The research plan of this thesis was primarily designed to test the widely-accepted hypothesis that the home backgrounds of children affect their educational progress at the secondary schools and can be held responsible for many of the misplacements that occur in these schools. "The influence of the home" [so writes the Essex Education Committee] is the phrase which throughout our discussions we have most often heard and ourselves quoted. Children who are not essentially unsuitable [for grammar schools] can be made unsuitable by bad home conditions. Even when the conditions cannot be called bad, the lack of any cultural background or of any understanding of the meaning of an educated outlook insidiously cramps the mind of the pupil and retards his progress. 1 .Generally speaking, it has been the influence of an unfavourable environment that has received most attention, but Sir Cyril Burt suggests that the effects of a good environment should also be considered: When one studies the failures among those who were selected [for grammar and central schools] and the oversights among those who were not selected, not a few mistakes, it is seen, might have been avoided had the child's social environment been taken into account. 2. Both in this country and on the other side of the Atlantic, it has become fashionable nowadays for psychologists, sociologists and educationists to make pronouncements upon the importance of the social and cultural background in determining school progress- However, objective demonstration of this importance is lacking, and it was for this reason that the inquiry was taken up. Groups of the "failures" and "oversights" to whom Burt refers will be studied in detail and compared with control groups in an attempt to test: (1) the hypothesis that certain aspects of the home background affect the educational progress of children at the secondary school level; and (2) the further hypothesis that the introduction of a home background assessment into the allocation procedures would reduce the number of children placed in educational courses for which they later appear to be unsuited. If both of these hypotheses are substantiated, the question of whether or not home backgrounds should be considered when allocating children to secondary schools then arises. However, this is a separate problem that concerns the politician and the social philosopher as well as the educational-psychologist, and, as this thesis is intended to report only a scientific inquiry concerned with one of the administrative problems that arise when children are being selected for secondary schools, it has been thought desirable to express no opinion on such broader educational issues.

<p> A safe learning environment is the very first measure every school district needs to have in place. An environment that provides students with a sense of security and safety enables students to flourish and be successful. </p><p> This qualitative research study determined the perceptions of rural school safety and violence as seen through the eyes of superintendents, principals, teachers, and students 18 years of age or older. By utilizing the Cobb (2014) study which focused on the areas of relationships, respect for diversity, school participation, emotional safety, physical safety, substance use, physical environment, academic environment, wellness, and the disciplinary environment, the researcher was able to gather information on what supported a safe school. The researcher used the interpretivism framework also defined by Butin (2010) who defined it as &ldquo;reality is intersubjective in that it is socially constructed, such that it can be described and represented through diverse perspectives.&rdquo; This was incorporated through a triangulated approach to research including The Oregon School Safety Survey, Pennsylvania School Safety Report, and focus group interviews; the researcher was able to gather perceptions on just how safe rural schools are in the Appalachia Intermediate Unit 08 in Pennsylvania. </p><p> The researcher was able to show the most common areas that all the focus groups concurred upon were drug use, fighting, and bullying/cyberbullying, and these three areas continually maintained the top three positions across all measures of the triangulation approach utilized by the researcher. However, in relation to positive safety factors, research has shown that student involvement in extra-curricular activities, parent involvement, and teacher relationships were of major importance in mitigating threats within the school system.</p><p>

<p> The number of homeless children and youth in the United States is on the rise (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2016). Between 2016 and 2017 in the Los Angeles County Homeless Count, there was a 41% increase in the number of homeless minors (The Los Angeles Service Authority, 2017). Education is key to bringing people out of poverty and ending the cycle of homelessness. </p><p> Using a socio-psychological lens, this case study examined the perceptions of six of the staff and volunteers at one site of the Griffon Learning Center, an organization trying to close the educational gaps of homeless children and youth. It also includes the perspectives of 12 children and youth who utilized their services. The data of this study include interviews, observations of a participant observer, ethnographic field notes, journal reflections, and document analysis. An examination of the relevant literature is included. </p><p> Although this study cannot end the cycle of homelessness, it hopes to shed light on the issue and makes recommendations to organizations, school districts, politicians, and legislatures, and educational researchers. </p><p>

