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- Creator:
- Jara, Shawntanet
- Description:
- Social emotional learning (SEL) has emerged as a major thematic and programmatic emphasis in American education today (Hoffman, 2009). SEL is increasingly influencing the day-to-day practice of schools and communities (Elias, 1997). At the same time, increasing proportions of the student population in the United States comes from homes that are culturally and linguistically diverse (Orosco & Aceves, 2009). A contributing factor to the success of SEL is Culturally Responnsive and Sustaining Teaching (CRST) because culture is at the heart of all we do in the name of education. The impact of educator and parent perceptions at the intersection of SEL and CRST may hinder efforts of supporting students to thrive academically and socially. Futhermore, CRST has commonly been examined from the lens of low income and academically struggling schools, with limited research from the lens of affluence and academic prosperity. The purpose of this study explored and described how three affluent, resource-rich, and academically thriving Kindergarten-3rd grade schools support and/or inhibit SEL and CRST its impact on how student experience school. Affluent districts with high test scores may perceive themselves to be protected from the need to address culture head on. The majority of research regarding CRST is in low-income, urban communites, isolating upper middle income communities and perpetuatung the assumption that CRST does not apply to them. I challenge this dominant discourse as culture belongs to everyone and should be accessible in discourse in our schools. Our students are growing up in a diverse world and their successful navigation through it depends on the decisions our educators make in normalizing culture and emotions, take in and explore perspectives, and engage in daily reality checks. In affluent districts (and districts in general) where the majority of educators are white and female there is privilege that comes with that status and even more privilege when that status is placed within an affluent setting. Unless educators make a concerted effort to challenge their assumptions about what it means to be white, what it means to be a person of color and the impacts of being either on learning, working, relationships, behavior, etc. we will not properly equip students with the SEL competencies needed to make academic strides. Among this exploration was to understand what factors shape beliefs and practices of educators and parents regarding SEL and to what degree CRST practices contributed to these factors. SEL is comprised of five competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Exploring how educators enact these competencies in an effort to know students and develop sustained authentic relationships is critical to social and academic success of every student. Drawing on parent and educator surveys, semi-structured interviews with teachers, classroom observations, student focus groups and student surveys, I attended to the beliefs, practices, knowledge, and attitudes that contributed to or withheld ways in which SEL and CRST work in tandem. I aimed to illuminate beliefs and practices in order to further understand how SEL and CRST practices correlate, interact and if not, why the lack of integration. Key words: Social Emotional Learning; Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teaching; SEL Beliefs; SEL Practices; CRST Beliefs; CRST Practices In a very real sense we have two minds, one that thinks and one that feels. -Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence)
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Clark, Jane
- Description:
- A growing population, Hispanic English learners enrolling in our schools are struggling academically. Learning gaps begin to surface for Hispanic English learners at the elementary level (Gandara, 2012; Genesee, Lindholm-Leary, Saunders, & Christian, 2005; Grasparil & Hernandez, 2015, Umansky & Reardon, 2014). Increasing the level of academic success of Hispanic English learners is a national imperative. The role of the principal has been linked to student success since, through their beliefs and behaviors, principals construct conditions in their schools that shape student learning (Chrispeels, 1992; Marks & Printy, 2003; Supovitz, Sirinides, & May, 2010). Grounded in a strengths-based theoretical construct— cultural growth mindset, positive school leadership, and strengths-based instructional leadership— this case study was organized under a mixed-methods sequential explanatory research design to answer one overarching question and two sub-questions. Two elementary school principals from schools with high populations of English learners were studied. This study explores teacher perceptions of principal behaviors, and principal leadership practices with teachers directly influencing the academic performance of Hispanic English learners. Phase One included an analysis of quantitative results from a survey administered to 35 teachers, 19 from one school, and 16 from the other. In Phase Two, qualitative data contributed to the research as a narrative unfolding through the interviews and observations of the principal participants, a teacher focus group at one school, and a school counselor at the other. Significant themes emanating from this case study were principals’ high learning expectations and a strong belief in students’ ability to succeed. Students’ first language was considered an asset and students’ diverse backgrounds were valued. In addition to strong parental involvement, student emotional well-being was a priority. Principals supported teacher collaboration and demonstrated high trust in teachers’ ability to impact the learning of Hispanic English learners. Collection and analysis of key student data was a principal practice. Integration and interweaving of cultural growth mindset, positive school leadership and strengths-based instructional leadership were essential lenses to fully understand the achievement gains made by the students. The implications this case study presents for educational research, policy, equity, and social justice are discussed. Limitations of the study are addressed.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Penuliar, Jonathan Bernard
- Description:
- English learners are one of the most rapidly growing student demographics in the United States. However, school systems have historically fallen short in providing English learners with adequate academic support. A review of the literature sheds light on academic tracking as a major factor in restricting access to the rigorous coursework English learners need to achieve at levels commensurate with their English-only speaking peers. Students tracked into the English language development pipeline have difficulty exiting. Those who do not reclassify and persist in this track experience lower levels of high school graduation and college completion. Several recent shifts in educational policy are seeking to address this problem. New language and curriculum standards, as well as detracking practices, have given rise to a more distributed approach to teaching English learners where all teachers have a responsibility to support this population. Through an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, this study examined the social networks a school has built around teaching English learners and how those networks impact the flow of social capital used to support this demographic of students. Research questions include: 1. Who do educators turn to for advice and information regarding the education of English learners? 2. How do social networks shape opportunities for educators to build social capital around teaching English learners? The first phase collected survey data in order to highlight advice and information seeking behaviors. After social network analysis, the results from phase one informed phase two. The second phase included interviews from salient actors to provide further depth into creating a rich description of the ELD networks at the research site and how they impact the English learner experience.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- English
- Creator:
- Barmak, Shant A.
- Description:
- Despite high enrollment rates of Post-9/11 U.S. Military Student Veterans in higher education, identification of effective institutional practices that promote successful outcomes is an understudied topic. Although some studies have addressed the transition from military into postsecondary education, more research is needed to improve our knowledge about the experiences of student veterans and how non-profit higher educational institutions, especially student support services, can better help student veterans succeed. Through the lens of university student support staff, as well as student veterans, this qualitative study examines which factors student veterans and support staff perceive in contributing to successful attainment of a baccalaureate degree. For this study, in-depth semi-structured one-on-one interviews were conducted with a diverse group of 12 student support staff and 6 junior and senior undergraduate student veterans at a four-year public university in California. This study applied the Schlossberg Transition Conceptual Model by extending the support factor to include the critical role of four types of student support services: academic, mental health, disability, and career services. Several major overlapping and non-overlapping themes emerged from both student and staff interviews. The most salient theme was the critical role of the Veterans Center. The Center assists student veterans in their transition and adjustment to the university. It plays a central role in providing a physical space, a hub that facilitates connectedness and student engagement on campus and assist with access to vital services and resources on campus, as well as off campus. The assistance of the Veterans Center is critical in ensuring that students receive their financial benefits, as well as verifying their coursework, so they get the courses needed for graduation and meet all GI Bill requirements. Additionally, many of the on-campus services have liaisons between the Veterans Center and their corresponding service department, where identified liaisons help ensure student veterans receive the necessary support when needed. These findings can help inform higher educational institutions, its staff, faculty, and administrators about the best practices in serving the needs of veterans toward successful transition to college, retention, and undergraduate degree attainment, as the number of student veterans in higher education is growing nationally.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Kiani, Mona
- Description:
- There is a growing concern around the stress and anxiety that permeates the educational landscape today and its proliferation foreshadowed in the future. At-risk students endure increased levels of stress, including those that materialize from many life factors including poverty, racism, and challenges within the household. To seriously address the achievement gap that persists between at-risk students and their more privileged counterparts, the emotions of schooling must be addressed. Emotions have been largely avoided in educational organizations that which has led to an overreliance on cognitive factors in standards and curricula. However, as research in this field expands from psychology, to business, and now to education, it can no longer be ignored. Being in school is an emotional experience for both teachers and students and studies show that negative emotions and misunderstandings are magnified in high school math classes. Increasing one’s emotional intelligence can help both parties better navigate their experience at school and their relationships with one another. A review of the literature shows that emotional intelligence is a predictor of academic success and success in life. This study explores the phenomenon of in-school emotional experiences for at-risk students who have failed math class and how emotional intelligence and deeper connections with math teachers can mitigate many factors that would attribute to their predicted trajectory of failure. Through a phenomenological design, this qualitative research uses the student voice to explore what at-risk students who have failed math class want their teachers to know and do for academic success. This study finds that being emotionally intelligent with a culturally intelligent lens will help support a healthier relationship and schooling experience for at-risk students. Interview data from this study purports that student emotional intelligence can help at-risk students become more academically successful by helping them break patterns of failure, developing emotional self-efficacy, and teaching them to perceive, manage and use their emotions more effectively. Furthermore, this study shows that at-risk students want their teachers to foster an emotional connection with them, care about them holistically, and repair their trust and confidence.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Schwartz, Drew E.
- Description:
- Today, society is facing a collective onslaught of mental and social challenges which include increased instances of depression, anxiety, bullying, and suicide. An interconnected approach to wellbeing, as this paper presents, reimagines these problems not as separate issues that are effectively addressable through band aid solutions and isolated initiatives, but rather as the manifestation of interrelated root causes. This multiphase, mixed methods study which included 154 students and 12 educators, explored the effectiveness of an integrative approach to wellbeing in schools called 1-2-3 WellnessTM and helped identify themes and propellants of wellbeing. Four fundamental findings rose to the surface within this study. First, the 1-2-3 WellnessTM program is effective in propelling wellbeing among students and educators with significant increases in mindfulness and social and emotional learning (SEL). More broadly, the program serves as an illustration of the power and potential of integrative approaches to wellbeing and has application for families, schools, organizations, and communities. Secondly, five essential elements of school wellbeing were identified: safety, connection, routines, purpose, and choice. Thirdly, the paper introduces the concept of collective limbic regulation to refer to the dynamic which occurs when healthy micro interactions between a group of people helps group members cultivate and sustain a state of wellbeing. The paper suggests that collective limbic dysregulation, rather than regulation, is at the root of many of society’s growing problems, and that intentional efforts to cultivate collective limbic regulation hold promise for initiating solutions. Lastly, based on the findings, along with other cutting-edge research, wellbeing is reimagined with a new definition: the expression of interdependent systems of connection working in harmony. Along with the aforementioned findings, this new conceptualization offers a new lens to view societal problems and potential solutions related to wellbeing. Such a reimagined lens leads to the conception that selfless- actualization, rather than self-actualization, is the epitome of human flourishing and wellbeing and a gateway to solutions. The paper concludes by discussing implications of the study and by offering ideas to support policy makers, researchers, and educators in navigating future efforts to promote wellbeing in communities. Ultimately, we reimagine wellbeing through a lens of human flourishing and connection, and discuss implications of this new lens for society moving forward.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Cheers, Kala-Le
- Description:
- The decision on where to educate students with disabilities (SWD) has been and continues to be a debated topic. While the approach to special education has changed with the Disabilities Studies which pushes for inclusive practices, the continuum of special education placement continues to be used in some schools. SWD educational placement is measured by time spent in the classroom with their general education peers. SWD that spend less than 100% of their time in general education settings are receiving special education services in more restrictive settings. This study looked to examine if and how SWD autonomy, competence and relatedness, all components of intrinsic motivation based on the Self-Determination theory, is impacted by the percentage of time spent in general education classrooms. The study examined high school students and used a mixed method approach that aimed to understand how the location students receive their special education services impacts their autonomy, competence and relatedness, and what are the supportive and constraining factors involved. The findings highlight the importance of inclusive teaching strategies and relationships have for a SWD educational experience and feelings of competence and relatedness.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Komatsubara, Kristin Mie
- Description:
- Mathematics education continues to be a critical equity issue in the United States. Traditional teacher-directed math instruction reveals disproportionate numbers of students of color and students of lower socio-economic status struggling to engage and identify as mathematicians (Boaler, 2014). The recent implementation of Common Core State Standards (National Governors Association, 2010) requires significant changes in mathematics instructional pedagogy, content knowledge, assessment, and curriculum. Yet, this shift can result in declining teacher efficacy, leaving teachers feeling overwhelmed and questioning their capacity. The emergence of lesson study approach holds the potential to impact teacher sense of efficacy as teachers collaboratively build mathematics content knowledge, skills, classroom culture and resources. This mixed methods multiple case study examined whether and to what extent lesson study approach as professional development affected mathematics teachers’ sense of efficacy and the social networks of students in their classrooms. It included sense of efficacy surveys from 24 middle school mathematics teachers. Five case study teachers were individually interviewed and social network surveys were collected from the students of their classrooms. This study supports earlier findings on teacher efficacy but offers new insights into the influence of lesson study approach on teachers’ sense of efficacy. Teachers reported four sources of efficacy from lesson study, lesson study shifted the focus from teacher performance to student thinking, and an increased efficacy that they could effectively engage students, utilize student-centered instruction and manage their classroom. Lesson study structures that supported teacher efficacy included sharing a student-centered focus, situating learning with a classroom context, and framing the lesson study. This study also presents a new awareness of help-seeking networks of students in diverse middle school mathematics classrooms. Although teachers did not identify direct links between lesson study and their efficacy to manage student relationships, notable differences in student help-seeking networks emerged. Although there are limitations on generalizability, the findings are especially useful to teachers. Understanding the mechanisms of relationship ties can help teachers attend more intentionally to social participation of students, particularly students of color, English learners, and students with designated disabilities. This study arises at a critical time in education that may have implications for the types and likelihood of teacher collaboration and school policy.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Rodriguez, Stanley
- Description:
- Indigenous populations around the world face the culturally devastating prospect of language loss. In the United States, Native communities are at risk. This study examines the challenge of language loss for the Kumeyaay Nation, located in southwestern portion of the United States. It explores the language loss experienced by the Kumeyaay people, as well as the impact this loss has had on its people in San Diego, California, and Baja California, Mexico. This is a uniquely Indigenous study: the author is a Kumeyaay tribal member and fluent language speaker, and Kumeyaay elders provide insight for policy recommendations. Interviews with extant Kumeyaay speakers reveal their small number and the difficulties of language transmission for the individual, family, and community. Perceptions of Kumeyaay elders about language atrophy are mapped onto UNESCO factors of language loss and are placed in the context of language socialization literature. The practices of extermination, containment, and later, of assimilation are shown to have directly and indirectly threatened the Kumeyaay language. Interviews show that elders’ perceptions about the state of the language are accurate, and they support the UNESCO supposition that small numbers of speakers and a lack of intergenerational language transmission can produce language atrophy. Prospects for current revitalization of the language depend upon an inventory of Kumeyaay language assets and innovative language transmission programs tailored to Native Kumeyaay communities.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Campbell-Cunefare, Tiffany
- Description:
- The research supporting the importance of high school programming in the entrance and persistence of students into higher education is dense and varied with several studies directly noting the importance of College Board’s Advanced Placement (AP) courses specifically in the college admissions process. With typically smaller class sizes, more experienced teachers, and students with stronger academic backgrounds, those taking AP courses benefit from a perceived and actual AP advantage in both high school and subsequent higher education endeavors. Traditionally, however, there has been a significant gap within the make-up of students who enroll and succeed in AP courses. Despite the recognition of the import of AP coursework to future academic effort and dedicated efforts by educational and government entities to increase the number of students entering the AP program, Black and Latinx students remain significantly less likely to enroll in AP classes, take fewer associated national AP exams, and score lower on said exams than their White and Asian peers. A problem connected to students of color, the various issues associated with race and ethnicity have been identified as primary influences in the academic achievement gaps between Black and Latinx students and their White peers. Much research exists to support the reasons why students of color are failing to enroll in AP courses at the same rate as their White and Asian peers; less so, however, exists that discusses these students’ experiences while enrolled in AP class, thus limiting our understanding of the elements that interact to hinder their engagement and achievement in class and in the subsequent national AP exam. Using a theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory and Figured Worlds from Holland et al, this study presents the cases of five Latinx and Afro-Latinx students navigating the particularly complex world of Advanced Placement United States History (APUSH). The research focused on how their experiences shaped their academic identity, how they were positioned and positioned themselves within the class as a result of their academic identity, and how their interactions with their teacher, their traditional and nontraditional peers, and the curriculum influenced their engagement and achievement within the class.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Adams, Nicole
- Description:
- This mixed methods case study explores the role of magnet schools as a vehicle to promote integration and increase educational opportunity for historically underserved students in the U.S. public education system. Magnet schools were introduced in the 1970s and remain the most popular school choice option. Critics of magnet-based school choice contend that it exacerbates racial and social stratification, while proponents argue that it provides parents with the freedom to choose the school they believe offers their child the best education. The literature reveals two key facets associated with parent choice, factors and processes (Smrekar & Honey, 2015; Bell, 2009). This study explored the factors the research indicates have a major impact on parent choice and used bounded rationality and social capital theories to examine ways of understanding the decision-making process. The research indicates that parents identify academics to be the most significant school characteristic taken into consideration and reveals that race and school demographics may play more of an integral role than previously acknowledged (Smrekar & Honey, 2015). Moreover, the literature demonstrates that the selection process is complex and largely dependent on the context of the school and district (Smrekar & Honey, 2015). Key findings of this study were in alignment with the current literature. This study also included a review of magnet school admissions criteria and utilized critical race theory as a lens through which to examine and identify certain elements of district policies and practices that promoted equity and diversity.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Jara, Shawntanet
- Description:
- Social emotional learning (SEL) has emerged as a major thematic and programmatic emphasis in American education today (Hoffman, 2009). SEL is increasingly influencing the day-to-day practice of schools and communities (Elias, 1997). At the same time, increasing proportions of the student population in the United States comes from homes that are culturally and linguistically diverse (Orosco & Aceves, 2009). A contributing factor to the success of SEL is Culturally Responnsive and Sustaining Teaching (CRST) because culture is at the heart of all we do in the name of education. The impact of educator and parent perceptions at the intersection of SEL and CRST may hinder efforts of supporting students to thrive academically and socially. Futhermore, CRST has commonly been examined from the lens of low income and academically struggling schools, with limited research from the lens of affluence and academic prosperity. The purpose of this study explored and described how three affluent, resource-rich, and academically thriving Kindergarten-3rd grade schools support and/or inhibit SEL and CRST its impact on how student experience school. Affluent districts with high test scores may perceive themselves to be protected from the need to address culture head on. The majority of research regarding CRST is in low-income, urban communites, isolating upper middle income communities and perpetuatung the assumption that CRST does not apply to them. I challenge this dominant discourse as culture belongs to everyone and should be accessible in discourse in our schools. Our students are growing up in a diverse world and their successful navigation through it depends on the decisions our educators make in normalizing culture and emotions, take in and explore perspectives, and engage in daily reality checks. In affluent districts (and districts in general) where the majority of educators are white and female there is privilege that comes with that status and even more privilege when that status is placed within an affluent setting. Unless educators make a concerted effort to challenge their assumptions about what it means to be white, what it means to be a person of color and the impacts of being either on learning, working, relationships, behavior, etc. we will not properly equip students with the SEL competencies needed to make academic strides. Among this exploration was to understand what factors shape beliefs and practices of educators and parents regarding SEL and to what degree CRST practices contributed to these factors. SEL is comprised of five competencies of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Exploring how educators enact these competencies in an effort to know students and develop sustained authentic relationships is critical to social and academic success of every student. Drawing on parent and educator surveys, semi-structured interviews with teachers, classroom observations, student focus groups and student surveys, I attended to the beliefs, practices, knowledge, and attitudes that contributed to or withheld ways in which SEL and CRST work in tandem. I aimed to illuminate beliefs and practices in order to further understand how SEL and CRST practices correlate, interact and if not, why the lack of integration. Key words: Social Emotional Learning; Culturally Responsive and Sustaining Teaching; SEL Beliefs; SEL Practices; CRST Beliefs; CRST Practices In a very real sense we have two minds, one that thinks and one that feels. -Daniel Goleman (Emotional Intelligence)
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Ruggles, Kyle C
- Description:
- Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), federally funded schools and Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) that do not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (A YP) criteria for two consecutive years are designated Program Improvement (PI), mandating participation in school reform interventions. In February 2008, the California Department of Education (CDE) released a corrective action plan mandate requiring all LEAs, or school districts in Year 3 of PI to participate in intensive, moderate, light, or other levels of technical support that includes participation in the District Assistance and Intervention Team (DAIT) process. The DAIT process brings outside consultants and district office administrators into schools and classrooms for regular walkthroughs and assessments of improvement plan implementation. Yet little is known about how these state mandates influence teachers' instructional practices and decision-making power or agency. This study explores teachers' perceptions of the DAIT process and how agency is influenced in an urban fringe pre-kindergarten through grade 8, PI school district in California that volunteered to pilot the DAIT process during the 2006 - 2009 school years. The socio-cultural theory of learning (Gallucci, 2003) and the principal-agent theory (Ferris, 1992) guide the analysis of this embedded and longitudinal multi-case study of three middle schools and the district office within the PI school district. Rich, thick qualitative descriptions from 24 teachers and five district office administrators engaged in state mandated reform emerge from the single-case and cross-case analyses. Teachers perceive the DAIT feedback as vague and lacking in teacher involvement in classroom visitations, which led to teachers viewing the process as superficial. Yet teachers also considered the DAIT process as beneficial in increasing teacher-team reflection and collaboration around a singular, common instructional focus of reading comprehension, which seemed to be positively associated with agency. A variance of teacher agency levels was found to depend upon school context and how teachers perceived themselves while balancing the costs and benefits from DAIT feedback. Findings also reveal that the DAIT process may have compromised teacher agency due to the lack of teacher participation and involvement in the development of the process, potentially eroding teachers' sense of professionalism.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Garibay, Mario
- Description:
- The number of Latinos, specifically college-aged youth, is increasing rapidly in the United States. As a result, institutions of higher education are seeing increases in their enrollment of Latino undergraduates, but a gap exists in their retention and graduation rates. Latino Student Affairs professionals have a role in the success of students of color, specifically Latino students. Research shows Latino professionals are underrepresented in Student Affairs. While research on Latino Student Affairs professionals is limited, there is information on comparative populations (Latino faculty and presidents, and Student Affairs professionals of color). This literature demonstrates cultural values unique to Latino professionals, and the supports and barriers they experience in their persistence and advancement. There literature includes the impact of relationships, and social and cultural capital. This cross-comparative case study explored the experiences of Latino Student Affairs professionals and ascertained personal and institutional supports and barriers affecting their persistence and advancement. It also identified the role of relationships in overcoming these barriers. The study included 21 interviews with professionals from two universities in Southern California, as well as document analyses of materials from each university regarding what supports may be available for Latino Student Affairs professionals. Participants identified perceived barriers and supports, and how relationships influence their persistence and advancement. From these interviews, 11 emergent themes were identified. Participants expressed barriers at the personal, interpersonal, and institutional levels. Supports included institutional support, personalismo (formal friendliness), relationships with other Latino professionals, and social capital. Participants identified familismo (the role of family) as both a support and a barrier. Themes were consistent with the available literature on Latino staff. They also aligned with literature on Latino faculty and Student Affairs professionals of color which were used to ascertain potential supports and barriers affecting Latino professionals in Student Affairs. Implications for future research and theory are presented. Implications for practice are identified for institutions and for the field of Student Affairs. While there continues to be a lack of representation of Latino Student Affairs professionals, this study emphasizes the significance of understanding the experiences of these professionals and how to better improve their persistence and advancement.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Taylor, Curtis A.
- Description:
- African-American and Latinx students are losing out on opportunities to take part in high-paying careers and higher education because of a lack of mathematical proficiency. The institutional and individual factors that are present in K-12 school systems create feelings of alienation and disidentification in African-American and Latinx students from math. The most prominent being the inequitable math experiences that are prevalent in low-income schools where minority students make up the majority. Failing to provide African-American and Latinx students with a mathematics curriculum and instruction centered on their experiences, culture, and traditions is a deterrent to the achievement of equity in mathematics education. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in mathematics builds on students’ cultural capital, prior knowledge, and mental schemas that supports African-American and Latinx students to acquire academic success, cultural competence, and sociopolitical awareness. However, educators do not possess a depth of understanding and/or the self-efficacy to implement culturally relevant pedagogy into their math classrooms. Lesson studies, a system of collaborative efforts and live instruction, is a promising professional development model that addresses this issue. This study utilized a mixed method approach to understand how lesson studies impacted three middle school math teachers’ competency in culturally relevant pedagogy by exploring: (1) In what ways does the lesson study model help teachers gain a better understanding of culturally relevant pedagogy? (2) In what ways does the lesson study model support teachers in creating, refining, and analyzing culturally relevant, cognitively demanding mathematical tasks? And, (3) In what ways does the lesson study model support teachers in deciding on effective pedagogical moves?
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Weinberg, Kyle
- Description:
- Power structures in U.S. public schools have grown increasingly more hierarchical in response to a perceived decline in K-12 instructional quality. The rising prominence of high- stakes accountability mechanisms has resulted in top-down limiting of teachers' role in site decision-making. Promoting a more prominent teacher role in school governance is a promising countermeasure to the teacher turnover and lower quality of instruction disproportionately found in schools serving vulnerable populations. When educators have a greater voice in site decision- making, they are more committed to the organizational vision and more likely to stay at a school. Student academic and civic outcomes also improve when school governance is democratically collaborative. Recognizing the need for additional research on the relationship between decision- making authority and the role of teachers in site governance at an educator-run school, one site was examined through a qualitative, case study approach using an integrated theoretical framework that incorporated structure, culture and agency and the areas of collective autonomy exploring (1) the role of teachers in site governance at an educator-run school and (2) the structural and cultural systems that support or hinder teachers' role in site decision-making. Qualitative data compiled through interviews, observations of decision-making meetings and gathering of site documents clarified how structural and cultural systems shape and are shaped by teachers’ participation in site decision-making. Analysis of the themes and categories that surfaced from the data shed light on the relationship between formal, prescribed decision- making authority and the dynamics of educator-run school governance in practice. Findings from the study indicated that systems that hinder teachers’ participation in school governance are legal, district and budget constraints, lack of preparation and mistrust. Governing documents that support significant teachers’ role in school-level decisions are the pilot school agreement and Elect-to-Work Agreement with its annual teacher-driven revisiting and refinement. Representative leadership, rotating leadership and protocols help to democratize decision-making at the research site by providing transparent structures to guide selection of leaders and horizontal collaboration. Cultural systems that support significant teachers’ role in school-level decisions are a common vision, collaboration, sense of ownership, peer accountability, mentoring and organizing skills.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
17. Women and Professional Networks: Implications for Educational Leaders and District Central Offices
- Creator:
- Lerma, Vanessa Arenas
- Description:
- Social networks in education help to facilitate collaboration and thus are important for providing professional learning opportunities. Networks are especially important for district central office leaders in that they not only contribute to professional learning and help to diffuse knowledge and resources across the organization, but they also help to advance the careers of educational leaders. Women leaders, however, often struggle with being part of these organizational networks which can negatively affect their rise in the leadership ranks of their organizations as well as how they create organizational change. The aim of this qualitative phenomenological study was to examine the professional networks of women district central office leaders and the role gender plays in these networks. The study focused on understanding how women experience networks at the district central office level and how, if at all, this impacts their leadership and career advancement. Study findings highlight the importance of key relationships and mentors for women leaders. Women district office leaders engage in a variety of support positions and leverage relationships that they make throughout their careers as a means of professional learning, enhancing their leadership practices, and advancing their careers. Implications for district central offices include creating specific formal and informal structures for their leaders to engage in collaborative networks and ensuring that women leaders are paired with mentors that will enhance their leadership development. Areas for further research include looking at the professional networks of male district office leaders and how their experiences compare to those of their women counterparts.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Marovich, Melissa
- Description:
- The word equity is often used in education yet, there is not a widely agreed upon official definition. Equity might be thought of as equality turned into an action or the process of making something equal and fair. Educational stakeholders are tasked with making sense of equity within the context of student need, through the development of academic goals that prioritize the closing the achievement gap, and the allocation of resources. This dissertation examines how a small sampling of school stakeholders made sense of how equity is defined and implemented in the form of actions and services, and through the allocation of resources to students for whom the achievement gaps persist, through the development of the Local Control and Accountability Plan. This case study of a small school district examined how stakeholders defined equity in the context of student and district need as well as how stakeholders made decisions to allocate services and resources to groups of students, how leaders guided stakeholders toward a common conception of equity in the development of the LCAP, and how stakeholder groups perceived the process. Guided by the sensemaking framework and social network theory, this dissertation examined how stakeholders, made sense of equity for students in word and deed, through the actions and resources discussed and dispersed through the LCAP process. Understanding how the meaning of equity is developed and implemented through the LCAP process matters because it questions the state of California’s assertion that local stakeholders know what is best for their unique, local population of students. The findings of this study suggest that leaders must attend to the research-based norms of a data-based decision- making process, to build effective collaboration and trust between groups and within systems of organizations. Understanding how stakeholders effectively collaborate to make sense of student need and convey these institutional values will provide insight into how local school districts create equitable systems for increasing academic achievement. The plan that results from this process needs be grounded in true engagement with all actors. Providing needier students with more requires stakeholders to acknowledge disparities in student achievement, access to rigorous programs, systemic barriers and other beliefs which inhibit achievement.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Sanchez, Adan Quetzalcoatl
- Description:
- There is an increase of Latino/a/x students enrolling in higher education in the United States. Yet, Latino students’ retention and graduation rates continue to be significantly lower compared to White students (Musu-Gillette et al., 2016). In part, this problem stems from how higher education institutional practices have maintained one-size-fits-all models to support Latino/a/x students without considering the diversity within this complex group defined by their multiple and intersecting identities. Research shows that underrepresented students, such as Latino students, struggle in college and in their transition for different reasons (Carter, Hurtado, & Spuler, 1996; Harackiewicz et al., 2014; Hurtado, 1994). Therefore, higher education institutions must create a college community that promotes social and intellectual integration to strengthen student commitment (Gentry, 2014) and sustain updated efforts by dedicating time in collaborating with students (Espinoza & Espinoza, 2012) since both student and institutional variables influence college persistence (Titus, 2004). Since there is a lack of research and understanding of Latino/a/x students’ within-group differences, this study examined higher educational institutional practices aimed to support Latino/a/x students’ multiple and intersecting identities to identify how to enhance institutional efforts to ensure Latino/a/x student success. In particular, California Community College system was central to the study since the vast majority of Latino students enroll in these higher education institutions (California Postsecondary Education Commission, 2018a). The aim of this study was to argue that the relationship between student and institution must be intentional and well-coordinated since current higher education institutional practices designed to support the needs of students of color such as Latino/a/x students may not be fully supporting their multiple and intersecting identities. This dissertation stresses how critical it is for an institution to dig deeper into the Latino/a/x students’ lives to understand and validate their diverse experiences in order to provide intentional and sustainable practices where students can explore their complex identities and ultimately meet their holistic needs. Doing so can lead a higher education institution to proactively understand their Latino/a/x student population and improve institutional practices that may contribute to an overall student success including higher retention and graduation rates (Hurtado, 1994).
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Medeiros, Jennifer Levine
- Description:
- A key indicator of novice teacher efficacy is how adept teachers believe themselves to be with respect to impacting students’ behavior, motivation, and achievement. Culturally relevant pedagogy has been proven to improve education outcomes in all three of these areas. This explanatory sequential, mixed-methods study examined culturally relevant pedagogy, novice teacher efficacy, and novice teacher persistence in an effort to understand the potential ways each area can impact the other two. Proper teacher training in culturally relevant pedagogy may increase general teaching self-efficacy and novice teacher retention, improving education outcomes for the most at-risk students. As such, this study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach to understand the possible relationships between novice teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs around culturally relevant pedagogy, their overall perceptions of themselves as qualified, effective teachers, and their decisions on whether or not to persist at their site, in their district, or in education altogether. The study found little variance between novice teachers’ confidence levels on both the Culturally Relevant Teaching Outcome Expectancy scale and the Culturally Relevant Teaching Self-Efficacy scale when data was aggregated by age group, sex, or years of teaching experience. Mean self-efficacy scores showed the greatest difference between the 26-35 age group and the 36-45 age group and between White and non-White respondents. While further investigation is required to delve more deeply into these differences, there is an implication that older teachers and teachers of color are inclined to greater confidence levels with regards to implementations of culturally relevant pedagogy. Interview data brought forth six key themes connecting to influences pushing novice teachers towards and away from culturally relevant practice; these themes can be organized into internal and external factors. Internal factors include ambivalence, critical consciousness, and self-reflection. External factors include relationships, time, and school culture. Other significant findings show novice teachers who have strong support for engaging with and reflecting on implementation of culturally relevant practices are more likely to pursue opportunities to practice and improve their culturally relevant practice. Results of this study provide insight for district administration and teacher leaders to guide the organization of teacher induction and teacher training programs. Limitations of this study, including the short time period for data collection and the limited sample size, will be discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Ruiz, Monica
- Description:
- Educational attainment is not readily available to the fastest-growing minority in the United States: Mexican-Americans and their successive generations. Generational differences in educational achievement are apparent, as Mexican-Americans show limited progress with each successive generation, the only exception being between the first and second generation. Research on family environmental factors for members of successive immigrant generations in U.S. schools provides relatively insufficient insight on how to prepare to meet the demands of Mexican-American students within the context of their third- or fourth-generational differences. This study was an exploration of second- and third-generation Mexican-American mothers’ influence over their children’s educational attainment. The conceptual framework of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory guided a narrative inquiry into the experiences of second- and third-generation Mexican-American mothers and their children. Keywords: poverty, resilience, opportunities, education, segregation, race/ethnicity, language, inequities, immigrant youth, generational status, generational differences, Latinos, Mexican, Mexican-American
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Zavalza, Omar
- Description:
- There is a significant achievement gap for students in foster care, evidenced by low academic performance, high rates of absenteeism and disciplinary referrals, and an overrepresentation in special education programs. Research indicates that the difficulties students in foster care face span domains of social, emotional, behavioral, and academic functioning. Consequently, it is important for schools to recognize and respond to the unique needs of students in foster care to provide the necessary resources for academic success. The intention of this study was to examine and better understand what programs and support services elementary school principals believe are most effective in assisting elementary schools students in foster care achieve academically. The research was conducted within a southern California elementary school district and the research sample included eight interviewees. Participants responded to questions about perceptions of the current programs and support services provided to foster care students in their district and their insight on additional programs and supports needed to foster a positive learning environment and ensure their continued success. The participants revealed three major themes that they have experienced through their work with students in foster care. These themes included Social and Emotional Supports, Consistent Communication and Collaboration, and Continuous Professional Development. Future research in this area might provoke policymakers, district, and school leaders to assist in enhancing the educational experiences and outcomes of students in foster care by recognizing their differing needs and guiding teachers to ensure all students move forward in equitable ways.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Barajas, Daniel E.
