3543 research outputs found
Sort by
Teacher-Student Relationships and How They Encourage Mathematics Achievement Among Black Males
No full textThis research study focuses on positive teacher-student relationships and how these relationships influence the mathematics achievement of African American elementary male students. It identifies some of the characteristics relevant to the establishment and cultivation of the teacher-student relationship and sheds useful insights into how African American male students respond to the interactions with their teachers. Extant literature has increasingly shown that positive-teacher student relationships significantly shape academic progress in Black students. Through teacher surveys and teacher interviews, this dissertation offers a synopsis of how teachers facilitate relationships with their African American male students as well as gives a detailed account of how teacher perceptions influence the relationship. It also examines whether or how the relationship encourages mathematics achievement among African American male students. Finally and through interviews with African American male students, the doctoral research describes how Black students build relationships with their teachers and how these relationships influence their academic experience. In its final analysis, the dissertation underscores the importance of paying more attention to the teacher-student relationship amongst Black students and how different facets of the relationship shape their academic achievement in mathematics. These insights are critical in formulating relevant interventional pedagogical practices for African American students in the context of mathematics learning
My Story: A Doctoral Candidate\u27s Journey
No full textThis study seeks to understand my doctoral journey. Meaning for my journey was drawn from the intersection of shared program experiences with 13 other study participants who had either already earned or were in the midst of retaining doctoral degrees of their own. Common thoughts, feelings, and behaviors associated with earning the doctoral degree were discovered during open-ended professional conversations centered on the framework of my research study: self-efficacy, motivation, perseverance or grit, and change or transformation. The shared description of my journey helped me understand my experience in a different more meaningful way. Through my narrative, I hope a better understanding of what it takes to pursue the goal of earning a doctoral degree comes through
Perceptions of the Effectiveness of the First-Year Experience Edge Program at College of the Desert
No full textThe purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of the effectiveness of a first-year experience program at one institution from the perspectives of the students, faculty, and staff through interviews and observations. This study was conducted at a community college located in Palm Desert, California on their first-year experience program, also referred to as EDGE. First-year experience programs were designed to focus on incoming students and their developmental education to enhance the students’ academic preparedness, social integration into college, and decrease social barriers to education. Many students entering college, particularly community colleges, are underprepared in their basic skills of English, math and/or reading and are not prepared for the rigors of college. Due to community colleges open admissions, it has created a large surplus of students entering underprepared for college level course rigor and needing various levels of remedial education in English, math and/or reading prior to beginning college level coursework. This has led to lower completion rates and resulted in community colleges implementing first-year experience programs to assist students with basic skills and in navigating through college. Although first-year experience programs are slowly becoming institutionalized in various community colleges, this study investigates the perceived effectiveness of the students, faculty, and staff who have experienced the program. Institutions of higher education may find the results of this study helpful as they examine implementing a first-year experience program at their institution or review their current practices
The Influence of Socialization on the Acculturation of Vietnamese American Adolescents
No full textAcculturation is the process of cultural change (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, 2010). The influence of socialization on acculturation using Berry’s (1980) theory of acculturation was examined. According to Berry’s (1980) theory the process of acculturation includes maintenance of the heritage culture and contact participation in the host culture. Information was collected from an examination of individual interviews of nine adolescent, first-, second-, or third-generation Vietnamese American participants, ages 12–14, from two public middle schools in the United States. An analysis of the data produced four themes under maintenance of the heritage culture: religious influence, cultural awareness, family experience, and parental support. Additionally, the data produced five themes under contact participation within the host culture: peer connection, contact participation, racial discrimination, academics, and extracurricular activities. Looking at the lived experiences through the lens of Berry’s (1980) bi-dimensional theory of acculturation, all nine participants’ negotiated maintenance of the heritage culture and assimilation through contact participation within the host culture. The data analysis revealed that socialization of all nine participants through the maintenance of the Vietnamese heritage culture and contact participation in the American host culture positively influenced their acculturation
Culturally Responsive Classroom Management in an Urban After-School Program
No full textThis action research study used the Guskey Model (2000) to evaluate the effects of a professional development program on an urban after-school program staff. The purpose of the 15-week professional development was to increase staff self-efficacy in classroom management, to improve student-staff relationships, and to decrease serious discipline events at the program. The impact of the professional development program was investigated with a diverse sample of seven after-school program staff participants who were studied through semi-structured interviews, surveys, class observations, and aggregated student behavior and academic records. The variety of data sources were concurrently triangulated to find that the professional development program had a positive impact on staff self-efficacy and student-staff relationships. During this professional development period, student disciplinary behaviors showed a downward trend. A paired sample t-test revealed no statistically significant difference in student achievement pre- and post- staff professional development. Qualitative data from the interviews produced the following results as crucial elements to successful urban classroom management: community immersion by the staff, longevity by the staff, ongoing staff accountability and supervisory support, and parent and community engagement. Future research should further evaluate the effects of culturally responsive classroom management through increased sample size and/or multi-site study
Effects of Musical Theater Education on the Self-Esteem of Middle School Students
No full textMusical theater combines two educational components; music and theater. These arts classes have demonstrated positive influences on student academic achievement and student self-esteem. Musical theater, however, has not been fully examined as a pathway to enhance student self-esteem. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of musical theater education on middle school student self-esteem. Using a qualitative case study, 11 students from a private Christian school in suburban Minnesota participated in a musical theater production to measure the effects of musical theater education on their self-esteem. Likert surveys, interviews, observations, records, and artifacts were collected to determine positive or negative interactions with the production. Data revealed self-esteem did not increase in those students who previously reported high levels of self-esteem. However, those students who reported lower levels of self-esteem demonstrated increased willingness to attempt new tasks, increased flexibility, and openness to change
Med-Arb Adoption in Securities Law Disputes: Advantages and Costs
No full textThis Article considers the adoption of a hybrid method of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)—Med-Arb—in securities law disputes. Because securities law ADR is currently monopolized by claims that proceed through arbitration, this Article argues that the benefits of settling a claim through mediation are being lost. Med-Arb allows parties to access the benefits of both mediation and arbitration with potentially lower economic costs and the assurance of finality of the dispute. This Article therefore presents how best to use Med-Arb to successfully resolve securities law disputes
Marriage, Millennials, and Massive Student Loan Debt
No full textThe purpose of this Essay is to explore the idea that the student loan indebtedness bearing down upon the majority of today’s college graduates creates economic insecurity that forces borrowers to reject or significantly delay marriage, and that burden, taken together with an already lukewarm Millennial attitude, may not bode well for the future of the institution. Record numbers of Millennials have rejected the traditional path of marriage-homeownership-children, and the percentage of Millennials who will marry by age 40 is projected to fall lower than the figure for any previous generation of Americans. To the extent that marriage is an evolving institution that is shaped by economic forces, current student loan policy may relegate marriage to the status of luxury—a ritual afforded only by the wealthy. [excerpt
Savages
No full textSavages is a memoir chronicling my near-immediate expulsion from the Army upon arriving to Basic Training. The story begins with my discharge, made on the grounds that I was “psychologically unstable” and therefore couldn’t be trusted as a soldier. The diagnosis was based primarily on a sexual assault I went through several months before shipping. When I was given my in-processing packet on the first day, one of the questions asked “Have you ever been raped or sexually assaulted?” By opting for honesty and marking yes, I sealed my fate and lost my job in a single pen stoke. For the next two months I was stranded at Ft. Sill, forcibly kept in the Army’s “Holdover Program” until my paperwork could be completed.
In the Army, a “holdover” is a soldier who’s somehow been stopped from going to training. This could be due to a number of reasons: illness, injury, family emergency, and mental illness are some of the most common. A “refusal to serve” discharge, AKA quitting, is also among the most common. It would seem that the military would jump at the opportunity to get useless or unmotivated soldiers off the payroll, but they often don’t. Instead, paperwork is constantly lost, ship dates are missed, and deadlines are pushed back with shocking frequency. Less surprising, they seem to use the holdover program as a cheap way to complete daily tasks such as chipping ice or trimming grass.
The memoir deals heavily with themes of mental illness and the stigma surrounding it. Time and time again my characters denies being crazy or mentally ill, but as I proceed through therapy and begin to unwrap my past, a past filled with depression, self-mutilation, anxiety, and attempted suicide is revealed, proving the narrator isn’t as stable as she initially claims.
The overall theme of the memoir surrounds identity and how identity is formed. In the beginning, the narrator’s identity is built almost exclusively upon the Army. She believes it’s the only thing that will give her what she wants in life. When that identity is pulled out from under her, she’s forced to reevaluate what it means to be human, to be fallible, and to be broken in a world that demands perfection