Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Preparing To Engage Migrant-Origin Students Through Culturally Responsive Teaching: A Handbook For Teachers, Grayson E. Briggs

Master's Theses

Students of migrant-origin currently represent approximately 25% of the total student population in the United States. As immigration to the U.S. continues, the proportion of migrant-origin students in public schools is only expected to grow. Despite the growing representation of migrant-origin youth amongst the K-12 student population, current schooling approaches have not expanded to address the diversifying needs of the student population. Because public school systems are struggling to adapt to the needs of migrant-origin students, these students’ educational attainment is suffering. The presence of implicit bias, microaggressions, and stereotypes in all aspects of schooling is a significant factor that …

Creating Commons: Photovoice Philosophy In A Third Space, Jason M. Cox, Lynne Hamer

Journal of Social Theory in Art Education

Teach Toledo is a program that the authors co-coordinate using community assets to create a third space to confront systemic racism’s impact on teacher education programs and facilitate hybridity (Bhaba, 1994). Diverse student cohort members use their lived experience as the base for their individual and shared urban educational philosophies, coordinated in a first-year horizontally and vertically integrated curriculum including written compositions and a PhotoVoice project. “Creating commons” refers not only to provision of a third space as a common space where private experiences can be combined to create a hybrid, new understanding, but also to the creative act of …

How Doctoral Students In A Formal Leadership Program Conceptualize Followership: A Mixed-Methods Study, Katy J. Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

The purpose of this exploratory mixed-methods study was to determine how doctoral students in a formal leadership program conceptualize followership. The methods used to conduct this analysis included distributing a Qualtrics (released in August 2022) survey and conducting one-on-one interviews with a sample of degree-seeking doctoral students within a formal leadership program. The researcher collected quantitative and qualitative data addressing students’ followership style, leadership attitudes and beliefs, and perceptions of followership. These data were analyzed concurrently using a triangulation design. A total of 67 students completed the survey, and seven students were interviewed. The findings revealed that the participants employ …

Recognizing Paralanguage In Teaching, Allison Delmonico

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

Paralanguage is used every day to communicate and is related to one’s culture. It is often unconscious, however, when teaching a conscious effort should be made so one understands how they are perceived by others and what signals they give off. Teachers must take into consideration their own culture, the culture of the community they teach in, and the culture of students and their families. Teachers use paralanguage when communicating with their colleagues and need to understand how best to collaborate with each other. When communicating with parents, teachers need to make sure they feel welcome in the classroom and …

Rural And Urban Caregiver Experiences Of Financial Strain And Food Insecurity During Pediatric Hospitalizations, Rachel E. Granberg

Research Days

Background: Stress is common among caregivers of hospitalized children. In addition to stress related to their child’s illness, caregivers experience stress related to financial strain and food insecurity during their child’s hospitalization. The burden of financial strain and food insecurity related to pediatric hospitalizations may vary between rural and urban populations.

Objectives/Goal: To identify financial strain and food insecurity experienced by caregivers of hospitalized children and to describe differences between rural and urban populations.

Methods/Design: A prospective cross-sectional survey enrolled a random sample of caregivers of hospitalized children between 8/31/2021 and 12/2/2022 at a single children’s hospital. Demographic information was …

Black Male Educator Shortage In The Mississippi Public School System: Impact, Challenges, And Intervention Strategies, Jilkiah Bryant

Honors Theses

The shortage of Black male educators in Mississippi's public school systems is a critical issue with far-reaching implications for the state's education system. Despite the state's sizable Black population, the percentage of Black male teachers remains disproportionately low, and there is little evidence of progress being made to address this issue. This paper examines the impact of the Black male educator shortage on Mississippi's education system, the challenges faced by Black male educators, and related intervention strategies to increase the number of Black male teachers in Mississippi's public school systems. Through a comprehensive literature review and interviews with Black male …

Impact Of Students' Off-Task Technology Use During Instruction On Teachers, David Lancaster

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The increase of technology in educational classrooms has changed the way instruction is delivered and received, positively and negatively. When technology is used for off-task purposes, negative effects on student learning are well-documented. However, little research has been conducted on the effect of student off-task technology use on teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of off-task technology use during instruction on K-12 teachers, while including more modern devices. Two hundred sixty-two Kentucky K-12 teachers completed online surveys in which their perceptions of multitasking, views of the impact of off-task technology use on students, and on …

