Education Commons^™

Closing The Opportunity Gap In The Advanced Placement Program, Julie H. Lam

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Advanced Placement (AP) Program has become ubiquitous in terms of earning college credit during high school. Since the College Board incorporated it in 1956, the AP Program has grown to include 38 courses across seven subjects/categories. Recently, approximately half the states have passed legislation guaranteeing credit towards an undergraduate degree contingent on passing AP Exam scores. Many studies, especially those from the College Board, have shown that students who pass AP exams are more likely to succeed in other academic areas, including earning higher undergraduate GPAs and graduating with an undergraduate degree in less time. With the opportunities and …

Lived Experiences Of Counselor Educators During Their Supervisory Relationship With International Counselors In Training, Vera Lucia Chimbanda

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Relational cultural theory (RCT) offered a lens for understanding clinical supervisors’ perceptions of working with international counselors in training (ICTs). All 10 participants were professional counselor educators in the role of clinical supervisors and trained in the United States who worked with ICTs by regularly providing clinical supervision for at least one semester within the last three years. They all participated in a virtual interview using an encrypted HIPAA-protected audio-conferencing platform. The findings suggest the clinical supervisors perceived their overall experiences working with ICTs led to growth-fostering relationships and cultural awareness that enriched their lives. The growth resulted from cross-cultural …

Imprecise Words: A Critical Discourse Analysis Of Institutional Statements Addressing Anti-Black Racism In 2020, Shedrick Wayne Daniels Iii

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A series of highly publicized off-campus acts of racial violence between February and September 2020 ignited a national reckoning on race, racism, anti-Black racism, and the role of higher education in systemic discrimination. In response, a number of college and university leaders published public statements attempting to address anti-Black racism both nationally and on their respective campuses. The purpose of this study is to take a closer look at how colleges and universities in the University of Wisconsin System (UW-System) utilize public statements to address anti-Black racism. Utilizing Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework, as well as Bitzer’s theory …

Avoiding "Oh My God" Experiences: How White Female Developmental Literacy Instructors (Dis)Engage Race In Their Instructional Decision Making, Alison Michelle Douglas

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the instructional decision making of White female community college developmental literacy instructors in order to better understand pedagogical practices that impact educational inequities for Black male students in developmental literacy classes. Historically, the U.S education system has underserved Black male students, and college success rates demonstrate that educational inequities persist for Black male students today. Although much research has focused on educational inequities for Black male students in K-12 and university environments, little research has focused those inequities for Black male students in community colleges. In addition, although research that explores Black male experiences in educational settings …

Knowledge To Support Reading And Writing Among Teachers Of Students Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired, Nosheen Gul

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to produce two manuscripts and a conference paper reporting on analyses of data from a survey that investigated the knowledge, beliefs, and self-perceptions of 236 teachers of students who are blind or visually impaired (TSBVIs) with regard to literacy instruction. The first manuscript investigated the linguistic awareness and dyslexia beliefs of TSBVIs, and the relation of these factors to demographic characteristics and teacher training. With regards to linguistic awareness, results indicated no association with the number of courses TSBVIs had taken on teaching reading to students who are blind or visually impaired, highest degree …

An Exploration Of The Technological, Technological-Pedagogical, And Technological And Instructional Challenges That Saudi Faculty Face In Their Transition To Online Education, Mshael Aldakheel

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The rapid pace of globalization has contributed to the expansion of fully online programs and course offerings over the past decades. Additionally, the current COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the move to online instruction worldwide. Various challenges have become evident when transitioning to online education. Thus, this qualitative case study explored the technological challenges, technological pedagogical challenges, and technological content challenges that faculty members at a higher institution in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) faced while transitioning from fully face-to-face instruction to fully online instruction. Three research questions were addressed. Findings indicated participants experienced challenges pertaining to the role of the …

Examining Teachers' Use Of Adaptive Diagnostic Assessment To Improve Mathematics Teaching And Learning, Dalal H. Alfageh

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined teachers’ perceptions and use of adaptive diagnostic assessment for improving teaching and learning of elementary level mathematics. Specifically, this case study was conducted at some of the leading primary schools in a Midwestern school district. TPACK theory was used as the theoretical framework for this case study to provide an understanding of how the teaching and learning of mathematics occurs in the classroom and the changes that occur due to the implementation of adaptive diagnostic assessments. A survey, individual interviews, a focus group, and journal reflections were used for data collection. The findings of this …

Training For Retention: How Effective Are Writing Center And Learning Center Training Programs At Pace University?, Anna Giacalone

