Prior motivational research in education has addressed factors relating to teacher motivation, but there is a dearth of research into the impact of performance management on motivation. This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of 5 teachers in relation to the performance management process in the selected school. The project study was guided by Bandura's social cognitive theory, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and Herzberg's motivation-hygiene theory. In-depth, semistructured interviews were used to extract the essence of the lived experiences as expressed …

The Relationship Between Terrorism, Oil Prices, And Airline Profitability, Ubirathan Miranda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Given the financial challenges faced by the airline industry, understanding of the combined effect of terrorism and the price of petroleum on airline profitability is imperative. The purpose of this correlational study was to determine if a combination of terrorism and the price of petroleum significantly predicted airline profitability, and which variable was the most significant. This study collected samples of financial records from major American commercial passenger and cargo airlines on costs of fuel (n = 84) and airline profitability (n = 84). The terrorism data (n = 84) were comprised of terrorist attacks on petroleum infrastructure in oil-producing …

Black Caribbean American Parents' Home-Based Literacy Activities For K-2 Religious School Students, Maureen Hyacinth Moncrieffe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Research has shown that parental involvement plays a crucial role in the academic achievement of students. A parent's involvement in a child's literacy development, especially in the Black Caribbean American community, is important because it helps the child become a life-long reader. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to investigate the at-home literacy involvement of Black Caribbean American parents with their K-2 children in a small private religious school. Based upon Epstein's work on parental involvement, as well as Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler's role construction theory, the current study explored these parents' at-home literacy activities with their children, their …

Contextual Factor Profiling: Teacher-Created Classroom Website Design In Texas High Schools, Carolynn Mortensen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With increasing student access to technology and the Internet, Texas school districts have invested in content management systems (CMS), improved technology infrastructure, and professional development with little research available about best practices and current use of class websites. Using the technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK) framework, this study investigated how contextual factors predicted the number of website components related to the teacher information, communication, classroom management, and teaching content section of a class website designed by a Texas high school teacher. This quantitative, predictive correlational research design included data collected from a proportional allocation of 191 Texas high school teacher …

Self-Efficacy, Cultural Competence, And Perception Of Learning Environment In Traditional And Interprofessional Education Physical Therapy Curricula, Laura Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Interprofessional education (IPE), a concept that brings students from different health care professions together in the learning process, has been adopted by some physical therapy (PT) schools as an alternative to traditional PT-only curricula. Both approaches have the goal of improving patient outcomes for an increasingly diverse population. There was a void in the research comparing IPE and traditional curricula in PT education. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of adult and social learning theory, the purpose of this study was to examine differences in students' self-efficacy, cultural competence, and perceptions of the learning environment based on curricular type and prior …

Nurse Educators' Perspectives Of Supplemental Computer-Assisted Formative Assessment In An Associate Degree Nursing Program, Jennifer Buehler Sugg

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the implementation of various strategies to improve outcomes, the pass rates for the National Council Licensure Exam for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) for an associate degree nursing (ADN) program continue to decrease. This study examined the use of a supplemental computer-assisted formative assessment (SCAFA) as a strategy for NCLEX-RN success. A qualitative case study with a theoretical framework based on constructivism was designed to investigate nurse educators' perspectives of this particular strategy for successful outcomes. To explore these perspectives, data were collected from face-to-face interviews with nurse educators and from program documents from 1 ADN program in the southeastern United …

Assessment Practices At An Associate Degree Nursing Program, Tracey Jane Siegel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nursing programs have traditionally used teacher-developed multiple-choice (MCQ) examinations to prepare students for licensure. Researchers have determined that poorly constructed MCQ tests used as formative and summative evaluations may penalize nursing students and impact progression and retention in nursing programs. The purpose of this exploratory case study was to examine issues related to the use of teacher-developed MCQ examinations as the only method of student assessment in the theory component of nursing courses. The National League for Nursing Core Competencies for Nurse Educators and the revised Bloom's Taxonomy were used as the conceptual frameworks for this study. The Director of …

Predicting The Perceived Importance Of Professional Advocacy Among Counselor Educators, Rebecca Diane Nate

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The goal of this nonexperimental quantitative research study was to determine if the professional identity of a counselor educator (CE) predicted their perceived importance of professional advocacy. Social identity theory (SIT) constituted the framework for this study, which asked whether CEs would follow the established norms of the dominant professional group and thus consistently perceive the importance of professional advocacy. The Professional Counselor Advocacy Inventory (PCAI) was used to measure CEs' perceptions. The data of 92 participants were analyzed in SPSS 21 using an ordinal regression. Specialization, age, gender, primary setting, and years of experience were the predictor variables, and …

Concept Mapping As A Tool For Enhancing Self-Paced Learning In A Distance Scenario, John Allen Richbourg

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have determined that concept maps serve as effective tools in the traditional science classroom. The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate concept mapping as a tool for student knowledge acquisition in 10th grade science for students in distance learning situations. Research questions were designed to investigate the influence of concept mapping on rate and quality of student knowledge acquisition and retention. This study was a pretest-posttest 2-group comparison study, constructivist in nature and based on the theory of cognitive learning. Participants included 36 students in the 10th grade at an inner-city school in the United States. Control …

Indentifying Effective Communication Practices For Eliciting Parental Involvement At Two K-8 Schools, Karen Lynn Moore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Conventional wisdom suggests effective and timely school communications increase parental involvement. Guided by this wisdom and contemporary parental involvement theory, effective educational institutions have established systems that foster communication and collaboration between school representatives and the local community. Despite such efforts, research has revealed persistent declines in parental involvement within schools. This phenomenological study documented 16 parents' perceptions of communication between teachers and parents at 2 K-8 schools in the American southwest. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore parents' perceptions of the effectiveness of various school-based communication systems and the specific impact these systems had on parental involvement. NVivo software …

