Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Success in education'

The first of these three papers is an empirical study estimating the impact of peer academic support on university course grades. Results suggest that, on average, about twelve peer academic support sessions increase a student's course grade by approximately one full grade point, holding constant a student's academic ability and socioeconomic status. Supplemental instruction is potentially a more effective method of peer academic support than individual peer academic support sessions and low-performing students benefit more from peer academic support than high-performing students.

The second paper analyzes the educational impact of Native American tribal casino in Washington State. We empirically study the effect tribal casinos have on the dropout rate of schools located near tribal casinos. Next we examine the impact on the dropout rate from per capita payments. Since each federally recognized tribes is a sovereign nations, each tribe makes its own laws governing the payout of these payments. These payments are largely funded by casinos. In Washington State all tribes that make per capita payments put minor tribal member's payments in trust funds that are not technically accessible until the minor child turns 18. These trust funds are having an effect on the dropout rate of young Native American adults.

The third paper examines the effect of the gender of the student, tutor and professor on the duration between tutoring sessions. Results suggest that the female students have a shorter duration between tutoring sessions. The gender of the tutor or the gender of the instructor had no effect on our results however if the student and instructor were the same gender the duration between tutoring sessions shorter. This was true for both male and female students.

A college degree is vital to the economic and social well-being of the entire nation and its citizens. Yet, community colleges ? which serve half of all students in higher education ? have low graduation rates. Lack of academic preparation, competing personal and work demands, and economic stress make earning a degree difficult for many. As part of a national agenda, community college leaders are searching for new ways to help students succeed. Student success theories have historically provided practitioners with frameworks to understand how students navigate the educational environment. This dissertation analyzed a selection of student success theories and ritual theories to contribute to new ways of thinking about student success through ritual theory and practice. Using Critical Interpretive Synthesis, two common themes emerged: Emplacement and Passage. The concept of Emplacement reflects community college students? need for academic and social challenge while anchored in their communities of origin. The concept of Passage reflects students? need for structured guidance, including the formulation of goals and the celebration of milestones. The dissertation?s product includes a number of recommendations for practitioners in the creation of well-constructed and impactful rituals. Rituals are more likely to be successful if they involve some physical movement, build on existing traditions and calendars, utilize local geography and culture, and serve both practical as well as symbolic functions. Rituals that build community, such as festivals, are particularly important for community college students. Key words: community college, higher education, student success, persistence, retention, graduation, ritual theory, ritual studies, emplacement, passage.

Growing demand for higher education has contributed to the popularity of online education. While online courses can be effective in terms of student learning and success, and there are many potential benefits, there are also still areas that can be improved. There is evidence that students can experience online courses as impersonal and lacking interaction. They can feel isolated, less satisfied, less successful, and are more likely to withdraw. Thus, one of the challenges facing online education is to find ways to increase connection and interaction between students and faculty.

One means for addressing the sense of isolation students might feel in online courses might be instructor immediacy. While instructor immediacy in traditional classes has been shown to motivate students, create a sense of connection, and support their learning and success, it is not known whether or how immediacy can help students in a fully online course.

The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental intervention study was to examine the effectiveness of faculty immediacy on undergraduate student engagement and success in an online course. Students in an upper division psychology course were randomly assigned to either a redesigned high immediacy section or a 'regular' section. The study's hypothesized framework suggested that instructor immediacy would enhance student engagement, and thereby influence student success.

A survey measured immediacy and student engagement; success was measured by total points earned. The sample included 215 students enrolled in the course in the fall 2012 semester. Independent samples t-tests, correlations, multiple regression, and repeated measures ANOVA were the statistical tests used.

The findings revealed no significant differences between the high immediacy (intervention section) and low immediacy (regular nonintervention group) sections of the course. Immediacy and engagement were highly correlated. Engagement was a significant predictor of student success. Age, units completed, and gender were also significant predictors of student success in this study. These results provide insight into the relationship between immediacy and engagement. Implications and recommendations based on the findings of this study are given. Further studies are recommended to further study the relationship between immediacy and engagement.

