Educational Psychology Commons^™

Effects Of Student And School Technology Adoption On Student Reading Achievement In The United States: The Case Of Pisa 2018, Mikah J. Hughes

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

This study examined the relationship between student and school-level information and communication technology (ICT) factors and reading achievement using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 in the United States. In an increasingly digital world, reading and information literacy are essential skills, yet significant gaps in digital competencies persist. This study investigated how ICT access, use, and perceptions relate to reading achievement in the context of student and school background factors.

A two-level hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) framework was employed to account for the nested structure of students within schools. The sample included approximately 4,000 students across …

Spanish-Speaking Interpreters’ Perspectives: How Latinx Immigrant Caregivers Navigate The Special Education Process, Lizeth B. Tomas Flores

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The study examined the experiences of Spanish-speaking interpreters working with Latinx immigrant caregivers during the special education process, their perspectives on how caregivers and the IEP professional committee members participate in the process, aiming to gain a better understanding of how Latinx immigrant families navigate the special education process. Interpreters play a crucial role in the special education process for families from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, as they facilitate the transmission of information between caregivers and special education teams. Interviews were conducted with six special education interpreters in a southwestern suburban school district in the United States. A qualitative …

“Hard To Rememeber, Then Hard To Forget:” A Qualitative Exploration Into The Attitudes And Lived Experiences Of Black People With Black Names, Destin L. Mizelle

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Naming practices within the Black American community are vibrant and deeply rooted in cultural traditions and shared values. Much like other ethnic groups, these names tell stories, reflect heritage, and connect individuals to their community, making each choice meaningful and significant. However, due to the systemic effects of anti-Blackness, Black Americans often have a complex relationship with their names. While previous research has primarily utilized quantitative methodologies focusing on the negative associations and consequences of having a Black name, this study aims to amplify the voices of Black people who possess Black names. Using reflexive thematic analysis, this qualitative study …

An Examination Of The Effects Of School-Based Experiences On High-Achieving Black Female High School Students Using Photovoice 2.0, Kameron R. White Mcdaniel

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

This study used a youth-led participatory action research inquiry and Photovoice 2.0 methodology to investigate the school-based experiences of seven high-achieving black female students across two public high schools. The objectives of the project were to explore how high-achieving Black high school girls perceived their academic identity within their school setting, and to determine any school and/or classroom contextual factors that affected these participants' school-based learning experiences and outcomes. The demographic makeup of each school was also evaluated through qualitative analysis to consider if it served as a moderating variable in participants’ reported school-based experiences. It is through gained insight …

The Impact Of Whiteness Among Black College Students' Racial Identity, La'quida Reneé Smith

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Although the impact of racism is well-documented in both conceptual and empirical research on the experiences of Black college students, some scholars have pointed out that many of the negative, race-based experiences these students face on college campuses extend beyond overt acts of racism (e.g., individual racism, institutional racism; Gusa, 2010; Hargons et al., 2022; Ingram & Wallace, 2019; Le et al., 2020; Smith et al., 2011; Tyler et al., 2022). Whiteness has been identified as an overt factor shaping the lived experiences of Black individuals (Leonardo, 2009; Matias, 2016; Tyler et al., 2022) and is, therefore, believed to impact …

We Know The Odds Aren't Ever In Our Favor: Toward An Understanding Of White Privilege Deprivation Amongst Black Individuals And The Initial Validation Of The White Privilege Deprivation Scale, Jennifer Burris

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Social science scholarship acknowledges that disparities affecting Black people in the United States are rooted in historical race-based oppression (Black & Stone, 2005; Borell, Barnes, & McCreanor, 2018; Harrell, 2000; Mills, 1997). Yet little is understood about the ways Black people psychologically experience being denied the social privileges conferred upon Whites (i.e., White privilege). The belief that White privilege exists, along with the perceptions that Black people as a group are systematically deprived of benefits conferred upon Whites, could expose Black people to negative psychological and psychosocial experiences. As such, White privilege deprivation (the belief one is denied the social …

