The topic of educating today’s youth has become an increasing multi-faceted task with rigorous accountability metrics handed down from all of the different branches of government. Schools are faced with providing more than just instructing the three R’s; they are taxed with educating the whole child. This qualitative study explored the community schools model in an urban elementary school. Specifically, the study attempted to understand the perceived impact this model has on community members, parents, and administrators at one particular elementary school. Data were collected through a series of open-ended interviews and coded for inductive analysis. There were four emerging themes: impact of leader, hub of the community, safe environment, and education of the whole child, which surfaced from the data analysis of the open-ended interviews. A document review also provided additional information that was included in the findings. The need for additional quantitative and qualitative research was also suggested.

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Peekaboo! Where is play? is a qualitative study that explores the extent kindergarten teachers implement play in light of increasing academic expectations. The increase in academics in young children’s schooling and the benefits of play have been well-documented. Unlike most of the research on play, this study was conducted in a town in the northeast region of the United States. Through questionnaires, interviews, and the kindergarten classroom schedules as the primary data collection of this case study, twenty-two active kindergarten teachers agreed to participate. The study centralized around three guiding research questions: 1) How have kindergarten teachers designed times for play, if at all? 2) How do kindergarten teachers’ views on play inform their practice? 3) What are the resources necessary for kindergarten teachers to maximize the educational benefits of play? An analysis of online questionnaires, weekly class schedules, and follow-up interviews allow the researcher to get an insight into the participants’ practice. The significant findings were grounded in the constructivist theory of learning. All the participants claimed to have adopted a learning-through-play methodology. They chose to implement time for play, providing a rich learning environment where students could interact cognitively and socially. Since the participants believed play to be an organic part of development and a tool for learning, teachers switched to a facilitator role during play. At the same time, children were led by their curiosity and interest. Participants also included elements of play in their teacher-directed lessons. However, they needed the district's unwavering support in professional development, financial resources, collegial assistance, and teacher input to maximize and sustain the benefits of play in their classroom. / 2025-05-16T00:00:00Z

Thesis advisor: Mary E. Walsh / Students with complex needs and marginalized identities attending high-poverty schools are suspended at higher rates than their more advantaged peers (Mcloughin & Noltemeyer, 2010; Noltemeyer & Mcloughlin, 2010; Erb-Downward & Blakeslee, 2021). When students are suspended from school, they miss out on critical opportunities for instruction and connection. This can increase the likelihood that suspended students will experience a myriad of negative short-term and long-term outcomes, such as lower school engagement, poorer academic performance, school dropout, and justice system involvement (McNeely et al., 2002; Chu & Ready, 2018; Arcia, 2007; Amemiya et al., 2020; Noltemeyer et al., 2015). Supporting the needs of students, teachers, and the school community as a whole, while effectively managing student misbehavior, is a complex task without an easy answer. Integrated Student Supports (ISS) are a systemic approach to addressing students’ out-of-school needs to promote thriving. This approach utilizes several tiers of support to promote positive outcomes for all students in the school community (Adelman & Taylor, 2011). City Connects, an ISS model implemented in high-poverty urban elementary and middle schools, provides tailored supports and resources to all students in the school community and equips school staff with whole child information about their students. While City Connects was not developed to directly reduce suspension rates, many of the model’s practices (e.g., connecting students with tailored supports, identifying students’ unique strengths and needs, indicating a tier of risk for each student) may indirectly 1) address the mechanisms that drive high suspension rates in high poverty schools and 2) promote more positive outcomes for students who have been suspended. In the current study, difference-in-differences analyses identified trends in suspension rates in City Connects schools, compared to similar non-City Connects schools. Chi-square analyses examined patterns in how frequently suspended and non-suspended students in City Connects schools were identified as needing intensive supports. Longitudinal regression and moderation analyses investigated the relationship between receiving City Connects and suspended students’ outcomes. Overall, there is some evidence that City Connects may contribute to maintaining lower school-suspension rates in consistently underperforming schools. The study also found that students who were suspended in City Connects schools were more likely to be identified as needing more intensive supports, compared to students in City Connects schools who were not suspended. Within the district of interest, attending a City Connects elementary school for at least two years was associated with better academic outcomes and slightly better attendance and suspension outcomes in fifth grade. Being suspended at least once in elementary school had an overall negative association with fifth grade academic, attendance, and suspension outcomes. For students who were suspended at least once in elementary school, attending a City Connects school for at least two years was associated with higher math standardized test scores in fifth grade. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2023. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Therapeutic education initiatives embodying a whole child approach can be seen to address the intellectual, emotional, bodily and spiritual as being part of a child’s educational self. Through designing and implementing the concept of “aesthetic life narratives” in a primary school classroom, my research produces a curricular example of how therapeutic notions such as those found in psychological thought can be integrated into contemporary Scottish education through narrative and aesthetic means, exemplifying how individual children can make sense of expressive processes and roles introduced to them in an educational context. The specific characteristics of the research space and the particular interactive quality of research participation also illustrate how different children are able to participate in a short-term emotional education intervention specifically designed to be empowering. At the same time, my experience shows that the complex dynamic between the subjective life of a researcher and the historical nature of a child’s experience with caregivers in their home life can shape educational/research experience, as well as its adult and child participants, in ways unanticipated. What transpired in the process of applying philosophical ideas to the real lives of children in my research produced ethical implications regarding critical reflexivity and the socio-cultural regard of the child that are of wider relevance to educators, researchers, counsellors and policy makers who interact with children in their own work.

