The LAIR at East Texas A&M
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The Impact of Culturally Responsive Leadership on the Postsecondary Readiness of Long-Term English Learners
No full textAn exploratory sequential mixed methods research design was conducted to understand the impact of culturally responsive school leadership in the successful attainment of postsecondary readiness of long-term English learners. Guided by a conceptual framework that incorporated components of biliteracy, social justice, and transformational leadership theory, the study sought to explore the perceptions of secondary school leaders towards the culturally responsive professional practices connected to the attainment of postsecondary readiness of long-term English learners. The study combined a qualitative hermeneutical phenomenological design and a quantitative nonexperimental causal-comparative design. Qualitative data were collected from open-ended surveys and interview protocols of secondary school leaders. Quantitative data were analyzed using archival student data. The three clusters of meaning that emerged from the qualitative data analysis were (a) consciousness to inclusivity, (b) relationships and reflection, and (b) understanding through practice. In terms of the quantitative portion of the study, the data indicated that practices regarding enrollment of LTELs in advanced academic course tracks are limiting even though these students show that they have the potential to achieve academically based on an analysis of state assessment and enrollment data
Weapons at a Distance: An Investigation of the Weapon Focus Effect as a Function of Distance
No full textCrimes occur naturally and are beyond the control of the criminal justice system. Research on particular aspects of these crimes, referred to as estimator variables, is paramount for assessing the reliability of eyewitness reports. The extant literature has primarily focused on individual estimator variables, but crimes are often more complex than this. Weapon presence and viewing distance are two specific examples of estimator variables that can impact memory independently, but could also interact. In this study, I investigated the influence that distance may have on the expression of the weapon focus effect (e.g., Loftus, Loftus, & Messo, 1987). Participants engaged in a multi-block eyewitness identification paradigm, including viewing a video in which a target is holding a gun, knife, toy trumpet, or nothing, watching an educational video as a distractor task, identifying someone (or rejecting) from a target-present or -absent simultaneous lineup, and assessing their confidence in their identification decision. In replication of prior research, I found enhanced discriminability when targets were viewed at a short distance compared to a long distance. However, contrary to expectations, I did not find any effect of the type of object that the target held on discriminability. I also found a strong confidence-accuracy relationship at short distances regardless of which object (or nothing) was held by the target, but this relationship was much weaker at long distances. Conclusions, implications, and future directions are discussed, but more research needs to be conducted to further elucidate how weapons are perceived at long distances and how they may or may not affect eyewitness memory
Novice Hispanic Principals’ Perceptions of Principal Turnover as Related to Principal Retention: A Narrative Inquiry
No full textPrincipal retention is a concern for school districts nationwide and in Texas. Many factors influence why school principals quickly leave their roles, such as school culture and climate, teacher attrition, and school district finances. Nationally, 8.2% of all principals are Hispanic, while 10.1% of Hispanic school principals leave in their position after their 1st year in the role. Comparatively, 78% are non-Hispanic White, while 10.0% of non-Hispanic White school principals leave the role. On the other hand, 11% are non-Hispanic Black, while 8.9 % of non-Hispanic Black school principals leave (Goldring & Taie, 2018; Taie & Goldring, 2017). Nationally, 50% of the new principals leave their role within three years of their employment (Superville, 2019). In Texas, 30% of the first-year principals resign after one year on the job (Dixon, 2019). The collective exodus of new principals may potentially harm school improvement (Snodgrass Rangel, 2018). The retention of school principals\u27 benefits students academically and influences the school\u27s level of refinement. The purpose of this narrative inquiry was to discover the perceptions of novice Hispanic school principals about their experiences with the position and to learn how these experiences might relate to principal retention. The researcher applied the theoretical framework as a paradigm of functionalism. Three research questions supported the study\u27s purpose: (a) How do novice Hispanic school principals learn, grow, and adapt to the position? (b) What supports do novice Hispanic school principals receive during their first year in the role? (c) What supports do novice Hispanic school principals believe would increase their retention? The researcher interviewed eight Texas novice Hispanic school principals via Zoom. Each participant shared story-driven perspectives of their experiences. The participants served one year in that same position not to exceed three years in the role. The findings may prove useful as a resource for novice principals and to assist district policymakers in strategic planning for principal retention. The following six themes emerged to answer the research questions during analysis: (a) have a willingness to listen and learn, (b) set goals to achieve growth, (c) identify challenges with people and procedures, (d) diverse supports received, (e) principal strategic development, and (f) principal mentoring. The results in this current study offer an opportunity to understand solutions based on how the novice Hispanic learns, grows, and adapts to the position within the first three years in efforts to improve retention
