<p> This study examines college entry experiences (enrollment, orientation, assessment, and support services) and their contribution to the persistence of nontraditional students enrolled in community colleges. By reviewing the current retention research and models on academic integration, social integration, involvement, engagement and the construct of resilience, college entry experiences were identified and correlated to the work of Tinto, Astin, Kuh, and other researchers. Based on the findings of each of the four college entry experiences, this study provides insights and offers recommendations to community college presidents, deans, community college leaders, professors, student advisors, and enrollment specialists to establish innovative and highly effective intrusive advising support structures, nontraditional retention framework considerations, and cohort learning models to increase student engagement, reach optimal student persistence term to term, and produce cutting-edge degree completion rates. </p>

<p> This study investigates parental health literacy and parental health seeking behavior for pediatric primary care utilization as a response to childhood obesity among 220 parents from 12 Head Start and Non Head Start preschools in New Castle County, Delaware. Four paper surveys collected data with the Newest Vital Sign, STOFHL-A, a Parent Survey, and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS). Green and Kreuter's 2005 Precede-Proceed model is applied to an original logical model for determining a need for a preschool health literacy intervention to inform better child health outcomes. Results indicate that low-income, minority families, have fewer health books at home, which is associated with lower parental health literacy, higher child BMI, and more health care referrals for managing childhood obesity. Nutritional health literacy scores are lower among Hispanic parents who are Head Start participants. Black parents who are Head Start participants had significantly lower parent functional health literacy. Head Start programs offer more parent health education and twice the rate of referrals for the same level of health seeking behavior as Non Head Start parents. Health seeking behavior was lower overall for Black parents from the Head Start program. Further study should explore cultural notions and family characteristics associated with lower pediatric health care utilization in relation to both health literacy scores and health care referrals. </p><p>

<p> Although Kreyol is the language spoken and understood by the majority of Haitians, French is the language used as the medium for instruction. The use of a foreign language as a means for students to acquire literacy is a practice that has led to an ineffective educational system in Haiti. The aim of the quasi-experimental research study is to study the effects of using Kreyol versus French as the instructional method in math and science classes. Participants were selected from a target population of 246 girls enrolled at Institution X, a private school in the Ouest Department. Students from this institution are part of the 29% of people who attend secondary schools in Haiti. The 139 students that were part of the sample were randomly divided into two groups per class (standard and Kreyol condition) and were given a pre-test followed by a lesson then a post-test. Students in the standard group were taught in French and those in experimental group in Kreyol. Data gathered from the intervention were analyzed and results indicated that pre-test scores of French condition and Kreyol condition groups were normally distributed. When ANCOVA was used as one of the data analysis tools, because it French conditions for pre-test values and allows for observation of post-test scores, results yielded confirmed a significant difference between the French condition and Kreyol condition groups. The results from this quasi-experimental study provided data that aligned with the literature review and demonstrated that there was in fact a significant difference in performance when Kreyol was used as a medium for instruction instead of French. The results further provide statistical data confirming the important role that Kreyol should play in the improvement of the Haitian education system.</p><p>

<p> The ability to think critically and complexly amid novel experiences that require self- and other-awareness is something that leaders in an array of social institutions seek to develop in their communities. Global and Diversity Learning (GDL) practices, one category of high impact practices (Kuh, 2008), aim to increase students&rsquo; awareness of self and others and imbue critical thinking skills that will help students see how their own background and experiences interact with those of peers. This study aims to understand the relationship of four GDL practices (education abroad, multicultural programming, intercultural living-learning communities, and global studies coursework) to desired learning outcomes. Through completing ANCOVAs and multiple regression analyses on an existing dataset of GDL participants, this study demonstrates the influence of gender, socio-economic status, and citizenship within GDL practice types. The study findings also reveal significant differences between group members&rsquo; other awareness and critical thinking capacity. Understanding how different GDL practice types affect capacity development will allow university leadership to direct collaboration between departments and align programming, to allocate resources more effectively, and communicate potential outcomes based on empirical data.</p><p>

<p> The State of Vermont has long had one of the highest high school graduation rates in New England, hovering around 87.8% with a lagging college enrollment rate of 52.3% at any 2- or 4-year postsecondary institution in the country (New England Secondary School Consortium, 2015). This research explored the factors that have the greatest effect on the college enrollment patterns of Vermont high school graduates. Specifically, this study explored the relationship between the following factors and 2- and 4-year college enrollment: (a) academic preparation, (b) access to college information, (c) early career exploration and education planning, (d) gender, (e) grade point average, (f) parent educational attainment, (g) parental expectations, (h) student location, and (i) student perception of affordability. </p><p> This descriptive, correlational quantitative study used binomial logistic regression to determine which of the factors listed in the preceding section had the greatest impact on the college enrollment patterns of Vermont high school graduates. The dataset for this research was the Class of 2014 Senior Survey from the Vermont Student Assistance Corporation, administered to all students graduating from Vermont high schools in 2014. This research looks to inform work currently being done at the state level to raise the number of adults living in Vermont with a postsecondary credential to 70% by the year 2025</p><p>

