Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Identifying Contributors To Disproportionality: The Influence Of Perception On Student Social, Emotional, And Academic Behavior Ratings, Chelsea Salvatore

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Successful implementation of the MTSS framework involves equitable assessment and decision-making. This calls for researchers to investigate the processes utilized to identify students for early behavioral support, such as multi-informant universal social-emotional behavioral screening. The current study aimed to investigate this by first examining the usability of the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Subscale (SAEBRS) and the student self-report version (mySAEBRS) across Black and White students in grades seven through nine. After examining these tools for measurement invariance, the trifactor model was employed with race as a predictor variable to examine the mean difference of Black and White students’ scores …

Predictors Of Goal Attainment Among High School Students In Accelerated Academic Curricula Receiving School-Based Motivational Interviewing Intervention, Camille E. Hanks

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Students enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP) courses and International Baccalaureate (IB) programs represent a unique group of adolescents given the high demands of their rigorous coursework and the elevated stress they experience compared to peers in the general education (Suldo & Shaunessy-Dedrick, 2013). These students are often missed in traditional screening procedures that tend to identify students struggling academically or exhibiting disruptive behaviors. Fortunately, Shaunessy-Dedrick and colleagues (2021) developed a comprehensive school-based intervention program, including universal (Tier 1) and selective (Tier 2) components, which aims to support the well-being of AP/IB students. The Tier 2 component of this program (i.e., …

Mealtimes In Early Childhood Education Centers During Covid-19: A Mixed-Methods Assessment Of Responsibilities, Interactions, And Best Practices, Joanna Mackie

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Childhood obesity is a public health problem associated with many co-morbidities. The majority of young children in the United States (U.S.) attend formal early childhood education (ECE) programs, often consuming the majority of daily calories and engaging with teachers during mealtimes. Mealtime best practices support children’s development of healthy eating habits. This dissertation aimed to understand how COVID-19 has influenced mealtimes in ECE centers, including (1) the division of responsibility between adults and children during mealtimes, (2) the child feeding dynamic, and (3) how mealtime best practices have been included during COVID-19.

Methods: This dissertation used a concurrent mixed-methods …

Directing Attention In Second Language Phonological Contrast Learning, Laura Conover

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Why are some people better at learning new languages than others? There is a rich body of research examining this issue from multiple perspectives and at all levels of language. This study attempts to add to that knowledge at the most fundamental level of language by examining potential influences on the learning of novel phoneme contrasts. The purpose of this study was to explore whether individual differences in attentional capabilities would help adults learn a non-native phonological contrast, and whether providing explicit directions that would guide the learners’ attention could help boost their performance. VCV recordings of the Thai /p/ …

Evaluating The Use Of Behavioral Skills Training To Teach Substitute Caregivers To Identify Hazards, Carlos Abarca

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The leading cause of death for children across the world is unintentional injuries (UNICEF 2001). Hazards such as accessible pools, poisons, and small ingestible items are the leading causes of unintentional injuries. Behavioral interventions such as Project 12-Ways/Safe Care have been used to teach parents how to be proactive in structuring a home free of accessible hazards by teaching the parents to identify and remove hazards in their home. Though the Project 12-Ways/Safe Care model has over 30 years of literature supporting its efficacy, the model has not been tested with substitute caregivers who often play a critical role in …

The Relationship Between New Graduate Registered Nurse Knowledge, Experiences, Attitudes, And Age Bias Toward The Older Adult, Michelle Fox

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There had been a lack of research on the relationship between a new graduate Registered Nurses’ knowledge, experiences, attitudes, and age bias toward older adults. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there was a relationship between new graduate Registered Nurses’ knowledge, experiences, attitudes, and age bias toward older adults.

The researcher used correlational, non-experimental, quantitative design for this study. The instruments used in this study were the Facts on Aging Quiz, the Kogan Attitude Toward Old People scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the demographic data and correlation coefficients were used to …

Effects Of Learning A Second Language On English Academic And Low-Frequency Vocabulary Acquisition And Metalinguistic Knowledge, Hayriye Karliova

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study compared the possible effects of learning a language from the Italic branch of the Indo-European language family as a second language (L2), namely Latin and Spanish, on English academic and low-frequency vocabulary acquisition and metalinguistic knowledge of native English speaker (NES) undergraduates in their first language (L1), English.

The study sought to attain two objectives: first, it aimed to discover the effects of learning Latin and Spanish as L2s with respect to the vocabulary acquisition of NES undergraduates; second, it aimed to detect the effects these L2s in terms of metalinguistic awareness. In both cases, the focus was …

The Left Behind Generation: Instructional Practices To Increase The Technological Literacy Of Older Adults, Daphne Pace Phillips

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to explore the utilization and perception of best practices by community-based technology training programs when instructing older adults to become technologically literate. The target population included adults age 55 years and older of the Baby Boomer generational cohort who ranged academically from possessing a high school diploma or General Education Diploma (GED) through a college degree and had enrolled in a local technology training program to improve their technological skill level with the goal of obtaining employment and/or to remain functionally independent. This study was conducted at three community technology training centers located in the southeast that …

Positive Deviance As A Framework For Understanding Motivations And Barriers To Exercise For University Students At Campus Recreation, René Dario Herrera

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis was to use qualitative research methodologies to better understand motivations and barriers to exercise for university students at campus recreation. The secondary purpose was to identify any correlations between physical activity habits and academic success. Ethnographic data obtained from a positive deviance sample and critically analyzed with feminist and postmodern theory could provide additional validation for campus recreation's value in positively contributing to the academic success of university students.

