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- Creator:
- Moore Bramham, Melissa Nicole
- Description:
- California is ranked 49th in per pupil spending (Fensterwald, 2013) therefore, it is no surprise teachers continue to be concerned how to bring funding to their visual and performing arts (VAPA) programs. Pupil fees are a direct violation of California’s “free school guarantee” (1879, 1984). Reinforced in 2010, the issue of pupil fees re-emerged in a statewide lawsuit creating Assembly Bill (AB) 1575. To date, there is no research until now investigating the impacts of the removal of pupil fees on high school VAPA programs. The purpose of this study was to examine whether or not in the quest to be equitable to all students under this bill, an inequity in schools is caused. Concurrent triangulation mixed-methods approach was employed because it collects qualitative and quantitative data simultaneously. Quantitative data was collected from an online survey involving 77 respondents (76 VAPA teachers and 1 Administrator). Qualitative data was collected via interviews with nine Superintendents throughout California and the open-ended responses from the online survey participants. Quantitative data was analyzed via descriptive analysis, Pearson Correlations, and Chi Square to determine what significant variables impacted VAPA teachers in relation to AB 1575. Qualitative data was analyzed using an open-coding system and basic qualitative analysis to discover any emerging themes. Findings expressed how the data correlated to Ecological Systems Theory, Resource Dependency Theory, and Equity Theory. The macro perspective given from the Superintendents stated compliancy with the bill in their district and implementation of appropriate measures to ensure no fees are charged to students. Approaches to information dissemination varied according to district. All Superintendents agreed the arts are an important facet to an educational experience yet funding replacement specific to AB 1575 was only addressed by one Superintendent. Two-thirds of Superintendents expressed this bill will not achieve equity for students, whereas VAPA teachers’ expressed classroom funding does not meet student needs. Although most teachers are aware of the bill and its intent, the lack of professional development hinders compliancy. Further, as teachers experience a continued decrease in funding, many are concerned for the future of VAPA classes. AB 1575’s many facets allow for future research in the following areas: (a) Appropriate arts education funding models, (b) AB 1575’s impacts on afterschool and athletic programs, (c) Unintended consequences of educational policies, and (d) Teacher perceptions towards students who pay versus those who do not. AB 1575 is a complex system that affects students, parents, teachers, and districts differently. The bill begins to address the inequity students received when they were resource dependent for their education. Now is the time to ensure VAPA programs are justly funded so they are never again resource dependent on their students. Every student deserves a high quality arts education with multiple opportunities to flourish.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Crothers, Tierra Martinez
- Description:
- The purpose of this study was to examine teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of the effectiveness of Professional Learning Communities (PLC) after the first year of implementation in a unified school district. The study initially investigated teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of the effectiveness of four PLC characteristics; Mission, Vision, Values and Goals; Collaborative Culture; Collective Inquiry; and Results Oriented. In order to understand alignment of perceptions the researcher compared teachers’ and administrators’ findings. A mixed methods approach used a survey and interviews to gather data. Out of 193 possible participants, 40 teachers and 10 administrators responded to the survey, and 6 administrators were interviewed. Key findings indicated both teachers and administrators perceived their schools to have mission, vision, values and goals as well as collaborative cultures that were focused on best practices and instructional strategies. Teachers and administrators perceived focusing on results and analyzing student-learning outcomes as an area of weakness. Findings indicated a statistically significant difference between teachers’ and administrators’ perceptions of the overall effectiveness of PLCs. Administrators’ perceived the initial implementation to be successful yet teachers’ did not. Teachers’ had a higher disagreement rate when the term PLC was in the wording of the question. The study outlined recommendations for the district in subsequent years including additional focus on analyzing student data and more knowledge of the importance of PLCs. Furthermore, the study provided information for other districts to consider when implementing PLCs.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Padilla, Deisy Robles
- Description:
- According to the Public Policy Institute of California (2013a) the state of California is home to more than two million undocumented immigrants. The majority of these individuals migrated to the United States with hopes of a better life than what they left behind in their native country, including better job opportunities with higher incomes and a promising future for their offspring (Johnston, Karageorgis, & Light, 2013). The majority of the undocumented immigrants are of Latino descent with reports showing that 525,000 immigrants came from Mexico from 2000-2004 (Center for American Progress, 2012). In 2013, the Public Policy Institute of California (2013a) found that the population of undocumented immigrants included 59% from Mexico, 11% from Asia, 11% from Central America, 7% Central America, 7% South America, 4% the Caribbean and less than 2% from the Middle East. This qualitative study examines the opportunities and experience that Latino DREAMers had once the California Dream Act Application and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals were implemented. The researcher interviewed 12 Latino DREAMers who graduated from high school between the years 2008-2013 and participated in the California Dream Act Application and also the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. The researcher also collected statistical data from 50 DREAMers. Through the analysis of the data collected, the researcher found five common themes relating to the Latino DREAMers experience of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and the California Dream Act Application: opportunity experience, fear and living in the shadows, motivation and marketable, accepted but separated and schools and jobs working as networks.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Cooper, Erik William
