Teaching, Learning, Policy & Leadership Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2759
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Item Teachers of Color Return Home to Teach(2023) Bunney, Kanoe; Brown, Tara M.; Swalwell, Katy; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)While increases in the number of K-12 teachers of color has been linked to decreases in achievement disparities between White students and their Black and Latino counterparts, a demographic divide continues to persist between teachers and students. Teach for America has made efforts to match teacher and student backgrounds in hopes of alleviating these racial and ethnic disparities. Further, overall K-12 teacher staffing shortages have prompted alternative certification programs, such as TFA, to provide quick entry routes into the classroom. This dissertation focuses on the experiences of former TFA teachers of color who returned to their home communities as educators. Taking a narrative inquiry approach, this research utilizes the stories brought forth by participants as data sources. Participants shared stories of their K-12 student and teaching experiences in the same geographic location in which they grew up. Informed by theories related to teacher identity, racial literacy, social capital and culturally responsive teaching, this study aims to understand how teaching in one’s home community influences both teacher identity and teacher-student relationships. Three central findings emerged from the study: 1) participants drew upon assets based on cultural and neighborhood affiliations as they connected with students, 2) participants both cultivated and gained social capital in their work in the classroom and amongst faculty members, and 3) experiences away from home contributed to their racial literacy, their effectiveness as teachers, and their advocacy for students of color. These findings point to the relevance of centering both culturally responsive teaching and geographic location in urban teacher preparation programs. Pre-service teachers might benefit from volunteering in the community to better understand the students who attend neighborhood schools. Study implications also urge “Grow-Your-Own” teacher preparation programs to consider embedding a year of teaching and learning abroad for pre-service educators.Item Case Study of the Minority Scholars Program Through the Lens of Positive Youth Development and Sociopolitical Development(2023) Delavan, Debra; Hultgren, Francine; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purposes of this study were to examine the Minority Scholars Program (MSP) in light of the program goals and through the lens of two theories: positive youth development (PYD) and sociopolitical development (SPD). MSP focuses on youth of color in a large suburban district. It is a school-based, student-led program that seeks to elevate student voice, student leadership, and student activism in its efforts to close the opportunity gap and positively change school cultures so that success and achievement are no longer predictable by race and ethnicity and other demographic factors. This study employed explanatory case study methodology to (a) provide an in-depth description of the design and implementation of the program between July 2019 and March 2020; (b) examine MSP interns’ response to the program and their reasons for those responses; and (c) explore whether and how MSP fostered positive youth development and sociopolitical development. This study found that while students operated in the ongoing context of race-based barriers to their education, MSP programming provided opportunities for students to reflect on their experiences and develop and implement initiatives to address those barriers. These initiatives hinged largely around raising awareness and generally aligned with the program’s Five Keys of MSP: academic achievement, student voice, leadership development, enhancing cultural capital and sense of belonging, and community engagement. Furthermore, this study found that, on the whole, MSP interns’ response to the program included gains in their own individual development including knowledge, leadership skills, friendships and community building, confidence, and identity formation. Interns attributed the personal growth in these areas to (1) interactions and conversations with peers and adults; (2) instruction about topics related to the opportunity gap and leadership; (3) direct experience leading groups and facilitating conversations; (4) sharing a common purpose with peers; (5) having a safe space to be vulnerable and engagement in activism. In addition, the opportunity, support, and feedback from MSP participants by and large helped MSP interns develop their sense of agency and engage in civic activism primarily through raising awareness. This study suggests that the program’s theory of action and the findings from this study are not only basically consistent with the theories of PYD and SPD, but also, they potentially extend each theory. Recommendations are made for refining youth development theories and the theory of action of the program. For example, I suggest elevating the importance of contextual considerations in youth development and further examining PYD using the Freirean (2009) reflection -action cycle. While PYD would benefit from incorporating social analysis and contributions through civic actions engagement to disrupt barriers to youth education, SPD would benefit from attending to the personal elements of development that give youth the connections, skills, and confidence to carry out actions. My primary suggested revision to the MSP theory of action involved adding a new key of “raising critical consciousness” to the Five Keys of MSP. According to Watts and Hipolito-Delgado (2015), critical consciousness includes critical social analysis, or learning to think critically; collective identification; sense of agency including a sense of confidence and capability to make social change; and action in society. The study contributes to youth development literature through examining a youth development program with students of color and combining the two youth development theories of positive youth development and sociopolitical development.Item More Than Thoughts and Prayers: Social Justice