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open access

Impact of School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention Supports for African American Males in American Public Schools

Description: Research has shown that African American males are performing poorly in American public schools and are disciplined at a higher rate than other ethnic and gender groups. Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) has a long history of success with individual students and more recently in school-wide settings. School-wide PBIS offers schools the ability to tailor their rules, rewards, and consequences to the specific needs and culture of a school. This descriptive and quantitative study s… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Luttrull, Pamelia D.
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
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Transition Experience of Second Career Respiratory Faculty: a Phenomenological Study

Description: This phenomenological study investigated the transition experiences of clinical respiratory therapists who pursued second careers as respiratory faculty. Situated Learning Theory and Workplace Learning Theory were the frameworks for interviews with 11 second career respiratory faculty who had taught fewer than five years in baccalaureate degree programs. The goal of this study was to identify the major themes of their experiences. Thematic analysis revealed five common experiences: under-pre… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Gresham, Jennifer L.
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.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Workplace Supportiveness, Family Obligations, and Advancement for Caucasian Male Student Affairs’ Middle Managers

Description: In higher education, the field of student affairs, as demonstrated in previous research, suffers from high turnover, and often, the choice to leave the student affairs field seems to coincide with starting a family and simultaneously taking care of elder family members. Previous research has demonstrated that care-giving commitments hinder women in the advancement of their career and given the changing culture of shared care-giving responsibilities, the previous findings may now be true for men… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Smethers, Misty L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Student Involvement and Self-authorship Among African American Undergraduate Students at a STEM-focused University

Description: The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the association between student involvement and self-authorship among African American undergraduate students enrolled at a medium-sized, North Texas STEM-focused university. Self-identified African American undergraduate students at the university completed an online, researcher-developed survey focused on co-curricular involvement activities, degree of involvement in those activities, and perceived self-authorship indicators. From the comp… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: McNulty McCoy, Netreia Z.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

College and Career Readiness: Psychosocial Predictors of Achievement and Persistence

Description: Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if traditional indicators of college readiness were better predictors of students’ first semester college GPA and persistence to the second year of coursework compared to non-traditional indicators of college readiness. Specifically, this study analyzed the predictive validity of high school class rank and ACT/SAT scores compared to that of the psychosocial skills measured by the ACT Engage on students’ first semester college GPA and their lik… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Hicks, David
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.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Academic Self-efficacy of Adult First-generation Students Enrolled in Online Undergraduate Courses

Description: This study examined differences between adult first-generation (AFG) and adult-continuing generation (ACG) students’ academic self-efficacy with regard to the online courses in which they were currently enrolled. The study used an online survey methodology to collect self-reported quantitative data from 1,768 undergraduate students enrolled in an online course at a mid-sized, four-year public university in the southwestern United States; 325 cases were usable for the study. The t-tests revealed… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Jackson, Delores
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

A Legal Analysis of Litigation Against Georgia Educators and School Districts Under the Georgia Governmental Tort Claims Act

Description: This dissertation examines the impact of the 1992 Georgia Tort Claims Act on educators in court decisions involving liability cases against Georgia school districts and/ or their respective employees. By examining pertinent court cases in which Georgia educators were, for the first time, subjected to potential litigation, the researcher outlines circumstances in which educators can and should be held liable for their actions. Additionally, the researcher analyzes the Tort Claims Acts of Texas, … more
Date: December 2014
Creator: McDaniel, Rick R.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Relationship Between Registration Time and Major Status and Academic Performance and Retention of First-time-in-college Undergraduate Students at a Four-year, Public University

Description: This quantitative study utilized secondary data from one large four-year, state university in the southwestern US. The relationship between registration time and academic performance was examined as well as the relationship between registration time and retention of first-time-in-college (FTIC) undergraduate students during their first semester of enrollment at the university. The differences between decided and undecided students were tested regarding students’ academic performance and retent… more
Date: August 2014
Creator: Smith, Marian Ford
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Declining Participation in Fraternity and Sorority Life: a Comparison of Perceptions of Greek-lettered Organizations Between Affiliated and Non-affiliated Students

Description: This quantitative study was used to determine the perceptions that may have caused a decline in membership in fraternities and sororities and to examine active organization involvement between affiliated and unaffiliated students at a single higher education institution in northeast Texas. Eight perceptions were given regarding fraternity and sorority life and why students chose to remain unaffiliated with fraternities or sororities. The instrument used was a modified version of the Extracurri… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Shirley, Zachary E.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Community College Student Success in Developmental Mathematics Courses: a Comparison of Four Instructional Methods

Description: The student success rates for three developmental mathematics courses (prealgebra, elementary algebra, and intermediate algebra) taught through four instructional methods (lecture, personalized system of instruction [PSI], hybrid, and online) were examined. The sample consisted of 9,211 students enrolled in a large Texas community college from fall 2009 through spring 2011. Student success was defined as a grade of C or better. Chi-square tests were used to compare the three developmental ma… more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Keller, Judith
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

The Success Factors of African American Males in Master of Arts Teaching Programs

Description: The problem of not enough African American males enrolling in masters level teaching programs was addressed in this study. This phenomenological study examined the experiences of African American males in master of arts teaching (MAT) programs to understand why they enrolled and what factors led to persistence throughout their program enrollment. Six African American males currently enrolled in MAT programs in the southern, southwestern, and western regions of the United States participated. … more
Date: May 2014
Creator: Smith, Dantrayl
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-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

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.
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
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

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
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

In-service Teacher Perception of Feedback From Formative Evaluation Within the Teacher Appraisal Process and Its Relationship to Teacher Self-efficacy

Description: The purpose of the study is to describe the current status of and the relationships between teacher self-efficacy and in-service teachers’ perceptions and/or attitudes of (a) the quantity and quality of feedback from formative evaluation, (b) toward feedback from formative evaluation, and (c) the impact of feedback from formative evaluation on teacher self-efficacy. In addition to calculating correlation coefficients, 6 teachers were interviewed – 2 each from high, medium, and low efficacy scho… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Curran, Chaney L.
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

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
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

[Commencement Program for University of North Texas, May 9 -10, 2014]

Description: Commencement program for the spring 2014 graduating class of the University of North Texas, held in the UNT Coliseum on Friday, May 09, 2014 and Saturday, May 10, 2014. The program contains the order of service and a list of graduates for both masters and doctoral degrees.
Date: 2014-05-09/2014-05-10
Creator: University of North Texas
Partner: UNT Libraries Special Collections
open access

Evaluation Practices of Community College Faculty Development Programs

Description: The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the current state of community college faculty development program evaluation and identify possible influences on evaluation practices. Data from 184 survey responses and the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) were analyzed to answer three research questions. Multiple regression was used to determine if a relationship existed between the dependent/outcome variable (evaluation utilization score) and the independent/predi… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Bunyard, Magen Lynn
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-
Partner: UNT Libraries
open access

Analysis of Texas Education Agency Commissioner of Education Decisions Regarding Superintendent, Associate Superintendent, School Administrator, Athletic Director and Central Office Administrator Term Contract Nonrenewal Appeals From 1983 to 2013

Description: I conducted a legal analysis of decisions by Texas Commissioners of Education in appeals by Texas school administrators from nonrenewal decisions made by Texas school districts from 1983 to 2013. I analyzed the findings of fact and conclusions of law described in the commissioners’ rulings to determine the legal basis of school districts’ decisions to nonrenew school administrators’ term employment contracts. I also examined the legal rationale for commissioners’ rulings and determined which pa… more
Date: December 2014
Creator: Ramirez, Carlos
Partner: UNT Libraries
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