Educational Leadership Commons^™

Middle-Income Latinos In Middle-Class Communities: A Study On Parental Involvement Dynamics, Rafael Inoa

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The academic underperformance of students of Latino backgrounds is a serious cause for concern in the United States, especially considering the significant portion of the total U.S. population that Latinos constitute. Since parental involvement is known as a powerful resource in helping all students succeed academically, it can be used as a way to counter the achievement gap that Latinos are currently facing. However, middle-class Latinos, who are also plagued by this gap in academic achievement, are continuously overlooked throughout the educational literature. The current study lays focus on this group by centering on the perspectives of middle-income Latino parents …

Deaf Children’S Science Content Learning In Direct Instruction Versus Interpreted Instruction, Kim B. Kurz, Brenda Schick, Peter C. Hauser

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

This research study compared learning of 6-9th grade deaf students under two modes of educational delivery – interpreted vs. direct instruction using science lessons. Nineteen deaf students participated in the study in which they were taught six science lessons in American Sign Language. In one condition, the lessons were taught by a hearing teacher in English and were translated in ASL via a professional and certified interpreter. In the second condition, the lessons were taught to the students in ASL by a deaf teacher. All students saw three lessons delivered via an interpreter and three different lessons in direct ASL; …

What I Taught My Stem Instructor About Teaching: What A Deaf Student Hears That Others Cannot, Annemarie Ross, Randy K. Yerrick

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Overall, science teaching at the university level has remained in a relatively static state. There is much research and debate among university faculty regarding the most effective methods of teaching science. But it remains largely rhetoric. The traditional lecture model in STEM higher education is limping along in its march toward inclusion and equity. The NGSS and Common Core reform efforts do little to help university science teachers to change their orientation from largely lecture-driven practice with laboratory supplements. While it is impossible to address all diverse student groups, the need for accommodations tend to be overlooked. As a Deaf …

Fast And Fruitful: Effective Writing Assessment For Determining The Success Of New Initiatives, Eileen K. Camfield

University Writing Programs Staff Articles and Papers

Many writing program administrators experience a familiar conundrum: heed the cries for fast assessment results or engage in the lengthy and complicated process that meaningful review of student learning seems to entail? Such was my plight in the 2013–2014 academic year when my university deployed a new strategy for supporting incoming developmental writers. Beginning that fall, students whose writing-SAT (SAT-W) scores were between 450 and 500 were enrolled in a course known as Seminar Plus Studio (SPS), an interdisciplinary class that included a weekly supplemental 100-minute studio aimed at delivering targeted writing instruction, practice, and feedback. Instructors for these sections …

The Effect Of Public And Private Schooling On Anti-Semitism, Jay P. Greene, Cari A. Bogulski

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Most major American Jewish organizations oppose voucher and other school choice programs based in part on the fear that private, mostly religious, schools do not check the development of anti-Semitism as well as do government-operated public schools. To examine whether private and public schools differ in their effect on the emergence of anti-Semitic attitudes in adults later in life, we conducted a large survey of a nationally representative sample of adults in the United States. Subjects were asked to provide details on the type of school they attended each year between 1st and 12th grade, including whether the school was …

Reporting And Protecting Students From Child Abuse, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

A tragic reality of American life is that a significant number of children are abused and neglected, even killed, by the hands of their parents and caregivers. In fact, 2013 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal that 678,932 incidents of child abuse and neglect were reported to Child Protective Services (CPS) nationally, with about 27% of those cases involving youngsters under the age of three (CDC 2015).

Moreover, the CDC noted that the CPS data suggest that their reports may underestimate the occurrences of child abuse and neglect. That same report estimates that about 1,520 children …

Career Ready Or Rushed? Developing Career Exploration In Cscps, Catherine Hammond, Richard E. Cleveland

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Presentations

While national focus on college/career-readiness has placed welcome attention on school counseling, overzealous emphases to pick a specific college and/or career can leave students feeling rushed. Broad school-wide or grade-level programs aimed at college/career preparation may trump individual career development. This session presents how to infuse career exploration into the current educational landscape (i.e., RTI, Common Core, etc.) via the multiple components of a Comprehensive Guidance and Counseling Program (CGCP): Foundation, Management, Delivery, and Accountability.

