Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Positive Behavioral Interventions And Supports (Pbis): Does Stronger Implementation Relate To More Equitable Student Outcomes In School Discipline?, Stephenie C. Bruce

Dissertations

For this study, I explored the degree of implementation of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework and the existence of disproportionality of formal school disciplinary responses to behavioral occurrences by race/ethnicity, sex, special education status (SPED), and socioeconomic status (SES) of students. Further, I investigated the relationship between a school’s degree of implementation of PBIS and the existence of disproportionality by race/ethnicity, sex, SPED, and SES, and investigated the differences in the existence of disproportionality in schools that fully implemented PBIS and schools that did not fully implement PBIS.

Literature exists on PBIS implementation and, separately, on the …

How Immigrant English Language Learners Used Internal Fortitude To Utilize Supports And Overcome Obstacles To Graduate From High School, Mark C. Peterson

Dissertations

Immigrants and English Language Learners (ELL) continue to receive attention in the research literature due in part to the continued immigration of families to the U.S. and the continued increasing number of students enrolled in U.S. schools under the ELL designation. The robust influx of immigrant’s school enrollment is reflected in schools across the country as classrooms are transformed from predominantly mono-cultural and mono-lingual environments to multi-cultural and multi-lingual ones. Unfortunately, the national average graduation rate for ELLs is a much lower than native-born students. The economic, social, and mental health ramifications for failing to graduate high school are dramatic; …

Relationships Between Kindergarten Entrance Age And Attendance Rates In Kindergarten Through Second Grade, Julie A. Mcdonald

Dissertations

Education research over the last 50 years has found a significant relationship between academic achievement and kindergarten entrance age, with kindergarten students who enter school at the earliest ages tending to have lower academic achievement than their counterparts. Other studies have found that student achievement depends on factors such as class attendance rates and socioeconomic factors. Indeed, one issue consistently identified in education research as having a strong correlation to student achievement is student attendance, which makes intuitive sense because students must be present and engaged in school to learn. National research confirms that not only do attendance rates negatively …

Does Understanding The Kalamazoo Promise Impact African American Participation?, J. Douglas Penn

Dissertations

Since 2006, all of the public school graduates in Kalamazoo Michigan have been entitled to have their tuition and fees paid for to any post-secondary institution in the state. The scholarship program is called the Kalamazoo Promise, and it utilizes scholarships as a means to stimulate region-wide economic vitality. The Kalamazoo public school district reflects many metropolitans in the U.S. by having a minority majority, in which African Americans make up the largest single ethnic group. This evaluation of the Kalamazoo Promise is unique in that it focuses specifically on perspectives from the African American community. 35 interviews were conducted …

First-Generation, African American Students' Experiences Of Persisting At A Predominantly White Liberal Arts College, Candy S. Mccorkle

Dissertations

Generational status of students is one of the variables that colleges and universities are starting to track and study in order to gain a better understanding of its impact on retention and persistence of students. This phenomenological study provides narrative from five first-generation, African American students who attend a predominantly White liberal arts college in the Midwest; their stories provide a snapshot of how they experienced college, made meaning of those experiences and the impact of these experiences and meaning-making on their motivation to persist in college. These five students participated in individual audio-taped interviews that were analyzed and coded. …

The Representation Of Race And Ethnic Relations In Japanese Junior High School English Language Textbooks From 1987 To 2002, Mieko Yamada

Dissertations

This dissertation explores how cultural attitudes about race/ethnicity are taught and how international power relations are expressed in Japanese junior high school textbooks. In a content analysis of Japanese junior high school textbooks in English as a foreign language, I examine how race and ethnic relationswere expressed and what types of interracial communication took place in the textbooks. Applying the racial formation theory developed by Omi and Winant (1994) and the concept of color-blind racism by Bonilla-Silva (2001, 2003), I explain how cultural ideology towards racial and ethnic relations were guided in the Japanese English language textbooks.

