Educational Psychology Commons^™

Teacher Perceptions Regarding Positive Behavior Intervention Support, Lawanda Joy Singleton Thornton

Dissertations

Almost every school uses positive behavior intervention support (PBIS) to not only increase students’ academic achievements but also their behavioral and social/emotional needs. The participants in the study were a random sample of K-12 public school teachers in the state of Mississippi; the instrumentation was a 32-question teacher perception survey.

For this study, teacher perceptions regarding PBIS were linked to five research questions. Following are the research questions with their findings with the level of significance set at the .05 level:

RQ1 Is there a relationship between the perception of PBIS and the number of years of teaching experience at …

What Influences Principal Perceptions Of Bullying?, Matthew Benjamin Alred

Dissertations

Bullying is a wide-spread problem that affects millions of students every day. School bullying is a serious social issue that can have both short-term and long-term devastating effects on the victims, bullies, and bystanders. Federal, state, and local agencies have created policies to address school bullying. However, the school principal has the most pivotal role in reducing the incidents of bullying and appropriately intervening in incidents that do occur. Furthermore, the principal is the most empowered by his or her role to bring about change to the school’s climate and culture which are key factors in the prevalence of bullying. …

An Investigation In The Development Of Europe's Erasmus Internship Policy, Frank Cullen

Articles

The involvement of the School of Culinary Arts and Food Technology in international mobility for work placement has experienced exponential growth over the past five years with the assistance of European Leonardo da Vinci and Erasmus funding for European internships. The main purpose behind the European Commission funding ventures for internship (experiential learning) is to enhance the students’ cultural awareness, cultivate their language skills and develop their professionalism in their field of study. This paper provide an overview of the development of Erasmus internship and relationship between the the European Commission, the HEA, and DIT.

Cultural Immersion Experience In Buenos Aires, Argentina, Susan C. Davies, Autumn La Riche

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

This past summer, the University of Dayton offered its first study abroad course for graduate students in the Department of Counselor Education and Human Services (EDC). Eight school psychology graduate students, three students from other EDC programs, and two faculty members spent two weeks in Buenos Aires, Argentina learning about their educational system and experiencing firsthand what it feels like to be immersed in another culture.

Evaluating The Impact Of The Beginning Teacher Induction Program On The Retention Rate Of Beginning Teachers, Adriane Lenette Watkins Mingo

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examined the Beginning Teacher Induction Program of a rural school system in North Carolina. The effects of mentoring, induction sessions, administrative support, ongoing staff development, and other support offered at the system level to beginning teachers were carefully analyzed.

The researcher used eight themes based on the objectives of the school system's Beginning Teacher Support Program: improving beginning teachers' skills and performance; supporting teacher morale; communications; collegiality; building a sense of professionalism and positive attitude; facilitating a smooth transition into the first and second years of teaching; putting theory into practice; preventing teacher isolation; building self-reflection; and retaining …

Preparing Students For Careers That Do Not Yet Exist, Glenn W. "Max" Mcgee

Publications & Research

The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA), as a self-described "teaching and learning laboratory for imagination and inquiry," has a history of pursuing innovations closely aligned with the vision and framework of the National Science Education Standards. Innovations include both methods and materials for inquiry-based student instruction as well as for delivering professional development for pre-service and practicing teachers. Instructional innovations described include yearlong student inquiry and research projects (SIR), self-paced physics instruction, student-driven energy and engineering projects, instruction in innovation and entrepreneurialism, and a host of student-led outreach activities to "ignite and nurture creative, ethical, scientific minds of students …

Positive Youth Development: A Resiliency Based Afterschool Program Case Study, Lindsey Brown, Eddie Hill, Amy Shellman, Edwin Gomez

Human Movement Studies & Special Education Faculty Publications

This study examined the impact of an afterschool program on resilience in youth at an elementary school in Central NY. The goals of the program were to: (a) increase resiliency among participants, and (b) reduce the occurrence of aggressive behaviors (i.e., bullying) in 5th and 6th graders. Of the 79 students who completed the survey, 19 participants were able to be matched with pre- and posttests. In the study, 13 as participants in the afterschool program, and six as non-participants. Results of paired samples t-tests indicated that those who participated in the afterschool program showed a significant increase (p= 0.05) …

Understanding Early Faculty Experience: On Becoming Teachers, Scholars, And Community Members, Michele M. Welkener, Michelle Flaum Hall, Mary I. Grilliot