- Description:
- Continuation high schools serve students for multiple reasons. Among them are low credit attainment, excessive absences, probation status, and discipline problems. Students in these programs often have many educational gaps. In the state of California, continuation high schools have been an educational option for this vulnerable student population since 1919. This segment of the school system seeks to offer students with diverse educational challenges and obstacles a second opportunity to complete their education. Presently, there is little research connected to the success of continuation high school graduates’ level of persistence in any type of higher education. This study examined the influence teacher-student relationships had on a particular group of continuation high school students who, in spite of challenges associated with continuation-education deficit mindset, were able to attain academic success in higher education. The study sought to explore how the practices of comprehensive high school sites intersected with those of a specific continuation high school. Social Capital and Critical Race Theory provided the conceptual lens to analyze teacher–student relationships. The researcher captured students’ and teachers’ perceptions in order to analyze how their interactions and relationships could be strengthened to ensure student academic success and provide continuation high school students with options upon high school graduation.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Taylor, Mary
- Description:
- This study focused on both the voice and experience of successful Black students in higher education as well as the factors, both internal and institutional that they perceive as contributors to their success. This research is important because while a breadth of research exists that examines Black students and their relationship to higher education, much of it is framed in a deficit-based line of inquiry. As a response, and inspired by critical race theory (CRT) and Harper’s (2012) anti-deficit achievement framework (ADAF), this study focused on successful Black college students’ stories and what might be learned from them. The literature shows that Black students bring a variety of strengths and abilities to their higher education experience that merit further attention by both researchers and educators especially since these students achieve in spite of the challenges so widely documented in the deficit-based literature. Using a narrative research approach, this study identified eight high-achieving students and explored their experiences, their success, and the factors they perceived as contributors to their achievement. Additionally, this study sought to highlight the students’ experiences as a counternarrative to the existing discourse, add to the existing body of asset-based research and inquiry, enlist study participants as partners in the research process, facilitate their storytelling and amplify their voices. Data collected from eight semi-structured interviews and photojournal entries was restoried and coded for themes that yielded rich and meaningful insight into the strengths successful Black students bring to research and practice. The findings of this study reinforced those of the other asset-based researchers highlighted within this study and strengthen the need for more studies of this type. Study findings also included stories that were the result of the collaboration between researcher and participant as well as the themes that provided insight into their perceptions of the factors contributing to their success. Lastly, participants showed themselves to be willing and capable partners in the research process and offered a wealth of information that informed assertions relevant to research and practice. Among these were the importance of early influences, the students’ strengths, the importance of their peers, and the ways that their lived experiences can inform a higher standard of research inquiry and care in the higher education setting.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Hellams, Ruth E.
- Description:
- “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr Dissatisfaction with the current state of the nation’s public schools continues to reveal itself through repeated efforts to transform the traditional, long-standing core elements known as the “grammar of schooling” (Tyack & Tobin, 1994). Generational rhetoric on the failed state of traditional public education and a drive for equitable outcomes for all students serve as guideposts for many school reform efforts. It is the need to reveal the systems and structures supporting changes to the traditional architecture of schools that has inspired me to conduct this research. This dissertation explores how a nontraditional high school, nested within a traditional district, supports and sustains its nontraditional model. Through a case study approach this research utilized interviews with administrative and teaching staff and an analysis of key documents, policies, and practices. Central to this study was an examination of the school’s core values and the practices of competency-based education (CBE) that served to shape and influence the school’s direction and nontraditional model. Emergent themes from this research were analyzed through the lens of Fullan and Quinn’s (2016) Coherence Framework and their four identified drivers for systems improvement. Findings illustrate that school structures which intentionally foster relationships and build opportunities for teacher collaboration contribute to the long-term sustainability of school reform and help influence and shape a school’s direction. Furthermore, clarity of expectations for teaching and learning, when outlined in a school’s mission and vision statement, can serve as guideposts for long-term sustainability. Guidance and support with respect the CBE model was especially important. Lastly, these findings underscore the importance of site leadership in maintaining balance between the needs of the school and the district as essential to sustaining the school’s nontraditional approach. By identifying factors and conditions serving to sustain the school’s nontraditional approach, the findings of this study can assist others who seek to change the traditional architecture of schooling currently dominates most schools.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Heinzman, Erica
- Description:
- Educators and policymakers envision high school mathematics as vital in the pursuit of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) professions and a way to cultivate a deep appreciation of mathematics in society. With two such significant aspirations, there is advocacy for expanding the traditional course offerings in high school mathematics to include courses such as Discrete Mathematics Project Collaborative (DMPC) and Introduction to Data Science (IDS). Research on non-traditional high school mathematics courses has mostly focused on pathways, content, and pedagogy. This mixed methods case study expands our understandings by examining the perceptions and experiences of students enrolled in the DMPC and IDS course at two separate California high schools. Classroom observations, student focus groups, one-on-one teacher interviews, and a student survey were collected and analyzed using the analytical framework of self-determination theory, which posits competence (self-efficacy), autonomy (agency), and relatedness (a sense of belonging) are essential for positive motivation and meaningful learning. Three significant findings unite the DMPC and IDS case studies. Students in these two courses (a) perceive themselves as connected within a community of learners; (b) experience curiosity and creative freedom, unlike previous mathematics courses they may have completed; (c) use the words fun and easy in complex ways to describe their experiences. These findings have important implications as interest greatly increases to expand high school mathematics pathways and to implement the DMPC and IDS courses in more high schools statewide and nationally.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Saeb, Rania
- Description:
- Arab American youth are a complex and diverse population in America who are often misunderstood, misclassified and misrepresented. These youth face a socio-political climate in the United States that has painted the Arab culture in a negative light. This has caused psychological and emotional stressors on them, some of which are negatively affecting their ability to embrace their Arab identity. Another reaction to these stressors is a complete rejection of their American identity, putting a strain on their ability to assimilate into American society. Coupled with this are the challenges Arab American youth face in navigating their identity through their home life and their school life, which at times contradict one another. At school, students are being discriminated against and othered. Moreover, Arab American students are battling a disconnect between the social norms of their school life and home life. Using an adapted framework from Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model of Human Development, this qualitative exploratory case study examines the factors that lead to cultural identity development in Arab American youth. Through interviews of seven Arab American youth this study serves to enlighten administrators, faculty of K-20 agencies and parents on how to best support this population in positively forming their cultural identity.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Glassett Farrelly, Susan
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Ruggles, Kyle C
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
30. English language learners' reading self-efficacy and achievement using 1:1 mobile learning devices.
- Creator:
- Walters, Jennifer J.
- Description:
- Handheld technology devices allow users to be mobile and access the Internet, personal data, and third-party content applications in many different environments at the users' convenience. The explosion of these mobile learning devices around the globe has led adults to value them for communication, productivity, and learning. Outside of the school setting, many adolescents and children have access to, or own mobile devices. The use of these individual devices by children on a daily basis in schools is a relatively new phenomenon, with just four percent of elementary students doing so in classrooms in 2010(Gray, Thomas & Lewis, 2010). This mixed methods study researched a one-to-one implementation of percent devices in fourth- and fifth-grade elementary classrooms. The focus was to explore the mobile learning device's relationship to English language learners' reading achievement, to English language learners' self-efficacy in reading, and to explore the benefits and limitations of the device's daily use, as perceived by the students. The hypothesis was that the practice of reading and related literacy activities with mobile learning devices would augment English learners' vicarious learning experiences, and thereby effect student cognitive engagement, reading self-efficacy, and reading academic achievement. This study used validated surveys and assessments to measure students' beliefs about reading and their knowledge of reading. Additionally, English language learner interview data were also collected and analyzed to uncover perceived benefits and limitations of utilizing 1:1 mobile learning devices daily for literacy activities. Analysis of the data revealed significantly elevated levels of self-efficacy in reading for the experimental group with 1:1 handheld technology, while academic gains in reading for the experimental and control groups were statistically similar. Students in the experimental group described a virtually-enhanced socio-cultural context for communicating and learning with the handheld technology. Implications for practice, policy, and future research are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Schjolberg, Marsha, A
- Description:
- This study looks at a culture within a culture focusing on military dependent high school students at risk of not completing high school, what occurs when the psychosocial stressors due to high mobility and other family dynamics impact adolescent children, and what role alternative education programs may play in mitigating educational challenges and family life stressors. A review of the literature speaks to the high mobility, academic challenges, and psychosocial stressors unique to military dependent populations, as well as the various alternative independent study models explored. Emphasizing student-centered appreciative inquiry, the study employs a qualitative embedded design within a single case study with a focus on the relationship between military dependent students at-risk for dropping out of high school and independent study alternative educational programs at multiple freestanding and traditional school campuses. Both students and teachers were interviewed. Additionally, students were asked to respond to three quick-write questions. Data supporting the self-perception of academic and psychosocial success from a student/teacher perspective were analyzed to look at changes in course completion, appropriate age/grade level remediation, tracking for timely graduation, post high school plans, changes in family dynamics, and changes in attitudes about school and self- worth.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Shaver, Benjamin
- Description:
- Historically, university leaders have met campus enrollment goals by focusing on recruiting prospective students. In the last few decades, however, as global competition for fewer students in a poor economy has forced them to spend more on recruitment and marketing, they have realized that retaining current students is actually a more cost-effective enrollment strategy than merely recruiting them. This realization has come about, in part, because for-profit companies in the service industry are finding it more profitable to concentrate on retaining customers’ loyalties than expanding their customer bases. The business practice of developing long-term relationships with customers by meeting their expectations is known as relationship marketing. Although this is an established theory and practice in the business community, university administrators have yet to fully realize its potential as an enrollment management strategy. Considering that for a century, about half of university students have failed to graduate, enrollment managers should welcome a new approach that might remedy this long-standing retention issue. This study utilized relationship-marketing theory as a framework to understand the issue of university student retention. Relationship-marketing and enrollment management literature were reviewed to examine the relevance of customer service strategy to student retention efforts. The qualitative study used a multiple cross-sectional design to examine student loyalty at three points in time during the undergraduate student life cycle. Freshmen, seniors, and alumni from a public research university in California were interviewed about their expectations of university life, satisfaction with university experiences, and demonstrations of loyalty behavior. To supplement the interview data, blogs written by freshmen, seniors, and alumni attending eight campuses in the same university system were analyzed for evidence of satisfaction/dissatisfaction with their experiences as well as evidence of loyalty behavior. The research findings provide insight into what factors affect undergraduate students’ loyalties throughout the student life cycle. When it came to the university experience, these findings showed that students’ loyalty behaviors was more strongly linked to the fulfillment of their expectations than to the achievement of their satisfaction. The findings also illuminate how university leaders can meet the expectations of students in order to retain them.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Gil, Patricia Magaña
- Description:
- This study examined Latino parent engagement through the lens of parent leaders in order to identify factors that mediate Latino parental engagement at the leadership level. Based on current research there is need to explore Latino parent leadership due to a small body of literature on this topic. This study explored the possibility that parent leaders can serve as catalysts for improving the school system and work collaboratively with district leaders to close the achievement gap for Latino students. The purpose of this study was to identify and examine why and how Latino parents have become engaged in leadership roles in a District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC) in one highly successful district. This case study engaged in interviews of district leaders, parent leaders and observations taken at DELAC meetings led by parents to explore the following question: How do district leaders support or constrain the engagement of Latino parents in leadership at the district level? This study reviewed district documents as an additional data source to identify the conditions and structures that allow parents in the one target district to be intricately engaged in DELAC leadership that led to district reform efforts with the goal of increased student achievement. Latino parent progression along a developmental continuum from volunteerism to engagement was analyzed to describe optimal conditions that support parent engagement. Results of this study indicate that district commitment, dedication of resources and funds, as well as a focus on developing parent leadership skills can support and nurture the leadership skills of parents to transform them into critical leaders.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Longwell-McKean, Paula Cheree
- Description:
- A growing body of literature on effective leadership styles has emerged as 21st century leaders face higher student expectations, more demands on teachers and lack of support from the public. An examination of the effects of transactional and transformational leadership provides educators with indications as to the best practices with regard to transforming the direction of schools. Proponents of transformational leadership recommend this approach as the best fit for today’s changing times. Transformational leadership holds potential in the complex environment of contemporary education and therefore provides supportive conditions to build teacher leadership capacity. Transformational principals recognize the need to develop teacher leaders and the importance of supporting the development of teacher-to-teacher relationships. A review of the “4Is” of transformational leadership; idealized influence, individual consideration, inspirational motivation, and intellectual stimulation, along with implications for principals is offered as a framework for how to implement a shared leadership style that will impact teachers and students. Transformational principals know how to build associations with fellow teachers in order to further the mission of the school. Through the lens of trust theory an examination of trust on principal-teacher relationships is considered. While the literature review presents a convincing case for transformational leadership and the need for quality relationships in schools, an examination of how these two constructs intersect and impact teacher leadership is the focal point of this study.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Pearl, Domenica
- Description:
- The California State University system recently announced a long-term Graduation Initiative to increase the six-year graduation rate by 8%. As a result, close attention is being focused on ways to retain students at risk of leaving the university prior to graduation. Although it is generally acknowledged that mentoring programs promote college student success, little is known about informal mentoring relationships between Student Affairs practitioners and students and the influence these relationships have on college student persistence. Using emotional intelligence and social capital theory as a framework to explain the importance of meaningful relationships, this dissertation explored the literature on mentoring as a means to promote college student persistence. A two-phased explanatory mixed methods study was conducted to explore elements of social capital and emotional intelligence in mentoring relationships. A conceptual framework, intersectional model and an ideal mentor condition mentors can utilize as a means to facilitate college student retention are proposed. Implications for practice as well as future considerations are suggested.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Barakos-Cartwright, Rebekah
- Description:
- Classified employees comprise thirty two percent of the educational workforce in school districts in the state of California. Acknowledging these employees as a viable and untapped resource within the educational system will enrich job satisfaction for these employees and benefit the operations in school sites. As acknowledged and valued resources, these employees may play an important role in supporting the vision and mission of a district. The purpose of this study was to listen to the voice of the classified employee, identify, develop and implement systems that support classified employees to increase job satisfaction and engagement in the work place. The study relied on the frameworks of organizational development and the culture of an organization, relationships, dialogue, psychological capital, job satisfaction, social capital, shared leadership and collective efficacy as they relate to accessing and augmenting the untapped resource of classified employees within the public school system. The methodology of the study evaluated the quality of job satisfaction and work engagement of classified employees by listening to the voices of these employees through surveys, focus groups and interviews. Analyses of those data revealed the following themes in attaining job satisfaction: importance of connecting with a team, engaging in the work place, communicating, and developing relationships with peers and supervisors. These findings led to an action-plan model offered by the researcher to establish systems to support classified employees toward greater job satisfaction. Investing time and implementing purposeful procedures through the development of supervisor-employee relationships, increased communication, professional development and fostering opportunities for employees to connect with students as action-steps has the potential to not only support social capital growth of classified employees but may lead to development of human capital. The expansion of classified employees’ social capital through the augmentation of the supervisor-employee and professional learning teams’ relationships were determined as an important step to building the job satisfaction and work engagement of the classified employee. The voices of classified employees served to frame action plans necessary to realize the positive impact these employees have within a school district. In the final chapter, the researcher described actions that district leaders might take to design and implement systems that support job satisfaction. Keywords: classified employees, human capital, job satisfaction, positive organizational behavior, psychological capital, collective efficacy, self-efficacy, social capital
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Prange, Beverly
- Description:
- There is a significant achievement gap for Latina/o students, evidenced by low rates of high school graduation and enrollment in post-secondary education. This dissertation summarizes literature on factors that promote academic success for Latina/o student’s success employing two theoretical perspectives: resiliency and social capital. Research in these areas points to the significance of supportive relationships with educators to fostering academic success for students from underserved populations. Nevertheless, many students from Latino backgrounds report a lack of caring relationships with adults at school. Empathy has been identified as a foundational element of human relationships and essential for caring and cultural sensitivity. This study defines empathy, and suggests that educator empathy is essential to creating supportive relationships between Latina/o students and teachers, administrators, and other school personnel. A mixed-method study explored the attitudes and behaviors of educators who demonstrate empathic understanding for students in order to learn what is needed to replicate and spread empathic attitudes and behaviors in the school environment. Findings from this study suggest that Latina/o first-generation college-bound students perceive supportive high school educators as empathic and non-judgmental. Analysis of student and educator descriptions of supportive relationships reveals six thematic clusters: relationship building, perspective taking, cultural empathy, high expectations, undocumented students, and organizational context. These findings suggest a conceptual model showing how educator competencies and organizational context can support or constrain empathic relationship building in schools.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Larrison, Abigail
- Description:
- A growing collaboration between psychologists, neuroscientists, and educators has culminated in the emergence of a new academic discipline known as Mind, Brain and Education (MBE). MBE differs from previous efforts, such as educational neuroscience, in that it is focused on the problem of how we might bring findings from the learning sciences into the classroom. As such MBE is placed squarely in the classroom, and works through engaging teachers as primary participants. Hence, MBE must work through an awareness of the systems of education and within the current context of educational policy and practice if it is to find a firm grounding in educational reform. In many ways the goals of MBE are in alignment with the voices of educational leaders across the globe. Pedagogical approaches referred to as neuropedagogy or neuroeducation, emphasize the development of high level cognitive capacities, such as critical thinking and creativity and address the connection between motivation, emotions, sleep, stress, circadian rhythms and development in learning processes. The primary purpose of this study was to define the emerging field of MBE with respect to its goals, vision and potential to serve as a significant framework for education reform. Because the basic constructs of the field are still being developed, interviews with expert members of the MBE community, including academic researchers, consultants and other educational leaders were conducted using a grounded theory approach. The definition of MBE was highly complex, but contained central elements relevant to reform. Special attention to developing a curricular model of MBE resulted in a vision of a holistic approach centered on developmental and individual needs of the students. To further investigate the possible impact of neuroeducation on student outcomes, two existing curricular models—Waldorf and International Baccalaureate, were examined as examples of programs of neuropedagogy/neuroeducation. Findings indicated that examining curricular models currently in use holds promise for understanding the impact of the principles of neuroeducation on student outcomes and development and can serve as a first step towards developing a proof of concept for the field.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Grommo, April