Measuring Dimensions Of Professional Learning Communities To Predict Secondary School Climate, Patrick A. Ward

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Schools are experiencing many reform initiatives, yet creating positive school climates as a way to promote increased student achievement has been omitted from the policy discussion. Whether the professional learning community (PLC) construct can predict school climate is a gap in the current literature. Using change theory and distributed leadership as a framework, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationships between the dimensions of a PLC (shared values and vision, intentional learning and application, supportive and shared leadership, supportive conditions and shared personal practice) and school climate variables (academic emphasis, initiating structure, consideration and morale). Four …

The Environmental Health Of The Autistic Student In The Public School Classroom, Antonia Klein

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Professionals have found autism to be an enigmatic condition. While necessary

biomedical research continues, a gap exists in the inclusion of parental opinions,

knowledge, and experiences in educational planning for their autistic children. The

purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify the factors that the parents felt

contributed to the academic success of their autistic child in the public school classroom

environment and ways in which their ideas might contribute to overall educational

planning and classroom design in structure, curriculum development, and intervention

strategies which might lead to reduced stress. Parental input was explored through

semistructured personal interviews …

Childhood Hearing Loss And Its Stress On Hearing Families, Julie Macker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Childhood disability increases parental stress. Research on the laterality of childhood hearing loss or presence of a cochlear implant(s) as it relates to stress in hearing parents was limited before this study. The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify relationships between the independent variables of laterality (unilateral and bilateral) of a childhood hearing loss or presence of a cochlear implant(s) and the dependent variable of stress in hearing parents. Family systems theory provided a framework for viewing each member of the family as a part of a whole, whose life events, feelings, and actions affect all of the …

The Effect Of Nationality Differences On The Emotional Intelligence Of Leaders, Hossein Reza Nikoui

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Previous studies related to manager effectiveness and organizational culture have determined that emotional intelligence (EI) is a critical predictor of intercultural adjustment and business success. However, few investigators have examined the relationship between EI and nationality differences. In today's globalized business environment, such understanding is crucial to the development of more effective leadership programs for international workers. This quantitative study explored the degrees to which the EI of organizational managers varied across nationalities. A theoretical framework, provided by several theories related to personality, leadership, and types of intelligence, created a lens through which to analyze study results. The Trait Emotional …

Teacher Perceptions Of Common Core-Based Evaluations For Students With Cognitive Impairments, Pamela Marie Majerus

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Education reform in schools has focused on inclusion of all students in general education environments and accountability measures. Students with cognitive impairments are mandated to participate in standards-based alternate assessments. Special education teachers in a school district in a southeastern state in this study have been faced with the challenge of implementing these assessments. A bounded case study design was used to examine their perceptions of the use of standards-based alternate assessments for students with cognitive impairments. Guiding research questions focused on the nature and process of implementing alternate assessments. Resistance to change was the conceptual framework. The bounded case …

Placing Students In Eighth Grade Mathematics: A Case Study Of The Decision-Making Process, Donald Joseph Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Algebra 1 is considered an essential course to master in order to understand the concepts of higher-order mathematics, and the California accountability system designates this course for completion in 8th grade. In Shelton County, however, placement of 8th graders in this course is based on feeder school, rather than student ability, resulting in inequitable access. The purpose of this case study was to examine the experiences of administrators who place individual students in mathematics courses and the factors that influence their placement decisions. The conceptual framework for the study was administrative theory as related to processes of effective decision making. …

Impact Of Voices, Ideas, Vision, Action Exchange For Teachers In Educational Policies Of Iowa, Tammy Elaine Wawro

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Low teacher morale and high attrition rates can be attributed in part to educational policy changes and instructional decisions made by individuals who are not connected to the classroom. Time constraints, logistical struggles of getting a critical mass of teachers together, and the geography of rural Iowa schools all play a role in teachers' inability to form a unified voice. The Voices Ideas Vision Action (VIVA) Idea Exchange-?¢ is an online process that combines crowd-sourcing methods with individual engagement strategies over a 6- to 8-week period. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact the VIVA program has …

Student Perceptions Of Connectedness In Online Courses, Cynthia Dawn Worley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Students who obtain college degrees have a higher earning potential and greater likelihood of employment. Although researchers have found that student enrollment and performance in online college courses has increased, attrition has also risen at a higher rate than in face-to-face courses. The problem of declining persistence in online courses at a rural community college in the Southeastern United States was addressed in this study. The community of inquiry framework was used in this qualitative case study to explore perceptions of 10 experienced online learners. The research questions were focused on students' perceptions of the roles of connectedness and student …

The Relationship Between Middle School Configurations And Student Success, Asia Ali-Hawkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Public schools have used varying school configurations for middle grades-typically K-8 or traditional middle school arrangements-to improve students' academic outcomes. A small Northeastern school district was experiencing problems with student achievement, suspensions, and truancy, and was considering school configuration as a potential method of improving student performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the associations between school configuration and student achievement, suspensions, and truancy. Erikson's psychosocial theory of development and Dickinson's middle school philosophy guided this study since both address the needs of adolescents. Five years of archival data were collected from 2 demographically comparable Northeast school …

A Clinical Pathway Education Program For Pediatric Nurses, Lisa M. Scheiber-Case

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Clinical pathways have been studied to promote best practices in nursing and enhance patient satisfaction. For 10 years a pediatric orthopedic surgical team at a Midwest hospital has not had a clinical pathway to treat or standardize care for adolescents following posterior spinal fusion surgery. Pain scores and patients' length of stay were collected using a retrospective chart review. This information was used to revise preoperative education materials and develop a visual poster. The purpose of this project was to identify and develop a way to educate the pediatric nursing staff on the use of the developed educational materials, poster, …