Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Educational Sociology'

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of professional learning communities (PLCs) on elementary school students’ performance in reading and mathematics using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Cohort of 1998 (ECLS-K). This study also investigates whether PLCs have differential effects on student performance based on student characteristics such as socioeconomic status (SES), race, and whether they are academically at-risk and school characteristics such as school type, school size, minority enrollment, and percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL). PLCs are seen as a promising way of remedying the traditionally isolated nature of teachers’ work by facilitating a network through which teachers can share expertise, receive support, and disseminate effective practices. The underlying theory is that by facilitating teachers’ access to a network of their peers, they will be able to improve their instruction, which will ultimately lead to improved student achievement. This study addresses the need for more empirical evidence on the impact of PLCs on student performance using a large, national dataset. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify correlated PLC items from the ECLS-K teacher questionnaire. Hierarchical and cross-classified random effects modeling (HCM) was then used to analyze the impact of student-, teacher-, and organizational-level variables—including two PLC variables—on students’ reading and mathematics performance. The analysis found that teacher collaboration had a significant positive effect on growth in reading and math scores, while a positive school climate was associated with significantly higher initial reading scores. Rarely did either PLC variable show differential effects based on student- or school-level characteristics.

Post-secondary student retention and persistence is on the minds of professionals at various higher learning institutions due to the disparities in educational attainment. These disparities may lead to inhibited social mobility, and lack of cultural and social capital. This study examined what factors Southern Connecticut State University sophomore students perceived as aiding or impeding their degree path. It questioned how underrepresented students shaped their perception on their educational attainment and how this compares to the existing research and literature on the success practices of underrepresented students in higher education. The study was conducted using open-ended semi-structured interview questions administered to second year sophomore students at Southern Connecticut State University. Specifically, they were underrepresented students defined as being low-income, racial minority, and first-generation students. This study aimed to explore the narrative of underrepresented students by exploring why college access doesn’t necessarily result in college completion.

Reforms early in the 21st century purported to close the achievement gap between White students and students of color, to provide accountability and transparency to taxpayers, to implement meaningful consequences for low-performing schools, and to create the workforce for the century. In this study, I investigated the effects of school reform on the lived experiences of students who graduated from high school in 2014 by inquiring into six young people’s perceptions of their schooling. I sought to better understand whether participants were aware of the existence and intent of school reforms, and how or whether their aspirations for their futures had evolved over the course of their formal schooling in concert with the expressed goals of those reforms. The data set consisted of narratives from six recent low-income male and female high school graduates of color. Analysis revealed striking similarities between their experiences despite the variety in outcomes. The narratives indicated that school reforms have had little impact on students’ lives other than to graft the go-to-college imperative, onto the young people’s inherent aspirations. Young people remained alienated from their education, and outcomes continued to adhere to racist, classist, and gendered expectations.

Despite the expressed need for bicultural teachers, research on teacher attrition has demonstrated that a growing number of bicultural educators are leaving the classroom. Bicultural male teachers, in particular, experience high rates of teacher attrition. Schools, unfortunately, are contexts in which Latino male teachers are constantly experiencing dilemmas related specifically to both their gendered and racialized positionality as males of color.

Grounded in Antonia Darder’s critical bicultural framework, this autoethnographic study explored the complex factors that drive Latino male teachers out of the classroom, through an in-depth and grounded examination of a Latino male teacher who left the classroom. The study contributes to the conversation on bicultural teacher attrition, gendered relations, and their relationship to both teacher preparation and the education of bicultural students.

Furthermore, the study explored how racism, sexism, classism, trauma, and heteronormativity mitigate the experiences of Latino male teachers, and how these manifest themselves through the hidden curriculum, asymmetrical relations of power, gendered essentialism, policing of behavior, the culture of silence, conditions of isolation, and disabling cultural response patterns. The implications of such factors in the life of one Latino male teacher are carefully analyzed and discussed, in an effort to consider their significance in rethinking teacher preparation programs, with respect to the needs of Latino males. Moreover, the study offers an engagement with critical autoethnography as a significant tool of reflection in the educational process and emancipatory process of bicultural teachers.

