Educational Leadership Commons^™

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

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

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

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

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

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

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

How Can We Accurately Measure Whether Students Are Gaining Relevant Outcomes In Higher Education?, Tatiana Melguizo, Gema Zamarro, Tatiana Velasco, Fabio Sanchez

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The main objective of this study is to empirically test a number of theory-based models (i.e. fixed effects (FE), random effects (RE), and aggregated residuals (AR)) to measure both, the generic knowledge as well as the degree attainment rates and early labor outcomes, gained by students in different programs and institutions in higher education. There are four main findings: First, the results of the paper confirm the need of using models that address the issue of student selection into programs and institutions in order to avoid biased estimates. Second, our findings provide suggestive evidence in favor of using FE models. …

Non-Cognitive Abilities And Spanish Regional Differences In Student Performance In Pisa 2009, Ildefonso Mendez, Gema Zamarro, Jose G. Clavel, Collin Hitt

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The goal of this paper is to analyze the role that non-cognitive skills and, in particular, regional differences in those skills, play on the observed differences in 15-year-old student’s academic performance, across Spanish regions, on PISA 2009. Previous research has shown the relevance of differences in student’s personal, family and school characteristics in accounting for academic differences across Spanish regions but it has also found that a sizeable part of the observed differences remained unexplained. We have found that differences in the distribution of certain non-cognitive skills associated to academic performance like focus, perseverance and resilience play a prominent role …

Motivations For Underreporting Suspected Concussion In College Athletics, Susan C. Davies, Brenna M. Bird

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

Student-athletes often fail to report concussion signs and symptoms, thereby putting themselves at risk for delayed recovery and permanent impairment. The present study examined motivations for underreporting concussion symptoms among college athletes enrolled at an NCAA Division I university. One hundred and ninety-three student-athletes in high-risk sports completed a multiple-choice survey related to self-reporting of suspected concussion symptoms and reporting of teammates’ symptoms. Results indicated that 45% of participants did not report their own suspected concussions during the present season and 50% did not report suspected concussions in teammates.

Responses revealed that the primary reason for underreporting a suspected concussion …

Principal Leadership: Communication, Support, Management, And Evaluation In Literacy Education In Michigan Elementary Reward Schools Beating The Odds, Jason Michael Surian

Dissertations

This instrumental case study investigated the instructional leadership role that elementary school principals play in shaping literacy instruction in schools designated as “Reward Schools” through the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) accountability system, explicitly those schools noted as, Beating the Odds; i.e. outperforming predicted student achievement based on school and student demographic variables. The study looks specifically at the principal’s knowledge and application of literacy instruction, his/her mental model for the school’s literacy program, and his or her leadership of the school’s literacy program. The study examined these characteristics of principal leadership in literacy instruction through staff communications, literacy …

Global Perspectives: Exploring School-Based Brazilian Librarianship Through Institutional Ethnography, M. Johnston, Lucy Santos Green

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Presentations

No abstract provided.

Comparisons Of Student Perceptions Of Teacher's Performance In The Classroom: Using Parametric Anchoring Vignette Methods For Improving Comparability, Hana Vonkova, Gema Zamarro, Vera Deberg, Collin Hitt

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Self-reports are an indispensable source of information in education research but might be affected by reference group bias if the frame of reference (i.e. implicit standards), used to answer the questions, differs across students. The anchoring vignettes method was introduced, in other areas of social science, precisely to correct for this source of bias. However, studies that make use of this approach in education are rare and more research is needed to study its potential. This paper uses data from PISA 2012 to investigate the use of the parametric model of the anchoring vignettes method to correct for differential implicit …

The Intergenerational Transmission Of Noncognitive Skills And Their Effect On Education And Employment Outcomes, Ildefonso Mendez, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

We use information on second-generation migrants to study the existence of a cultural component on the formation process of noncognitive skills and its effect on education and employment outcomes. Our measures of noncognitive skills include: personality traits that children are encouraged to learn and civic capital. Individuals whose cultural heritage places a lower value on child qualities positively associated to the conscientiousness personality factor report lower education, worse occupational status and lower wages on average. Individuals with a higher inherited civic capital declare a higher educational level, but we find no effect of civic capital on adult labor market outcomes.