For decades, the cohort model has been utilized to bring graduate degrees to working adults who cannot put their family lives and careers on hold to attend a university in the more traditional way. With the growing access to reliable digital tools, some cohorts have taken advantage of the ability to meet online with live-streaming applications such as Skype, GoToMeeting, and Adobe Connect. The blending of online instruction and face-to-face interaction has given birth to blended learning, a hybrid of synchronous and asynchronous learning. With this evolution of curriculum and instruction delivery, questions arise regarding the quality of graduate programs. Are the students who are investing time and money into these graduate degrees receiving the high-level of quality that they would expect if they were attending the university in a traditional way? How are they interacting with their peers in a scholarly fashion? How are the professors engaging the students in meaningful and scholarly ways? How do students and institutions know what is working for the success of the student and what needs to be improved? This study sought to uncover answers to some of these questions as it researched 16 doctoral students in one blended cohort in central California. With primarily qualitative methods, the study attempted to describe the phenomenon that is the blended doctoral cohort, specifically researching the participants’ perspective of themselves and the blended cohort model at the beginning of their program and, again, at the end of their program.

An education benefit available to all corporate and franchisee employees of the large quick service restaurant (QSR) under study is an opportunity to achieve a high school diploma at no cost by enrolling in online high school (OHS). The purpose of this research was to explore the role of Thomas Gilbert’s behavior engineering model factors—information/data, resources, incentives, knowledge/skills, capacity, and motives—in helping 15 QSR employees to graduate from an OHS program. This study was warranted because in order to improve employee OHS graduation rates, the QSR under study needed to better understand and cultivate the success factors for OHS program completion. A basic qualitative methodology was used for this study and semistructured telephone interviews were conducted as the primary form of data collection. Thirty online learner success themes were synthesized from the data during the analysis process. Technology, and study skills were the only factors identified by all 15 study participants as being factors in their program success. The most influential online learning success factors reported by study participants were design of instruction, program policies, the role of the academic coach, program accessibility, and student characteristic of persistence/determination. Lack of time to complete OHS lessons was the top challenge to success shared by study participants. The online learning success factors that are currently in place at OHS and the QSR under study and are recommended to continue include 24/7 availability of the program, accepting transfer credits, the role the academic coach, the ability to retake tests, and the QSR under study covering the cost of the program. Recommendations to improve QSR restaurant environmental success factors include increased OHS program follow-up by QSR corporate and franchise leadership, scheduling OHS lesson completion time on restaurant schedules, and providing a reliable computer/tablet.

This dissertation examines nontraditional online students’ perceptions of Tinto’s four student success conditions: expectations, support, assessment, and engagement. Expectations include those of the student, the faculty and the institution. Support includes academic, social, and financial support. Providing early and meaningful assessment and feedback to students is crucial during their educational career. The fourth success condition in Tinto’s model includes the involvement or engagement of students with their peers (and faculty) in both an academic and social contexts. Nontraditional student perceptions of each of these institutional conditions of success was uncovered through demographic survey, interviews, syllabi and website artifacts.This qualitative study provided a rich, detailed description of the lived experience of the nontraditional online student to add to the paucity of research on this understudied population. The three main themes emerged from the data: (a) nontraditional students identified in an asynchronous environment did not find the success conditions to be consistently present and reported that they would have benefitted from them if they had existed both academically and socially; (b) nontraditional students identified key elements for success, which included flexibility in their schedule and the opportunity to receive a degree from a reputable institution that would lead to career enhancement; (c) students reported developing a strong, positive academic relationship with their advisor. The advisor served as a substitute for faculty-student relationships and was the primary role for providing academic, social and financial support.

The purpose of this study was to investigate factors that predict success in AP Calculus. The factors investigated include student study habits, such as time spent doing homework, working with a study group or tutor, phoning a friend for help, or using the Internet for help. The study also examined the classroom environment and structure and the affect of teacher knowledge and attitude on predicting success. Additionally, teacher teaching styles and teacher designed lessons that predicted success in AP Calculus were investigated. Seventy-three (N=73) former students in the course participated in the study. An online survey was conducted to collect data for the study. The study used multiple regressions to analyze the student data. The results showed that, when taken together, student study habits and teacher teaching styles were two factors that were statistically significant predictors of success in AP Calculus. The study found that the Internet was a factor that predicted success of AP Calculus which was important as students become more and more wired into cell phones, tablets, and other media devices.

Conversely, the results also showed that the classroom environment and structure, teacher knowledge and attitude, and the teacher designed lessons were not statistically significant in predicting success in AP Calculus. However, even though these were not significant statistically, the students expressed that they were very important contributors to their success. Recommendations include the application of specific study habits, teaching styles, and increase use of the Internet resources to students in school, including increased access to their various handheld devices such as cell phones and tablets.

Additionally it is recommended to continue the examination success factors in higher level math courses such as AP Calculus.

