ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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Description
Virtue was a concept of paramount importance in the American founders' republican thought. Without virtue, there could be no liberty, no order, no devotion to the common good, and no republican government. This dissertation examines the concept of virtue at the American founding, particularly virtue in the political thought of Mercy Otis Warren (1728-1814). The most important female intellectual of the Revolutionary generation, Warren wrote passionately about liberty and the beauty of republican ideals. Most important to this study, she consistently advocated the central place of virtue in a free and well-ordered republic. I argue that Warren incorporates three distinct philosophical threads - classical, bourgeois-marketplace, and Christian ideals - in her conception of virtue. I first analyze how Warren uses each of these three threads of virtue throughout her writings. I then examine how she synthesizes these individual threads into a single, cohesive conception of virtue. I argue that Warren consistently merges these ideals into a conception of virtue that she employs to address three pressing political problems of her day: How to motivate reluctant colonists to seek independence; how to check various forms of corruption spreading among the people; and how to counter corruption arising from commercial growth in the new nation. Modern political theorists often argue that these three threads, especially the classical republican and Christian ideals of virtue, are irreconcilable. My analysis shows that to divorce virtue from Christianity in Warren's conception is to rob it of its corrective vigor within republican government. I argue that what Machiavelli and Rousseau wrote out of republican virtue Warren writes back in. In Warren's political thought, virtue serves as the foundation for a stable enduring political system, provides the necessary informal ordering principle for the emerging republic, and offers the means by which the new nation could achieve its millennial destiny.
ContributorsMunsil, Tracy F (Author) / Ball, Terence (Thesis advisor) / Dagger, Richard (Thesis advisor) / Crittenden, William J. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
"White flight" is a sociological phenomenon where White members depart urban neighborhoods or schools predominantly populated by minorities, and move to places like suburbs or commuter towns. A huge limitation in White flight research does not account for communities in rural America. The rural community of Garden City, Kansas, is of particular interest because of its shift in demographics over the years. Garden City has transformed dramatically with the arrival of immigrants to staff meatpacking plants and their children who attend the Garden City Public School District. In the last eighteen years, the Garden City Public School District has experienced a 204% growth in Hispanic student enrollment while simultaneously experiencing a 54% decline in White student enrollment. The exodus of White students from the Garden City Public School District is the focus of this research. The findings of this study indicate that White flight exists in the Garden City Public School District primarily as a product of racism due to White community constituents' feelings of xenophobia and ethnophobia toward Garden City's minority populations.
ContributorsVolk, Michael J (Author) / Glass, Gene V (Thesis advisor) / Danzig, Arnold B. (Committee member) / Davey, Lynn M. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The purpose of this study was to examine compulsory schooling in the United States and its potential to provide an inconsistent avenue to employment for students from neighborhoods of differing socioeconomic status. Specifically, this study asked why do students from privileged neighborhoods typically end up in positions of ownership and management while those from impoverished urban or rural neighborhoods end up in working-class positions or involved in cycles of incarceration and poverty? This research involved the use of qualitative methods, including participant observation and interview, as well as photography, to take a look at a reputable private day school in the southwest. Data was collected over the span of eight weeks and was then analyzed and compared with preexisting data on the schooling experience of students from impoverished urban and rural neighborhoods, particularly data focused on juvenile detention centers. Results showed that compulsory schooling differs in ways that contribute to the preexisting hierarchical class structure. The research suggests that schooling can be detrimental to the future quality of life for students in impoverished neighborhoods, which questions a compulsory school system that exists within the current hierarchical class system.
ContributorsTheodoropoulos, Eftyhia (Author) / Margolis, Eric (Thesis advisor) / Nakagawa, Kathryn (Committee member) / Appleton, Nicholas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV) policy scheme launched in 2004 by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the Government of India, aims to provide secondary level education (grade 6-8) for girls residing predominantly in minority communities, the Scheduled Caste (SC), the Scheduled Tribe (ST), and the Other Backward Caste (OBC). Since its launch, the Government of India established 2,578 KGBV schools in 27 states and union territories (UTs). The present study examines the new policy and its implementation at three KGBV schools located in rural villages of Uttar Pradesh (UP), India. The purpose was to analyze the Government of India's approach to increasing education opportunity and participation for educationally disadvantaged girls using the empowerment framework developed by Deepa Narayan. Observations at three schools, interviews with teachers and staff members of the implementation agency (i.e., Mahila Samakhya (MS)), and surveys administered to 139 teachers were conducted over a four month period in 2009. Adopting creative teaching approaches and learning activities, MS creates safe learning community which is appropriate for the rural girls. MS gives special attention to nurturing the girls' potential and empowering them inside and outside the school environment through social discussion, parental involvement, rigid discipline and structure, health and hygiene education, and physical and mental training. Interviews with the state program director and coordinators identified some conflicts within government policy schemes such as the Teacher-pupil ratios guidelines as a part of the programs for the universalization of elementary education. Major challenges include a high turnover rate of teachers, a lack of female teachers, a lack of provision after Class 8, and inadequate budget for medical treatment. Recommendations include promoting active involvement of male members in the process of girls' empowerment, making MS approaches of girls' education in rural settings standardized for wider dissemination, and developing flexible and strong partnership among local agencies and government organizations for effective service delivery.
ContributorsWatanabe, Miku (Author) / Fischman, Gustavo (Thesis advisor) / Wiley, Terrence (Committee member) / Mccarty, Teresa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Historians often characterize first ladies in the Progressive Era as representatives of the last vestiges of Victorian womanhood in an increasingly modern society. This dissertation argues that first ladies negotiated an image of themselves that fulfilled both traditional and modern notions of womanhood. In crafting these images, first ladies constructed images of their celebrity selves that were uniquely modern. Thus, images of first ladies in the Progressive Era show them as modest and feminine but also autonomous, intelligent, and capable. Using the historian Charles Ponce de Leon's research on modern human-interest journalism, I contend that first ladies in the Progressive Era worked with the modern press in a symbiotic relationship. This relationship allowed the press exclusive access to what was, ostensibly, the first lady's private, and therefore authentic, self. By purporting to reveal parts of their private lives in the press, first ladies showed themselves as down-to-earth despite their success and fulfilled by their domestic pursuits despite their compelling public lives. By offering the press exclusive access to their lives, first ladies secured the opportunity to shape specific images of themselves to appeal, as broadly as possible, to their husbands and parties' constituents and the American public. First ladies in the Progressive Era thus acted as political figures by using both public and private, or what historian Catherine Allgor terms, "unofficial spaces" to support and reflect their husbands and parties' political agendas. In examining representations of first ladies in popular magazines and newspapers from 1901 to 1921 in tandem with letters, memoirs, and other personal papers from these women, a clear pattern emerges. Despite personal differences, first ladies in the Progressive Era represented themselves according to a specific formula in the modern press. The images, constructed by first ladies in this time period, reflect shifts in economic, social, and political life in Progressive Era America, which called for women to be independent and intelligent yet still maintain their femininity and domesticity.
ContributorsHorohoe, Jill (Author) / Gullett, Gayle (Thesis advisor) / Longley, Rodney K (Committee member) / Warren-Findley, Jannelle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Federal education policies call for school district leaders to promote classroom technology integration to prepare students with 21st century skills. However, schools are struggling to integrate technology effectively, with students often reporting that they feel like they need to power down and step back in time technologically when they enter classrooms. The lack of meaningful technology use in classrooms indicates a need for increased teacher preparation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact a coaching model of professional development had on school administrators` abilities to increase middle school teachers` technology integration in their classrooms. This study attempted to coach administrators to develop and articulate a vision, cultivate a culture, and model instruction relative to the meaningful use of instructional technology. The study occurred in a middle school. Data for this case study were collected via administrator interviews, the Principal`s Computer Technology Survey, structured observations using the Higher Order Thinking, Engaged Learning, Authentic Learning, Technology Use protocol, field notes, the Technology Integration Matrix, teacher interviews, and a research log. Findings concluded that cultivating change in an organization is a complex process that requires commitment over an extended period of time. The meaningful use of instructional technology remained minimal at the school during fall 2010. My actions as a change agent informed the school`s administrators about the role meaningful use of technology can play in instruction. Limited professional development, administrative vision, and expectations minimized the teachers` meaningful use of instructional technology; competing priorities and limited time minimized the administrators` efforts to improve the meaningful use of instructional technology. Realizing that technology proficient teachers contribute to student success with technology, it may be wise for administrators to incorporate technology-enriched professional development and exercise their leadership abilities to promote meaningful technology use in classrooms.
ContributorsRobertson, Kristen (Author) / Moore, David (Thesis advisor) / Cheatham, Greg (Committee member) / Catalano, Ruth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
This study utilized symbolic interaction as a framework to examine the impact of mobility on four veteran elementary general music teachers' identities, roles, and perceptions of role support. Previous research has focused on teacher identity formation among preservice and novice teachers; veteran teachers are less frequently represented in the literature. Teacher mobility research has focused on student achievement, teachers' reasons for moving, and teacher attrition. The impact of mobility on veteran teachers' identities, roles, and perceptions of role support has yet to be considered. A multiple case design was employed for this study. The criteria for purposeful selection of the participants were elementary general music teachers who had taught for at least ten years, who had changed teaching contracts and taught in at least two different schools, and who were viewed as effective music educators by fine arts coordinators. Data were collected over a period of eight months through semi-structured interviews, email correspondence, observations, review of videotapes of the participants' teaching in previous schools, and collection of artifacts. Data were analyzed within and across cases. The cross-case analysis revealed themes within the categories of identity, role, and role support for the participants. The findings suggest that the participants perceived their music teacher roles as multi-dimensional. They claimed their core identities remained stable over time; however, shifts in teacher identity occurred throughout their years as teachers. The participants asserted that mobility at the start of their careers had a positive impact because they each were challenged to solidify their own teacher identities and music teacher roles in varied school contexts. Mobility negatively impacted role and teacher practices during times when the participants adjusted to new school climates and role expectations. Role support varied depending upon school context, and the participants discovered active involvement in the school community was an effective means of seeking and acquiring role support. Reflection experiences in music teacher preparation programs, as well as mentoring and professional development geared toward teacher identity formation and role maturation, may assist teachers in matching their desired school context with their teacher identities and perceptions of the music teacher role.