Epistemological Framing In Statistics Courses For Psychology Students, Carlos Manuel Vargas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As psychology grows in popularity, most students select professions related to therapy, which constantly deem statistics courses as irrelevant and accentuate negative attitudes. This study explores perspectives of knowledge, also known as epistemological frames, that students enrolled in a psychology-based course in statistics generate and the extent to which these relate to attitudes. Research evidence the existence of productive and unproductive epistemological frames; the former involves automatic thought processes that require minimal effort or sense of voluntary control, while the latter prompts conscious learning efforts. This study follows an explanatory sequential design as it begins with a quantitative phase analyzing …

Xinachtli: Exploring The Experiences Of Young Resilient Latinas In A Rural And Under-Resourced Community, Deborah Hernandez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This interpretive phenomenology study aimed to explore the lived experiences of young Latinas in a rural and under-resourced community. The analysis of the messages received by young women in educational institutions, at home, and in science and math classes was necessary due to the underrepresentation of Latinas in STEM fields. Using an interpretive phenomenology lens, the researcher collected journals from seven participants. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with all seven participants every week for 16 weeks by the Xinachtli facilitator. The data collected from the journals were transcribed in a line-by-line analysis and affirmed using qualitative analysis. The codes were …

Meta-Analysis Of Therapeutic Interventions For The Treatment Of Test Anxiety., Thomas Reece

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to be a practitioner-focused review of the current research into interventions for the treatment of test anxiety. As testing continues to be a large part of students’ academic experiences and the stakes of that testing grow for students, teachers, and schools, there is a need for a synthesis of the literature to provide teachers and schools with some guidance on how best to help their students succeed. In this review, I describe the phenomenon of test anxiety and the current theoretical questions concerning the relationship between test anxiety and test performance. I also …

Impact Of Personalized Interactive Storytelling On Suspension Of Disbelief In Clinical Simulation, Audra Renee-Smith Xenakis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The literature review found suspension of disbelief (SOD) in clinical simulation heavily weighted on educators alone within high-fidelity environments. The project examined a co-created narrative background story applied to a simulated patient’s clinical profile to determine achieving an improved connectedness toward the simulated patient leading to enhanced SOD and enhanced levels of learning and reaction. The studied population was third-semester associate degree nursing students over 18 years of age with prior clinical simulation experience who were not repeating the semester. The research methodology used a quantitative experimental design with cluster sampling, randomization, and post-Likert-scored questionnaires. The intervention group co-created personalized …

Taking Science Museums To The Edge: How Science Museums Can Advocate For Social Justice, Education And Inclusivity Through Their Exhibits, Sasha C. Naples

Museum Studies Theses

Science museums have often associated affluent populations and quality education with access to scientific material and content. While these institutions have become more accessible in many ways, they can and should increase their efforts to include BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities and individuals. As the need grows for diversity in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields so does the demand for science museums to include these communities’ needs and wants. This thesis discusses the need for and importance of BIPOC representation in science museums and what museums have already done to include them in their programming and …

Tpsol Teachers' Beliefs About Providing Corrective Feedback On Learners' Writing Performance: A Transcendental Phenomenology, Hussein Meihami

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this study was to investigate Teaching Persian to Speakers of Other Languages (TPSOL) teachers' beliefs about providing corrective feedback (CF) on TPSOL students' writing. To that end, the transcendental phenomenological design was used in which the experiences and practices of six TPSOL teachers (four male and two female teachers) were examined to obtain TPSOL teachers' beliefs about providing CF on students' writing. A series of phenomenological interviews were conducted with TPSOL teachers. Moreover, students' writing samples corrected by TPSOL teachers were collected and analyzed. Finally, the data were analyzed and synthesized using Giorgi's (2009) five steps framework. …

Transforming Black Students’ Higher Education Experiences And Lives: A Proposal For The Csu, Don Lundy

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

For decades, a racial “achievement gap” has persisted in U.S. higher education. Specifically, White students have outperformed Black students on a number of indicators, including college admissions, standardized test scores, and graduation rates. This graduate project considers several explanations for this persistent inequity. The root of the problem, it argues, is U.S. higher education’s history of racism and exclusion and the oversaturation of whiteness in these institutions. In other words, U.S. higher education was built for and continues to serve White students at the expense of Black students. Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) show us that when whiteness is …

