Student characteristics and organizational differences as they relate to transfer

Sheldon, Caroline Quirion University of California, Los Angeles 2006 해외박사(DDOD)

This study draws from the social reproduction theory of Pierre Bourdieu, in particular Bourdieu's concept of habitus, in an attempt to uncover the means by which California community college students are channeled into particular transfer destinations, specifically, the California State University, the University of California, and four-year for-profit universities such as the University of Phoenix. Bourdieu's concept of habitus, operationalized in this study as ascribed characteristics of students, such as ethnicity, class, and gender, and organizational qualities of the community college, such as transfer rates, percentages of students receiving need-based aid and requiring remedial coursework, were examined in an effort to discern the effects of social background characteristics, academic experiences, and institutional effects in the transfer process. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to ascertain the predictive value and relative strength of each of the variables in the model. In addition, the relative risk ratios for three distinct contrasts were estimated. The risk ratios associated with the set of social, academic, and organizational qualities on transfer to the CSU were compared with those associated with transfer to the University of California and for-profit universities. Predicted probabilities, based upon ethnicity and financial need, of attending the most selective institution (i.e. the University of California) were also calculated. This procedure allowed for certain characteristics, such as full or part-time attendance or academic area of emphasis, to be held constant thus illuminating the effects of such variables as race, gender, and the transfer rate of the community college. For the total population of community college students, social background, academic experiences, and organizational characteristics had predictive effects on the transfer outcome. Specifically, the strongest predictors of transfer to the University of California were GPA, being Asian, and the transfer rate of the community college. Age exerted the strongest negative effect on transfer to the University of California. The strongest predictors of transfer to the for-profit segment were age, part-time attendance at the community college, being African American, and male. GPA exerted the strongest negative effect relative to the other predictors on transfer to the for-profit segment. For the total population of community college students, Asian males and females had the highest predicted probabilities of transfer to the UC while African American males and females had the highest predicted probabilities of transfer to the for-profit segment. For the traditional group of community college students, Asian males and females had the highest predicted probabilities of transfer to the University of California and Latino males and females had higher predicted probabilities of transfer to the University of California than white students. For the entire population of community college students, the transfer rate of the community college had no impact on the predicted probabilities of transfer to particular institutions; however, consistent with previous community college research, for the traditional subset of community college students, the transfer rate of the community college exerted a positive effect on transfer. Specifically, the predicted probability of transfer to the University of California was higher when students were enrolled at community colleges with higher transfer rates.

"Of the community, for the community": The Chicana/o student movement in California's public higher education, 1967-1973

Moreno, Marisol University of California, Santa Barbara 2009 해외공개박사

This study examines the Chicana/o student movement in Southern California colleges from 1967 to 1973. Using oral histories, movement newspapers, university archives, and government documents, I argue that Chicana/o student activists centered their organizational identities, activities, and goals on servicing the Mexican American community. Given the diminutive presence of Mexican Americans in higher education, student activists tapped into the social networks and resources, the collective identity, the ideology, and the tactics and strategies of the Chicano Movement to launch a Chicana/o student movement for educational equity. Using a case study approach, the dissertation focuses on four campuses, East Los Angeles College, the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of California, San Diego, and California State College, Long Beach to examine how students created organizations; participated in multi-ethnic coalitions; mobilized and affirmed non-white racial and gendered identities; and engaged in protest politics. This work reveals that in the course of participating in barrio and campus struggles, students build a sense of community, which in turn helped to develop and sustain the Chicano Movement's solidarity and collective action over a period of time. The intent of this study is to demonstrate the critical role of Chicana/o student activism in the Chicano Movement and California student movement. In addition to providing a voice for their barrios, Chicana/o student activists pressured state colleges and universities to act and expand on the 1960 Master Plan of Higher Education's mandate to service all segments of California's communities. Despite the Chicana/o student movement's inability to sustain its political momentum and to actualize all of its goals, it yielded significant institutional and cultural changes, among which include the creation of Chicana/o Studies departments and curricula; an increased enrollment of Mexican Americans and other Latina/os into higher education; and the production of a generation of professionals and leaders infused with an ethos of social justice and community service.

