Secondary Education Commons^™

The Casnr L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter: Learning Innovation Network For K-12 Schools, Volume 2, Edition 1, January 2023, Bailey Feit, Tammy Mittelstet

CASNR L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter

The purpose of this L.I.N.K.S. newsletter is to provide a monthly update of opportunities and resources for K-12 schools to connect with the University of Nebraska's CASNR Food, Energy, Water, and Societal Systems (FEWS²) programs and partners.

Included in this edition:

K-12 curriculum resources

Career exploration - pathways for students who like plants

Teacher and student opportunities

Horticulture careers spotlight

Link to list of new partnerships

Student experiences

Send your students to campus

Middle School Grow Your Own Teaching Program, Andrew J. Vondran

Dissertations of Practice

Middle School Grow YOur Own Teaching Program

This dissertation addresses the teacher shortage in the United States of America. The profession of education has struggled to find teachers to fill vacancies and it is being felt throughout the country. This is not just in the rural areas or areas of low socioeconomic status. Even high paying districts are feeling the squeeze. Many school districts are trying to combat this problem in different ways, especially Grow Your Own teaching programs. Many of these programs run by school districts are focused on high school students, although there has been a lack of …

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 …

Perception Vs. Reality: The Influence Of Civic Experiences In High School On Adult Civic Engagement, Kaya Bottmeyer

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

Research on political socialization has shown that individuals’ families and education play a significant role in their later political actions and attitudes, but more needs to be understood on how large the role of education is and, specifically, what impact secondary education has on people’s political socialization. Literature suggests that educational standards that require more civics or social science courses are more effective in creating civically engaged individuals, and curriculums that employ service learning and experiential learning techniques are even more effective at increasing civic engagement, but to what extent does a person's perception of their educational experience factor into …

Shape Conference Presentation, Misti Mueller

Division of Community Engagement Resources

This presentation, intended for K-12 educators, will showcase a community engaged initiative to support Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs. The development of outdoor play and learning spaces on blacktops/sidewalks that connect with science, social studies, language arts, math, music, and physical education will be highlighted. This presentation, intended for K-12 educators, will showcase a community engaged initiative to support Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs. The development of outdoor play and learning spaces on blacktops/sidewalks that connect with science, social studies, language arts, math, music, and physical education will be highlighted.

School Division Policies Related To Suicide Prevention And Response, David Naff, Fatemah A. Khawaji, Morgan Meadowes, Jill Flynn, Meg Sheriff, Lauren Powell, Lisa Gwyn, Tameka Burroughs, Jean Samuel

MERC Publications

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among youth age 10-19, and is an increasing concern in the wake of COVID-19. K-12 schools are crucial spaces for offering mental health support to students, and can implement policies to help prevent suicidal thoughts and behaviors. This MERC research and policy brief focuses on education policy related to suicide prevention and response. It is structured to answer five questions: 1) What are recent trends in youth suicide? 2) What does research show about school division policies that are effective in suicide prevention and response? 3) What policies in Virginia and …

The Not-So-Silent Period: Testimonios Of Recently Arrived Latinx Students, Teri M. Hutchinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore and amplify the experiences of recently arrived Latinx¹ students as interpreted through their testimonios in educational borderlands. Through increasingly xenophobic discourses around immigrants and their children (Pérez Huber, 2015), U.S. public schools have become entrenched borderland spaces wherein the humanity of recently arrived students is voided through silencing them with labels of linguistic deficiency and cramming them into one-size-fits-all educational programming (Fine et al., 2007; Flores & Rosa, 2015). There is demand for research that explores the experiences of these children, especially in light of their continued marginalization through neoliberal programming …

An Exploratory Constructivist Grounded Theory Study: How Secondary School Science Teachers Interpret Students’ Scientific Models That Are Comprised Of Drawing Activities, Alecia M. Redway

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Extant literature lacks an explanation of the thought processes used by secondary school science teachers to interpret students’ scientific models that are comprised of drawing activities. In this exploratory study, a constructivist grounded theory (CGT) was developed to generate an interpretive understanding. The CGT was generated from observations, interviews, and document analyses of five research participants consisting of secondary school science teachers from lower New York State. To generate a CGT, concepts, terms, assumptions, and definitions from selected theories—decolonizing methodologies theory (DMT), visual semiotic theory (VST), and cultural studies theory (CST)—collectively provided a fresh onto-epistemological lens for initially examining and …

College Aspirations, Preparation, And Enrollment Of First-Generation College Students: The Role Of College Counseling Support, Jamilla Helena Jamison

