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

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Subject: search.filters.subject.School Counseling

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Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
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    An Investigation of School Counselors' Role in Promoting College-Going Culture in High Schools
    (2012) Ostvik-de Wilde, Marte Erin; Lee, Courtland C; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    High school students face numerous challenges on the path to college, including aspirational barriers, and obstacles related to application and enrollment. College-going culture, which is essential for all students' success, is conceptualized in this study as consisting of the following components: beliefs and expectations of key stakeholders, specific activities and programs that exist in the schools, and measurable outcomes that exist across and amongst student populations. This study utilizes data from the High School Longitudinal Study (2009) to examine the relationship between school counselors' beliefs and behaviors, and how they relate to certain elements of college-going culture in high schools. Results from conducting Logistic Regression Analyses and Multiple Regression Analyses suggest that as school counselors' perceptions of principals' expectations of students increases, the likelihood is that counselors' expectations of students will increase. Results also indicated that school counselors' high expectations for students were a significant predictor of a college access program in schools. Furthermore, school counselors who placed top priority on assisting students with postsecondary schooling preparation were more likely to spend a greater percentage of time engaged in college readiness activities.
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    AN INVESTIGATION OF SCHOOL COUNSELORS' EFFORTS TO SERVE STUDENTS WHO ARE HOMELESS: THE ROLE OF PERCEIVED KNOWLEDGE, PREPARATION, ADVOCACY ROLE, AND SELF-EFFICACY TO THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN RECOMMENDED INTERVENTIONS AND PARTNERSHIP PRACTICES
    (2012) Gaenzle, Stacey Anita; Bryan, Julia A; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    With the array of challenges faced by children and youth who are homeless, approaches to support their needs must be systemic and involve partnerships with all key stakeholders. This study examined school counselors' involvement in partnership practices and interventions to meet the needs of students who are homeless. Further, this study explored relationships between school counselors' preparation to work with students who are homeless, their perceived knowledge of McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, and their involvement in partnership practices and interventions to work with students who are homeless. An online questionnaire, which was a combination of the School Counselor Involvement in Partnerships Survey (SCIPS) and the revised Knowledge and Skills with Homeless Students Survey (KSHSS) was emailed to a random sample of American School Counselor Association (ASCA) members. Further, descriptive statistics and regression analyses were run to determine relationships between variables. The results of the study suggested that school counselors are involved in practices to support students who are homeless that are more individual and school-based. They are involved less in practices that require collaboration and partnerships. The results of this research also suggest that there are relationships between school counselors' perceptions of their specific knowledge of homelessness, self-efficacy, and advocacy role and their involvement in interventions and partnership practices to support students who homeless.
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    "Figuring it Out": A Grounded Theory of College to Post-College Transition
    (2011) Fox, Kirsten Freeman; Komives, Susan R; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Before colleges and universities can be truly effective in preparing students for a post-college life, an understanding of the college to post-college transition process for recent college graduates is needed. Although there is extensive literature characterizing the college experience, little research exists surrounding the experiences of recent college graduates, especially during the transition out of college. The purpose of this study was to understand the transition from college to post-college life for recent college graduates. Conducted from a constructivist epistemological paradigm, this study employed grounded theory methods to understand how participants interpreted their post-college transition experience. Specifically, this study aimed to understand the post-college transition process, the experiences most salient during the transition, and how recent graduates make meaning of post-college life. In-depth interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 13 recent graduates from a large, Mid-Atlantic research institution over 18 months. The result was the emergence of a theory of college to post-college transition grounded in the perspectives and experiences of the participants. The grounded theory of college to post-college transition builds upon three findings: the process of post-college transition, the construct of transitioning adult, and how recent graduates approach the transition. The post-college transition process was characterized by navigating a series of realizations about self and what matters. This process of "figuring it out," incorporated four active and overlapping characteristics germane to the transition: managing loss, establishing place, focusing on self, and searching for purpose. The transition process was also enhanced by participants' ability to negotiate external influences and internal coping strategies. Through the stories of the participants, it also emerged that recent college graduates equate the post-college transition with the transition to adulthood. The "transitioning adults" navigated the post-college transition through one of five distinct approaches: Initiator, Instrumentalist, Observer, Adaptor, and Traditionalist. The findings are relevant for recent college graduates and college students preparing to graduate, as well as for employers, parents, faculty, and college administrators. This research also has implications for student affairs practice and workforce preparedness. Finally, the findings inform both theory development and future research, particularly on lifespan development and transition theory.
