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- Creator:
- Palmer, Joshua Lee-Allen
- Description:
- Due do the traditional perception that teaching is “women’s work,” especially at the elementary level; men are hesitant to enter this profession. Therefore, few men become elementary school teachers. In existing scholarship, researchers have produced limited knowledge on the motivations and influences that lead men to stay in this profession. The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which male teachers construct their professional identity while working within a female-dominant educational environment. This study uses semi-structured interviews as the main data set. The results of the study include three themes. The first theme explores men’s motivations to become teachers. The second theme shows the ways in which men construct their professional identity and authority with colleagues and parents in the school setting. The third and final theme identifies the pedagogical practices that the participants created and the ways in which their professional identities are embedded in those practices.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Tituana, Yolanda Marisol
- Description:
- The purpose of this study was to investigate school psychologist self-efficacy across three major roles and functions. Multiple linear regressions showed that the experience level of school psychologists predicted their self-efficacy for intervention and consultation skills and multidimensional assessment skills. The education level of school psychologists predicted their self-efficacy for counseling skills. Individual interviews with school psychologists revealed that three of the five participants had higher self-efficacy for multidimensional assessment skills and lower self-efficacy for counseling skills as a result of their experience level and the socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic diversity of their employment settings. Multiple linear regressions also showed that effectiveness with the students served predicted school psychologist self-efficacy for intervention and consultation skills. Support from parents/guardians and community members predicted school psychologist self-efficacy for counseling skills. Individual interviews with school psychologists revealed that environmental work factors such as administrative support, collegial atmosphere among staff, access to resources, and ratio of students to school psychologists affected how they carry out their roles. Overall, these findings suggest improvements that can be done with regard to mental health support, caseload management, cohesiveness among educational stakeholders, and professional development opportunities.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Preston-Nelson, Amanda R.
- Description:
- The lived realities of low socio-economic status (SES) college-going students is an important topic for examination. The anxiety and complexity found in these students’ everyday lives leads them down a decision-making path that looks very different from their higher-SES peers. Previous scholarship has not used a qualitative approach to explore the financial connection between these low-SES students and their ultimate decisions for life after high school. The purpose of this study is to understand high school students’ college financial literacy and their decision to matriculate (or not) to a higher education institution. This study uses the participants’ voices (narrative) as the main data set. Three results were identified as a part of this case study: (1) the anxiety and complexity of pursuing higher education with a deficit financial lens; (2) building college financial literacy, the role of the guidance counselor, and (3) making it work, scattered awareness of all things financial.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Alabanza, Mark Villar
- Description:
- Endemic issues of racism and colonialism create barriers to Native American students’ access to higher education. Using tribal critical race theory (TribalCrit) as a theoretical underpinning, this study explored how Native American students develop and experience a sense of belonging at a public, postsecondary institution. Using a phenomenological approach, I interviewed and analyzed Native American students’ stories regarding their sense of belonging in higher education. Themes emerged that revealed connections between students’ educational experiences and connections to their cultural heritage prior to entering college and development of sense of belonging through campus spaces and relationships with faculty, staff, and fellow Native American students that contributed to bicultural efficacy and enculturation. Findings suggest that culturally affirming practices contribute to development of sense of belonging which serves to nourish Native American students’ self-affirmation and perceptions for their future selves.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Perry, Tyrone Jr.
- Description:
- This research explored the use of an equity audit as a tool for helping teachers to provide more equitable grades for English Language Learners (ELL), and African American students. Grading is an important part of the education and teaching profession as it provides feedback to students, families, teachers, and administrators about the students’ progress in courses. Unfortunately, not all educators agree on a universal best practice for grading. Teachers tend to grade based on a hodgepodge of traditions they believe yield the best reports of students’ progress in their courses. This study utilized a qualitative case study method to inquire if equity audits can help bring about equity in grading for ELL, special circumstance, and African American students.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Megenney, George L.
- Description:
- Due to a steady growth of a non-English speaking, Latinx population within the United States, federal policies (Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965 and reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015) have mandated that schools provide non-English speaking parents with translation services. Effective communication with Spanish-speaking parents is crucial to guarantee the success of formal educational practices. If schools do not adequately establish trustworthy communication with their stakeholders, meaningful parental involvement is impossible. Translation, previously ignored as a substantive issue, now constitutes a crucial school practice to examine. This constructivist, pragmatic case study explores the processes of English-to-Spanish translation utilized by a small, rural school district in the Central Valley of California. Document analysis, focus groups, and interviews yielded data that resulted in four themes that explain the socio-cultural construction of translation practices within the school setting: (1) the challenges of translation in the school settings, (2) the complexity of the process of translation, (3) bilingualism as a professional expertise, and (4) the legitimization of bilingualism in the school culture.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Simas, Seth K.