<p>Higher education can present many challenges for students including managing and scheduling classes, assignments, projects, and professional and social obligations. This experience can be even more difficult for students living with chronic illness, many of whom face the additional challenges of debilitating pain, fatigue, social misconceptions, and frequent medical care. To succeed some students with chronic illnesses will need support and accommodation in order to achieve their goals and complete their degrees. In this thesis I explore the barriers I faced as a student with chronic illness in higher education and what accommodations may help remove those barriers for future students. With this thesis I hope to participate in social, political and academic conversations as a means to increase understanding among fellow students, faculty, staff, and administrators. It is my hope that these conversations will contribute to a movement that will help support and encourage students with chronic illnesses. </p>

<p> Administrators of 2-year colleges are working in an environment where they seek to balance the social development of the student and the community&rsquo;s demand for a trained workforce to achieve economic development. This balance has resulted in ambiguity about the mission and purpose of 2-year colleges. The purpose of this case study was to explore a community college&rsquo;s experiences with mission change by exploring the interaction between a neoliberal public policy environment and the traditional social democratic mission of academia. Harvey&rsquo;s conceptualization of neoliberalism was used as the theoretical framework. Data were collected through 15 semi-structured interviews with members of college leadership, faculty members, staff, and members of the college&rsquo;s advisory council. Other data included documentation about policy, mission, and publicly available documents related to the mission change at the institution. These data were deductively coded, and then subjected to content analysis. Key findings indicated that the college initially stalled in the mission change process, and as a result, identified alternative pathways to achieve the goals of career-relevant training the neoliberal environment demanded. In this sense, the perspective of academic capitalism was born from necessity for self-reliance and illustrates the commonality of finding entrepreneurial solutions. The implications for positive social change include recommendations to leaders of 2-year colleges on managing mission change in a way that responds to the needs of the college community while retaining the relevance of students&rsquo; social development.</p>

<p> For low-income minority and marginalized communities, American democracy&rsquo;s educational mission remains unfulfilled. Student voices have provided insight into ways that schools disserve and serve students and how schools can improve in promoting academic achievement; however, academically successful low-income students&rsquo; voices&mdash;particularly those at the elementary school level&mdash;are largely excluded from the literature. Providing a platform for student voices, this qualitative, intrinsic critical case study explored six high achieving low-income students&rsquo; views of their academic success and how that success was achieved. Participants were six fifthgrade students, their parents, and teacher, in a school-wide Title I urban public school. Data were collected over a 12-week period through individual interviews, observation, participation, and semiformal conversations. Using an immersive pattern analysis, four main categories emerged from the student interview data: student beliefs about their role; classroom structures; teacher practices; and family support. The study found four principal success factors: a dynamic effortdriven view of success and intelligence; a rigorous dialogic classroom that prioritized student voice, critical thinking, collaboration, and social imagination; an accountable classroom culture viii of high expectations and mastery learning; and the richly diverse experiences and teachings of parents and families as valuable funds of knowledge. Implications and recommendations are included for policy, practice, and future research.</p>

<p> Committed elementary teachers of science and engineering, members of a professional learning community called Collaborative Conversations in STEM, were studied to elicit their perceptions of experiences that influenced their commitment to, and their pedagogical content knowledge of, STEM teaching and learning. The hermeneutic phenomenological interviews enabled the teachers to express their beliefs in their own words. Data analysis employed a theoretical framework that investigated teacher epistemology and knowledge in light of their experiences. Findings revealed a web of lifelong experiences unique to each individual, and evidential of the committed elementary scientist-teachers&rsquo; present day values, teaching epistemology, lifelong learning, and emotional and intellectual engagement. Scientist-teachers are individuals whose teaching and learning characteristics reflect those of scientists and engineers.</p><p> Evidence indicated that no single transformative learning experience resulted in those elementary teachers&rsquo; commitment to STEM teaching and learning, but recent professional development activities were influential. Formal K-16 STEM learning was not uniformly or positively influential to the teachers&rsquo; commitment to, or knowledge of, STEM.</p><p> Findings suggest that ongoing professional development for STEM teaching and learning can influence elementary teachers to become committed to actively teaching STEM. The Collaborative Conversations in STEM provided intellectual and emotional engagement that empowered the teachers to provide STEM teaching and learning for their students and their colleagues overcoming impediments encountered in a literacy-focused curriculum. Elementary teachers actively committed to teaching science and engineering can undergo further transformation and emerge as leaders.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Utah, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [220]-229).