Urban public education is currently being remade to reflect corporate values and management structures. Charter CMO’s particularly are constructed by policy as the most viable solution for “turning around failing schools.” To date, there are few, if any, insider accounts from charter management-operated (CMO) schools in the research literature. This project brings critical practitioner inquiry into this under-explored space in order to better understand the ways teachers and staff within one specific CMO-operated charter elementary school resist the dehumanizing forces of whiteness and deficit notions of teaching, learning, students, as well as the communities in which they serve. Using critical organizational theory and collaborative inquiry, as well as a narrative inquiry methodology, this project looks at the experiences of teachers and staff members as they enacted the “no excuses” philosophy over the course of one school year. First, the no excuses philosophy and management practices of College Prep Elementary School (CPES) will be explored. This includes narratives from staff members as they interpret their experiences being trained in the no excuses philosophy and how their views changed throughout the year. Then, the emotional reactions of the teachers and staff members will be more thoroughly analyzed as important intersections of identity and politics. Next, I explore stories of institutional microaggression and deficit shared by Staff of Color to gain a better understanding of the ways whiteness exists in schools. Finally, the inquiry group theorizes culturally competent school leadership, arriving at three main themes all resonating with the ethic of care: care for students, care for families and community, and care for teachers. In the final chapter, implications for policy and practice are shared, as well as the limitations of this study.

Our school systems are in place to create positive citizens who can contribute to the greater good and to also create a foundation for a life of learning. Schools were originally formed to help our country become stronger in its infancy by generating a population that had common knowledge, baseline skills, especially in literacy, and the ability to be citizens who could move the country forward and keep leaders honest. The same holds true today. However, research is showing that one out of five high-school students is dropping out of school and not graduating within the traditional four-years of high-school. Why students drop out of high-school, and how that may be prevented, is a topic much discussed and researched. The future of non-graduates is grim and the negative impact to society is costly.

What are common characteristics of students who drop out from high-school? How might educators better the odds for at-risk students? What can we point to that leads other students to find success? The ninth-grade year is a vital one for the success of students in high-school. The skills students build in the ninth-grade will, in large part, determine how they succeed in the latter parts of high-school and beyond. Research shows that the brain continues to grow well beyond the high-school years and there is no limit to the learning of new skills and knowledge. Non-cognitive characteristics also play a key role in the level of success one achieves. While intelligence can serve as a predictor of success at some level, it is not as strong of a determiner as some non-cognitive characteristics that have been identified.

In this study, the characteristic of grit was looked at to determine if there was a correlation between grit and academic success in ninth-grade students. A quantitative approach was applied to gathering data from ninth-grade students from a rural school district in Washington State. The theoretical frameworks used as a lens throughout this process were Bandura’s Social Cognitive Theory and Dweck’s Mindset Theory. The foundational belief of Social Cognitive Theory is that people learn from other people. According to this theory, our beliefs and actions are determined by what we experience with, and witness in, other people. Our choices are shaped by our understanding of how our behaviors lead to a better life through what we have seen in those around us. Dweck’s Mindset Theory works to explain what propels people to be successful. The Mindset Theory also focuses on determination, goal setting, and a desire to better oneself while challenging the high-praise society that students live in today. Dweck differentiates between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset in a person. This theory states that in the fixed mindset, things are set and very little can change in a person. In this way of thinking, things are what they are with little hope of change. The opposite way of thinking is having a growth mindset. A growth mindset is the belief that we are constantly growing and bettering ourselves throughout our lives. It is the belief that we can and should learn more and continue to build our skills. Dweck states that our brain is a muscle that can be developed and improved upon over time. These frameworks were chosen because grit is a characteristic that is deeply influenced by our experiences with other people and also influenced by the mindset in which people choose to live. With a growth mindset, we can improve the characteristic of grit over time. While grit may be partially inherent, it is a characteristic that can be taught, learned, and improved upon. Duckworth believes that grit is important in understanding and supporting student success. This study specifically looks at grit and whether the presence of grit may lead to greater academic success in ninth-grade students.