Examining The Psychometric Properties Of The Classroom Whiteness Scale (Claws) Through Rasch Partial Credit Analysis, Jaylene T. Patterson

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

This pilot study examines how whiteness manifests in K-12 classrooms by developing and evaluating the Classroom Whiteness Scale (ClaWS), an instrument designed to assess in-service teachers’ salience and engagement with whiteness-informed practices. ClaWS consists of 21 items across two subscales: one measuring the salience of whiteness-related beliefs in teachers’ pedagogical decisions and the other capturing the frequency of these practices in classroom settings. Rooted in critical whiteness studies, the scale operationalizes key dimensions of whiteness, including ethnocentric monoculturalism, white standardization, white silence, right to comfort, white saviorism, and colorblind racial ideology.

Using Rasch Partial Credit Model (RPCM) analysis, this study …

Profiles Of Satisfaction And Frustration Of Undergraduate General Chemistry Students’ Basic Psychological Needs At The Beginning And End Of The Semester, Cara E. Worick

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The early college years represent an adjustment period characterized by motivational destabilization and academic and career-related uncertainty for many STEM majors (Robinson et al., 2019). Although students who begin college less academically prepared than their peers are at greater risk of struggling in introductory STEM courses, many still struggle in these courses despite adequate academic preparation (Perez et al., 2014). Self-determination theory proposes that motivation, optimal functioning, and psychological well-being occur through the satisfaction, as opposed to the frustration, of three basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2020). Although many studies in educational settings demonstrate …

How Black Undergraduate Students Experience Whiteness In Postsecondary Education, Karen Margaret Guettler-James

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Critical whiteness scholars have described whiteness as a system of oppression that privileges White identities above others and perpetuates White supremacy. On the college campus, institutional, social, and historical norms reinforce the educational status quo and work together to maintain a system of whiteness that marginalizes Black students. This study investigated perceptions of whiteness held by student participants who self-identify as Black undergraduate students. Through focus group interviews, participants were asked to share their lived experiences with whiteness on the college campus. With the words of the participants, I reveal how campus standards that align with White Eurocentric norms devalue …

College Students’ Self-Regulation In Asynchronous Online Courses During Covid-19: A Convergent Mixed Methods Approach, Jaeyun Han

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The purpose of this dissertation study was to use a convergent mixed methods approach to understand college students’ self-regulation in asynchronous online courses in Fall 2020. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, asynchronous online modalities have been more broadly utilized in higher education. Although undergraduate students can have greater flexibility in how they engage with their courses, students may regulate their learning differently when facing a web-based instructional modality, which may affect their academic performance. According to Bandura’s social cognitive theory, students’ beliefs in their self-regulatory capabilities are interdependent with self-regulatory behaviors. In particular, academic procrastination has been often …

Framing Early Adolescents’ Self-Efficacy Development: Precursors To The Sources Of Math Self-Efficacy, Calah J. Ford

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Self-efficacy, the beliefs learners hold about what they can do, develops largely from how learners perceive and interpret four main sources of information: mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasions, and physiological states. Although researchers have shown a relationship between these sources and math self-efficacy, less is known about the factors that may influence how early adolescent learners perceive and interpret information from these sources. The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate two possible factors (i.e., perfectionism, performance-related factors) that might predict how learners perceive efficacy-relevant information in the domain of math. Study 1 used a correlational design to investigate …

“I Felt Seen”: A Mixed-Methods Investigation Of Culturally Responsive Teaching In Postsecondary Education, Caiti Siobhan Griffiths

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Instructors’ beliefs and behaviors shape students’ learning environments (Bandura, 2007). Culturally responsive teaching can make instruction more relevant and supportive to historically marginalized students (Gay, 2000, 2018). Instructor support and care for students are important to undergraduate persistence (Tinto, 1986, 1993). However, White postsecondary instructors may not feel prepared to use culturally responsive teaching (Heitner & Jennings, 2016; Sue et al., 2009). This study used a sequential mixed-methods design to examine postsecondary instructors’ self-perceptions, and students’ lived experiences, related to culturally responsive teaching. In Fall 2020, instructors (N = 99) rated their self-efficacy for culturally responsive teaching on a …