The Role Of Student Voice And Choice In Learner-Centered Competency Reform, Danielle Donnini

All Theses And Dissertations

Progressive reforms, pervasive throughout American education, are once again beginning to reshape the established traditional system to provide our students with an educational experience and learning opportunities that will better prepare them with twenty-first century skills. These reforms, rooted in constructivism and social learning, are characterized by an updated progressive vision of competency education that places students in the center of their education. Giving students authentic voice and choice has potential to engage these most important stakeholders in educational reform. This qualitative case study set in eleven upper elementary classrooms in one school, explores the opportunities for voice and choice …

Collective Bargaining And District Costs For Teacher Health Insurance: An Examination Of The Data From The Bls And Wisconsin, Robert M. Costrell

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

District costs for teachers’ health insurance are, on average, higher than employer costs for private-sector professionals. How much of this is attributable to collective bargaining? This paper examines the question using data from the National Compensation Survey (NCS) of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the state of Wisconsin. In addition, the impact of collective bargaining on employer costs is decomposed into the impact on total premiums and the employer’s share of those premiums. The BLS data show that unionization is associated with higher total premiums, higher employer costs, and lower employee contributions in both the public and private …

“Meeting Proficiency – Can Elementary Schools, With Subgroup Of Students With Disabilities, Exit Program Improvement After 2014?” “A Study To Determine If Instructional Strategies And/Or Inclusionary Practices, And Principal Support Of These Practices, Contributed To Schools Reaching Safe Harbor, Meeting Ayp Benchmarks Or Exiting Program Improvement In The 2012-2013 School Year.", Carolyn Lindstrom

Dissertations

In 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, which required all students to be proficient in English and Math by 2014. (Congress, 2002), including all subgroups. Students with disabilities were expected to meet the proficiency criteria along with all other subgroups. NCLB also required schools to report assessment scores to reflect the achievement of students as well as demonstrate all students were meeting, or at least making gains to achieve, proficiency. If students did not reach the expected benchmark the school was identified as failing and placed in Program Improvement. (CDE, 2011) Each school year, …

From The Co-Editors, Todd Pagano

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

We continue to work diligently to improve JSESD. One of the largest challenges to the journal remains the solicitation of manuscript submissions. As such, we are asking the journal’s readership to assist us in advertising the journal. If you are familiar with individuals who might be interested in submitting a manuscript, please pass along the JSESD author link provided above. We are especially interested in articles on science education for students with varying types of disabilities and at a full range of grade levels (K-12 and postsecondary).

A Historical Perspective On The Revolution Of Science Education For Students Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired In The United States, Cary A. Supalo Dr.

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The following was an invited presentation given by Dr. Cary A. Supalo to the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois annual state convention that was held in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, October 28, 2011. These remarks were slightly modified for the Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities.

Cary A. Supalo

What does the term Revolution mean? To some it can simply mean change. To others, it can mean drastic change, and still to others, revolution is no more than a descriptor for something else. In this context, I believe revolution refers to a time of significant change.1 …

Then And Now: An Analysis Of Broad-Based Merit Aid Initial Eligibility Policies After Twenty Years, William K. Ingle, Jason R. Ratliff

Kentucky Journal of Higher Education Policy and Practice

Using Hall’s framework of policy changes, we sought to document and classify changes in initial eligibility and award provisions of broad-based merit aid scholarship programs at inception and present day. Our analysis revealed five first-order changes, two second-order changes, and only one third order change. Although the policy settings, instruments, and goals remained static in five states, the scholarship dollars in four of them have not kept up with increases in overall cost of attendance.