When You Say Nothing At All: The Predictive Power Of Student Effort On Surveys, Collin Hitt

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Character traits and noncognitive skills are important for human capital development and longrun life outcomes. Research in economics and psychology now shows this clearly. But research into the exact determinants of noncognitive skills have been slowed by a common data limitation: most large-scale datasets do not contain adequate measures of noncognitive skills. This is a particularly acute problem in education policy evaluation. We demonstrate that there are important latent data within any survey dataset that can be used as proxy measures of noncognitive skills. Specifically, we examine the amount of conscientious effort that students exhibit on surveys, as measured by …

A Mixed-Methods (Quantitative-Qualitative) Study To Identify The Perceived Level Of, Zeky Zardo

Dissertations

Different approaches to developing leaders have been established through various forms of self-assessment, action learning, and education and training activities (Smither et al., 2005). The existing body of research on the impact and success of college and university leadership development programs focuses heavily on undergraduate leadership programs and not graduate-level programs such as the Master of Business Administration (MBA) or the doctorate. The purpose of this mixed-methods (quantitative–qualitative) study was to identify the perceived level of transformational leadership skill development by students enrolled in a doctoral program in organizational leadership. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to …

The Bank Street Thinkers: Foundational Knowledge To Support Our Roots And Wings, Bank Street College Of Education

Bank Street Thinkers

A series of papers and lectures that explore Bank Street history, the concepts of teaching and teacher preparation, our long history of social studies teaching and curriculum development, the role of language and play in young children's growth, and a look at the meaning of competence in schools.

A Case Study Of Teacher Leadership At An Elementary School, Allison Wills

EDL Sixth Year Theses

The purpose of this research study was to explore the status of teacher leadership at one elementary school. With increased attention on accountability for student achievement, educators have begun to look for ways to take the lead in reform efforts. But, little research has been done to identify why particular teachers emerge as leaders. This study explored the philosophies and leadership behaviors of a group of elementary teachers at Center Trail School. Quantitative and qualitative methods of data were collected using three surveys- Philosophy of Education Inventory, Teacher Leadership Self-Assessment, and Teacher Leadership School Survey- and individual interviews. Descriptive statistics …

Sbos As Leaders Of Change, David Alan Dolph

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Federal and state education mandates have prompted more changes in PreK–12 education in the past several years than during any other time in American education history. The sheer volume of changes and their complexity have put school business officials to the test as never before.

Among the more challenging issues for school business officials are the budgetary implications of the Affordable Care Act, special-education regulations, new food-service mandates, and safety and environmental regulations.

School business officials and other education leaders must lead the district and the community through the changes brought on by those mandates. How do they do that …

Discipline Disproportionalities In Schools: The Relationship Between Student Characteristics And School Disciplinary Outcomes, Kaitlin Anderson, Gary W. Ritter

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

According to a 2014 report from the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, black students represent only 15% of students across the nation, but 35% of students suspended once are black, 44% of students suspended more than once are black, and 36% of expelled students are black. These disparate disciplinary aggregate outcomes, while troubling, do not provide as much information as policymakers need. In this study, we exploit three years of student-level discipline data from Arkansas to assess the extent to which black students or other minority students were more likely to receive certain types of punishments, even …

Enrollment Management: Structure And Decision Participation, Lauren Haddad Friedman

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Once a novel strategy adopted by a limited number of private colleges, enrollment management (EM) is now a standard practice for most institutions in American higher education. The units engaged in EM and strategic enrollment management (SEM) serve as change agents in support of student recruitment, retention and graduation. Over time, the units supporting EM have expanded from admissions to include financial aid, advising, the registrar and institutional research. As a result of this expansion, structural models developed in the 1980s provide little insight into the team organization that EM has become. Using data collected in a survey instrument administered …

The Importance Of Understanding School Law, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

In an increasingly litigious society wherein parents and their children file a broad spectrum of claims against school systems, it is essential that education leaders have at a minimum a basic understanding of school law.