ContributorsGray, Lori F (Author) / Stauffer, Sandra (Committee member) / Schmidt, Margaret (Committee member) / Sullivan, Jill (Committee member) / Bush, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Tobias, Evan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
The following dissertation provides perspectives on the social, political, economic, and academic influences on language use, and particularly heritage language use, within the Filipino American community. What is the nature of language in this community? In what ways does language exist or co-exist? The hypothesis that autochthonous Filipino languages in the United States cease to be spoken in favor of English by Filipino Americans was tested through mixed methods of research. Literature and databases were reviewed which provided information concerning statistics, issues, and policies relating to language in Filipino America. Field research and interviews were conducted in which language use was of key interest. Results varied individually and contextually. Language seems to exist within the Filipino American community on a dynamic continuum. Immigrant Filipino Americans appear to be bilingual and multilingual. Second generation Filipino Americans tend to be English dominant with a range of bilingualism. The California Department of Education (CDOE) appears to foster bilingualism / multilingualism through its World Languages Departments (secondary education level), by offering language courses, such as Tagalog-based Filipino. Efforts to maintain non-English, Filipino languages in Arizona are less conspicuous, but they do exist primarily in familial and entrepreneurial ways.
ContributorsAxel, Joseph (Author) / Mccarty, Teresa (Thesis advisor) / Wiley, Terrence (Committee member) / Faltis, Christian (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
Since the 1988 uprising, a transnational advocacy network has formed around the issue of democracy and human rights in Burma. Within this transnational advocacy network, personal narratives of trauma have been promulgated in both international and oppositional news media and human rights reports. My thesis critically analyzes the use of the trauma narrative for advocacy purposes by the transnational advocacy network that has emerged around Burma and reveals the degree to which these narratives adhere to a Western, individualistic meta-narrative focused on political and civil liberties. Examining the "boomerang" pattern and the concept of marketability of movements, I highlight the characteristics of the 1988 uprising and subsequent opposition movement that attracted international interest. Reflecting on the psychological aspects of constructing trauma narratives, I then review the scholarship which links trauma narratives to social and human rights movements. Using a Foucauldian approach to discourse analysis, I subsequently explain my methodology in analyzing the personal narratives I have chosen. Beyond a theoretical discussion of trauma narratives and transnational advocacy networks, I analyze the use of personal narratives of activists involved in the 1988 uprising and the emergence of Aung San Suu Kyi's life story as a compelling narrative for Western audiences. I then explore the structure of human rights reports which situate personal narratives of trauma within the framework of international human rights law. I note the differences in the construction of traumatic narratives of agency and those of victimization. Finally, using Cyclone Nargis as a case study, I uncover the discursive divide between human rights and humanitarian actors and their use of personal narratives to support different discursive constructions of the aid effort in the aftermath of the cyclone. I conclude with an appeal to a more reflexive approach to advocacy work reliant on trauma narratives and highlight feminist methodologies that have been successful in bringing marginalized narratives to the center of human rights discussions.
ContributorsBynum, Kate Elliott (Author) / Stancliff, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Friedrich, Patricia (Committee member) / Vaughan, Suzanne (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011
Description
More than 30% of college entrants are placed in remedial mathematics (RM). Given that an explicit relationship exists between students' high school mathematics and college success in science, technology, engineering, and mathematical (STEM) fields, it is important to understand RM students' characteristics in high school. Using the Education Longitudinal Survey 2002/2006 data, this study evaluated more than 130 variables for statistical and practical significance. The variables included standard demographic data, prior achievement and transcript data, family and teacher perceptions, school characteristics, and student attitudinal variables, all of which are identified as influential in mathematical success. These variables were analyzed using logistic regression models to estimate the likelihood that a student would be placed into RM. As might be expected, student test scores, highest mathematics course taken, and high school grade point average were the strongest predictors of success in college mathematics courses. Attitude variables had a marginal effect on the most advantaged students, but their effect cannot be evaluated for disadvantaged students, due to a non-random pattern of missing data. Further research should concentrate on obtaining answers to the attitudinal questions and investigating their influence and interaction with academic indicators.
ContributorsBarber, Rebecca (Author) / Garcia, David R. (Thesis advisor) / Powers, Jeanne (Committee member) / Rodrigue Mcintyre, Lisa (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2011