<p> The objective of this study was to explore, identify, and gain an understanding of the experiences and contributing factors that affect Latino male students&rsquo; (LMS) attainment of a community college education or transfer to 4-year institutions. Hidden Hills College (HHC; pseudonym) is a large California community college located in an urban setting in Southern California. HHC is primarily a commuter campus and a Hispanic serving institution, regionally accredited by Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC). </p><p> This qualitative study included 22 interviews of currently enrolled students at HHC. The participants, selected based on the sampling criteria, consist of Latino males who had completed at least 24 units and were seeking an AA/AS or transfer to a 4-year institution (California State University, University of California, private). The students were between the ages of 18&ndash;24. Additionally, through the literature review, aspirations, familial support, persistence, and challenges were summarized and analyzed, which provided an opportunity to learn about the different contributing factors that support or hinder the transfer or degree attainment of Latino males. </p><p> The major findings showed that in relation to challenges experienced by LMS in the pursuit for an associate&rsquo;s degree or transfer to a 4-year institution are cultural expectations, parents&rsquo; lack of understanding, financial hardship, lack of time, and lack of academic preparation. The study also revealed that in relation to strategies used by LMS in their efforts to pursue an associate&rsquo;s degree or transfer to a 4-year institution are aspirations for a better future, family support, motivation, and campus resources. Recommendation for policy and practice focused on improving and promoting higher education for Latino males, as well as recommendations for further studies are presented.</p>

<p> As more online courses and programs are created, it is imperative institutions understand the concern of their faculty toward teaching online, the types of technology they use, and the methods they use to instruct students in order to provide appropriate resources to support them. This quantitative study measures these concerns, using the Stages of Concern Questionnaire, of full-time faculty at a small Christian liberal arts university in Southern California relative to teaching online, technology use, and teaching methods. The majority of faculty reported being unconcerned about teaching online. </p><p> The correlations conducted between faculty&rsquo;s concerns about teaching online and their teaching methods showed that while some relationships exist, the strength of the relationships are weak. The same was true for the relationships between faculty&rsquo;s technology use and their concern about teaching online. Additionally, analysis of variance revealed faculty who practice more student-centered teaching methods are more likely to focus on coordinating and cooperating with others regarding teaching online. </p><p> It can be concluded that the majority of faculty at the institution are not concerned about teaching online and that overall, their technology use and specific teaching methods do not contribute to their concerns about teaching online. However, it was found that faculty who are more student-centered are more likely to cooperate and coordinate with others in regards to teaching online. These findings have implications for the institution where this research was conducted. The administration can be more confident knowing that many of their faculty are not highly concerned about teaching online, therefore, may be less likely to resist teaching these types of classes. The administration now has information that shows faculty who are more student-centered are more likely to cooperate with others in regards to teaching online. These faculty may be more inclined to promote online teaching and ultimately help fulfill the strategic plans of the University.</p>

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the quality of school building maintenance and student achievement. Variables such as school age, size of campus, enrollment, and instructional configuration were examined. Additionally, the location of the school in DeKalb County, the board districts in which a school was located, and socioeconomic status of the school’s community were selected for study to determine if school location and demographics affected overall student achievement when grouped along with building condition. The Pearson Correlation of Coefficient tested twenty-seven variables for significance level. Twenty-one of the twenty-seven null hypotheses were accepted; six were rejected. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted on these six null hypotheses. These variables-socioeconomic status, school geographic area, school enrollment, board districts, portable units, and frequency of floors swept-were analyzed in relation to test scores using a multiple regression analysis. The conclusion of the study is that building condition is not related to student achievement for third grade students in DeKalb County. The data show that student achievement is more related to socioeconomic status, location, and enrollment than to maintenance issues.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

<p> Moustakas (1994) emphasizes that phenomenological study arises from the experiences and passions of the researcher that in turn focus and drive the research. This researcher&rsquo;s own experiences include a 9-month trip around the world with my family that led me to conduct this study exploring the phenomenon of the family gap year. Existing research focuses on the traditional gap year taken by a young person in between graduation from high school and beginning college. This study seeks to add to that knowledge by exploring the related, but also unique, experience of families who take an extended time period off from career and formal school in order to participate together in a multi-continent international trip. The study addresses why families may decide to take such a trip, what they hope to gain from such an experience and whether or not the trip actually met those expectations. It is also attempts to establish whether or not any changes in family members were identified by participants and believed to be attributable to the experience of the family gap year. Findings from this study indicate that the families examined chose this experience because of a desire to travel and see the world with their children. Subjects agreed that the experience met or exceeded expectations in that it provided a unique opportunity to learn about other peoples and cultures and also provided concentrated time to be together and grow closer as a family. Subjects also however referred to less desirable aspects of the trip related to the maintenance required to keep the family on the road, such as travel planning and laundry. Finally many of the participants in the study referenced learning and personal growth in family members that they attributed to the experience of the family gap year. Together these findings represent an early effort to establish an understanding of the phenomenon of the family gap year.</p>

<p> Historically, disenfranchised students in the American education system have been promised opportunity through successful participation in the school system. These promises are voiced in legislation like the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 and by executive actions like President Obama&rsquo;s Race to the Top Initiative. Evidenced by the continuing education gap, the promises of success through education continue to evade many American children across the nation, especially students who are most in need of the support promised in these quixotic visions of opportunity.</p><p> This is a qualitative interview study that aimed to gather the voices of educators involved in the implementation of the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards (ELA CCSS) to investigate the potential benefit of an information loop during the time period Bridges (2009) labeled the Neutral Zone, a period when change agents can reflect on and possibly enhance the iv implementation of an initiative. The study aimed to answer the following research question: What are the experiences of teachers, school principals, and district-level administrators during the transition to the ELA CCSS in three public school districts in the greater Los Angeles area? The narratives constructed throughout the interview process with the study&rsquo;s participants point to the value of establishing an information loop during the Neutral Zone as an untapped vein of knowledge in the change process. This information can potentially be used to take inventory of the trajectory an implementation process has taken.</p>