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

This article focuses on findings from a qualitative study of the experiences of pretenured faculty within their first two years in the academy. The authors share narratives from faculty participants who are diverse in their disciplinary backgrounds and prior experiences, focusing on the expectations they had upon entering the profession, the challenges they encountered, and what they found helpful for meeting the many demands of faculty life. Their stories provide evidence of the enduring need for faculty learning communities. Implications of this work can inform the efforts of faculty developers, college and university administrators, and anyone with an interest in …

Creative Learning For Challenging Times: The Promise And Peril Of Risk, Michele M. Welkener

Counselor Education and Human Services Faculty Publications

We are in an unprecedented time when it comes to the world’s complexity—never has the need been greater for students to be prepared to think for themselves and act creatively to solve perplexing problems. As an artist, faculty member and administrator in higher education, faculty developer, and researcher of creativity in college students, I am passionate about creating environments where students can exercise such skills. In the art culture, risk, experimentation, exploration, and even failure are expected routes that lead to finding one’s own style, voice, and signature statement. My awareness of these expectations first began to intensify as I …

The Status Of Students With Special Needs In The Instrumental Musical Ensemble And The Effect Of Selected Educator And Institutional Variables On Rates Of Inclusion, Edward C. Hoffman Iii

Glenn Korff School of Music: Dissertations, Theses, Student Creative Work, and Performances

The purpose of this study was to describe the current status of students with special needs in the instrumental musical ensemble and to examine the effect of selected educator and institutional variables on rates of inclusion. An online survey was designed by the researcher and distributed electronically to 600 practicing K-12 instrumental music educators in the states of Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, and Rhode Island. While 13.6% of the total school-aged population nationwide received special education services, demographic data provided by respondents revealed that students with special needs accounted for 6.8% of all students participating in bands, orchestras, …

Alumni Participation: An Investigation Using Relationship Marketing Principles, Lisa Ann Kelleher

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study investigated in what ways alumni relations officers use relationship marketing principles, concepts, and bonding levels to strengthen the ties between alumni and their alma maters. Alumni programs and services at select high intensive research institutions of higher education were explored and an explanation was offered for how using relationship marketing in alumni relations might be beneficial. A literature synthesis, drawn from an extensive examination, evaluation, and interpretation of alumni relations and relationship marketing literature, helped to inform this exploratory study. Using a qualitative method of study, data was gathered through interviews with senior alumni relations officers, by observing …

Resilient Leadership In High Poverty Schools, Edward P. San Nicolas

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Children in high poverty schools often receive inadequate services in dilapidated facilities while enduring inexperienced and unprepared educators (Darling-Hammond, 2004). Communities with a dense impoverished population in turn create school wide poverty, which is ultimately more detrimental than individual family poverty (Books, 2004). With most teachers leaving impoverished urban schools within the first five years, it is no surprise of the difficulty to retain qualified and professional school leaders. As suggested by Haberman (2005), attracting educators with specific qualities to fill these critical roles may be the best route to lasting success. Equally important is the possibility to transform existing …

The Diffusion Of Environmental Literacy In An American Urban Community Through Children, Kelley Phillips

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

Environmental literacy is a contentious issue in the United States of America because citizens feel it is forced upon them and interferes with our materialistic culture. Also, many Americans have limited access to green space and little time to devote to increasing their environmental mindset. This project documents a technique to introduce environmental literacy to American citizens by working with single communities in a common subset of American culture. Based on a model used by anthropologists in third world countries, the goal was to diffuse environmental literacy into a community by only instructing the children of that community in environmental …

Does A Co-Learner Delivery Model In A Mathematics Methods Course Affect Pre-Service Teacher Candidates’ Self-Efficacy In Teaching Mathematics?,, John J. Ribeiro, Denise Demagistris

Teacher Education

This study is related to a previous study (Ribeiro, 2009) that examined teachers’ perceptions of teaching self-efficacy. In the first study the sample consisted of two groups of teachers that took the same professional development course in mathematics. The comparison group took the course in their school district with other teachers and the experimental group took the course with pre-service teachers in a university classroom. After completing the course, both groups were measured in three dimensions of teaching self-efficacy: student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom climate. Findings indicated that although both groups had significant gains in self-efficacy toward teaching mathematics …

An Investigation Of The Potential Use Of Advanced Placement Examination Scores In The College Admission Of Transfer Students, Andrew Callahan Dwyer

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Faced with making college admission decisions on an increasingly large number of applicants, many higher education institutions have begun to consider using additional information to assist with those decisions. Unlike college admissions practices for the population of first-time freshmen, however, admission practices for the population of transfer students have been largely ignored in the literature. There is evidence that the transfer student population is growing and will likely continue to grow for the foreseeable future, which emphasizes the need for colleges and universities to find additional suitable information to use in transfer student admission. Using data from the University of …

Considerations Regarding The Future Of Andragogy, John A. Henschke Edd

Adult Education Faculty Works

Andragogy has a long and rich history that has shaped understanding of adult learning and continues to be a strong force in guiding the way adults learn. While adult educators in the U.S. are familiar with andragogy through the work of Dr. Malcolm Knowles, the theory of andragogy reaches a worldwide audience of practitioners striving to improve learning through its respectful and engaging method focused on the learner.

