There is an abundance of research on chronic absenteeism as well as the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) approach, specifically the element of positive behavior intervention strategies (PBIS), at the elementary school level. A clear understanding of MTSS and PBIS at the high school level and how those approaches may impact chronic absenteeism of high school students is lacking in the recent research. The literature review provided the reader with an overview on PBIS and chronic absenteeism through the theoretical lens of Cooper’s (1982) Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) theory and explained the influence that PBIS has on chronic absenteeism at the elementary school level. The argument supporting utilizing successful policies already in place to address chronic absenteeism at the high school level is presented. This study identifies PBIS within the current research, as a means to understand how these promising practices may support improved attendance for the chronically absent high school student. The research suggests that positive behavior intervention strategies have tangentially decreased chronic absenteeism by reducing suspension rates at the elementary school level. This study sought to understand how effective, evidence-based positive behavior intervention strategies (PBIS), which have addressed and improved challenging student behavior schoolwide, can be repurposed to combat the causes associated with chronic absenteeism at the high school level. The causes associated with chronic absenteeism at the high school level fall into four categories termed school, family, environmental and personal. The objective of this quantitative program evaluation study was to evaluate the PBIS interventions that a local, small public high school used for targeted chronically absent high school students to see if their chronically absenteeism rate decreases. This study hypothesizes that the PBIS approach to behavior intervention can successfully transfer to decrease chronic absenteeism at the high school level. Additionally, this study discusses the extent to which results may be generalized to high school students across school districts. The results of this research study affirm the research questions that PBIS strategies can be repurposed to address chronic absenteeism at the high school level and having an effective attendance intervention program can improve attendance rates between and within attendance tiers in high school students, resulting in reduced chronic absenteeism. The most effective tier in improving attendance rates and reducing chronic absenteeism was both Tier 3 and Tier 4, with each tier resulting in 50% of participants increasing their attendance rates and reducing chronic absenteeism.

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This research is aimed at identifying the challenges facing the effective management of a multicultural teaching environment in Gauteng primary schools by the school management team and educators. The research addressing the problems and sub-problems involved a literature review conceptualising multicultural education. The empirical investigation included the use of observations, a questionnaire and interviews to gather data. The findings linked to the literature review, revealed areas of strength and weakness of the school management team and educators. Based on the findings recommendations were made for school management teams and educators to design development programmes to inculcate in school management teams and educators the competencies necessary to perform effectively in a multicultural environment. / Educational Leadership and Management / M. Ed. (Education Management)

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Considerable attention has focussed on identifying individual factors associated with, or predictive of, sexual offending (e.g., Efta-Breitbach & Freeman, 2004). In light of these individual factors, clinicians and researchers have developed standardized instruments for assessing the risk posed by sexually offending youth. Two such instruments are the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II; Prentky & Righthand, 2003) and the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offence Recidivism Version 2.0 (ERASOR-II; Worling & Curwen, 2001). In addition to individual factors, research on crime has demonstrated that structural factors within the community may be important determinants of sexual and non-sexual offending (e.g., McCarthy, 1991; Ouimet, 1999; Shaw & McKay, 1942; Wirth, 1938). Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to compare the psychometric properties of two newly developed risk assessment instruments (i.e., J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II) and (b) to use the better instrument to compare the levels of risk posed by sexually offending youth in 3 neighbouring, but diverse communities. Using file information, the J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II were scored on 84 adolescent males between the ages of 11 and 20 years who had committed a sexual offence and received treatment at Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services (YFPS) in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA; n = 30), Central Okanagan (CO; n = 26), and Thompson Nicola region (TN; n = 28). Calculations of interrater reliability and item-total correlations indicated that the J-SOAP-II was a better assessment instrument for this sample of offenders. Consequently, further regional analysis of risk was conducted using the J-SOAP-II data. Results indicated that although there were no regional differences among the severity and history of sexual offending, TN youth generally had a greater number of risk factors than did youth in CO and GVA. Specifically, youth in TN were found to be higher risk in the areas of intervention, general problem behaviour, iii and family/environment dynamics. These results suggest that to better understand youth who commit sexual offences and to provide appropriate prevention and intervention strategies for individual offenders and their communities, youth should not be evaluated in isolation from their social and community context. Recommendations for practice are discussed.