Before 1954, the Supreme Court addressed only a handful of cases involving K–12 schools and higher education. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), perhaps the Supreme Court’s most important education-related decision, ushered in an era of equal educational opportunities and key legislations, such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, now the No Child Left Behind Act (2002); Title IX of …

How To Parlay Your Phone Interview To An On Campus Interview, Pamela Wells, Richard E. Cleveland

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Presentations

This presentation was given during the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision Annual Conference.

Effects Of Dual-Language Immersion On Students’ Academic Performance, Jennifer L. Steele, Robert O. Slater, Gema Zamarro, Trey Miller, Jennifer Li, Susan Burkhauser, Michael Bacon

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Using data from seven cohorts of language immersion lottery applicants in a large, urban school district, we estimate the causal effects of immersion on students’ test scores in reading, mathematics, and science, and on English learners’ (EL) reclassification. We estimate positive intent-to-treat (ITT) effects on reading performance in fifth and eighth grades, ranging from 13 to 22 percent of a standard deviation, reflecting 7 to 9 months of learning. We find little benefit in terms of mathematics and science performance, but also no detriment. By sixth and seventh grade, lottery winners’ probabilities of remaining classified as EL are three to …

A Program For Persistent Integration Of Faith And Learning In A Christian University Online Environment, John Norris

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia has expanded since 1971 to become the largest Christian university in the world. Liberty will be used in this paper as a contemporary example of a Christian university that has maintained its Christian commitment. Liberty will be contrasted with numerous Christian colleges and universities that had similar missions but have eventually lost their religious affiliations and their Christian-oriented focus. This paper will explore how and why other universities have drifted from their original religious affiliations and doctrines. The reasons and processes will be examined and used to develop a program for online Christian education that …

Media Literacy And The Hungarian National Core Curriculum – A Curate’S Egg, Anamaria Neag

Journal of Media Literacy Education

In recent years, Hungary has been frequently criticized about press freedom issues by organizations including Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and others. In the current situation, it is thus imperative to understand how media literacy is positioned in public education. The objective of this paper is to analyze the 2012 education curriculum on media education in Hungary and to evaluate the definitions used for constructing media literacy in the National Core Curriculum (NCC). For doing so I apply tools derived from Critical Discourse Analysis and I seek to identify the educational goals of media literacy education. The new NCC brought …

Session Report - Theme 6: Training, Capacity Building, Science & Research, Jim Parsons

ShipArc 2015 Conference

No abstract provided.

Falling Below The Line: Minimum Subgroup Size And Special Education Enrollment, Sivan Tuchman

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) brought high-stakes accountability testing into every American public school with the goal of 100 percent proficiency for all students. Making annual yearly progress (AYP) toward this proficiency goal for the total student population as well as at-risk subgroups was required in order for schools to avoid possible sanctions, such as school restructuring. In implementing NCLB, states had flexibility to determine the minimum size of these subgroups as to provide statistical reliability and accountability for as many schools as possible. If a school did not meet the state’s minimum subgroup size, the …

The Predictive Power Of Community, Family, And School Variables On Student Achievement On The Nj Ask Language Arts Literacy In New Jersey In Grades 6 And 7, Meredith Fox

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This non-experimental, correlational, explanatory, cross-sectional study using quantitative methods sought to determine which combination of 20 out-of-school community demographic factors, while controlling for two school level variables, predicted and accounted for the most variance in New Jersey schools’ percentages of students scoring Proficient or above on the 2010 NJ ASK Language Arts Literacy in sixth and seventh grades. This study focused on both community variables and school level variables to determine whether the current federal and state evaluation policies in place for schools and school personnel that utilize student outcomes on high-stakes standardized assessments are reasonable. The study examined over …

The Development Of Intercultural Competency In School Psychology Graduate Students, Susan C. Davies, Abigail A. Lewis, Amy E. Anderson, Elana R. Bernstein

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

School psychologists often have the opportunity to work with students and families from varied backgrounds and cultures. While this can be an exciting and enriching part of the job, it can also be daunting for some practitioners, particularly those who are inadequately prepared. A number of strategies have been implemented in school psychology training programs to improve students’ intercultural competency.