A great amount of research has shown the importance of the teacher-student relationship, especially as it relates to students’ academic, and social and emotional outcomes. Pianta (1999) explains that the relationship between children, teachers, and non-parental adults have a significant role in the students’ development of competencies, their social and emotional wellbeing, and their willingness to participate in school regularly. Ellerbrock, Abbas, DiCicco, Denmon, Sabella, and Hart (2015) also agree that through meaningful relationships grounded in genuine care, educators nurture a responsive classroom environment that can help set the foundation for student success. This study examines the relationship between Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) students in grades 11 and 12 and their AVID teachers. Participants of the study were from five local high schools in one school district. Data was collected from students surveyed on their relationship with their AVID teachers of whom they have had over their AVID career. Measurements such as using a Likert scale survey and focus group interviews were used to determine the influence the participants’ AVID teacher(s) had on the participants’ academics, social and emotional growth, and a willingness to attend school regularly. Results of the measuring tools reveal a strong correlation between the relationship of the AVID teacher and the impact it has on the participant, especially the positive influence in academics and social and emotional outcomes.

Community dynamics are best understood in context through community voice and perspective. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the relationship between poverty and neighborhood identity for a community contending with issues of poverty and immigration. I employed a case study design grounded in the opinions of community members, supplemented by additional data to understand the effect of neighborhood identity on community decision making, prioritization, and educational attainment. Data sources included interviews, field notes, and document reviews and the data analysis revealed a community besieged by issues related to poverty and immigration, and the overwhelming command that these conditions have upon the community-at-large. Issues of survival, fragility of legal presence, complacence, and relationship dynamics all emerged as consequential to the lives of members of the community. Furthermore, the characteristics present within this community are aggravated by the underlying structural and institutional roadblocks that maintain systems of poverty and marginalization. The interviews and document analysis revealed the systemic inhibitors for a community fighting to sustain its survival and unable to generate upward mobility.

The enrollment and engagement of middle-class families in historically low-income urban public schools can generate school improvements, including increased resources and expanded extracurricular programming. At the same time, prior research has highlighted the marginalization of low-income parents as one consequence of middle-class parent involvement. However, there is a limited understanding of the factors that contribute to parents’ central or peripheral positions within school-based parent networks in this context. Drawing on theoretical literature on social capital and social networks, this case study combines quantitative methods including social network analysis and regression-based analyses with ethnographic methods to examine the school-based social networks of kindergarten parents in a Philadelphia public school experiencing an increase in the engagement and enrollment of middle- and upper middle-class parents. I explore how school-based social networks matter to parents’ access to information, advice, and social opportunities and how these networks are shaped by parents’ informal participation in school-based events and formal participation in parent organizations.

Four key findings emerge. First, informal participation in school events is not associated with an increase in network centrality. Second, formal participation in parent organizations is related to network centrality. In particular, the networks of parents who participate in these organizations include other parents who are well-connected themselves and parents who participate in parent organizations also have greater access to network resources overall. Finally, consistent with prior research on parent involvement, findings indicate that middle- and upper-middle class parents are more likely to participate in parent organizations than low-income parents. Findings suggest that while race or class-based social position may influence parent networks in some ways, participation in parent organizations plays a greater role in the connectedness of parents’ ties and parents’ access to network resources. Implications for this research suggest the need examine practices for family and community engagement in schools and how parent organizations might be made more accessible to and inclusive of low-income parents, parents of color, and limited English-speaking parents. Furthermore, this research provides support to arguments made in prior research concerning the complexity and challenge of relying on middle-class parent involvement as a mechanism of school reform.

