Theses and Dissertations from UMD
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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
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Item AN INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF RESTORATIVE PRACTICES AMONG MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHERS AS A MEANS TO REDUCE DISPROPORTIONATE OFFICE DISCIPLINE REFERRALS FOR SUBJECTIVE OFFENSES FOR BLACK MALES IN MIDDLE SCHOOL(2022) Swift, Alice Lorraine; Anthony, Douglas; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In middle schools, Black males receive disproportionate numbers of office discipline referrals (ODRs) for the subjective offenses of disrespect, insubordination, and disruption. Black males are also more likely to receive excessively punitive and exclusionary school disciplinary action. Middle school teachers and administrators face many challenges as they are most often responsible for managing these subjective behaviors and for choosing disciplinary responses. Research indicates that implementing Restorative Practices in middle schools can decrease the number of subjective offenses and help to reduce the disproportion in ODRs. However, little research exists concerning the use of Restorative Practices within middle school settings across a district.This study evaluated Restorative Practices implementation in the classroom and school setting in one school district. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, the study examined the impact of the implementation of Restorative Practices on the number of and disproportion in ODRs for subjective offenses, and the selection by teachers and administrators of Restorative Practices as a first-choice option to address subjective offenses by 6th-8th grade Black and White males in two district middle schools. The study also examined teacher and administrator perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs regarding the district’s expectations for the implementation and use of Restorative Practices in schools. The analysis of the categories of disciplinary response options in unduplicated ODRs for the two middle schools showed a lack of similar response options for 6th-8th grade White and Black males and a lack of implementation of Restorative Practices in the schools. Furthermore, following the issuance of an ODR, the administrators’ decisions to impose out-of-school suspension only for Black males suggest both disparity by race and gender and a lack of equity in the decision process. The analysis of teacher and administrator perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs demonstrates support for Restorative Practices, but the analysis also shows limited implementation of Restorative Practices by teachers and administrators. This contradiction suggests the need for further research and evaluation of how schools implement Restorative Practices in order to increase teacher capacity and reduce the numbers of ODRs.Item AN EXAMINATION OF PATTERNS IN EDUCATOR’S DEMOGRAPHICS AND FACTORS IN THE DISCIPLINE DECISION- MAKING PROCESS THAT LEAD TO AN OFFICE DISCIPLINE REFERRAL(2022) McNeil, Brodell Jeremy; McLaughlin, Margaret J; Education Policy, and Leadership; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The likelihood of a student being issued an office discipline referral for subjective offenses increases when students enter middle school, particularly for minority students (Theriot and Dupper, 2015). The problem investigated for this dissertation was the disproportionality of office discipline referrals issued to Black males in 6th grade and the discipline decisions made by classroom teachers in a large, suburban school district. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore factors related to ODRs using existing system data followed by exploratory focus groups of selected sixth grade classroom teachers to better understand their decision-making processes for subjective behaviors identified as disrespect, disruption, or insubordination. Discipline data were collected from two middle schools designated as disproportionate by Maryland State Department of Education in Mid Atlantic Public School System and four focus groups comprised of 6th grade classroom teachers from the two identified schools. Findings from this study revealed that Black males in 6th grade received 59% of all subjective office discipline referrals issued to 6th grade students between 2016-2020 in both schools. Additionally, the study investigated classroom teachers’ perceptions of the discipline decision making process. All classroom teachers participating in focus groups reported that relationships are critical to improving discipline outcomes, the structures in schools to support discipline decisions must be uniform and consistently implemented, and that teachers must have opportunities to authentically improve their classroom management skills. This study affirms that Black males in 6th grade continue to experience subjective discipline at rates greater than their peers, how classroom teachers perceive student behaviors differs based on student race and gender, and how the discipline decisions made by classroom teachers relies on their perceptions of student behavior and what the teacher deems to be disrespect, disruption, or insubordination.Item Disproportionality, Discourse, and the Debate over Coal-Fired Power(2018) Galli Robertson, Anya M; Fisher, Dana R; Sociology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Following Freudenburg’s framework of the “double diversion,” this dissertation aims to understand environmental inequality as the product of two interrelated processes: (1) inequality in the generation of environmental harm, or “disproportionality,” and (2) inequality in the ability to shape discussions about environmental harm through discourse, or “privileged accounts.” I employ a mixed-methods approach in order to assess both disproportionality and discursive power in the debate over coal-fired power in the United States. First, I analyze emissions data at the facility and parent company levels to assess whether a minority of producers is disproportionately responsible for the majority of CO2 generated in the sector. Results indicate that inequality in the generation of emissions is more extreme at the parent company level than at the facility level, with only three companies responsible for the worst 25% of emissions in 2015. Second, I analyze qualitative data from in-depth interviews (n=209) with policy elites at the federal level and in the state of Ohio to identify the dominant narratives and discourse coalitions that shaped the debate over coal-fired power surrounding the 2016 election. I identify the “legitimating discourses” used in support of coal-fired power, then compare these “privileged accounts” to anti-coal counterframes. Discourse analysis findings illustrate how pro-coal interests shifted their discursive strategies to adapt to changing policy contexts, as well as the shortcomings of the anti-coal narratives that sought to shift the discourse toward environmental interests. Finally, to understand the connections between patterns of disproportionality, I explore how the “extreme emitters” identified in quantitative analysis appear within interview data. Together, these analyses illustrate the influence of privileged accounts over the debate, definition, and response to persistent environmental problems.Item PREDICTORS OF STUDENT REFERRALS TO PROBLEM-SOLVING TEAMS: CHILD STUDY TEAMS AND INSTRUCTIONAL CONSULTATION TEAMS(2015) Maslak, Kristi; Strein, William; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study identified predictors of elementary school student problem-solving team referrals from among a broad range of student and teacher measures, including student demographic characteristics, services received, academic achievement, behavior, and student-teacher relationship quality, as well as teacher demographic characteristics, education and experience, and beliefs and practices. The participant sample included first through fifth grade students (n = 13,025) and their classroom teachers (n = 570) within schools (n = 26) concurrently implementing two problem-solving team models that differed in theoretical framework, focus, and process: Child Study Teams (CS Teams: Moore, Fifield, Spira, & Scarlato, 1989) and Instructional Consultation Teams (IC Teams: Rosenfield & Gravois, 1996). Using multinomial hierarchical general linear modeling (HGLM) and the Hierarchical Linear Modeling program (HLM 7.01: Raudenbush et al., 2011), statistically significant effects were found for student sex; Hispanic race/ethnicity; reading, writing, and math achievement; prior ratings of classroom concentration; and closeness in the prior student-teacher relationship on student referrals to both problem-solving teams relative to not being referred to a problem-solving team. Student African American and Unspecified/Other race/ethnicity, prior internalizing behavior problems, teacher sex, teacher age, and 11+ years of total teaching experience uniquely statistically significantly predicted referrals to CS Teams. Student Asian race/ethnicity, being a new student to the district, receiving special education services the prior school year, having a conflict laden relationship with the prior teacher, and 11+ years of teaching experience at the current school uniquely statistically significantly predicted referrals to IC Teams. Planned post hoc coefficient contrasts compared the predictors of student referrals to IC Teams and CS Teams. Findings indicate that student sex and race/ethnicity, being new to the district, receiving special education the prior school year, relationship quality with the prior teacher, severity of academic or behavior problems, and teacher age statistically significantly differentiated referral between the two problem-solving teams. However, with odds ratios ≤ 2.5, the sizes of all effects in this study were small (Chen, Cohen, & Chen, 2010; Chinn, 2000). Limitations include generalizability, missing data, model misspecification, and constraints of standard statistical analysis software.Item TEACHERS AND THE IDENTIFICATION PROCESS: MINORITY STUDENTS IN SPECIAL EDUCATION(2012) Danner, Carlin Linden; MacDonald, Victoria-Maria; Curriculum and Instruction; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Racial, ethnic, and gender disproportionality in the field of Special Education is a phenomenon that has challenged our school systems since Brown v. The Board of Education (Blanchett 2006). This study of a Middle School in a Mid-Atlantic state is aimed to view disproportionality through the lens of the identification process (Kid Talk, Student Support Team Meetings, and Initial Individual Education Plan meeting). It is a qualitative study that included observations of initial IEP meetings and interviews with five professionals within the school setting. These interviews included two general educators, two special education teachers, and one administrator. Through a comprehensive data analysis, it was found that for these individuals the introduction of students into the special education depends upon a complex set of factors that include: teacher preparation, the perception of the teacher by their colleagues, and the student's academic/behavioral struggles, amongst others. Some recommendations include further professional development in the identification process and cultural competence.