- Description:
- The lack of college graduates, who possess a four-year degree, will soon impact the United States in a lack of knowledge workers needed to compete in the global economy. If current trends continue, California alone will be short one million college graduates by 2025. Despite college efforts to increase graduation rates only about half of students will complete a degree or certificate within six years. These numbers decline for underrepresented students. Many of these students start their college experience at a community college. Thus assisting students in the enrollment at a community college, the transfer process, and transition from a community college to a four-year university, are critical to increasing overall baccalaureate attainment rates. Transfer students face many of the same academic and social adjustment issues as first-time freshman without many of the same support programs. Students do not go through the transfer experience by themselves, therefore an emphasis of this study was on students’ interactions with those inside and outside institutions of higher education. A student’s social network and access to social capital, both on and off-campus plays a role in his or her ability to achieve success in the college environment. Underserved students often lack the social capital to access the required networks or level of knowledge needed to properly adjust to university life. This egocentric network analysis explored underrepresented transfer students’ experiences with their on-campus and off-campus social networks while transferring from a community college and post-transfer adjustment at a four-year institution. The results of this study provided insight on who students rely upon for support and information at the community college and university level. Although study participants did not have highly closed networks, their were robust and allowed participants to utilize ties when needed. As students moved through their college careers their on-campus network shift from family to peers, with academic advisers being utilized through out their college career. Off-campus networks were consistent with parents and spouses providing the most personal support and encouragement no matter the age of the student.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Stiemke, Kimberley
- Description:
- Due to unique challenges and barriers, women of color continue to be underrepresented in academia as doctoral students and faculty, especially in positions of educational leadership. As a result, women of color remain on the fringes of educational leadership to the detriment of schooling in our society (Felder, 2010; Gay, 2004; hooks, 1989). Using an appreciative mixed-methods phenomenological approach, this study aimed to examine the experiences of women of color in educational leadership programs and the ways in which a public university system supports or constrains them based on the quality of faculty/student relationships, relevance of program curricula, quality of collegial relationships, and the attainment of educational leadership positions and promotions. The experiences of 78 doctoral students representing 7 universities throughout a diverse state were surveyed followed by 8 appreciative interviews with women of color. To gain a better understanding of this phenomenon, this research drew upon critical race theory, feminist theory, and critical leadership to explore the intersection of race, gender, and class, and its impact on women of color in Ed.D. programs in educational leadership (hooks, 1989; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 1995; Santamaria & Santamaria, 2011). Findings suggest that although women of color are being supported, they are not being supported to the same degree as other women, particularly in terms of faculty mentoring and outreach. So, despite greater diversity than many higher educational contexts, women of color continue to have the most constraining educational experiences, hindering their degree completion and subsequent career advancement (Gay, 2004). This study has the potential to impact leadership in higher education, making it a more inclusive environment for all.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Valdivia, Isabel Patricia
- Description:
- For almost three decades a spotlight has been placed on the problems of the American educational system. Reform efforts put into place were intended to improve our schools by ensuring that all students’ needs were met and to close the achievement gap however, the number of schools and districts labeled as failing is growing and the achievement gap grows larger. In California, one particular significant subgroup, English language learners, is a group whose population continues to grow in number and yet the number of students in this subgroup who are not meeting state targets grows (California Department of Education, 2009). As this crisis evolves, and a myriad of reform efforts are exhausted, the role of the instructional leader evolves as well. The latest federal legislation, No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has created a high stakes accountability climate by setting federal mandates for increasing levels of student achievement of significant subgroups. Schools and their districts who fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) guidelines for all subgroups are subject to progressive degrees of corrective action. This might include restructuring the school by removing or replacing the school site’s instructional leader. As a result, the role of principal takes on even greater importance as educational researchers and policymakers seek reforms to meet these new demands. These reforms or demands for immediate changes, designed to support student achievement may actually constrain the role of the principal as the instructional leader. The primary purpose of this study was to examine how reform efforts support or constrain principal autonomy in meeting the needs of English language learners. Utilizing the theoretical frameworks of School Reform and Social Network Theory, this study compared the level of principal autonomy in two distinct districts, one centralized and the other decentralized, that is, how information and resources are transmitted. This mixed methods study compared student data, survey results of district and site leaders, principal interviews and a review of documents.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Bloomberg, Paul
- Description:
- A growing body of literature on system-wide reform has shown districts, more than individual schools alone, are able to serve as a catalyst for closing the achievement gap and increase student achievement (McLaughlin & Talbert, 2003). Researchers on reform initiatives have focused more on centralization. What is less understood, are the interworking of how districts and schools work together to successfully implement new reform initiatives. More recent research on districts and schools has used the lenses of district-school relationships and social network theory as a way to analyze the formal and informal relationship structure of school districts. The idea is if people are collaborating then there will be more of a chance for the creation of social capital or new knowledge. This could eventually lead to creating intellectual capital, which would ultimately enhance organizational learning and increase student achievement. The primary purpose of this study is to identify, examine and compare the role of two school district offices in supporting or constraining learning initiatives of schools within their district. This will allow us to describe optimal organizational conditions that support student performance over time. The research design of this project is a comparative case study that used quantitative extant data and qualitative methods to answer three main research questions. The findings from this study indicated that principal autonomy is crucial for the success of reform initiative implementation and organizational learning.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
43. Tapping on the Glass: The Intersection of Leadership and Gender in Independent School Administration
- Creator:
- Ostos, Barbara
- Description:
- While independent schools are a small sector of the American school system, they educate a significant cross section of society. Creating equitable models of leadership in their top administrative positions is important as students see those models and equate them with what leaders look and act like. This study examined leadership styles of heads of independent schools, focusing on the spectrum of transformational and transactional leadership. It examined general and specific factors leading to gender inequity in top JK-12 educational administration. It offers a foundation for discussion about education and educational administration by presenting the history of the American educational structure. The literature review includes research about educational administration and leadership, as well as the explanation of three theories emerging from the study of leadership differences between men and women. A discussion of leadership styles follows, highlighting literature focusing on the barriers women encounter in attaining leadership roles. The voices and stories of those women who have attained top educational leadership positions conclude the literature review, providing a full spectrum of issues ranging from the inception of the educational system to the reasons for the current disparity of women at the head of school level. This study presents a national study of independent school leadership. Using a mixed methods approach, the study includes quantitative data about leadership styles of heads of school, as well as other demographic indicators that highlight their paths and leadership roles. The qualitative portion of the study culminates in one-on-one interviews with eight female heads of schools to examine their experiences in achieving top educational administration positions. The study results demonstrate that heads of independent schools are generally transformational leaders in their styles. Further, it illuminates the fact that female heads demonstrate more transformational leadership styles than their male counterparts. It also indicates that male heads of school ascended to headship faster than women. Finally, it outlines how the individual voices of female heads collectively indicate that female heads’ natural styles of leadership, which are based in relationships, lend themselves to the characteristics of transformational leadership.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Newmann, Jennifer Jane
- Description:
- The economic recession that began in 2008 is the most significant downturn in the economy since the Great Depression. Cuts to public higher education the last three years in a large, western state have been over $2 billion, with an additional $1.5 billion in cuts proposed for the 2012-2013 fiscal year. The university system under study is an economic driver and produces educated workers necessary for the state’s economy. State budget cuts are impacting not only the mission of the university system, but also numerous initiatives created to better serve students. Using frameworks of university organization and leadership models, the critical importance of lecturers for meeting the needs of diverse students, and collective bargaining constructs, this study investigates the impact of budget cuts on lecturer retention and resulting demographics. In addition to understanding how faculty positions are impacted, the perspectives of the administration and the faculty union leadership to the budget cuts were analyzed using artifact analysis of public statements by both groups. By using organizational effectiveness models, the administration and the faculty union leadership responses to the cuts were compared and contrasted. The results of this study on the short-term impact of the budget cuts provide for a deeper understanding of the current economic environment facing public higher education and how leaders manage organizations through such chaotic conditions. Efficiency and effectiveness are discussed using a lens of positive organizational scholarship as models to assist higher educational leaders navigate their organizations through financial downturns.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Umekubo, Lisa Ann
- Description:
- No Child Left Behind (NCLB) set a challenging goal of 100% proficiency for all students, prompting schools and districts across the nation to implement major reform initiatives to meet increasing federal achievement targets. Some schools and a few districts have been successful, however, the majority are still failing. The primary purpose of this study is to identify and examine the role of one high achieving school district’s central office in supporting or constraining learning initiatives of schools within the district. In particular, this study explores the informal and formal relationships and structures that foster collaboration between central office and school principals. Lastly, the study investigates the conditions and structures that allow leaders to be innovative and creative with the goal of increasing student achievement. To explore district/school relationships, this study drew on the theory and method of social network analysis, and its related and supporting theories of social and intellectual capital, and organizational learning. The concept underlying social network analysis is the more dense the relationships in an organization, the greater the potential for collaboration and creation of social capital. Collaborating, exchanging and combining knowledge among members leads to intellectual capital, which is essential for organizational learning. The research design of this study was a descriptive, embedded, single-case study that used quantitative extant data and qualitative methods to answer five main research questions. In addition to the social network analysis of central office/principal relations, a cross-case analysis of two embedded cohorts within one district was also conducted using evidence from surveys, semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews, and document analysis to examine how the district and schools worked together to negotiate, communicate, and implement reform initiatives. The study showed that there were dense networks of collaboration, communication, and innovation supported by high levels of trust among administrators at all levels. The qualitative data revealed that principals appreciated considerable autonomy to implement programs of their choice at the school site as long as they could show learning gains. Thus, the results presented a pattern of high levels of site-based decision-making autonomy coupled with high levels of accountability for student achievement — a finding not shown in most other studies of effective district reform. This district, serving a high percentage of English learners and socio-economically disadvantaged students, seems to have found a way to balance accountability with professionalism by focusing on student results rather than program mandates.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Dunning, Farzin Khosroshahi
- Description:
- For the past two decades, the mathematical achievement of American students has been a major concern. Students in traditionally marginalized communities often are affected more and perform less proficient in mathematics due to issues related to teacher effectiveness. One approach to increase teacher effectiveness has been through collaboration. The purpose of this study was to explore the structural and cultural conditions that support high performing collaboration in mathematics. This study not only investigated the supporting structural and cultural conditions that have been identified in the extant literature but it also examined the interaction between these conditions in two high performing cases. The study also provided an opportunity to examine teachers’ perception of collaboration and its influence on their teaching. The investigation relied on the frameworks of the structural conditions—including duration, coherence, content, active learning, and collective participation—and two cultural conditions of teacher efficacy and trust. Using mixed method, the methodology of the study used surveys and interviews to identify the supportive conditions and the interactions between these conditions in two instructive cases of collaboration. The findings revealed six structural themes of time as an important condition of collaboration, focus on teachers’ daily classroom goals, focus on teachers’ content knowledge, teacher learning through collaboration and participation of teachers of the same grade level. The findings also pointed to high level of collective efficacy and trust as supportive cultural conditions. The significant finding of this study was the new theoretical model, Interdependence Model. This new model includes one additional structural condition of physical proximity, and two additional cultural conditions of focus on students’ best interest and culture of high expectation. This new model reflects intense interconnection and interdependence between the structural conditions, cultural conditions. This model shows that the cultural conditions lay the foundation for the development of the structural conditions. More importantly, the Interdependence Model presents that trust is the most critical predictor for the development of the structural conditions. It is hoped that the new theoretical model, which originated from a strengths-based approach, will reinforce the conditions that exemplify high-performing collaboration in schools.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Garcia, Joel
- Description:
- In 2008-2009, almost one million children experiencing homelessness were enrolled in school; this number has increased by 41% between 2009 and 2011. Unfortunately, this trend has continued to increase; according to the most recent data from the National Center for Homeless Education, the number of homeless students has reached a record of 1,056,794. These students are one of the most marginalized and victimized populations in schools. They experience more daily stressors and are more at risk than their housed peers. Unfortunately, there is a dearth in educational research about the conditions, within the school context, that promote resilience in this population that is highly at-risk. Using a conceptual framework that draws upon literature on educational risks, resilience, school structures, and school climate with respect to homeless students, this comparative qualitative case study investigated the protective factors offered by two school models for homeless students. The study compared the institutional structures, school climate, and experiences of students served by distinct types of programs: a traditional school and an alternative school designed specifically for homeless children and youth. By examining the impact of different school settings, the study contributes to a better understanding of the challenges, successes, and recommended research-based interventions designed to help a vulnerable student population. Findings suggest resilience-promoting protective factors recommended for a general student population apply to homeless students. Recommendations to schools interested in fostering resilience in their homeless population are provided.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Dowey, Ana Lucrecia
- Description:
- The underparticipation of minority females in STEM fields has been a chronic problem in the United States, mainly when it is analyzed through the lens of their relative representation in the population. The results of the first or quantitative phase, of this two phase sequential, mixed method study, revealed academic achievement or performance in science accounted for most of the variance of mean scores for students’ attitudes and interests in science as measured by the TOSRA Likert-scale survey, when compared to the degree of parent education and ethnicity/ racial background. Additionally, this study investigated possible sources of perceived self-efficacy in eighteen seventh grade Hispanic female students by conducting personal semi-structured interviews. The purpose of this study was to explore if middle school female student ethnic/racial backgrounds and academic performance influence their attitudes and interests toward science and to study the possible effects external (family, school, peers, and community) and internal factors may have for Hispanic student self-efficacy toward science. The results revealed that of the five ethnic/racial groups studied, Asian/Filipino female students expressed higher positive attitudes and interests toward science, than the rest of the student ethnic groups studied, followed by the Hispanic student group. The results indicated that students’ perceived encouragement from their mothers, regardless of the mother’s degree of education, as being the main source of these girls’ perceived self-efficacy in science. However, the lack of perceived school-related, peer-related, and community-related support was evident. These results are encouraging because they demonstrate how verbal persuasion, in the form of encouragement and support, fosters perceived self-efficacy for minority female students.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Casquejo Johnston, Luz
- Description:
- Montessori education was developed over a century ago. Dr. Montessori and her followers designed learning environments to meet the academic, social and psychological needs of students from eighteen months to eighteen years old. Within her writings and books, Dr. Montessori described strategies and structures that support autonomy, competence and relatedness. These same supports are found within Self-determination Theory (SDT) literature. Research points towards a link between satisfaction of the basic needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness and increased resilience, goal achievement, and feelings of well-being. . This study examined the influence of enrollment on the development of self-determination in a Montessori middle school which is intentionally created to support the development of autonomy, competence, and relatedness on adolescents. Bounded by self-determination, critical, and student voice theory, this research was designed to give voice to the most important stakeholders in education, add to the discourse on middle school reform, and provide the perspective of the student to the critique of middle level education. Based on the analysis of narrative, the major themes which represented all participants in all cycles were indicators of the importance of autonomy and relatedness. Two themes, “choose type of work”, “choose order of tasks” illustrate the importance of autonomy to this group of students. The last major theme, “help me stay on top of things” highlighted the importance of relatedness to the study group. From these themes implications for middle level educators, educational leaders and future researchers were developed. Participants in the study voiced strong opinions about practices which supported autonomy and relatedness. Students valued the ability to choose the order of their tasks and the tasks they could choose to demonstrate understanding as well as the ability to re-take tests. These changes require a paradigm shift to a student-centered learning environment. Educational leaders can support this shift through providing staff development and planning time. Future research suggested by this study include studies which could further examine a possible link between relatedness support and student achievement and studies designed to capture the voices of students with a low measured SDT.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- De Bora, Gary Robert
- Description:
- While bullying has been prevalent in public schools for generations, the increased media attention to cases of suicide or homicide have thrust this epidemic into the spotlight. Bullying has become a student health and safety issue, as schools and lawmakers race to enact policies that deter bullying from occurring. The research investigated the lack of a universal definition of bullying and why a universal definition was a necessity in research, especially when involving possible strategies for teachers to identify bullying behaviors in their classrooms. The goal of the research was to understand students’ and teachers’ perceptions of bullying in the classrooms in a middle school. Participants in the study included students from one sixth-grade classroom, one seventh-grade classroom, and one eighth-grade classroom selected through the school’s Bully Awareness Program. One teacher from each of the three classrooms also participated in the study. The student population consisted of 1660 students from a suburban middle school located in a western state. Constructivist grounded theory and student voice were used to qualitatively code an anonymous writing prompt, student and teacher interviews, and classroom observations to provide rich data on both perceptions of bullying and desired strategies to decrease bullying behaviors in the classroom that could be shared with teachers during future professional development. Six main themes were abstracted from the data: Definitions of Bullying, Examples of Bullying, About the Bully, Preferred Teacher Interventions, Ways of Coping, and Teacher Data. A student’s positive relationship with a teacher or staff member was identified as an important factor in coping, as well as their overall outlook when confronted with different bullying situations. Also identified were foundational strategies for teacher trainings. Implications for educators, teacher training, and future research were discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Grano, Robert J.
