xiii, 142 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This study employs a case-study methodology to examine the sustainability of reforms at an innovative young high school. A variety of factors present obstacles to the success of reforms, including loose organizational linkages and staff turnover. Using Linde's framework of the paradigmatic narrative, this study explores how the stories teachers tell each other about the origin and history of the school affect the way teachers currently implement the founding vision in the face of loose organizational linkages and staff turnover. In particular, this study focuses on the system of 9th- and 10th-grade Language Arts and Social Studies team teaching. / Committee in charge: David Conley, Chairperson, Educational Leadership; Philip McCullum, Member, Educational Leadership; Deborah Olson, Member, Special Education and Clinical Sciences; Alan Meyer, Outside Member, Management

<p> According to national statistics, the number of Black women college graduates is 44.8% while for Black men, the national college graduate rate stand on 33.1%. The overall graduation rate of the Black population remains 57.3%. Further as the per statistics, out of 7.9% of the total Black male population in America in the age group of 18 to 24 years, only 2.8% of Black men were undergraduates at public flagship colleges and universities (NCES, 2012). It is argued that while this troubling trend is most prevalent in all groups among Black men, young Black men are generally the most vulnerable to underrepresentation in colleges and universities (Harper, 2010). </p><p> The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine a federally funded academic and support services program titled PASSAGES, which aims to increase success rates for African American males using what this author refers to as a traditional deficit model for recruiting African Americans. This study examined the PASSAGES through an alternative framework, the Anti Deficit Achieving Framework (ADAF), which is specifically designed for African American males (Harper, 2012). </p><p> This study examined current PASSAGES participant&rsquo;s perceptions of the program, both within the traditional deficit model and within the ADAF. Specifically, this study examined factors such as microaggressions that undermine African American males&rsquo; achievements by evaluating their perceptions of the institutional, traditional practices within a student support services program: PASSAGES at Los Angeles Southwest Community College which prohibits them from being successful. The intent of this study was to provide the educational community serving the African American male population with some insight into contemporary techniques to improve their success rates through a positive framework.</p><p>

abstract: ABSTRACT Historically, first-generation college students (FGCS), students whose parents have not attended college nor earned a degree, are more likely to have lower college retention rates and are less likely to complete their academic programs in a timely manner. Despite this, there are many FGCS who do succeed and it is imperative to learn what fuels their success. The theoretical perspectives that framed this study included: hidden curricula, resiliency theory and community cultural wealth. Drawing from these perspectives, this qualitative research study consisted of a 10-week photo-elicitation facilitation and reflection group in which participants identified aspects of the hidden curricula encountered in the university that were challenging in their educational journeys and guided them in identifying the sources of strength (i.e. protective factors) that they channeled to overcome those challenges. The participants for this study were selected using a stratified purposeful sampling approach. The participants identified as Latina, low-income FGCS who were on good academic standing and majored in two of the largest academic units at Arizona State University's Tempe campus- the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Fulton College of Engineering. This study used participants’ testimonios (critical, reflexive narratives), photo-elicitation images, student journal responses, focus group dialogue and Facebook group posts to better understand the resiliency of Latina, low-income FGCS at ASU. Using grounded theory analysis, this study revealed the following, Latina, low-income FGCS: - Primarily define and develop their academic resiliency outside of the classroom and use social capital connections with peers and aspirational capital connections to their future to be successful inside the classroom. - Are heavily driven to succeed in the university setting because of their family's support and because they view their presence in college as a unique opportunity that they are grateful for. - Operationalize their academic resiliency through a combination of hard work and sacrifice, as well as an active implementation of resilience tactics. - Are motivated to pass on their resiliency capital to other students like them and perceive their pursuit of a college education as a transformative action for themselves, their families and their communities. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2016

