Across the United States, African American males face barriers to securing a quality education. Barriers such as educational gatekeeping, and low identification, have caused African American males' enrollment in advanced placement courses to be at a rate lower than all other ethnicity and gender populations. A qualitative approach to research was used to explore how and in what ways district and school leaders created or hindered equitable advanced academic program opportunities for African American males. Through the lens of critical social theory, individual face-to-face interviews with district/campus educators and a focus group interview with African American male students, the lived experiences of participants within the advanced placement program were brought to the fore. Three questions guided the study: 1) How do district and school policies and practices create equitable advanced academic program opportunities for African American males; 2) How and in what ways do district and school leaders create or hinder equitable advanced academic program opportunities for African American males; and 3) What conditions have supported or hindered African American males in their ability to enroll and succeed in advanced academic courses. Findings revealed four themes to creating equity for African American males within the advanced placement program which included, the need to cultivate the advanced placement program, identify academic shortcomings, support the needs of students, and address invisible African American males. The research demonstrated that African American males can, and will, thrive in the most challenging of academic settings when provided with proper supports.

This study discusses the way in which Saudi academic women perceive their role as academic researchers at Princess Nora Bint Abdul Rahman University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. My aim is to illustrate and explain the role of women academics who live in a conservative religious culture in Saudi Arabia, and how they fulfil their research obligations. Moreover, I aim to clarify and understand the challenges they face throughout their academic journeys. I have used the method of narrative inquiry in order to understand the perceptions of and career complexities faced by the participants in this study. This thesis discusses the improvement of education in Saudi Arabia and how women in the country have gained rights in terms of education. This study is built on discovering the effects of the conservative religious identity of a Saudi academic woman and how she copes with the various challenges that she faces throughout her academic journey to become a researcher. The four academic researchers involved in this study incorporate their identities and beliefs into their daily tasks. Three themes emerged from the findings and the interpretation of the data, which served as a guide to answering the research questions. These three themes are:  Family and cultural role: a fine line between support and control  Challenges through the academic journey  The Saudi identity I conclude the study by discussing the major finding that these Saudi academic women’s conservative religious identities have shaped them not only as women of faith, but also as academic researchers. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

The goal of this research was to develop a greater understanding of the effectiveness of enrichment programs outside of the school setting. This study was also intended to contribute to the broader understanding of the mechanism of student school-related stress, reported by parents, as it relates to student academic performance, specifically in a population which primarily consists of students and parents who are of Asian-Indian-American descent. With rising standards and intensifying pressure on students to be academically successful, it is necessary to examine the stress students experience due to their academics, as well as its effects on their academic performance. Participants in this study included twenty 1st through 5th grade elementary students who attend weekly classes at one of three local academies where the after-school academic enrichment program is offered. Data from those students participating in both math and English was accounted for separately, resulting in 34 total student subjects which can be utilized for this study (N = 34). After performing bivariate logistic regression, the models did not reach significance (p > .05), therefore it cannot be said that an increase or decrease in dependent variable of students’ school grades can be predicted that any of the following independent variables: homework completion, length of enrollment, and academy homework scores,. The perceptions of the parents, in addition to those of the children experiencing these stressors should be studied further.

The quest for institutional transformation has created a need to continually challenge traditional notions of what an academic is and should be. While several studies have explored academics' experiences to engender transformation systems, few studies have focused strictly on emerging academics (permanently working scholars within the first five years of academic careers). These early-career academics are faced with the challenge of adapting to the institutional culture and meeting disciplinary standards of performance. Their novelty in the system makes them more vulnerable to the effect of these challenges. This study aimed to identify how they navigate these challenges, what defines them as academics, what impacts their academic freedoms, how they challenge disciplinary standards of performance, and the extent to which institutional culture affects their experiences. Through a purposive and snowball sampling strategy, 20 academics were selected from the University of Cape Town (UCT) to study. They were interviewed using a semi-structured approach and were asked openended questions with an interview guide. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview data as it utilized an ideographic approach in providing insights into the participants' lived experiences. This methodological approach also helped prioritize how the study is carried out and explore participants' meaning-making processes. The participants perceived being an academic as an opportunity for subjective self-expression and a character-building process. They conceded that being an academic required genuine intellectual curiosity and a platform to engender innovation. The study also uncovered the effects of UCT's institutional and transformative plan on assimilating into the academic space. Academics perceived the performance appraising structure as too prescriptive and affirmed their desire to harness their positions to build strong interpersonal relations with students. The study recommends a more comprehensive and longitudinal approach to studying academic experiences focusing on the psycho-social factors influencing these experiences. The research further suggests a streamlined and faculty-based approach to further strengthening educational support systems at UCT.