- Description:
- In 2007, California Community Colleges (CCC) instituted the Basic Skills Initiative (BSI) in order to improve the learning outcomes of students who entered college under prepared for college level coursework. The Basic Skills Initiative (BSI) gives colleges financial resources, professional development support, and requires annual progress reports to encourage colleges to adopt or develop practices associated with student success. There have been multiple studies that have evaluated individual practices or identified successful colleges, but no attempts to account for all of factors that contribute to student success. This study uses linear regression on a combination of publicly available data and survey results regarding college practices to determine what factors significantly impact colleges’ ability to improve student success rates. The study identifies significant factors from college characteristics, demographics, BSI expenditures, and college practices and develops a model to identify colleges that have shown greater than expected improvement.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Molina, Miguel P.
- Description:
- Using a social justice and equity perspective, this qualitative research study focused on the California community college Puente project as a best practice and its influence’s related to transfer for Mexican-American students. The Puente project founded in 1981 by Patricia McGrath and Felix Galaviz is a three-component intervention consisting of writing, counseling, and mentoring. The two-semester long Puente program, supplemented by concurrent enrollments in career and transfer courses uses Latino cultural literature as class readings, as well as a team of Latino role models to help students persist and transfer. Puente programs are provided in 62 out of 112 California community colleges (CCC) (Puente, 2013). A policy report indicated that over a million future jobs with a minimum of a bachelor’s degree will need to be filled in California (Johnson & Sengupta, 2009). This fact, coupled with a forecasted demographic growth that the Latino population will reach 43% by the year 2025 (Johnson & Sengupta, 2009). These predictions are magnified by the majority of Latino high school graduates choosing to enter community college as their first choice of a higher education pathway at 69.4% (College Campaign for Opportunity, 2013). Latinos are the ethnic majority at 38.9% in California community colleges in 2014 (CCLC, 2014). The crisis is that Latinos are also among the lowest academic performers in key milestones for transfer and degree completion success (Moore & Shulock, 2010). The research on Puente provided a best practice needed to aid in CCC reform to help Latinos persist, transfer and complete their degrees. The purpose of this research was that it studied how the Puente project influenced Mexican-American students in their acquisition of “college capital” used to persist in community college, successfully transfer to a four-year university, and complete their bachelors’ degrees. The study further researched how Puente helped Mexican-American students to both balance and navigate between the cultural crossroads of two worlds: the academic world and their home communities. The research used theoretical frameworks of critical race theory (CRT) (Delgado & Stefancic, 2012) and Latino critical race theory (LatCrit) (Solórzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001), funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff & González, 1992), and community cultural wealths (Yosso, 2005). This unique research study provided Mexican-American students who were success stories and had completed the year-long Puente program, transferred to a four-year university and earned their bachelor’s degrees. This research was unique because for every 100 Mexican-Americans entering schooling only 8 reached the level of a bachelor’s degree completion (Yosso & Solórzano, 2006). A phenomenological method of one to one interviews was utilized so that this research could provide reflective narratives of six Mexican-American Puente project alumni. The students were from a diverse urban, metropolitan community college in the Sacramento, California area. The findings from the research showed how the Puente program through its comprehensive services served as an entry point for campus resources and services. Puente also provided Latino role models, cultural pedagogy, a home/family setting, high standards for writing, road maps for transfer and degree requirements, and an element of care for these participants. Another layer of findings showed how the Puente interviewees brought with them to the community college experience inner motivations fueled by lifelong messages from their parents and funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff & González, 1992). Puente, by capitalizing on these two layers, structured a schooling environment that promoted cultural validation and a sense of belonging (Rendón, 2000). This structuring helped the Puente students to become empowered and persist, while gaining the self-confidence and motivations (college capital) to transfer and complete their bachelor’s degrees. These findings resulted in the researcher’s creation of a college capital model, and policy and recommendations regarding individual, institutional and future research were included.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Graham, Sarah Marie
- Description:
- The purpose of this study was to analyze a K-12 grammar-based English language development program’s effectiveness in facilitating English acquisition for second language learners. The role of leaders who facilitated the program was also examined, along with the students’ perceptions of the program’s impact on their high school success and college and career readiness. A mixed methods approach was utilized to collect the data for the study; district and state databases allowed the researcher to gather test scores for analysis. Interviews with site administrators were conducted to identify trends pertaining to leadership approaches and characteristics utilized when implementing and sustaining the program. Finally, a student survey was administered, which included questions pertaining to the cognitive and social effects of the program in preparing them for career and college readiness. From an analysis of the data, the researcher found the district’s mean growth from one year to the next was much higher than both its county and its state mean growth. The results indicate the ELD program had some impact on this higher success in language acquisition. With regard to the role of administration, the findings indicate the district administration lead the way through the initial implementation; however, a more collaborative approach was used through sustainability measures. This finding suggests that using a transactional style of leadership initially then moving to a more transformational style after implementation benefitted this district’s implementation and sustainability. Analysis of students’ perceptions of the program’s impact on their cognitive and social abilities showed they were overwhelmingly positive, indicating they felt the program enhanced their ability to successfully achieve academically and socially. Overall, the findings of this study propose the implementation of the grammar-based ELD program was one factor that helped enhance students’ English acquisition. From the findings, it is suggested future research look into leadership’s impact on the implementation and sustainability of the program as well as into other factors that may have impacted the success of the program.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Irigoyen, Fermin
- Description:
- Latinos are projected to have the lowest attainment of bachelor’s degrees at 12% by the year 2020. For every 100 Latino males in elementary school, only 10 will earn a bachelor’s degree compared to 28 Whites and 48 Asians. These figures reflect a disconcerting trend in that it is estimated Hispanics of Mexican origin make up 10% of the overall population in the United States and demographic projections estimate the gap between college education completion and demographic representation will only widen without concerted efforts to correct these outcomes. This phenomenological study examined the success factors and strategies used by five Mexican-American males in Northern California who had earned a bachelor’s degree. Four of the five participants were born in Mexico and the remaining participant was born in the United States. The theoretical frameworks for this study include LatCRIT, Cultural-Ecological theory, and the Resiliency theory. The research questions include Research Question #1: How does the family value system, family member roles, and expectations inform the Mexican-American male students’ experiences with achieving a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education? Research Question #2: How does your cultural identity inform your experience in attaining a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education? Research Question #3: What has been your experience regarding the institutional academic and social resources available to Mexican-American men as they seek to attain a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution of higher education? The seven themes that emerged from the findings were immigration, high school preparedness and programs, social/family support in college, parental understanding of expectations of their sons, the role of high school and college counseling, the management of culture shock from attending a university, and formal programs in college in which the students participated.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Batarseh, Yousef Mousa
- Description:
- In 1947, veterans constituted 49% of college admissions (Department of Veterans Affairs [VA], 2013). As a result of the GI Bill in 1956, the U.S. labor market benefited from an additional 450,000 engineers, 238,000 school teachers, 91,000 scientists, 67,000 medical doctors, 22,000 dentists, and more than 1 million other college-trained professionals (Haydock, 1996). However, today too many military veterans from the enlisted ranks fall short of achieving their educational goals. While more veterans enroll in college, fewer veterans are graduating (VA, 2009). In recent years, college campuses across the nation have witnessed major enrollments of returning military veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. However, many veterans suffer from higher rates of unemployment, homelessness, and war-incurred disabilities. There exists little qualitative research that explores the academic and social experiences of Iraq and Afghanistan student veterans, especially factors contributing to their success. The transition from military life to civilian life can be one of the most challenging encounters of any individual. This study investigated the academic and social experiences of student veterans following the transition from military service through enrollment and graduation in California colleges utilizing the GI Bill benefit. Using a semi-structured interview protocol to identify perceptions