Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons^™

Short-Term Athletic Foreign Tours And Student Learning Outcomes: A Program Evaluation, April L. Elsbernd

Dissertations

Many studies have shown that the same student learning outcomes observed in long-term study abroad can be met during short-term programs, if executed correctly. Intercollegiate athletic foreign travel tours (AFTs) are similar to short-term study abroad programs, but little research has been done on these programs. By analyzing qualitative and quantitative data from surveys of student-athletes who recently participated in AFTs, as well as interviews with relevant staff members, I was able to determine strengths of the program and identify areas for growth. The evaluation process shaped organizational change recommendations, along with an institutional policy that will allow the AFT …

Students As The Golden Resource: Incorporating Student Voice Into Overall School Culture, Dominick M. Lupo

Dissertations

This study is a program evaluation of AGA Middle School’s current school culture as it relates to being either a student-centered culture or an adult-centered culture. Following the analysis of the program evaluation, this study also set out to gather the voices of the students of AGA Middle School in order to determine the positive relationship building strategies and characteristics that teachers whom have positive relationships with students have in common. Employing a mixed methodology of survey data along with individual student interviews from each grade level (six through eight), this study found that the current school culture committee, the …

Culturally Responsive Classroom Management Techniques And Former Riverside County And San Bernardino County Teachers Of The Year: A Phenomenological Study, Brian Redmond

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine what former County Teachers of the Year understand and describe as the methods they use for culturally responsive classroom management with respect to Brown’s Five Culturally Responsive Factors (developing personal relationships, creating caring learning communities, establishing a business-like learning environment, establishing congruent communication processes and, teaching with assertiveness and clearly stating expectations).

Methodology: This qualitative study used a phenomenological design to discover what former County Teachers of the Year do to identify and describe as the methods they use for culturally responsive classroom management with respect to Brown’s Five Culturally …

Barriers To Student Connectedness And Engagement: How Socioeconomic Status Affects Student Involvement, Dominic M. Manola

Dissertations

Today, as students prepare for post-secondary opportunities, a greater and greater emphasis is placed on the importance of engaging learners both in and out of the classroom. While many students are inclined to get involved, there is a growing number of young people who face barriers that prevent them from connecting and engaging in the high school experience. Importantly, socioeconomic status plays a key role in determining how engaged a student may be, as well as serving as a key identifier in what must be addressed to ensure more young people get involved in their academic and co-curricular learning. This …

Exploring The Characteristic Triad Of Resilience: Personal Disposition, Family Support And The Environment Within The Cultural Context Of Quality Mariachi Academies In The Impoverished Central Valley Of California, Lucia Vazquez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study, was to explore through the lens of the Characteristic Triad of Resilience: personal disposition, family support and environment, how participation in community-based Quality Mariachi Academies (QMA) in impoverished counties contribute to educational resilience.

Methodology: This qualitative multi-case study explored the lived experience of ten resilient students in the impoverished San Joaquin Valley of Central California, utilizing the Characteristic Triad of Resilience as the framework in the context of Quality Mariachi Academies. Data collected from resilient students was triangulated with data from parents, grandparents and site staff.

Findings: Community-based Quality Mariachi Academies …

An Exploration Of Trust In Community Leadership Contexts, Richard Hudanick, Kimberlie M. Straatmann, Michael Miller, Andrea Harper, Joshua White

Dissertations

This qualitative exploratory study of effective community engagement process examines community leader’s perceptions of their experiences and the role fostering and building trust plays in producing sustainable change in a Midwestern regional context. The purpose of this study was to explore how trust interacts with asset-based thinking and social learning experiences, including trauma-informed awareness, meaning-making, and empathy, to support community engagement efforts. The research team interviewed 26 individuals who were selected via purposive sampling. Study participants were active in their communities and practitioners in their respective professions. The study identified five overarching themes that emerged from participant interviews, including themes …

A Suburban Case Of Community Mobilization For Music Education: Lessons For Arts Education In A Cash-Strapped World, Karen Sarasin

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to examine the organization and management of a community-driven string music program under the direction of a parent-run board. This descriptive single-case study focused on an elementary public school, kindergarten through eighth grade, located in a middle-to-upper-class suburb in a metropolitan area in the Midwest. The research question focused on how the collaborative efforts among the adult contributors (school district administrators, parent-run board members, music teachers, and parents) influenced the organization and management of the program. While music programs continue to face elimination from a school’s curriculum, the findings revealed that as a result …

The Blueprint Of Reform, Social Justice Questions, And The Missing Perspective Of African Americans, Raymellia Jones