Honors College Theses

Although peer student support services are offered at college and universities across the country, there is little discussion regarding how students are trained to work in these positions. While the benefits of student support services are generally agreed upon, these services can only be effective if student employees feel adequately prepared for their roles. This study aims to determine best practices to design training curriculum for students employed as writing center consultants, content tutors, and peer mentors in a university setting. To do so, student employees at Pace University - Pleasantville’s Learning Commons were surveyed to analyze how prepared students …

Renewed Purposes For Social Studies Teacher Preparation: An Analysis Of Teacher Self-Efficacy And Initial Teacher Education, Leona Calkins, Paul J. Yoder, Peter Wiens

Teaching and Learning Faculty Research

Using data from TALIS 2018, this study analyzed the relationship of U.S. social studies teachers’ initial teacher education (ITE) and their self-efficacy, with an emphasis on the newly added construct of multicultural teacher self-efficacy. Results indicated that content and pedagogy training is present in the vast majority of ITE programs that U.S. social studies teachers have attended; however, over one quarter of participants reported no training in teaching in a multilingual or multicultural setting during their ITE. Social studies teachers were more self-efficacious about instruction and classroom management than they were about student engagement and teaching in multicultural classrooms. All …

Exploration Of Principals’ Leadership Qualities And Their Associations With A School Learning Environment And School Outcomes, Gultekin John Aytekin

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Charter schools have carved a niche in public education, but despite an increased number of studies in charter schools in recent years, the research in charter school leadership is not adequate. School Leadership is critical for school success; it is the second most significant factor for influencing student academic achievement after classroom teaching and curricula (Robinson et al., 2008; Day et al., 2008, Leithwood, 2006; Marzano, 2001).The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the Illinois charter school principals' characteristics and leadership qualities (leadership style, leadership outcome, and cultural intelligence) and their relationships with the school learning environment as …

Widening The Pathway To A Degree: The Impact Of Accepting Credit For Prior Learning At A Community College, Jessica Berek

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Credit for prior learning is a way to recognize previous experiences and knowledge as an equivalent to college level learning. Determining effective ways to accept credit for prior learning experiences can have a positive impact on students, including community college students, as they work to reach academic goals. This qualitative study aimed to understand the experiences of community colleges students who have received credit for prior learning on their academic transcript. Through interviews with students, benefits and barriers of credit for prior learning were discussed. Barriers to credit for prior learning included a lack of overall knowledge on the types …

"Sup Bro": Constructions And Perceptions Of Masculinity And Gender Identity Among Division Iii Student-Athlete Men, Mark Carbonara

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Patriarchal systems of power, privilege, and oppression are reinforced by college men every day, but there are certain populations of college men who wield a stronger ability to influence change. Student-athlete men at NCAA Division III institutions are often viewed as “culture creators” on their campuses. Moreover, many of these programs reside at smaller institutions, where the impact of toxic masculinity has potential to be more concentrated. Student-athlete men are often seen as representing hegemonic forms of masculinity, therefore having influence in setting norms of what is expected of men on campus. This critical narrative inquiry study explored how participating …

Sociodemographic Factors Influencing Choice Of Career Training Program: An Analysis Of Washington State Technical Colleges, Scott J. Latiolais

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Over 219,000 students enroll in Washington State’s 34 community and technical colleges annually. The Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) also reports that of these students, 88,000, or 40%, are in career training programs. The need to examine these career training students’ decision-making behaviors is vital, given the $20.5 billion annual contribution these students make to the state economy. This study examines the factors that impact students’ selection of a high or low wage-earning program of study, determines the extent to which the impact varies for historically underserved student populations, and delineates which sociodemographic variables influence student …

Legal Literacy: A Survey Of Research, Legal Content Within Educator Preparation Programs And Improvement Through The Development Of Professional Learning, Susan A. Kondrat

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation is a component of a larger group project that examines the concept of legal literacy within the educational system. Research over the last fifty years has demonstrated concern that educators have gaps in their legal knowledge in many areas, including church-state relations, student record-keeping practices, discipline, rights of children with disabilities, and their own employment concerns related to law. Most of the current literature on legal literacy in education focuses on the lack of legal knowledge among educators in all roles (Militello, et.al, 2009) and indicates that gaps that have been identified are not narrowing over time (McCarthy, …

Speak Up: An Evaluation Of Teaching Engagement To Children In An Academic Setting, Delaney R. Callan

