Secondary Education Commons^™

The Shared Experiences Of Educators In Grades 7–12 Who Implement Lessons In Social–Emotional Learning Curriculum, Heathre C. Palige

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

Social–emotional learning (SEL) is used in public school classrooms throughout the United States. The problem that this researcher addressed in this study was that minimal understanding exists of the lived experiences of teachers who implement SEL in Colorado public schools in Grades 7–12. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore and to provide a clearer understanding of the lived experiences of six educators who implement SEL in Grades 7–12 in Colorado public schools. The study fills a gap in literature in understanding the experiences of teachers who use SEL in middle and high school. The literature review …

Discussing Yasmina Khadra’S Novel The Sirens Of Baghdad In The Upper Secondary Classroom To Promote Intercultural Learning, Karl Ågerup

Essays in Education

Based on interviews with four teachers who engaged in discussions about Yasmina Khadra's novel The Sirens of Baghdad with a total of 92 students, this article explores the potential of using fictional narratives to achieve Global Citizenship-related goals in upper secondary education. The novel, which portrays the journey of a young aspiring Al Qaeda terrorist in Iraq, emerged as a response to the increasing need in the Western world to mitigate intercultural tensions following the September 11 attacks. The article addresses the novel's capacity to promote intercultural understanding while acknowledging practical challenges such as intense emotions in the classroom, potential …

Put Down That Book! Producing Poetry To Center Students As Organic Intellectuals, Jacqueline E. Boland

Master's Projects and Capstones

Schools are often sites of hegemony, where certain knowledge and voices are prioritized over others. This hierarchy frequently discounts students as producers of their own knowledge, ignoring the wisdom gleaned from their lived experiences, diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, and cultural communities. While the study of literature inside a high school English classroom can be fruitful for students to acquire empathy and perspective, it is only effective when it is equitable. Educators must implement diverse representation in narratives, characters, authors and texts to represent students whose identities exist at the margins. Positioning work by Women of Color in the classroom …

Pathways To Credentials: Does The Timing Of Earning An Industry Certification In High School Influence Postsecondary Educational Outcomes?, Elizabeth Glennie, Erich Lauff, Roger Studley, Ben Dalton

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

Earning industry certifications helps people prepare for jobs in a range of careers. Doing so in secondary school may help students prepare for college as well. Using administrative data on two cohorts of first-time 9^th graders in Florida, we examined whether earning a certification was associated with postsecondary enrollment and degree attainment and whether the timing of the certification influenced that relationship. Earning a certification in high school prepared students for success in both 2-year and 4-year colleges. However, the patterns of certifications and college enrollment and degree attainment differed based on when students earned the certification. For early …

The Beam In Our Own Eyes: Antiracism And Ya Literature Through A Catholic Lens, Katie Sutton, Abigail D. Grafmeyer, Dan Reynolds

Journal of Catholic Education

As Catholic schools serve an increasingly racially diverse population of students, they must grapple with the critical requirement to address these students’ unique needs while heeding the call from modern Catholic Church leaders to engage in explicit antiracist action. Using the Historically Responsive Literacy Framework (HRL), this article equips Catholic high school English language arts (ELA) teachers with practical and powerful ways to create antiracist curriculum. To do this effectively, we place antiracist Young Adult (YA) literature (both fiction and nonfiction) in conversation with Catholic canonical texts and modern voices from Catholic clergy members. By connecting with students’ complex identities …

School District Demographic Change Through The Lens Of High School Students: A Phenomenological Case Study, Isaac S. Solano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over the past two to three decades, inner-ring suburban school districts in certain areas around the United States have experienced significant demographic change. These shifts influence who lives in these communities, as well as who attends schools in these K–12 school districts. In a metropolitan area, in the Rocky Mountain West Region of the United States, numerous school districts are experiencing such shifts. Although past empirical research has examined shifts through the lens of school leaders and teachers, few studies have explored how students experience this change.

This qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological case study examines how high school students experience these …

The High School In The Middle Of Everywhere: Nebraska’S Lincoln High, Edmund T. Hamann, Janet M. Eckerson, Mark Larson

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

In 2002, world-renowned author Mary Pipher published a book about her home city, Lincoln Nebraska, playfully titled “The Middle of Everywhere” a tongue-in-cheek rejoinder to the idea that Nebraska is ‘the middle of nowhere.’ But word play aside, her title was empirically apt, as her volume documented how immigration and refugee resettlement were demographically transforming Nebraska’s capital city. As in other cities, resettlement was concentrated in some areas of Lincoln, placing differential burdens on different parts of the community’s institutional infrastructure. Of interest to readers of this volume, Lincoln’s refugees and immigrants were concentrated in the city’s oldest high school. …

The Impact Of Non-Affirming Christian Secondary Schools On Students Who Identify As Lgbtqia+: A Phenomenological Inquiry, Alexis C. Schneider

Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, nearly 100,000 LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual) students attend non-affirming religious secondary schools yearly (Green et al., 2019; Institute of Education Sciences [IES] & National Center for Education Statistics [NCES], 2019a, 2019b). Because organized religion can have both beneficial and harmful outcomes on LGBTQIA+ youth (Wolff, 2016) and a secondary school environment has a significant impact on a student’s sense of academic success and well-being (Forber-Pratt et al., 2021), it is essential to understand and implement best practices that support LGBTQIA+ students in non-affirming religious secondary schools. Using phenomenological methods within a qualitative …

Exploring The Status Of Transgender Students In Catholic High Schools, Dirk De Jong

Journal of Catholic Education

This paper reports on a recent survey of principals of Catholic high schools across the country regarding the existence of formal gender identity policies or informal practices with respect to the behavior and treatment of transgender students in their schools. The survey’s findings are discussed in the context of recent developments with respect to the science, clinical interventions, and legal accommodations surrounding gender variance. The paper also describes the political developments with respect to this issue and some of the pushback in communities of faith. It concludes by suggesting the need for receptivity to scientific findings as part of a …

The Relationships Between College And Career Readiness Assessments, Charlotte M. Bruner

All Dissertations

This study explored the effects of taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses on college and career readiness in a rural school district in the southeastern United States. I examined student performance data using American College Test (ACT) scores, Ready to Work (R2W) examination scores, and AP examination scores. The results of the study show that taking a single AP course leads to significant improvement on the ACT exam over a student who has not taken an AP courses and the optimal number of courses a student should take. The results of the study also show that taking an AP course leads …

Unit Plan For A Course On Banned Books For 11th And 12th Grade, Jonny Gherman

English and Creative Writing Capstone Projects

This lesson plan will teach high school students (11th-12th grade) what censorship is, why it is powerful, and what to do with it. Aligned with Pennsylvania State Standards, students will identify common themes between the two most popular genres of banned books (race & gender/sexuality). Through a series of activities, discussions, and a final project, students will practice close reading, critical thinking, and basic research skills.

Teaching Euclidean Geometry Using Proof And Dynamic Geometry Software, Cheryl Stoddard

Mathematics Graduate Theses

This paper examines incorporating proofs and dynamic geometry software when teaching Euclidean geometry to produce deeper understanding of geometric relationships for middle and secondary level students. The utilization of technology through classroom investigations and activities has shown to have an impact on the achievement scores on posttests and in the development of mathematical proof.

Perspectives Of Students With Asd And Their Parents: What Does It Truly Mean To Be Included?, Keara M. Browne

Theses and Dissertations

Though there are a number of practices identified by researchers and other professionals as inclusive, the question remains about whether the students themselves truly feel included. There has been limited research surrounding specific experiences in inclusive classrooms that students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) perceive to be facilitators and barriers to being included in general education and co-teaching settings. The purpose of this study was to inform educational policies and school practices surrounding the inclusion of students with ASD in general education and co-teaching settings by analyzing the perceptions of students with ASD and their parents to determine what it …

Creating An Effective Social-Emotional Learning Program At The High School Level: A School Improvement Plan, Kassie Bercik

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This school improvement plan details the importance of creating an effective social and emotional learning (SEL) program for high school students in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current mental health crisis among teenagers. Current research points to SEL programs for improvement in nearly all areas for students, whether it be academic achievement, attitude and behavior, resilience, or overall connectedness with peers; furthermore, research also indicates decreases in student aggression and emotional distress. With those findings in mind, this plan was created to focus on the improvement of two specific SEL skills: social awareness and relationship skills. The …

Schooling Black Males: Hegemonic Discourses, Structural Barriers, And Strategic Resistance, Cleo Wadley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Black males have scored at the lowest levels of academic achievement compared to other racial groups in many Texas school districts. The achievement gap for this population of students has been explained by both material constraints and oppressive hegemonic discourses. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to understand how such barriers and discourses affected these students and how the students negotiated their experiences in school. This study was designed to describe the problem, its background and to discuss a relevant theoretical framework. This study examined the academic achievement data for Black males and the current literature on adverse …

An Evaluation Of The Effects Of Student Participation In High School Athletics And Grade Point Averages In A Rural Title I School District, Robert Ebert