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

American schools were successful in assimilating European immigrants and their descendants, this has not been the case for nonwhites. Orfield points out the fact that Native Americans, African Americans, and people of Mexican origin in the United States received little education until well into the twentieth century is an indication of historical educational barriers facing nonwhite people (2013). The purpose of this study is to raise awareness to the evidence of the historical roots of racial inequality in failing schools and how it relates to Black and Latino students locked into inferior schools today. I provide a historical background …

Kids These Days: Increasing Youth Engagement In Community Heritage And Social Justice Through The Implementation Of A Youth Participatory Empowerment Model, Melanie Canaday-Talley, Lindsay Clemens, Amanda J. Dworak Rowland, Mary Gillis, Curlinda Mitchell Blacksheep, Jancarlos Jose Romero

Dissertations

The purpose of this co-authored, qualitative, action research study was to examine how to empower youth to become active participants in their communities. Citizen engagement in community and public life is vital to a healthy democracy and young people have a unique place in community citizenry, but are often dismissed or excluded from decision-making. The research team developed a model, the Youth Participatory Empowerment Model (YPEM), to guide youth through a process of identifying and engaging a community heritage or social justice need in their community. The team assembled a guidebook of activities to engage groups in difficult self, group, …

Positionality Matters: School Choice Decisions Based On Ethnographic Accounts Of African American Parents, Dr. Stacy L. Thomas

Dissertations

This research delves into experiences with reasoning and selected criteria for choosing the right school for their children. Beginning with a series of vignettes that assist with recognition of parental empowerment, this research archives acknowledgement of their own positionality when it comes to making life changing decisions. As selected parents of African American children grapple with the strategic balance and possibilities of educational outlets, family and finances, they offer ethnographic accounts of their successes and failures with school choice. Individual accounts of parental school choice decisions posing as data ascertained from interviews provided research that explored the critical frequencies and …

Professional Learning Communities Supporting Teacher Collaboration And Student Achievement: A Program Evaluation, Chundra Evens

Dissertations

In 2013, an initiative was implemented throughout a school district to address years of declining student assessment scores. With a directive for engagement in collaboration, this study was conducted to determine what a school was doing well in their Professional Learning Communities, areas for growth during the process, and the extent that the initiative was implemented with fidelity. By analyzing the targeted school’s quantitative and qualitative data, this study identified themes regarding overall effectiveness of the initiative and areas for recommended enhancements to facilitate student learning. The evaluation of this process shaped the foundation for development of change recommendations to …

An Examination Of A Social And Emotional Learning Program And Implications For Diversity Development, Chimille E. Dillard

Dissertations

This paper evaluated the Second Step program used by the Galaxy school district and many of the surrounding school districts in the area as the sole social and emotional learning program for elementary and middle/junior high school students. Research was conducted to discover whether or not the Second Step program addressed the social and emotional skills students need when encountering racial and gender-diverse issues in their everyday lives. Both quantitative and qualitative methods (such as surveys; interviews with teachers, social workers, and administrators; and classroom observations) were used when collecting data throughout the research. It was concluded that the Second …

Embedding Diversity Into The Curriculum: Facilitating Challenging Conversations, Chimille E. Dillard

Dissertations

Wagner, Kegan, Lahey, Lemons, Garnier, Helsing, and Rasmussen’s (2006) four C’s, consisting of competency, conditions, culture, and context, were used to think systemically when looking at the current (As-Is) and projected (To-Be) in the Galaxy School district. This paper focused on the need to embed past and current racial and gender diversity issues into the everyday curriculum in an effort to have a positive impact on students’ social-emotional learning skills. The current curriculum has limited racial and no gender diversity. Students can go from Kindergarten to eighth grade being taught very little history and current events that are racially and …

Embedding Racial And Gender Diversity In State Mandated Common Assessments: A Policy Advocacy Document, Chimille E. Dillard

Dissertations

The purpose of this policy advocacy document was to promote the need to modify the Illinois School Code 5/27-20.4 to include language about a state developed, common assessment that focuses on past and current racial and gender diversity issues in the United States. It highlights the need for embedding past and current racial and gender diversity issues in the United States in the everyday curriculum. Additionally, this document discusses the positive impact this policy will have on students’ social and emotional learning skills.

Anti-Black School Policy Making: A Critical Policy Analysis Of The Wellston/Normandy Merger, Eric Higgins

Dissertations

This study explores the closing of Wellston School District as an act of contempt and oppression. This study looks at the history of the Wellston community and also examines many micro-aggressive acts of oppression. Also, examined and discussed will be the impact of economic disenfranchisement, demographic change, historical memory, and school funding and accountability. This study uncovered a counter-narrative that helps to usurp the prevailing master narrative and rhetoric surrounding the closing and subsequent merger of the Wellston School District with the Normandy School District.

