UNT Theses and Dissertations - 29 Matching Results

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The Efficacy of the Chickasaw Nation Early Care and Education Programs

Description: The purposes of this research were to explore the effectiveness of the Chickasaw Nation early care and education program in promoting school readiness while infusing tribally relevant values in children from birth through age five; engaging parents in all aspects of their children’s learning; and supporting children and families through the transitioning to kindergarten. The study used qualitative methods to examine the experiences and perceptions of ten parents, ten teachers, and five adminis… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Blackmon, Lisa
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Examining the Relationship Between Persistence in Attendance in an Afterschool Program and an Early Warning Index for Dropout

Description: School districts constantly struggle to find solutions to address the high school dropout problem. Literature supports the need to identify and intervene with these students earlier and in more systemic ways. The purpose of this study was to conduct a longitudinal examination of the relationship between sustained afterschool participation and the host district’s early warning index (EWI) associated with school dropout. Data included 65,341 students participating in an urban school district’s… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: King, Teresa C.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Experiences and Perceptions of Students in Music and Mathematics

Description: Since the time of Pythagoras, philosophers, educators, and researchers have theorized that connections exist between music and mathematics. While there is little doubt that engaging in musical or mathematical activities stimulates brain activity at high levels and that increased student involvement fosters a greater learning environment, several questions remain to determine if musical stimulation actually improves mathematic performance. This study took a qualitative approach that allowed 24 h… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Cranmore, Jeff L.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Impact of Target Revenue Funding on Public School Districts in North Texas

Description: A pre–post case study was conducted to examine how target revenue funding from Texas House Bill 1 (2006) has impacted the school districts within the Texas Education Service Center Region X area. Forced by the courts, the Texas Legislature was required to fix the Texas school finance system because of a de facto statewide property tax it had created by capping school district’s maintenance & operations tax rate at $1.50. Texas Governor Rick Perry used this opportunity to reduce school distric… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Womack, Dennis E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Impact of Teacher Quality on Reading Achievement of Fourth Grade Students: an Analysis of the 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (Naep)

Description: This study investigated the effects of teacher background variables on fourth grade reading achievement data collected from the 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) using a causal-comparative research design. Teacher quality variables related to teacher credentials, instructional methods, training, and support were selected from the NAEP background questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were used to examine teacher background inf… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Curry, Daphney Leann
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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The (Mis)representation of the Middle East and Its People in K-8 Social Studies Textbooks: A Postcolonial Analysis

Description: Critical examinations of cultural groups and the ways in which they are presented in schools are missing from current elementary and middle school curricula. Issues of this nature often fall under the umbrella of “multicultural education” or “cultural pedagogy,” but this rhetoric is dismissive in nature. Constructing the non-Western child as “culturally deprived,” “culturally disadvantaged,” or “at-risk” perpetuates an “us/colonizer” versus “them/colonized” mentality. The purpose of this stu… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Salman, Rania Camille
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Moral Disengagement: an Exploratory Study of Predictive Factors for Digital Aggression and Cyberbullying

Description: A cross-sectional quantitative causal research design was employed to explore the relationship between adolescent digital aggression, cyberbully behavior and moral disengagement. A survey was created and electronically administered to 1077 high school students in Grades 9-12 in a selected school district in Texas. High school students were chosen because research has shown a decrease in traditional bullying and an increase of digital aggression and cyberbullying at this developmental level. A… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: George, R. Jefferson
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Parental Perceptions of Marketing to Young Children: a Feminist Poststructural Perspective

Description: This study examined parental perceptions of marketing to young children using a feminist post-structural theoretical framework to specifically examine the following questions, 1) To what extent are parents aware of the marketing tactics being directed toward young children? 2) How do power/knowledge relations and practices produce parent’s multiple subjectivities as they parent their children in regards to commercial culture? 3) How can early childhood educators adapt pedagogy and practice in … more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Wolff, Kenya E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Preschool Teachers’ Constructions of Early Reading

Description: Much of the current discourse surrounding the practice of early reading has emerged from policies that dictate the definition and means by which reading is taught and by which reading success is measured. Although this discourse directly influences the work of preschool teachers, little is known about what preschool teachers think about early reading and how they develop these understandings or constructions. Research concerning preschool teachers’ constructions is useful because of the potenti… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Walker, Karen Elledge
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Resource Allocation Efficiency at the Elementary and Middle School Levels in a Texas School District

Description: In recent years much attention has gone to school efficiency, as determined by assessing student achievement relative to expenditures at the school district level. The present study built on prior work in school efficiency with a focus on the school campus level instead of the district level. Included in the study were 28 elementary and middle school campuses in a selected school district in Texas. The approach taken in the investigation was data envelopment analysis (DEA), which provided sc… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Hamlin, Lance
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Texas Politics in Citizenship Education: a Critical Discourse Analysis of the Texas Government Curriculum

Description: This study used a critical discourse analysis (CDA) to examine the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for government. These are the learning standards that public schools are required to use as the curriculum in Texas. Additionally, the study critically examined the Texas State Board of Education meeting minutes from the spring of 2010, when the board revised all social studies TEKS. James Gee’s framework for conducting CDA was used to analyze the government TEKS and meeting minutes to uncove… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Strunc, Abbie R.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Texas Principals’ Data Use: Its Relationship to Leadership Style and Student Achievement

Description: This study applies an empirical research method determine whether Texas public school principals’ leadership styles, coupled with their use of real time data in a data warehouse, influenced their leadership ability as measured by student achievement. In today’s world of data rich environments that require campuses and districts to make data-driven decisions, principals find themselves having to organize and categorize data to help their school boards, campuses, and citizenry make informed deci… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Bostic, Robert E.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Using Complexity Thinking to Build Adaptive Capacity in Schools: an Analysis of Organizational Change in California

