Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Religious education|Sociology'

This research looks at HMI through the context of marriage and family life of Pentecostal faith communities and how a religious educative and ministerial lens can strengthen such programs in local churches. Through historical and secondary analyses, the researcher examines the history, evolution and examples of recent HMI evaluations. The study is informed by, recent sociological studies, feminist theology and religious education experts. The work proposes how Healthy Marriage Initiatives within congregational settings can be strengthened through religious educative, spiritual, and pastoral responses to marriage and family life within faith communities.

This mixed methods research investigated how young adult alumnae from a Catholic female high school perceive the impact of their high school service experience concerning their "beliefs" about the importance of service, current "engagement" in service, and their beliefs about and engagement with four Catholic Social Teaching principles (life and dignity, care for the poor, solidarity and common good, and rights and responsibilities) related to social justice.

This research draws data from young adult alumnae from a Catholic female single-sex high school in a metropolitan city of the United States. The data collection included a web-based survey (N=131), individual interview (n=9), and school documents review. Catholic theology of the human person, and Catholic social teaching principles served as the conceptual framework for data analysis.

The quantitative data revealed that Catholic high school service program experience positively impacts participants' "beliefs" about the importance of service (65%), and the importance of four Catholic social teaching principles (73%). The qualitative data corroborates with the quantitative findings. However, participants lacked translating their beliefs in to action with only 42% reporting as "engaged" in service. Although a majority of participants (60%) reported as engaged in activities related to four CST principles, in reality only 25% are significantly engaged in service in the past 12 months. Catholic educators are invited to examine their service pedagogy and address factors that contribute to low level of service engagement. Further research is suggested to identify factors that would raise the level of service engagement in alumnae's young adult life.

As people groups have immigrated to the United States, churches have struggled to keep up with the demands of discipleship. Culture, language, and communication have proved to be formidable challenges, particularly when the written materials used to disciple people are construed with an inherent American bias. This research project sought to address this ministry problem by utilizing the concept of cultural transposition. By having a multicultural work group transpose a portion of American-based discipleship materials, this project attempted to determine whether the transposed materials are more understandable to a multicultural church congregation than the original. The study also analyzed the interactions among the transposition group to identify common problems that culture groups experience in understanding American-based materials.

There is an abundance of research concerning diversity issues in American classrooms. However, researchers have not provided enough attention to religious goals of Muslim parents and their experiences with educational institutions. For this qualitative study, the researcher interviewed 15 Muslim parents, eight females and seven males, to explore how participants’ experiences and expectations influence the way they negotiate their religious needs with schools/preschool in Southern California. The results showed that cooperation and negotiations were key strategies adopted by Muslim parents to maintain relationships with educational organizations. Schools accommodated religious practices when requested and parents negotiated their needs when necessary. Findings also showed that participants connected the school’s role with academic learning and that teachers lacked accurate knowledge of Islam. There was a sense of restraint among participants. Participants did not want to share the name of their child’s school/preschool or materials shared by the school.

Problem No formal study that considers the influence of the family, church, school, peers, media, and Adventist culture on the denominational loyalty, Christian commitment, and religious behavior of Adventist young people of Puerto Rico has previously been conducted. Therefore, pastors, parents, teachers, church leaders, and administrators have no data on which to base their assessment of the religiosity of Adventist young people.

Method This study used youth ages 14 to 21 from the youth sample of the Avance PR study conducted in 1995 in Adventist schools and churches in Puerto Rico. For the analysis, the sample was divided. When studying denominational loyalty, 704 baptized Adventist youth were used; when studying Christian commitment and religious behavior, 1,080 Adventist and non-Adventist youth were used.

Results The relationship between 34 family, church, school, peers, media, and Adventist culture independent variables and three religiosity dependent variables (denominational loyalty, Christian commitment, and religious behavior) was studied. Twenty-eight of the 34 variables had a significant relationship with all three religiosity variables: 10 family variables, seven church variables, one school variable, two peers variables, two media variables, and six Adventist culture variables. The remaining six variables had a significant relationship with only one or two of the three religiosity variables. The strength of relationships between religiosity and 22 of the independent variables varied by gender, age, family status, years lived in United States, and number of times families moved in last five years.

The model predicting denominational loyalty showed that youth are more likely to have a strong denominational loyalty when parents enforce Sabbath standards, there is a thinking environment in the church, quality sermons are preached in church, there is a warm environment in church, youth's best friends are religious, youth agree with Adventist standards, and youth agree with Sabbath standards. The model predicting Christian commitment showed that youth are more likely to have a strong commitment to Christ when there is unity in their families, there is a thinking environment in the church, there is a warm environment in the church, quality sermons are preached in the church, youth's best friends are religious, youth agree with Sabbath standards, and youth comply with at-risk standards. The model predicting religious behavior showed that youth are more likely to have a strong religious behavior when the parents lead frequent family worships, there is a thinking environment in the church, quality sermons are preached in the church, youth's best friends are Adventist, youth's best friends are religious, youth agree on Adventist standards, and youth agree on Sabbath standards.

The variables that appeared in all models of religiosity of youth were the church's thinking environment, the church's sermon quality, youth's best friends religiosity, and youth's agreement on Sabbath's standards. Furthermore, the strongest predictor for denominational loyalty was the youth's agreement on SDA standards; the strongest predictor for Christian commitment was family unity; and the strongest predictor for religious behavior was the church's thinking environment.

Conclusions My conclusions based on this study conducted in Puerto Rico are consistent with conclusions of other researchers in the United States that family, church, school, peers, media, and Adventist culture factors are important predictors of youth's denominational loyalty, Christian commitment, and religious behavior. Adventist culture and church have the strongest influence on denominational loyalty. Family and church have the strongest influence on Christian commitment. Church and Adventist culture have the strongest influence on religious behavior. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine the transition process as alumni of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship sought to find their place in faith communities after they graduated from university. Interview data revealed the process of finding a faith community was often intricately connected with each person's identity formation process. If the desired qualities were not found in faith communities, a selection process ensued where each graduated determined which unique set of qualities would not be compromised. These qualities were often indicative of each person determining what he or she would stand for in the world. Data reveal they were looking for an identity fit and companionship so they might keep growing. Numerous findings emerged which have educational and sociological implications for future graduates, leaders of faith communities, and other stakeholders who care about their transition process. The researcher was conducted in the Chicago area but was designed so the study might be duplicated in other cities and with other populations of twenty-somethings.

Faith-based school-family-community partnerships have been a federal mandate over the past decade, yet little has been written about the outcomes of these faith-based partnerships. A need exists to understand if the potential in these faith-based partnerships is indeed realized in positive outcomes for students and schools. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a faith-based school-family-community partnership, Just Love. Just Love is a faith-based school-family-community partnership between a large suburban church and a Title 1, urban elementary school, Charisma Elementary School (Charisma ES), implemented in what is considered a "failing school". Just Love's purpose was to have the volunteers from the church provide love, care, supportive adult relationships and service to the teachers, students, and parents of Charisma ES through a comprehensive, systemic program: Just Mentor (i.e., a school-based mentoring program), Just Connect (i.e., a classroom adoption program), and Just Rewards (i.e., a school wide student incentives/rewards and parent involvement program). The Bryan and Henry (2012) School-Family-Community Partnership Process Model was used in developing Just Love.

The Model for Collaborative Evaluations (MCE) was used in this evaluation to actively engage stakeholders during the evaluation process and to answer the evaluation questions. A mixed methods research design was used. Differences in student outcomes (i.e. academic, behavior and attendance) were examined between Charisma ES and another matching school without a faith-based school-family-community partnership were analyzed with descriptive statistics, paired T-tests, and mixed ANOVAs. Student outcomes were also investigated relevant to different aspects of the Just Love programs including adopted classrooms compared to non-adopted classrooms and mentored students compared to non-mentored students.

In addition, this study gave 20 children (i.e., mentees) who had experienced all aspects of the Just Love programs an opportunity to share their perceived satisfactions, experiences, challenges and recommendations regarding Just Love through the method of photo elicitation including picture selection and interviews. The transcribed data from the interviews and the pictures used in the photo-elicitation process were analyzed using thematic analysis with a focus on capturing the voices of the students.