Measuring Postsecondary Students’ Sense Of Belonging: Psychometric Investigations Into Student Demographics And Course Delivery Contexts, John Eric M. Novosel-Lingat

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Research suggests sense of belonging in academic contexts influences student academic outcomes and well-being. Instruments (i.e., surveys, questionnaires) developed to measure sense of belonging mainly focus on the experience of students in middle grades. Few instruments measure sense of belonging experienced by postsecondary students, despite many colleges and universities seeking to improve retention, persistence, and graduation by addressing this complex construct. Furthermore, the rapid growth of online courses necessitates and presents an opportunity to employ psychometric investigations to explore the sense of belonging experienced by both face-to-face and online students. The first of the two studies conducted for this dissertation …

Is Seeing Believing? Leveraging Modality And Similarity In A Belonging Intervention, Xiao-Yin Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Students who feel a greater sense of belonging in college often experience more positive academic outcomes. Social-psychological interventions have been shown to improve students’ sense of belonging. However, few studies have examined the social cognitive mechanisms through which interventions work. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of two such mechanisms—delivery modality and students’ perceived similarity to peer models—on the efficacy of a narrative-based, social belonging intervention. First-year students (N = 1,329) from a public, land-grant university in the southeastern U.S. were randomly assigned to a social belonging intervention (i.e., a video- or written-based narrative from peers …

Measuring Police Officer Self-Efficacy For Working With Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Abigail M. A. Love

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is currently one of the most researched of all childhood developmental disorders and is receiving attention in many domains including popular media, social sciences, education, and medicine. The purpose of this dissertation was to design and provide initial psychometric evidence for a scale that measures police officer self-efficacy for working with individuals with ASD. Psychometric properties of a scale designed to measure knowledge of ASD were also explored. Data from 620 police officers actively serving in the United States were collected in two separate phases. A 13-item scale was created to measure police officer self-efficacy for …

Typical Peers’ Perceived Self-Efficacy Towards Including Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Elizabeth A. Caldwell

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

One in 59 children is identified as having an Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that students with disabilities be educated in the general education setting with typical peers to the maximum extent possible. This practice of inclusion has led to increased social-isolation and peer rejection among students with ASD. Research suggests inclusion alone without implementing peer intervention training is ineffective in fostering positive interactions between students with ASD and their typical peers. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature by evaluating a peer educational intervention designed to promote …

Believing In Achieving: Examining African American Women’S Doctoral Attainment, Reshanta Camea Hazelbaker

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

This research explored the intersectionality of race, class, and gender within the sources of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997) underlying the socialization messages influencing African American women’s doctoral attainment beliefs. Twenty African American female/woman doctoral achievers completed an online survey, consisting of open-ended and multiple-choice response items, designed to identify and explore the sources of self-efficacy influencing African American women’s doctoral attainment beliefs. Eleven participants participated in focus interviews to expand upon and clarify initial survey responses.

Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and tenets of critical race theory (Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; McCoy & Rodricks, 2015) were used to analyze the …

Affect, Motivation, And Engagement In The Context Of Mathematics Education: Testing A Dynamic Model Of Interactive Relationships, Shanshan Hu

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The present study tested the interactive model of affect, motivation, and engagement (Linnenbrink, 2007) in mathematics education with a nationally representative sample. Self-efficacy, self-concept, and anxiety were indicators of pleasant and unpleasant affect. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation were indicators of mastery and performance approach. Persistence and cognitive activation were indicators of behavioral and cognitive engagement. The 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) supplied a sample of 4,978 students from the United States for structural equation modeling. The results indicated that PISA data overall supported the interactive model. Specifically, PISA data completely supported the specification of the relationship between motivation …

