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Impacts of overnight camp experiences on adolescent stress, self-esteem, and mental health
Full text linkThis study examined the impact of a seven-week overnight summer camp experience on the stress, self-esteem, and mental health in adolescents. Adolescent stress was measured using the Adolescent Stress Questionnaire-Shortened Version (ASQ-S), self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE), and overall mental health was measured using the Mental Health Inventory-5 (MHI-5). The Camp Status Questionnaire (CSQ) was developed by the researchers to examine the expectations for and evaluations of camping experiences amongst adolescents who attended seven-week overnight summer camp. The continued use of this measure, or similar measures, is important in understanding campers’ perceptions of their own individual camping experiences in different overnight camp environments. Results found no significant relationships across the variables, suggesting that overnight camp is neither a positive nor negative experience for adolescents during the summer break. Notably, the sample of adolescents that attended seven-week overnight summer camp was small (N = 25). Thus, it will be important for future research to include a larger sample which may be more encompassing of effects
Arab Women as Change Agents in K-12 Educational Leadership: Overcoming Barriers and Driving Equity
Full text linkArab women in K-12 educational leadership face cultural expectations, systemic barriers, and institutional biases. This study explores their leadership journeys through a qualitative multiple case study, featuring semi-structured interviews with eight Arab women leaders in U.S. education. Findings reveal key challenges, including gender norms, professional biases, and the need for self-validation. Despite obstacles, participants exhibit resilience, leveraging self-efficacy, mentorship, and family support. Transformative moments, such as confronting bias and engaging in advocacy, serve as catalysts for leadership. The study underscores the importance of culturally responsive leadership models, representation, and targeted mentorship initiatives. Grounded in sociocultural, critical race, and self-efficacy theories, this research advocates for systemic policy changes to enhance equity and diversity in educational leadership. Findings offer insights for policymakers and educators seeking to foster inclusive leadership pathways
Inti Raymi
Full text linkInti Raymi refers to the ancient Incan festival that celebrated and honored the sun. In a similar fashion these works spanning across the room, are a homage towards aspects of Ecuadorian culture. The colors found in these paintings are based on typical Ecuadorian clothing, folklore, and traditional practices of shamanism.
Using intuition as a primary guide, Inti Raymi becomes a dialogue between subconscious mark making and a newly found interest in Ecuadorian heritage and plant medicine.
At its core this series is an exploration of personal identity, and building a new language of painting while researching ways of healing from traditional medicinal practices found in Ecuador/Peru
Exploring Executive Functioning Processes as Potential Mediating Factors Between Childhood Trauma & Violence
Full text linkDespite establishing a link between childhood traumatic events and perpetrating violent behavior in adulthood, research examining potential mediating factors has been limited. The purpose of this study is to begin examining the potential moderating factors between childhood trauma and violence in adulthood. The current study aims to focus on executive functioning processes given the empirically established role neurocognition plays in both trauma and violence. Specifically, this study will look at response inhibition, risky decision-making, and cognitive flexibility. Individuals who have experienced traumatic events during childhood and score (1) higher on measures of response inhibition, (2) lower on measures of risky decision-making, or (3) higher on measures of cognitive flexibility, were hypothesized to exhibit fewer violent behaviors in adulthood. Using an archival dataset of 224 participants, this study utilized the Early Trauma Inventory to measure history of childhood trauma, Stop-Signal Task to measure response inhibition, Cambridge Decision-Making Task to measure risky decision-making, and Stroop Interference Task to measure cognitive flexibility. The mediation analysis demonstrated that while response inhibition partially mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and violent behavior with a significant indirect effect, risky decision-making and cognitive flexibility did not exhibit significant mediating roles based on non-significant total and direct effects. Potential limitations were discussed, including the use of archival data and limitations in the measurement tools used. Overall, identifying neurocognitive factors that mediate childhood trauma and violence in adulthood has implications for both violence risk assessment and trauma-informed treatment
Building Administrators’ Perceptions of their Preparedness as Leaders of Special Education
Full text linkPrincipal preparation programs often lack the necessary content to provide preservice building administrators with the prerequisite knowledge about special education and students with disabilities (SWDs). Principals and vice principals play a pivotal role in shaping the educational environment, yet often find themselves feeling unprepared when it comes to addressing the needs of this diverse student population. Training in school-based administrative roles has yet to keep pace with the ever-expanding field of special education. This phenomenological study investigated the impact of special education training or background on building administrators’ ability to effectively lead inclusive schools for SWDs. It also examined the professional development (PD) administrators felt they needed to improve their leadership and support for SWDs. Through interviews with 26 principals and vice principals, this study investigated the impact of special education training on administrators’self-efficacy and their perceived need for professional growth in special education. Findings indicated that there is an overwhelming lack of special education content in principal preparation programs, with almost all participants utilizing their experience to support SWDs and not their principal preparation courses. The participants with a background in special education viewed themselves as advocates, spent many hours during the week handling special education matters, and demonstrated a comprehensive understanding of the word “inclusion.” In contrast, those without relied more heavily on the special education staff. Findings suggest that there is a need for more PD opportunities as well as more special education content for preservice administrators
Research, Scholarship, and Creative Expression
Full text linkWilliam Paterson University research and scholarly publications compiled for the annual "Explorations" authors reception
Equity Directors in New Jersey Schools: A Context-Responsive Analysis of the Evolution of the Position
Full text linkThis qualitative multiparticipant case study examined the roles, responsibilities, superintendent expectations, and evolution of the equity director position in New Jersey school districts through context-responsive leadership theory. In response to national calls for racial justice following the death of George Floyd, many districts created equity director roles to address systemic inequities. Despite this, limited research on the equity director position exists.The study involved 11 participants from six New Jersey school districts, including five superintendents, five equity directors, and one person serving as both superintendent and equity director. Data were collected through semistructured interviews to answer the main research questions: What were the roles and responsibilities of equity directors? What were the superintendent’s expectations when establishing the role? How has the equity director position evolved within the district since its origination? How do internal and external school contexts impact the equity director? There were four major findings from the research: (a) the equity director position was multifaceted; (b) superintendents expected equity directors to integrate equity into all aspects of the school district; (c) the equity director position evolved from reactionary to intentional work; and (d) internal and external contextual factors influenced equity work
Like Stars in a Tide Pool - Explorations on Subculture, the Sona, and Places in the Internet Age
Full text linkThis thesis project and paper explores the digital, internet age. Parts within explore topics of queer culture, neurodivergence, escapism, narrative storytelling, sona creation, character design, ludology, and fantasy world exploration within interactive software– all witnessed through the lens of celebration of the subcultures, micro-communities, and creations of self-exploration, self-expression of the people that populate them. From video-game playground rumors to well-written story-beat payoffs in a blockbuster hit-– the magic of storytelling, subculture, and the subsequently formed micro-communities all go hand in hand within our contemporary internet age. All types of people inhabit these communities– people who may be trans, neurodivergent, queer, gay, or autistic; people whose everyday-life families, nations, or cultures may fail to understand or accept these identities, or may not be able to be fully “themselves” in their everyday life. By engaging in cross-cultural communities, they can find escape, joy, or even newfound acceptance in these spaces. This interplay of “belonging” and “community” within the virtual realm directly results in spaces which contain interactive artwork, or spaces that are within interactive artworks themselves– some of which go on to re-manifest physically within our world as events or places
The Effects of Targeted Feedback and Micro-Conferences on the Writing Performance of Special Education Students on Extended Response Questions
Full text linkAccording to The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP, 2011), students with disabilities significantly underperform in writing in comparison to their nondisabled peers. While only 15% of 8th-grade students identified as not having a disability scored below the basic level, 60% of 8th-grade students identified as having a disability scored below the basic level (NAEP, 2011). Writing ability affects student scores in reading where students complete extended response questions, “A non-multiple-choice question that requires some type of written or verbal response” (NAEP). In reading, the average score of students identified as having disabilities decreased by 4 points nationally from 2014 to 2022. A significant factor in this discrepancy is writing in response to text and extended response questions in particular. During the writing process typical students respond well to longer form conferences during which the teacher highlights items in need of revision or editing. Special education students are often overwhelmed by such conferences and benefit more from targeted feedback and multiple shorter conferences rather than one prolonged conference.
A review of literature was conducted to examine topics related to the problem determined and the question developed in response to the problem. The review examined categories of research. These included; teaching revision skills to middle school writing students, Writer’s Workshop, cloud-based writing formats such as Wikis and Google Docs and how they can be used for collaboration and feedback, and the extent to which different feedback approaches are related to the writing quality of students’ compositions and motivation.
The findings of the six-week study manifested as two themes: (a) narrowing feedback on Google Docs to mechanics and grammar using direct and commentary feedback and (b) it may be better to utilize my micro-conferencing time for higher level corrective feedback regarding content, organization, and word choice. The study findings suggest that feedback and conferences affect student engagement, communication, and skills
Combined Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Attention Process Training Intervention for Older Adults with Parkinson’s Disease: Does Order of Modules Affect Treatment Outcome?
Full text linkParkinson’s Disease (PD) encompasses a wide range of non-motor disturbances such as anxiety, depression, and deficits in executive skills (ES), which are extremely common and often more disabling than motor symptoms. Anxiety and declining ES in older adults with PD are now considered prime targets for treatment optimization. Previous studies showed a combined intervention - Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Attention Process Training II – led to improvement in anxiety, depression, and complex cognitive abilities in older adults with PD. The current study sought to test the overall efficacy and compare two different versions of the combined APT-CBT treatment on anxiety and cognitive performance in older adults with PD: the CBT-first-group (n=8) and the APT-first group (n=8). The results indicated that the full sample benefited significantly from the combined APT/CBT intervention: Ham-A, Ham-D, and Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B) scores showed significant improvement; Stroop Color Word Test (StroopCW) showed near - significant improvement. The results also indicated that the order of the administration of APT or CBT did not yield significant differences on mood measures and cognitive measures. The current findings suggest that the combined APT and CBT intervention reduced the participants’ anxiety and depression significantly, and that the more complex skills have a higher predictive power than the lower order skills of the improvement of ES, pointing to the potential benefit of incorporating cognitive remediation programs to improve ES into the psychotherapy interventions for PD older adults with depression and anxiety