Student retention has been studied more than any higher education subject (Vlanden & Barlow, 2014). Attempts to better understand the retention process through predictive modeling have become more common (Bingham & Solverson, 2016). However, modeling efforts have failed to properly account for elements of social integration and sense of belonging, both of which serve as key tenants in Astin’s (1975, 1999) theory of student involvement and Tinto’s (1982, 1993) model of college dropout and theory of student departure (Bingham & Solverson, 2016). In this study, social integration was evaluated in isolation using z-tests. Several forms of social integration were found to have a statistically significant difference in the proportion of retained participants versus non-participants including campus fitness programs, fraternity or sorority programs, recreation facilities, and student activities. Participants in intramural sports and on-campus living were not found to have statistically significant results. Additionally, binary logistic regression was used to analyze how social integration variables interplayed with demographic, student attribute, and academic performance inputs. The model produced through the analysis successfully met previous goodness-of-fit standards established in prior research (Bingham & Solverson, 2016; Jia & Maloney, 2014). Findings of this research are especially relevant to higher education administrators. A key method to the promotion of persistence and student retention is the ability to predict attrition (Harvey & Luckman, 2014). By including social integration data, higher education leaders could seize upon the opportunity to more accurately identify those students who are less likely to persist than their peers (Bingham & Solverson, 2016).

This qualitative study examined the perspectives of American students, focusing on the factors and characteristics that frame an individual as a global citizen. The study focused on nine American students who were enrolled in a California State University. This population of students brought knowledge of their personal perspectives and experiences, pertaining to their own ideals of global citizenship, as well as to how they believed it was integrated in their educational experience. Key themes from the participants included: the importance of a period of self-realization, individual effects as a result of the current political climate, the importance of language, and the lack of priority given to global citizenship within the K-12 public education system.

Existing research on peer-to-peer mentoring has focused mainly on cross-age peer mentoring with several years’ difference between mentor and mentees (Karcher, 2005, 2007; Lawon, 2014; Willis, Bland, Manka, & Craft, 2012) and the impact of peer mentoring on the mentee. I aimed to examine the relationship of participating in a high school based peer-to-peer mentoring program and the impact on the high school upperclassmen mentors in this study. School is a social organization where peers can develop school connectedness and expand their prosocial skills and through their social networks increase social capital. The impact of peer mentoring programs on high school peer mentors is an area that has not been sufficiently investigated. The current exploratory case study used data from surveys, interviews, and field notes to understand the experiences of mentors and the impact of peer mentoring in a high school mentoring program on these mentors in terms of their school connectedness, social capital, and prosocial skill development. Researchers have identified increases in mentees who are involved in peer mentoring programs (Karcher, 2005, 2007). Further research is needed to investigate the impact of these social connections on high school peer mentors. In this study, data was collected from the Hemingway Survey, mentor interviews, and field notes. Findings of this study support the conclusion that the peer mentors’ prosocial skills of school involvement, school connection, and social capital increased as a result of participating in a peer-to-peer mentoring program. Additionally, mentors did not report identifiable differences between matches that were same gender or different genders. Results from this study demonstrate the impact of increases in the development of prosocial skills and social capital in peer mentors.

There is an abundance of research concerning diversity issues in American classrooms. However, researchers have not provided enough attention to religious goals of Muslim parents and their experiences with educational institutions. For this qualitative study, the researcher interviewed 15 Muslim parents, eight females and seven males, to explore how participants’ experiences and expectations influence the way they negotiate their religious needs with schools/preschool in Southern California. The results showed that cooperation and negotiations were key strategies adopted by Muslim parents to maintain relationships with educational organizations. Schools accommodated religious practices when requested and parents negotiated their needs when necessary. Findings also showed that participants connected the school’s role with academic learning and that teachers lacked accurate knowledge of Islam. There was a sense of restraint among participants. Participants did not want to share the name of their child’s school/preschool or materials shared by the school.