The California Community Colleges funding model has rich historical, political, and cultural ties embedded in the model foundation. The general funding of the California Community Colleges is enrollment-based and shaped by a long history of legislation based on the K-12 education model. The funding is not tied to performance or outcomes and is driven by how many students are enrolled. Although there has been increased categorical funding in the California Community Colleges over the past 3 years to improve student success and equity, the overall persistence or completion rates of students remains low. Research has demonstrated that many other states are implementing an outcome-based or performance-based funding model to reduce the gaps and improve student success and fiscal sustainability. The purpose of the study was to explore the gaps in the current California Community Colleges funding model and the effect of these gaps on student success and fiscal sustainability for the California Community Colleges. The study additionally investigates effective models in order to design and develop a funding model that will support the mission and outcomes of the California Community Colleges system while planning for fiscal strength.

This study is a review of the Learning Acceleration Program and the impact it has on student academic success in the Rural School District (pseudonym). This mixed-methods study used qualitative and quantitative data analyses to identify the impact that the Learning Acceleration Program has on the overall attendance and graduation rates for the district. The study also provided an understanding of the impact the Learning Acceleration Program has on perceptions as it pertains to the program. Data for this study were collected for the period of three academic school years on attendance, graduation rate for each year, and surveys completed by participants who have first-hand knowledge of the Learning Acceleration Program. The participants in this study were high school principals, one assistant principal, high school counselors, and Learning Acceleration Program personnel. The findings exhibited statistical significant difference in attendance or graduation rates on district. Furthermore, the findings from the survey highlighted the ability to meet the needs of each individual on an individual basis and provide future recommendations.

The purpose of this study was to develop a methodological approach using secondary data that researchers, faculty, and staff can utilize to assess student course performance and to identify the input and course environment factors that best predict student course success in an undergraduate lecture capture quantitative methods course. Using the Astin and Antonio (2012) Input Environment and Outcome (IEO) Model as a framework, this quantitative study examined both input variables that students bring to a course as well as the course environment factors that students experience in the course. Three secondary data sources were utilized and analyzed using descriptive and multi-variate statistics.

The findings revealed that students with higher levels of student course engagement and academic self-concept were more likely to achieve student course success in this lecture capture quantitative methods course. In addition, prior University GPA along with live-class attendance, discussion board posts, and course quiz and exam scores were the strongest predictors of student course success.

The largest implication from this study was the methodological approach developed to identify factors that predicted student course success. This approach can be used to help faculty identify course-embedded measures for assessment as well as develop Keys for Success to help future students succeed in difficult courses. While this study added significantly to the limited research on lecture capture courses, future research should further explore qualitative aspects of the course, such as motivation and student video-viewing behaviors, as well as additional impacts on physical attendance in lecture capture courses.

This qualitative study investigates two teachers who attempt to guide self-improvement initiatives in their school setting during and after completing a University based practicum course in special education. Fullan's (1993) framework for change agency was used to help facilitate the participants' self-improvement process. Participants were called to consider and enact self-identified changes they would like to make as teachers and to consider how these changes interact with their teaching selves and schools at large. To better understand how the self-initiated projects were carried out in the school context, two cases were followed for eighteen months after the sixteen-week self-study practicum was completed.

A case study of each participant was constructed based on observations, interviews, and document analysis. Using a recursive process, data was explored to analyze each participant's sense of identity and how this process related to efforts to foster improvements in their school setting. The critical importance of the participant's life experiences (past and present) emerged as important to the self-study process and as important to their actions beyond the self-study process. The participants in these case studies were engaged in a balancing act between efforts to improve themselves as teachers and efforts to respond to the internal and external expectations they had in their personal lives as mothers and wives. Although this study was initially interested in how a teacher's identity process might lead toward greater critical consciousness about social justice issues in the classroom, these cases do not suggest a strong connection between the enacted self-study process and an emerging critical consciousness in teachers. However an examination of a teacher's life circumstances and prior experience is believed to provide insights that may inform future research on identity development, teacher development and change agency.