Closing the achievement gaps in mathematics and English language arts (ELA) is an ongoing challenge for most New York City Public school administrators. One New York school experiencing this problem implemented a broad intervention including (a) the Children First Intensive (CFI) program, which includes using data to inform instructional and organizational decision-making; (b) added baseline and post assessments; and (c) differentiated instruction including student conferences. The effects of the intervention had not been evaluated within the context of implementation. The purpose of this quantitative study was to evaluate the impact of the multifaceted learning gaps' intervention on 6th grade student achievement in math and ELA. The framework used in this study was the Halverson, Grigg, Prichett, and Thomas data-driven instructional systems model. The comparative study design used paired t tests to examine the change in math and ELA achievement scores on a group of 6th grade students (N = 26), before after the intervention. Results indicated significant increases in the test scores of the students, suggesting that students' learning gaps were closed using their assessment results and differentiated instruction within the comprehensive intervention. Results were used to create a professional development handbook on using a multifaceted data-based approach to improve student achievement. Positive social change might occur by providing the local site findings on the outcomes of their approach and additional training on using the approach, which may ultimately improve the academic performance of all students.

This qualitative case study investigated the levels and frequency of music integration being implemented at a public elementary school in central Florida, what key issues affect the successful implementation of effective music integration, and if music integration has an influence on academic achievement. This study focused on 14 elementary school educators actively involved with music integration at one public elementary school. The multiple formats of data collection and analysis provided triangulation and increased the viability and transferability of the results. The five data collection formats that were used consisted of surveys, observations, lesson plans, interviews, and student achievement documents. Data results were coded and analyzed for themes, similarities, and differences. Tables, graphs, narratives, and transcription quotes illustrate the data results. The literature review provides historical and foundational information of how interdisciplinary qualities of music education relate to student achievement. This study offers working integration examples and addresses the important issues and benefits of music integration. With increased high-stakes accountability for student achievement, educators must explore viable curriculum options that aid academic achievement (Arts Education Partnership, 2002; Cutietta, 1996; Hyatt, 2004; Mallery, 2000; Snyder, 2001). This study found academic benefits are linked to music integration as previous research has found (Bresler, 2002; Brewer, 2002; Drake, 1998; MENC, 2001, 2004; Wiggins and Wiggins, 1997). Perhaps other elementary school personnel working toward higher student achievement will find the results useful to increase effective music integration at their schools. The following were major findings of this study: (a) music integration occurred at Levels 1, 4, and 5; (b) awareness and training were the 2 most important issues affecting music integration out of the 12 identified in this study; and (c) educators do perceive music integration to be beneficial to students academically, behaviorally, and emotionally. Contributions of this research are beyond that typically found in similar literature: (a) a balanced research-practitioner music integration resource; (b) an awareness and training program for school administrators, which includes working models and literature to help educators improve the musically integrative practice in their elementary curriculum; and (c) the development of Music Integration Criteria and an Integration Consortium.

In this mixed methods dissertation study, I used design-based research (DBR; Brown, 1992; Cobb et al., 2003; The Design-Based Research Collective, 2003) to develop and refine a Tier 1 professional development (PD) intervention in trauma-informed teaching practices. This intervention was implemented with all full-time educators at one school and focused on Tier 1 practices to be implemented for and applicable to all students. I engaged in ongoing collaboration with educators at Oakdale Elementary School, a suburban Massachusetts school, to study and refine this intervention. I conducted ongoing qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis, which informed both the intervention design and study of process and outcomes. This study investigated how and why the intervention evolved over time, the acceptability of the intervention, shifts in thinking and teaching practices, and how those shifts were facilitated. Over the course of implementation, 10 collaborative design decisions were made to create an intervention that addressed the needs and desires of Oakdale’s educators as well as the structural affordances and constraints of PD implementation at Oakdale. The intervention contained three after-school PD trainings: (1) Secondary Traumatic Stress and Self-Care, (2) Trauma 101: Supporting Students who Have Experienced Trauma, and (3) Educational Impacts of the Opioid Epidemic. Educators rated the intervention favorably: 88% of year-end survey participants were very satisfied with the trainings and 94% felt that the trainings would be very useful in other schools. In addition, Oakdale’s educators reported shifts in their thinking (e.g., increased empathy) and teaching practices (e.g., enacting proactive strategies) that they attributed to the trainings. Finally, based on the data collected in this study, I developed a theoretical model of how to support educators’ learning and implementation of trauma-informed teaching practices. This theoretical model identifies contextual, relational, and procedural elements of the intervention that participants reported to facilitate learning. This model can be tested in future studies of trauma-informed teaching PD and, if substantiated, used to guide additional intervention design. Implications for policy and practice are discussed. / 2023-05-13T00:00:00Z

abstract: The purpose of the research study was to explore the perceptions of Navajo mothers and Navajo fathers in the development and childrearing practices of their children and to what extent each parent was involved in their children by gender and age. The objective of the interviews was to capture the perceptions of each parent as to child development and childrearing practices as well as the beliefs that they have on parental involvement. In the current study, the interviews provided information regarding attitudes and perceptions of parental involvement from the Navajo mothers and the Navajo fathers who participated in the study. By using probing questions, deeper insights into the understanding and perceptions of parental involvement were obtained. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Administration and Supervision 2012

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