This historical analysis will rely heavily upon the use of CRT to undergird the conceptual …

Bullies And Allies Near The Playground: Mothers' Experiences Of Aggression In Their Children's Schools, Mara Vicente Robinson

Dissertations

Despite an increasing understanding of the importance of both parent-involvement and aggression among women, there appears to be little understanding of how these two areas influence each other; specifically, the lack of literature examining the extent to which female guardians experienced aggression from other female guardians and the effect it had on their involvement in their children’s schools. In an effort to investigate the extent to which aggression was prevalent among female guardians, the factors that influenced the aggression, and the effects of that aggression on women’s involvement in their children’s education, a convergent parallel mixed methods design was used …

The Impact Of Proactive Community Circles On Student Academic Achievement And Student Behavior In An Elementary Setting, Michele Lenertz

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine the differences in student academic achievement and student behavior prior to and after implementation of proactive community circles (PCC) in elementary schools in California that have implemented for a minimum of two years as measured by standardized test scores and student behavior records. The second purpose was to describe the impact of proactive community circles on student academic achievement and student behavior in elementary schools in California that have implemented proactive community circles for a minimum of two years as perceived by school administrators.

Methodology: The mixed method explanatory …

Linguistic Interactions Of Spanish Speaking Mexican American Families, Adelfio J. Garcia

Dissertations

This study explored the bilingual linguistic interactions in Mexican families and their impact on children’s language and literacy development. This qualitative study gathered data using different methods, namely, interviews, direct observations, participant observation, and physical artifacts to examine parents’ perceptions of their own educational path in comparison to their children’s educational path in an American school system, together with their daily linguistic interactions in various social contexts, and the features, themes and roles of linguistic interactions participants. Study results assisted in gaining deeper understanding of daily conversations happening in different social contexts and their impact on the language and literacy …

A Look At Emotional Intelligence: A Qualitative Study Of Peer Mentorship Via Circle Of Friends, Christopher De Loach

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore the lived experiences of former Circle of Friends (CoF) nondisabled peer mentors of students with multiple disabilities to discover how this mentorship program impacted Daniel Goleman’s four dimensions of emotional intelligence.

Methodology: This study employed a qualitative phenomenological design. In qualitative designs, the researcher seeks to welcome the subject’s voice into a chorus that contributes to the summative ballad of the sample. The researcher must seek to be a neutral conduit that captures those voices. Thus, the researcher in this study interviewed 14 former peer friends from the CoF program …

Identifying And Addressing The Educational Needs Of Primary Elementary Latino Males, Sandra Vilas

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand and describe the strategies and practices that exemplary teachers use to address the educational needs of Latino male students from kindergarten through third grade.

Methodology: The researcher selected a qualitative research design to describe and understand the instructional strategies and practices used by district Teachers of the Year from 2011 - 2016 in three counties in Southern California. Through in-depth semi-structured open-ended interviews, the researcher provided a detailed examination of the instructional practices and strategies exemplary primary teachers use to address the educational needs of primary Latino males. The district …

Digitally Segregated Understanding Technology Readiness In Preparation For Higher Education Success, Gloria D. Mullons

Dissertations

The Digital Divide is the gulf between those that have access and use of technology and those that do not. The Digital Divide is a multilayered issue impacting low-income persons, low literacy persons, seniors, and persons with disabilities. The new emphasis is on whether people know how to use technological devices and the Internet for multiple purposes, especially to function and progress in daily society. This dissertation study focuses on technology readiness in preparation for higher education, specifically examining: 1) experiences students had prior to attending the HP3 program, 2) factors that influenced student preparedness for engaging in college-level technology …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Educational Games That Keep Score Of Cooperative Performances, Theodore Alden Wohlfarth

Dissertations

The scoring systems used in traditional sports and games are founded on the zero-sum premise that players are on opposite sides and one side can win only if the other side loses. These scoring systems may be effective at nurturing zero-sum mindsets and providing data for assessing performance in win-lose relationships. If so, games that use different scoring systems can be used to facilitate the development of collaborative mindsets, nurture win-win skills between diverse groups, and enable objective self-assessment of performances in non-zero-sum events when engaging with those on “other sides.” Although economic game theory has rich reservoirs of research …

Ulead: The Effects Of A Civics-Based Educational Program On Urban Youth, Rodney W. Smith, Aaron H. Willis, Mario Pascal Charles

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Urban Legal Education and Academic Development: The Effects of a Civics-Based Educational Program on Urban Youth