Leadership Preparation(2021) Burris, Jennifer; Scribner, Campbell F; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)School administrators often lack the preparation to recognize and act against educational injustices. This qualitative case study examines how a graduate-level educational leadership course at a private Christian university serving primarily white in-service teachers attempted to prepare administrators to be social justice leaders. Through interviews, course observations, and document analysis, this case study explores administrators' preparation for reflection and action across multiple dimensions of inequity, including personal, interpersonal, communal, systemic, and ecological. Findings indicate that participants consistently reflected across all dimensions, yet these reflections centered on surface-level inequities often without a systemic analysis of power and oppression. Deficit views on historically marginalized populations dominated participant discourse and reflection. Instead of educators being asked to consider their own role in creating and sustaining inequities in their classroom, school, and society, the course focused more on individuals being “good people” and loving students. Throughout the course discussions, assignments, and presentations, participants separated their personal actions from broader systems of power. Additionally, in both design and practice, the course provided only limited opportunities to develop skills to identify, respond to, and redress asymmetric systems of power. When considering the causes of continued educational inequities, participants either failed to consider their role in the upholding or dismantling of oppression, or they took on the role of white saviors. Throughout the course, participants made tenuous assumptions about developing future administrators’ capacity for praxis, including participants’ prior knowledge level and the degree to which educational equity was covered in other classes in the program. These assumptions resulted in several deficit perspectives about marginalized communities and falsely implied that specific knowledge and skills are not required to be social justice leaders. Using a social justice leadership as praxis framework to more fully understand administrator preparation, this research has significant implications for preservice teacher and administrator courses that focus specifically on injustice in education, and for educational leadership programs more broadly.Item The Culture Beyond the Content: Does an “Overcoming Testimony” Empower Effective Urban Mathematics Teachers to Reach their Students?(2021) Smith, John Franklin; Wiseman, Donna L; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)“Do effective mathematics teachers with under-performing classes in urban settings possess cultural characteristics making them more effective than others?” This study evaluates the personal histories and beliefs of twelve qualifying middle school mathematics teachers to determine the role experiences and beliefs play in how teachers transform challenging classes into relatively high achievers. Effective is defined as recommended by their principals, coupled with demonstrated growth through public data of the state’s PARCC* assessment. Urban is defined as schools having close proximity to a major U.S. city, comprised of over 80% minority student populations and over 60% FARMS** recipients. Based on the literature and anecdotal evidence, a conceptual framework called the “overcoming testimony”- missionary zeal, community bonding, legacy, activist ideology and guardian angel - was designed to evaluate interview data. An interview protocol was administered and the interviews were videotaped and transcribed for further study. The impact of the teachers’ personal histories on their current practices was assessed using a coding system as the transcripts were evaluated. The results showed strong alignment with Fives and Buehl’s (2012) findings whereby beliefs “filter, frame and guide” decision-making. Beliefs and experiences filtered pedagogical choices and methods. The “overcoming testimony” elements framed their resiliency and commitment to their students’ welfare. Views on culture and content guided the teachers toward creating learning environments that promoted achievement. The data demonstrated an emerging community-bonding dynamic between African-American teachers and their Hispanic students. The results indicate effective teachers may succeed in part due to negative experiences they endured as students. I argue that based on the prevalence of beliefs and experiences evident in the interviews, these perspectives serve as a cultural lens enabling teachers to effectively engage grade-level mathematics students to demonstrate proficiency on state assessments. Without this lens, content mastery alone could be insufficient to the task.”*The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers **Free and Reduced MealsItem PLACE VALUE: A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF BEING A BLACK GIRL IN URBAN MATHEMATICS CLASSROOMS(2020) Fair, Camille; Clark, Lawrence M.; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This qualitative study documents and examines what it is like being in a Black girl body while learning math in urban schools. The ten participants in this study self- identified as Black and female, and they graduated from three high schools in an urban school district in the Northeast between 2017 and 2019. Despite demonstrating excellence in and out of school, participants’ stories were burdened by experiences of exclusion, marginalization and oppression in their K-12 math learning. Drawing on Critical Race Feminism (CRF), a framework used to theorize interlocking oppressional forces, I designed this qualitative study after conducting a pilot program to improve Black girls’ math experiences. Preliminary findings from the pilot study suggest that Black girls’ math experiences and performance outcomes are largely shaped by the extent to which they are given or denied social place and intellectual value in math classrooms. I appropriate the math concept of place value, and I use it as a metaphor in a framework I developed called Human Place Value. This study examines three questions to understand Black girls’ lived experiences in urban math classrooms: 1) How do Black girls face exclusion, marginalization, and other forms of oppression in math classes? 