Date of Award

1-1-2021

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Education Theory and Practice

Content Description

1 online resource (viii, 191 pages) : color illustrations.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Julie E. Learned

Committee Members

Brett L. Levy, Alex K. Kumi-Yeboah

Keywords

Highly Mobile, Literacy, New Students, Transiency, Student mobility, Transfer students, Education, Elementary, School attendance, Education, Urban, Academic achievement

Subject Categories

Educational Sociology | Education Policy | Elementary Education

Abstract

This dissertation explores the academic and social-emotional supports and constraints that impact the literacy learning of highly mobile students in an urban elementary school, utilizing interview, questionnaire, and achievement data from transient students and educational professionals who work with them. It examines a school year of highly mobile student experiences in literacy-learning across a wide range of factors and environments, considering student and educator observations, reflections, and participation, through different schools and across various settings in their current/newest school (in classrooms, at lunch, recess, rehearsals, and specials, working with social or academic service providers, etc.). This study’s theoretical framework was the Situated Learning Theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Engaging in practitioner research, I conducted a collective case study, examining mobile student literacy learning through multiple cases (Creswell, 2013; Yin, 2014). My study examined the issue of student mobility and how it appeared to impact literacy learning. This area of inquiry was studied in multiple cases that illustrated the issue. Cases were comprised of different students who met the definition of mobile students and were new to the focal elementary school at the time. This research focused on examination of school experiences that influence literacy success for these mobile students, and included information on how the students understood and interpreted these experiences. Data sources included open-ended interviews and memos on ethnographic interviews, student questionnaires, reflections and observations on learning and participation, literacy achievement scores, and student work samples.The accounts of highly mobile students and staff who worked with them, along with student achievement scores, indicated that certain academic and social-emotional supports were particularly useful to transient student literacy success and acclimation. Conversely, there were also academic and social-emotional challenges that impeded mobile student efforts to learn the literacy practices of their new community. These findings have implications for theory, practice, and policy, drawing on the idea that additional supports, programs, and mandate changes could enhance highly mobile student academic success. Student transiency is increasing throughout the United States. This dissertation examined academic and social-emotional supports and constraints that highly mobile students experience in relation to their literacy learning, and offered suggestions for ways schools, districts, and educational policy can support the literacy education and overall well-being of transient students. Through the processes of aligning instruction and assessments between schools, providing appropriate-leveled lessons and interventions for students, minimizing assessment time, and investing in supports that improve social-emotional health and school climate, the possibility of effecting changes that provide highly mobile students with the equitable, high-quality education they deserve can become a reality. Transient students are capable of deep learning and positively contributing to their school communities, and it is vital that policy and practice change to make space for their full participation. The accounts of highly mobile students and staff who worked with them, along with student achievement scores, indicated that certain academic and social-emotional supports were particularly useful to transient student literacy success and acclimation. Conversely, there were also academic and social-emotional challenges that impeded mobile student efforts to learn the literacy practices of their new community. These findings have implications for theory, practice, and policy, drawing on the idea that additional supports, programs, and mandate changes could enhance highly mobile student academic success. Student transiency is increasing throughout the United States. This dissertation examined academic and social-emotional supports and constraints that highly mobile students experience in relation to their literacy learning, and offered suggestions for ways schools, districts, and educational policy can support the literacy education and overall well-being of transient students. Through the processes of aligning instruction and assessments between schools, providing appropriate-leveled lessons and interventions for students, minimizing assessment time, and investing in supports that improve social-emotional health and school climate, the possibility of effecting changes that provide highly mobile students with the equitable, high-quality education they deserve can become a reality. Transient students are capable of deep learning and positively contributing to their school communities, and it is vital that policy and practice change to make space for their full participation. The accounts of highly mobile students and staff who worked with them, along with student achievement scores, indicated that certain academic and social-emotional supports were particularly useful to student literacy success and acclimation. Conversely, there were also academic and social-emotional challenges that impeded transient student efforts in literacy practices of their new community. These findings have implications for theory, practice, and policy, drawing on the idea that additional supports, programs, and mandate changes could enhance highly mobile student academic success. Student transiency is increasing throughout the United States. This dissertation examined academic and social-emotional supports and constraints that highly mobile students experience in relation to their literacy learning, and offered suggestions for ways schools, districts, and educational policy can support the literacy learning and well-being of transient students. Through the processes of aligning instruction and assessments between schools, providing appropriate-leveled lessons and interventions for students, minimizing assessment time, and investing in supports that improve social-emotional health and school climate, the possibility of effecting changes that provide highly mobile students with the equitable, high-quality education they deserve can become a reality. Transient students are capable of deep learning and positively contributing to their school communities, and it is vital that policy and practice change to make space for their full participation.

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