2024 Doctoral Capstone Projects

School districts today are facing an increased need for mental health support for students. This mixed-methods study analyzed the perceptions of the school climate by both students and teachers in the fifth and sixth grades at Penns Valley Elementary and Intermediate School, using two trauma-informed interventions: therapy dogs and mentoring. The purpose of this study was to determine if therapy dogs and mentoring could positively affect school climate, thereby providing resources for mental health support. Four research questions guided the study. The first two questions focused on the relationship between mentoring and therapy dog interventions and student perceptions of school climate while the third and fourth research questions focused on teacher perceptions of school climate when therapy dog and mentoring interventions were implemented in the classroom. Attendance, threat assessment, risk assessment, office discipline referral, and student survey data were collected to analyze student perceptions of school climate through qualitative and quantitative measures. A survey of teachers participating in the mentoring or therapy dog intervention was used to collect qualitative data on teacher perceptions of school climate. The research study analysis showed a positive relationship between student and teacher perceptions of school climate when the trauma-informed interventions of mentoring and therapy dog were implemented.

National, state, and local research has emphasized the importance of student attendance and engagement and the impact of school culture within urban education. The Capstone project focused on identifying educational indicators' systemic and individual outcomes within two urban high school programs. The targeted focus areas included 9th and 10th grades for the key indicators of student attendance, school activities, and on-track career readiness. The School Improvement Staff Survey (Survey) was also offered to teachers in 9th and 10th grades to identify the relationship of staff working directly with students and the response to engaging students toward educational attainment. The purpose of the quantitative study was to investigate the relationships between educational indicators using the readily collected data sources and the results of the Survey. The analysis showed that the indicators of student engagement paired with the school climate Survey positively supported the student outcomes in the three educational indicators. The research reported results that, when coordinated, provide the foundation for sources of information to improve student engagement in the high school experience. The District’s focus on data-driven decision-making has the potential to show improved reporting and outcomes in student and staff engagement in the high school programs. Prioritizing this work within District-supported plans will further validate the measures paired with future interventions and support for students and staff in the high school programs, offering a promising outlook for the future.

Community colleges face unique challenges in educating students due to their open-access policies and the need to retain students through successful completion of courses, especially those identified as barrier courses. This study examined the impact of applying a mandatory tutoring requirement in a first-year writing course to increase course success rates and writing proficiencies. A Communications-121 writing course taught at a community college in Southeastern Pennsylvania was identified as one of the top 10 barrier courses with a low course success rate of 62%. In order to address this issue, a quasi-experimental study was designed to examine the impact of three different tutoring models on course success rates: mandatory, embedded, and voluntary. The study also explored the relationship between at-risk student populations (first-generation, ethnicity, and Pell Grant recipients) and the various tutoring models. The mandatory tutoring intervention used in this quantitative study was not shown to be the best model; however, there was a positive relationship between at-risk students and the mandatory tutoring model. Exit surveys also showed that a majority of students who used tutoring services reported that they would use a tutor in future courses and would recommend tutoring to their classmates.