2) How do Black girls identify and recognize negative attitudes and beliefs about their identity in math classes? 3) How do Black girls respond to and navigate their experiences in math classes? I collected personal data about my participants through background questionnaires and one-on-one semi-structured interviews. I analyzed the data using tenets of CRF and classroom interaction frameworks to distill three themes across social place and intellectual value: visibility, positionality and knowledge production. Key findings from the study suggest that being in a Black girl body renders students particularly vulnerable to math marginalization in the form of hostility, maltreatment and instructional neglect. The data collected from the ten participants tell a collective story that warrant consideration for the role Human Place Value plays in teaching and learning that yields disparate mathematical outcomes. This study concludes with a presentation of counternarratives from two participants and cross-case insights that detail implications for theory and practice.Item EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICES THAT ENGAGE THE AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE IN MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE(2018) Elam-Respass, Treesa; Fabian, Ellen; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Culturally-relevant instruction in middle school science engages and inspires the African American male to consider careers in science, technology, engineering, and/or mathematics (STEM). With the exponential value and growth of STEM career options, African American males benefit from the integration of and exposure to cultural language and customs within their science learning. The purpose of the study was to explore the instructional strategies teachers use in middle science classes to engage students, particularly African American males. The study pursued teachers’ perspectives about best instructional practices facilitated in middle school that primarily address culturally-relevant science content. Data for this study was collected and analyzed via responses from an online survey using Qualtrics. The results of the study confirm that the values and needs of African American males are marginally considered during middle school science instructional planning. The teachers report weekly student-teacher discussion techniques as the most commonly implemented practice for student engagement. Whereas, the survey participants also reported that the reading strategy was more infrequently implemented. With respect to the culturally relevant instruction, the survey participants postulate that the introduction of cultural elements proffer more interesting, valuable, and relatable lessons in middle school science. However, the teacher responses demonstrate minimal to no inclusion of culturally relevant instruction Lastly, teachers can benefit from learning about culturally relevant practices and the multicultural framework.Item CULTURAL BORDER CROSSING: THE INTERACTION BETWEEN FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIAN BELIEFS AND SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS(2017) Elimbi, Celestine Nakeli; Elby, Andrew; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Abstract Title of Document: CULTURAL BORDER CROSSING: THE INTERACTION BETWEEN FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIAN BELIEFS AND SCIENTIFIC EXPLANATIONS Celestine Nakeli Elimbi Doctor of Philosophy 2017 Directed By: Dr. Andrew Elby Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership The purpose of this study is to investigate the interaction between people’s fundamental Christian beliefs and scientific explanations. When people with fundamental Christian beliefs encounter scientific explanations, such explanations may interact with their deeply rooted beliefs in a way that is likely to produce tensions. It is expedient to understand the classroom/professional experiences of such individuals and how they manage these tensions. I will apply Jegede’s collateral learning theory as a lens to look at how individuals manage the tensions between their religious and scientific worldviews. Gaining insight into people’s experiences in the classroom/work place and how they manage these tensions will potentially inform classroom instruction and ways by which we can help students with fundamental Christian beliefs maintain their pursuit of science related careers by easing the nature of the borders they cross. Sources of data will include participant reported perspectives of how they manage the tensions and observations of real-time resolution of potentially conflicting explanations from their religious and scientific worldviews.Item KOREAN IMMIGRANT MOTHERS’ EDUCATIONAL BELIEFS AND PRACTICES: A TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE(2015) Kim, Ji Hyun; Wiseman, Donna L; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study analyzed the parental involvement experiences of four first-generation Korean immigrant mothers living in a Mid-Atlantic state to expand the research base and knowledge of traditional parental involvement paradigms. The study was guided by two overarching research questions: 1) How do four Korean immigrant mothers understand and perform their roles in the educational experiences of their children?; and 2) How do contexts (i.e. micro, meso, macro, and transnational) influence the mothers’ understandings and performance of their roles in the educational experiences of their children? Multiple concepts and frameworks related to parent involvement and immigrant experiences informed the conceptual framework of this study. They include the parent role construction of Hoover-Dempsey et al. (2005); the minority parent role construction of Auerbach (2007); Cultural Ecological Theory (Ogbu & Simons, 1998); and transnationalism (Itzigsohn & Giorguli-Saucedo, 2005; Portes, 2003). Despite a certain level of variability among the participants’ educational beliefs and practices, they commonly regarded private supplementary education (e.g. hagwon, or Korean style afterschool programs, and private tutoring) as an effective means to give a competitive