The cry continues with A Nation at Risk, No Child Left Behind, and now the Common Core State Standards. There are groups of students who are finding success within public education and groups who are not. The groups who are not finding this success continue to be minority students who continue to run into the public education system rather than running with it. African American males seem to experience running into the system at greater number than other racial and gender groups. However, there are African American males that are finding success in public education. This study looks at the schooling and educational perspectives of twenty-four African American male K-12 public education students. Using grades and standardized assessments as a criterion, fifteen of the students were considered academically successful and nine were not. Twenty-two of the males were 18 years of age and two were 12 years old. Nineteen participants were high school seniors, one was a sophomore, and two were in middle school. Looking through the lenses of Critical Race Theory and Resiliency Theory using qualitative inquiry and data derived from interviews, data was collected to determine what contributed to the success of some participants. First both successful and non-successful groups were able to speak about having goals for the future and the importance of working hard in school. Secondly, relationships were also seen as essential to academic success, whether these relationships were with parents, teachers, or mentors for academic success to occur. Racial stereotypes were seen as something to overcome by the academically success. Race was viewed as a road block difficult to overcome by less successful participants. Having a father and mother or frequent access to more than one caring adult increased an African American male’s ability to be academically successful. Even having two parents that may not have been supportive of the African American male appeared to be more beneficial than having supportive friends.

Recommendations to help African American males to be academically successful include starting early with relationship support and mentoring, life skills courses, and increased interaction with successful African American males.

This research tells a story about how students form communities of practice that help them succeed in graduate school. Told within the context of individual and collective experiences, it holds valuable lessons for how student success can be supported across the higher education landscape. Communities of practice can develop spontaneously when individuals involved in a common activity or with a sense of shared identity come together to deal with organizational complexities or establish a forum for continued learning. The practice of becoming an accomplished and successful student who is able to develop scholarly abilities and deepen disciplinary understanding, experience personal growth and achievement, while at the same time maintaining a healthy school-work-life balance is a non-trivial exercise. Membership in a community of practice can help students achieve success as part of the process of navigating this complex journey. Generously informed by the experiences of Prescott College sustainability education doctoral students, this research used survey responses, anecdote circles, interviews, and grounded theory methods to determine how communities of practice develop among graduate students in support of their success. This presentation asks and answers questions about what communities of practice are, how and why they develop, and what value they can bring to higher education.

Keywords: student success, community of practice, graduate education, sustainability education, sustainable education, higher education

The purpose of the exploratory research study was to identify the practices that school principals in the state of Pennsylvania utilize to best support students, parents and school personnel before and during the transition to a middle level school. Research questions were designed to assist in determining what transitional practices schools are using, which practices principals’ rate most successful, to what extent transition program activities are aligned to the developmental needs (physical, cognitive, social-emotional) of young adolescents, how transitional practices compare between middle level schools that have and have not been identified nationally as a School to Watch and how practices vary by the grade configuration of middle level schools.

Quantitative and comparative coding qualitative analysis was used in the study and results indicated that transitional practice usage is valued by principals, yet implementation of transitional practices varies among schools. Time was reported as the most significant barrier to implementing transitional practices. The majority of practices used by schools are with students, yet practices lack in addressing students’ social-emotional needs. Practices aligned to cognitive needs of young adolescents are used more frequently and ranked most successful by principals. Principals indicated self-reported success and that the most common practice used with students prior to transition is an orientation day to the middle school and having an assembly about building rules, procedures and information is most successful and common during transition. Regardless of grade configuration, transitional practices used with school personnel remain the least frequently implemented by schools. Furthermore, student practices aligned to the physical developmental needs of young adolescents are more frequently implemented by schools that have been designated a School to Watch.

I used a web-based survey to gather data to examine the extent to which the transitional practices were implemented in schools. A sample of 96 middle level principals in Pennsylvania responded to the survey. Results from the study support the use of transitional practices with students and parents and educating staff about transition to build a stronger school community and foundation of educational excellence. Implications for professional development and future research are offered.

One of the primary the missions of colleges and universities is dedicated to student success. Traditionally, helping academically probationary students has been challenging for all educational institutions, because there are a multitude of factors involved for the schools and the students including, for example, demographics, socioeconomic issues, student motivation, and student time-management skills. The complexity introduced by these various factors creates obstacles in developing effective programs to aid and assist these students. At the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), there exists a course entitled Insights on Success that is designed as an intervention step to improve individual academic performance through self-discovery. The Insights on Success curriculum also works with students on several of the factors that are found in the current literature discussing academically probationary students and examining the factors that contribute to their poor performance, but this study focuses on the effectiveness of the Insights on Success course, itself. Effectiveness of the course for this study was determined by the improvement of the GPA scores of the probationary students who attended the class versus a control group of students who did not attend the class.

This research study evaluates the effectiveness of the Insights on Success course on the academic performance of probationary students attending baccalaureate degree programs within RIT's College of Applied Science & Technology. This study presents the research design, discusses strategies for engaging the students, and explains the metrics that were assessed to determine the success or failure of the intervention.

