Higher Education and Teaching Commons^™

Focus, Drive, And Motivation In Secondary School Populations, Lakeshia Cook

Dissertations

This study, Focus, Drive, and Motivation in Secondary Populations, addresses the topic of middle and high school student motivation to succeed in school. The aim was to discover what motivates and inspires student success. In this study, I delved into issues of low levels of student motivation, drive, and focus and the relative effect of these issues on school performance. The central purpose of this research was to find ways to foster greater levels of student focus, drive, and motivation during their middle and high school experience. The context of the study was a medium-sized charter middle school and a …

Perceptions Of Classroom Management Coaching At District A Independent School District, Ashley L. Brittain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed teacher retention and research-to-practice gaps in the literature related to classroom management coaching and what types of teacher support are the best and why. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of teachers, campus administrators, and campus intervention coaches regarding District A Independent School District’s campus intervention coach model. This study attempted to understand better the perceptions of how the campus intervention coach model influences teachers’ decisions to remain in the profession; how teachers, campus administrators, and campus intervention coaches perceive the campus intervention coach model’s effectiveness in reducing the percentage of …

Bridging The Educational Technology Gap: Issues Of Equity And Access In New York City Teacher Preparation, Christina Basias

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation employs the use of primary research, oral history, and narrative and auto-ethnography of my own experiences as a hybrid educator across both systems, and the extant gaps in educational technology, or ed tech, implementation across two of the largest urban public education institutions in the country: the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and the City University of New York (CUNY).

This research unveils the complex web of barriers that hindered the ability for teachers to learn and adopt technologies and the gaps within and between the NYCDOE and CUNY’s teacher preparation priorities regarding ed tech prior …

Experiences That Support Persistence And Retention Of Latinx First-Generation College Students (Fgcs) At Community Colleges, Veronica Rios

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to describe experiences of successful Latinx first-generation college students that support persistence and retention toward graduation for Latinx first-generation college students at California community colleges. The study was framed using Tinto’s retention theory. Successful Latinx first-generation college students were defined as those who have attained graduation from a California community college. This study focused on Latinx first-generation college students not persisting toward graduation at California community colleges, a situation that extends to the national level. This case study included nine Latinx first-generation college students, and the researcher collected data through virtual semistructured …

Impacts Of Concurrent Enrollment Offerings On Minnesota High School Programming: A Qualitative Exploration Of High School Administrator Perceptions., Erica Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

Concurrent enrollment plays an increasingly important role in dual credit program options throughout Minnesota public schools. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to discern any shared phenomenon among public high school administrators in schools where concurrent enrollment is offered. This dissertation was framed by two research questions: 1) Share your rationale for why your school is offering concurrent enrollment courses. 2) From your perspective, how does concurrent enrollment participation impact your student body?

A qualitative, constructivist, phenomenological study was conducted using semi-structured interviews across a mix of seven rural and urban Minnesota school districts. The participants included seven …

Using Scrum To Teach Standards-Based K-12 Computer Science: A Prosepectus For A Master’S Level Methods Class At Buffalo State, Noah M. Pierce

Career & Technical Education Theses

Computer Science has been increasingly prevalent in K-12 education in recent decades. Most Americans believe that Computer Science is as important as other skills taught in school; further, parents are putting pressure on districts to offer Computer Science programs (1.1). To meet this demand, many teacher preparation programs are adding Computer Science Education to their offering of degrees. This thesis investigates Agile and Scrum product development as a potential method of Computer Science instruction, explores the standards relevant to a Computer Science teacher, and offers a prospectus for a new Graduate Level Methods class to prepare Computer Science teachers to …

“Communication Is Important. I Learned That On The Fresh Prince Show.” Soft Skills Portrayed In Five Prime-Time Television Comedies: A Quantitative Content Analysis, Jacquelyn Bader

Graduate Theses & Dissertations

This research study merged the seemingly divergent challenges of a soft skills shortage among workforce-ready young adults and the need to develop curricula that are interesting enough to hold students’ attention. This study, based on social learning and human capital theories, explored the portrayal of soft skills in five prime-time television (TV) comedies from the 2019-2020 broadcast season, with the idea that, if the portrayals were sufficiently frequent, readily identifiable, and led to what the TV characters wanted to achieve by exercising those skills, then perhaps the viewing of TV comedies could constitute part of the elusive yet engaging and …