Redefining Faculty Workloads In A Physical Therapy Department: A Case Study, Douglas C. Keskula, Shelley Mishoe, Elizabeth T. Wark

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The purpose of this case study is to describe the creation and implementation of a sustainable workload model in the physical therapy department, as well as the outcomes resulting from that structure. Between 2002 and 2009, both scholarly productivity and faculty practice activity increased as a result of the redistribution of faculty efforts created by the new workload structure. This case demonstrates how the department has been able to successfully expand research and faculty practice while maintaining a high quality educational experience. The workload guidelines have enabled the collective core faculty to be productive in teaching, research/scholarship and service.;

A Comparison Of Bullying In Public And Private Schools In A Small Midwestern Community, Daniel J. Ryan

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Little attention has been given to the possible differences in bullying at private and public schools. Little significant research exists on bullying at private schools, its characteristics, and its differences from public schools. Inattention to this segment of the population can lead to broad and inappropriate generalizations that what works in public schools will work in private schools. This dissertation investigated to what degree there were differences between the number of incidences, types of bullying, and locations of bullying that took place at a public and private school in a small Midwestern community. The research examined the following factors and …

The Impact Of Personalization-Based Tailored Instructional Communications On College Student Persistence, Nichole Gibbs

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The low graduation rate of degree-seeking students at public community colleges is an important crisis facing communities across the United States. College satisfaction and withdrawal cognitions in students have been identified as key factors in college persistence by researchers. However, a review of the literature revealed no study in which a college-persistence intervention based on the personalization principle theory or using tailored messages has been conducted. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a college-persistence intervention, based on the personalization principle theory and Mashburn's theory, for students at a community college. This study used between-groups experimental …

Helping Educators Foster A Growth Mindset In Community College Classrooms, Marianne Adams Auten

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Current research shows that students with a growth mindset are more motivated to learn, want to work harder, are less discouraged by difficulty, use more effective strategies for learning, and have higher academic performance in comparison to students without this mindset. Despite these promising findings, a growth mindset is sometimes not reinforced or is even refuted by classroom conditions. The purpose of this intrinsic case study was to explore how community college educators create classroom environments that foster a growth mindset. The conceptual framework for this study was a social constructivist approach where the interviewer and the participants co-constructed the …

Skill Versus Will: An Investigation Of A Relationship Between Motivation To Read, Oral Reading Fluency, And Demographics For Third-Grade Elementary Students, Stephanie Lee Embrey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

With the demands of the No Child Left Behind legislation to utilize research-based instructional practices and teach all children to read by the end of third grade, teachers find themselves going beyond teachers' editions and curriculum guides to the research on best reading practices. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental cross-sectional correlational study was to examine the strength and direction of the relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, and demographics for third-grade elementary students (N=112). An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to quantitatively analyze archival data to assess the relationship between motivation to read, oral reading fluency, …

Teacher Beliefs And The Implementation Of The Mathematics Curriculum In An Urban School District, Debra A. Mahone

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers' beliefs about standards-based mathematics curricula can have a direct impact on the implementation of those curricula. Yet, new standards-based curricular approaches, mandated as reform structures under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), fail to account for the beliefs of teachers regarding the curricula in the implementation of new instructional reform practices or policies. The purpose of this quantitative, ex post facto study was to examine pre-existing survey data from a sample (n = 362) of elementary, middle, and high school teachers in an urban school district to analyze the relationship between teachers' beliefs regarding the use of a …

A Case Study Exploring The Transition To Middle School From The Perspective Of Students, Kelly A. Rappa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The transition to middle school is often associated with negative effects on academic achievement, motivation, self-esteem, and psychological well-being. Educators at a Grade 6 through 8 middle school in the northeastern United States observed students struggle with the adjustment to middle school. Research suggests that developmentally responsive schools can significantly reduce the potential negative impact of middle school adjustment. Drawing upon developmental theories from the works of individuals such as Piaget, Erikson, and Maslow, the purpose of this single-case study was to capture the opinions, thoughts, and perceptions of the students transitioning into middle school to better understand how they …