Description: In response to reductionist neoliberal approaches to organizational change that have been prevalent in American education since the 1980s, some educators have begun to employ a whole-systems approach to improving student learning. These approaches, based in complexity sciences, recognize the nonlinear, unpredictable nature of learning and the interconnected relationships among myriad factors that influence the teaching/learning that occurs in schools. In the summer preceding the 2011-2012 sch… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Martin, Teddi Eberly
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A Vygotskian Analysis of Preservice Teachers’ Conceptions of Dissolving and Density

Description: The purpose of this study was to examine the content knowledge of 64 elementary preservice teachers for the concepts of dissolving and density. Vygotsky’s (1987) theory of concept development was used as a framework to categorize concepts and misconceptions resulting from evidences of preservice teacher knowledge including pre/post concept maps, writing artifacts, pre/post face-to-face interviews, examination results, and drawings. Statistical significances were found for pre- and post-concep… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Shaker elJishi, Ziad
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Beliefs of Mathematics Pre-service Teachers About Project-based Learning

Description: This study explored the beliefs of pre-service secondary mathematics teachers about project-based learning (PBL), as they encountered a project-based learning high school where they implemented a project-based unit of instruction. A qualitative study was conducted with one undergraduate cohort in a higher education science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) national initiative that has 40 U.S. replication sites. Using teaching philosophy statements and focus group discussions, t… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Watson, Cindy Gay
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Do Minutes Matter? Connecting Tardiness to Academic Achievement

Description: Within the scope of all that is expected to be accomplished in education, what difference does a tardy make? This study was designed to examine the significance of tardiness, as it relates to student achievement, as measured by the results of the state math test. It also investigated the generation of change by the campus administrator to improve punctuality, with a new method of enforcing the tardy policy with the use of an electronic data system. This study used archived data from the one h… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Taylor, Tresa S.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Does Technology = More Knowledgeable Other? an Investigation of the Effects of an Integrated Learning System on the Literacy Learning of Emergent Readers

Description: Professionals in education continue to explore technology as a way to instruct young students, and there is an accompanying belief that this technology can make an educational and academic difference. Despite the high percentage of young students in classrooms using technology, the impact of this technology on the early literacy skills of young children remains largely unknown. Guided by Vygotsky’s social learning theory, this study reports a 24-week investigation on whether regular use of Ista… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Putman, Rebecca S.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Effects of Board Training on the Relationship Between Board Members and CEOs

Description: The purpose of this study is to ascertain the opinions of chief executive officers (CEOs) and school board chairs of Texas private schools in educational service center (ESC) Regions 10 and 11 toward board training and the potential benefits for the success of their respective roles. Literature regarding private school board training is limited. As a result, most private school boards face challenges regarding school board training expectations, which could affect their roles and the roles of… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Riley, Beth A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Framing Bilingual Education Policy: Articulation and Implementation in Texas

Description: Language education policy and its implementation have been controversial and ongoing issues throughout the United States, especially in the border state of Texas, with its large population of students who are learning English. This dissertation reports two studies, the first of which was a frame analysis of problems and solutions as represented by the five bills amending the Texas Education Code with regard to bilingual education and English as a second language programs. These laws, passed in… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Dixon, Kathryn V.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Immunity for New Mexico Public School Districts and the 1978 Tort Claims Act

Description: In a 3-year timeframe, nearly 800 student negligence suits were filed, and most involved some claim of personal injury. Despite heightened public attention of negligence lawsuits against school districts and their employees, an empirical study of court decisions revealed that the volume of litigation against school districts remained steady from 1990 to 2005, the majority of cases were ruled in favor of the school district employees, and government and official immunity were most often the bas… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Herauf, Todd J.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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A Multiple Case Study of Two African American Female Administrators in High Achieving Elementary Schools

Description: African American female principals typically lead low socioeconomic elementary schools. Administrators in predominately urban schools are familiar with the needs of minority students. Although Title I funds are provided from the national government via local educational agencies (LEAs), this money is normally not enough to keep up with technology integration and programs of more affluent schools. Therefore, African American female administrators rely on culture to develop meaningful relationsh… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Taylor, LaBotta
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Relationships Between the TeacherInsight Score and Student Performance As Measured by Student TAKS Academic Change Scores

Description: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between TeacherInsight™ (TI) scores and student performance as measured by student academic change scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test. School district administrators, particularly district personnel administrators, are continually faced with the task of screening and hiring potential teacher applicants who are expected to influence student achievement outcomes directly. Efforts to make the screening,… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Stewart, Robert L. (Robert Lee), 1960-
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Responsibilities in Teaching Social Emotional Skills: a Case Study

Description: This study investigated the beliefs of teachers at a particular elementary campus in North Texas during its first year of implementation of a social emotional curriculum regarding teaching social emotional skills and the influence of those beliefs on their classroom practices. The study drew from the works of Dewey and Bandura in the development of a framework for teacher decision making. A case study design incorporating multiple cases within the case study utilized a mixed-methods approach fo… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Madueke, Nkechi A.
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Uncovering Gendered Teaching Practices in the Early Childhood Classroom

Description: For many early childhood teachers, interacting with children about issues concerning gender and sexuality is fraught with feelings of uneasiness and anxiety. For others, familiarity with research on these topics has resulted in rethinking their approaches to sex, gender, and sexuality in their early childhood classrooms. This inquiry examined the tensions associated with the researcher’s attempts to rethink gendered narratives and childhood sexuality in her own classroom. The study took plac… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Larremore, April, 1972-
Item Type: Refine your search to only Thesis or Dissertation
Partner: UNT Libraries
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