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to discover the factors which contribute to the positive transformation of a comprehensive public high school’s culture as perceived by the school’s administrators, teachers, and classified staff. An additional purpose of the study is to determine what similarities and differences exist between the perceptions of administrators, teachers, and classified staff.

Methodology: The researcher identified comprehensive public high schools within the state of California where measurable growth in positive perceptions of school culture had been achieved within the preceding two to four years. Of this target population, six schools were identified, through which the researcher conducted individual interviews with each principal and focus group discussions with separate groups of six to eight teachers and six to eight classified staff members at each school site. Additionally, the researcher participated in observations at each school site and gathered artifacts to support the data garnered through the interviews and focus group discussions.

Findings: Participants recognized trust, relationships, and shared values as the fundamental components of a positive school culture. Principals perceived shared leadership and decision making as vital, while teachers and classified staff members responded strongly to the inspiring vision of a passionate school leader. Classified staff members also responded strongly to the importance of communication within the organization.

Conclusions: Cultural change efforts require time, patience, empathy, and willingness to engage in conflict and honest discourse. Additionally, schools with strong, positive culture create an environment that is student-centered, feels like home/family, and values all stakeholders as equally important. All decisions, goals, and plans are rooted in the shared values of the school community, which are communicated constantly in various ways.

Recommendations: School leaders hoping to positively shift their cultures must engage all stakeholders in the development of shared values, implement structures that facilitate the building of relationships, celebrate risk-taking and small wins, demonstrate and inspire trust, and develop methods to assess and constantly reassess the aspects of their schools’ cultures in order to spark a call to action that will resonate with stakeholders.

Hybrid High School education is a disruptive innovation that has begun to replace traditional brick and mortar schools for many students world-wide. In addition to a traditional school model are the traditional metrics by which schools are compared. These metrics have been achievement data, success rates, and funding analyses. These metrics do not account for the lived experience of the high school students, in the same way that the traditional model of education does not account for the changing methods available for learning. This study is a phenomenological analysis of the lived experience of high school students who have attended hybrid educational programs. These programs utilize the digital advances available for learning by offering at least half of their curriculum online, while maintaining face to face instruction during the rest of curricular time. The premise of this study is that high school provides an ethos, or manifested culture, for each student served. The questions used in nine interviews to understand this ethos were created using research in the area of adolescent life satisfaction. The research resulted in focus areas to be discussed: autonomy, engagement, social capital, and community connectedness. Participants in this study age 18–20 recently graduated from four years attending a hybrid program. The participants were introspective and detailed in their explanations of life experiences during their time in hybrid programs, and how their ethos was shaped by experiences in each of the areas of life satisfaction listed above. The interview analyses led to four conclusions regarding hybrid high school student life. First, the hybrid program graduates interviewed have a rich sense of community. These communities vary and most are members of multiple communities. All feel a sense of belonging and are connected to groups beyond family. Second, the hybrid program graduates are highly self-reliant. Participants pointed out that they have relationships with people who are supportive, but that they are independently responsible for overcoming life’s obstacles. Third, these conclusions are intended to influence design of future innovational programs. Finally, the hybrid high school did serve as a disruptive innovation which had clear benefits for the adolescents participating. This study, in combination with additional studies focusing on specific program elements, could result in quality innovative programs that meet the needs of a changing adolescent population.

