Master's thesis - - State University of New York College at Cortland, 2007 - - Department of Mathematics. / Includes bibliographical references (p.40).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Central Florida, 2008. / Adviser: Rebecca A. Hines. Includes bibliographical references (p. 94-109).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2008. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 42-44).

This was a mixed methods study designed to investigate the social skills use of adolescents with learning disabilities through an application of Albert Bandura's theory of reciprocal interaction. Data were collected through ranking surveys, observations, interviews, and school records. Three questions were investigated. The first question was to determine whether the language deficits of LD students contributed to their general decreased social competency. Through data from the Social Skills Rating System, the seventh grade participants were considered socially competent to some degree by self report, their teachers, and their parents. Factor analysis revealed students were the best predictors of their social skills use from all data sources. In ranking participants' social skills use, students and teachers were more strongly correlated than were students and parents, or teachers and parents. No relationship of any strength existed between the participants' cognitive ability and their social competence. A use of Bandura's determinants indicated that a relationship existed between some subtypes of learning disabilities and some types of social skills misuse. The participants diagnosed with reading disability, auditory processing disability, receptive/expressive language disability, or nonverbal learning disability all made the majority of their observed social skills errors in the environmental determinant of Bandura's triad of reciprocal interaction. The participants in the four subtypes experienced their information processing deficits in attending to environmental stimuli, or in attending to inappropriate environmental stimuli. The area of the subtype of information processing deficit aligned with the determinant in which the participants in that subtype's social errors were experienced. Bandura's triad of cognition, environment, and behavior was not equilateral because the balance did not exist between the three determinants in participants with learning disabilities.

Receipt of resource specialist services and possible resulting low self-esteem -- Gender, grade, age, placement criteria.

The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the nature of the response of ninth grade English students to a Relationship-driven Teaching Style. Explored was the effect of Relationship-driven Teaching Style on the academic and lived experiences of four ninth grade At-risk English students. Additionally, the study allowed room to study the nature of other areas of perceived growth that resulted from exposure to this affective style. This exploration was conducted in a rural junior/senior high school setting.Data collection employed: 1) Participant-observer field notes (researcher as primary instrument); 2) Reading, Writing, and Non-Verbal Behaviors as recorded on field notes by the participant-observer. (Inquiries were informal in nature, except for simplistic reading questionnaires); and 3) The Corporation made available archival records inclusive of a. NWEA (Northwest Evaluation Test Scores); and b. Corporation Pilot Study data from a reading study conducted the previous year. Students were observed a minimum of two times per week during the time-span allowed for this exploration.Use of the Constant/Comparative Method (Merriam, 1998; Yin, 2002) yielded the following thematic areas: 1) Self- efficacy; 2) Perceptions toward others and self; 3) Internal changes, such as attitudinal metamorphosis toward education; 4) Importance of family approval, 5) Personal responsibility and "trying;" 6) Mutual Respect; 7) Non-verbal and verbal communication; 8) Physical or emotional reactions; 9) Teacher Characteristics; and 10) Academic achievement (as connected to all other categories).Data were interpreted to discover impact of Relationship-driven Teaching on said students and effectiveness in light of instruments as well as lived experience in the home. It was found that three, of four participants, significantly enhanced achievement and personal affective responses to Relationship-driven Teaching Style. Small gains were made by the fourth student, attributed to lived experience. Relationship-driven Teaching Style was thought to be effective. / Department of Elementary Education

Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Access to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only / Department of Educational Psychology

Thesis (M.Ed.(Educational Psychology))-University of Pretoria, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

The goal of this research was to determine if there are significant differences in the attribution styles for positive and negative events between students of differing ability and the correlation of these attribution styles to hopefulness. The study examined twelfth grade advanced placement (AP N = 45) students and twelfth grade students with documented learning differences enrolled in college preparatory classes (CP-LD N = 14). Both groups of students came from high socioeconomic backgrounds. The students' internal attributions related to hopefulness were measured with the Hope Scale (Snyder, 1994) which assesses the constructs of agency (will), pathway (way), and produces an overall hopefulness score. Results indicate that AP and CP-LD students had similar measures of internal attribution for positive events, but significantly distinct measures of internal attribution for negative events. However, the AP students show no statistically significant difference from CP-LD students in their measures of agency, pathway, or overall hopefulness.