This exploratory study investigated the results of one university’s short-term study abroad program for school psychology graduate students. Pre- and post- intercultural development assessments were given to school psychology graduate students who completed a course abroad; results were compared to …

What Professional Development Practices Support The Successful Integration Of Technology Within A Standards-Based Educational (Sbe) System, Richard A. Green

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore the relationship between K-12 teachers’ current technology skill level, their self-efficacy as teachers, and their attitude toward changes required to integrate 21st-century technologies into their classrooms. Twenty-five members of the teaching staff from a rural School Department in Maine participated. This study describes the following: (a) What is the relationship between teachers’ current skills/ability using technology and their attitude towards integrating 21st-century technologies in the classroom? (b) What is the relationship between teachers’ current self-efficacy towards using technology, and their capacity towards integrating 21st-century technologies in the classroom? and (c) What …

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Available Public Education Programming And The Influence Of Professional Perceptions, Heather Wilmot

All Theses And Dissertations

A mixed-methods research study was conducted in a small, rural western Maine school department. The intent of this research was to reveal what kind of programming is available to students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and how the availability of programming is influenced by the perceptions of educators and leaders in a public school department. In addition, the research addressed how the background and professional development of the employees impacted the availability of programming for students with ASD. Forced survey questions included quality indicators for programming for students with ASD and pre-selected follow-up focus groups questions were used.

Data analysis …

The Impact Of High Stakes Testing On School Leadership, Yanira Oliveras Ortiz

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dr. Oliveras-Ortiz describes principals' view of changing classroom environments because of the state of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness tests. Further, she shares instructional leadership viewpoints of campus principals and proponents and opponents of high-stakes testing. This mixed method study surveyed and interviewed principals from four large school districts in Texas to understand their perceptions of changes in their leadership practices working under accountability practices.

Ohio School Psychologists' Involvement With Concussion Cases, Susan C. Davies

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

Concussions can result in a constellation of physical, cognitive, emotional, and sleep-related symptoms that affect students' wellness and performance at school. This study examined the number of concussion cases consulted on by a sample of Ohio school psychologists across two years.

Results indicated very little involvement with students who sustained concussions, with the majority of school psychologist respondents indicating that they consulted on zero cases. Suggestions for increasing school psychologists' involvement with concussion cases are provided, including serving as concussion team leaders, tracking students' symptoms and accommodations, and training others in their school community about concussion recognition and response.

The Role Of Physical Fitness And Physical Activity On Academic Achievement Among Eighth Grade Students In Alabama, Jessica Baker O'Neal

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this correlational study was to determine the extent of the relationship between physical fitness, body composition, physical activity, and academic achievement. School leaders have justified the reduced time for physical activity and physical education as they take away from classroom instruction time; yet, national assessment outcomes have indicated the condition of education in America has failed to measurably improve student achievement. An additional public health concern, increased sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy-weight conditions have significantly increased in the past 30 years among American children and adolescents.

The researcher incorporated a quantitative design to examine these relationships in an …

No Excuses Charter Schools: A Meta-Analysis Of The Experimental Evidence On Student Achievement, Albert Cheng, Collin Hitt, Brian Kisida, Jonathan N. Mills

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

While charter schools differ widely in philosophy and pedagogical views, the United States’s most famous urban charter schools typically use the No Excuses approach. Enrolling mainly poor and minority students, these schools feature high academic standards, strict disciplinary codes, extended instructional time, and targeted supports for low-performing students. The strenuous and regimented style is controversial amongst some scholars, but others contend that the No Excuses approach is needed to rapidly close the achievement gap. We conduct the first meta-analysis of the achievement impacts of No Excuses charter schools. Focusing on experimental studies, we find that No Excuses charter schools significantly …

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 …