The purpose of this dissertation is to extend General Strain Theory (GST) to examine prosocial, asocial, and antisocial behavior in response to bullying. In GST, Agnew (1992; 2001; 2013) asserted that negative emotions can lead to criminal or aggressive coping but there are a number of factors that increase or decrease the propensity to respond aggressively (Agnew, 1992; Richman & Leary, 2009). In this dissertation, I examine whether and how rejection (operationalized as bullying victimization) is associated with aggressive responding as opposed to prosocial (e.g., befriending others) or asocial (e.g., avoiding people and social events) responding. This dissertation consists of three studies testing theoretical variables of bullying victimization as well as behavioral responses to four types of bullying: physical, verbal, relational, and cyber. Study 1 of this dissertation examines risk and protective factors for types of bullying victimization. Study 2 applies GST to test the effect of social support, or the availability of alternative relationships (i.e., having others to count on or turn to for social support), on responses to four types of bullying. Study 3 tests the effect of power dynamics on responses to physical and relational bullying. In conducting this research, I hope to: 1) integrate interdisciplinary bodies of literature to examine risk and protective factors of bullying victimization and behavioral responses to bullying and 2) improve understanding of how these experiences are affected by the power dynamics involved in bullying. Overall, the results of this dissertation suggest that types of negative emotions and behavioral outcomes vary by type of bullying victimization. Cyber bullying was found to have more negative consequences than any other form of bullying. Across all four forms of bullying, social support was found to be associated with an increased likelihood of youth engaging in prosocial behavior. Implicit power, or the perception that one’s bully has a high social standing at school, significantly influenced responses based on the type of bullying. However, even when controlling for power dynamics, social support was still associated with increased prosocial behavior in response to bullying victimization. Theory and policy implications are discussed.

Higher education institutions continue to struggle with encouraging retention for first-year students. Prior research has shown that establishing social integration during the first-year of college is a crucial component of a successful transition and has a positive influence on student persistence and academic success (Astin, 1993; Chapman & Pascarella, 1983; Tinto, 1993). Social integration has historically been defined in terms of peer connections and involvement (Tinto, 1993); however, recent research has explored the importance of sense of belonging as an important psychosocial component in the transition to college (Strayhorn, 2012a). Sense of belonging focuses on feelings of fit, perceptions of social support, and feeling as though one matters to the community. The current study sought to explore the conceptual framework in which sense of belonging was included as a component of social integration. Moreover, this study explored whether institutional action could influence first-year students’ overall social integration through a focus on peer connections, involvement, and sense of belonging.

This quasi-experimental, quantitative study analyzed the influence of a campus intervention focused on social integration, called the Belonging Reinforcement Intervention (BRI). The BRI program was delivered to first-year students at a small, private institution during the first three weeks of their collegiate experience. The Belonging Reinforcement Intervention included researched components related to social belonging and normalizing students’ not feeling an immediate sense of fit (Walton & Cohen, 2011a), reinforcing institutional commitment and belonging through communications (Hausmann et al., 2007), and research focused on peer mentoring as a way to encourage campus involvements (Peck, 2011). The study used a national instrument, the Mapworks Transition Survey, to determine if this intervention could influence the various components of social integration.

The findings from the study support a comprehensive view of social integration that includes sense of belonging. The findings further indicate that students who participated in the BRI program showed statistically significant increases in peer connections, involvement, and the current study’s social integration scale which included sense of belonging. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the BRI program was particularly beneficial for Hispanic students with their intent to become involved and for female students for their overall social integration. The results of this study have implications for future institutional interventions and developing lasting programs that will help first-year students to succeed and persist in their college experience. The conclusions presented suggest that a broader definition of social integration can allow institutions and researchers to better understand and support the challenges students face during the transition to college.

This quantitative study examined the experiences of first-generation college students and the influence of cultural wealth capital on their college outcomes. The study analyzed secondary data from The Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), a nationally representative data set capturing the high school, college and early post-secondary education experiences and outcomes of high school sophomore students in 2002 over a 10-year span, including college and early career outcomes. The scope of the data was narrowed to only examine students that indicated they were first-generation college students.

Using Tara Yosso’s (2005) Community Cultural Wealth model as the conceptual framework, and, using factor analysis, the study operationalized two forms of capital from the model: aspirational capital and navigational capital. Both linear and logit regression analysis were used in examining this relationship between the capital constructs and college pipeline outcomes (enrollment, persistence and graduation) for first-generation college students.