System Support For Early Grade Teacher Mentors In Cambodia, Jana Scislowicz

Capstone Collection

The early primary education system in Cambodia is working to expand its teacher mentoring network. This quantitative and qualitative study examines the motivational factors of school-based early grade literacy mentors and master mentors who have played these roles in a pilot program implemented by a United States Agency for International Development-funded project during the 2021-2022 academic year in Cambodia. The study finds that mentors are motivated to perform the mentoring roles for intrinsic reasons such as improving student education and peer learning. It also finds that there are areas of improvement for mentor selection, workload assignment, financial remuneration, and recognition …

Exploration Of The Lived Experiences Of Native American Science Teachers Of The Great Plains: A Narrative Inquiry, Uma Ganesan

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Theses and Other Student Research

The complicated history of the education of Native American children through U.S. government-sponsored practices has led to the elimination of the Native children’s sense of Indian identity, culture, and language (Noel, 2002). In addition, increased emphasis on standardization and high-stakes accountability under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has resulted in less culturally responsive educational efforts and more Indigenous students left behind in school systems (Castagno & Brayboy, 2008). This has led to Indigenous students being underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields where they account for only 3% of STEM workers (Fry, Kennedy, & Funk, …

Submission In Response To The Teacher Education Expert Panel Discussion Paper, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Shaping educational policy

This submission in response to the 2023 Teacher Education Expert Panel Discussion Paper argues that improving teacher quality requires a system-wide, career-long approach to teacher education rather than a narrow focus on initial teacher education (ITE) programs. While supporting rigorous ITE standards, evidence-based content, robust assessment, and consistent accreditation, ACER contends that teacher preparation must be understood within a broader continuum encompassing recruitment, induction, mentoring, professional learning, career progression, and retention. Drawing on Australian and international research, the submission highlights the importance of supportive workplace conditions, structured early-career support, and coherent professional pathways to strengthen teacher workforce sustainability and effectiveness. …

Job Stress Moderates The Effects Of A Mindfulness Intervention On Early Childhood Teachers' Emotion Dysregulation, Emily J. Starr

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

Addressing the current crisis of early childhood (EC) teacher turnover is essential for supporting the development of young children. Teacher attrition remains a concern for policymakers globally, and in the United States, early childhood teachers frequently cite job stress and lack of support as reasons for leaving the field. For over 40 years, researchers who study childcare have been concerned about the consequences of work-related stressors. Even if these stressors do not result in turnover, EC teachers’ psychological well-being may be impacted, leading to increased emotion regulation difficulties and more frequent negative teacher-child interactions. Young children’s emotional development is significantly …

A Participatory Exercise In Developing Syllabi With Adult Learners, Laneshia Conner, V. Nikki Jones, Jason P. Johnston

Journal on Empowering Teaching Excellence

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here.

Transformative participatory approaches in education are positioned to challenge traditional models where instructors bear all responsibility for knowledge creation and learners are passive recipients of knowledge. The promotion of participatory learning and critical pedagogy is essential to helping professionals seeking to understand oppressive structural barriers and employing strategies to dismantle these structures. This article describes a participatory approach undertaken to guide learners through an exercise to co-create syllabus content in a graduate social work course. Learners identified three themes, concerns, fears, and problems, related to the course material. Learners were also …

Examining Curriculum Requirements Of Undergraduate Teacher Preparation Programs To Gauge Educator Knowledge Of Trauma-Informed Education Frameworks, Laura Grace King

CoE Publications

Statistics show that many pre-K–12 students in the United States are exposed to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) or potentially traumatic events (PTEs), and a growing body of literature points to these childhood experiences harming children’s academic functioning and future educational attainment. A review of the literature on trauma-informed education (i.e., curriculum and programs designed to mitigate the negative effects of trauma) highlights many teachers’ lack of confidence in combatting issues within student populations affected by adversity and trauma; the research also indicated that teachers with knowledge of trauma/adversity and its implications are crucial to effectively educating at-risk children and adolescents. …

Exploring The Relationship Between Job Satisfaction And Teacher Retention Among Rural And Urban Elementary School Teachers In Kentucky, Whitney Shannon Wilson, Edris Barnette Humphrey

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Whitney Shannon Wilson and Edris Barnette Humphrey on April 12, 2023.