edge to their children academically, which is largely practiced in Korea. Also, not all mothers placed priority on school-based involvement including school visits and Parent Teacher Association membership. The findings suggest that the mothers’ current perceptions, expectations, and behaviors related to their children’s education are influenced by their upbringing and educational experiences in Korea, continuing transnational interactions with people and culture in Korea, and their racial and ethnic minority status in the U.S. The findings also suggest that a traditional school-centered conceptualization of parent involvement may be limited in capturing immigrant parents’ strong commitment of their children’s education, which may not be congruent with conventional norms of school involvement. As U.S. federal government and local school districts continue to emphasize parents as partners in education, teachers and administrators will benefit from this analysis of one growing population which demonstrates high achievement in the school system. Furthermore, this research challenges and expands a stereotypical and monolithic understanding of Korean immigrants as “model minority” through a detailed case study of one group of mothers.Item Intergroup Dialogue and Religious Identity: Addressing Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in US Higher Education(2014) Edwards, Sachi Teresa; Lin, Jing; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Interfaith initiatives are increasingly prevalent on college and university campuses around the country. In large part, this trend responds both to ongoing religious violence throughout the world and to increasing religious tension in the United States. The goal of these interfaith initiatives is to increase awareness of different religious identities and to bolster interfaith collaboration. For this research, I analyze a campus-based, curricular interfaith dialogue program that utilizes the Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) pedagogy to increase student understanding of privilege, oppression, and social injustice pertaining to religious identity. This project represents one of the first known empirical studies of religion-themed IGD, as current literature predominately focuses on race and gender. Using qualitative research methods including participant-observation, in-depth interviews, informal interviews, and document analysis, I present a multiple case study of three undergraduate interfaith dialogue courses. Findings suggest that (a) religious minority students are easily marginalized in the IGD process; (b) Christian privilege is a difficult concept for both students and dialogue facilitators to comprehend, even for those who readily recognize other forms of privilege (i.e., White, male, heterosexual); and (c) religious identity is also a difficult concept for both students and dialogue facilitators to understand because they think of religion as a set of philosophical beliefs, rather than as a social identity deeply intertwined with one's culture. Implications for research and theory include (a) the need to further advance theoretical discourse related to Christian privilege and religious identity, (b) the importance of expanding educational initiatives seeking to promote awareness and understanding of these issues, and (c) the obligation for interfaith dialogue practitioners, faculty, and other higher education professionals to be more sensitive to the experiences of students with minority religious identities.Item Students as Investigators, Teachers as Researchers: Documenting a Critical History Pedagogy and its Impact on Diverse Learners in a Tenth-Grade World History Classroom(2014) Kelly, Timothy J.; Valli, Linda; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study documents a teacher's efforts to scaffold and support his students' investigations of modern world history and their interactions with the critical history pedagogy he implements in a diverse tenth-grade classroom. Using teacher research methods to generate descriptive quantitative and qualitative data, the study explores the role of the teacher, the students, and local contextual factors in the teaching and learning process. In particular, the teacher-researcher details his attempts to mediate the influences of curriculum and assessment measures in a high stakes accountability context, while equipping his students with powerful disciplinary tools aimed at deepening their understanding of the past and developing in them a capacity to shape those meanings. The data suggest that the teacher-researcher faced considerable challenges in implementing an inquiry-based approach to learning about the past. The breadth of the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL's) meant that in-depth learning centered on the analysis of conflicting sources and the interpretation of competing perspectives necessarily contended with coverage demands associated with SOL test preparation. These external constraints became background concerns when the teacher-researcher focused more on the internal knowledge-based constraints that were impeding student learning. In addition to the cultural, linguistic, and academic diversity of the learners in his classroom, the teacher was challenged by his students' lack of experience analyzing historical sources, exploring multiple perspectives, and writing evidence-based arguments. Study findings indicate that two main factors contributed to the growth of historical thinking and writing among study participants. First, the history domain's cognitive practices were progressively introduced and learning supports were designed to meet the range of aptitudes and skill levels present in this diverse public school setting. Although some students experienced more in the way of skill development than conceptual growth, evidence demonstrates that a range of students experienced progression. Second, the teacher-researcher learned to utilize traditional classroom structures in the context of open-ended inquiries and directed these practices toward more meaningful encounters with historical knowledge. Although elements of his instructional pedagogy seemed to align with more conventional practices, a disciplinary thread was woven throughout the fabric of the world history course.