<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>

<p> Educators are always evaluating how students connect to their school, trying to identify strategies and intervention programs that will help students be success and linked to their school. A school&rsquo;s culture and student engagement opportunities provide areas that can be impacted, especially when mentoring is added to the model being implemented. Educators go into the profession with the goal of having an impact on the lives of students. Key to the success of making an impact is the importance of connecting with students, providing student engagement opportunities, and maximizing mentoring with younger peers. </p><p> Peer Leaders Uniting Students program is helping districts address day-to-day issues in a collaborative manner using data. This study evaluated the impact the PLUS Program had from the perception and knowledge of adults (teachers, counselors, administrators, and support staff), assessing school climate, student engagement, and student monitoring. The researcher used quantitative and qualitative measurement instruments. A survey was provided to teachers, counselors, administrators, support staff, and PLUS advisors. The survey was followed by interviews that had questions created using data from the adult participants&rsquo; survey responses. </p><p> This grounded theory approach guided the researcher to conclude that even though the PLUS Program is proving to be effective for students, adults need additional training to use the program data. The researcher created a professional development session to meet this need.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of professional learning communities (PLCs) on elementary school students&rsquo; performance in reading and mathematics using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort of 1998 (ECLS-K). This study also investigates whether PLCs have differential effects on student performance based on student characteristics such as socioeconomic status (SES), race, and whether they are academically at-risk and school characteristics such as school type, school size, minority enrollment, and percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL). PLCs are seen as a promising way of remedying the traditionally isolated nature of teachers&rsquo; work by facilitating a network through which teachers can share expertise, receive support, and disseminate effective practices. The underlying theory is that by facilitating teachers&rsquo; access to a network of their peers, they will be able to improve their instruction, which will ultimately lead to improved student achievement. This study addresses the need for more empirical evidence on the impact of PLCs on student performance using a large, national dataset. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify correlated PLC items from the ECLS-K teacher questionnaire. Hierarchical and cross-classified random effects modeling (HCM) was then used to analyze the impact of student-, teacher-, and organizational-level variables&mdash;including two PLC variables&mdash;on students&rsquo; reading and mathematics performance. The analysis found that teacher collaboration had a significant positive effect on growth in reading and math scores, while a positive school climate was associated with significantly higher initial reading scores. Rarely did either PLC variable show differential effects based on student- or school-level characteristics.</p><p>

<p> The ethnographic study presented here documents emergent behaviors that arose when two multimodal composing and production tools - Collabosphere and Tumblr &mdash; were used in three different college courses (Introductory Psychology, Education 1B, and College Writing 101). The work addresses how conceptions of writing in the college classroom and across disciplines shift, converge, and vary across courses and between disciplines. I use Engestr&ouml;m&rsquo;s (1999) model of activity theory to show how the introduction of new tools pushed both students and teachers to think more broadly and creatively about how they compose and comport themselves in academic settings. Specifically, this work reveals instances of expansive transformation as two activity systems &ndash; academic writing and digital writing &ndash; converged in these classrooms. By documenting new approaches that students and teachers developed when using new tools in an academic setting, I hope to visualize new opportunities for university writing to expand and include new literacy practices.</p><p> This study documents how digital tools in the Academy were perceived, repurposed and used in a variety of different ways. I used a combination of interviews with faculty and students, observations, and analysis of semiotic materials to gain a holistic understanding of the dynamic activity systems at play in each setting, and across the university. Specifically, I endeavored to document the types of expectations placed on undergraduate students and faculty to use digital tools in innovative and compelling ways, and how those expectations informed how both approached composing in their courses. Here I strove to understand the new demands on college writers within different disciplinary departments, new kinds of audiences, and new kinds of texts as students collaboratively composed. This study also conceives to help educators and teaching faculty think about what kinds of methods, rubrics and assessment frameworks would help support students using new tools for writing in college classrooms. </p><p> One of the central findings of this study is that in order to make room for expansive learning and new systems of writing to emerge, teachers must make explicit the course goals and assessment models for grading and evaluating digital and multimodal pieces. Without this framework, students often default to those writing models that were successful for them in the past, which were text-heavy and often discipline-specific. Further, teachers also need to help extend student&rsquo;s notions of communication to include the visual and aural in a way that is both meaningful and critical. This study showed that it was not enough for students to simply present and prioritize multimodal composing, but that students needed a conceptual frame to understand how and why composing in different modes supported their analytic reasoning, and feel confident in their ability to synthesize them into their composing work.</p><p>