Examining Academic Resilience Factors Among African American High School Students, Natasha L. Murray

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Public school systems in America continue to show unequal learning outcomes for African American students. This investigation seeks to understand salient factors that are critical and essential to the process of increasing the probability of academic resilience (success) among African American students. Academic resilience is defined as "the process of an individual who has been academically successful, despite the presence of risk factors (i.e., single parent family, low future aspirations, and low teacher expectation) that normally lead to low academic performance" (Morales & Trotman, 2011, p.1). Using the baseline data from the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS: 2002), a multilevel logistic …

A Tale Of Two Contexts: Mathematics Self-Efficacy Development Among Rural And Urban Students, Brianna L. Weidner

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Self-efficacy, or a belief in one’s ability to complete a task, has been shown to predict student success and persistence. Rural students have a history of lower college enrollment and degree attainment than urban students. However, no studies have compared self-efficacy or its sources across rural and urban groups. The purpose of this study is to examine differences in how rural and urban middle school students develop self-efficacy and self-efficacy for self-regulated learning in the domain of math. Data were collected from 174 rural students and 1743 urban students in grades 6-8 in the southeastern United States. Measurement invariance analyses …

Beliefs About Self-Control And Regulation: Do They Matter For College Performance?, Cara E. Worick

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Students who are good self-regulators have higher motivation and achievement than those who are not. The beliefs students hold influence the goals they set, how they regulate learning, their motivation, and their subsequent actions. Beliefs about one’s own willpower (the capacity to exert self-control in everyday life) have been shown to affect individuals’ self-regulation. Willpower has been conceptualized as a limited resource that is easily depleted in demanding situations. However, some researchers have shown that individuals’ beliefs about willpower capacity (i.e., as finite or abundant), and not their actual willful acts, are more predictive of self-regulated behavior. Researchers have similarly …

What Do Teachers Think About Educational Psychology? Developing And Validating The Educational Psychology Practitioner Scale, Lauren D. Hargrave

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Educational Psychology Practitioner Scale (EPPS), which was designed to (a) assess the practices, training, and skills of educational psychologists and (b) determine their utility among K-12 schools classroom teachers. Study participants included 161 K-12 teachers across 21 states within the United States. An exploratory factor analysis yielded a 25-item, unidimensional scale. Correlating the EPPS with the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) and the Job Satisfaction Scale (Warner, 1973) provided discriminant validity for the scale. Study limitations and future research directions are discussed.

Teaching Social Skills To Individuals With Comorbid Down Syndrome And Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Single-Subject Design Study, Matthew A. Cody Davis

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Social skills are important for building and maintaining relationships, effective communication, and providing appropriate responses within social contexts. Deficits in social skills are often exhibited in individuals with comorbid Down syndrome (DS) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Peer-delivered interventions and other behavioral techniques for teaching specific social skills show effectiveness; however, the paucity of intervention research including individuals with DS-ASD has resulted in little guidance for how best to teach social skills and ensure generalization and maintenance. In the present study, a multiple probe study across behaviors, replicated across participants, assessed the effectiveness of peer-delivered simultaneous prompting in teaching socials …

Learning Spaces And Self-Efficacy In Undergraduate Statistics, Renae Mantooth

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Learning environment research has typically focused on factors other than the physical environment (e.g., student/teacher relationships, organizational structure). This study investigated the relationship between the physical classroom environment and entry-level undergraduate statistics students’ (N = 844) academic beliefs and performance. Students were taught in either a technology-enhanced active learning classroom or a traditional lecture hall. This study investigated how undergraduate students in an entry level statistics course a) perceived the importance of the physical learning environment, b) conveyed expectations for and experiences of active engagement within that environment, and c) self-reported their personal capability judgments. Data were analyzed by …

“I Wonder What You Think Of Me”: A Qualitative Approach To Examining Stereotype Awareness In Appalachian Students, Chelsea G. Adams