- Description:
- The purpose of the study was to understand how a public local educational agency in California designed a program to implement state teacher induction policy. The study applied the high leverage policy framework (Cobb, Donaldson, Lemons, & Mayer, 2010) to examine the influence of contextual factors on the policy’s implementation. This qualitative research project used a variety of data sources to develop a case study. Qualitative data were collected from interviews and documents. Interviews were conducted with key stakeholders: teacher candidates, mentors, principals, county administrators, and teacher induction personnel. Document analysis provided important evidence to support interview data and to understand the influence of contextual factors. The analysis of the data revealed key aspects of program design to implement induction policy requirements including alignment with state standards, state commitment to policy, and partnerships between key stakeholders, especially mentors. Additionally, communication, stability, and capacity were strong contextual factors that influenced policy implementation. With a strong design, the teacher induction program provided teachers with tools to reflect on the high-quality instructional strategies they utilize in classrooms.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Smith-Petty, Mary R.
- Description:
- The purpose of this study was to investigate how educational leaders understand talent acquisition, talent development and motivation, and talent retention and how they support the educational achievement of all students. This qualitative case study sought to explore the improvement of educational achievement and success of all students with a focus on teachers. This study had three guiding research questions: How do educational leaders define teacher quality? Do educational leaders use an equity lens when they recruit, hire, place, develop, and retain teachers? If so, how? In addition, there were two sub-questions that helped to shape interview protocol and data analysis: What barriers do educational leaders face during this process? To what extent do educational leaders look for teachers with cultural awareness? Five current school principals from the valley region of California were recruited for this study, using a semi-structured interview protocol. Data was coded and analyzed using thematic analysis with the aid of Dedoose (version 8.2.3, 2019) software. The findings revealed that principals were not involved in collaborating with district administrators regarding recruitment practices and strategies of their district. This study indicated that principals focused on both personality and professional attributes when selecting high quality teachers. Furthermore, this study suggested that teachers need on-going professional-development opportunities initially and throughout their career, but obstacles such as time and funding impede a principal’s ability to provide professional development offerings to their teachers.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Sanchez, Gabriela Pantoja
- Description:
- The development of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) came about because of universal concerns that education was not adapting to the changing world and that students were leaving schools unprepared. The CCSS went into effect during the 2014-2015 school year. Due to the rigorous curriculum and higher expectations compared to past State standards, significant changes were required to implement the CCSS. The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was to explore teacher perceptions of the CCSS and their perceptions of their participation in the implementation of the CCSS. This study used the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) as a conceptual lens to identify teachers’ Stages of Concern (SoC) with regard to CCSS. The SoC revealed teachers were no longer concerned with the subscale of Self (Stages 0-2), and were at the subscale Task (Stage 3), and seemed to be moving towards the subscale of Impact (Stages 4-6) with similar patterns of intensity across years of teaching experience and grade levels taught. Most of the teachers in the study reported positive perceptions of the CCSS. Four themes emerged from the interviews: (a) student benefit, (b) district’s choice, (c) district support, and (d) state implementation.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
- Creator:
- Webb, Erin
- Description:
- Access to higher education in the U.S. is seen as an opportunity for social mobility. California’s Master Plan for Education created a three tier system to provide educational opportunities for its citizens. By design, transfer pathways were implemented to allow students to begin their higher education journey at open access community colleges and transfer into four-year public institutions for bachelor’s degree completion. Institutional support for transfer students, however, is almost non-existent at most four-year receiving institutions (Eggleston& Laanan, 2001). This qualitative study sought to understand the experiences of transfer students who transferred to a four-year receiving institution from a community college and thereafter departed from the university without persisting to degree attainment. I interviewed transfer students about their experiences and the findings contribute to the broader understanding of the transfer student experience. Tinto’s theory of student departure, which emphasizes the importance of institutional transfer receptivity in students’ decisions about persistence and departure, provided a valuable theoretical framework from which to operate. Four major themes emerged at the conclusion of my interviews: recognizing the value of the community college experience; understanding the external opportunities of transfer students; accepting institutional commitment to the transfer agenda; and experiencing the transfer students’ movement from expert to novice in the middle of the post-secondary educational journey. Recommendations urge both higher education administrators to evaluate their institutional commitments to transfer student success and state policy makers to reinvest in the transfer agenda.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- Stanislaus
- Department:
- Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership