The purpose of this capstone research was to develop a formal process for onboarding professional employees in the Easton Area School District. The Easton Area School District is the twenty-first largest school district in the state of Pennsylvania with 75 teachers qualifying as newly hired professional staff as defined by this study. This resea...
California University of Pennsylvania was originally founded in 1852 as a school offering classes to students of all ages. It expanded and refocused its vision to train teachers during its Normal School Era. Through the years, the school continued to evolve, as in 1928 it entered its Teachers College Era. By 1959, programs beyond Teacher Educati... Honors Thesis Advisor : Dr. Jason Kight.
As the world becomes increasingly more reliant on computer-based systems, there comes an increased need for better security measures to combat bad actors. Operating systems play a major role in securing sensitive information such as cryptographic data, private user information, and system files. In this paper, I outline the importance of operati... Honors Thesis Advisor, Dr. Weifeng Chen.
Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to enhance well-being through a reduction in stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms. They have also been shown to enhance working memory capacity, empathy and compassion among practitioners. The purpose of this study was to examine the mechanisms of infusing mindfulness-based interventions and mi...
To determine high school and collegiate certified Athletic Trainers’ perceptions of gender bias in the workplace. Research Advisor, Dr. Shelly DiCesaro.
With the goal of increasing both student accountability for learning and college readiness skills, many high schools have adopted the collegiate practice of the using final exams. Peters Township High School is one such school whose practice of using final exams has come under scrutiny. Very little research exists on the efficacy of this practic...
Certified personal trainers (CPTs) work with many individuals that have difficulty with the motivation to adhere to unsupervised exercise. Attributional retraining (AR) is a method designed to redirect the client’s perceived causal attributions for failure toward controllable factors. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to see if certi...
Many immigrants come to America and do not maintain their native languages. Some immigrants may not realize or acknowledge heritage language maintenance. Their children sometimes develop complications with their ethnic identity because of the absence of their heritage language. Others feel little to no connection with their ethnic identity and t... Honors thesis advisor: Susan Morris-Rutledge.
Paraprofessionals play an integral role in the academic, social, and emotional growth of students in a K-12 setting. However, they may not have the necessary skills, background, or education to effectively implement academic, social, and emotional supports for students that diminish their overall effectiveness. Moreover, special education parapr...
The Derry Area School District is currently the only school district in Westmoreland County that has both Agriculture and Horticulture CTE programs. The Derry Area School District is a small, rural school district that has seen a declining population in the geographical area, school district, and in the Agriculture and Horticulture CTE programmi... Doctoral Capstone Committee: Dr. Mary A. Wolf, Dr. Kenneth Bissell.
The purpose of this study was to recognize the persistent overuse injuries occurring in the overhead athlete and examine the ways these athletes have attempted to treat and prevent these injuries. Specifically this study examined the initial onset of these overuse injuries and exercises performed. Research Advisor, Dr. Thomas F. West.
In today’s educational world, teachers have been asked to acquire skills that support students with a variety of learning needs with little to no professional development to help them be effective. Personalized professional learning is a shift in how educator’s traditionally have been provided new learning, from sit-and-get, to a nontraditional ...
