Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Decoding Instruction On Oral Reading Fluency For Older Students With Reading Delays, Gaige J. Johnson

Dissertations

Struggling older readers often have difficulty with early decoding skills (Tolman, 2005; Toste, Williams, & Capin, 2017). If they are unable to master decoding, they may have difficulty with more complex skills, such as passage reading fluency. The current study extends research on reading fluency for older students by evaluating the combined effects of a phonics procedure and a fluency-building strategy on their reading fluency. Participants were older students with below grade level reading performance who had deficits in oral reading fluency and decoding. Dependent variables were the number of correctly sorted word patterns and the number of correct words …

The Effect Of Cobra Training On First Responder Self-Confidence To Work In A Toxic Chemical Or Biological Agent Environment, Robert A. Mann

Dissertations

First responders are our nation’s front line defense against intentional or accidental releases of toxic chemical or biological agents. Self-confidence which is a building block of self-efficacy is hypothesized to be malleable and increased through training. The purpose of this study was to determine the change if any, which first responders undergo during Chemical, Ordnance, Biological, and Radiological (COBRA) training, in their self-confidence to operate in a toxic chemical or biological agent environment. That is to determine if there is a correlation between increased self-confidence and COBRA training. The methodology of this study was based on quantitative methods of analysis …

Southeastern Tanzanian Benedictine Monasteries: Filling A Void Of Governmental Services For The Poorest Regions, John Christie-Searles

Dissertations

This research illuminates the partnership of a particular civil society actor, Benedictine monasteries, in achieving developmental goals and delivery outcomes for education and health in Tanzania. Faith based organizations (FBOs) like these Benedictine monasteries quietly persevered with their work. These monasteries without governmental support were able to achieve similar results in areas of Tanzania deprived of infrastructure and consistent governmental administrative attention.

Monastic apostolate fervor is similar to the professionalism exhibited by international aid organizations and nongovernmental organizations in their desire to meet the needs of the poor. Motivations are complex and varied from evangelization to political and strategic agendas …

Cultural Identity Silencing Of Native American Identity In Education: A Descriptive Phenomenological Investigation, Katheryne Leigh

Dissertations

Native American Nations have been subjected to colonialism for centuries the impact of which led to further traumatic events and disparities. Although recent scholarship has investigated possible relationships between traumas experienced in education and issues such as depression, substance use, poor academic achievement, and suicide, there remained a need for qualitative studies exploring the phenomenon from the voice of the experiencer. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of cultural identity silencing of Native American identity in education. Eight young adult self-identified Native American/Alaskan college students between the ages of 18-25 who experienced cultural identity silencing in …

Status Of The Profession Of United States Emergency Management: An Exploratory Analysis Based On Select Attributes Of Occupational Closure, Timothy Wayne Sevison

Dissertations

Emergency management as a concept has been evolving since the early 19th century, but the occupation of emergency management, and discourse concerning professional status has primarily occurred within the last 30 years. This dissertation is an exploratory analysis of the current status of the profession of United States emergency management based on perceptions of leaders from state level emergency management organizations and state level emergency management professional organizations. A mixed methods approach (survey instrument, open-source data collection, semi-structured interviews) was utilized to explore the perceptions of emergency management leaders on two key attributes of occupational closure: control of entry into …

The Resiliency Of Highly Mobile Military Children: Implications For Military And Education Leadership, Kim D. Hunt

Dissertations

The life of a highly mobile child brings educational and social challenges. Highly mobile children who move at least four to five times during their PK-12 grade years generally experience greater difficulty in their social interactions and education than children with a more stable living experience. One specific group of highly mobile children, military children, face these challenges and more, due somewhat to the unique culture of the military. Military children are called upon to move across state lines and/or international borders and typically face multiple school absences and stress related to deployments of their active duty parent(s). There is …