Fifteen English language …

Examining The Experiences Of Nontraditional Undergraduate Women: Pedagogy Versus Andragogy, Beverly Ann Hair

Dissertations

Increasing numbers of nontraditional students, of whom many are women, are enrolling in two-year and four-year colleges and universities. The purpose ofthis study is to critically examine the experiences of nontraditional undergraduate women and their preferred learning environment--pedagogy vs. andragogy. Students were asked to respond to a variety of questions in order to reflect upon their preferred learning environment. The researcher looked for differences inthe experiences of 20 (ten Black and ten White) nontraditional female undergraduate college students within their respective institutions based on their race, socioeconomic background, age, and religious background. Also, the researcher focused on why these nontraditional …

Perceptions Of A Prejudiced Campus: Institutional Antecedents And Personal Consequences For African-American Students, Brenda Taylor King

Dissertations

The present research consists of two studies designed to (a) identify those institutional characteristics that African-American students, themselves, consider to evaluate the campus environment of predominately White colleges and universities (PW'CUs). and (b) examine the relationship between African-American students' perceptions o f the campus environment at a PWCU (based on institutional characteristics) and their expectations of quality of life and academic achievement In Study One. African-American and White students at Western Michigan University and high school seniors at two public high schools completed the Campus Climate Survey, designed to identify the institutional characteristics to which African- American students spontaneously attend …

Teachers' Perceptions Of School Safety, Safety-Based Changes, And Their Resultant Impact On School Climate: A Case Study, Laura L. Finley

Dissertations

In the last decade, several high-profile shootings in suburban school districts have drawn attention to the issue of school-based violence. Consequently, schools all over have responded in many ways. The literature reveals that many suburban and rural schools have adopted the same measures as have urban districts, despite the fact that their discipline and violence problems are qualitatively different. These responses have generally been punitive and technological in nature, rather than curricular or structural reforms. This has included institution of metal detectors, more restrictive student dress codes, zero tolerance laws and others. Some, though, have suggested that these responses may …

The Truth Claims Of Online Higher Education A Social Constructionist Analysis, Thomas Wells Brignall Iii

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Binge Drinking And Salutogenesis: Sense Of Coherence, Stress, Religiousness And Spirituality, Jeanne C . Debruyn

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Economic Cost Of Depressive Disorders: Evidence From A Large Midwest Public University, Alketa Hysenbegasi

Dissertations

This dissertation aims to estimate the total cost of depression and the benefits of its treatment per diagnosed depressed student in Western Michigan University. To accomplish this, first, I measure the overall impact of depression and the effectiveness of its treatment on the student school performance. The empirical evidence show that diagnosed depression decreases student GPA by 0.48 points (almost a half grade), but this impairment is reduced by treatment about 0.43 points. Further, I develop and validate different measurements of student school performance and I observe that the negative effect of diagnosed depression and the positive effect of treatment …

A Socio-Cultural Comparative Study Of Freshmen Of Mexican Descent Attending Western Michigan University, Diane M. Ariza

Dissertations

Institutional racism, encouraged assimilation, and ignorance of Latino/a values are current barriers to the academic success and leadership development of students of Mexican descent in higher education. This study examined the lives and personal stories of 22 college freshmen of Mexican descent from Texas and Michigan and how they transitioned and adapted their first year at Western Michigan University. This study used interviews and participant observation to examine the individuals in each cohort in order to construct their life stories.

An additional purpose was to critically examine the role of the researcher who was highly involved in the recruitment and …

An Evaluation Of An Organizationally-Focused School-Based Delinquency Reduction Program: The Milwood Project, H. Preston Elrod

Dissertations

An extensive body of research exists which links various aspects of schooling to delinquency. Despite a small body of research suggesting that school-based delinquency reduction programs which employ democratic problem solving to alter the social organizational climates of schools are viable, few evaluations of such programs exist. The object of this research is to evaluate the effectiveness of a three year school-based delinquency reduction project designed to alter the social organizational structure of a public junior high school.

This research describes the development, implementation and evaluation of the project which was guided by three interrelated theoretical perspectives: (1) the role …

Perceptions Of American College Students About Arabs: The Role Of Mass Media And Personal Contact In The Formation Of Stereotypes, Mansour Owaid Aljeaid

Dissertations

American students, as well as people of other nations, form perceptions of others who differ from their own cultural, racial, and social groups. These mental pictures are "stereotypes."