Thermodynamics and Upper Lethal Temperature of California Valley Quail Eggs
No full textThe objectives of this project were to determine the upper lethal temperature (ULT) of California valley quail (Callipepla californica) embryos in ovo and the thermal equalization times of their eggs. The temperatures influencing development are unknown for valley quail. Historically, data from animal models like the chicken (Gallus domesticus) have been used for quail species; however, recent studies have shown that key temperatures influencing development vary among galliformes. The ULT for bobwhites occurs at 51, 50, and 47° C for 1, 3, and 6 hr of exposure, respectively. Chicken embryo ULT is reported at 43° C. Mean time (±SE) to equalization temperature for fertilized northern bobwhite eggs was 38 ±1 min, less than the ~2 hr for chickens. To investigate ULT for valley quail eggs, eggs were assigned a pre-incubation temperature ranging from 40–51° C, in increments of 1° C, with exposure times of 1, 3, or 6 h. An additional 3 fertilized valley quail eggs were placed into the pre-incubation chamber to record thermal equalization times. The ULT for valley quail occurs at 46, 45, and 45° C for 1, 3, and 6 hr of exposure, respectively. Mean time (±SE) for thermal equalization for valley quail eggs was 43.92 ±4.11 min. Thermal tolerance of valley quail is below that of bobwhites, but above that of chickens. Valley quail embryos exhibit a high tolerance to brief hyperthermic exposure, surviving temperatures up to 45° C for 1 h, and 44° C for 3 and 6 h. In their native range in California, valley quail can experience temperatures up to 43.33° C, during drought years, resulting in the mean proportion of juveniles in a population of 35%. The results of this study contribute new knowledge on the thermal tolerance of valley quail and could partially explain the observed reduction in juvenile production in drought years
Finding Expert Consensus on the Components of Cooperating Teacher Training: A Quantitative Delphi Study
No full textA doctoral research study using the Delphi method of gathering expert opinions and agreement covering the material and organization of training sessions of cooperating teachers. Researchers sent surveys in 3 separate rounds requesting input and/or agreement on topics experts suggest to include in training modules for cooperating teachers. In round 1, expert participants answered leading questions regarding the organization of the existing cooperating teacher training at the represented educator preparation programs and the preferred organization of cooperating teacher training. Experts also provided 23 unique topics to consider for inclusion in training. When asked to rate agreement of inclusion of the topics in round two, the lowest level of agreement was neutral—researcher received no negative responses during the second round of the study. The researcher organized the topics gleaned in the first round into three categories and generated labels for each category. The third round of the study surveyed the experts for agreement on the organization, both placement of the topics and the researcher created category labels. The participants agreed with the labels created but made suggestions for relocation of five topics to different categories. The researcher found a similarity of suggestions with established theories and provided an outline of training based on the results of this Delphi study, prior research on learning, and existing theories developed to explain the process teachers travel through while learning new material. This dissertation includes suggestions for further research
Exploring the Knowledge and Beliefs that Teachers Have About Dyslexia in the Eastern Region of Texas
No full textA vast amount of research exists on the lack of teacher knowledge in areas relating to reading including dyslexia, but there is a limited amount of research dedicated to honing the belief systems teachers who have developed as the result of their experiences in and out of the classroom (Binks-Cantrell, Washburn, Joshi, & Hougen, 2012; Moats, 1994). The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the dyslexia knowledge of teachers in Texas in terms of their beliefs and how those beliefs developed. Participants in the study completed an instrument that measures the beliefs and knowledge that individuals have about dyslexia. The overarching question for the study was as follows: What beliefs do educators have about dyslexia? The overarching question was answered by means of the survey instrument. The research questions guided the