There is a critical need for urban youth to have working knowledge of the legal and civic nuances of their communities and political state that affects their daily lives. The pressing problems of the daily existence that these students face inhibit them from utilizing this understanding to exhibit appropriate behavior and engage in civil discourse. Urban Legal Education and Academic Development (ULEAD) provided these students with the knowledge of the functions of the legal and civic processes that facilitate behavior modification to allow …

Exploring Teacher’S Attitudes And Behaviors In Implementing Instructional Technology Into Curriculum, Letitia Walters

Dissertations

This program evaluation explored how effective integration of technology resources and systems with teacher training and curriculum development can occur despite teachers limited technology competencies. Theses competencies increase when teachers have desire and opportunities to become better acquainted with utilizing digital tools. Perceived technology integration skills of teachers solely, cannot predict the effective integration of technology in student products to address new learning (Ertmer, 2005). Technology integrated lesson plans, the relationship between teachers' beliefs and their use of various strategies to integrate technology and a model that teachers can use to guide them through the necessary changes they will need …

Experiences Among U.S. Students Of Color, Travel Background, And Cultural Attunement To Intersectionalities In Study Abroad Programs., Jessica Norman

Dissertations

This cohort and event-based case study sought to evaluate the cultural experiences and development of cross cultural intersectionalities in U.S. students of culture participating in a study abroad program to Argentina. Current study abroad outcomes consistently show travel abroad experiences lead to improved cultural awareness, knowledge, understanding and competency. Study abroad programming appears to be an overlooked opportunity for creating positive, long-lasting, transformative change, particularly for under-represented students (Milsen, 2005; Mondard-Weissman, 2003; Hadis, 2005; Van Hoff & Verbee, 2005). Over the last 30 years, international educators have reported positive changes in students after learning abroad; improved in self-awareness, respect for …

The Missouri Student Transfer Program, Howard E. Fields Iii

Dissertations

In 1993, the state of Missouri passed the Outstanding Schools Act. This law was created as a means to ensure that “all children will have quality educational opportunities, regardless of where in Missouri they live.” Section 167.131 of this law states that an unaccredited district must pay the tuition and transportation cost for students who attend an accredited school in the same or adjoining district. This portion of the law became known as the Student Transfer Program.

The Riverview Gardens School District (RGSD) was one of three unaccredited school districts in the state of Missouri in 2013. With close to …

The Importance Of National Identity In Social Studies Classes In Puerto Rico: An Examination Of Teacher And Student Perceptions Of “Lo Nacional”, Jesus Daniel Diaz

Dissertations

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, is home to approximately 3.4 million U.S. citizens. The literature on Puerto Rican national identity (PRNI) describes how and why it has been debated on the island for more than five hundred years throughout the colonial trajectory, once under Spain and now as a commonwealth of the United States.

The education system in Puerto Rico, and particularly the social studies curriculum, has been used to promote particular ideologies regarding national identity. This study identifies what middle school teachers teach about PRNI and how seventh grade students identify themselves …

Educating Incarcerated Youth In Illinois: A Blended Learning Model, John Sonnenberg

Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to better understand the reasons behind the apparent continued success of a blended learning educational model in place since 2012 in the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ). Using a mixed methods approach, data were gathered and analyzed from a variety of records, reports, and other documentation that included: diplomas awarded, courses taken, course completion, enrollment trends, student mobility rates, GED testing information, and special education student enrollment and performance. Data were also gathered through classroom observations and individual and group interviews with the IDJJ district superintendent, principals, and teachers at six different …

Minority Middle And High School Students' Interest In Science: An Exploration Of Teachers' Perceptions, Caroline Makere

Dissertations

A high school teacher conducted a study about minority middle and high school students’ interest in science. The problem was to find out why African American and Hispanic students were showing very little interest in science. The researcher used four middle school science teachers and nine high school science teachers, all from inner city schools in a big city of the Midwest United States except for one middle school teacher from a nearby suburb. The participants answered a survey questionnaire followed with a face-to-face recorded interview. The findings of the study confirmed that students showed little interest in science due …

Refreshment For The Soul: A Phenomenological Study Of The Student Experience Of Beauty In School, Paul Reiff

Dissertations

Prompted by the ratio-scientific emphasis in the curriculum, I conducted this study to explore the lifeworlds of students to understand their lived experience of beauty in school. This investigation entailed a phenomenological study, the method of which included in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with four high school students. This study aimed to examine the essence of beauty in the lived experience of students in school, to explore the perceptions of students regarding school as a place to appreciate beauty, and to understand the needs of students as a place that develops their aesthetic sensibilities. The findings include the description …