CGU Theses & Dissertations

It is well documented that college degree attainment can impact lifetime earnings and social mobility. However, research shows that first-generation college students (FGCs) are less likely than their peers to enroll in college after high school. The influence of a college counselor at the high school level as an influential other may positively influence college-going rates for first-generation students and help to close educational attainment gaps between FGCs and non-FGCs. While previous research has examined lower college aspirations, academic preparation, and enrollment rates of FGCs, previous literature has yet to address the role of college counseling support on the four-year …

Decoupling Property And Education, Nicole Stelle Garnett

Journal Articles

Over the past several years, the landscape of K–12 education policy has shifted dramatically, thanks in part to increasing prevalence of parental-choice policies, including intra- and inter-district public school choice, charter schools, and private-school choice policies like vouchers and (most recently) universal education savings accounts. These policies decouple property and education by delinking students’ educational options from their residential addresses. The wisdom and efficacy of parental choice as education policy is hotly debated. This Essay takes a step back from these education-policy debates and examines the underappreciated fact that decoupling property and education also advances at least economic development goals. …

Emerging Issues And Innovations In Public Pk-12 Education: Implications For Strategic Planning, David B. Naff, Lisa Gwyn, Fred Gatty, Tara Willging, Marzia Farhana, Jill Flynn, Cammie Justus-Smith, Jean Samuel, Alexander Campbell, Ciana Cross, Jamie Nervil, Michael L. Schad

MERC Publications

This research and policy brief from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) explores emerging issues and innovations that PK-12 school districts should consider when engaging in strategic planning. It includes a discussion of peer reviewed literature related to how PK-12 school districts engage in strategic planning, a thematic analysis of strategic plans across Virginia (as well as the largest school districts in the United States), and an exploration of Google trends related to prominent topics in PK-12 education over the previous five years. It explores the following questions: 1) How do PK-12 school systems engage in strategic planning?, 2) What …

Everyone Is On Their Phones: Eighth Graders' Struggle With Social Media In School, George Weinhardt

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

This qualitative study examined social media in the school setting from the point of view of eighth-grade participants. This study implemented a focused ethnography, examining a group of individuals’ perspectives on a focused area of their shared culture. Using critical theory, this study examined qualitative data with the concepts of structures, subjectivity, and power at the confluence of social media and school for eighth-grade students. Qualitative data were collected using five semi-structured focus groups, artifact analysis, fieldnotes, and memos. The findings highlighted that eighth-grade students acknowledge that there is a struggle between social media and school. This struggle alters their …

An Examination Of Strategies For Reintegration Of K-12 Students Into Public School Post-Hospitalization, Jacinda Gittens

Education Theses

The reintegration process has been a challenging topic in schools, and most schools do not have policies to accommodate students' needs. Therefore, educators should develop policies to achieve a better outcome for reintegration. The aim of this paper is to investigate how the process of reintegration affects school-aged youths with chronic illness and mental health challenges who are experiencing academic difficulties. The implications are significant, including the amount of schoolwork required to pass the year after reintegration, the need for school nurses to be in contact with hospitals that students attended, and the importance of administrative involvement in the reintegration …

Educational Policies For Spanish Speakers In The United States, Allenby Lyson Iii

Modern Languages, Philosophy and Classics Theses

Schools across the United States implemented educational policies to help students succeed. These policies are often implemented at the state level allowing differences between each state. Considering the increasing presence of Spanish speakers in the United States, many of these policies are put in place to help Spanish speaking students as well as other native speaking children. These policies, and by extent programs, have changed over time, both helping and in some cases harming students. Analyzing these policies improves our understanding of what is most beneficial for students.

Adolescent Thc Usage In Virginia: Post-Legalization Challenges And Strategies For Schools, David Naff, Meg Sheriff, Jill Flynn, Marzia Farhana, Kris Herakovich-Curtis, Gerron Scott, Fred Gatty, Priyadarshini Pattath, Diane Williams, Kiana Bradford, Reena Desai, Lauren Powell, Lisa Gwyn

MERC Publications

Recreational marijuana was legalized for anyone over the age of 21 in Virginia in 2021. This research and policy brief explores evidence of the impact of such legalization on Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) usage in PK-12 aged youth, including smoking, vaping, edibles, and dabbing. It addresses the following questions: 1) What are the recent trends in marijuana usage among PK-12 aged youth? 2) What are the impacts of THC usage in schools, particularly after legalization? 3) How can schools and school systems effectively respond to THC usage? 4) What are relevant federal, state, and school division policies that guide responses to youth …

