Search Constraints
Filtering by:
Department
Education
Remove constraint Department: Education
Collection
Thesis
Remove constraint Collection: Thesis
Number of results to display per page
Search Results
- Creator:
- McQuestion, Rebecca J.
- Description:
- The teacher-student relationship is a vital component to the social, emotional, and academic growth of students. Nationwide the one constant in teachers’ classrooms are the observations by administrators. Administrators play a supporting role for students and teachers in our modern educational system. The present case study examined four middle schools in a school district in Southern California. Four principals, four assistant principals, six teachers, and one superintendent of human resources were interviewed. Classroom observations with administrators were also conducted. Previous terms used to describe negative teacher affect have been teacher bullying, student maltreatment, and student victimization. Teacher affect was chosen to delineate the behaviors rather than the intentionality. The findings suggest administrators look to the students and their interaction with the teacher to help recognize positive or negative affect. Although no formal training takes place, much informal collaboration among administrators happens behind the scenes to decide on how best to support a teacher demonstrating negative affect. All participants agreed the best way for administration to encourage positive affect was by modeling it themselves with staff and students. Creating a positive school environment for staff and students was important and most participants noted the belief of positivity coming from the top, at a district level, and flowing down into the classrooms. The suggestions for the educational community are concepts that can be implemented simply and economically to support a positive learning environment.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- De La Torre, Carla
- Description:
- The impact of parental involvement in a child’s academic success has been well-documented; however there is considerably less research that focuses specifically on Latino parent engagement and its potential to improve schools given the rising numbers of Latino students attending U.S. schools. Few studies have focused on the strengths that Latino families pass onto their children and how those strengths can be leveraged to better connect schools with Latino parents and develop schools where students feel their parents are respected (Rioja-Cortez & Bustos Flores, 2009). This research study set out to explore Latino parent engagement through the eyes of Latino parent leaders within one school district. The purpose of this research study was to identify and analyze how and why Latino parents become engaged within a school and district culture; in addition to learning what potential factors may exist that move Latino parents along a continuum of involvement and engagement into leadership and change agency. The researcher was interested in learning about Latino parent leadership, based on a hypothesis that Latino parent leadership may have the potential to impact the schooling experiences for Latino children and their families. A review of existing literature on parental engagement among Latinos, helped to develop a conceptual framework where four major themes emerge: 1.) Parent engagement produces more positive outcomes than traditional types of parent involvement; 2.) School personnel and Latino parents differ in their perceptions regarding what constitutes as parent involvement; 3.) Latino parents utilize culturally embedded strategies to promote their children’s education; and 4.) Home-based forms of engagement have been found to be more effective than school-based involvement. The four themes came together to shape a conceptual framework where whenever Latino parent backgrounds were valued and treated as legitimate sources of strength and when these Latino parents could identify with these strengths and use these strengths to connect with new forms of school information and knowledge, Latino parent leadership could be born and develop. In short, this study seeks to better understand Latino parent engagement and leadership as experienced by a group of Latino parent leaders in one school district.
- Resource Type:
- Dissertation
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Fernandez, Alejandra
- Description:
- This project explored the benefits of movement breaks, mindfulness, and specific postures to simultaneously enhance students’ posture and reduce stress and anxiety, primarily in a classroom setting. The product for this project is a curriculum to guide educators in successfully implementing specific sitting and standing movement poses as brain breaks to improve students’ posture, attention and overall well-being. This curriculum manual is entitled Balanced Trees – A Movement Break Curriculum Manual for Teaching All Students How to Improve Posture and Wellness in the Classroom. The actual curriculum consists of three sections: three-minute sequences, five-minute sequences, and seven-minute sequences. Although this curriculum was created for educators interested in incorporating movement breaks into the classroom routine, it also is useful for administrators and coaches who are considering incorporating an alternative approach that prepares students for learning and facilitates student engagement when learning new skills. The activities and lessons included in the manual are designed to be used in any educational setting, preferably with small to moderate sized groups of students, and in a location away from outside distractions. While activities and lessons were created for children with special needs in mind, they are appropriate for any students who could benefit from learning breaks, postural alignment poses, and mindfulness techniques. The curriculum will be shared with interested educators on a webpage and distributed via email. The ultimate goal for teachers and students involved in this program is to gain a better understanding of how they can incorporate sitting and standing postures into their daily lives to improve posture and overall well-being.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Figueroa-Castro, Othoniel
- Description:
- The research illuminates the challenges Latino migrant students face and what motivates or unmotivates them to pursue higher education. The participants represent 20 university migrant alumni and 20 non-college/university migrant workers with high school diplomas. The research used a mixed-methods approach (e.g., surveys, interviews). Results indicate challenges faced by migrant high school students in educational decisions, including motivation, and parent and educational support systems. In addition, the research highlights contextual conditions and specific migrant services that contributed positively to students’ lives. This research provides recommendations to educational institutions that could potentially increase the level of motivation in migrant students to pursue higher education.