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative, associative/predictive study was to evaluate the relationship between participation in high school athletics and grade point averages (GPAs) for graduated cohorts in a rural Title I school district. Study data were collected in archival form from three graduating cohorts of students from a rural Title I school district in Florida. Study findings indicated that senior students who were identified as student-athletes had a mean GPA that was significantly higher than students who were identified as non-athletes. Furthermore, when considering the effect of GPAs by gender, both female and male student-athlete GPAs were statistically higher …

An Examination Of High School Students' Experiences As Anti-Defamation League Peer Trainers: A Case Study, David G. Knecht

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine students experiences as Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Peer Trainers at a predominately White, suburban high school in New Jersey, including in what ways students' experiences reflected transformative learning and empowered them as social justice allies. In addition, the study explored in what ways students' experiences could inform social justice education at their high school. The findings indicate that within this context, many participants experienced at least the beginning of perspective transformation, resulting in a shift from an exclusive to an inclusive perspective and an orientation toward social justice. Further, the findings …

The Impacts Of Positive Praise On Science Achievement Levels Of Female Students, Sidney Hanel

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

To the general eye, it appears there has been an increase of women in STEM and overall female interest in science however, this is not apparent in the high school classrooms. The lowest level physics classrooms are overwhelmingly female, and the AP Physics class of twenty-five students has two female students. Society is seeing more equal numbers of males and females in biology, healthcare, dentistry, and other medical related fields. This is a wonderful advancement however many other STEM careers are being forgotten.

This study focuses on five physical science courses one of which is provided with additional feedback and …

Does The Use Of Digital Storytelling Affect The Self-Efficacy And Writing Ability Of Long-Term English Learners?, Theresa Gonzales

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

When a student enters the public system and speaks a language other than English at home, this student becomes classified as an English Learner (EL). In order to reclassify out of that designation, a student must pass an English proficiency test at the end of the school year, as well as meet the other requirements for that specific district. If a student in the school system has an EL designation for more than seven years, they become classified a Long-Term English Learner (LTEL) student with very specific academic needs. Within the United States, schools will fail to reclassify 30-50% of …

Quickwrites And The Quest To Reverse Writing Reluctance, Jenna Dunn

Honors Projects

Current research suggests that students’ enjoyment of writing will positively impact their writing achievement (Graham, 2007; Bulut, 2017). Given this trend, the following study explores the extent to which quickwriting, a teaching strategy developed extensively by Linda Rief (2003, 2018) as well as Donald Graves & Penny Kittle (2005), impacts the attitudes of reluctant writers. A total of nineteen eleventh-grade students were interviewed in three focus groups. All of the students within the study experienced three weeks of regular classroom quickwriting along with one week of a quickwriting extension workshop prior to participation in the focus groups. Students were asked …

Developing Servant Leadership Through A Peer Mentor Program, Michael G. Funfar

Servant Leadership: Theory & Practice

Mentor programs are an important component of transition programs, which help students successfully navigate the shift from middle school to high school. With that being said, little research has examined the impact of participation in a mentor program on the mentors’ servant leadership skill set. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the impact of a peer mentor program and challenge course training component on the mentor’s perceived servant leadership skill-set. This study explored the impact on participants from a high school peer mentor program who graduated in 2018-2019 and had additional life experience from which …

Teacher Sensemaking In Times Of Crisis: A Case Study Of The Teaching Of High School Ethnic Studies Classes During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Black Lives Matter Protests, Kay Flewelling

Dissertations

This is a study about secondary ethnic studies classes within the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, a novel coronavirus caused dramatic changes in society, and social protests erupted in the United States in response to violence against people of color. This period of dual crises created a collective period of turbulence for educators in the United States as schooling moved to emergency virtual environments. Though the impact of this time is not yet understood, early indicators suggest that existing educational inequalities for students of color will be exacerbated. This study explored ethnic studies teacher sensemaking to understand how teachers adapted their …

The Journey To Improving Student Connectedness: Exploring Teacher Self-Efficacy, Use, And Perceptions Of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy, Christopher F. Cipriano

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

This Dissertation in Practice investigated to what extent professional learning impacted teacher perceptions, instruction, and self-efficacy of Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) at a Catholic high school. The dissertation followed an Improvement Science framework to address a specific problem of practice: a lack of universal student connectedness at the high school level. As students begin ninth grade, the connectedness to school many experienced on the elementary level often wanes, with academic, social, and emotional impacts. To build connectedness, the researcher selected a specific change idea focused upon CSP. The intervention consisted of two professional development (PD) sessions and several opportunities for …