The Landscape Of Advanced Coursework Participation: Understanding Disparities And Intersectionality, Chin-Chih Chen, Chris Parthemos, David Naff, Erica Ross, Virginia Palencia, Beth Fowler, Andrea Herndon, Beverly Fludd-Flanagan

MERC Publications

This population-based study explored students' participation in advanced coursework in elementary schools (gifted/talented programs), middle schools (Algebra I+), and high schools (Advanced Placement) to address enrollment equity. The study identified demographic disparities and the intersectionality of multiple identities to achieve two research aims: 1) to explore how advanced course-taking varies by student demographics, and 2) to understand how disparities in advanced course-taking vary by student demographics and intersectional identities. The findings indicate that disparities in advanced course-taking are related to students’ race, ethnicity, disability status, English learner (EL) status, socioeconomic status, as well as the intersection of these variables. The …

Streaming With Butterflies: A Whole School Stream Project, Carey L. Averill, Janet M. Herrelko

Journal of Catholic Education

This study explores the commitment of a school faculty to use the pedagogical practices needed to employ a project-based unit of Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STREAM). The unit of study concentrated on environmental sustainability of butterflies through project-based learning (PBL). Teacher interviews were analyzed to reveal the similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses in the teachers’ reactions to implementing a cross-curricula content unit designed for a pre-kindergarten (PK) to eighth grade school. Analysis of teacher data and classroom artifacts provided evidence of: content mastery at the student levels; implementation of scaffolding for developmental levels; and the need …

Critical Consciousness, Social-Emotional Learning, And Serving Diverse Students, Brooke Poeschl

Masters Theses

Ensuring that adolescents get the care and support they need to be successful both academically and socially is crucial as an educator. A major part of this process is examining your personal biases and beliefs in order to identify areas that may negatively impact the students in your classroom. This is especially true for students who are high needs, either in terms of learning differences or cultural differences. The following addresses how teachers can impact their students and what practices observable within the classroom have shown beneficial to students of diverse backgrounds, with a specific focus on Muslim students. This …

Assessing The Reliability Of The Five-In-20 Classroom Observation Tool, Danielle Buechlein

Masters Theses

Effective classroom management practices are crucial to fostering a positive learning environment, student achievement, and student social-emotional development, as well as teacher job satisfaction. The Five-in-20 Classroom Observation Tool (FCOT) was developed from the 21 evidence-based strategies identified by Simonsen and colleagues (2008) to assess and support teachers’ classroom management; however, its psychometric properties are unknown. The present study looks at the interobserver agreement of the FCOT, specifically at how consistent observers’ ratings are with each other and how consistent observers’ ratings are with a standard coded copy of the FCOT. Forty-four participants, using the FCOT, rated the same 20-minute …

High School Teacher’S Education And Training On Trauma, Macey Wienstroer

Masters Theses

Trauma significantly impacts the well-being of all individuals, which includes both students and school professionals. Concerning students, traumatic experiences have become predictive of academic difficulties, conduct problems, and delinquency; they affect the child’s school experience by increasing their risk for suspension and expulsion, poor attendance, risky behaviors, low self-esteem, and disengagement. On the other hand, educators are experience more feelings of burn out and are dealing with the effects of secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue. Consequently, it is essential to consider the negative effects of trauma and how to remediate the symptomology. One way to reduce the adverse effects …

Pandemic Innovations In Teacher Education: Communities Of Practice, Mentoring, And Technology, Christy K. Irish, Melissa S. Wells, Janine S. Davis, Kristina A. Peck, Courtney Clayton

Education Faculty Articles

This study aimed to investigate the transformation of pre-service teaching experience due to virtual or hybrid completion during the 2020–2021 school year and to identify teaching and mentoring innovations that teacher educators should continue to promote. The research involved 14 student teachers and 5 mentor teachers from the United States across elementary, secondary, and pre-K–12 programs who participated in surveys, semi-structured interviews, and focus groups. The results indicated that the integration of technology in student teaching and the shift to virtual or hybrid learning brought about new challenges and opportunities for both student teachers and mentor teachers. The study highlights …

Perceptions On Detracking Secondary Mathematics Classes And Individual And Collective Teacher Efficacy Beliefs For Teaching In Heterogeneous, Inclusive Classes, Melissa A. Dudic

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore secondary mathematics teachers’ perceptions of detracking including benefits, challenges, and needed support as well as their individual and collective efficacy beliefs for teaching in a detracked class. Shifting to heterogeneous and inclusive secondary mathematics classes is a significant shift from past practice, and thus, teachers’ beliefs about their individual efficacy for such a change can impact the success of detracking reform. By understanding the areas of strength and areas for growth through the lens of individual and collective teaching efficacy, leaders can better understand the professional learning and support needed to sustain …

