UNT Theses and Dissertations - 32 Matching Results

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Accomplished Teachers' Instructional Decisions About Shakespeare

Description: Teachers' decisions are a powerful influence on student learning and it is important to fully document accomplished teachers' instructional decisions, as well as to investigate possible influences on those decisions. Shakespearean dramas are central to high school curricula across the U.S. and pose particular instructional challenges, therefore teachers' decisions about teaching these texts are of particular interest. There is limited empirical research, however, about these instructional decis… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Parris, Sheri Rene’
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Accreditation Facilitation Projects: Supporting High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care

Description: High-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) are linked to positive developmental outcomes for children. Systems have been created to define, measure and promote high-quality ECEC. National accreditation status is deemed the gold standard of a high-quality program, yet many centers are unable to achieve this without assistance. With the help of Accreditation Facilitation Projects (AFPs), many low-income centers are able to achieve accreditation. Centers collaborating with an AFP r… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Reinke, Stephanie L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Beliefs and Expectations of Effective Secondary Choral Teachers in Culturally Diverse Schools

Description: Through the years, educational theorists and researchers have been interested in a possible relationship between teachers' effectiveness and their beliefs and expectations. Three concepts underpinned this work: teacher effectiveness, cultural diversity, and teachers' beliefs and expectations. The premise of the study was that the beliefs and expectations of effective secondary choral teachers are related to the social-cultural contexts in which they teach. The study implemented critical discour… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Spradley, Mackie V.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Disney Influence on Kindergarten Girls' Body Image

Description: Media is now a part of the early childhood world. In many countries, including industrialized and developing countries, children spend more time consuming various kinds of media. The impact of media on children's perception of their body images has been and continues to be a concern of parents and early childhood professionals. This research examined the influence of Disney movies on Thai kindergarten girls' body images and self-esteem. Thai kindergarten girls completed three measures of body s… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Asawarachan, Tanawan
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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An Examination of How 4-8 Preservice Teachers Understand and Implement Multicultural Concepts

Description: Preparing teachers to teach in the diverse classroom has become one of the most important goals for universities and teacher training programs. The main purposes of this study included to examine what type of multicultural concepts were taught preservice teachers who sought certification in Grades 4-8 and how these preservice teachers understood and implemented multicultural concepts in their educational portfolios and coursework, field experiences, and student teaching. The population of the … more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Schellen, Julie K.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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First Amendment Constraints of Public School Administrators to Regulate Off-campus Students' Speech in the Technology Age

Description: In a world where students and teachers both rely on technology in the process of education, understanding the constraints of public school administrators to regulate off-campus student's speech is a vital issue. This dissertation focuses on ways to evaluate legal analysis of cases involved in off campus speech. The methodology of legal analysis is used to identify judicial reasoning concerning established legal principles pertaining to the constitutional right of public school students to freed… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Shahzad, Erum H.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Home Literacy Practices in Diverse Families: Parental Involvement in Kindergarten Children's Literacy Development

Description: Although prior research has shown that parental involvement positively affects a child's literacy development, attention should also be directed to the factors that keep parents from being involved in their children's education. The study reported in this dissertation examined five factors: socioeconomic status, level of education, employment, culture, and language that may be influential in parental assistance of their children's literacy development in the home. The data sources for this inve… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Gonzalez, Lauren
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Impact of a Community College Teacher Education Program on the Success Rate of Minority Teacher Certification Students

Description: The relationship between the mission of community colleges and the increasing teacher shortage has become more transparent as many community colleges have implemented teacher education programs to address community needs, the shortage of qualified teachers, and the lack of diversity among teachers. As the community college's teacher education role has increased, many community colleges have responded by adding associate of arts degrees and certificate programs specific to teacher education to … more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Perkins, Britine Lynee
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A Legal Analysis of Litigation Against Mississippi Educators and School Systems Under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act

Description: This dissertation analyzes court cases involving tort claims filed against Mississippi public schools and their employees under the Mississippi Tort Claims Act. The question addressed was: How have the Mississippi courts interpreted the Mississippi Tort Claims Act in litigation against Mississippi school districts and their employees? The intent of this dissertation is to add to the understanding of the legal concept of sovereign immunity as it has been applied to public schools and their emplo… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Kriesel-Hall, Sara B.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Parallels Between the Gaming Experience and Rosenblatt's Reader Response Theory

Description: The world of literacy has expanded alongside technology, and new literacies are being used as an alternative or an addition to traditional text. By including video gaming as literacy, the connection can be made between students' multimodal world outside of school with the world of literacy they encounter in school. This study took two approaches of a content study and a case study. A collective case study was used to examine the gaming experience of participants with three commercial video ga… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Sanders, April
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Politics of Grading: a Comparative Study of High School English Teachers' Personal Beliefs, Self-reported Systems, and Actual Practices

Description: The purpose of this study was to attain and analyze data regarding high school English teachers' beliefs about grading practices and their self-reported grading practices, to identify and understand disparities that exist between teachers' beliefs and self-reported practices, to identify discrepancies between the same self-reported practices and evidence of the practices actually utilized, and to consider teachers' perceptions as to the causes for these discrepancies. Instrumentation for this s… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Thibodeaux, Lisa M.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Prek-6 Teachers' Beliefs About Inclusive Practices in the United States and South Korea: Cross Cultural Perspectives

Description: The educational practice known as inclusion, which is based on values of equal opportunity and diversity, enables students with disabilities to attend the same general education classes as typically developing peers. Inclusion is a legal requirement in the United States and South Korea, but factors facilitating inclusion likely differ across countries. The purpose of the study was to examine PreK-6 school teachers' beliefs about inclusive practices in the United States and South Korea and to p… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Jeong, Hyunjeong
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Secondary Teachers’ Concerns about Response to Intervention: Using the Concerns-Based Adoption Model