- Description:
- A body of research suggests that human capital—educators’ and employees’ training, education, and experience—is a key factor in school improvement efforts. Social capital, which may be defined as relations that can be mobilized to facilitate action, is another factor that may be as important as human capital. The synergistic interplay of human capital and social capital can generate intellectual capital—the knowledge and knowing capability of a collectivity. This study explores the characteristics of the relationships between site principals and central office administrators in one area of the San Diego Unified School District. The research questions are: (a) What is the structure of interactions between principals and central office administrators (b) What are the conditions under which expertise is shared across relationships between principals and central office administrators (c) What are the characteristics of the interactions between principals and central office administrators (d) What is the nature of the information and knowledge that flows through the relationships between principals and central office administrators. The context for this study is the educational landscape under No Child Left Behind and the movement to implement Common Core State Standards. A key assumption of the study is that the district office, as a unit, may well matter in the schools’ efforts to accelerate the achievement of all students. In this mixed methods study, extant data from a previous study was used to drive the sampling as well as to inform the qualitative portions of the study.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Philyaw, Laura I.
- Description:
- School districts are searching out ways to address the achievement gap by launching system wide reform initiatives. There is a growing body of research indicating the need for a district wide approach to implementing change initiatives where the responsibility does not lie solely on school sites (McLaughlin & Talbert, 2003). In response to the increasing demands of the position, there has been a marked rise in the turnover rates of superintendents, and yet reform efforts rely heavily on the leadership provided by this position to lead a district in a new direction to address student success for all. Districts that have found success in positively impacting student achievement have implemented changes that provided opportunities for learning through meaningful professional development, collaboration within and across the system, and a redefining of leadership roles. Within the organizational landscape of a district, the superintendent, district leaders, and central office administrators are in a unique position of having the potential to play an integral role in the change process. They have access to many groups across the system, and can facilitate and support the learning required to successfully implement the change effort systemically. Sociocultural learning theory provides a lens to examine existing communities of practice and offers insight into the learning that occurs through the interactions that occur among work groups. These communities of practice offer a possible vehicle for the teaching and learning required to implement any given reform initiative. This research study seeks to identify how a new superintendent develops, diffuses, and enacts a systemic change effort across the district and the factors that support or constrain the required learning and the development of communities of practice during these initial phases.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Heck, Timothy
- Description:
- High-stakes accountability mandates such as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top set minimum achievement criteria for students in US schools. Instituting the change necessary to meet these student achievement goals requires leadership. School leaders often need to implement changes to the curriculum and culture of schools to meet the academic needs of the students served. Especially in schools that are identified as underperforming, principals are held accountable for transforming failing schools into systems that provide academic support. Prior research suggests that transformational leadership may be a critical factor in school improvement. Through the lens of transformational leadership, this study sought to discover the key leadership attributes shared by principals and other personnel in schools formerly under sanction, specifically Program Improvement (PI) Schools. Using case study methods, this research focused on principals and teacher leaders of two California middle schools formerly designated as PI schools in order to understand which leadership attributes help middle schools transition out of PI status. The following seven themes were discovered in relation to the leadership attributes and practices shared by principals and teacher leaders in two middle schools formerly under sanctions: (1) teamwork, support, and collaboration; (2) accountability; (3) planning and structure; (4) modeling and leading by example; (5) using data in decision making of data; (6) fostering increased parent involvement; and (7) promoting respect. Transformational leadership played a key role in the two schools studied. Findings from this study also suggest that school leaders who implement the tenets of transformational leadership could promote the requirements for a school to improve and exit PI status. As such, transformational leadership does hold promise for helping to narrow the achievement gap in schools.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Merica-Jones, Jerry
- Description:
- Reform is constant but there is little or no change in the achievement gap. As the nation begins yet another reform effort, the Common Core State Standards, the question proposed in this study is ever more pressing. Are we seeing real reform or is it that underlying these many reform efforts are unchallenged and unchanged epistemological assumptions that nurture existing theories-in-use despite whatever the current flavor of espoused theory. The primary purpose of this study is to identify how leadership practice is distributed at the school site. Current literature on distributed leadership has identified that for distributed leadership theory to be explanatory it will need to account for not only that leadership practice is being distributed but how it is being distributed. Since distributed leadership is the espoused leadership practice in education today a method to uncover the theory-in-practice of leadership is required. The study used discourse analysis and Micropolitical theory to analyze the conversations of teachers and administrators during 18 team meetings at two elementary schools over the course of a year. The research questions of the study focused primarily on how conversations revealed the power and position of specific discourses. This study has observed that standards-based instruction and the high-stakes testing that drives it have changed the paradigm of learning. This paradigm is that learning is quantifiable and represented by the results of high-stakes testing. Raising test scores is not only the indicator of closing the achievement gap but discursively substitutes for closing the achievement gap. The study found that the discourse of high-stakes testing was the most powerful discourse at the two schools and established the context for conversations around learning. This discourse was more powerful at the school where scores were more important and was more influential on the approach teachers at that site had toward instruction. The discourse of high-stakes testing served as a substitute for leadership, which reduced teacher and principal autonomy. The study also found that the discourse of distributed leadership provided spaces where participative discourse occurred. Further, it found that leadership was largely hierarchically distributed at the two sites partly due to macro-discourses from beyond the school site. Distributed leadership did not necessarily reduce and may have increased the hierarchical power of the principal position. These findings lead to a conclusion that the most recent version of standardsbased instruction, the Common Core state standards, will continue to have the discourse of high-stakes testing set the context for conversations around learning since it continues the same discourse. Another implication of the study is that how the Common Core affects authentically engaging instruction will be more around the construction and implementation of the assessment tools than around the accompanying rhetoric. Adding to research on distributed leadership theory the study demonstrated that research on how leadership practice is distributed must incorporate some mechanism to consider how power and position influence the distribution. Studies using discourse analysis participate in the social construction of reality where meaning is never fixed and all analysis is open to alternate interpretations. The findings that seemed emerge from the many conversations considered have other alternative interpretations that are accessible to the reader through the extensive presentation of text in chapter four.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Cameron, Beth A.
- Description:
- Teachers are central to student learning. Without improving teacher practice, it will be difficult for schools to meet the goals of the Common Core State Standards and the 21st Century learning competencies we are faced with in our rapidly changing educational environment. School reform initiatives often focus on school structures and programs, but give less attention to helping teachers develop the capacity for effective collaborative practice. Most recently, a growing body of literature has emerged on the benefits of teacher collaboration as a key ingredient in school improvement, especially in underperforming schools. Collaborative reform initiatives have resulted in a variety of outcomes including: improving teacher relationships, building capacity, strengthening teacher efficacy and increasing achievement of students from diverse backgrounds. However, we know less about the effects of teacher collaboration in schools that are not underperforming, but where rapid change is taking place. This study was about the nature of relationships that exist between teachers who regularly engage in weekly collaboration. The purpose of this case study was to better understand the nature of how relationships among elementary teachers in grade level teams developed. The two teams (Team A and Team B) compared in this study developed relationships differently, as one team had stronger relationships while the other experienced challenges in relationship development. Interviews and observations were conducted to compare and contrast the teams regarding their characteristics and belief systems, how they use their collaborative time, and the structures and cultures that shape their work. Team A developed differently from Team B by spending more time on relationship building. The implications of this research provide information to assist leaders in supporting collaborative efforts in schools.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Abukar, Sharifa Sheryl Steinberg
- Description:
- In a post 9/11 world, many policy makers, educational leaders, teachers, and parents are concerned about how to best address the unique needs of Muslim American students. Recognizing that different school options are available, it is important to know how school environments, peer pressure, and attitudes of the dominant society impact their overall educational experience and integration into American society. Given the diversity within the Muslim community itself, research is needed that explores how the identity of Muslim American students is contextually related to gender, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, degree of religiosity, and/or school environments. This study examined Muslim American students’ acculturation and identity development within North American educational institutions from such a transformative-emancipatory perspective. The purpose is to show if relationships exist between external contextual factors, acculturation strategies, and the development of their religious identity. Interviews were conducted with 13 alumnae of a full-time K-8 Islamic school in southern California to examine the effect of various school environments on the development of a salient religious identity and their integration into American society. The voices and perspectives of this group of “exemplar Muslim youth” (18 – 25 years old) were elicited to enlighten and transform efforts toward expanding cultural proficiency and inclusive educational institutions.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Nariman, Nahid
- Description:
- This dissertation is a mixed methods exploratory case study on the implementation of problem-based inquiry. The trend of technological changes have created a wave of global change, brought new understanding of learning, and requires a shift in education to develop and accommodate proficiency in 21st century skills and competencies. As a result, in many countries, including the United States, the push to benchmark educational standards is in place to prepare students for success in college and careers. The narrow nature of traditional teaching strategies that currently prevails in schools has been branded as one of the reasons for students’ low performance. In particular, teacher-centered didactic instruction with the goal of preparing students for high stakes testing has led to a “teaching to the test” pattern rather than focusing on deeper understanding. This study argues that problem-based inquiry is a strategy that can help students gain and retain knowledge better and longer. Problem-based inquiry’s promise of creating a rigorous academic environment in which all students can be engaged and involved, as well have the opportunity for a better understanding of learning materials and a fuller construction of knowledge is attained. Recognizing that knowledge is socially constructed, this study examined problem-based learning as the involvement of both teachers and students in the construction of their own knowledge. The overarching purpose was to examine if, by implementing problem-based inquiry, a school that followed a prescribed curriculum with a teacher-centered instruction approach was able to transform its teaching pedagogy to a more student-centered environment that focuses on student’ success and prepares them for today’s globalized high tech world. For this reason in Phase I eighteen teachers participated in semi-structured interviews, and in Phase II nineteen teachers participated in focus group interviews. Furthermore, selected classrooms and teacher collaboration meetings and classrooms were observed to explore the ease and benefits of its implementation, while probing its barriers. In addition, teachers’ lesson plans and students’ work were examined to corroborate with interviews and observations data. This study offers recommendations to policy makers and educators in taking steps towards meeting the requirements for the Next Generation Science Standards.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Thompson, Pamela W.
- Description:
- The disproportional representation of Black students in special education has been an issue of concern for many years in the United States. A review of the literature illustrates the struggle of African American children in the American educational system: from the Civil Rights Movement and desegregation to the re-segregation of these same children into special day classrooms. What the literature fails to report is how parental involvement might help educators address the problem of overrepresentation and the perceptions of the families who are affected by their children being placed in special educational settings. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the experiences and perceptions of African American parents who have male children receiving special education services in schools. Critical race theory was utilized as a framework to examine and challenge the manner in which race and racism impacts practices and procedures by school personnel dealing with African American parents. As such, qualitative data were gathered and analyzed to bring to light African American parents’ experiences with the special education system servicing their male children. Many of the parents in this study stated that they had experienced obstacles that prevented them from meaningful participation in the educational planning for their children as members of the IEP process. The perceived obstacles that limited their parental involvement in special education were the following: communication between parents and the IEP team members; knowledge of special education laws; parental rights and roles in the process; African American academic success and placement; and school staff understanding of African American students culture and the need for diversity. The findings of this study yield important implications for policy and practice. These changes require a paradigm shift towards inclusive educational practices that support all students in the general education setting and a renewed commitment to improving parental involvement among African American parents at both the site and district levels. Educational leaders can support this shift through providing professional development and trainings to parents and site administrators on the legal guidelines established by Public Law 94-142 (IDEA). Future research include studies which could provide the field with more information as to why inequities in special education continue to plague African American males and their families.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Ghanbari, Sheena
- Description:
- The arts represent a range of visual and performance based fields that have shown to have profound intrinsic and cognitive benefits. Building on this premise, one of the emerging ways to integrate the arts with other academic disciplines is the inclusion of the arts with the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) learning, renaming it STEAM. This qualitative study aims to understand the experiences of individuals that have pioneered university programs that integrate the arts with STEM and to share student learning experiences within these interdisciplinary programs. Bolman and Deal’s theories of organizational development, sociocultural theory, and experiential learning theory are the three guiding frameworks in the analysis of leadership and student learning in the selected university programs. Using a collective case study methodology, I compare and contrast extant and interview data to paint the picture of two distinct university programs.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Viaud, Karina M.
- Description:
- There is a national concern for the successful completion of the doctoral degree in graduate programs that needs attention because approximately half of doctoral students earn the degree and the other half of doctoral students do not attain the degree. Furthermore, the completion rate for a doctoral degree is much lower for African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics whom are largely represented as first-generation. First-generation African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics have been reported as less likely to pursue a doctoral degree, and their experiences in the doctoral program have been less documented. The literature review reviews characteristics of recipients and non-recipients of the doctoral degree, enrollment status in graduate school, and experiences of those enrollees. Seen in this light, first-generation African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics–documented as less likely to enroll in graduate school and even less likely to be recipients of the doctoral degree–are viewed as being disadvantaged by virtue of the characteristics they hold upon entering the program, which influences the doctoral experience. However, this dissertation set forth to view this population’s experience influenced by specific interactions emphasizing their racial/ethnic and first-generation identities. The theories of symbolic interactionism, resilience and practice assisted in conceptualizing the participants’ doctoral experiences. The study was a qualitative narrative inquiry in which experiences turned into stories were told by four first-generation African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics pursuing their doctoral degree in Education. As seen through their eyes, participants interpreted their experiences from a symbolic interactionism perspective related to the interrelationships between their own behavior and the educational environment. In other words, participants analyzed how interactions that occurred in a particular place and time shaped their experience as first-generation doctoral students of color. The author’s interest was not to compare African Americans/Blacks with Hispanics in pursuit of the doctoral degree. Rather, the interest rested with getting to know shared and divergent experiences among the participants to understand their journey in pursuit of the doctoral degree.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Ly, Pearl
- Description:
- College and university libraries are facing numerous challenges and need strong, effective leadership to meet student needs. Higher education is in crisis and restructuring of organizational structures is commonly utilized for cost-saving purposes. Academic libraries are not exempt from organizational change due to limited or reduced funding. Library budgets have been severely reduced and these cuts impact library resources and personnel. Community colleges are an overlooked segment of higher education and there is a wide gap in the library and information science literature on community college library administrative models, leadership, and librarianship practice. Using a combined multi-frame leadership model and competing values framework, this study examined library administrative practices in the California Community College (CCC) system and explored the experiences of community college library leaders, or chief librarians. The research design of this study was a mixed-method convergent parallel study that used quantitative and qualitative methods to answer two main research questions. Extant data on chief librarians and content analysis of CCC library administrative job advertisements were used to review library administrative practices. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews and document analysis were utilized to examine what it means to be a chief librarian and their leadership perspectives. The study revealed a wide variety of administrative practices in the CCC libraries by chief librarian titles, roles, duties, education, and external reporting. Extant data analysis indicated that more than half of designated chief librarians have a faculty role such as department chair or director. Traditional library manager positions, dedicated deans and directors, have been or are being combined with other college functions such as technology/online education and/or academic/college programs. Job ad content analysis indicated growth in additional library administrator duties in the areas of staff development, tutoring, distance education, and instructional technology. Furthermore, six main themes emerged from chief librarian participant interviews: (1) supervision, (2) collaboration, (3) shared governance, (4) lack of resources, (5) marginalization, and (6) credentialed librarian managers.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
62. Understanding Underrepresented Minority Academic Librarians’ Motivation to Lead in Higher Education
- Creator:
- Olivas, Antonia P.