Counseling Skills For Educators, Craig Hall

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is touted as a diverse campus. Indeed, students represent a wide range of demographics concerning race, gender, identity, socioeconomics, physical and mental ability issues, as well as non traditional students and those the intersectional representation of multiple demographic groups. It is incumbent upon educators to provide safe spaces for all students. This is an equitable practice. How can educators be more equitable? By using counseling skills in their education such as: empathy, active listening, belief in the capabilities of students, and avoiding labeling students. It must be noted that the use of counseling skills …

One Last Month, Or Clancy's Time-Box, Safiyya Bintali

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

One Last Month is a young adult (YA) novella of roughly forty-three thousand words aimed at readers in middle school and in early high school grades. Structurally, it is an “ensemble Bildungsroman”, wherein all the main characters—rather than just one—embark on journeys of emotional growth and are given significant plot focus. Through the characters, One Last Month focuses on the importance and influence of non-romantic love, specifically through homosocial relationships between the novella’s male characters. It also touches on the process of grief beyond the Kübler-Ross structure and, though more subtly, emotional expression in young men. Through one of the …

A Tool For Digital Bibliotherapy: Fostering Emotional Resiliency Through A Visual Novel, Joy Cooper

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

Suicide rates among children have risen over the last three years. In Clark County specifically, the numbers doubled between 2019 and 2021. The research for this project sought to find the benefits of bibliotherapy and create a tool to be used for early intervention in children displaying signs of developmental emotional and behavioral concerns. Additionally, the research focused on determining the benefits of bibliotherapy across various mediums with a particular aim on the accessibility of digital formats. The research concluded that bibliotherapy in a digital format is not only beneficial but has a tendency to produce higher engagement among children. …

The Educator’S Experience Incorporating Blended Learning In A Secondary Classroom, Kiki Nelsen

Dissertations and Theses

Blended learning is a teaching strategy that broadly consists of the use of multiple methods of delivery, often including face-to-face and technology-enhanced teaching. Research on the efficacy of blended learning programs has lacked focus in large part due to the ambiguity of the definition. Most existing blended learning research has been conducted in post-secondary environments and centers on the experience of the student. Research on motivation and engagement in technology-enhanced learning classrooms yields both positive and negative outcomes found in some studies to be correlated to the involvement of the teacher in the design and facilitation of the technology. Given …

Genrefication: Making Children's Collections Accessible, Kurt Axt

Resources for Educators

[From Introduction]

Most people who have home libraries have no need to classify their collections. They have one or maybe several bookcases, perhaps separating fiction from nonfiction, grouping fiction by genre or format, nonfiction by subject. They may even keep their Outlander books together and not mix them up with their Alex Cross books. But only a rare bird would alphabetize their fiction by author or organize their nonfiction by the Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress (LC) classification systems. Likewise, if their small child has a bookcase in his or her bedroom, it is probably an unsorted mass of …

Middle School Teacher Perceptions Of The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sherria La Vonne Grubbs

Doctor of Education Dissertations

This paper examines the perceptions of middle school teachers on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on student achievement, attendance and enrollment, mental health, and social and economic factors. Allowing the voices of the middle school teachers to be heard was important to this study because it helped to identify some key themes of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education. For this qualitative research study, a survey was created with Google Forms and a focus group discussion was implemented using the zoom platform to gather and collect data for this study. 67 middle school teachers were invited to …

Ecologies Of Learning For Inclusive Pedagogy In Spanish Secondary Education, Inmaculada Orozco, Anabel Moriña

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

From the theoretical basis of the ecology of learning and inclusive pedagogy, this article explores the activities, resources and interactions practised by 25 Spanish teachers in compulsory secondary education. This qualitative study involved semi-structured and individual interviews. A progressive analysis of the data was carried out using an inductive system of categories and codes. The results show that the activities were varied and all of them put students at the centre of the teaching-learning process. The resources that stood out were technologies and peer support. Interactions were characterised by the need to nurture affection and get to know and motivate …

Using Change Laboratory Methodology In Initial Teacher Education, Kellie Tobin

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Initial Teacher Education remains the focus of policy reform and research in Australia with the broad aim of improving the quality of pre-service teacher education. There remains dispute about limited evidence justifying ongoing reforms, particularly in relation to gaps in understanding how providers and schools work collaboratively in the joint activity of ITE. This paper argues for the potential of Change Laboratory (CL) methodology in contemporary educational research. The research examined the implementation of CL methodology in an Australian ITE program. Participants included 13 school-based and university-based educators. Participants were required to co-design a unit of work for an ITE …