First Advisor

Sileo, Nancy M.

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

5-2020

Department

College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Teacher Education, Teacher Education Student Work

Abstract

This was a descriptive case study at a high-needs, comprehensive public high school in Northern Colorado, focused on teachers’ beliefs regarding building relationships with students in the context of a structured high school advisory. Participants were members of the ninth-grade advisory team, including the Coordinator, counselor, Zero Drop-out Student Interventionist, and fourteen content teachers. Each teacher had approximately twenty freshmen students, some of whom were also in their ninth-grade content courses. The author created and anonymously distributed an open-ended pre-questionnaire to the participants, whose responses were blind copied to an anonymous Google survey, collecting all responses within a Google spreadsheet viewed only by the researcher. Pre-questionnaire responses were used to finalize a semi-structured interview, which was subsequently conducted by a guest researcher with three smaller teacher focus groups, as well as with the three administrative staff members on the ninth-grade advisory team. Interviews were videotaped and later transcribed verbatim by an independent editor, together with description of nonverbal communication behaviors. Pre-questionnaires and interview notes were transcribed, de-identified and coded by an objective, paid analyst. The study was conducted from February through May, 2019. Results suggested that high school advisory can provide an avenue to foster positive and productive relationships between staff and students, and also provided potential methods for school leaders to reflect upon as they move forward, while basing decisions upon student performance and needs.

Extent

187 pages

Local Identifiers

Olson_unco_0161D_10851.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

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