Considerable attention has focussed on identifying individual factors associated with, or predictive of, sexual offending (e.g., Efta-Breitbach & Freeman, 2004). In light of these individual factors, clinicians and researchers have developed standardized instruments for assessing the risk posed by sexually offending youth. Two such instruments are the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II; Prentky & Righthand, 2003) and the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offence Recidivism Version 2.0 (ERASOR-II; Worling & Curwen, 2001). In addition to individual factors, research on crime has demonstrated that structural factors within the community may be important determinants of sexual and non-sexual offending (e.g., McCarthy, 1991; Ouimet, 1999; Shaw & McKay, 1942; Wirth, 1938). Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to compare the psychometric properties of two newly developed risk assessment instruments (i.e., J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II) and (b) to use the better instrument to compare the levels of risk posed by sexually offending youth in 3 neighbouring, but diverse communities. Using file information, the J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II were scored on 84 adolescent males between the ages of 11 and 20 years who had committed a sexual offence and received treatment at Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services (YFPS) in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA; n = 30), Central Okanagan (CO; n = 26), and Thompson Nicola region (TN; n = 28). Calculations of interrater reliability and item-total correlations indicated that the J-SOAP-II was a better assessment instrument for this sample of offenders. Consequently, further regional analysis of risk was conducted using the J-SOAP-II data. Results indicated that although there were no regional differences among the severity and history of sexual offending, TN youth generally had a greater number of risk factors than did youth in CO and GVA. Specifically, youth in TN were found to be higher risk in the areas of intervention, general problem behaviour, iii and family/environment dynamics. These results suggest that to better understand youth who commit sexual offences and to provide appropriate prevention and intervention strategies for individual offenders and their communities, youth should not be evaluated in isolation from their social and community context. Recommendations for practice are discussed.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Submitted by Alison Vanceto (alison-vanceto@hotmail.com) on 2017-01-03T13:16:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseACM.pdf: 1747171 bytes, checksum: d5d56450329e9a9a208138faa6c9a898 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2017-01-16T17:21:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseACM.pdf: 1747171 bytes, checksum: d5d56450329e9a9a208138faa6c9a898 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marina Freitas (marinapf@ufscar.br) on 2017-01-16T17:22:04Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseACM.pdf: 1747171 bytes, checksum: d5d56450329e9a9a208138faa6c9a898 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-01-16T17:22:13Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseACM.pdf: 1747171 bytes, checksum: d5d56450329e9a9a208138faa6c9a898 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-21 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Mathematics anxiety is characterized by a specific set of unpleasant physiological, cognitive and behavioral reactions to any mathematical stimuli or mathematics learning contingencies. This paper had as a general objective to look for evidence of validity of assessment and intervention tools related to mathematics anxiety and to this end, the research was divided into two studies. The study part is intended to search for evidence of validity of the Mathematics Anxiety Scale (MAS). It is divided into three steps aiming in order to investigate the main objectives such as verify evidence of the inner structure of the MAS; check out correlations between high and low scores on the MAS and school performance in subject matters like mathematics, portuguese, history and geography; expand the application of the MAS in the South, Midwest and Northeast in Brazil and observe possible differences in average scores of mathematics anxiety in each region, taking into account students’ gender, school year (grades) and term. The second study aimed to verify the effectiveness of an intervention program to math anxiety and it was done in a single step. On the first study, the results in step 1, by Exploratory and Confirmatory Data Analysis, indicated that the MAS tends to show a structure with two dimensions. In part 2, the results showed that there was significant and positive correlation between MAS total score and performance in mathematics, in eleven two-month terms analyzed; Portuguese, in six two-month terms; History; in twomonth terms; Geography, in six two-month terms. In the third part, the results showed significant difference in MAS average in relation to the gender variable in the Midwest, southern regions and in the general sample. Referring to the period variable, there was also a significant difference in the Midwest, Southeast and also, in the general sample. On the school year variable, the significant differences in MAS average occurred in the Midwest and in the general sample. In the Midwest, the significant differences in MAS scores occurred between the 1st year of high school (9th grade) and the 6th and 7th years of elementary school. Significant differences were also observed between the 3rd grade and the 8th grade; the 6th grade and 8th and 1st grades; the 7th grade and 1st and 8th grades; and the 8th grade and 3rd, 6th and 7th grades. In the general sample, the differences between the 1st grade of high school (9th grade) and the 6th and 7th grades of elementary school. In relation to the general objective of this paper which is about the search for evidence of validity of an assessment tool and the effectiveness of an intervention, both concerned with math anxiety, data supporting positive evidence for carrying on using MAS and to the intervention were found in this research. Although the last one was only an initial study and thus it is still not possible to indicate whether it is effective, but the results are promising. / A ansiedade à matemática é caracterizada por um conjunto específico de reações fisiológicas desagradáveis, cognitivas e comportamentais diante de qualquer estímulo matemático ou contingências de aprendizagem de matemática. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo geral buscar evidências de validade de ferramentas de avaliação e intervenção relacionadas à ansiedade à matemática e para isso o trabalho foi dividido em dois estudos. O primeiro estudo é a busca de evidências de validade da Escala da Ansiedade à Matemática – EAM – dividida em três etapas para a investigação dos respectivos objetivos específicos: verificar evidências da estrutura interna da EAM; verificar correlações entre altos e baixos escores na escala EAM e desempenho escolar nas disciplinas de matemática, português, história e geografia; ampliar a aplicação da EAM na região Sul, Centro-Oeste e Nordeste e observar possíveis diferenças de média de escores de ansiedade à matemática em cada região, considerando as variáveis gênero, ano escolar e período. O segundo estudo teve como objetivo verificar a eficácia de um programa de intervenção de ansiedade à matemática e abrangeu apenas uma etapa. Sobre o primeiro estudo, os resultados na etapa 1 por meio da Análise Fatorial Exploratória e Confirmatória, indicaram que o instrumento EAM tende a apresentar uma estrutura com duas dimensões. Na etapa 2, os resultados mostraram que houve correlação significativa e positiva entre escore total da EAM e desempenho em: matemática, em onze bimestres analisados; português, em seis bimestres; história; em dois bimestres; geografia, em seis bimestres. Na terceira etapa, os resultados apontaram diferença significativa de média na EAM, em relação à variável gênero nas regiões Centro-Oeste, Sul e na amostra geral. Referente à variável período, também houve diferença significativa quando analisadas as regiões Centro-Oeste, Sudeste e também, na amostra geral; sobre a variável série, as diferenças significativas na média. da EAM ocorreram na região Centro-Oeste e na amostra geral. Na região Centro-Oeste as diferenças significativas na pontuação da EAM ocorreram entre o 1º ano do Ensino Médio e o 6º e 7º anos do Ensino Fundamental. Também foram observadas diferenças significativas entre o 3º ano e o 8º ano; o 6º ano e 8º e 1º anos; o 7º ano e 1º e 8º anos; e o 8º ano e 3º, 6º e 7º anos; na amostra geral as diferenças entre o 1º ano do Ensino Médio e a 6º e 7º anos do Ensino Fundamental. Em relação ao objetivo geral do estudo, sobre a busca de evidências de validade para um instrumento de avaliação e da eficácia de uma intervenção, ambos para ansiedade à matemática, na presente pesquisa foram encontrados dados que sustentam evidências positivas para a continuação dos estudos com a EAM e para a intervenção, embora esse último tenha sido apenas um estudo inicial e por isso, ainda não é possível indicar se possui eficácia, mas os resultados são favoráveis.

Considerable attention has focussed on identifying individual factors associated with, or predictive of, sexual offending (e.g., Efta-Breitbach & Freeman, 2004). In light of these individual factors, clinicians and researchers have developed standardized instruments for assessing the risk posed by sexually offending youth. Two such instruments are the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol-II (J-SOAP-II; Prentky & Righthand, 2003) and the Estimate of Risk of Adolescent Sexual Offence Recidivism Version 2.0 (ERASOR-II; Worling & Curwen, 2001). In addition to individual factors, research on crime has demonstrated that structural factors within the community may be important determinants of sexual and non-sexual offending (e.g., McCarthy, 1991; Ouimet, 1999; Shaw & McKay, 1942; Wirth, 1938). Therefore, the purpose of this study was twofold: (a) to compare the psychometric properties of two newly developed risk assessment instruments (i.e., J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II) and (b) to use the better instrument to compare the levels of risk posed by sexually offending youth in 3 neighbouring, but diverse communities. Using file information, the J-SOAP-II and ERASOR-II were scored on 84 adolescent males between the ages of 11 and 20 years who had committed a sexual offence and received treatment at Youth Forensic Psychiatric Services (YFPS) in the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA; n = 30), Central Okanagan (CO; n = 26), and Thompson Nicola region (TN; n = 28). Calculations of interrater reliability and item-total correlations indicated that the J-SOAP-II was a better assessment instrument for this sample of offenders. Consequently, further regional analysis of risk was conducted using the J-SOAP-II data. Results indicated that although there were no regional differences among the severity and history of sexual offending, TN youth generally had a greater number of risk factors than did youth in CO and GVA. Specifically, youth in TN were found to be higher risk in the areas of intervention, general problem behaviour, iii and family/environment dynamics. These results suggest that to better understand youth who commit sexual offences and to provide appropriate prevention and intervention strategies for individual offenders and their communities, youth should not be evaluated in isolation from their social and community context. Recommendations for practice are discussed. / Graduate Studies, College of (Okanagan) / Graduate