The purpose of this study was to identify stereotypes that American students enrolled at Western Michigan University (WMU) had about Arabs and to determine if there were differences in these stereotypes when students were classified by race, sex, level of education, age, and sources of stereotypes. Twenty-five bipolar adjectives were organized as semantic differential scales to assess students' perceptions. The instrument was either mailed or hand delivered to a sample of 400 …

The Influence Of Perceived Teachers' And Parents' Expectations On Student Achievement, William Zollweg

Dissertations

This study investigates the influence of perceived teacher and parent expectations on student achievement. Additionally, variations in perceived expectations were measured for students with different sex, race, and socioeconomic background. The sample population consisted of 283 tenth-grade students in a large midwestern school district. Results indicate that students with higher teacher and parent perceived expectations score higher on standardized tests of reading achievement. Furthermore, student perception of teacher and parent expectation varied directly with socioeconomic status.

Occupational-Educational Maturity: A Measure Of Career Awareness, Ralph George O'Sullivan

Dissertations

This study was an attempt to develop the research concept of occupational-educational maturity, and then test it within a population of ninth-grade, public school students from Grand Rapids, Michigan. This research concept was a composite variable which consisted of the alignment, or goodness of fit, between students' occupational aspirations and their educational expectations. The focus of the study was to determine whether or not students' expected levels of educational attainment or vocational training were appropriate prerequisites for entry into the students' desired occupations. No previous studies have directly addressed this idea, nor have they attempted to measure students' occupational-educational maturity …

Ascribed Status And Suspension: The Mitigative Effects Of Family Normative Climate, Kathryn Mary Johnson

Dissertations

Assessed in this study were the effects of perceived normative climate within the home on school suspension, under varying conditions of ethnicity and social class. The guiding objective of this investigation was to determine whether certain perceived family academic normative climates can reduce or eliminate the commonly found association of socio-economic status or minority-nonminority status with suspension from school.

The contention herein is that the literature on family climate in general has application for the study of suspension. In order to do this, however, a conceptual typology of various types of normative climate, drawn from a symbolic interactionist perspective, is …

Status Inconsistency And Attitudes Toward Collective Bargaining At Western Michigan University, Thomas R. Radecki

Dissertations

Status inconsistency has been extensively investigated as an explanatory variable since the pioneering research of Lenski (1954). A wide range of substantive outcomes have been examined as dependent variables. The findings have been disparate. While a number of studies have found support for the concept, a substantial body of negative results have been reported.

Recently, a controversy has developed in the literature. On one side of the controversy are those who feel the concept has little value as an explanatory variable--adding nothing beyond status alone. Supporters of the concept see it as an important explanatory variable and a determinant of …

Accountability And University Teaching: Toward The Systematic Mediation Of Professional Power, Paul Alan Dorsey

Dissertations

Between 1965 and 1980 American higher education has witnessed the emergence of several related developments which challenge traditional conceptions of the autonomy of higher education: affirmative action, the managerial revolution in higher education, the student consumer movement, the strengthening of statewide coordination of higher education, the accelerated movement to collective bargaining, and the increasing involvement of the courts in college and university affairs. This study identifies and articulates the nature and significance of emergent qualitative dimensions of structural change, for which these developments are structural indicators, and argues that they constitute a new, emergent form of occupational control over university …

Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Correlations Of Self-Concept Of Academic Ability And Self-Esteem, Sukaesinee Subhadhira

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Relative Contribution Of Perceived Parental, Science Teacher, And Best Friend Evaluations Of Science Ability On The Self Concept Of Science Ability Held By Eighth Grade Females, Virginia Kemp Fish

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Entry Into Science: The Effect Of Parental Evaluations On Sons And Daughters, Donna M. Kaminski

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Students' And Teachers' Racial Identities On Student And Teacher Perceptions Of The Teacher Role, Karen Van Wagner

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Using The Construct Of Instructor Credibility To Forecast Student Decision- Making Behaviors, Robert David Mendelsohn

Dissertations

No abstract provided.