Youth Empowerment As Demonstrated By The Jóvenes En Acción Program, Kirstin French

Capstone Collection

This paper uses a review of relevant literature on empowerment and youth empowerment theories and models to develop a comprehensive understanding of key elements that are found in youth empowerment programs. Through the literature review, there are five themes identified which can be used to analyze youth programs for the presence of empowerment. The five themes considered are: a power sharing adult-youth relationship, an individual and community level orientation, a safe and supportive environment, peer collaboration, and reflection. A World Learning youth program, Jóvenes en Acción (Youth in Action, or JenA) is used as a case study to understand the …

Assessing The Relationship Between Student And Faculty Perceptions Of Student Engagement At Central Mountain College, Brandi R. K. Atnip

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study compared the perceptions of students versus faculty at Central Mountain College with regard to the issue of student engagement. Central Mountain College participated in the Community College Survey of Student Engagement and the Community College Faculty Survey of Student Engagement during the spring semesters of 2009, 2011, and 2013. The institution was provided with aggregate results from these survey administrations by the Center for Community College Student Engagement. Prior to this study, the survey results had not been accumulatively evaluated by the institution.

The study aimed to determine areas where there was congruence and incongruence between the students …

Impact Of Professional Learning Community Design On Teacher Instruction, Carol Jeanette Turner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This descriptive case study closely examined a professional learning community in an Arkansas middle school. The site was selected because the school was removed from the state's school improvement list after implementing professional learning communities. The purpose of the study was to determine how the design of a professional learning community impacts teacher instruction in a middle school setting. The literature reviewed included historical perspective, definitions and characteristics of professional learning communities, teacher professional development, and teacher effect on student achievement. Eight teachers, one principal, and one instructional facilitator were interviewed about the professional learning communities in their school. The …

The Effect Of Assessment Method On End Of Course Geometry And Algebra Achievement, Miguel Hernandez

College of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to add to the existing research concerning the effects of assessment on mathematics achievement. The effects by gender or SES of students enrolled in school districts that used a commercial assessment versus school districts that used local assessments on mathematics achievement as measured by the end of course algebra I exam or end of course geometry exam.

This quantitative, causal comparative study was performed in six rural high schools in the Arkansas River Valley. The high schools had an approximate 700-student population of which 53% were categorized as free and/or reduced lunch and 51% …

Principals' Perceptions Of Incompetent Teachers: Incidence Rates, Characteristics, And Barriers To Dismissal In Missouri, Christopher A. Grauf

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that hiring and retaining high quality teachers is probably the most important school related factor in providing a quality education for students, as well as improving student achievement. Because of the importance of providing all students with highly capable and qualified teachers, this study explored characteristics of incompetent teachers and barriers to their dismissal to help school leaders better understand, and hopefully reverse, the negative impact caused by incompetent teachers. The three goals of this study were to develop a more complete understanding of: 1) characteristics that cause teachers to be identified as incompetent; 2) barriers to removing …

An Update On Student Equal Access, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

In Board of Education of Westside Community Schools v. Mergens (1990), the Supreme Court upheld the Equal Access Act (EAA), a federal law enacted to permit student-organized groups to meet during noninstructional time.

The EAA traces its origins to Widmar v. Vincent (1981). At issue in Widmar was a policy whereby officials at a state university in Missouri made campus facilities generally available to student groups for their activities. Treating religion as a form of free speech, the Supreme Court ruled that insofar as officials allowed more than 100 student groups to use campus facilities, they created a forum for …

High School Educators’ Perceptions Of Their Schools’ Conduciveness To English Language Learners’ Success, Jill Winiger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of administrators, guidance counselors, and classroom teachers in the high schools of Northeast Tennessee regarding their schools’ academics, climate, culture, parent engagement, and their English Language Learners’ school experiences. The researcher sought to ascertain if significant differences exist between the perceptions of different groups of educational professionals in the school, with those groups to include school administrators, guidance counselors, and classroom teachers. Data were analyzed from 50 survey questions with 42 of those questions measured on a 5-point Likert scale, 5 questions as multiple choice, and 3 questions as open-ended. …

Students’ Perceptions About High School Preparation For Mathematics In Post-Secondary Programs: A Case Study Of One High School, Wendy Pratt

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined how fifteen former high school students from a small, rural high school in central Vermont perceived their preparedness for college level mathematics and identified recommendations for improvement. Student interviews and math assessment data for each participant were analyzed to respond to the research question. The interview protocol consisted of one-on-one semi-structured phone interviews that were recorded for transcription. Thirteen open-ended questions were developed to answer the research question and sub-questions grounded in the research literature and specific concerns identified by the math teachers defined in the case study. The conceptual framework for this research study …

Teacher Induction: A Needs Based Model, Leslie J. Moyer

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the College of Education at Morehead State University By Leslie J. Moyer on April 23, 2015.