Hispanic college students are more at risk of poor academic performance and dropping out than any other racial group. The Hispanic college population continues to grow, yet rates of retention and achievement for this group continue to decline. Previous research on Hispanic college students has examined factors that contribute to underachievement and declining graduation rates, but they are limited to students attending 4-year institutions. This study examined if grade point averages (GPAs) were affected by levels of self-efficacy, resiliency, and sensation seeking. Bandura's self-efficacy and social cognitive theories along with Zuckerman and Kuhlman's theory of sensation-seeking were the theoretical frameworks that guided the present study. Hispanic students with high levels of self-efficacy were expected to have higher GPAs than students with low levels of self-efficacy. Students who were high sensation seekers were hypothesized to have lower GPAs than low sensation seekers. Lastly, it was hypothesized that sensation-seeking behaviors would be correlated with lower GPAs and lower levels of self-efficacy. The resiliency aspect 'coping with stress makes me stronger' was a significant predictor of GPA. Sensation-seeking activities such as roller coaster riding, sex before marriage, and skiing were shown to correlate with lower GPAs. College self-efficacy did not have a relationship to Hispanic community college students' GPAs. These findings may be important to educators, administrators, and others directly involved in promoting student success in college because students at risk for low academic performance and dropping out of college can be identified earlier and therefore early intervention strategies can be implemented.

High-quality hospitality education is important to bring to international locations because it is a foundation for business and tourism. An international network of hospitality schools (HS) has a problem of convincing faculty to relocate to international locations, which limits expansion efforts and the quality of faculty available at less desirable locales. The purpose of this correlation study was to investigate the relationship between varies workplace factors that faculty expect to be of the highest quality, allowing senior management to ensure relocations. The theoretical foundation that grounded this study was Authors' expectancy theory, which stipulates that what people expect to occur drives their behavior; in this study, the behavior in question was the decision to relocate or not. The research questions concerned the correlations between faculty ratings of current workplace factors and faculty ratings indicating the quality they expected each workplace factor to show at a relocation site. Approximately 180 faculty members of HS answered an anonymous online survey. The survey was rated using 2 scales indicating how true each workplace item was in the current location and how high quality each workplace item was expected to be. Correlation analysis was conducted for each of the survey items to determine if there was a relationship between the faculty's ratings of their current position and what they expected in a relocation. The study found that feedback on work results was highly valued by participants wherever their workplace was located. The study may promote positive social change by supporting the school's capability to provide a workplace environment in compromise locations that attract and retain hospitality faculty, ultimately benefiting students in the globalizing world of education.

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Using an exploratory case study approach, this study examined the school leadership factors that contribute to building Latinx student social capital as well as the best practices for creating a more equitable AP program. Through this qualitative study, the organizational and leadership factors of the AP program at Stripes High School (pseudonym) were examined, and how these factors contributed toward closing the opportunity gap. This study used semi-structured interviews with district and campus leaders and an AP teachers focus group to determine leadership beliefs and actions that were successful in building an accessible and equitable advanced academics program for Latinx students, as well as an AP student focus group to triangulate the findings. The results of this study showed Latinx students, already lacking social capital, also face many barriers of different forms: systemic, structural and cultural in their educational opportunities for AP courses and exams. The case study campus overcame these barriers and increased equity by allowing Latinx students more access to AP courses and exams through district- and campus-level administrators working to remove barriers and hire and support the most capable and socially aware AP teachers who aim to grow and nurture the students who they serve. Based on the results from this study, there are two major recommendations for school leaders to consider in their effort to close the opportunity gap for Latinx students in AP coursework. These recommendations include offering open access to all students and hiring and training teachers who understand and value equity. While this study uncovered many factors at Stripes HS that collectively served to provide an equitable AP program for Latinx students, these recommendations were the highest leverage ones.

Background: Online learning has recently garnered increased attention as technology use in the classroom grows. However, most of the published approaches regarding this topic in postgraduate education centers on clinical environments. Models of partnerships between applied public health agencies and academic centers to produce mutually beneficial online learning opportunities for graduate-level public health courses have not been explored in the literature. Methods: East Tennessee State University (ETSU) and the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) partnered to build three online, asynchronous epidemiology modules for an interdisciplinary audience of graduate students. The goals of the modules were to (1) introduce students to a public health issue, (2) provide students with hands-on learning about data and information available through TDH, and (3) allow students to connect theory to practice by having them create a product for use by TDH. TDH created topic-specific modules that would be used within the infectious disease, chronic disease, and cancer epidemiology courses, and piloted during the 2015–2016 academic term. Results: Conference calls between the two institutions occurred in the spring and the summer of 2015. Two of the three epidemiology modules were presented to ETSU staff for critique and edits at an in-person meeting during the summer. The methods of delivery for each section within a module varied from recorded webinar format to self-guided instruction. One module utilized available learning tools provided by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, while the other module was constructed entirely using TDH data. Both modules included various exercises and assignments to be conducted in class and as homework and concluded with the student being asked to construct a learning product as a final project. The ETSU–TDH team decided that this learning product would be provided back to TDH for possible future use. Discussion: The innovative partnership between a state government agency and an academic institution has demonstrated the need for such collaborations in public health. Understanding how applied public health practice would utilize what is learned in the classroom and preparing students for real-world application may be the missing link between theory and practice.