abstract: Since the early 1980s spoken word has been on the rise as a highly influential performance art form. Concurrently, there has been an increase in literature on spoken word, which tends to focus on the critical performative and transformative potential of spoken word. These on-going discussions surrounding youth spoken word often fail to take into account the dynamic, relational, and transitional nature of power that constructs space and subjectivity in spoken word. This ethnographic study of one youth spoken word organization – Poetic Shift – in a southwestern urban area makes a conscious attempt to provide a nuanced, contradictory and partial analysis of space, place, and power in relation to youth spoken word and aspires to generate an understanding of how spaces designated for spoken word are dialectically (re)produced and maintain or subvert dominant relations of power through a constant stream of negotiations. This study aims to more explicitly examine the relationship between place and spoken word in effort to understand how one’s positionality impacts, and is impacted by, their involvement in youth spoken word. Over the course of a 6-month period participant observation was conducted at two high school spoken word workshops and four interviews were completed with both teaching artists and young adult spoken word poets. Using spatial and critical pedagogy frameworks, this study found that Poetic Shift serves as a platform for youth to engage in the performative process of narratively constructing and reconfiguring their identities. Poetic Shift’s ideological position that attributes value and validation to the voices and lived experiences of each youth is an explicit rejection of the dominant paradigm of knowing that relegates some voices to a culture of silence. The point at which the present study deviated from most other literature on spoken word is where it offers a critique of Poetic Shift as a site of critical literacy and of the unreflexive rhetoric of student empowerment. The problematic presuppositions within the call for youth voice and in the linear, overly simplistic curriculum of Poetic Shift tend to reinforce the dominant relations of power. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Justice Studies 2016

abstract: Implementing an assimilative agenda within the traditional U.S. education system has prevented the authentic inclusion, validation, and development of American Indian students. The enduring ramifications, including the loss of cultural identity, underscored the critical need to decolonize, or challenge, the historic assimilative agenda of the school space. The purpose of this action research study was to examine the connection between the cultural exploration activities of Culture Club, cultural identity, and the creation of a Third Space to serve as a decolonizing framework for this Indigenous program conducted within a school space. The epistemological perspective guiding this study was that of constructionism. The theoretical frameworks were post-colonial theory, Indigenous methodology, and, most prominently, Third Space theory. A thorough review of Third Space theory resulted in deduction of four criteria deemed to be necessary for creating a Third Space. These four theoretically-deduced criteria were (a) creating new knowledge, (b) reclaiming and reinscribing hegemonic notions of identity and school, (c) creating new or hybrid identities, and (d) developing more inclusive perspectives. The criteria were employed to create the Culture Club innovation and to determine whether a Third Space was effectively created within Culture Club. This qualitative action research study focused on the Culture Club innovation, an after-school, cultural exploration, extracurricular program for sixth-grade American Indian students, at a Title I school in a large southwest metropolitan area. The participants were five, sixth-grade American Indian students. The role of the researcher was to facilitate a Third Space within Culture Club, as well as collect and analyze data. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews; recorded Culture Club sessions; phase 3, and research journal entries. Once the data were transcribed, eclectic coding methodology, consisting of open, descriptive, and in vivo coding was employed and interpretive analysis procedures followed. Findings showed modest changes in participants’ cultural identities but confirmed the creation of a Third Space within Culture Club. Findings have important implications for both practice and future research. Recommendations for improving and sustaining the decolonizing framework of Culture Club to create safe spaces for American Indian students and their explorations of their Indigeneity are also proposed. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Leadership and Innovation 2017