Participant observation, questionnaire, cultural domain analysis, interview, and focus group provided qualitative data.

Results indicate university students who frequent campus recreation to exercise are highly motivated …

Early Literacy Abilities In Spanish-English Emergent Bilingual Children From Varied Dialectal Backgrounds, Antonietta Mastrota

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Hispanic population within the United States has grown to a considerable amount. The state of Florida’s population is 25% Hispanic, with projected estimates of this population continuing to grow in the coming years (Ortman & Shin, 2011). Statistics show that 28.3% of the state’s population, over the age of five, speak a language other than English at home. With this considerable number of Spanish-speakers comes the responsibility to adjust certain educational practices to best meet their needs. Literacy is an essential part of learning, and therefore assessing early literacy is an essential part to any child’s academic development.

Phonological …

The Debt Burden Of Entry-Level Physical Therapists In Florida, Steven Benton Ambler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the education, autonomy, and high demand for physical therapists both nationally and in Florida, recent graduates have seen steadily rising education costs with disproportionate changes in income once they have graduated and entered the workforce. The growing debt burden of physical therapists entering the workforce, coupled with the growth in projected need and stagnant wages, raises concern about where and how entry-level physical therapists will practice and if these choices will be affected by their debt burden. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional survey study was to identify the debt profile of entry-level physical therapists and explore the relationship …

Teacher Child Interaction Therapy: An Ecological Approach To Intervening With Young Children Who Display Disruptive Behaviors, Sara Marie Hinojosa

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A model of Teacher Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT) was implemented in two kindergarten classrooms of students (n = 2) who successfully completed Parent Child Interaction Therapy, but continued to demonstrate disruptive behaviors in the classroom. The current study first indicated that TCIT was implemented with integrity by both the therapists and teacher participants. Next, the effects of this intervention on the teacher’s skills, students’ disruptive behaviors, teacher’s stress, and teacher-child relationships were investigated. The treatment acceptability was also examined. Both visual and statistical analyses found a treatment effect in both cases was seen for both teachers’ increased use of positive …

Perspective From Two Professions: Two Professionals Making Meaning Of The Clinical Educator Role, Tara Payor

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe how professional educators make sense of their role in helping novice practitioners make meaning from authentic clinical practice. Simultaneously studying a clinical educator from teacher and graduate medical education, and subsequently setting their stories side by side, speaks to the interest both professions have in learning from the other. Both clinical educators were Board certified in their respective area of practice. In-depth phenomenological interviewing was used as the study’s methodology, and the professional formation construct served as the study’s conceptual framework. Data corroborate findings in the literature that there is a …

Perceptions Of Mentoring From Fourth Year Medical Students, Stephen Charles

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods research study investigated medical students' perspectives of professional mentoring through a web-based survey/needs assessment. The participants are fourth year medical students from three large urban research institutions and two regional branch campuses. The web-based survey/needs assessment was created, peer reviewed, and validated. A strategic sampling of focus groups was conducted to gather additional information regarding the results from the web-based survey. The information and data obtained from the survey and focus groups was used to provide recommendations for administrators and faculty about the mentoring program for each campus. A new proposed model of mentoring was developed upon analysis …

Effects Of Response Cards On The Disruptive Behavior Of Students, Leslie S. Singer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This study examined the effects of response cards (RC) on student disruptive behavior, responding, and accuracy of responding during whole-class guided-reading instruction in a first-grade classroom. The authors combined two baseline conditions with an alternating treatments design and then replicated the effects across four teacher-nominated students. The first baseline condition was the teacher's typical instruction format, where one student who raised his/her hand was called upon to respond to the teacher's question. The second baseline condition (BL') was the same as the first baseline with an additional control for the number of teacher-delivered questions to the class per session. …

An Evaluation Of The Implementation Of "The Happiest Toddler On The Block" Parenting Strategies By Young Mothers, Amye Elizabeth Bock

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Young parents and their children are considered a high-risk population as they are more likely to lack social support networks, have limited access to opportunities to enhance parenting skills, and are often financially dependent. Young children whose mothers have poor parenting skills are more likely to have persistent problem behavior. Three young mothers living in a transitional housing facility participated in this study. The purpose of this study was to determine if these mothers could implement parenting strategies that are a part of a commercially available parenting book and DVD. This study found that: (1) mothers were able to correctly …