Browsing by Subject "Student Perceptions"
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Item Dropouts and a Dropout Recovery Program at a Suburban High-poverty High School Near a Large Urban Area(2013-12-11) Butler, Pamela WThe decision to drop out of high school is a serious problem for the individual making the decision to drop out, but it also has dramatic implications for their families, their communities, and the economic health of the greater community. As a result, the literature on the causes of dropouts is prolific. However, I find that much of this literature is focused on blaming the students and their families for dropping out of high school. Thankfully, there is also much critique of the mainstream view as to the causes of dropouts. This critique of the mainstream literature places significant blame on our schools for causing students to drop out and considers schools?rather than students?at-risk for failing our students and actually pushing students out of school before they graduate. This critical view of the mainstream viewpoint focuses on the economic, social, and personal issues that cause students to be pushed out of school before they graduate. While this study surveys the mainstream literature on the subject of dropouts, the focus of this study supports the critical approach. The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to conduct an in-depth study of the students, and dropout prevention and recovery efforts in place at a high-poverty high school during the 2007 through 2013 academic years. A goal of the study was to create a profile of a dropout at the school during that time period and to begin to create a plan that will reduce the number of students who drop out of the high school as well as the other four high schools in the district. Accordingly, for this study I examined quantitative data regarding students who dropped out of a high-poverty high school in order to look for patterns in the data that may help in creating a profile of a dropout at the school. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with professional staff that worked at the school and students who recently attended the school. Half of the students interviewed had not dropped out of high school and the other half chose to drop out. The purpose of the interviews was to hear the perspectives of key individuals who have personally experienced the drop out problem in hopes that their voices would further contribute to the creation of a profile of a dropout and ultimately assist with solutions to the problem. Findings support other research that shows there is no single predictor or indicator of what causes a student to dropout of high school. In fact, the data in the quantitative section about each individual dropout indicate that the dropouts possessed some or several of the typical dropout at-risk indicators such as being poor, have low-academic achievement, being previously retained, having a history of discipline problems, and having high absenteeism. While some of the students I interviewed possessed some of these same characteristics, not all did and in fact, interview data indicate that each student saw the importance of graduating and were frustrated that school and personal circumstances prevented this accomplishment. Another finding was that the adult interview data indicated traces of deficit thinking in how they were addressing the dropouts from their schools. Solutions suggested include addressing the deficit thinking, academic programming, and systems that need to be in place in order to better assist students who are at-risk for dropping out of high school.Item Student Users' Perceptions of Second Life as an Educational Tool(2012-07-16) Shepperd, ChristopherSecond Life (SL) is gaining popularity in an educational context. Based on the need for educators to understand emerging technologies and their potential for use in the classroom, this study explored student users? perceptions of the use of SL in an educational setting. Student?s enrolled in a traditional classroom, that had a SL component merged into the curriculum, were surveyed to determine their perceptions on the use of SL in education. A modified version of Li and Bernoff?s (2008) Social Technographic? Ladder was used to classify students based on their use of technology. Findings indicated that while students did not perceive the value of the use of SL as it was used in the traditional classroom, they agreed on its potential for use in education, predominantly in a virtual classroom setting. Students agreed on the potential of SL for collaboration, simulations, team building, and interaction with peers, among other things. A key implication of this study is that educators need to utilize SL to move outside the walls of the classroom and offer opportunities not afforded in the traditional classroom setting, rather than simply replicating the traditional classroom in a virtual format.