Browsing by Author "Bonnie Fusarelli, Committee Member"

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    A Comparison of the Academic Performance of Jamaican Community College Transfer Students and Native University Students Enrolled in a Collaborative Baccalaureate Degree Program
    (2010-03-23) Buckle, Earle Melford; Bonnie Fusarelli, Committee Member; Joy Gaston Gayles, Committee Member; Duane Akroyd, Committee Co-Chair; Leila Gonzalez-Sullivan, Committee Co-Chair
    There is a perception in the Jamaican postsecondary education system that students who begin baccalaureate studies at community colleges do not perform as well academically as those who begin at the public universities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the academic performance of transfer students who began their baccalaureate studies under a franchising arrangement between a community college and a university with the academic performance of native university students. Grade point average, time to degree, and baccalaureate degree attainment were used as proxies for academic performance. The study’s conceptual framework was developed from existing models of student attrition. Based on these models, it was hypothesized that institutional type and student characteristics were significant factors in determining a student’s academic success in baccalaureate degree studies. T-tests, one-way ANOVA, and logistic regression were used to analyze data from a stratified sample of transfer and “native†juniors selected from a Jamaican public university. The study compared the academic performance of the two groups as each progressed toward attaining the baccalaureate degree. The study found no significant difference between the academic performances of the two groups. It was determined that the students’ likelihood of degree attainment was not affected by the institution where they started their baccalaureate studies but, instead, by their lower division grade point average. Based on these findings, the study presented a number of recommendations for policy, practice, and future research.
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    Emotional Intelligence: The Heart of Public School Administration.
    (2010-09-16) Wells, Vivian; Paul Bitting, Committee Chair; Alan Reiman, Committee Member; Peter Hessling, Committee Member; Bonnie Fusarelli, Committee Member
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    Implementing Reform-Based Mathematics Instruction After Participating in Professional Development: Two High School Teachers' Experiences.
    (2010-12-08) Thomas, Shayla; Robert Serow, Committee Chair; Jere Confrey, Committee Chair; Paul Bitting, Committee Member; Bonnie Fusarelli, Committee Member
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    Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of Film in English Language Arts Instruction
    (2010-04-29) Long, Sheryl Renee; Candy Beal, Committee Member; Bonnie Fusarelli, Committee Member; Carl Young, Committee Member; Carol Pope, Committee Chair
    While film has long been included in English language arts instruction, it has typically been relegated to the position of supplementary resource and considered a nontraditional text. The interest in expanding English language arts instruction to address twenty-first century literacies demands difficult choices about what textual forms to include and necessitates a reassessment of film’s importance. Preservice teachers offer an interesting perspective on this question because they are at an important juncture in their experience with the English language arts. They are completing years of study in which they have been the recipients of English language arts instruction. Now students of a teacher preparation program, they receive direct instruction from faculty who are closely attuned to the theoretical movements within the discipline. Simultaneously, they are engaging in fieldwork that allows them to observe K-12 teachers’ instructional practices. As they form their own philosophies of English language arts instruction, they must reconcile these multiple perspectives into a personal understanding that will shape the ways in which they teach – in effect, their refined understandings represent the future of English language arts instruction. This qualitative study utilized a multiple case study approach to explore preservice teachers’ perceptions of film in English language arts instruction. The participants in this study were five preservice teachers who were enrolled in an adolescent literature course in a large public university. Data included interviews, participant observations, and student documents. Findings suggested preservice teachers believed film could be used as a complement to print texts in English language arts instruction. They saw film as useful for creating interest in print texts, for comparing and contrasting with print texts, and for assisting struggling readers. While they expanded their concept of text to include film as a nonprint form of text, they regarded print texts as authoritative to nonprint texts. Findings also indicated that preservice teachers closely associated digital video with the use of film in English language arts instruction and were eager to use digital video for composing student-created texts. These results suggested that teacher education programs can influence preservice teachers’ perceptions of film by providing meaningful experiences that integrate film.
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    Professional School Counselors' Development of Advocacy Competencies.
    (2011-03-17) Fleder, Sarah; Stanley Baker, Committee Chair; Bonnie Fusarelli, Committee Member; Edwin Gerler, Committee Member
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    Reducing Institutional Barriers to Minority Student Success at a Predominantly White University: A Qualitative Action Research Study
    (2009-11-20) Rich, Wesley D; Kevin Brady, Committee Chair; Paul Bitting, Committee Member; Bonnie Fusarelli, Committee Member; Kevin Oliver, Committee Member
    This qualitative action research study investigates the common barriers encountered by successful undergraduate ethnic minority students enrolled in majors that serve as a pipeline for professional health sciences. Through specialized focus group interviews and individual interviews, this study explores the perceived barriers to student success encountered by successful undergraduate ethnic minority students. Student strategies for success are also examined and discussed. A review of the related literature on student retention in college and characterizations of barriers faced by undergraduate minority students is included. This study employs action research methodology in an effort to communicate the experiences and proposed solutions of successful undergraduate minority science students at a small, predominantly white, private university in rural North Carolina. Study findings indicate that participants encountered barriers related to communication, prejudice, resources, academic preparation, family responsibilities and connections with students of the same ethnicity. Findings from this study also indicate that participants used several broad strategies to ensure their success which include networking, joining campus clubs and organizations, taking reasonable risks, accessing on-campus support services, and being persistent about getting their needs met. Recommendations are provided to the focal university aimed at reducing the barriers identified by participants in this study. Finally, a number of suggestions are provided for future research.