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Shyness is characterized by anxious and reluctant behaviors that may put children at risk for underperforming academically. Previous research has observed that active behavioral engagement in the classroom improves academic performance, however, shy children show deficits in this type of engagement. The current study examined whether behavior skills training (i.e., instruction, modeling, rehearsal and feedback) improved active engaged behavior in pre-K and kindergarten-age children using a multiple baseline across participants design. Four children between 3 to 5 years of age with varying shy behaviors as reported by their parents were asked to complete a series of math worksheets prior to …

How Changes In Group Size Impact Teachers’ Perceptions Of Their Practice In Australian Centre-Based Early Childhood Education And Care Services, Michelle Hilton-Moon

Theses

This qualitative study explores four early childhood teachers’ perceptions of group size in an Australian early childhood long day care education and care setting. This study draws on the theory of change to establish its aim, which is to identify the impact a change in group size had on these teachers’ perceptions. Issues pertaining to the teachers’ perception of the child and their perception of their roles as teachers are explored through a phenomenological case study approach. The contemporary theoretical perspectives of Erica Burman, Lillian Katz, Nel Noddings and Max van Manen provide theoretical propositions (predetermined themes) to examine the …

The Potential Of Artificial Intelligence In Higher Education, Helen Crompton, Donggil Song

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is seeping into many aspects of our everyday lives, with common internet applications, smartphones and even household appliances. Within education, AI is a rapidly emerging field and there is a strong potential for AI to greatly extend and enhance teaching and learning in higher education (Crompton et al., 2020). AI is defined as “computing systems that are able to engage in human-like processes such as learning, adapting, synthesizing, self-correction and use of data for complex processing tasks” (Popenici & Kerr, 2017). In the Horizon Report 2020 report (Brown et al., 2020), AI is listed as one of …

Developing Instructional Technology Standards For Educators: A Design-Based Research Study, Helen Crompton, Carolyn Sykora

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Digital technologies are key tools that can be used to extend and enhance teaching and learning. However, empirical evidence show educators are unclear how to integrate technology and it is often used to support past teaching practices. Designbased research (DBR) involving a grounded theory design was used to construct a set of seven detailed education technology standards to provide guidance on how technology should be integrated and a set of 24 examples as indicators of these standards. This DBR mixed methods approach involved 2429 participants and gathered data from focus groups, surveys, and interviews. The DBR involved two macro cycles …

Status And Trends Of Mobile Learning In English Language Acquisition: A Systematic Review Of Mobile Learning From Chinese Databases, Zhang Jie, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Mobile learning has become the potential for innovation and disruption in the last decade. This study reviewed Chinese scholarly publications related to mobile learning research and published related to teaching and learning English in China’s higher education. Its purpose is to enrich systematic reviews for digital education with the provision of mobile learning research in China’s context with academic findings inaccessible to those who do not speak Chinese. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) principles are used to provide a transparent synthesis of extant studies. Major findings include that English learning has made progress in teaching strategy, …

A Conversation About Rethinking Criteria For Qualitative And Interpretive Research: Quality As Trustworthiness, Melva R. Grant, Yvonna S. Lincoln

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

This editorial shares a conversation about qualitative and interpretive research quality between friends. Dr. Yvonna Lincoln, University Distinguished Professor Emerita at Texas A&M University, has been a pioneer in the field of qualitative and interpretive inquiry research. The purpose of this paper is to share Yvonna Lincoln’s contemporary thinking about quality criteria for qualitative and interpretive inquiry research and to make it available to mathematics educators who conduct qualitative research in urban settings.

Using Self-Based Methodologies To Unpack Mathematics Teacher Educators' Work, Elizabeth Suazo-Flores, Signe E. Kastberg, Melva R. Grant, Jennifer Ward, Sue Ellen Richardson, Olive Chapman

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Narrative inquiry, self-study, and autoethnography (i.e., self-based methodologies) are methodologies used by mathematics teacher educators (MTEs). These methodologies have opened up the field by unpacking and unearthing MTEs' work communicating findings from their practices. Building from our previous working groups at PME-NA 2018-2020, we sustain a community where MTEs can feel supported in their study design, implementation, representation of findings, and publication using self-based methodologies. At PME-NA Philadelphia, we will continue our work at PME-NA Mexico on self-based methodologies to develop perspectives on philosophical underpinnings of self-based methodologies and addressing trustworthiness and authenticity in our reports.

