Teacher support as a moderator between student sixth-grade transition experiences and end-of-year adjustment

Working from a conceptual framework based on an integration of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 1985) and life course theory (Elder & Shanahan, 2006), the current study was conducted to examine the relationships between perceived sixth-grade transition experience, perceived teacher support, and student externalizing and internalizing behavior problems. Data were collected from participants at six schools from the fall and the spring of sixth grade (N = 515; 52.62% female, 46.02% minority, and 45.63% free-/reduced-lunch status). Structural models revealed an interaction effect of perceived teacher support and perceived sixth-grade transition experience on students’ defiance in spring, controlling for student gender, minority status, free-/reduced-lunch status, and fall scores on defiance. However, post hoc analyses of the interaction effect were inconclusive, as a three-factor mixed design ANOVA did not replicate the interaction effect. Teacher support predicted a decrease in student spring defiance, accounting for student gender, minority status, free-reduced-lunch status, fall transition experience, and fall scores on defiance. No significant associations were documented between the independent variables and the internalizing behavior outcome, social anxiety. The findings provide both initial evidence that teacher support influences student defiance and initial but inconclusive evidence of an interaction effect of perceived transition experience and perceived teacher support on sixth grade student defiance.Doctor of Philosoph

Integrating Study Abroad Research and Practice: African American and Black Students in Focus

This brief integrates insights from research and practice to shine light on these questions, which are on the forefront of the minds of many study abroad practitioners across the country. Our point of departure is that although Black student participation in study abroad is increasingly less than that of their peers (Lu et al., 2015), their study abroad experiences and learning outcomes are receiving increased research attention. In the case of this brief, the reviewed research shows that Black students’ study abroad experiences and learning outcomes seem to be largely positive. Broadly, the Black students whose experiences are documented in reviewed studies made gains in their academic achievement, language learning, intercultural competence, identity development, wellbeing, and career outcomes (Bell et al., 2021; Blake et al., 2020; Bush et al., 2022; Byker & Xu, 2019; Dietz et al., 2011; Edwards, 2020; Lu et al., 2015; Quan, 2018; Smith-Augustine, 2014; White et al., 2011; Willis, 2015)

Integrating Research and Practice to Enhance Experiences and Outcomes of Study Abroad of Underrepresented Students: An Introduction

A team of practitioners, researchers, and scholar-practitioners collaborated to spotlight successes and to enhance areas for improvement in study abroad practices through interaction with research. The joint effort focused on study abroad students from five identity groups for which the research base was large enough to permit generation of research-to-practice briefs. Researchers first reviewed studies from the Academic Research on Education Abroad (AREA) Database and summarized research on these students’ study abroad experiences and outcomes. Practitioners—most of them with lived experience as a member of the identity group—drew on their expertise in interpreting the relevance to practice of summarized research findings and in recommending better study abroad practices. The resulting five research-to-practice briefs focus on the experiences and outcomes of five student identity groups: African American and Black students, Asian and Asian American students, first-generation students, Hispanic and Latinx students, and LGBTQ+ students. Altogether, these briefs signify working in teams of both researchers and practitioners, and they highlight some of the outstanding gaps in study abroad research and practice concerning the student groups in focus

An Academic and Cultural Transition Course for International Students: Efficacy and SocioEmotional Outcomes

The current study details changes in first-year international undergraduate students’ perceived knowledge of, confidence in, and usefulness of intercultural skills in specific US university contexts after completing a semester-long academic and cultural transition course at a mid-sized private university. Results revealed significant increases in participants’ (n= 42) perceived intercultural competence, perspective shifting, suspending judgment, self-advocacy, and interacting in class with students of other cultures; participants also reported significantly higher campus belonging and social support than a comparison group of students at the university who were not enrolled in the course (n = 32). These findings provide initial evidence for the potential of transition courses to increase intercultural skills and campus belonging for first-year undergraduate international students attending US universities

The Primacy of Ownership and the Problem of Plunder in Archaic Greece

The goal of this thesis is to extract from the Homeric and Hesiodic poems Archaic Greek thought on the concept of personal ownership and its interrelation with plunder. As is often the case when working with the Iliad and Odyssey, the discussion is broader in focus than is currently the norm for academic theses. In this instance a wide-ranging scope is necessary, since the purpose is to identify patterns concerning ownership and plunder in the epics. The process of extrapolating the depictions of life in the Homeric epics to the conditions and realities of Archaic Greece is achieved most effectively by ascertaining unified portrayals of concepts as opposed to minutely analyzing singular occurrences in the works..

The Primacy of Ownership and the Problem of Plunder in Archaic Greece

The goal of this thesis is to extract from the Homeric and Hesiodic poems Archaic Greek thought on the concept of personal ownership and its interrelation with plunder. As is often the case when working with the Iliad and Odyssey, the discussion is broader in focus than is currently the norm for academic theses. In this instance a wide-ranging scope is necessary, since the purpose is to identify patterns concerning ownership and plunder in the epics. The process of extrapolating the depictions of life in the Homeric epics to the conditions and realities of Archaic Greece is achieved most effectively by ascertaining unified portrayals of concepts as opposed to minutely analyzing singular occurrences in the works...</p