Consciousness-Centered Education: An Innovative Approach To Art And Design Curriculum

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper introduces and discusses a consciousness-centered, integrated education model, implemented at the College for Creative Studies. Consciousness, Creativity, and Identity, a liberal-arts course offering, is designed to offer students a greater understanding of human connectivity and empowerment through empathy for themselves and others. This result is achieved in part through the inclusion of meditation training as a core component of the course. By integrating the skills of introspection, silence, and reflection with intellectual engagement, consciousness-centered education initiatives encourage the relationship between compassion, connectivity, inclusion, and wellness as key pedagogic themes in art and design curriculum. This paper offers evidence …

Creando La Confianza: Narratives On Mentorship Of Latina Professors At The University Of New Mexico, Maria G. Vielma

Spanish and Portuguese ETDs

Numerous scholars have investigated the significant role that representation and mentorship play in the success of Latinas and other women of color during their journey through higher education, from degree completion to faculty hiring and advancement (Vasquez 1982, Zambrana et. al. 1997, Valdez 2001, Cavazos & Cavazos 2010, Shayne 2020, Contreras et. al. 2022). However, little research exists surrounding the lived experiences that have shaped mentorship carried out by university faculty, specifically, mentorship carried out by bilingual Latina faculty in higher education. Through a Latina Feminist Epistemology implementing Oral History Methodologies, this thesis aims to understand the cycle of mentorship …

Cross The Finish Line: Strategies For Increasing The Retention, Persistence, And Graduation Rates Of Black Male Students-Athletes At Kentucky State University, Jamaal R. Jackson

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Jamaal R. Jackson on April 11, 2023.

Now What?, David L. Hart Jr, Rebecca J. Armstrong

FDLA Journal

NOW WHAT?

David Hart, Ph.D. and Rebecca Armstrong, Ph.D.

Making the decision to pursue an advanced degree is certainly commendable. To add to one’s knowledge base is ambitious and the results of such a commitment are monumental. However, it goes without saying that in that scheme, life’s challenges are ever-present, and along with other given responsibilities, the concept of time becomes a faded memory. If that is not enough, COVID-19 presented all degree-seekers with issues that seemed insurmountable. Many decided that virtual learning programs would provide an environment that allowed for success in the academic arena despite the forces that …

Patriotism And Democratic Education, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

Whether patriotism has a valuable part to play in the educational system of a democratic society is now a highly contentious matter. This chapter argues that it does, principally because such a society is a kind of cooperative practice that requires its members to enact, enforce, and – in most cases – obey the laws that govern their self-governing polity. Democracies rely on rules, and especially the rule of law, to provide the reasonably clear expectations necessary to coordinate public activities and to overcome collective-action problems. By encouraging citizens to set aside personal advantage and play a cooperative part in …

Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Gap Between Specialized And General School Systems, Alexis Ketterman

Senior Capstone Papers

Functionality, communication, socialization, and the ability to have some degree of independence are common attributes that many may not take the time to consider. However, for individuals who are autistic, these attributes are critical to forming secure relationships and successfully adapting across the lifespan. The two primary care systems paramount in supporting and nurturing social competence for children include general and specialized school systems. General school systems may not always have a well-developed understanding or awareness around a particular diagnosis or developmental disability; however, they may have a holistic special education program. Specialized schools often have access to trained professionals …

A Par Reflection: The Power Of Teacher Voice, Anna Marie Warren

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher voice is missing in systemic change. This PAR study explored some of the barriers in education today that prevent teachers from using their voices and the leadership skills needed to empower teachers to use their voices in change processes. The study was implemented on two secondary school campuses with two teams of PAR researchers. Data were collected using a triangulation of PAR forms, journal reflections, and Likert surveys. While identifying barriers hindering teachers from using their voice, the qualitative study also aimed to provide a platform where teachers could express and use their voice to cause change in their …

Leaders Reflect On Alternative Learning Environments: Resources Needed To Ensure Student Success, Willie Heath Miller

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the decision-making process of school leaders in ALE settings when determining the resources they provide and whether the resources provided ensure that these students are successful in the classroom, graduate on time, or earn a high school equivalency diploma. In the study, there were 10 participants who represented a variety of schools in Southwest Arkansas. Seven of the schools operate their alternative learning environment classes on-site. Three of the schools partnered with an educational cooperative to operate their ALE programs. The data were collected by conducting interviews which allowed the researcher …

The Age-Less Citizen: Cultivating A Civically Engaged K-12 Community Through The Use Of Service Learning, Chelsia I. Douglas Mpa

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

The Age-less Citizen will analyze evidence-based civic education studies and explore proactive student engagement strategies to build an individualized nonpartisan action plan for each school represented. From sending election reminders home by a kindergartener, to including local school board meetings on school newsletter and calendars, attendees will take away practical tips and tools to restore faith in the younger generation's ability to improve our democracy.