Student outcome data were collected for three years from 2010-2013, with 2009 as a baseline year. The findings from the quantitative aspect of this study revealed that students in Charisma ES made significantly greater gains in reading than students in Joseph ES following the implementation of the partnership. Further, number of disciplinary referrals decreased dramatically at Charisma ES in contrast to Joseph ES whose disciplinary referrals increased. Attendance rates differed significantly between the two schools with students in Joseph Elementary School having higher attendance rates than students in Charisma Elementary School.

On average, both adopted and non-adopted classes made gains in reading in each of the three years although adopted classes appeared to have higher reading scores in 2011-2012 than non-adopted classes. The average number of disciplinary referrals per class was lower for adopted classes than for non-adopted classes in 2011-2012, one academic year after the Just Love partnership program was implemented. Concerning attendance, there were no significant differences in attendance rates between students in adopted and non-adopted classes at Charisma ES.

Mentored students at Charisma made significant improvements in reading. They also had a dramatically lower average number of disciplinary referrals than non-mentored students in 2012-2013, just two years after the Just Love partnership was implemented. When compared to non-mentored students, mentored students had significantly higher attendance than non-mentored students in 2011-2012, just one year after the Just Love partnership began. Further, attendance appeared to have a positive relation to the number of years students were mentored.

Findings from the qualitative aspect of this study were captured using thematic analysis of the children's perceived satisfactions, experiences, challenges and recommendations concerning Just Love. The six categories that emerged from the data were (a) perceptions of Just Love, (b) positive feelings, (c) positive relationships and connectedness, (d) classroom and school climate, (e) experiences, and (f) support and resources. Each of these categories comprised a number of themes that aligned with identified protective factors and developmental assets necessary for the resiliency of and successful outcomes for children.

Taken together, the findings reveal that Just Love, a faith-based school-family-community partnership contributed to improved student outcomes in reading achievement, behavior and attendance and provided important protective factors and developmental assets for the children in Charisma ES. The Just Love partnership program presents a viable model for schools, school districts, and faith-based and community organizations that have a desire to foster resilience in children at-risk, generate positive academic, behavior, and attendance outcomes for children and decrease the chances of children growing up and developing risky behaviors. Implications for practice, training, evaluation, policy, and future research are discussed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Catholic colleges and universities in America have significantly changed philosophically, demographically, legally, and financially during the past 5 decades. Since the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, there has been considerable focus on attempting to accurately describe the Catholic identity for institutions affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church. Called to embrace the modern world, Catholic institutions of higher learning have been challenged to retain their distinctiveness even as they have become more closely aligned with secular institutions within the academy. Because of this convergence of institutional similarities, how does a potential student come to understand institutional Catholic identity during the search process? With over 230 Catholic degree-granting institutions to choose from in the United States alone, the task of determining a “best-fit” for the student can be challenging. It is important to have a framework for independently determining the strength of institutional Catholicity for a student seeking a uniquely Catholic undergraduate experience.

Specifically, this research identifies a set of 15 signal features for identification of a distinctively Roman Catholic institution of higher education within a framework for understanding institutional positioning with respect to the Roman Catholic Church from an external, or off-campus, perspective. In addition to the exploration of public documentation and the campus environment, select faculty and student leaders were interviewed at “Holy Catholic College” (a pseudonym) to understand their perspectives on the strength of Catholicity of their particular institution in the development of the framework and associated signal features.

This qualitative study examined the process of adopting online education at three private colleges. All three institutions participating in the study were private Catholic colleges that offered their first online courses in the late 1990s. The research question posed for this study was: Within the participating institutions, how did online education get started and what was the process for its development?

Findings from this research indicated that, for an institution to successfully implement online education, four elements emerged: (a) some form of infrastructure needed to be in place that could support online education, (b) a latent force, referred to as an engine, was necessary to provide ongoing support, (c) an innovator, who had a strong interest in online education, was imperative, and (d) a bridge builder, who provided credibility, communication, and coordination between stakeholders, was critical to the sustainability of the online initiative. The institution successfully implementing online education also needed significant amounts of personnel, funding, and technology.