A typology of institutionalization for university-community partnerships at American universities and an underlying epistemology of engagement

Fleming, James Joseph University of California, Berkeley 1999 해외박사(DDOD)

Universities have always had ambiguous relationships with the communities of which they are located. The many intentional university-community partnerships which have been established on American college campuses in recent years have forced universities, against their natural inclinations, to come “down to earth”. Although they are part of their particular ecological settings, these American universities are not limited to those settings. In fact, if they were, they would not amount to much as universities. Like their European predecessors, the work of modern American universities is by nature placeless. The professional professoriate has as its main focus knowledge: its preservation, transmission, application, and generation—none of which can be captured easily nor held in a single place. As a result, American universities fit uncomfortably into the rootedness of their local communities. The university-community partnerships discussed in this study are newly-conceived cross-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder efforts that require non-traditional models of implementation and evaluation. Many are a response to the call for universities to apply their learning and research to relevant problems of consequence. Others represent an institution's attempt to survive in difficult urban surroundings. Still other partnerships originate from a university's obligation to lead by example and train future leaders. Three rationales are presented here as a way of discussing why these partnerships are established: survival/relevance, moral/civic, and epistemological. Partnerships with each of these rationales face institutional barriers to becoming a regular part of the culture of university life. The question of institutionalization of this particular type of university-community partnership is relatively new. As a result, there is a dearth of research concerning the factors that might influence institutionalization. This study seeks to fill that void. It is not an evaluation but, rather, it is an investigation into the factors that might influence the successful institutionalization of university-community partnerships. After reviewing the history of university-community partnerships, surveying several applicable theories of institutional change, and discussing the most recent developments in university-community partnerships; the author presents two important factors which are seen as central influences on institutionalization: the extent to which the knowledge task of the university-community partnership corresponds to the most highly valued concept of knowledge at the university; and the positive alignment of the rationale for the partnership with the generally-accepted primary purpose of the university. These two influencing factors are then explored through the use of three case studies which include a review of original grant proposals, semiannual reports, site-generated documents, site visits, and on-site interviews with university faculty/staff and community members who are involved in these partnerships. These institutionalization case studies of Community Outreach Partnership Centers funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development are presented as illustrative examples from which to learn. In analyzing the influences on institutionalization and the data presented in these case studies, a descriptive typology of university-community partnerships is offered along with an emerging epistemology of engagement which might support the institutionalization of university-community partnerships into the academic culture of American universities.

"American Indian Freedom Controversy": Political and Social Activism by Southern California Mission Indians, 1934--1958

Daly, Heather Marie University of California, Los Angeles 2013 해외박사(DDOD)

At the turn of the twentieth century, anthropologists and politicians alike predicted the extinction of American Indians. Yet, Native Americans survived, persevered, and instituted political activism concerning the United States federal Indian policies in that century. Drawing upon Bureau of Indian Affairs and State of California archival materials, oral histories, and tribal records, this dissertation addresses American Indian political movements in Southern California Mission Indian country in the years 1934-1958. This study focuses on the different factions on and off the Southern California Indian reservations and the federal Indian policies that inspired resistance within these communities. I argue that the implied passivity that the Bureau of Indian Affairs and reformers labeled California Indians was a myth. The political movements established during the first half of the twentieth century demonstrates that the Mission Indians had the required tools to maintain their tribal land and sovereignty. This dissertation starts with the impending implementation of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act and covers the administration of John Collier as Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the reactions to the Indian New Deal by the Mission Indians in Southern California. The Indian Reorganization Act stimulated grassroots movements on and off Indian reservations throughout the United States. I follow the groups that flourished in California during the years between the IRA and the passage of House Concurrent Resolution 108, which allowed for the termination of federal trust protections of Indian reservations that included California's Indian reservations. I evaluate how the shifting, yet static federal Indian policies contributed to political lobbying against the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the effective uses of media rhetoric on both sides of the issue. Finally, my study demonstrates how the actions of a few individuals in California Indian country successfully combated the Bureau of Indian Affairs' termination legislation, tribal factionalism, and the State of California. This accomplishment eventually allowed for the establishment of lucrative Indian gaming operations in the twenty-first century in Indian country.

Measuring versus molding: A case study on the link between teacher evaluation and the elements of success in a California high school

Wolf, Benjamin H University of Southern California 2006 해외박사(DDOD)

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether California's teacher evaluation system was accomplishing its stated purpose of improving instruction, and then, presumably, student achievement. With a need to meet the increasingly high standards of the No Child Left Behind federal accountability legislation, any method of improving instruction takes on a new importance. The research literature suggests that summative evaluation systems, like that used in California, do not have the impact on teaching and learning that formative systems of evaluation do. In order to test whether California's teacher evaluation system is effective, a group of fifteen thematic dissertation researchers from USC selected a variety of elementary, middle and high schools to conduct field studies. Each school that was selected met the criteria of being an urban school serving a low-socioeconomic population. Each school also had to have experienced positive student achievement over the last several years as measured by California's Academic Performance Index and results on the California Standards Tests. The point being, how were these schools so successful? Did teacher evaluation play a role, or were there other, more significant factors?. This study took place at Lemon Grove High School (pseudonym) in Southern California. The research methodology for this study included document analysis, survey, observation and interviews. After triangulating the data, the researcher concluded that California's system of teacher evaluation played no part in the school's success, nor did it lead to improved or changed teacher practices. Rather, the school has been successful because of specific curricular programs as well as a large professional development program and staff collaboration. The study concludes with a recommendation for the creation of a new, formative evaluation system that requires teachers to participate in activities that have been proven by research to improve instruction and learning; activities much like those practiced by Lemon Grove High School.

Beacons of hope and success provide college access lessons: Portraits of Mexican American students' university preparation and life histories

Andalon, Richard University of California, Los Angeles 2005 해외박사(DDOD)

Mexican Americans attend universities at disproportionately low rates. While much research identifies risk factors that impede Mexican Americans' access to higher education institutions, very few qualitative investigations exist documenting the factors that facilitate their successful preparation for universities. This study helps fill such gap. This in-depth qualitative study probes both risk and success factors in examining the college preparation and life histories generally of low socioeconomic Mexican American students who beat the odds and matriculate to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In reflecting on their journeys to this premier public university, the resilient college students in this study eloquently and vividly share their inspiring stories. Reflecting the diversity of the Mexican American community, this study includes the perspectives of American-born citizens, recent immigrants, students with upbringings in two-parent and single-parent households, and students with different college preparatory experiences, including those matriculating to the university upon high school graduation and those entering the university after completing community college transferable coursework. Five male and five female students participate in this study. The data come from personal interviews with students and from a focus group session with students. Grounded theory and a literature-based conceptual framework are the data analysis methods that help identify and shape the categories, influences, and themes of this study. Using portraiture, portraits convey the findings of this study. The students in this study speak of the people, programs, and psychosocial dynamics that influence their university preparation, providing both positive and negative accounts under each category. Regarding the people, students highlight parents, teachers, counselors, peers, and siblings. Students report on both academic and non-academic programs, including involvement in distinct curricula, outreach initiatives, and extracurricular activities. Concerning the psychosocial dynamics, students reveal their self-concepts, mention feeling a need to prove themselves, and share how they rely on faith and spirituality. The findings of this study can inform educators, researchers, and policymakers seeking to understand the salient factors and life conditions influencing the university preparation of low socioeconomic Mexican American students. Broadly, the findings can inform educational programs aimed at promoting the academic achievement and college-going rates of low socioeconomic Mexican American and other disadvantaged students.

The Chicano/a student movement in southern California in the 1990s

Mora-Ninci, Carlos Osualdo University of California, Los Angeles 1999 해외박사(DDOD)

This research conducted from 1993 to 1996 is on the genesis of the Chicana/o student movement in southern California centered on the struggle for Chicano and Chicana studies at UCLA in 1993; it is a study of the interactions between students and the Latino/a labor movement focused on the student movement for immigrant rights and ethnic studies in the Los Angeles area. It presents the theoretical question of national self-determination accounting for social theories of liberal, Marxist and nationalist background as debated by Chicano/as from the 1970s, and the alternative paradigm to Chicano/a nationalism. It is argued that a class struggle paradigm best accounts for the Chicano/a and immigrant movements of the 1990s. The problem regarding how the empirical procedures used in carrying out the research and how they connect with the theoretical framework, has led to the development of a methodology named ‘dialectical observation’ that combines social conflict and class analysis with ethnographic observation techniques. The discussion on the origins of the Chicano and Chicana student movement in Southern California emphasizes how students have consistently participated in independent mobilizations of the labor and community movements to promote social change, including the “Latino Americanization” of the Chicano/a student movement in the 1980s and 1990s. With the further description of contemporary changes in the system of California's higher education some of the exemplary labor problems appeared with graduate student employees, research staff, and faculty to show the social context where the Chicano student movement occurred. It emphasizes the rise of a new university labor movement in the 1990s as a hotbed for the student movement for Chicano/a and labor rights. The core empirical finding is that the revolt that led to the creation of the Cesar Chavez Center for Chicano/a studies at UCLA—a department at this major public university—revealed the contradictions regarding university, students and faculty contributed to the conflict between funding priorities and popular demands. The dissertation concludes with an analysis of the effects of the Chicano/a student and labor struggles against globalization, privatization and downsizing within the context of California's higher education, and further implications for the future of the Chicano/a movement.

The Construction of Social Meaning: A Matched-Guise Investigation of the California Vowel Shift

Villarreal, Daniel James University of California, Davis ProQuest Dissertat 2016 해외박사(DDOD)

Research on social meaning, which links language variation to the wider social world, often bases claims about the social meanings of linguistic forms on production (i.e., speakers' situational use of meaningful forms). In the case of the California Vowel Shift (CVS), an ongoing restructuring of the vowel system of California English that takes place below the level of conscious awareness, previous production research has suggested that the CVS carries social meanings of carefreeness, femininity, and privilege. Left unclear in these production-based claims is whether listeners actually pick up on and recognize the social meanings that speakers apparently utilize the CVS to transmit. In this research, a dialect recognition task with matched guises (California-shifted vs. conservative) forms the basis for exploring Californian listeners' reactions to the CVS, and how these reactions are mediated by perceptions of dialect geography. In short, this research focuses on listeners' reactions to the CVS in order to address a more fundamental question: How do listeners and speakers together participate in the construction of social meaning?. Stimuli for the main study task were drawn from excerpts of sociolinguistic interviews with 12 lifelong California English speakers from three regions of the state: the San Francisco Bay Area, Lower Central Valley, and Southern California. Guises were created from interview excerpts by modifying the F2 of each TRAP and GOOSE token via source-filter resynthesis methods. Californian guises featured backed TRAP and fronted GOOSE; conservative guises featured fronted TRAP and backed GOOSE. Ninety-seven Californians participated in a perceptual task in which they attempted to identify speakers' regional origin and rated speakers on affective scales. The results indicated that Californians recognize the CVS as Californian, as California-shifted guises were less likely to be identified as from outside California (but more likely to be identified as from Southern California). Listeners rated California-shifted guises higher on the scales Californian, sounds like a Valley girl, and confident, indicating a core of social meanings indexed by the CVS. Among listeners from the San Francisco Bay Area, the CVS indexes masculinity, but among Southern California listeners, the CVS indexes femininity. Listeners from across California also rated speakers who they believed to be from the same region as them higher on Californian, familiar, and sounds like me.. This research demonstrates that the social meanings of linguistic forms do not reside only in speakers' situational use of these forms, as listeners did not associate the CVS with carefreeness, femininity, or privilege, the social meanings of the CVS suggested by previous studies of California English production; instead, I propose an account of the indexical field that links perception and production by placing the core social meanings of the CVS uncovered by this research (Californian identity, sounding like a Valley girl, and confidence) at the center of the CVS's indexical field. This research also contributes to theory in perceptual dialectology and language change. In order to explain this study's finding that the CVS is associated with Southern California, this research introduces the perceptual-dialectological process of centrality: the identification of speakers who are believed to most exemplify the speech of a given region. Finally, this research suggests an attitudinal stance that allows changes from below such as the CVS to flourish: speakers are aware of the change in the community (at a tacit level, if not consciously) but do not believe that they are participating in the change.

