No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-05, Section: A, page: 1746. Adviser: Rob Toutkoushian. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 12, 2008)."

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems Technology, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Toronto, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1988. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-07, Section: A, page: 1758.

<p> Higher education institutions continue to struggle with encouraging retention for first-year students. Prior research has shown that establishing social integration during the first-year of college is a crucial component of a successful transition and has a positive influence on student persistence and academic success (Astin, 1993; Chapman &amp; Pascarella, 1983; Tinto, 1993). Social integration has historically been defined in terms of peer connections and involvement (Tinto, 1993); however, recent research has explored the importance of sense of belonging as an important psychosocial component in the transition to college (Strayhorn, 2012a). Sense of belonging focuses on feelings of fit, perceptions of social support, and feeling as though one matters to the community. The current study sought to explore the conceptual framework in which sense of belonging was included as a component of social integration. Moreover, this study explored whether institutional action could influence first-year students&rsquo; overall social integration through a focus on peer connections, involvement, and sense of belonging. </p><p> This quasi-experimental, quantitative study analyzed the influence of a campus intervention focused on social integration, called the Belonging Reinforcement Intervention (BRI). The BRI program was delivered to first-year students at a small, private institution during the first three weeks of their collegiate experience. The Belonging Reinforcement Intervention included researched components related to social belonging and normalizing students&rsquo; not feeling an immediate sense of fit (Walton &amp; Cohen, 2011a), reinforcing institutional commitment and belonging through communications (Hausmann et al., 2007), and research focused on peer mentoring as a way to encourage campus involvements (Peck, 2011). The study used a national instrument, the Mapworks Transition Survey, to determine if this intervention could influence the various components of social integration. </p><p> The findings from the study support a comprehensive view of social integration that includes sense of belonging. The findings further indicate that students who participated in the BRI program showed statistically significant increases in peer connections, involvement, and the current study&rsquo;s social integration scale which included sense of belonging. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the BRI program was particularly beneficial for Hispanic students with their intent to become involved and for female students for their overall social integration. The results of this study have implications for future institutional interventions and developing lasting programs that will help first-year students to succeed and persist in their college experience. The conclusions presented suggest that a broader definition of social integration can allow institutions and researchers to better understand and support the challenges students face during the transition to college.</p><p>

The aim of the thesis is to explore the social-class origins and destinations of CNAA graduates. The thesis begins with a discussion of social class, its meaning and conceptualization, and social-class schemas are devised for analysing the origins and destinations of graduates. Social class, however, is defined in a broad sense to include the dimensions of gender and ethnicity. Polytechnics and colleges are shown to have a higher proportion of working-class and black students than the universities. But despite their commitment to expanding educational opportunities public sector institutions remain socially exclusive in so far as they draw the bulk of their students from more middle-class backgrounds. Likewise, although public sector institutions appear to have expanded opportunities for women, female students are found to be concentrated in a limited number of courses. The career destinations of graduates are examined next. Significant differences were found relating to social-class or1g1ns with a tendency for men from manual backgrounds, women and black graduates to enter lower-status occupations. These differences appear only partly to arise from differences in career aspirations. It is suggested that black and women graduates may be subject to some discrimination. Significant differences are found in the destinations of graduates according to their courses of study, and once allowance is made for this, the existing relationship between the social-class origins and destinations of graduates becomes much less marked. An attempt is made to explain the relationship between the social-class or1g1ns and destinations of graduates and their courses of study using the models of contest and sponsored mobility devised by Turner. Using a four-fold categorization of school curriculums, it was shown that those graduates who had undertaken a 'utilitarian' school curriculum were constrained as regards their choice of course, whilst those who had undertaken an 'academic' curriculum and had been sponsored through secondary education enjoyed a greater choice of degree subject. Graduates from working-class or1g1ns were found to be more likely than their middle-class peers to have undertaken a 'utilitarian' curriculum.

The purpose of this study was to describe the functions and structures within gay/straight alliances (GSAs) in the public schools of Massachusetts. Six questions guided this study: (a) What are the roots of GSAs? (b) What are the purposes of GSAs? (c) How are GSAs structured? (d) What are the outcomes of GSAs? (e) What are the strengths of GSAs? (f) What are the challenges faced by GSAs? Participants in this study were selected from two groups: current and former Safe Schools for Gay and Lesbian Students Program (SSGLSP) staff members at the Massachusetts Department of Education, Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Network, and Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth were interviewed and advisors of GSAs active in Massachusetts at the start of the 1998/99 school year were asked to complete surveys. The purposes of the SSGLSP are to provide support and safety for lesbian and gay students. GSAs fulfill the purposes of the SSGLSP by providing opportunities for support, social interaction, and education. Study participants perceived the outcomes of GSAs to be replacing silence with visibility, replacing isolation with connection, making known the presence of lesbian and gay students in schools, providing opportunities for positive risk taking, challenging norms of silence, and contributing to a new vision for schools. Perceived strengths of the GSA model are conceptualizing GSAs as support groups, including lesbian and gay and straight students in the support group, providing institutional support, encouraging students to speak out about issues facing lesbian and gay students, and taking action at the right time. Advisors perceived the strengths of GSAs to be the personal qualities of student members, consistency of meeting times, and the ability to persevere in spite of opposition. Governor's Commission and Department of Education personnel perceived the challenges faced by GSAs to be dealing with fear, meeting the needs of lesbian and gay students along with heterosexual students, balancing competing priorities, and meeting the needs of underserved groups. Advisors named three logistical challenges facing GSAs: maintaining or increasing GSA membership, finding a convenient meeting time, and inconsistent meeting attendance.