The central problem of this study is to test the validity of using census tract data for the area of residence to determine the socio-economic characteristics of participants in university evening non-credit classes. This study has also explored certain socio-economic characteristics of university extension participants through an analysis of data of a 392 member sample from the participants in University of British Columbia Extension non-credit evening courses. The method used in this study was the analytical survey method. A fifty-seven class universe was stratified according to the type of class to form twelve groups. A random sample of classes in each of the twelve groups was selected, with the participants of the classes comprising the sample. Data obtained from the sample by questionnaire, was scrutinized on three accounts: the total sample, the segment of the sample residing in Vancouver, and the segment of the sample residing in the area outside Vancouver. An analysis of this data was carried out to determine certain socio-economic characteristics of the sample and to determine whether the socio-economic characteristics of persons attending the evening classes from specific census tracts were representative of all evening class participants. The second phase of this study was concentrated on the analysis of data for a fifteen tract segment of the Vancouver portion of the sample to determine whether there was a significant difference with respect to certain socio-economic characteristics between the total population in a given census tract and residents from the tract attending non-credit evening classes. The chi-square was used to test data for the fifteen tract area. Social status of the sample was analysed using data for the total labour force by application of the Blishen scale. Perhaps the most significant outcome of the study of certain socio-economic characteristics of the total population in a given census tract and residents from that tract attending university non-credit evening classes is the demonstration of the significant difference in the characteristics of these two categories of persons. Results of the analysis of data for this study indicate that people who participate in university extension classes are above average in socio-economic status. The methodology for determining the socio-economic characteristics of participants in university non-credit classes through use of census tract data for the area of residence would, therefore, be invalid. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate

Modern comprehensive high schools do not formally track students into different programs, but schools offer different curricular sequences with important and stratified consequences for students' post-secondary education. This study used qualitative methodology to examine how schools' organizational cultures influence the maintenance of tracking practices in four comprehensive high schools in Miami. The methodology included long-term participant observation in each of the four schools, unstructured and semi-structured interviews and the collection of written documents produced by the district. A framework based on the concepts of environment, mission,, information, strategy, and leadership was used to analyze the data. It was found that school cultures shared deeply held beliefs that regard ability as a fixed trait. This prevented schools from providing access to information about the consequences of course selection to the majority of the student body, with the exception of those students defined as "college bound." State and County level policies that reward achievement in standardized tests combined with school overcrowding, resulted in organizational cultures that favored the adoption of strategies stressing efficiency, as opposed to a challenging education for all students. Only one of the four schools in the study had a policy requiring students to attempt courses that were more challenging. The practice was resented by both teachers and counselors, since it was perceived as interfering with other goals of the institution, i.e.: graduating students in four years. The culture of the schools stressed college as the only legitimate post-secondary option; consequently, the majority of counselors did not encourage students-even those already defined as "not college material"-to consider other alternatives, such as vocational education. The elimination of formal tracks in these comprehensive high schools resulted in the school culture lacking a clear mission in regards to non-college bound students. Findings are discussed in relation to current theoretical explanations for educational policy and equality of opportunity.

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.