- Description:
- In answer to the call for diversity, the American Library Association (ALA) made a commitment to recruit underrepresented minority individuals into the field oflibrarianship. However, retention and promotion of underrepresented minority librarians is still a challenge for most libraries, especially in higher education. With the increase of underrepresented minority students attending colleges and universities in the United States, the need for more underrepresented minority academic librarians, especially in leadership, is important. Using Motivation to Lead (MTL) theory, (which measures three correlated factors: Affective Identity, Non-Calculative Identity, and Social-Normative Identity), this mixed-methods study focused on understanding the motivations that help underrepresented minority academic librarians stay in the library profession and pursue leadership positions within the field. This study examined the impact of minority library leader underrepresentation in academic libraries and delved into their motivations to lead in predominately White academic library environments. A mixed-method approach using the MTL survey and semi-structured interviews with underrepresented minority academic librarians (specifically African American/Black and Hispanic/Latin@ librarians) examined individuals’ motivations to lead and explored how understanding those motivations can help increase the retention and promotion rates of underrepresented minority academic librarians in positions of leadership. Findings indicate that although a majority of academic librarians scored highest on a national survey on the Non-Calculative Identity scale, Social Normative Identity and Affective Identity do not score much lower. This means that participants in the national survey tend to lead others without heavily considering the cost, as opposed to those who lead based on a sense of obligation or a sense of pleasure. One-on-one interviews with African American/Black and Hispanic/Latin@ academic librarians reveal more in-depth reasons behind why they chose to stay in the profession including their sense of obligation, their feelings of reward, and their disappointment with diversity efforts in academic libraries. Implications of the study are also discussed for academic library settings.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Jenkins-Martin, Tracey
- Description:
- Numerous studies have documented the importance of the classroom teacher, the personal and professional experiences that the teacher brings to the classroom, and teacher professional development in improving schools for diverse students. Teachers with high self-efficacy feel good about themselves and their students. They feel that their work is important and that their work with students will have a positive and long lasting impact on student learning. This study examined the relationship between the possible affects that culturally relevant pedagogy and responsive teaching strategies can have on the self-efficacy of teachers in working with students of color. This qualitative study involved up to two in-depth interviews with six teachers. An analysis of the data uncovered that teachers had a lack of coursework and subsequent training in culturally responsive strategies and culturally relevant pedagogy. The study also revealed that the teachers enjoyed working with students of color and had a moderate to high sense of self-efficacy. Though the teachers encountered challenges in working with their population of students, they each felt that they could make a positive difference with their students. The results showed that although there was evidence of good teaching and pedagogical practices in these classrooms, the practices and pedagogy were not reflective of those documented in classrooms that regularly demonstrate and embed culturally responsive teaching or culturally relevant pedagogical practices that move students toward advocacy as viewed through a social justice lens. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Conklin, Erik Richard
- Description:
- The purpose of this exploratory and descriptive qualitative study was to understand the data used by teachers and administrators to determine the benefits of time spent in after-school athletics and exercise programs on the academic performance of students in three continuation high schools in California. Using student focus group interviews, teacher and staff interviews, and document analysis, this study seeks to understand the nature of after-school athletics and exercise programs in these schools, how they meet the needs of these students, and the role of administrators and teachers in leading these programs and tracking how these programs may benefit students academically as well as physically. Key findings include a relationship between funding and increased teacher investment of providing after-school activities, as well as a positive relationship between adults who are on campus all day and the social-emotional investment and connection of the students to the school and their own learning. Key data sources are generally not systemically used to measure growth in behavior, investment, or academic growth, despite myriad sources of data for analysis. Students report feeling more invested in school when it seems adults through the day are caring about them by checking on their progress, even ifuseful data is not systematically used. Implications of this study span across leadership, practitioner, and policy considerations; research constructs; and theoretical concepts. Key factors to consider when implementing an effective program include financial support, facility considerations, preexisting physical resources, staff knowledge and interest, and an understanding of the importance of the program. Recommendations include conducting pre- and post- engagement surveys, tracking changes in grades, credit acquisition, and behavior, maintaining funding for after-school physical education programs for typically low-socioeconomic status students, recruiting facilitators who are also teachers on continuation school campuses during the regular school hours, using existing data sources to guide decisions, and reconsidering theoretical frameworks to better understand the student-in-context as an individual with agency to pursue healthy relationships with adults via mentoring frameworks for interactions which will facilitate resiliency and positive health habits.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Contreras, Mary E
- Description:
- The achievement gap, the disparity in the academic performance ofstudents, especially in groups ofminority students and students oflow socioeconomic status in relation to the academic performance oftheirpeers (Abramson, 2006), has been a disturbing reality of our education system since public education's inception in the 1800s. Neither the legal sanctions ofBrown v. Board ofEducation in 1954 nor the more recent 2002 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act have had the intended impact on closing the achievement gap. A primary barrier to the change necessary for improving education is the low expectations teachers often have toward certain groups of students (Allen, 1999). The purpose ofthis study was to explore teachers' perceptions and expectations oftheir Hispanic students. In this qualitative study, transcripts ofdialogue from conversations held in professional learning communities were analyzed to discern underlying teachers' beliefs about the majority Hispanic students attending the Arts Magnet K-8 public school. The study found that teachers do have particular perceptions and expectations for their Hispanic students. The researcher also discovered that conversations around race are difficult. The implication is that in order to bring about systemic change in the educational system, educators must acknowledge and be willing to address that their perceptions and expectations can impact a student's academic achievement.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Mayes, Terrance
- Description:
- In the current technological era, the number of minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is a crucial factor in predetermining the economic growth of the United States. Since the minority population is growing at much faster rates than the non-minority population, the lack of proportionate production of minority engineers poses a threat to the United States’ ability to remain a global competitor in technological innovation. Sixty-three per cent (63%) of undergraduate students who enter engineering majors continue on to graduate in that major. The graduation rate, however, for African-American, Hispanic, and Native-American students in engineering is significantly lower at 39%. As this group represents only a small fraction of the annual student enrollment, engineering programs are graduating these minority groups at rates that are greatly disproportionate to United States demographics. Therefore, researchers are thoroughly investigating certain initiatives that promote academic success among underrepresented minority students in engineering. Colleges and universities have attempted to address the growing achievement gap between underrepresented minority and non-minority engineering students, predominately through various deficit-based interventions, focusing on the student’s flaws and problems. As the pipeline for minorities in engineering continues to narrow, it begs the question of whether institutions are focusing on the right solutions to the problem. Critical Race Theory scholars argue that colleges and universities must address institutional climate issues around students, such as racism, microaggressions, and marginalization, before members of oppressed groups can truly succeed. This dissertation explored the unique experiences of underrepresented minority engineering students in a predominately White and Asian campus.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Scinski, Lidia
- Description:
- A lack of social capital can be a critical factor impeding underrepresented minority (URM) students from obtaining the mathematical and scientific background required to achieve educational and career success in STEM fields. In this study, the effects of generating and utilizing social capital within an informal STEM outreach summer camp are examined as resources in strengthening the academic pipeline for Hispanic students towards careers in STEM. Empirical studies have shown that economically disadvantaged and minority students experience larger learning losses during “unschooled” periods of time than their middle-class and White counterparts. The “faucet theory” explains how the achievement gap widens during unschooled periods of time when the resource faucet is turned off and families of students from disadvantaged backgrounds are unable to make up for these resources. Consequently, minority and students of disadvantaged backgrounds are quickly shortcircuited in taking advantage of opportunities to pursue careers in STEM fields. To address the research questions, this study employed a qualitative research design, specifically an instrumental case study design using mixed methods within a bounded program. The methods included multiple measures to collect and analyze data from focus group interviews, electronic documents, observations, and survey administrations. The sample population included forty-nine Hispanic 7th and 8th grade students from middle schools in San Diego County. Results of the study demonstrated that the informal STEM outreach summer camp positively impacted Hispanic students and increased interest and attitudes toward STEM choices. STEM programs offered during out-of-school time need to be relationship based to support young students’ social and emotional development (Goldstein, Lee, & Chung, 2010). The resource faucet continued to flow during the summer for iQUEST science camp participants because they were able to tap into social capital in the surrounding community. More specifically, participants were able to generate social capital in two key forms of institutional support: “funds of knowledge” and “emotional and moral support”.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Brockett, Bryan
- Description:
- School vision and mission statements – collectively known as guiding statements – define organizational purpose and should serve to guide the course of the school and the outcomes that it hopes to achieve. Though guiding statements have received much attention in the business literature, school vision has been subject to limited empirical review and school mission statements have been largely ignored in the school research literature. Although many schools have guiding statements, school leaders may not be well versed in the development and application of such an organizational management principle that has been developed and studied primarily in the business world. This paper presents the findings of a case study of one new school’s experience developing and implementing a set of guiding statements. The development of the school’s statements of purpose, vision, and values provided the starting point for building a site-based leadership team and the guiding statements provided the backdrop to the planning work that was done prior to the school’s opening and throughout its first year of operation. Teachers, staff, and the principal reflected on these experiences and the role that the school guiding statements played in the development of the leadership team and in defining the identity of the school. The findings were consistent with the findings on guiding statements in the existing literature: regular communication of the guiding statements provided reinforcement of the concepts they contained, the guiding statements provided a reference point for the work that was done at the site, and alignment of action to the guiding statements was a factor in the perception of their value. The data analysis also revealed several factors perceived as important to the guiding statement development process. The study is grounded in a strengths-based approach to research and data analysis that centers on the aspects of the mutual learning model (Schwarz, 2013) that benefitted the guiding statement development and implementation process.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Brown, Ebon
- Description:
- The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the lived experiences of Career Technical Education (CTE) concentrators. In order to accomplish this, the study utilized a narrative inquiry design to understand the experiences of CTE concentrators from the perspective of the students themselves. The objective was to fill a large gap in the existing empirical research surrounding CTE. This dissertation utilized a semi-structured interview protocol and solicited the input of 13 study participants at one traditional high school in Southern California. Each participant was a high school 12th grade student enrolled in the final course of their CTE Program of Study (POS). Students were asked questions regarding how they arrived in their CTE-POS, what their academic and social experiences were, and how their POS has influenced their future career aspirations. Students were asked a series of 30 questions investigating the intrinsic and external factors that contributed to the participant’s actions of enrolling and maintaining their commitment through their CTE POS. The data were reduced down to four major themes representing the significant findings of the study: External Factors that Drive Student Connections, Intrinsic Motivators, Curricular Relevancy, and Self-Assessment. Additional findings included a significant lack of early and sustained career counseling, a focus on college entrance eligibility requirements versus career counseling, and 100% of participants being on track to graduate high school. Furthermore, each participant had a positive connection to their CTE teacher, their school, and other students due to their experiences in CTE. Unfortunately, there were very little academic connections from one class to the next. Participants had a difficult time seeing the relevance of their non-CTE classes and many of them looked forward to attending their CTE classes because of a strong desire to learn something new in a course they chose. These findings resulted in a need for CTE teachers and academic teachers to collaborate in order to establish relevant academic courses that directly relate to student’s career interests. Additionally, the need for high quality CTE-POS was established. Schools that strive to connect their students academically and socially would benefit greatly from making CTE-POS available to all students.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Barrios, Gilberto D
- Description:
- This case study explored how teachers who practice in the border region of San Diego and Tijuana implemented the professional development skills modeled for them in the Border Pedagogy Institute. Participants in this study educated Transnational Latino Immigrant students (TLI) on both sides of the border. An analysis of interviews of educators from both sides of the US/Mexican border revealed the transformation of xviii educators and their practice influenced by professional development shaped by critical pedagogy applied to the border region, Border Pedagogy. A unique forum to address common educational issues related to educating borderland students, Border Pedagogy events provided teachers with multiple opportunities to converse about issues related to educating TLI students. Results of this case study highlighted differences and similarities in the systems on either side of the border, the unique needs of TLI students, concerns about standardized testing in a second language, sensitivity to the culture of students, the importance of using primary language support, and the value of face to face conversations to build relationships between teachers on both sides of the border. Mutual respect and understanding of each other's work was developed, cross border teaching and implementation of the modeled strategies occurred, and a commitment was made by participants to change current instructional practice to better serve TLI students. This study also created additional questions that could serve as the focus of future studies in the borderlands between Mexico and the United States, specifically in the Tijuana/ San Diego region.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Deavers, Cynthia Marie
- Description:
- This multiple case study is a description and analysis of the self-perceived leadership strengths of five K-12 school site principals who earned National Board Certification as classroom teachers. Individuals in this group have all been assessed against nationally set norms of performance and knowledge relative to curriculum, instruction, and assessment which is crucial to successful leadership at the school site (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005). The idea that site principals who earned National Board Certification as classroom teachers may bring a greater focus on curriculum, instruction, and assessment to the principalship and therefore be a resource for administrator recruitment is the impetus for this study. The theoretical framework supporting this study is research on effective school leadership, National Board Certification, leadership selfperception, and transformational learning theory. Using a mixed-methods approach, data collected from a survey based on leadership responsibilities as defined in the literature was augmented with interviews and document analysis for each case. The researcher analyzed data for patterns, evidence of alignment between the National Board Certification process and leadership strengths, and commonalities across cases in self-perceived leadership strengths. Findings of the study indicate common self-perceptions of leadership strengths within three aspects of leadership (philosophical, relational, and technical) with most alignment occurring within the relational aspect. All study participants reported self-perceived strengths in six of 21 leadership responsibilities identified in the literature: ideals and beliefs; input; knowledge of curriculum, instruction, and assessment; monitoring and evaluating; outreach; and visibility. All study participants cite the National Board Certification process as a valuable professional development activity that encourages reflective leadership practice. All study participants also believe their confidence in the area of curriculum, instruction, and assessment stems from the validation they received when certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Further study is indicated to determine the correlation of NBCT -principals' leadership selfperceptions with the perceptions of their staff members, the impact of NBCTprincipals on student achievement, and the impact of formalized self-reflection on successful transformational leadership practices.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Gustafson, Kathleen Yoshino
- Description:
- Online learning in higher education has increased substantially over the past five years with community colleges in the forefront of most of this growth. The California Community Colleges System, the nation's largest higher education system, has increased its online offerings among its 110 colleges. But student success rates for online learning have not matched up to that of the traditional face-to-face class. This study was conducted at a southern California community college with a student population of about 18,000. This study is based on the theoretical framework of adult learning principles. The application of two assumptions of adult learning principles--self-directedness and intrinsic motivation--to online courses is studied in two social science courses. Using the Adult Learning Inventory developed by Colton (2002), instructional methods based on adult learning principles have been investigated to understand the intrinsic motivation and self-directedness of online learners in the community college setting. This is a multiple-case study design with embedded units of analysis. The study intends to inform online course developers of components toward an online pedagogical construct that addresses adult learners in the community college context.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Hizer, Suzanne Elizabeth
- Description:
- Higher education in science has been criticized and calls to increase student learning and persistence to degree has been recognized as a national problem by the Department of Education, the National Science Foundation, the National Research Council, and the National Academy of Sciences. One mode of academic assistance that may directly address this issue is the implementation of Supplemental Instruction (SI) in science courses. SI is a specific model of academic assistance designed to help students in historically difficult science classes master course content, thus increasing their academic achievement and retention. This study assessed the SI program at California State University, San Marcos, in supported science courses. Specifically, academic achievement based on final course grades were compared between SI participating and nonparticipating students, multiple affective factors were measured at the beginning and end of the semester, and students' perceptions of the classroom and SI session learning environments recorded. Overall, students who attended five or more SI sessions achieved higher final course grades. Students who chose to participate in SI had higher initial levels of responsibility and anxiety. Additionally, SI participants experienced a reduction in anxiety over the semester whereas nonparticipants experienced an increase in anxiety from beginning to the end of the semester. The learning environment of SI embodies higher levels of constructivist principles of active learning such as cooperation, cohesiveness, innovation, and personalization -with one exception for the physics course, which is a based on problem-based learning. Structural equation modeling of variables indicates that high self-efficacy at the end of the semester is directly related to high final course grades; this is mediated by cohesion in the classroom and the cooperation evidenced in SI sessions. These findings are elaborated by student descriptions of what happened in SI sessions and discussed given the theoretical frameworks ofBandura's concept of selfefficacy and learning environment activities that embody constructivist principles.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Jensen Christine M
- Description:
- Organizational change has become a frequent occurrence within institutions of higher education. Certainly, change initiatives are not new to community colleges. In light of the recent financial crisis, colleges and universities are facing hard budget decisions which impact student enrollment, faculty assignments, and facility improvements and maintenance. Concomitantly, changing student population, influx of private and corporate colleges, and rapidly increasing technology are also creating conditions for organizational changes within community colleges. The vast number of internal and external forces pushing higher education institutions into large organizational changes has created a difficult and stressful working environment for many employees. This study investigated the role of community college administration in creating a culture of support, communication, and trust among classified staff during times of organizational change. Survey data explored classified staff members and administrators' perceptions of support, communication, and trust, while interview data provided insight into classified staff members and administrators' perceptions of organizational change. The results of this qualitative study suggested that although there are areas for improvement, both College S and College N are providing support and communication, and maintaining trust with employees. Classified staff members perceived that leadership supported them, provided them with satisfactory communication, and were trustworthy. Administrators perceived that they supported their staff, provided communication, and were trusted by their employees, though there were some discrepancies between their espoused behaviors and their actions as perceived by staff. Both classified staff members and administrators felt that there was support, communication, and trust during organizational change, whether financially driven or not. Surprisingly, at least two other factors emerged from employees as influential to organizational change. Some employees expressed that administrators can strengthen trust and create an environment of successful and sustainable change by expanding their support efforts and increasing their communication through constant evaluation.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Laughlin, Mary E
- Description:
- The primary purpose of this descriptive, multiple case study was to examine the leadership practices of the Advancement Via Individual Determination, or AVID site team at three secondary school sites as it performed the work of fulfilling the mission of AVID to prepare all students for college readiness and success in a global society. Three highly distinguished AVID schools were selected to participate in the study. Qualitative data were gathered via one-on-one interviews with four key site team members from each site, several site team meeting observations at each school and a review of various documents collected from the individual AVID school sites. The research questions were addressed and a rich description of the distributed leadership practices of the AVID site team was developed and analyzed with the support of Hyper RESEARCH tools. Findings indicate leadership practice is distributed, yet even when a strong site team and an excellent program that achieves good results for AVID students is in place, it does not guarantee the demonstration sites will be impacting overall school achievement. The study concluded that in order for the AVID site team to be successful in implementing the 11 Essentials to an institutionalized level, it will most likely require a well-developed community of practice. Attention may also need to be given to how best to distribute the leadership practices needed to achieve full implementation. Recommendations for practice and future research based on the findings are offered.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Lustig, Michelle Lisa
- Description:
- Children and youth in foster care comprise a significant subgroup of low performing students in public schools today. The current climate of accountability has created the need for education and child welfare professionals to address the unique needs of students in foster care to increase academic achievement. Additionally, recent legislation in California, such as AB490 and AB 1808 modified the Education Code and Welfare and Institutions Code. These mandates include a requirement that the unique educational circumstances of foster children are addressed by child welfare, public education and the judiciary. This study explores strategies and interventions that may increase the academic achievement of students in foster care. The study compares academic outcomes for foster youth receiving tutoring services from three different programs. These findings speak to the impact of supplemental academic support services and the practical application of these services for this vulnerable population. The findings serve to inform public education, child welfare and Foster Youth Services programs throughout the State of California and across the United States.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- McNamara, Catherine Louise
- Description:
- Effectiveness in education is a national concern and reform efforts continue to be championed with the hope of stimulating improvement to more effectively meet the needs of all students. Many reform efforts include a focus on teacher professional development to strengthen teacher pedagogy and positively impact student achievement. Rapid expansion and increased use of technology have created opportunities that never existed before to support teachers. Online, as an alternative to traditional face-to-face professional development, is currently underutilized in K-12 school districts. This study intended to investigate successful models of online professional development to inform district decision-making at the local level. K-12 teachers from fifteen states, who participated in a successful online professional development experience, were invited to complete a survey to provide insight about how a professional development experience positively impacted their teaching, learning, and classroom. Of the 328 teachers who responded, three people were interviewed to learn more about their particular online professional development experience. Study findings show that participants highly value online professional development because of the convenience, accessibility, and ability to self-pace and differentiate learning. Online professional development has the unique potential to foster reflection, deep thought, and analysis particularly when there is the potential to interact with an online professional learning community over time. A significant finding is that teachers thrive on the interaction and sharing of ideas between colleagues in jobalike situations. Additionally, findings show that when teachers participate with face-toface school or grade-level teams online, they reap even greater learning benefits. The majority of participants found that online professional development helped them improve their knowledge of curriculum and instructional strategies and improved their technology skills. They learned ways to improve their classrooms to meet the needs of diverse student populations and helped validate effective practices that were already firmly in place. Educational leaders should consider online professional development as a strong viable option to improve teacher practice. Findings suggest that district leaders should recommend State Department of Education and commercial online learning opportunities that are subject-area focused and aligned to district/school goals. They should encourage teacher teams to participate together online and face-to-face to deepen learning. By recommending specific online learning experiences and encouraging teachers to participate together, districts will be well served by the effective online professional development offerings that are available.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Mintz, Lee M
- Description:
- Transgender college students face discrimination, harassment, and oppression on college and university campuses; consequently leading to limited academic and social success. Current literature is focused on describing the experiences of trans gender students and the practical implications associated with attempting to meet their needs (Beemyn, 2005; Beemyn, Curtis, Davis, & Tubbs, 2005). This study examined the perceptions of trans gender inclusion, ways in which leadership structures or entities include/exclude trans gender students, and effects of inclusive/exclusive language on transgender students through student's own words and experiences. Consistent with methods to utilize critical theories, students participated in individual interviews regarding their experiences on campus and reviewed campus documents. Findings indicate that while participants of this study did experience some negative reactions on campus, by allowing them to tell their stories we are allowed glimpses into more important (and less talked about) facets oftheir lives including stereotypes of the transgender community, privileges of being transgender, and the need for individual identification. Critical theory, critical race theory, and feminist theory allowed for deeper analysis of knowledge and truth and the creation of critical trans gender theory. Critical trans gender theory encourages the questioning of the gender binary, the categorization of transgender people as "other," and the impact that challenging this categorization has on the transgender population.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Nelson, Joan M
- Description:
- Much research has been conducted on effective schools and school reform efforts. However, many schools are failing to meet the NCLB demands and an increasing number of schools are falling under the "in needs of improvement" sanctions, especially in the corrective action phase. The schools in the corrective action phase are those that have not Xlll met Yearly Adequate Progress (A YP) for three consecutive years. Current research suggests there may be more to school reform than intellectual and human capital investment. Reform efforts may require a shift in the way that change strategies are conceptualized and enacted within schools and the districts in which they reside. This shift would involve a move from a spotlight on individualized segments of the organization to engaging the entire system in a connected network. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the processes school staff used to diagnose problems, define solutions, and access effective strategies in corrective action schools. It also investigated how these schools implemented these reforms; determined in what ways and to what extent these reform efforts were diffused through the schools using the social networks of information, innovation, trust, knowledge, and communication; and the district's role in supporting reform. The study utilized a mixed methods case study design and analyzed results through the lens of organizational learning and social network analysis theories. The study involved two secondary schools in corrective action Year 3 in a large urban district. This study was intended to extend prior research and contribute to theory, policy and practice.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Mahaffey, Patricia A
- Description:
- Violations of academic integrity occur frequently throughout the nation's colleges and universities. How this phenomenon is addressed differs among institutions with some proactively embedding a culture of integrity through curricular and co-curricular approaches and others addressing it superficially through mission statements and campus policies. The research focus on academic integrity has largely analyzed the problem quantitatively, primarily paying attention to student characteristics associated with academic dishonesty, the role of peer perception's, the classroom environment, and organizational factors influencing the institution's culture of integrity. This multiple embedded case study explores the student perspective after an academic integrity violation has occurred by examining in what ways students accept responsibility for an integrity violation and ultimately derive a sense of meaning from their experience. Information derived from individual interviews, document analysis and survey data provide a critical vantage point that can serve to align an institutions response to academic integrity violations more closely with a student developmental approach. Students varied in their response to assuming responsibility for a cheating incident with some students engaging in neutralizing behaviors but the majority of those students interviewed exhibited strong remorse and contrition. Subsequently, those students who marginalized the experience reported less overall meaning derived from the incident than those students who more readily assumed personal responsibility. The impact of a cheating incident for the majority of students resulted in a profound learning opportunity.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Pesavento-Conway, Jennifer Jean
- Description:
- Nationally, the problem of teacher retention compounds the unstable nature of the educational situation, especially in urban, high-needs schools. Much of the instability of urban schools is due to teacher movement, the migration of teachers from school to another school within or between school districts, particularly from high-needs schools. Existing quantitative research about teacher movement cites working conditions generally as an area for improvement; however, the voices of teachers and details about their experiences are missing from the existing body of research. This qualitative study, situated in an approach of Appreciative Inquiry, was conducted in one small high school district that serves a mid-sized city in Southern California. This school district consisted of four high schools with the following variables: two comprehensive schools with higher percentages of students of color and lower socio-economic status; one comprehensive school with lower percentages of students of color and higher socio-economic status; and one continuation school with higher percentages of students of color and lower socio-economic status. Using similar representation from each high school, there are many individual variables concerning the fifteen participants: the variety ofrace and gender; the wide range in years of experience and the number of previous school sites of employment; and, the representation of many academic departments. Participants identified the working conditions and support most influential to them. The following are the findings based on their input, listed in order of significance: colleague support, professional development, district hiring practices, site administrator support, district office support, autonomy, teaching assignments, workplace culture, personal satisfaction, communication, respect, and teacher induction support. Implications regarding the employment ofworking conditions by school district personnel and school site administrators to increase teacher retention are discussed in chapter five. These implications include (a) the creation of a respectful workplace culture, (b) the utilization of communication with teachers, the provision of individualized and site-based support for novice teachers, (c) the distribution of an equitable schedule of classes to all teachers, (d) the implementation of information-rich hiring practices, (e) the emphasis of the focus on student learning, and (f) the presentation of constructive feedback about instructional practices to promote professional growth of teachers.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Porter, William A
- Description:
- This mix methods study focused on the development and potential long-term sustainability of collective efficacy and the role leadership played in a collaborative professional learning community (PLC) environment. In schools across the United States, program improvement initiatives have been implemented to help close the achievement gap to meet the proficiency requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. Research suggests that teachers are more likely to meet the achievement gap demands if they: (a) work in collaboration with other teachers, (b) are supported and encouraged to look at student work and other achievement data together, (c) design and co-teach lessons and review their effects, and, (d) plan appropriate interventions collectively. One reform method that supports collaborative teacher work and has empirically shown potential in a number of studies in improving student achievement is professional learning communities (PLCs ). This study investigated the role of leadership in developing and sustaining collective efficacy in a specific PLC reform model designed by DuFour and Eaker (1998). The study's quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, multiple regression analysis, bivariate correlation tests, ANOV A tests, and structural equation modeling (SEM) testing. Qualitative data were analyzed to support and triangulate the quantitative findings. The results indicated that there were no statistical differences between groups when analyzing study participant demographic data. The variables ofPLCs, collective efficacy, and transformational leadership were positively correlated using bivariate correlations testing. It was also determined that the PLC sub-construct of "collective goals" had a stronger predictive influence on the collective efficacy and transformational leadership constructs compared to the PLC subconstructs of"collective actions" and "focus on results." In the SEM model, "collective goals" again presented as the strongest predictive influence on the collective efficacy subconstructs of"task analysis" and "group competence." Structural equation modeling also determined that the transformational leadership sub-construct of "transforming the organization" had the strongest predictive influence on total PLC and total collective efficacy.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
83. Elementary physical education programs: in what ways might leaders best facilitate positive change?
- Creator:
- Rhine, Christa D
- Description:
- The overwhelming evidence that supports coupling a healthy diet with proper exercise suggests that schools can help target the growing epidemic of childhood obesity through physical education instruction. However, because of pressure to perform well on standardized testing, a lack of funding, and limited time in the school day, physical education often does not get the attention it needs. This mixed-methods study explored the perceptions of superintendents, principals, and teachers in the area of physical education instruction. Data collected offered insight into current program quality at the time of the study, as well as ideas as to what might make physical education stronger. The results suggested that superintendents felt time, budget constraints, a lack of desired personnel, and accountability pressures in the core academic areas affected their abilities to sufficiently oversee physical education programs. Principals stated the lack of accountability by the state and district, funding, and the absence of professional development negatively affected physical education. Finally, teachers, despite having a personal connection to the subject and feeling confident they can deliver high quality instruction, stated a lack of equipment, standardized test pressure, limited time, and a lack of ongoing professional development stood in their way of providing high quality physical education instruction.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Smith, Prapanna (Randall)
- Description:
- psychosocial learning environments and student satisfaction with their education as mediated by Agentic Personal Meaning. The interdisciplinary approach of the study integrated the fields of Learning Environment Research (LER), Existential Meaning Research (EMR), and Positive Psychology Research (PPR). A review of the literature within each field is provided. The mixed methods study included a quantitative phase in which a postulated model was tested using structural equation modeling to determine goodness-to-fit with data obtained from secondary and college level students in two progressive private schools in India. Findings indicate that the learning environment variables, Teacher Support, Task Orientation, Cooperation, Student Cohesiveness, Involvement, and Equity were significantly correlated with student Satisfaction with Education and with Agentic Personal Meaning. Findings also provide evidence that existential meaning and life-purpose mediates the relationships between the psychosocial learning environment variables, Teacher Support, Task Orientation, and Cooperation, and the outcome variable, student Satisfaction with Education. A qualitative phase explored through focus group interviews of school leaders and teachers how they foster meaning and purpose in the lives of their students. The data indicated that deep interpersonal relationships between students and teachers, freedom and opportunities for students to explore their interests through a wide variety of co-curricular activities, and an intention among teachers to expressly inspire students to become conscious, all taking place within a strong community context, serves to promote the development of meaning and purpose in the lives of students.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Steitz, Matthew Harold
- Description:
- An embedded, single-case study was conducted to make a disciplined inquiry into campus supervision at South Main High School'. The study examined the campus supervision program currently being used by the school. At the time of this dissertation, very little literature existed in the area of campus supervision programs. The goal of this dissertation was to answer the following research questions: How can a proactive campus supervision program that focuses on the concepts of resiliency can create a safer 1 South Main High School is a pseudonym for the school in this study to increase the anonymity of the participants. school environment, how do teachers view campus supervisors, how do administrators view campus supervisors, and how do students perceive the role of campus supervision? Five data sources contributed to the results section of this case study. The five data sources include: 823 student surveys, 52 teacher surveys, 3 administrator questionnaires, 4 campus supervisor interviews, and 4 student interviews. The student survey was designed to measure students' rapport with campus supervisors, students' perception of the work that campus supervisors do, and student trust of campus supervisors. The survey consisted of five descriptive questions followed by twenty statements requiring a degree of "unlikely or likely" responses along a Likert scale. The teacher survey was a modification of the student survey. The administrative questionnaire was designed as a series of open ended questions designed to probe into the administration and campus supervision relationship. The campus supervisor and student interviews were also given a series of open ended questions with some probing questions as well. The significant findings include the discovery of four elements of proactive campus supervision and the creation of a model of proactive campus supervision at South Main High School.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Trickey, Edward
- Description:
- To investigate the relationships among evaluator attitudes, the role congruity biases many people consciously and unconsciously maintain, evaluation practices, perceptions of leader efficacy and success, and leader persistence in two community college settings, a mixed-methods study was conducted. Leaders are the products of their experiences, environments, the greater society within which they live, their personal attitudes and biases, and the attitudes and role biases of others. Over time, a corpus of multi -disciplinary research into the complex web of societal, professionalorganizational, and institutional attitudes, expectations, and behaviors that impact career choice decisions and career advancement opportunities for leaders, and how leaders are evaluated, has waxed and waned. A review of theoretical literature and past research relevant for application in the community college context is provided. Literature exploring four distinct research areas was analyzed, with emphasis on the latter three: (1) leadership style; (2) the functions attitudes and attributions play in leader evaluations; (3) the relevance of role congruity expectations on evaluations ofleaders; and ( 4) the variables directly influencing leader performance evaluation process outcomes. In the past several decades, women have gained increased access to middle management and some supervisory positions, yet they remain a relative rarity in positions of elite leadership and as chief executives. A role congruity bias explanation for this phenomenon in the community college setting was examined. The study employed the use of both quantitative and qualitative methods to examine questions regarding the functions of evaluator attitudes, attributions, and role congruity expectations in leader performance evaluation processes. The study consisted of an embedded two-case-study comparison, conducted in two phases. The results of this study support the assertion that gender-role attitudes, as explained by a role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders, negatively impact the professional advancement aspirations, opportunities, and persistence rates of female community college leaders.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Clark, Rebecca Peterson
- Description:
- This study examines teacher use of online communities and the effects they have on teaching and learning in the classroom. Research suggests that different types of communities positively influence organizational and individual learning for professional practice. The Internet has made available many types of online communities connecting an ever increasing number of individuals through more specialized interests. At the same time little is known about the depth of the individual experience in gaining knowledge and learning new skills in this online venue, and particularly what transfers to practice. The purpose of this study was to examine the use of online communities, through the perceptions of the user, as an important tool to improve and support professional practice. This study used two research themes to identify and describe this experience through the lens of the individual teacher experience. First, two existing models of organizational learning (Professional Learning Communities and Communities of Practice) were used to frame the value of communities to professional learning. Second, three theories of human development (self-efficacy, social, and human capital) were used to uniquely situate the individual teacher experience. Convenience samples of teachers in one large urban school district who use online communities were surveyed about their online community use (n=44). From this sample, a select group of teachers completed an open-ended semi structured electronic text based interview (n= 1 0), and of these teachers some participated in a semi structured open-ended one on one interview (n=7). Additionally (11) online community sites identified by study participants were observed. The mixed method approach allowed for the collection and analysis ofboth quantitative and qualitative data. Analysis of the data shows teachers do perceive that using online community contributes to practice. This was particularly evident for building human capital in the form of increased knowledge and skills, and building a more student centered practice. Self-efficacy and social capital were also increased as a result of using online communities. A model is provided to show the cycle of online community use and points of benefit to the individual user of online communities.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Dial, Eileen E
- Description:
- Effectiveness in education has become a national focus and reform efforts continue with the hope of increasing student achievement and more effectively meet the needs of all students. This need to focus on the achievement of all students has been driven by the sanctions school face if they do not make gains for all identified subgroups. This study investigated two schools restructured under NCLB sanctions. The primary concern was the pathways developed by each school that contributed to the distribution of leadership and the development of the characteristics of a high reliability Xl organization. In addition, the role of data driven decision making as a part of that move to high reliability was explored. Both schools received additional state funding from the Quality Education Investment Act (QEIA). A comparative case study methodology was used with data drawn from three sources, a survey, assessing distributed leadership practices and high reliability organizational characteristics, interviews, and document analysis. The purpose of the data collection was to determine the perception of leadership distribution and the role of data driven decision-making in increasing student achievement. Teachers and administrators at both schools participated in the survey and members of the leadership team were interviewed individually. The data analysis revealed that both schools achieved considerable gams m student achievement during the process of restructuring, and they varied considerably in their pattern of distributing leadership practices. In one school, leadership practices, especially data analysis and improvement strategizing, were widely distributed to teacher leaders and whole grade level teams. The other school's pattern of distributed leadership practice remained primarily in the hands of key administrators and two coaches. The study showed there are advantages and drawbacks to each approach. While a pattern of widely distributing leadership practice served to increase accountability and led to a more collaborative culture, by the third year practices faltered when key teacher leader positions shifted within grade levels or they left the school entirely. The findings indicate that maintaining the effectiveness of the distribution of leadership practice may require more careful consideration of hiring practices and placement of teachers on grade level teams. Xll The more concentrated approach to distributed leadership practice had the benefit of increasing the consistency of implementation of reform initiatives, which led to gradual but consistent gains over a three-year period. This more limited distribution of leadership practices, however, provided few opportunities or structures for teachers to own the change effort. The data revealed a lower sense of teacher efficacy and feelings of responsibility for the change effort. This lack of collective responsibility, which is critical in the development of high reliability organizations, may have long-term consequences of reform sustainability. Examination of data at both a school and team level seemed to be a critical component of student improvement at both schools. Assisting teachers in both data analysis and use to change classroom practice was undertaken in both patterns of leadership distribution. This formative use of the data can result in dramatic effects in student outcomes as evidenced by one of the fifth grade teams using their data to design a program that enabled 98% of students to become proficient or advanced in math. Educational leaders must be cognizant of the multiple components involved developing high reliability and in the distribution of leadership to turn around schools. This study showed that enhancing collective responsibility and engaging in building the capacity of a staff to use data were critical leadership practices in the improvement process regardless of the pattern of leadership distribution. Multiple factors must be considered when deciding which leadership structures and practices if distributed will enable the school to move forward and sustain the progress.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Estrada, Isaac
