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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
Since the introduction of the common school in the United States (US), education has constantly been in a state of reform. Given the importance of student learning to the future state of our nation, it is important to understand how positive educational reform can be achieved. This ethnographic case study aims to try to understand how a reform effort works as an educational and a sociocultural process, and what the important contributing factors to actualizing school reform are, as well as the challenges of effective implementation. Specifically, this study focuses on a school-wide reform effort based upon Stephen Covey's Seven Habits (1989). Qualitative research methods were used to address the research questions in this study. The researcher drew upon interviews, observations, and artifact and field note collection to tell the story of an elementary school engaged in year three of a school-wide reform initiative from the viewpoint of 10 teachers involved. Three recurring themes emerged from the data. First, data indicate that school reform is most effective when a school culture is created that supports the activation of teacher voice, efficacy, and coparticipation. Second, time and support are factors impacting implementation. Third, teachers reported that the common language from the reform has impacted the culture of the school. The evolution of a school culture is not simple and is demonstrated in the different ways the teachers experience the reform. Questions of authenticity arise when the reform effort changes from a grassroots, bottom-up initiative to a more top-down, bureaucratized business model.
ContributorsLamp, Michelle (Author) / Mccarty, Teresa (Thesis advisor) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Powers, Jeanne (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Providing nutrition information at point of sale at restaurants has gained in popularity in recent years and will soon become a legal requirement. Consumers are using this opportunity to become more informed on the nutritional quality of the foods they consume in an effort to maintain healthfulness. Prior research has confirmed the utility of this information in adult populations. However, research on adolescents in school environments has resulted in mixed findings. This study investigated the effect of exposure to calorie and fat information on student purchases at lunchtime in a high school cafeteria. Additionally, it explored other factors that may contribute to students' food selections during school lunches. The research methods included analysis of changes in cafeteria food sales in one school, surveys, and focus groups. Analysis of cafeteria food sales during lunch did not show any significant change in the average number of calories and fat purchased per student between pre and post intervention. However, information gathered from focus group questioning demonstrated how students used the nutrition information to change their behavior after they have purchased their food.
ContributorsFresques, Audrey Delfina (Author) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Thesis advisor) / Barnett, Joshua (Committee member) / Cruz, Heather (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
This dissertation explores the unique role schools play in contributing toward a sustainable future for their communities. This was undertaken by first conducting a thorough review and analysis of the literature on the current utilization of schools as agents of sustainable development, along with an evaluation of schools engaging in this model around the United States. Following this, a framework was developed to aid in the assessment of school-community engagements from the perspective of social change. Sustainability problem solving tools were synthesized for use by schools and community stakeholders, and were tested in the case study of this dissertation. This case study combined methods from the fields of sustainable development, transition management, and social change to guide two schools in their attempts to increase community sustainability through addressing a shared sustainability problem: childhood obesity. The case study facilitated the creation of a sustainable vision for the Phoenix Metropolitan Area without childhood obesity, as well as strategic actions plans for each school to utilize as they move forward on addressing this challenge.
ContributorsLawless, Tamara Hope (Author) / Golub, Aaron (Thesis advisor) / Redman, Charles (Committee member) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Sustainability challenges with severe local to global impacts require fundamental shifts in what industrial societies aspire to, generate, consume, and represent, as well as how they function. Transition governance is a promising framework to support these transformational efforts. A key component of transition governance is the construction of transition strategies, i.e., action schemes for how to transition from the current state to a sustainable one. Despite accomplishments in building theory and methodology for transition governance, the concepts of what transition strategies entail and how they relate to specific interventions are still underdeveloped. This dissertation further develops the concept of transition strategies, and explores how different stakeholder groups and allies can develop and test transition strategies across different scales, in the specific context of urban sustainability challenges. The overarching research question is: How can cities build and implement comprehensive transition strategies across different urban scales, from the city to the organizational level? The dissertation comprises four studies that explore the dynamic between transition strategies and experiments at the city, neighborhood, and organizational levels with empirical examples from Phoenix, Arizona. The first study reviews and compares paradigms of intentional change, namely transition governance, backcasting, intervention research, change management, integrated planning, and adaptive management in order to offer a rich set of converging ideas on what strategies for intentional change towards sustainability entail. The second study proposes a comprehensive concept of transition strategies and illustrates the concept with the example of sustainability strategies created through a research partnership with the City of Phoenix. The third study explores the role of experiments in transition processes through the lens of the neighborhood-level initiative of The Valley of the Sunflowers. The fourth study examines the role organizations can play in initiating urban sustainability transitions using exemplary strategies and experiments implemented at a local high school. The studies combined contribute to the further development of transition theory and sustainable urban development concepts. While this research field is at a nascent stage, the thesis provides a framework and empirical examples for how to build evidence-based transition strategies in support of urban sustainability.
ContributorsKay, Braden Ryan (Author) / Wiek, Arnim (Thesis advisor) / Loorbach, Derk (Committee member) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Tiger, Fern (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Forrest Research estimated that revenues derived from mobile devices will grow at an annual rate of 39% to reach $31 billion by 2016. With the tremendous market growth, mobile banking, mobile marketing, and mobile retailing have been recently introduced to satisfy customer needs. Academic and practical articles have widely discussed unique features of m-commerce. For instance, hardware constraints such as small screens have led to the discussion of tradeoff between usability and mobility. Needs for personalization and entertainment foster the development of new mobile data services. Given distinct features of mobile data services, existing empirical literature on m-commerce is mostly from the consumer side and focuses on consumer perceptions toward these features and their adoption intentions. From the supply side, limited data availability in early years explains the lack of firm-level studies on m-commerce. Prior studies have shown that unclear market demand is a major reason that hinders firms' adoption of m-commerce. Given the advances of smart phones, especially the introduction of the iPhone in 2007, firms recently have started to incorporate various mobile information systems in their business operations. The study uses mobile retailing as the context and empirically assesses firms' migration to this new sales venue with a unique cross-sectional dataset. Despite the distinct features of m-commerce, m-Retailing is essentially an extended arm of e-Retailing. Thus, a dependency perspective is used to explore the link between a firm's e-Retail characteristics and the migration to m-Retailing. Rooted in the innovation diffusion theory, the first stage of my study assesses the decision of adoption that indicates whether a firm moves to m-Retailing and the extent of adoption that shows a firm's commitment to m-Retailing in terms of system implementation choices. In this first stage, I take a dependency perspective to examine the impacts of e-Retail characteristics on m-Retailing adoption. The second stage of my study analyzes conditions that affect business value of the m-Retail channel. I examine the association between system implementation choices and m-Retail performance while analyzing the effects of e-Retail characteristics on value realization. The two-stage analysis provides an exploratory assessment of firm's migration from e-Retailing to m-Retailing.
ContributorsChou, Yen-Chun (Author) / Shao, Benjamin (Thesis advisor) / St. Louis, Robert (Committee member) / Goul, Michael (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The Empowerment Zones were created in 1993 under Clinton's administration, demonstrating a commitment to solving tough socio-economic problems in distressed communities. The main objective associated with this program was economic recovery of distressed communities by creating jobs and providing various services to the indigenous populations. The designation of the Empowerment Zones went in three rounds (1994, 1998, and 2001), and although the types and amounts of federal incentives varied across rounds, the four principles around which the program originated remain unchanged: strategic vision for change, community based partnerships, economic opportunity, and sustainable community development. Since its inception, the Empowerment Zones program has been implemented in 30 urban and 10 rural communities in 27 states across the U.S. Two central questions lead the research of this dissertation project: 1) What have been the main accomplishments of the round three federal Empowerment Zones program in Tucson? 2) What have been the main challenges of the round three federal Empowerment Zones program in Tucson? By using a case study research design and various techniques for data collection and analysis (including the program package Atlas.ti), this study examined the accomplishments and the challenges associated with the round three designated Empowerment Zone in Tucson. Evidence was collected from multiple sources, including 24 interviews, over 60 local newspaper articles, relevant documentation, annual performance reports, and other sources. The analysis reveals that the program's implementation in Tucson was strong in the beginning, but after two years, the earlier success started to fade quickly. The shortcomings of program design became evident during the implementation phase and further in the inability of the administration to collect relevant data to demonstrate the program's success. The consequences of the inability to provide data for program evaluation influenced the enthusiasm of the administrators and program partners, and weakened the political support. The reduction in the grant component contributed to overemphasis of the business development component thereby ignoring most community development aspects essential for the success of the program in Tucson. This study did not find evidence for the claim that round three of the empowerment zones program based on federal tax incentives contributes to the creation of new jobs and the attraction of new business in economically deprived communities in Tucson.
ContributorsAndonoska, Ljubinka (Author) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Thesis advisor) / Miller, Gerald J. (Committee member) / Svara, James H. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The passing of anti-immigrant legislation in the state of Arizona over the last decade has exacerbated an already oppressive system perpetuated by globalization and its byproducts, neoliberalism and neoconservativism. The social justice activist educators who live and work with the children and families most affected by these laws and policies must learn to navigate these controls if they hope to sustain their work. I have drawn from Freire's work surrounding the theories of praxis and conscientization to explain the motivation of these teachers, and the sociological theory of Communities of Practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998; & Wenger, McDermott, & Snyder, 2002), to explain how the group, Arizona Teachers for Justice serves as a space of learning and support for these educators. This dissertation is a multiple case study and has employed semi-structured interviews with four social justice activist educators to understand how social justice activist educators in Arizona cope and sustain their teaching and activism, particularly through their membership in groups such as Arizona Teachers for Justice. The teachers in this study are each at different stages in their careers and each teaches in a different setting and/or grade level. This cross section provides multiple perspectives and varied lenses through which to view the struggles and triumphs of social justice activist educators in the state of Arizona. The teachers in this study share their experiences of being singled out for their activism and explain the ways they cope with such attacks. They explain how they manage to fulfill their dedication to equity by integrating critical materials while adhering to common core standards. They express the anger that keeps them fighting in the streets and the fears that keep them from openly rejecting unjust policies. The findings of this study contribute to the discussion of how to not only prepare social justice activist educators, but ways of supporting and sustaining their very crucial work. Neoliberal and neoconservative attacks on education are pervasive and it is critical that we prepare teachers to face these structural pressures if we hope to ever change the dehumanizing agenda of these global powers.
ContributorsEversman, Kimberly A (Author) / Swadener, Elizabeth (Thesis advisor) / Sandlin, Jennifer (Committee member) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Many students in the United States are graduating from high school without the math skills they need to be considered college ready. For many of these graduates, who find themselves starting their higher education at a community college, remedial math can become an insurmountable barrier that ends their aspirations for a degree or certificate. Some students must take as many as four remedial courses before they are considered college ready. Studies report that between 60% and 70% of students placed into remedial math classes either do not successfully complete the sequence of required courses or avoid taking math altogether and therefore never graduate (Bailey, Jeong, & Cho, 2010). This study compared three low-level freshman math classes in one Arizona high school. The purpose of this study was to implement an innovative learning intervention to find out if there was a causal relationship between the addition of technology with instruction in a blended learning environment and performance in math. The intervention measured growth (pre- and posttest) and grade-level achievement (district-provided benchmark test) in three Foundations of Algebra classes. The three classes ranged on a continuum with the use of technology and personalized instruction. Additionally, focus groups were conducted to better understand the challenges this population of students face when learning math. The changes in classroom practices showed no statistical significance on the student outcomes achieved. Students in a blended online environment learned the Foundations of Algebra concepts similarly to their counterparts in a traditional, face-to-face learning environment.