Transforming Educators' Social Emotional Learning (Sel): A Mixed-Methods Study Exploring The Impact Of A Trauma-Informed Sel Intervention To Mitigate Educator Implicit Bias, Kemen Holley

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

While research has indicated that social emotional learning (SEL) approaches promote essential, long-lasting individual and collective development for students, the literature indicates a lack of evidence that educators are implementing SEL approaches to affirm the assets, lived experiences, and identities of students, particularly those belonging to minoritized groups. This Improvement Science Dissertation in Practice (ISDiP) employed a mixed-methods pragmatic, researchintervention process model that utilized a community-based action research approach to evaluate a trauma-informed SEL professional learning (PL) intervention as a viable practice to mitigate high school educators’ implicit biases. Through an anti-racist, anti-oppression framework, this study sought to determine the …

A Novel Approach To Social Justice Education, Jennifer R. Banas, Sara Gershon

Health Sciences and Physical Education Faculty Publications

Singular efforts in PK-12 settings to instill a social justice mindset will not achieve the same outcomes as social justice education infused throughout content area instruction. In collaboration with 10th -grade teachers, we developed and implemented a biblioguidance curriculum to develop students’ social justice and content area competency. Evaluation findings from the pilot implementation indicate there was a significant impact on some social justice competencies and all targeted content area competencies. Also, students appeared to recognize the benefits of a biblioguidance approach. In light of the outcomes, we celebrate the curriculum's successes and offer suggestions for ongoing improvement.

Imagining Otherwise: Designing And Implementing A High School Writing Center, Sheldon Cale Krieger

Dissertations

This study explored the work of planning and opening a new high school writing center in a school with a student population predominantly of students of color. The action research study occurred over the first twelve weeks of the writing center opening to better understand how such work might begin to disrupt oppressive systems and structures inherent in the school site as well as education at large. The arts-based methodology included daily reflective journals, a series of four collages, and document analysis. The study utilized critical imagining as its theoretical framework by combining tenets of critical race theory (CRT) with …

Crowdsourcing Civics Instruction To Improve Student Civic Knowledge, Skills, And Citizen Engagement, Charles T. E. Jones

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Secondary students’ lack of civic knowledge, skills, and engagement is well documented in the literature. States continue to address the issue through an increase in mandated civics requirements, but a striking improvement has not been confirmed. Improving civics instructional delivery through crowdsourcing holds promise in addressing deficits in students’ acquisition of civic knowledge, skills, and engagement. Crowdsourcing is the act of using the internet to obtain information and input from multiple parties on specific topics and to find solutions to problems. The purpose of this study was to determine if crowdsourcing may be an effective instructional tool that civics teachers …

Transnational Latinx Youths’ Workplace Funds Of Knowledge And Implications For Assets-Based, Equity-Oriented Engineering Education, Amy Wilson-Lopez, Jorge Acosta-Feliz

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Due to economic inequality in society, millions of Latinx high school youth work after-school jobs and summer jobs in order to provide additional income for their families. The purpose of this qualitative study, conducted with transnational Latinx youth, was to identify the engineering-related skills and bodies of knowledge they developed and applied while in different workplaces. This study is framed in complementary theories of funds of knowledge, Vygotskian theories of mediated action, and theories of resistant capital. Specifically, this study is based in the premise that youth can develop engineering-related funds of knowledge through tool-mediated, goal-directed activities jointly conducted with …

Testimonios Of Resilient Salvadoran Immigrants Who Graduated From A Public High School In The United States And Pursued Further Education, Leticia Ann Guzman Ingram

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There was little research-based understanding of how immigrant students manage to flourish and seek postsecondary educational opportunities. Understanding the experiences of Salvadoran immigrants who graduated from high school could enable educators in the United States to meet their needs more effectively. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore through the testimonios of the experiences of Salvadoran immigrants who graduated from a public high school in the United States and were currently pursuing further education or a career. The research design was narrative research, and the data were used to discern how immigrant youth learn to flourish to answer …

The Effects Of Fictional Literature On Real-World Perceptions Of Students, Dylan Dowty

Honors Theses

The ways in which fiction affect the perceptions of high school students’ realities are many, and they vary widely depending on the book read. While lessons can be learned from every fictional book, certain types of books are more beneficial and relevant for students. Young adult literature, while often overlooked, is a significant source of students’ perspective shifts and metacognition. Every book has a lesson that it can teach students, but contemporary young adult literature deserves to be taught in schools alongside the classics in order for students to make personal connections with the texts they read and take an …