Investigating Saudi Preschool Teachers’ Beliefs Toward Emergent Literacy Skills And Practices: A Mixed Methods Study, Fatimah Hafiz

All ETDs from UAB

The current study aimed to investigate Saudi preschool teachers' beliefs about emergent literacy skills and practices. To this end, an explanatory, sequential mixed methods research design was adopted. The study involved two phases. The first involved a Q methodology approach to answer the overarching questions, "What are Saudi preschool teachers' beliefs about emergent literacy skills and practices?" and "What are the emergent literacy skills and practices that preschool teachers in Saudi Arabia consider most important for children's literacy development?" Thirty participants ranked forty statements in a quasi-normal distribution that ranged from the most important to most unimportant in relation to …

The Submission & Review Gauntlet, Emily Faulconer

Publications

• Understand the manuscript submission process
• Explain why articles are rejected
• Develop a strategy to respond to reviewers
• Discuss options when rejected
• Optional: Practice working with reviewer feedback

Lessons From The Pivot: Higher Education's Response To The Pandemic, Janine S. Davis, Christy Irish, Ellen Watson, Rosemary Huff Arneson, Jennifer D. Walker, Tracey S. Hodges, Olivia Murphy, Lee Skallerup Bessette, Et Al.

Education Faculty Books

This text includes chapters from instructional designers, university faculty and staff, and undergraduate and graduate students, and the text has been divided into three sections to reflect these varied perspectives. Each section begins with research-based perspectives, but also contains more personal narratives at the end. While the context of most of the chapters is the United States, there are also chapters with a Canadian context. It is also important to note that, as of the first half of 2021, the pandemic rages on, and mentions of COVID-19 in the following chapters will be reflective of the state of affairs in …

Developing New Faculty Voice And Agency Through Trustful, Overlapping, Faculty-Faculty And Student-Faculty Conversations, Alison Cook-Sather, Emily Hong, Tamarah Moss, Adam Williamson

Education Program Faculty Research and Scholarship

Faculty-faculty conversations and student-faculty conversations typically unfold as separate forms of faculty learning. We present an approach to new faculty development through which faculty-faculty conversations in pedagogy seminars overlap with student-faculty conversations in pedagogical partnerships. Writing as three new faculty members and one academic developer in a bi-college consortium, we review scholarship on building trustful conversation in faculty development; present the overlapping forms of faculty-faculty and student-faculty conversation that constitute our approach; share how the three new faculty members developed voice and agency in their pedagogical practices; and note both challenges and other versions of this approach.

Peer Learning In Introductory Engineering, Kimberly Luthi, Mohua Kar, Lisa Macon

Publications

Our research aim was to understand if PLTL and engagement in problem-based learning activities increase commitment to engineering pathways and academic success. We used both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis to answer our research questions and give recommendations. The findings show that while there is an overall improvement in grades and commitment to engineering pathways for those involved in PLTL activities, there is still a concern with integration and scalability of PLTL in engineering education.

Students’ Attitudes Towards Learning Chemistry Using Mobile Phone Simulations: A Case Of Two Secondary Schools In Dar Es Salaam Region., Ahmed Mbaruku Nyenga

Master of Education

Students’ attitudes have significant influence on their academic achievement in life. While at a younger age, they show keen interest towards scientific concepts, they grew in teenage years with a declining curiosity and will to take up science subjects. This has been due to abstract content overload for which a student needs sequential understanding as new concepts are built on older ones. Although technology has presented us with simulation applications in mobile phones, which would bring back the exciting nature of learning that children experienced with toys and video games at a tender age, efforts in terms of studies to …

A Case Study Of Teacher Candidates’ Experiences: Writing The Pilot Math Proficiency Test In Ontario, Canada, Ardavan Eizadirad, Jennifer Holm, Steve Sider

Education Faculty Publications

The focus of this article is on the introduction, justification, and enactment of the Mathematics Proficiency Test (MPT) by the provincial government in Ontario, Canada as a mandatory certification requirement for newly certified teachers. This article contextualizes the socio-political factors leading to the enactment of a MPT for newly certified teachers, developed and administered by the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), which was ostensibly to mitigate the trend of declining math scores in elementary schools. It then shifts to examine the experiences of the first cohort of teacher candidates from a Canadian university who participated in writing the pilot …

Exploring Avenues Other Than High Stakes Mathematics Testing For Teachers., Jennifer Holm, Ardavan Eizadirad, Steve Sider

Education Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Introduction And Invitation (Chapter One Of Generating Tact And Flow For Effective Teaching And Learning), Susanna M. Steeg Thornhill, Ken Badley

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Extract: "This book is for teachers, written by teachers, about the magic days. The days when things go so well you imagine that although teaching is a severely underpaid gig, you loved your work so much you might consider teaching for free. Maybe your most challenging students joined you on the learning journey in a new way, or a slightly under-planned lesson went much better than you anticipated, generating clear direction for the following week. Maybe things took a completely unexpected turn, and a teachable moment turned into a power hour fueled by excited and engaged students. These are the …