We Get To Carry Each Other: Using The Musical Activism Of U2 As Framework For An Engaged Spirituality And Community Engagement Course, Marshall Welch

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

This article describes a January term community engagement service-learning course that used the musical and spiritually-based activism of the rock group U2 as an example of engaged spirituality using activism and advocacy. In addition to learning about the history, music, and activism of the band, students were taught a specific set of skills for activism, advocacy, and community organizing that included creating goal statements, developing and implementing action plans, and coordinating logistics for advocacy-based events on campus. Students were assigned to apply these skills as the service-learning component of the course. These activities were conceptualized as indirect service that reflected …

Interfacing Catholic Social Meanings, Sociology, Self, And Pedagogical Practices, Daniel J. Myers, Andrew J. Weigert

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

What connects Catholic Social Tradition with Sociology? How do each inform the other and how do they, together, flow through and animate the sociologist? Within a student-driven learning community pedagogy, this course builds on the humanistic aspects of Sociology as a scientific perspective a la Peter Berger’s Invitation to Sociology. This foundation is then filtered through a social psychological understanding of self with a sense of vocation through which persons’ deepest passions meets humans’ greatest needs. Biographical vignettes of sociologists’ careers of study that address issues of racial and gender inequalities and psycho-social shifts in values over the life course …

Journey Into Shame: Implications For Justice Pedagogies, Roger C. Bergman

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

Being formed for justice can be a painful experience. Sometimes that pain takes the form of shame and contributes to the formation and exercise of conscience. But shame in other forms can be opposed to human flourishing and social justice. Psychologist James Fowler provides a spectrum of two forms of healthy shame and four forms of unhealthy shame, to which the author adds four other varieties, strategic shame and spiritual shame, at one end of the spectrum, and murderous shame and genocidal shame, at the other. Various experiences of shame are dramatically illustrated in Black Like Me, John Howard …

Prophetic Imagination: Confronting The New Jim Crow & Income Inequality In America, Cornel West

Engaging Pedagogies in Catholic Higher Education (EPiCHE)

On October 11, 2014, Cornel West delivered the keynote address to nearly 600 students at the regional Leadership & Social Justice Conference, hosted at Saint Mary’s College of California. The conference occurred two days before West was arrested in Ferguson, Missouri, during a demonstration to protest the killing of young Black men by White police officers, as in the case of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson. Speaking of the students, West said, "I would like to see these precious young people commit themselves to lives of integrity, honesty and decency, where they are vigilant against all forms of evil—White supremacists, …

Addressing The Achievement Gap In Pinellas County Schools: School Improvement Plan Compliance Of Listing And Implementing Interventions, Melissa Porter

Dissertations

The focus of this research revolved around the achievement gap which exists among Blacks and non-Blacks in Pinellas County Schools. The problem that I addressed was whether or not the strategies listed in the School Improvement Plan were actually being implemented within the classrooms and whether or not those strategies were academically effective to assist Black students. The method I used to determine implementation and effectiveness was through the use of surveys distributed to parents, students, teachers, and administrators. The results of the surveys revealed which strategies were being used and were the most effective within the classrooms. In conclusion, …

The Entrepreneurial University: A Unifying Theme For Tu4dublin, John Jameson, Patrick O'Donnell

Stream 1: Enterprise and Engagement

The paper is presented as a rationale for the adoption of an entrepreneurial university model as the guiding principle for the organisation of the Technological University for Dublin (TU4D)5. It is argued that the entrepreneurial university provides a coherent context in which the internal resources and capacities of the three organisations, within the alliance, can be aligned to the external environment and the needs of their stakeholders through agility, flexibility and responsiveness.The paper first considers a broad definition of what is understood as an entrepreneurial Higher Educational Institution (HEI). It then considers the entrepreneurial mind-set as a precursor to the …