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    Teacher Migration from High-Performing Middle Schools: A Case Study
    (2006-03-08) Conley, Richard Earl; Peter Hessling, Committee Member; Bonnie Fusarelli, Committee Member; Raymond Ting, Committee Member; Paul F. Bitting, Committee Chair
    The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the dynamics of school climate and understand how it relates to teachers' perceptions and attitudes towards teacher migration. The research was conducted through the eyes of a sixth grade language arts/social studies' teacher. By spending extensive time and conducting multiple interviews with the teacher and other staff members, I was able to explore some of the reasons and conditions why teachers leave schools, particularly high-performing schools to teach in other high-performing schools. Attending weekly meetings at all levels and content areas with migrating teachers, combined with thirteen interviews and ample document collection, allowed me to further understand the gap that exists between what a high-performing school professes to be and how it actually is perceived by its own teachers. This gap is what proves to be disconcerting and frustrating for teachers who are satisfied with teaching but consider relocation to meet further personal and professional challenges. Utilizing the social cognitive theory of Albert Bandura (1977), I researched the school world of a middle school teacher, observing how he and other individual teachers worked together as a group. Social cognitive theory examines the self and organizational efficacy of teachers and schools as transformative agents. Teachers with high abilities do not necessarily perform well collectively or as an organization if specific cognitive, behavioral, and environmental conditions are not in place to support their collaborative work efforts. The study of these three conditions within the school organization provided me with an in depth look at how teachers feel or believe themselves to be validated. The research takes a look at a high-performing middle school from the inside out. High-performing teachers are leaving high-performing schools. This introspective study can help guide future research efforts towards examining the criteria that enables a school organization to understand the designation high-performing according to authentic and local site-based school needs, not only state performance standards. The study may contribute to our greater understanding of why teachers opt to migrate from successful schools.
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    The usefulness of Wenger's framework in understanding a community of practice
    (2008-12-02) Bozarth, Jane; Diane Chapman, Committee Co-Chair; Bonnie Fusarelli, Committee Member; Colleen Wiessner, Committee Member; Julia Storberg-Walker, Committee Co-Chair
    ABSTRACT BOZARTH, JANE. The Usefulness of Wenger’s Framework in Understanding a Community of Practice. (Under the direction of Julia Storberg-Walker and Diane Chapman.) ABSTRACT BOZARTH, JANE. The Usefulness of Wenger’s Framework in Understanding a Community of Practice. (Under the direction of Julia Storberg-Walker and Diane Chapman.) Communities of practice (CoPs) are self-managed groups of individuals who share a common interest, often a work role, and interact with the intention of improving practice. As 21st-century American businesses face global expansion and the exodus of the Baby Boomer generation from the workforce, developing new knowledge management strategies, particularly those capable of capturing hard-to-document tacit knowledge, is a critical need. Extant literature deals heavily with the formation and attempted management of communities of practice, but is sparse on what actually takes place inside them; that is, how they “work,†information that could prove invaluable to business leaders. Etienne Wenger (1998) is widely cited for his work on the topic of communities of practice. However, the framework he developed in his seminal book Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity is overlooked in the academic and popular business press, where the focus is most typically on managing a community of practice, rather than understanding their internal dynamics. Further, no study since the book was published has ever tested Wenger’s framework to see whether, or the degree to which, the framework is useful when applied to another context. This instrumental case study is an attempt to fill this gap in the research literature. It tested the framework to determine the extent to which it was useful in understanding the internal dynamics of a community of practice. While the findings of this study confirmed a generic adequacy of Wenger’s framework, the study suggests important enhancements to the Wenger framework for future researchers. A refined framework for understanding the internal dynamics of a community of practice was generated in this study. This refined framework contributes to the existing knowledge of CoPs by extending the understanding of how a successful CoP “works,†informs new means for transmitting tacit knowledge, establishes new guidelines for future researchers, and paves the way for the eventual development of a fully operationalized theory of CoPs. Implications for practice may include consideration of the CoP not only as possessing knowledge which might be harnessed, but as a means of retaining high-performing staff by providing them a space in which they can excel. It is hoped that future research on communities of practice will be influenced by the refined framework generated by this study. Further, scholars and practitioners now have research findings that support a shift in focus from managing a community of practice, to nurturing and understanding the significant internal dynamics of learning, meaning, and identity.