A Phenomenological Study Of Social Science Instructors' Assessment Practices For Online Learning, Cynthia S. Dietrich

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Online learning has revolutionized higher education in the United States. In 2007, there were 3.9 million students taking at least 1 online course. Assessment in online instruction is a new experience for teachers because of the recent advent of online course delivery. Current research on online learning does not address instructor experiences with learning assessments. This gap may contribute to online instructors being inadequately prepared to teach online. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore online instructors' experiences with assessments in their undergraduate social science courses. The study was guided by constructivism as well as theories associated with …

Emotional Intelligence And Graduate Student Satisfaction At Online Institutions Of Higher Education, Christa Thompson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The effect of emotional intelligence (EI) among students in education settings could prove essential to determining the needs of student satisfaction leading to retention and graduation. However, lack of research has yet to determine whether EI is an important factor of student satisfaction. The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to determine whether a relationship exists between EI in graduate students and satisfaction with their overall academic experience at their online institution of higher education. Participants included graduate students enrolled in a masters' or doctoral program at an online institution of higher education. They were surveyed to measure their …

The Effects Of Principal Leadership Behavior On New Teachers' Overall Job Satisfaction, Sherree L. Thomas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher attrition has become a concern at local, state, and national levels. As a result, a number of researchers have examined the factors that affect teacher job satisfaction and retention. However, in spite of all the efforts in research to find a solution, problems associated with teacher attrition have not significantly improved. This study was developed to examine new teachers' job satisfaction as based on their perceptions of principals' transformational and transactional leadership behaviors. Hezberg, Maunser, and Snyderman's 2-factor theory and Burns's and Bass's transformational and transactional leadership theory guided the research questions. A convenience sample of 71 new teachers …

A Phenomenological Inquiry Into The Unique Experience Of Male Elementary Teachers, Alberta N. Richardson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The percentage of male teachers is at its lowest number in 40 years. The problem is that fewer males are choosing elementary teaching as a career choice. As a result, many elementary students rarely see a male teacher during their formative education years. This issue is a concern for superintendents, college of education deans, recruiters, school administrators, and parents whose children are not being exposed to a diverse teacher workforce that includes male elementary teachers. The purpose of this study was to better define and understand the unique experiences of male elementary teachers in today's classroom. The conceptual framework for …

Academic Self-Efficacy Beliefs Of Young Adults With Learning Disabilities, Karin Ann Marie Coles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Positive academic self-efficacy beliefs are associated with increased motivation, higher levels of persistence, and overall academic success. There is a gap in the literature regarding how young adult learners with identified learning disabilities who are also enrolled in postsecondary education characterize their development of academic self-efficacy beliefs and corresponding adaptive coping skills. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to develop a meaningful understanding of the lived experiences of young adult students with learning disabilities in the development of their self-efficacy beliefs and adaptive coping skills. Social learning theory, particularly the self-efficacy belief components, was the guiding conceptual framework for …

The Relationship Of Personality Traits To Satisfaction With The Team: A Study Of Interdisciplinary Teacher Teams In Rhode Island Middle Schools, Michele D. Humbyrd, Robert K. Gable

Teacher Education

Shared practice in schools has emerged; teachers are moving from isolation to team collaboration where personality traits could be related to quality interactions. Team personality traits and team satisfaction were examined. A survey and interview approach was used for N = 244 full-time teachers from N = 49 interdisciplinary teams at N = 7 middle schools. Descriptive, correlational, multiple regression analyses and coded themes about team members’ personalities and interactions were employed. No significant relationships were found between the BFI traits and Satisfaction with the Team. Team-level analysis indicated a significant negative correlation between Satisfaction with theTeam and Extraversion and …

Bullying And Gender: The Social/Emotional, Psychological, And Physical Effects On Middle School Students In South Mississippi, Cassundra Peyton-Brown

Dissertations

Bullying is a great concern in schools today. When bullying occurs, it hinders school success and academic performance. During the late 1980s and 1990s, school violence was prevalent in middle school characterized by events such as the Columbine shooting. This forced both students and school personnel to deal with school shootings, gang activities and other violent acts. According to subsequent investigations, some of these incidents occurred because students were bullied and teased. This supports the maxim that students can only be successful academically in a safe and orderly environment.

The first interest of this study was to assess the effects …