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Nicoll, Jenna
- Description:
- This project offers a resource manual for general education teachers supporting students with autism. Tools and supplemental aides have been researched and implemented in general education classrooms with students with autism. Positive support strategies in the classroom that have proven themselves to be successful for teachers to implement with students with autism have been added to the project manual. These positive support strategies and supplemental aides support a) peer interactions b) crisis prevention and planning c) social stories curriculum and d) managing oppositional or defiant behaviors. Worksheets, curriculum, sensory objects, and pedagogical teaching strategies have been accumulated into one project manual for reference and review by educators. This manual is intended to provide teachers with the resources and knowledge necessary to sufficiently educate students with autism and appropriately manage and support the social, emotional, and behavioral tendencies of such students.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Camba, Jordan
- Description:
- Academic researchers believe that through participation in their Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meetings, students develop a sense of responsibility and learn self-advocacy and self-determination. Students may participate in their IEPs beginning at the elementary level (Virginia Department of Education, “I’m Determined”, 2005). Most students were unprepared and lacked the social skills necessary to participate in or lead his or her IEP meeting. Attempts to remedy the situation focus on seeking additional support from home. After reviewing the current data and research, the author perceived a need for a parent manual to help families prepare students for their IEPs. An introduction to the IEP document, contents of the IEP, a comprehensible template to complete with the child, and additional resources are all provided within the manual. More specifically, the template provided for parents to review with their child is written in laymen’s terms to help parents to better explain the IEP process and sections to their children. This manual encourages parents to become more involved in assisting their children in achieving academic success, learning personal responsibility, and developing self-advocacy and self-determination skills.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Rezendes, Chandler
- Description:
- The researcher implemented a portable garden guidebook that can be used by school sites in all areas and specifically urban school settings. This allows for all students and teachers to be involved in a garden regardless of the space available at the school site. Provided with resources readily available, the guidebook presents teachers and administration with a useful tool to administer a school garden. The guidebook has been created to provide teachers with information to determine which garden works best for their specific school site. With the portable garden, the cart can be pushed into and out of the classroom so that all students in any settings can gain access to the materials. Included in the guidebook there is curriculum, resources, and assessments, for teachers that are arranged to include interactions between those involved with the garden. In meeting the needs for students the portable garden guidebook allows for multiple opportunities for students to gain access to the curriculum as well as hands on learning options.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Turner, Casey Martin
- Description:
- This study analyzes the impact of an increase in student participation in the IEP process on students’ success and self-determination in the classroom. An IEP, Individual Education Program, is, “a written statement for each child with a disability that is developed, reviewed, and revised” (IDEA 2004). Students in high school are often expected to run their own IEP meetings, however, many have had little to no engagement in the IEP process up to this point. Earlier student inclusion in the IEP process, beginning in elementary school, can increase students’ self- advocacy skills, familiarity with the IEP process, increase student dominion of their own education and lead to greater success in the classroom. Full inclusion for elementary aged students is not recommended; however, there are ways to include young students into the IEP process while still maintaining confidentiality of certain aspects of the procedure and respecting the feelings and concerns of parents and the IEP team. Increased inclusion into the IEP process must be done on an individual basis and will not be the same for any two children, just as each student will have a unique IEP. Inclusion of the student in the IEP process is one of many considerations for the entire IEP team while crafting an educational plan for a student. The benefits and impacts of inclusion and a manual detailing strategies of inclusion will be set forth in this study as a guide for any team looking to increase student inclusion in the IEP process.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
- Creator:
- Rudeen, Katelin
- Description:
- Project Abstract A middle school in an urban area of San Diego is preparing itself for inclusive education practices for students with mild to moderate disabilities in general education classrooms. The district and school administrators are eager to start including students with disabilities with their general education peers and have sought the counsel of Dr. Jacque Thousand on how to smoothly and effectively create an inclusive culture over a two or three year time frame. The district has taken some preliminary steps towards inclusive schooling and is starting to include students with mild to moderate disabilities with their peers in general education settings grades K-8. In the Fall of 2016, all students with mild to moderate disabilities will be included into the elective courses of music, art, and computer coding. An Education Specialist on campus has a music background. She understands that her students will require appropriate scaffolds in order to access the content taught in general education music classes, particularly in academic vocabulary. The district is in a low socioeconomic area that has little resources for their elective programs in music. Using a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) approach, this project focuses on developing a visual guide that meets the needs of all students, including students with disabilities and English language learners in general education music classes. Keywords: academic vocabulary, inclusion, music education, multiple intelligences theory, music picture dictionary, special education, students with disabilities.
- Resource Type:
- Project
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education
1590. Culturally Responsive Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports: Collaborating for Improvement
- Creator:
- Brown, Diana
- Description:
- The purpose of this study was to compare the frequency of office behavioral referrals for discipline before and after the implementation of Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS). The study measured proportionality of referrals based on student ethnicity as one assessment of staff cultural competence. Survey data was collected on teachers’ perceptions of the PBIS program implementation. The study took place at a Title 1 elementary school in a San Diego suburb with a student population of approximately 800 students and 42 full and part-time teachers. The researcher used a convergent parallel design method. Student behavior referral data for the 2014-15 and 2015-15 school year was combined with student demographic data and compared. Based on the result of a t-test and with 99% confidence, the researcher concluded there was a statistically significant difference in the number of office behavior referrals issued after the implementation of PBIS. Risk ratio calculations found some evidence of disproportionality for behavior referrals among African-American, Filipino, and students who identified as Two or More Races. Survey results revealed a majority of teachers participated in creating the behavior expectations matrix, taught the expectations with fidelity, and held collaborative conversations about student behavior and possible interventions during their weekly Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings. Additionally, 50% of teacher respondents were unclear about when to issue behavior referrals and want clarification on PBIS corrective consequences for misbehavior. Recommendations include maintaining school-wide, selected, and targeted interventions, creating a predictable, coherent discipline referral process, and monitoring discipline data for inequities to guide the school’s cultural competence. Keywords: Culturally Responsive, Office Discipline Referrals, Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports, Professional Learning Communities
- Resource Type:
- Thesis
- Campus Tesim:
- San Marcos
- Department:
- Education