- Description:
- The purpose of this study was to examine how three successful high schools and districts in California allocate human and fiscal resources. This study sought to understand how successful high schools and districts serving a diverse student population link financial decisions to student achievement data. Three successful high schools and districts serving students enrolled in the Free and Reduced Price Lunch Program, the English Language Development (ELD) program, and minorities were the focus of this multiple case study. The three high schools and respective districts were systematically selected using multiple criteria including student achievement data from A YP and API reports, and student demographic information. In order to be deemed "successful" for this study, the districts and high schools needed to meet all criteria for AYP and demonstrate API growth for all subgroups. The primary sources of data collection were twelve Xlll interviews with school administrators and school board officials. The Superintendent, Chief Business Officer, a School Board Official, and a High School Principal from each of the three successful school districts were interviewed using a semi structured interview protocol developed by the authors of the project "Getting Down to Facts". The interview protocols were grounded on effective schools and educational adequacy frameworks. Key Terms: Adequacy Studies, Successful School Districts, Effective Schools, High Performing High Schools, Leadership K-12, Resource Allocation K-12, Educational Finance.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Wilson, Jannis
- Description:
- Students that have been designated English Language Learners for five or more years are Long-Term English Learners. The literature review addresses some typical characteristics and experiences of students that are Long-Term English Language Learners, and the need for culturally responsive practices to meet their needs. Teacher attitudes, perceptions about English Language Learners, positionality, and opportunities to learn are integrated into the review. The author discusses linguistic awareness and culturally responsive teaching that appropriately scaffolds instruction. Professional development and teacher attitudes are inextricably linked. For this reason, these aspects are sometimes addressed together, and at other times separately. Care Theory, Socio-Cultural Theory and Positioning Theory were used as theoretical frameworks to create a protocol that indicates teacher cultural competency. This protocol was used in a qualitative study that used a short survey, observations interviews and extant data to address teacher cultural competency and its relation to the LTEL academic experience. The results of the study indicate that empathy and caring for students is the foundational and most prominent disposition in meeting the needs of LTEL students. Other dispositions that are significant are self-analysis and being a reflective practitioner, analyzing one’s own teaching practice and seeking pedagogy that meets the needs of students. Culturally competent instruction is indicated as a cyclical and recurring process of the later three dispositions. By examining teacher cultural competency, the study contributes to the literature about LTEL academic needs and has implications for leadership, professional development, teacher hiring and social justice and equity for this underserved population of students.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Miller Valencia, Grace
- Description:
- The United States is an aging nation and this trend is predicted to continue. Parallel to a population increasing in number and age, is a broadened interest in lifelong learning. More than ever, older adults are involved in informal and formal education, non-credit and credit-bearing courses; individuals are returning for associates, baccalaureate and graduate degrees. As older adults stay in the workforce longer and delay retirement, certificate and degree programs focused on improving work related skills are expanding. Older adults are also motivated to complete four-year degrees to enhance employment opportunities (Schaefer, 2010). Initiating and completing a graduate degree is a further step in lifelong learning, often based on health, cognitive skills, motivation and perseverance. There is little research describing older students’ perceptions of the value and experience of a graduate degree earned over the age of 60. This phenomenological study examines the perceived value of that graduate degree and ultimately informs future students and institutions of higher learning. It includes interviews of 21 individuals who earned a doctorate or master’s degree after the age of 60. Case vignettes of three individuals are offered to highlight narratives of their educational journeys. Study findings confirmed much of the existing scholarly literature on older adults’ motivations and experiences in graduate education, but there were also some nuanced differences. Continual dedication to lifelong learning through perseverance underscored the motivation for these individuals to complete their graduate degree. Age was never expressed as a constraint by study participants; in fact, years of life and employment experience brought to the cohort was stated as a great advantage. Participants continued employment, sought new careers, pursued writing, making of fine art, or actively volunteered following their graduate degree; few considered themselves retired. Implications for leadership in higher education institutions are also discussed. Leaders in higher education will increasingly recognize this demographic offers more depth of experience to cohort learning than expected. Individuals earning a graduate degree after age 60 provide a wider demographic of learners for institutions of higher education to access, presenting new considerations for intergenerational instruction, and increased opportunities for alumni fundraising.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
92. Homeless education: supporting student and family resilience in the face of poverty and hardship
- Creator:
- Einspar, Michele Christine
- Description:
- In 2005-2006, close to one million homeless children in our nation faced unprecedented challenges trying to access and succeed in public schools. Fortunately, legislation was enacted to support this special needs population. The types of support mentioned in the McKinney-Vento Act include: transportation to and from school, immediate enrollment in school, and access to supplemental programs and school activities. Research on homeless education identify barriers students encounter and suggestions for effective policy and strategies to support them; however, there is a gap in the literature in terms of research identifying effective program components that might facilitate academic success. The literature on resilience identifies protective components that seem to project children facing adversity onto positive pathways, such as, forming meaningful relationships, creating a caring environment, creating a sense of belonging, developing community involvement in school, and developing positive family relationships. This dissertation addresses the gaps in literature by exploring the components of district McKinney-Vento programs serving more than 1, 000 homeless students and identifies risk factors that exist in school districts with McKinney-Vento programs. Finally, this study documents protective components that exist in McKinney-Vento programs as well as the unique components that exist in programs with a higher percentage of homeless children scoring proficient on the Language Arts (LA) portion of California's Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) test. The goal of this study is to inform school leaders about effective strategies and policies that promote resilience and success in education for students living in poverty and experiencing homelessness. This study finds that district McKinney-Vento programs show evidence of facilitating academic success for homeless students. Components found include the components those identified in resilience literature and are specifically connected to addressing students' socio-emotional, basic and academic needs. Similarly risk factors were identified in all six districts and can be compared to those cited in homeless and resilience literature. Duration of the program also diminished risks and increased positive outcomes. The districts with the greatest academic success as measured by the LA portion of the STAR showed the most evidence of creating positive family connections and focusing on student and family strengths.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
93. A case study of the relationship between collective efficacy and professional learning communities
- Creator:
- Voelkel, Robert Holland
- Description:
- The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act (2001) has created a high stakes accountability climate by setting federal mandates for increasing levels of student achievement in the Kindergarten through twelfth grade public education arena. Consequently, schools and districts who fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress guidelines are subject to progressive degrees of corrective action. As a result, the role of educators takes on an even greater importance as educational researchers and policymakers seek reforms to meet the new demands placed on teachers. One model showing great promise is the professional learning community (PLC) model. Researchers continue to examine whether or not PLCs may be the impetus for increased student achievement and a possible support structure leading to the closing of the achievement gap. While these studies have been crucial in identifying effective, research-based PLC practices, they have largely ignored the fact that many schools continue to struggle in implementing and sustaining PLCs. This seems to suggest that PLC success may be determined by other factors. Using surveys, one-on-one interviews, and documentation to triangulate the data, this mixed-methods study examined the relationship between PLCs, collective efficacy, and transformational leadership. This study utilized the conceptual frameworks of DuFour and Eaker's (1998) PLC model, Goddard's (2002) collective efficacy construct, and Leithwood's (1994) transformational leadership model. This case study examined one district in Central California that successfully implemented the PLC model for the past five years. The quantitative phase resulted in 297 usable surveys containing items exploring PLC and collective efficacy characteristics. Findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between PLCs and collective efficacy as reported by descriptive, correlation, multiple regression, and structural equation modeling tests. A qualitative phase was also conducted through one-on-one interviews with teachers and principals at two K-5 and two K-8 schools demonstrating higher and lower levels of collective efficacy and more and less effective PLC teams adding depth to survey results. The data indicated that transformational leadership is essential in building and sustaining the PLC process. Findings also provided evidence that the more effective PLC teams had higher levels of perceived collective efficacy.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Ruggles, Kyle C
- Description:
- Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), federally funded schools and Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) that do not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (A YP) criteria for two consecutive years are designated Program Improvement (PI), mandating participation in school reform interventions. In February 2008, the California Department of Education (CDE) released a corrective action plan mandate requiring all LEAs, or school districts in Year 3 of PI to participate in intensive, moderate, light, or other levels of technical support that includes participation in the District Assistance and Intervention Team (DAIT) process. The DAIT process brings outside consultants and district office administrators into schools and classrooms for regular walkthroughs and assessments of improvement plan implementation. Yet little is known about how these state mandates influence teachers' instructional practices and decision-making power or agency. This study explores teachers' perceptions of the DAIT process and how agency is influenced in an urban fringe pre-kindergarten through grade 8, PI school district in California that volunteered to pilot the DAIT process during the 2006 - 2009 school years. The socio-cultural theory of learning (Gallucci, 2003) and the principal-agent theory (Ferris, 1992) guide the analysis of this embedded and longitudinal multi-case study of three middle schools and the district office within the PI school district. Rich, thick qualitative descriptions from 24 teachers and five district office administrators engaged in state mandated reform emerge from the single-case and cross-case analyses. Teachers perceive the DAIT feedback as vague and lacking in teacher involvement in classroom visitations, which led to teachers viewing the process as superficial. Yet teachers also considered the DAIT process as beneficial in increasing teacher-team reflection and collaboration around a singular, common instructional focus of reading comprehension, which seemed to be positively associated with agency. A variance of teacher agency levels was found to depend upon school context and how teachers perceived themselves while balancing the costs and benefits from DAIT feedback. Findings also reveal that the DAIT process may have compromised teacher agency due to the lack of teacher participation and involvement in the development of the process, potentially eroding teachers' sense of professionalism.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Garrity, Sarah M
- Description:
- Increased awareness of the school readiness gap, particularly for students from ethnic and linguistically diverse backgrounds, has led policy makers, researchers, and practitioners to examine the quality of language and literacy experiences of low income preschoolers. This nested case study used a mixed methods design to describe teacher language and literacy practices in a Head Start program serving predominantly dual language Mexican heritage children. Adopting a sociocultural perspective on literacy development, the research used the construct of cultural communities to examine the role of teacher beliefs, values and goals for children on espoused and enacted early literacy practices. Findings indicated a complex relationship between espoused and enacted practices that could be traced to teachers' participation in various and overlapping cultural communities. Teachers in the study struggled to name research based practices and while effective strategies were observed, they did not occur with sufficient frequency or duration to lead to improved educational outcomes for children at risk. Physical, cultural, and linguistic context mediated teacher practices in complex and multifaceted ways, which emerged as a major finding of the study. In addition, data pointed to a lack of intentional teaching and deep understanding of early childhood development in general and early language and literacy in particular. Important implication for practice emerged, including the need to continue to explore pre-service education, the role of leadership in early childhood education, and the affect of teacher beliefs on practices, including those for dual language learners.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Hernández, Ana Margarita
- Description:
- Growing numbers of English Learners (ELs) in public education are placed in a variety of second language programs across the nation. Policymakers, educators, and parents are indecisive on which programs are most beneficial for the linguistic and cultural needs of ELs. Empirical studies on two-way bilingual immersion (TWBI) programs seem to provide promising data for ELs receiving content instruction in their primary language while acquiring second language acquisition skills in classrooms XIX where students are integrated with native English speakers. The goals of TWBI programs are for all students to become bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural. This study examined the instructional strategies teachers used to develop biliteracy and cross-cultural competence in TWBI. A single case study approach allowed the researcher to gain insights about the implementation of strategies in two TWBI programs in Southern California. The methods included multiple measures to collect and analyze the data through photo-elicitation journals, appreciative inquiry interviews, lesson observations, teacher reflections, and questionnaires. The sample population for this case study included nine bilingual teachers in TWBI programs with 90/10 model designs in grades first through sixth. First, the research synthesized how the teachers gained their knowledge-base and professional support to implement their strategies. Second, the findings discussed how the framework for the Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education assisted teachers in the implementation of their instructional strategies. Third, the data analysis described the successes and challenges in the teachers' instructional strategies to develop biliteracy and cross-cultural competence with ELs and English Proficient students in their classrooms. Lastly, the study discussed how the teachers gained new insights about their practices based on their successes and challenges in their strategies. Results of the study demonstrated that teachers were very experienced and knowledgeable in TWBI practices and supported each other through planning and lesson development. Teachers implemented strategies aligned to the four main guiding principles of instruction: research-based practices, instructional strategies, student- XX centered instruction, and multicultural/multilingual learning environments. Convergence of multiple measures indicated that teachers experienced successes and challenges in their instructional strategies for biliteracy and cross-cultural competence, but established new perspectives and innovations to advance their practice. Key words: two-way bilingual education, instructional strategies, biliteracy, crosscultural competence, guiding principles for dual language education, English Learners, English Proficient students.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Ramirez, Ignacio
- Description:
- The purpose of this study was to investigate the contributing factors to a high level of mathematics and mathematics teaching self-efficacy beliefs of 10 elementary school teachers in a rural school district. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a subgroup of teachers, identified as having high mathematics and mathematics teaching self-efficacy, to investigate how the theorized four sources of efficacy have influenced the 10 participants who possess a high level of efficacy in both areas as measured by a Mathematics and Mathematics Teaching Self-Efficacy Beliefs Survey. According to Bandura’s (1977, 1986) social cognitive theory, individuals derive self-efficacy beliefs from four different sources: Mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, social persuasions, and physiological states. This study found that vicarious experiences, social xi ii persuasions, and physiological states were the most impactful factors in the formation of mathematics efficacy beliefs. Vicarious experiences were by far the most influential factors in the formation of mathematics teaching efficacy beliefs. Results of this study also inform school districts and teacher preparation programs on the type of professional development and training that contributes to an increase in mathematics and mathematics teaching self-efficacy beliefs as experienced by the 10 participants in this study.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Salas, Minerva
- Description:
- The difference in performance between students of color and their white counterparts, better known as the academic achievement gap, in America has prompted many scholars, practitioners, and researchers to seek solutions that will help eliminate it. Researchers are beginning to investigate underlying social networks and tenets of organizational learning for the purpose of gaining insight into structures that support, constrain, or have no impact on the diffusion of research evidence within schools and school districts. This study investigated the processes two high schools in corrective action, sanctioned under the No Child Left Behind Act, engaged in to identify problems and solutions, and how these schools defined, acquired, used, and diffused research evidence in service reform. There has been very limited research done this area. Future research efforts that continue to investigate the convergence of research evidence, organizational learning, and social networks in school districts across the country have the potential to improve student achievement.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Toya, Gregory J
- Description:
- Changing demographics and the widening educational achievement gap called for this examination of underserved university student retention (Castillo-Cullather & Stuart, 2002; Miller & Garcia, 2004; Singleton & Linton, 2006). University cultural centers promote retention and sense of belonging for underserved students (June, 1996; Patton, xu 2006; Welch, 2008).This study included Schlossberg's (1989) theory of mattering to investigate underserved student retention. Using constructivist grounded theory data analysis methods, this study examined the influences of sense of belonging and mattering on underserved student retention in a university cultural center (Charmaz, 2006). Qualitative data collection methods were implemented to analyze cultural center and cultural center staff influence on sense ofbelonging and mattering ofunderserved students. Seven undergraduate students and one full-time staff member in the CrossCultural Center at California State University, San Marcos, participated in focus groups and an interview. Document analysis contributed to the trustworthiness of the data (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). A theory grounded in the experiences of the students, student staff, and staff of the Cross-Cultural Center emerged from the data. The emerging theory was called "Cultural Center Staff: A Grounded Theory of Distributed Relational Leadership and Retention." Distributed relational leadership was the core or central phenomenon of the grounded theory. As a rich emergent finding, identity development was added to this study's conceptual framework of sense of belonging, mattering, and retention. Distributed relational leadership, sense of community, the physical space of the Center, and programs influenced the sense of belonging, mattering, identity development, and retention ofunderserved students. This study's grounded theory guides ongoing retention theory research and university cultural center practices.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Wojcik, Alketa
- Description:
- Studies have sounded the alarm concerning the impending void of leadership that community colleges will face in the 21st century. One concern is that the pool of applicants from the traditional leadership pathway of existing community college faculty members has decreased dramatically in the past decade. This study explored faculty perceptions of the administration positions in California community colleges and their desire and willingness to step into these roles. The study also looked at the impact of the underlying issues associated with the motivation for life-work balance on the likelihood of community college faculty to apply for administrative positions. This study was conducted through a mixed-method design involving quantitative and qualitative data collection. A survey was sent to all tenured and tenure-track faculty at community colleges in San Diego County, California. There were 341 participants who completed the survey, yielding a response rate of 22.7%. The first research question sought to explore faculty's perceptions of the administration positions at California community colleges and their desire to step into those roles. Three themes emerged in analyzing the responses ofwhy faculty consider going into administration: (1) improve the system or college; make a difference, (2) personal growth and challenge, and (3) salary and/or benefits. In addition, five main themes emerged from reasons why faculty would not consider jumping into administration: (I) workload, stress, and lack of flexibility for family time; (2) lack of job satisfaction due to bureaucracy, incompetent colleagues, or system; (3) love ofteaching and profession; (4) lack of job security; and (5) going to the "dark" side. The second research question sought to explore to what extent motivators for lifework balance affect the decision of California community college faculty to leap to administration. The motivators for life-work balance do influence the faculty in the decision to jump into administration; however, there was no significant difference between Generation X and the baby boom generation's belief in achieving the balance. The study concludes with recommendations to community college administrators, board oftrustees and faculty.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education