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The Impact of Recruiting and Retaining Teachers with Advanced Degrees on Student Learning
Get PDFThis paper presents a mixed method study examining the relationship between teacher advanced degree attainment and student achievement. This study utilizes teacher demographic data along with standardized test scores from 702 public schools in south central Texas. First, OLS regression analyses were employed to measure the relationship between the percent of teachers with advanced degrees and student achievement. The results of these analyses indicate that the percentage of teachers with advanced degrees made a statistically significant independent contribution to the variance in student outcomes on the state exam in English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. Following the analysis of the quantitative data, semi-structured interviews were conducted with principals identified as having the top 1% of teachers on staff with advanced degrees within this region. A constructivist approach was used to identify common themes for how these principals recruit and retain faculty with advanced degrees. Five themes emerged. These principals: employ a focused hiring philosophy, foster a learning organization, encourage teacher autonomy, participate in higher education partnerships, and support graduate degree attainment. Each of these themes are explored and practical suggestions for school leaders is presented
Cry Wolf
Get PDFCry Wolf is a confessional poetry collection told in three sections about at-work stalking. This collection also alludes to the Brothers Grimm fairytale, The Little Red Riding Hood. The sections of Cry Wolf include “The Wolf,” which introduces the speaker’s discovery of work-related stalking. The second section, entitled “The Fur,” is where the speaker empowers themselves to file a Title IX report about this dilemma, and Red cloaks herself in the wolf’s skin. The final portion of the collection, entitled “Red’s Home,” gives the audience a view of the speaker\u27s self-love as they maintain it through trauma. This section also introduces another, more welcome, significant other who displays the contrasts between intimate love and stalking. Within the last section, there is also the unification of having a group of supporters surrounding the speaker to aid in the process of healing as well as recognizing the speaker’s own empowerment and breaking taboos
Escape Beneath: An Original Game Score Inspired by an Analysis of Garry Schyman\u27s Music
Get PDFVideo-game music has grown into a vast array of different styles, sounds, and applications. As a newer field of music, game scoring has begun to receive high acclaim. Garry Schyman has become one of the most successful composers within the video-game industry. His music has received many awards and nominations throughout the years. Despite this, research and analysis into his compositions and techniques are almost non-existent. This thesis studies his techniques within the video-game scores for BioShock, BioShock 2, BioShock Infinite, Middle Earth Shadow of War, and Torn; and then applies them into an original score for an upcoming video game called Escape Beneath from Dread Vector Studios
Black Students, Discipline, and Cultural Responsiveness: Texas Black Educators as Cultural Translators
No full textBlack students in Texas were three times more likely to receive an out-of-school suspension than White students according to reported discipline data (Texas Appleseed, 2016). During that time, Black students accounted for 12% of Texas students while receiving 46% of all out-of-school suspensions (Texas Appleseed, 2016). The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and actions of Black educators on how they deter, respond, and translate behaviors of Black students to lower discipline infractions using cultural responsiveness. Seven Black Texas educators participated in an individual semi-structured interview along with a focus-group interview. Data gathered from participants emphasized culturally responsive teaching as a pivotal pedagogical style to decrease discipline infractions among Black students and increase academics, engagement, and positive relationships. Participants gave insight into how subjective discipline metrics further oppress Black students, and how genuine relationships help understand behavior and deter deviant behavior
Double Consciousness and Unhealthy Weight Control Behaviors in Young Black and White Adults
Get PDFThe present study examined the previously understudied notion that Black individuals are buffered against being dissatisfied with their bodies and in turn developing unhealthy eating and weight control behaviors. Double consciousness, a racially/ethnically sensitive measure of body dissatisfaction, was tested as a mediator of the relation between ethnic identity and unhealthy eating and weight control behaviors in Black and White adults. It was anticipated that unhealthy weight control behaviors would be more common in Black women compared to White women and that double consciousness would mediate the association between ethnic identity and unhealthy weight control behaviors among Black women, but not White women. The same hypotheses were tested in men. Unhealthy eating and weight control behaviors were significantly less common in Black compared to White participants (regardless of gender) and double consciousness did not mediate the association between ethnic identity and unhealthy weight control behaviors in Black women, White women, or White men. For Black men, however, double consciousness did mediate the association between ethnic identity and unhealthy weight control behaviors. This finding warrants further exploration, perhaps pointing to a culturally unique experience of appearance-related distress among Black men with unhealthy eating concerns
EFFECT OF MYCORRHIZAE INOCULATION ON THE GROWTH AND SUCCESS OF THREE TAXODIUM DISTICHUM HYBRIDS IN SALINE - IMPACTED COASTAL SOILS
Get PDFIn 2008, Galveston Island was severely impacted by Hurricane Ike, resulting in high salt deposition in the soil and groundwater. This caused a loss of many native plant species. A study was initiated to determine effective ways to promote the growth conditions of three bald cypress genotypes (Taxodium distichum var distichum and Taxodium distichum var mexicanum crosses) in salt-affected soils. The treatments applied were mycorrhizae inoculation, fertilizer application, and a combination of mycorrhizae inoculation and fertilizer application. A total of sixty (60) trees planted in plots of three rows and divided into five randomized replication blocks of four treatments each were used. Plants were measured for total height and diameter at breast height (DBH), and tree leaf nutrient concentration over the 2021 growing season. The effect of these treatments on soil health was determined by measuring the soil microbial functional diversity and soil respiration.
None of the three treatments had a significant effect on height, diameter breast height, leaf nutrient concentration, soil microbial functional diversity, or soil respiration. This could be because of the limited spacing between the trees and the age of the trees. However, treatment with mycorrhizae alone and a combination of mycorrhizae and fertilizer showed the potential to improve the tree height and the DBH
Difference in Preparedness: Do School Staff Feel Prepared for an Active Shooter or Attack?
Get PDFThe 2020 Texas Educators’ Needs Assessment Regarding School Safety and Victims Services included responses from educators across the state of Texas regarding school safety. This needs assessment generated data that provided researchers with the unique opportunity to analyze the school safety issues in Texas (Fuller et al, 2020). The purpose of the study was to evaluate Texas K-12 educators responses to their school’s preparedness for an active attack or shooter using data from that needs assessment. To build a strong analysis, the results were separated into three categories: educator role; Texas school regions; and urbanicity. Pearson chi square statistical analysis was used to create an understanding of the data. The results of this analysis revealed a trend that a majority of K-12 educators felt prepared for an active attack or shooter
Cadillacs N’ Poetry
Get PDFThis poem is a historical meditation on Elizabeth Alexander’s The Blackish Interior: Essays. The poem examines Blackness by expanding on historical Black movements in the mid-1900s that contributed to the mechanization of the Black body as a commodity through means of production. The poem uses the imagery of Black migration, lynching, evolution, mechanization, commodities, production, and death to bring forward the importance of identity and inner self-worth in a capitalistic society that benefits from the destruction of Black bodies