study and aided in explaining the dyslexia knowledge of general education teachers. The procedures for this mixed methods study design included a survey and a focus group interview in order to see how the dyslexia beliefs of teachers, as identified using the Dyslexia Belief Index (DBI), developed. The DBI (Wadlington & Wadlington, 2005) is a survey instrument that purports to measure the beliefs that individuals have about dyslexia. The survey consists of 30 items related to knowledge of dyslexia. This mixed methods study analyzed the survey data using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 25 (SPSS) software in order to identify statistical variances among the survey respondents by running an analysis of variance (ANOVA). The researcher incorporated a focus group interview as a means of further explaining the survey responses by answering the sub-questions. An ANOVA was conducted as the statistical test to find significance in the data provided by the survey responses. For each question, the p-value was greater than the alpha level of .05; therefore, the researcher failed to reject the null hypothesis due to the data not being statistically significant for all questions on the DBI
The pH Dependent Study of Zinc(II), Nickel(II) and Copper(II) Binding by Histidine Motif Heptapeptides Using ESI-IMMS
No full textMetals are useful in fixing the health physiology of the body by direct administration as well as carriers for targeted drug deliver. Copper is an important metal in the nervous system development, when its homeostasis is disrupted, there is neurodegenerative disorder. A series of four structurally related heptapeptides Amb5O-R were investigated with ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) to compare the binding nature and to probe each of these heptapeptides amb5O:ac-His1-His2-Gly3-Pro4-Tyr5-His6-His7,amb5P:ac-His1-His2-His3-His4-His5-His6-His7,amb5Q:ac-His1-His2-His3-Pro4-His5-His6-His7 and amb5R:ac-His1-His2-Gly3-Pro4-Gly5His6-His7 binds with Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) under different pH condition from pH 7.0-9.0 as a new discovery for potential affinity tags. The research also investigated the effect of tyrosine amino acid to that of proline and the polyhistidine sequence on the binding ability of these peptides with metal ions. Collision induced dissociation (CID) was used to analyze the fragmentation energies of the complexes and the influence of hydrophilic hydroxyl group on tyrosine and histidine relative to fragmentation of parent ion
Why Teachers Stay? A Narrative Inquiry of the Lived Experiences of Black Teachers Who Decide to Remain in an Urban School District in Southern California
No full textThe purpose of this research study was to explore the lived experiences of Black teachers who were employed in an urban school district in Southern California. This study focused on teachers who made the decision to remain at their current school in their current teaching position. The findings from this research inquiry can provide district-level and campus-level leadership insight into the lived experiences of Black teachers and what dynamics contribute to their decisions to remain in their current positions within this school district. These personal stories can inform strategies to develop or improve targeted recruiting and retention efforts of Black teachers, generate professional development and continuing education opportunities, cultivate Black teacher resilience, and create sustainable career pathways. In an effort to capture the experiences and perceptions of Black teachers employed in an urban school district in Southern California, the narrative inquiry research method was utilized to elicit their stories
Currently Employed Teachers\u27 Perceptions of the Reasons Teachers Leave the Profession or Stay: A Q Methodology Study
No full textAccording to Haynes (2014), roughly half a million United States (U.S.) teachers either move or leave the profession each year—attrition that costs the U.S. up to $2.2 billion annually. The data does not stop there, as High-poverty schools experience a teacher turnover rate of about 20% per calendar year—roughly 50% higher than the rate in more affluent schools (p. 3). Not only does the education system have this high turnover rate, but the areas of the highest need have a significantly greater turnover rate. Haynes (2014) continues to move and show that not only are we losing teachers, but we are retaining only about 50% of our teachers past the five–year mark. Between 40%–50% of teachers leave within five years. According to Haynes (2014), in 1987–88, the model, or most common experience level, was 15 years; by 2008, the typical teacher was in his or her first year of teaching. Because the economic downturn beginning in 2007–08 slowed the rate of increase in the number of beginning teachers, by 2011–12, the model teacher was someone in his or her fifth years; however, the overall experience of teachers has dropped in the past 25 years since 1987. (p. 3) This study took a quantitative Q methodology approach to evaluate which strategies for teacher retention are effective and which are not. This study identifies solutions to the teacher retention crisis in Texas public schools by identifying why teachers stay and if understanding generational differences could aid in the retention of teachers