Knowing how to promote the literacy success of all students can be elusive to those aspiring to be school leaders and/or principals. The purpose of this study was to identify the perceived instructional leadership behaviors of principals in schools that experience success in reading on standardized tests. The researcher studied these behaviors by examining school principals’ instructional leadership as identified by the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders and the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale. Student reading proficiency was measured using the ACT Aspire proficiency rating score.

Perceptions of principals were gathered from nine principals and 109 teachers in elementary schools in a district in the southeastern region of the United States. The study was a non-experimental, descriptive, mixed methods research design to identify principals’ leadership behaviors and to determine whether there was a relationship between leadership behavior and student reading proficiency.

A strong positive correlation was found between principal instructional leadership and reading performance on the ACT Aspire, r = 0.722, p = 0.018. Principals substantiated these findings with responses to interview questions that aligned to the leadership dimensions examined in the study. Their responses revealed that they implement research-based instructional leadership strategies on a regular basis. Findings also provide confirmation of the widely held assumption that principals are the “difference-makers” in reading achievement in their schools. Further, the findings from this study add to the literature by linking instructional leadership behaviors to student reading achievement. The researcher presents an implementation plan to provide principals with training on the instructional leadership behaviors needed to positively impact student reading achievement. The implementation plan may be customized to meet the needs of any organization.

California community colleges are under pressure to increase core student attainment outcomes such as graduation rates, transfer rates, and certificate completion rates. This study examined whether, or how, the allocation of institutional expenditures for instructional, student support, administrative, and total educational and general activities influenced the student success outcomes and indicators of student progress and attainment rate (SPAR), percentage of students who earned at least 30 units (thirty-unit completion), and persistence rate (persistence) at California's community college districts.

This quantitative, explanatory, non-experimental study employed Astin's I-E-O model (Astin, 1977, 1993) as a conceptual framework, and examined through bivariate analyses, the relationships between (a) two input variables of socioeconomic status (SES) and district type (multi-college or single college); (b) eight mediating variables of various institutional expenditure categories and ratio metrics; and (c) three student success related outcome variables of SPAR, thirty-unit completion, and persistence. By understanding these relationships more completely, policymakers, practitioners, and researchers may be better able to develop strategies to improve student success outcomes within available financial resources, whether funding levels are decreasing, static, or growing.

The key findings revolved around SES being the dominant influencing factor in the attainment of each student success outcome of interest. Further, the relative level of SES seemed to drive the volume, cost, and distribution of programs and services from a district's finite budget, as low SES districts spent comparatively more than high SES districts on administrative functions and student support activities, and spent comparatively less on direct classroom instruction. Meanwhile, high SES districts did the inverse and spent comparatively less than low SES districts on administrative functions and student support activities and spent comparatively more on direct classroom instruction. Finally, institutional resource allocations of major topline expenditure measures for administrative, student support, and instructional were significantly different for low SES and high SES districts. Yet, because of the significant impact of SES on the outcomes, the differences did not make clear whether, or to what degree, the expenditure allocations for administrative, student support, and instructional activities directly influenced SPAR, thirty-unit completion, or persistence.

This study examined students with learning disabilities’ use of academic consultation, a specific academic support, during the first year of college and the relation it had to completing the undergraduate degree. Forty-one participants were recruited via e-mail, telephone, and social media in order to request their consent to have the researcher access their academic and support services records. Results indicate that the number of academic consultant meetings attended during the first year of college did not have a significant impact on overall GPA or GPA at the end of the third semester. Those who used test accommodations during their first year were more likely to graduate in four years than those students who did not use their test accommodations during the first year. The findings suggest incoming first year students with learning disabilities should be aware of the importance of seeking out and registering with the disability office on campus in order to arrange for their test accommodations.

Our nation faces a daunting challenge in assuring that we have a sufficient supply of well-educated, well-prepared teachers for our children. There presently exist several quality teacher preservice programs, nationally and internationally. Unfortunately, each institution varies greatly in its content and emphasis.

This research project examines a related, but often neglected, aspect of teacher success in the classroom: Are new teachers being given the content and experience that they need and desire? The results of qualitative anecdotal research find the answer to be an emphatic “no.” This project examines this question through a holistic approach that looks at teacher preparation through a variety of related topics. A few of these include credentialing and licensing practices, retention of teachers, teacher training programs, importance of teachers, and current challenges, to name a few.

The fact is that the success of our students is ultimately affected by the quality of the teachers that enter the classroom. It’s the purpose of this study to raise the question of what our new teachers feel they need to be successful and whether or not those needs are being fulfilled.