Diversity and Distribution of California Dragonflies and Other Aquatic Taxa Over the Past Century

Damerow, Joan Elizabeth University of California, Berkeley 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

Climate and land-use change have altered and continue to affect the diversity, composition, and distribution of freshwater organisms throughout the world. This is particularly true in arid and semi-arid regions, where aquatic organisms may experience more pronounced reductions in available habitat with declines in precipitation, increases in water demand, and habitat degradation through human land-use. However, documentation of changes in taxonomic assemblages over long-time periods has been rare because of the difficulty in obtaining historical occurrence data. This dissertation used data from previously published literature, a resurvey study, museum specimens, and enthusiast sightings to document changes in the occurrence rates and distribution of freshwater organisms throughout California over the past century. Summary information regarding freshwater taxa known to occur in California did not previously exist in a central publication. I therefore conducted a review of several primary groups of stream organisms found in the Mediterranean region of California and statewide. For this work, I gathered data from a variety of literature sources and museum specimens to summarize species composition and endemism in the region, and to identify data gaps and conservation priorities for the examined groups. The remainder of this dissertation focuses largely on changes in Odonata species diversity, composition, and occurrence rates over time in California. This charismatic group was ideal for study of change over time because of their relatively low diversity, well-known taxonomy, and the existence of sufficient historical and current specimen records and more recent enthusiast sightings of odonates. I conducted a resurvey of sites originally sampled for Odonata by Clarence H. Kennedy 1914-1915. This work involved surveys of odonates at 81 sites throughout central California and northwestern Nevada, 45 of which were directly comparable to Kennedy's original sites. I found that while site-level species richness has not changed significantly, assemblages have become more homogeneous across sites. Habitat generalists have generally expanded in the extent of their distribution while habitat specialists have declined. In examining current local and regional factors influencing the occurrence of Odonata species in this region, I found that species occurrence was higher during site visits with higher degree-days, especially for highly mobile groups, including dragonflies and migratory species. The probability of presence across species was lower in highly urban sites, particularly for habitat specialists. Overall, both regional and local factors influenced the occurrence of odonates in the study with implications for conservation. A large component of this dissertation included development and analysis of a database of over 33,000 Odonata occurrence records throughout California over the past century. This database included specimen records from museums in California and large odonate collections elsewhere, as well as statewide enthusiast sightings from recent years. I noted that these unstandardized data contain biases with regards to uneven sampling effort, which must be addressed in analysis. Subsequent analyses of occurrence records before and after 1975 indicated that Odonata distribution may have generally shifted northwards with temperature warming and to lower minimum elevations in response to increased summer water-availability in low-elevation agricultural regions. Similar to results from the resurvey study, the museum specimen data indicated that highly mobile migratory species have increased while habitat specialists have declined. I concluded that a combination of sampling biases, species traits, and climate that have influenced the probability of detection of Odonata species over the last century.

A case study of promising practices in the prevention of sexual assault in postsecondary institutions

Jones, Mark University of Southern California 2014 해외박사(DDOD)

Sexual assault on college campuses is still a problem. About 20% of college females experience sexual assault and 6.1% of college males are also sexually assaulted. Nationwide 2%-3% of sexual assaults are reported. Institutions choose sexual assault prevention programs with little knowledge about the needs of the student population or the desired outcomes of the programs. Universities have been largely unsuccessful in reducing the rate of sexual assault on campus. This purpose of this study was to research best practices in sexual assault prevention programs at one university in southern California. The study considered programs that the university used to increase empathy in men, the perceptions of the staff who presented those programs, and finally, the systems and structures that existed to contribute to an anti-sexual assault culture and climate. This was a qualitative study using interviews from nine participants, observations or student and parent orientations, and observations of the campus to answer the research questions. Interviews of the participants were transcribed and then coded which revealed separate themes that established themselves through the interviews. Findings from the study showed that most of the interviewees referred to the culture and climate of the university as positive and contributing to the overall welfare of the students. The ability of the student service offices to collaborate with one another emerged as another theme. Lastly, the programs that the university uses emerged as the last theme, but the culture and climate and the ability to collaborate across disciplines stood out in the interviews and became the dominant finding. Universities tasked with choosing a sexual assault prevention programs can benefit from the results of this by using the best practices of Citrus-Arrow University and adapting them to their own university and student population.