and explore the experiences and insights of student veterans, the study demonstrated how this demographic was able to achieve academic success despite various barriers, such as the pressure of the first year of college, despair, physical disabilities, injuries, PTSD, perceptions of other students, and interaction with faculty. The study used a qualitative phenomenological design to determine the essence of the experiences of successful and unsuccessful veterans in higher education. This study’s primary objective was to inform student affairs administrators, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other higher education constituent groups about the experiences of student veterans and promising best practices to address the unique needs of this student group. The purpose of this study was to create a base of knowledge concerning the overall academic and social experiences of student veterans who enlisted in the military pursuing a bachelor’s degree or higher. Furthermore, this study explored new and existing sources of support for student veterans. Implications were provided through the lenses of transformational leadership, policy, and data-based decision-making practices. The study provides recommendations related to the different transitional phases military service members experience upon completion of their military service.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Inloes, Tory Dawn Swim
- Description:
- This dissertation explores how California history museums represent the history of children and childhood. This work is inspired by earlier studies in the fields of anthropology, sociology, museum studies, and public history that question and analyze the underrepresentation or misrepresentation of groups, such as women and ethnic minorities, in US museums. How US museums represent children and their history has yet to receive scholarly attention. This dissertation contributes to filling this gap in the literature and bases its conclusions on a state-wide survey of more than 200 California museums, interviews with 110 museum professionals or volunteers, site visits to 40 museums, and in depth field research at 10 museums. I argue that too often the experiences, stories, and contributions of children are overlooked, absent, or marginalized in California history museums. When representations of children’s history do emerge, they often reflect ideals rather than realities, universalize the historical experience of childhood, and, in the process, romanticize the past. This dissertation acknowledges obstacles that get in the way of richer representation and offers potential solutions. During my study it became clear that multiple meanings of children’s history are at work in the California museum community: the history of children, history for children, and history by children. This dissertation examines each in turn and demonstrates how conceptions of children, many with deep historical roots, influence not only museum exhibitions but also programming for children. Central to this dissertation is the study of history by children at the Pasadena Museum of History, which provides middle-school students the opportunity to teach history as docents to younger children. Drawing upon my three years of participant observation at this site and interviews with forty middle-school students, I contend that inviting children to participate, create, and co-produce in museum spaces improves children’s attitudes towards museums, enriches representation, and brings to light perspectives that may otherwise remain marginalized.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- History (Public History)
4380. The proud but few: what do successful foster youth do to complete their high school education?
- Creator:
- Castaneda, Cesar Augusto
- Description:
- This qualitative study utilizes Choice Theory as a lens to present the perceptions of youth who successfully completed high school while being placed in the foster care system. Foster youth and their experiences have been a topic researched extensively but mainly through quantitative studies that focus on the challenges the foster youth face and their struggles to obtain an education. The study identified, through the foster youth’s voice, the choices of behavior that effectively helped them meet their educational goals and other basic needs. The participants in the study were able to identify conscious choice of behavior that included reframing their thinking about themselves as foster youth and the way they perceived teachers and other professionals who provided collateral services for them. This change of thinking led them to make active choices that progressively led them to high school graduation. These choices varied from assuming a teaching role with other peers, to participation in sports, theater or other extra-curricular activities, to volunteering for local non-profits, to being intentional about their peer group, and avoiding illegal, aggressive, or dishonest behaviors. Through their narratives, the participants recognized services or support systems that were beneficial and assisted them in attaining their educational goals, but also confirmed the challenges commonly known and researched that foster youth often face. This study is significant to foster youth, foster youth advocates, foster parents, and other professionals who are formal or informal support systems for foster youth, as it may provide knowledge and understanding of the experience of foster youth in this study and their success stories. These experiences will provide insight to what these foster youth focused on, planned, and did in order to complete high school and may provide others with ideas and techniques that may assist in the success of other foster youth. Some of these ideas or techniques may turn into procedures or policies that may be implemented in a larger scale and that would affect and even greater number of foster youth.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Sacramento
- Department:
- Educational Leadership