<p> In the last few years, educational computer games have gained attention as a tool for facilitating. Few empirical studies have investigated the effects of educational games in the context of formal K-12 settings.</p><p> The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of game-based technology on high school students&rsquo; algebraic lear ning on their motivation towards math, conceptual knowledge, and reasoning skills. The participants in this study were 15 girls and 25 boys in algebra II classes. The age of participants ranged from 15 to 17 years old. There were three algebra II classes; two of them would use the game-based learning on line twice a week for 41-minute every time (experimental group), and the last one would be the (control group). The teacher-researcher is a certified mathematics teacher for twelve years. </p><p> Students&rsquo; conceptual knowledge and reasoning skills were measured using assessments once every two weeks as well as pre and post assessment. SMS (Students Motivation Survey) was designed based on Keller&rsquo;s (1987a) ARCS model of motivational to analyze the data. The overall analysis results revealed that using game-based learning in addition to traditional non-electronic role-playing and board games with algebra II high school students would increase their motivation. However, there was no effect on their conceptual knowledge or reasoning skills. </p><p> Effective mathematics games should be integrated with classroom activities if teachers want to increase mathematics class motivation, which would effect the students&rsquo; performance. Further study would be needed with larger sample size and carried through for a longer intervention period. Also, future research might use modifying games to investigate the influence of the implementation of the reasoning skills on individual differences. In addition, future research might examine contextual settings for effects upon game play, and conduct an experimental design that includes an introductory game play seminar as the treatment.</p>

<p> The New York City Public School System has experienced many education reforms over the decades. In 2002, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was granted mayoral control of the New York City Public School System. The continuous reform efforts affected superintendents&rsquo; roles. This change focused on systemic reform rather than local reform, which was one of the community district superintendents&rsquo; responsibilities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the evolving role of superintendents during frequent change efforts introduced in the New York City Public School System between 2002-2016. This study investigated the changing role of superintendents and how the various organizational changes and practices affected school leaders. It also investigated if any transition supports existed for superintendents during the frequent change efforts.</p><p> Research participants included thirteen New York City superintendents who first had experienced the various change efforts for at least five years or more in the role of superintendent. This study was guided by two research questions in which six themes emerged. The findings of the study suggest that all of the 13 participants agreed that frequent transitions affected how they approached their responsibilities. The results also revealed that superintendents that had developed trust in their districts, were able to maintain those relationships during all the change efforts. In addition, all of the participants concurred that their role was to build leaders. This study also found that all participants agreed that before policies are instituted, all educational stakeholders, including parents, must have input. Additionally, the participants acknowledged that the constant change of policy throughout the last decade resulted in lack of consistency and continuity and was not conducive to success. Eight out of the 13 participants agreed that the transition support over the last two years (2014-2016) was substantive. The participants agree that the current administration, seems to have a better approach in introducing and managing change efforts. One of such approaches is the ability for superintendents to provide ongoing support to their principals and monitor instructional changes enables superintendents to fairly evaluate outcomes.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was two-fold: to identify an echo chamber in superintendent shortage studies and to conduct an exploratory analysis of the Southeastern Pennsylvania superintendent labor market and, in turn, identify influences on the market(s) based upon the creation of an eight county (Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Berks, Lehigh, Lancaster, and Northampton) superintendent repository. This study utilized the bibliometric tools of Web of Science and Google Scholar/Metrics to identify an echo chamber and found evidence in cross-citation mapping of the existence of an echo chamber. This study then applied UCINET software to conduct a social network analysis to identify superintendent labor market(s) in Southeastern Pennsylvania.</p><p> This study found that a shortage of superintendents does not exist in Southeastern Pennsylvania and that several inter-changeable and intra-changeable labor markets exist exhibiting both homophily and non-homophily characteristics. Although predicted due to anticipated baby-boomer retirements, turnover played a cogent role in labor market dynamics as evidenced in comparative data from 2013 and 2016. The implications of this study suggest the need to re-conceptualize the framework of the superintendent shortage studies on the relationship between incentives and pipeline to better understand the agents that drive and influence the superintendent labor markets. Further implications suggest the need for additional research on turnover not as a negative trait but rather as a vehicle of change that affords career advancement for women and people of color. This study is a modest first step to promote superintendent labor market studies as a means to measure accurately the viability of the pipeline and network.</p>

<p> At a local middle school, twice as many students were being reared by their grandparents than in each of the other 3 schools in the study district. Most of these students were experiencing academic and social issues; increased understanding of the issue was needed to address these problems. Using a phenomenological approach, this project study explored the lived experiences of grandparents of skipped-generation households and school employees who interact daily with skipped-generation households. Epstein&rsquo;s theory of parental involvement undergirded this study, and semistructured interviews were used to gather data from 15 grandparents and 15 school employees. Interviews were transcribed, open coded, and themes were generated. Findings revealed that grandparents often did not understand the grandchildren&rsquo;s generation, 21st-century parenting skills, or how services from community agencies could make the rearing process easier. Also, school employees often did not understand the challenges faced by skipped-generation households, the importance of grandparent-friendly school environments, and the value of sharing internal information. Based on the findings, the Educators Impacting Skipped-Generation Household seminar was designed to inform school employees of strategies to assist grandparents in addressing their challenges, and create grandparent-friendly school environments. This study should improve the lives, relationships, and communication of members of skipped-generation households and school employees, while increasing the number of successful students and citizens who can break this parenting cycle. </p>