The study found that for every one standard deviation increase of aspirational capital, first-generation college students were found to be 28.5% more likely to enroll in college. Additionally, for every one standard deviation of aspirational capital, first-generation students were 25.6% more likely to persist through to their fourth semester college, a time when first-generation college students are found to be most likely to drop out of college. The dissertation includes a robust discussion of outcomes and related recommendations for theory, practice and policy.

First-generation, low-income, and disabled college students are an increasing population (Tinto, 2012). TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) is an academic support program funded by the U.S. Department of Education that seeks to support this demographic to overcome challenges and thrive while in college (Coffman, 2011). Utilizing a mixed methods approach, the goal of this study was to examine the student success outcomes of retention and grade point average of TRIO SSS students compared to students who are similarly qualified but not being served by TRIO SSS at a Midwestern, large, public, four-year institution. In addition, TRIO SSS seniors were interviewed during focus groups. During focus groups, students reflected on their overall programmatic experiences in TRIO. A total of 1,913 students were involved in the quantitative analysis, and 16 TRIO seniors participated in the focus groups. Data analysis resulted in the emergence of four major themes: (a) relationships, (b) loyalty, (c) trust, and (d) transformation. These findings were consistent with other studies conducted within the scope of Tinto’s (2012) theory of student retention. All of the interview participants identified a profound and personal emotional connection to their time in TRIO SSS. This study was significant due to the lack of previous research that couples the experiences of students with quantitative data. Implications for practice included, but were not limited to, stronger support for first-generation students through a range of campus partnerships and initiatives. Recommendations for future research included expanding this study by examining TRIO programs at other institutions and gathering perceptions of first-generation students through multiple focus groups.

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed-methods phenomenological study was to describe elementary school general education teachers’ perceptions of how their efficacy, as teachers, was affected by their experiences in implementing the PBIS framework. This study also sought to determine a better understanding of the skills necessary to impact all students while increasing teachers’ efficacy and their ability to carry out their obligations in facilitating student academic success and student discipline.

Methodology: Consistent with a mixed-methods approach, the instruments used in this study collected descriptive data and perceptual data from a group of elementary general education teachers from Riverside County, California. Through an electronic format, two different surveys were administered to participating elementary school teachers. In addition, principals of participating PBIS elementary schools referred teachers from their sites to participate in semistructured interviews.

Findings: Findings showed that the implementation of PBIS had positive effects on teachers’ efficacy, thus affecting their classroom experiences and student conduct. To understand teachers’ perceptions of how the implementation of PBIS was affecting their efficacy, the researcher first had to understand the teachers’ perceptions of how PBIS was being implemented at their sites. Findings demonstrated that teachers did not have a clear understanding of PBIS. However, teachers did understand and used the strategies learned through the implementation of PBIS. They included the opportunity to model, practice, and apply appropriate behavior and the strategies.

Conclusions: Teachers perceived that they were able to influence the three domains of teacher efficacy—student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management—and the skills within each; learn the strategies and supports to redirect student behavior; and influence classroom management. Findings from this study also revealed that teachers could redirect student behaviors by providing students with clear expectations, praise, positive student recognition, and rewards.

This research looks at HMI through the context of marriage and family life of Pentecostal faith communities and how a religious educative and ministerial lens can strengthen such programs in local churches. Through historical and secondary analyses, the researcher examines the history, evolution and examples of recent HMI evaluations. The study is informed by, recent sociological studies, feminist theology and religious education experts. The work proposes how Healthy Marriage Initiatives within congregational settings can be strengthened through religious educative, spiritual, and pastoral responses to marriage and family life within faith communities.

At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 2: Manuscript. Paper 3: Manuscript. Paper 4: Manuscript. Paper 5: Manuscript.