ContributorsBolley, Staci (Author) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Thesis advisor) / Cruz, Heather (Committee member) / Barnett, Joshua (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The dissertation explores how participants view the relationships between democratic principles such as freedom, liberty, justice, and equality in work and home environments and their impact on the health and productivity of people living within these environments. This information can be used to determine the gap between legal democratic instruments established the published laws and rights and the participants understanding and awareness of these rights. The first step in effectively capturing information from the participants involved developing a virtual ethnographic research system architecture prototype that allowed participants to voice their opinions related to democracy and how the application of democratic principles in various lived environments such as the workplace and home can affect their health and productivity. The dissertation starts by first delving into what democracy is within the context of general social research and social contracts as related to everyday interactions between individuals within organizational environments. Second, it determines how democracy affects individual human rights and their well-being within lived environments such as their workplace and home. Third, it identifies how technological advances can be used to educate and improve democratic processes within various lived environments such that individuals are given an equal voice in decisions that affect their health and well-being, ensuring that they able to secure justice and fairness within their lives. The virtual ethnographic research system architecture prototype tested the ability of a web application and database technology to provide a more dynamic and longitudinal methodology allowing participants to voice their opinions related to the relationship of democracy in work and home environments to the health and productivity of the people who live within these environments. The technology enables continuous feedback as participants are educated about democracy and their lived environments, unlike other research methods that take a one-time view of situations and apply them to continuously changing environments. The analysis of the participant's answers to the various qualitative and quantitative questions indicated that the majority of participants agree that a positive relationship exists between democracy in work and home environments and the health and productivity of the individuals who live within these environments.
ContributorsBooze, Randall Ray (Author) / Romero, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Goul, Michael (Committee member) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The e-Retail industry has grown rapidly over the last few years and is projected to continue its upward trend as consumers shift from traditional channels to online channels. In March 2010, Forrester Research forecasted that online retail sales will grow by 10% a year for the next 5 years and e-Retail sales will amount to $249 billion by 2014. With intense competition for market share and profits, information systems and technology (IST) sourcing decisions are becoming increasingly important to e-Retail firms to support continued growth and market responsiveness. There are several aspects for e-Retailers to consider when formulating its IST sourcing strategy. Whether to choose make versus buy for technology assets and services has been addressed in both strategy and IS literature (Handfield et al. 1999, Leiblein et al. 2002, Wade and Hulland, 2004). Then there is the follow-up question of selecting a best-of-breed strategy or tighter partnership with a select group of vendors (Clemons et al. 1993, Kauffman and Tsai 2009). Few studies have looked at IST sourcing or proposed models and frameworks for evaluating IST sourcing decisions (Saarinen and Vepsalainen, 1994). Furthermore, these existing studies mainly address the antecedents of the decisions but not so much on their performance effects (Kauffman and Tsai 2009; Smith et al., 1998). The goal of this study is to extend the knowledge of IST sourcing for e-Retailers, a topic which has received limited attention (Kishore et al., 2004), by addressing a core problem: How should an e-Retailer develop and implement its IST sourcing strategy to accommodate the increase in consumer demand and IT complexity but still achieve high performance? The study introduces two theoretical models to examine organizational factors that influence an e-Retailer's IST sourcing strategies of make versus buy and partnership versus best-of-breed. The proposed models are tested using a panel data set of 307 e-Retail firms over the period of 2006 to 2010. The study opens up the black box of internal firm operations by introducing a granular view of IST sourcing decisions at both the value chain and e-Commerce architecture levels and examining the performance impacts of these strategic choices. This in-depth look at IST sourcing has yet to be explored in the literature.
ContributorsTsai, Juliana Yuh-Shun (Author) / Shao, Benjamin B. M. (Thesis advisor) / Goul, Michael (Committee member) / Santanam, Raghu T. (Committee member) / St. Louis, Robert D. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012