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    Relationships Among Internalizing Symptomatology in Kindergarten and Later Self-Concept and Competence
    (2010) Denny, Michelle Setser; Strein, William; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This study used a longitudinal sample of 9,160 children participating in the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study- Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K) to: (a) describe characteristics of children who present with elevated internalizing symptomatology, (b) investigate stability of elevated internalizing status across early and middle childhood, and (c) explore possible relationships between elevated symptomatology in kindergarten and later academic competence and self-concept. Children were dichotomously categorized at kindergarten (Time 1), three years later (Time 2) and five years later (Time 3) as having either elevated or typical levels of internalizing symptomatology based on their scores on the internalizing subscale of an adapted version of the Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS). Elevated internalizing symptomatology was unrelated to gender. In middle childhood more lower SES children than expected fell within the elevated category and fewer higher SES children than expected fell within the elevated category. Elevated internalizing symptomatology, as measured by teacher ratings, was associated with weaker academic skills and less social/behavioral competence at all three points in time. Elevated internalizing symptomatology was also associated with heightened internalizing and externalizing symptomatology, as measured by children's self-report, in middle childhood. Elevated internalizing symptomatology was negatively associated with social self-concept, but not academic self-concept. Teacher-rated elevated internalizing symptomatology was very unstable from early to middle childhood, and only slightly more stable within the middle childhood years. Kindergarten internalizing symptoms were not predictive of later self-concept and competency. The impact of selected socio-cultural factors (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, SES) on temporal relationships was not significant. Results are discussed with regard to future directions for research and implications for practice.
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    School Climate and Public High School Student Achievement
    (2009) Shaw, Fortune; Holcomb-McCoy, Cheryl; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The goal of this study was to examine the influence of school ecology, milieu, social system, and culture on public high school student achievement. Utilized data from the ELS:2002 restricted-use dataset, a series of multilevel model analyses were conducted. The results indicate that performance gaps exist between 12th-graders of different ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds, but they are merely reflections of the differences that already existed two years prior in 10th-grade. Further, the gap between high and low achieving students becomes narrower from 10th-grade to 12th-grade. The highest mathematics course taken in 12-grade produces a positive estimate of mathematics achievement in 12th-grade, and ethnic minority and lower SES students are less likely to be enrolled in the advanced level courses. Contradicting to the classic view of school influences on achievement, public high schools exhibit relatively little variability in mathematics performance after controlling for student individual characteristics. Among all school climate variables, school average prior mathematics achievement is significantly positively associated with later mathematics achievement. The nonsignificance of contextual effect, however, suggests that the differences across schools do not matter; rather, the differences among students do. Students in schools located in economically disadvantaged communities make more gains in advanced mathematics course-taking than their peers in more affluent schools. The gap between high and low-achieving students grows slightly wider in schools located in more affluent communities, but becomes slightly narrower in fully computerized schools. Contradicting to most existing findings, school size, noisy environment, quality of light, ethnic composition, teacher certification rate, counselor-student ratio, safety concern, student civility, and general positive climate do not show significant influence on achievement. Suggestions about implications and limitations are provided.
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    Parental involvement of Asian American immigrant mothers: Investigating social capital, English proficiency, length of U.S. residency, and social class
    (2009) Shin, HaeJin; Holcomb-McCoy, Cheryl; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The major purpose of the present study was to examine how the parent social and cultural contexts are related to Asian American immigrant mothers' educational involvement. This study investigated four parents' socio-cultural background variables: a) parent's social capital, b) parent's self-perceived English proficiency, c) parent's length of residence in the United States, and d) parent's social class status. In addition, the current study sought to determine the underlying dimensions of Asian American immigrant mothers' parental involvement in order to examine how parent social and cultural background factors influence each of the dimensions differently. The subjects for the current study were 597 nationally representative Asian American immigrant mothers who completed the parent questionnaire of the base-year Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002). Five dimensions of parental involvement were identified in the current study sample of Asian American immigrant mothers. These include parent's engagement in social activities with her child, parent's positive school contact, parent's monitoring, parent's school contact for problems, and parent's participation at school functions. A series of multiple regression and logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationships between parent's social and cultural backgrounds and each of five dimensions of the Asian American parental involvement. The results showed that Asian American immigrant mothers' social capital, English proficiency, and social class were significantly related to parent's engagement in social activities with her child. Further, mother's social capital, English proficiency, and social class status were significantly positively related to parent's monitoring. Of the various parent's social and cultural background variables, only parent's social capital significantly predicted Asian American immigrant mothers' positive school contact and participation at school functions. No relationship was found between parent social and cultural background variables and Asian American immigrant mothers' school contact for problems.
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    Testing a Social Cognitive Model of Work Satisfaction among Teachers
    (2008) Duffy, Ryan D; Lent, Robert W; Counseling and Personnel Services; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The purpose of the current study was to empirically test a new, integrative model of work satisfaction (Lent & Brown, 2006). The Lent and Brown (2006) work satisfaction model is composed of five hypothesized predictor variables: work conditions, goal progress, work-related self-efficacy, positive affect, and goal and efficacy relevant supports. Using a sample of 366 teachers, results revealed that this model was a strong fit for the data and accounted for 91% of the variance in work satisfaction. Additionally, of the five predictor variables, only work conditions, work-related self-efficacy, and positive affect were found to contribute unique variance. This suggests that teachers who are most satisfied with their jobs are those who have a generally positive disposition, are confident in their abilities to complete work-related tasks and goals, feel supported by their school, and feel that their work is a strong fit for their values and needs. Research and practice implications are suggested.