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Historically, Appalachia has been stereotyped as being a culture bred in poverty and ignorance. Much research has shown that stereotyping reveals a pattern of behavioral change and an impact on psychological well-being for the stereotyped (e.g., Pinel, 1999; Woodcock, Jernandez, Estrada, & Schultz, 2012), and has largely been centered on race and gender (e.g., Byrnes, 2008; Tuckman & Monetti, 2011). Less is known about the development of culture-specific stereotypes such as those related to Appalachians – a highly stigmatized group (Daniels, 2014; Otto, 2002). The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how adolescents in rural Appalachia …

Development Of A Self-Efficacy Scale For Teachers Who Teach Kids With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Abigail M. A. Love

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

This study aimed to measure teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Teacher self-efficacy refers to the belief teachers hold about their ability to affect student learning and has been shown to change teachers’ motivation, stress levels, and amount of given effort (Klassen, Tze, Betts, & Gordon, 2011). Numerous studies have dealt with the measurement of this construct and developed measures that assess teachers in different domains and populations; however, only one study (Ruble, Toland, Birdwhistell, McGrew, & Usher, 2013) has attempted to measure within the population of students with ASD. The purpose of the current study …

Am I Able To Predict How I Will Do? Examining Calibration In An Undergraduate Biology Course, Trisha A. Turner

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Students who are self-regulated are more likely to succeed academically, whereas students who have deficiencies in their learning have been recognized as having a lack of metacognitive awareness (Valdez, 2013; Zimmerman, 2002). If students are metacognitively unaware in large introductory courses, they may have difficulty knowing when to self-regulate and modify their learning (Lin & Zabrucky, 1998; Stone, 2000). One manner in which researchers have assessed students’ metacognitive awareness is by asking students to estimate how they think they will do on tasks compared to their actual performance, known as calibration. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ …

Aspects Of Science Engagement, Student Background, And School Characteristics: Impact On Science Achievement Of U.S. Students, Larry J. Grabau

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Science achievement of U.S. students has lagged significantly behind other nations; educational reformers have suggested science engagement may enhance this critical measure. The 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was science-focused and measured science achievement along with nine aspects of science engagement: science self-efficacy, science self-concept, enjoyment of science, general interest in learning science, instrumental motivation for science, future-oriented science motivation, general value of science, personal value of science, and science-related activities.

I used multilevel modeling techniques to address both aspects of science engagement and science achievement as outcome variables in the context of student background and school characteristics. …

An Investigation Of The Relationship Between The Teachers' Sense Of Efficacy Scale And Preschool Children's Literacy Outcomes: Multilevel Longitudinal Modeling And Longitudinal Measurement Invariance, Caroline J. Gooden

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The current study examined associations between teacher characteristics and child literacy outcomes in a Kentucky preschool sample. The study also examined the psychometric properties of the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001), a frequently used measure of teacher self-efficacy. A widely used preschool assessment instrument, Teaching Strategies GOLD^® (GOLD; Heroman, Burts, Berke, & Bickart, 2010), measured child literacy progress. Psychometric examination included confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and longitudinal measurement invariance (LMI) of TSES scores. Statistical analyses included longitudinal growth modeling of TSES scores and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) of TSES and child GOLD literacy …

Longitudinal Analysis For Ordinal Data Through Multilevel And Item Response Modeling: Applications To Child Observation Record (Cor), Zijia Li

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The large proportion of children from low SES backgrounds and the increasing achievement gap between disadvantaged children and their more advantaged peers are beckoning national attention to investment in early childhood education (Reid, Kagan, Hilton, & Potter, 2015). As evidenced in many research studies (e.g., Heckman & Masterov, 2007), early childhood experiences are critical to the development of children. High-quality early learning is necessary for children, especially disadvantaged children, to narrow the school readiness gap and to build a foundation for more advanced academic, social, and cognitive skills. Importantly, high quality assessment tools (i.e., reliability and validity evidence supporting the …