Thesis (M.A.)--Rowan University, 2007. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xii, 136 p.; also includes graphics Includes bibliographical references (p. 108-117). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2005. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education" ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 250-270) and appendices.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2006. / "A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." ETD. Includes bibliographical references (p. 165-180) and appendices.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Miami University, Dept. of Educational Leadership, 2004. / Title from second page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-89).

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This study utilized the 2013 language arts data from the Mississippi Curriculum Test II to examine the impact Pre-k has on the reading achievement of low socio-economic African American students. This study was guided by one research question and employed a causal-comparative research design. The research question sought to determine the difference in MCT2 language arts scores of third grade students who participated in a school district’s Pre-k program and those who did not attend the district’s Pre-k program. The results indicated that there was a significant difference in the language arts scores of students who attended Pre-k and those that did not. The study concludes with implications for practicing educators and recommendations for future research.

The purpose of this unique critical ethnographic case study is to examine how the development of African Diaspora Literacy informed the African identity of students who identify as Black or African descendants and contribute to the journey toward complete liberation of African descendants worldwide by teaching Black students how to (re)member (Dillard, 2012). To address the problem of some Afro Caribbean American students holding negative, deficit perceptions of all associated with Africa including themselves, I posed the question: In what ways and to what extent does engagement in the Advanced Placement Seminar with African Diaspora Content influence five African-descended high school students’ perception of Africa, the African diaspora, and themselves as African descendants? Homogeneous, convenience sampling was used to identify five African-descended high school students enrolled in the AP Seminar at a College Board-certified predominantly Black high school in a major U.S. urban city. Qualitative data were collected through observations, student-created artifacts, an end-of-course survey, and semi-structured individual and group interviews between Fall 2017 and Spring 2019. African Diaspora Literacy served as the theoretical framework for analysis. Findings suggest that students’ perceptions of Africa, the African diaspora and themselves as African descendants were positively influenced by their 2-year participation in an AP Seminar implemented with a comprehensive, Sankofan, African-centered, pedagogical approach of (re)membering. This informed and strengthened students’ African identity to the extent that their intrinsic motivation to learn more about their African and diaspora heritage positively influenced some of their family members and schoolmates.

The goal of this Dissertation in Practice was to design a School Improvement Plan focused on improving reading performance of African American students at Suburban Middle School (SMS). The problem of practice was that African American students at Suburban Middle School have performed significantly lower than their White peers over the course of the 2009-2013 school years in reading performance. The reading deficiencies of African American students needed to be directly addressed in a new School Improvement Plan (SIP). The literature review of this study found that there are many different components that influence the reading performance of African American students. For this Dissertation in Practice, a new School Improvement Plan focused primarily on 6 different areas will be the end result. The components that will be examined are: 1) school climate, 2) utilization of data, 3) parental involvement, 4) professional development, 5) instructional strategies, and 6) collaboration. While these are the 6 key elements of successful models, there were also additional sub groupings within each element that also had an influence on student achievement levels. In addition to examining previous School Improvement Plans at SMS, the end result and final deliverable was a School Improvement Plan designed to close the existing achievement gap in reading between African American students and their peers at SMS. Suggested use for the new model of the School Improvement Plan was to focus specifically on the 6 key elements to address the reading performance of African American students.

No description available.