Thesis (MEd (Education))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / This study focuses on the cognitive preparation of National Curriculum Statement (NCS) (Grades 10 – 12) Accounting learners for studies at a University of Technology (UoT). The purpose was to determine to what extent NCS cognitively prepares Accounting learners for studies at a UoT, and whether there is a difference in the extent to which NCS (pre-2014) and CAPS (2014) cognitively prepare learners for the first-year National Higher Certificate in Accounting and Financial Information Systems at a selected University of Technology (UoT). This study is contextually situated within the curriculum theories developed by Basil Bernstein‘s ‘code theory’ in the sociology of education. The theoretical framework for this thesis draws on the work of David Conley’s redefining college readiness, in which he argues that Higher Education (HE) readiness is a multi-faceted concept comprising numerous variables. Cognitive preparation for HE Accounting studies is reviewed in terms of the educational objectives of the cognitive domain of Benjamin Bloom. A mixed method approach for the research design was employed. The quantitative approach entailed completion and analysis of questionnaires by first-year Accounting students at a selected UoT to ascertain learners’ levels of Accounting competence as envisioned by the NCS (Grades 10 – 12). Marks for the Grade 12 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination in Accounting were obtained so that these examination marks could be compared with students’ levels of Accounting competence and marks at the end of the first term (March). The qualitative approach entailed document analyses of the Accounting FET (Grades 10 – 12) curriculum, the curriculum of the National Higher Certificate, the NSC Accounting examination of 2014, and the National Higher Certificate in Accounting March 2015 assessment, as well as interviews with the Accounting 1 lecturers at a selected UoT. Data revealed that the NCS (Grades 10 – 12) Accounting curriculum (formal or intended curriculum) adequately prepares learners cognitively for studies at a UoT. There is little evidence that CAPS prepares learners better for tertiary studies than students not trained according to CAPS. There is a statistically significant relationship between the mark obtained in the NSC, the mark in the questionnaire and the formal assessment in March. There are, however, various other factors that contribute to academic success or failure and drop-out in HE. Findings from this study suggest that the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and universities could work more closely together in various subject groups to ensure these challenges are met and that universities provide feedback to the DBE on whether the changes implemented are making a difference to the quality of first-year students who enter university.

abstract: This study is a philosophical genealogy of the term “student engagement” as it has appeared in composition studies. It attempts to account for the fact that student engagement has become something of a virtue in educational and composition studies, despite the fact that the term is problematic due its lack of definitional clarity and circular understanding of pedagogy (explained in greater detail in chapter two). Inspired by Foucault, this study employs a genealogical analytic to create a counterhistory of student engagement, suggesting that its principles have existed long before educational theorists coined the term, tracing its practices back to the 1940s in composition studies. Far from being the humanistic and student-centered practice that it is commonly viewed as, this study situates student engagement practices as emerging from various discursive and political desires/needs, especially as a way to ideologically counter the rise of Nazism and fascism in pre-World War 2 Europe; in short, rather than evolving out of best practices in education, the concept of student engagement emerged out of an intersection of educational, psychological, and even medical prescriptions set against a specific political backdrop. This study also examines the ways that power dynamics shift and teacher-/student-subjects occupy new roles as engagement becomes a prominent force on the pedagogical landscape, addressing specifically the ways teachers and their assignments enact a disciplinary and pastoral function, all with the intent of molding students into interested, interesting, and democratic subjects. This study closes by considering some of the implications of this new understanding of engagement, and suggests potential directions for the term as well as abandoning the term altogether. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Learning, Literacies and Technologies 2018

Orientador: Andreia Osti / Banca: André Pires / Banca: Arlete de Jesus Brito / Resumo: O presente estudo teve como objetivo conhecer as representações sociais de docentes sobre a influência dos recursos materiais e humanos no desempenho escolar. Participaram da pesquisa sete professores de uma escola particular e seis professores de uma escola pública do município de Rio Claro, SP. Como instrumento de investigação foi realizada uma entrevista composta por oito questões organizadas em quatro temáticas: representações de professores sobre recursos humanos e materiais no ambiente escolar e familiar, importância desses recursos para a aprendizagem, representações de professores da escola pública e particular e representação do docente sobre o sucesso e insucesso acadêmico. A pesquisa se caracteriza como qualitativa e descreve, por meio da análise dos conteúdos expressos nas entrevistas realizadas, as representações dos professores acerca da importância dos recursos materiais e humanos no desempenho escolar de seus alunos. O embasamento teórico se fundamenta na Teoria das Representações Sociais, que permite analisar as concepções dos professores e para a análise dos dados se baseia na perspectiva da análise de conteúdo. Os resultados indicam que há diferença nas representações de professores do contexto público e particular, tanto sobre suas concepções de recursos humanos e materiais, quanto em relação ao tipo de recursos que se espera ter no ambiente escolar em busca do desempenho satisfatório dos estudantes. A noção de recursos básicos se mostra a mais divergente ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The present study aimed to know the social representations of teachers about the influence of material and human resources on school performance. Seven teachers from a private school and six teachers from a public school in the city of Rio Claro, SP, participated in the study. As an investigative tool, an interview was conducted consisting of eight questions organized in four themes: teachers' representations of human and material resources in the school and family environment, the importance of these resources to learning, representations of public and private school teachers, and teacher representation about success and academic failure. The research is characterized as qualitative and describes, through the analysis of the contents expressed in the interviews, the teachers' representations about the importance of material and human resources in the school performance of their students. The theoretical basis is based on the Theory of Social Representations, which allows analyzing the teachers' conceptions and the analysis of the data is based on the content analysis perspective. The results indicate that there is a difference in the representation of teachers from the public and private contexts, both in their conceptions of human and material resources, and in relation to the type of resources expected in the school environment in search of satisfactory student performance. The notion of basic resources shows the most divergent results between the two realities, pointing o... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