Description: This case study addressed the problem of implementing response to intervention (RTI) in general secondary education. To investigate this problem, one north Texas school's RTI implementation was examined using the theoretical framework of the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) and defining RTI as the innovation. RTI-related practices were studied for 10 secondary teachers, two from each core subject (i.e., mathematics, English language arts, science, and social studies) and the fine arts who… more
Date: May 2013
Creator: Isbell, Laura J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Accountability in Schools: a Study of High School Accountability Ratings and College Success

Description: The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between high school campus accountability ratings, college readiness indicators, and the percent of students who achieved first year college success. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the relationship between the variables. Data was analyzed for two-year and four-year postsecondary educational institutions which were divided by eight school district types. Regression analysis of the relationship between … more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Orsborn, Shannon
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Central Office Administrators' Perceptions of the Professional Learning Community Process

Description: This study provides a qualitative interpretation of the work done by central office administrators in a school district in Texas as they supported and built capacity for the professional learning community (PLC) process over a five year time period. Literature by PLC scholars, especially R. DuFour, R.B. DuFour, Eaker, Hord, Hipp, Huffman, and Olivier, informed development of the study. In a school district of 19,000 students and 2,000 staff members, ten central office administrators were interv… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Pruitt, Mary E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Effects of the Texas Reading First Response to Intervention Program on Student Achievement and Campus Special Education Rates

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine special education populations, special education reading achievement, and regular education reading achievement in relation to the implementation of the Reading First three-tiered model as a response to Intervention platform. The population for this study focused on rural schools with Grades K-3 in attendance. Schools participated in the reading first grant period of the 2003-2009 school years. Forty-seven Texas Reading First schools were compared to 47 … more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Batts, Troy D.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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An Exploration of Teachers' Adoption of the Bring Your Own Technology Program

Description: The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' concerns, use, and actual practices in their adoption of the bring your own technology (BYOT) initiative. Twelve secondary teachers in a private school setting participated in this study. The participants represented all content areas including reading, math, science, and electives. The private school was in its third year of implementing BYOT. This case study incorporated multiple methods to collect data to gain a better understanding of t… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Cardoza, Yanet
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Factors Related to Teacher Retention: the Lived Experiences of Four Teachers in an Urban, Hard-to-staff High School

Description: Retaining quality teachers is critical to the success of America's schools. How to retain quality teachers, especially in high needs schools, is a question of fervent debate among educational researchers, policy makers, administrators, parents, and students. This study examines the issue of teacher retention from an emic perspective, focused on understanding the perspective of those closest to the retention decision, teachers in hard-to-staff schools. This study examines the lived experiences … more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Julian, Chris
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Hispanic Representation in the Superintendency: Perceived Competencies and Organizational Outcomes That Benefit School Districts

Description: This study assessed 40 factors often cited in literature to determine the extent that Hispanic superintendents perceive them as influential when accessing the superintendency. Eight Hispanic superintendents in Texas participated in this qualitative study, which was based on interviews as well as written responses to a survey. This study found that the factors considered most influential to these superintendents were their ability to communicate, self-perception/self-efficacy, and level of over… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Medina, Fernando
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Impact of Professional Development on Student Achievement As Measured by Math and Science Curriculum-based Assessments

Description: The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of teacher professional development on student achievement measured by scores on curriculum-based assessments, CBAs. The participants in the study included 260 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade math and science teachers. Teacher participation in professional development courses was collected for curriculum, instruction, differentiation, assessment, technology integration, and continuous improvement credit types. Achievement data for 8,454 students was u… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Parish, Deidre A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Impact of Standards-based Report Cards on Reading Development of Primary Grade Students

Description: The purpose of this mixed-method study was to explore the instructional changes in first grade classrooms and reading progress of first grade students in relation to implementation of standards-based report cards (SBRC). The goal of this study, conducted in a suburban Texas school district, was to determine whether there was a statistically significant difference in reading progress between students enrolled in first grade classrooms in which traditional report cards were used in comparison to… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Newell, Suzanne Payne
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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An Investigation Into the Relationships Between the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge of University Teacher Education Faculty and Their Age, Rank, and Gender

Description: The purpose of this study was to determine what relationships exist between the age, rank, and gender of university faculty in teacher education and their technological pedagogical content knowledge. The survey instrument used was the Survey of Teacher Educators’ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) which is an adaptation of the Survey of Preservice Teachers’ Knowledge of Teaching and Technology developed by Schmidt. A total of 347 public Texas university teacher education facult… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Hamilton, Christina
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Technology-enhanced Classroom Environments and English Language Acquisition Among Native Spanish-speaking, English Language Learners in the Preschool and Elementary Classroom

Description: This qualitative study addressed the question: What are the perceptions of preschool and elementary bilingual and ESL teachers on how technology-enhanced classroom environments support native Spanish-speaking English language learners in the acquisition of English as a second language? With the support of six school districts representing three different regions and 15 schools in Texas, this research investigated technology-enhanced learning environments and the influence of emerging technologi… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Miller, Gary
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The Use of Visual-performance Feedback and Its Effect on Behavior-specific Positive Praise in a Self-contained Behavior Classroom

Description: The present study aimed to understand the relationship between the use of visual-performance feedback and its effects on behavior-specific positive praise in classrooms for students who exhibit behavioral challenges. The current study included 15 children being served by four teachers in elementary self-contained behavior classrooms. Data collection and instrumentation included (a) a pre-service training for all four teachers, (b) two weeks of baseline data on behavior-specific positive praise,… more
Date: August 2013
Creator: Gibbins, Matthew
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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