M.Ed. / The increase in suicides and suicide attempts by adolescents makes it essential that the subject be looked into intensively as to why these increases occur and how the problem can be identified and prevented. The suicide problem can be traced back to the disintegration of inter-personal communication, either in the family, peergroup or society. In consequence it is apparent that parents, teachers and the community should listen more intensively, actively and with empathy to the problem. The problem is that the "distress call" is sometimes ignored. On account of these different "calls for help" not being heard, it is clear why the futile "why" questions are asked afterwards by the people left behind' after a suicide has been committed, and when it is too late to prevent. Since the problem of suicide and suicide attempts affect our society in so many sectors, the data regarding this phenomenon has been obtained from several sources. The method used in obtaining the necessary information is binary of nature. On the one hand it consists of an intensive literature study of the subject and on the other hand an empirical investigation through questioning as technique. As per De Groot (1961: 29) the present investigation may be described as explorative research, but in terms of Helmstadter's theory (1970: 31-32), as implemented, it is library-scouting and field research. The literature study covers the occurrence of suicide and suicide attempts within the society with special emphasis on the adolescent. The study also covers the causes thereof and how suicide and suicide attempts are embedded in society, taking into account the adolescent's relationship with parents, siblings (family), schools, the peergroup, the community and the society at large. This report is an attempt to view the problem of suicide and suicide attempts of adolescents from a sociopedagogical perspective. The empirical component of the research includes, firstly interviews with concerned parties of actual suicide cases and secondly the studying of police and hospital documents and files of actual suicide cases and suicide attempts. As a result of this research the following emerged: in the case of the majority of adolescents who commit suicide three dominating feelings are present, namely uselessness, despair and depression. Linked with these three dominating feelings the lack of communication is a major problem that faces the suicidal adolescent. Persons with suicidal tendencies are of a negative nature towards themselves and others and non-committal to life in general, resulting in disturbed relations with fellow man. It is necessary that pedagogical assistance and guidance must be intensive, active and empathetic : "Suicide prevention in adolescence is probably best served by general care, tenderness, understanding and support for all unhappy adolescents, rather than searching for suicide specific predictor traits All unhappy adolescents should arise within us the fear of possible self initiated death". (Davis, 1983: 55.)

<p> This study examines relationships of African-American high school equivalency (HSE) students' sense of belonging to their peers, faculty, and community college environment. A sense of belonging is an important factor in understanding students&rsquo; internal and external motivations, perceptions, desires, and academic successes. For many African-American HSE students, community colleges are the pathways chosen to enhance their skills for a better education, potential income increase, and possible advancement in the workforce. A sense of belonging, socioeconomic desires, and cultural influences can promote adult learners&rsquo; return to the classroom in pursuit of a high school diploma. The purpose of this study was to examine and gain in-sight on a sense of belonging, educational attainment, and gender gaps of African-American high school equivalency female and male students&rsquo; experiences in quest of a higher education. This mixed-method research study recorded students&rsquo; shared experiences and insight in regards to a sense of belonging; as a result, the findings from this study have implications to change policy, curriculum, and program structure. The significance of this study was to make a contribution to the knowledge on African-American students&rsquo; sense of belonging with peers, faculty, and the community college environment. </p><p>