2020 Capstones

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Theresa Schenker
Department of German

Abstract:  The last twenty years of PISA data on the German education system have shown that the country’s educational outcomes are some of the most inequitable within the OECD, with a higher-than-average correlation between student background and achievement outcomes. Scholarship has identified the root cause of this inequity as the highly differentiated secondary school system, which is one of a few systems that still track students as young as 10 years old. This scholarship has not, however, evaluated why this system persists, despite evidence of negative outcomes. Even with available research on the negative externalities of Germany’s tracking structure, Germany has made few changes to its intense stratification. The state of Hamburg has, in particular, experienced severe pushback from conservatives and parents when attempting to restructure its school tracking system. Using a discourse analysis of debates on reducing tracking within Hamburg, this paper posits that opportunity hoarding—that is, parents with more social capital maintaining certain advantages through ingrained systems that are theoretically open to all—could be a primary reason that Germany’s between-school tracking system has persisted, despite overwhelming evidence of its harmful effects. This paper will analyze the effects of parental advocacy on the process of reducing school stratification to attempt to explain why Germany is holding on to this traditional tracking system. The findings in this paper have implications for international discussions about opportunity hoarding and about the purpose of public education.  

Adviser: Talya Zemach-Bersin

Second Reader: Kathryn Dudley
American Studies Program

Abstract:  As an American Studies major, I’ve gained a critical awareness of injustice that I’ve always assumed would lead to social change. But I’ve also begun to wonder whether this critical awareness just allows my peers and I to sound smart in the seminar room, allowing the very violence and inequality we are learning about to continue. To explore this question, I interviewed recent graduates of American Studies and analyzed how they spoke about the impact of their education. I show how the graduates used intellectual terms like “interesting” throughout their interviews, illuminating their distance from the injustices they studied. This distance is fundamentally tied to a social construction of whiteness that the graduates mobilized to distinguish themselves from others. In some cases, they were able to convert their critical awareness into social justice careers, gaining further financial and social capital from their education. Outside of these careers, their academic frameworks for privilege and injustice seemed to obstruct or replace concrete ways of acting against that injustice. The compatibility between the critical examination of injustice and the accumulation of privilege shows the limits of education oriented toward social change.

Adviser: Grace Kao

Second Reader: Winston Lin
Department of Statistics and Data Science

Abstract:  This capstone project engages with Value-Added Modeling (henceforth VAM) through a mixed-methods approach. While other works on VAM tend to either follow primarily qualitative (i.e. case studies, proposals of alternative evaluation systems, analysis of political rhetoric) or quantitative (i.e. analysis of data, development of econometric methods) methodologies, I o er a mixed-methods analysis. In combining these methodologies, I endeavor to engage with VAM in a more holistic and comprehensive manner than previous literature on the subject. Specifically, I provide an analysis of the fundamental bene ts and drawbacks of VAM from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, analyze real-world case studies, and an evaluate recommendations for potential alternatives. Through this wide-ranging analysis, I ground these proposals in the research literature from a variety of inter-disciplinary fields and perspectives. Furthermore, I argue that teachers can have a substantial impact on their students, and improving evaluative systems can better equip teachers to serve their students’ needs.

Keywords: Value Added Modeling, Teacher Evaluation, Mixed Methods Approaches

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Michael Kaplan
School of Medicine

Abstract:  This capstone focuses on the developmental and academic effects of trauma in early childhood on children aged 3-5, specifically trauma caused by forced separation from family members during or after immigration. It explores the literature on attachment theory and the effects of separation, as well as current research on developmentally appropriate trauma-informed interventions. In an attempt to create easily accessible materials that aid in trauma recovery, the project then focuses on children’s media that engage pre-kindergarten age children. The final portion of the project is the creation of a series of developmentally appropriate videos aimed to provide children who have been forcibly separated from family members with tools to cope with the trauma. These videos model language to discuss and identify feelings, and somatic exercises to help cope with trauma symptoms. They are accompanied by a guide for parents/guardians with questions for engagement with the child on the content. 

Adviser: Talya Zemach-Bersin

Second Reader: Jacqueline Goldsby
African American Studies

Abstract: This capstone will analyze interventions into university pedagogy based on the teaching practices of Audre Lorde, Toni Cade Bambara, June Jordan, and Adrienne Rich. It begins with a historical introduction to the role of these four women in university activism in the late 1960s and early 1970s inside and outside the classroom. Analysis of the development of Black Studies and university pedagogy since this time reveals gaps in the fulfillment of the student-driven movement’s goal that are still extremely relevant to questions of institutional power and access today. Next, this paper provides concrete pedagogical and methodological strategies for present day university teaching grounded in the work of these four revolutionary women. This portion will pull from archival research of teaching materials, notes, and correspondence as well as subsequent scholarship on pedagogy. 

Adviser: Richard Hersh 

Second Reader: Talya Zemach-Bersin
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  Many students encounter formal mathematical proofs for the very first time in college. The process of learning to write these proofs is challenging by nature and often poorly facilitated, imposing a barrier to studying more advanced mathematics. This study investigates the exact nature of this learning process, and in particular the role of inductive learning, to better understand how to improve student experiences. Through interviews with past students of introductory proof-based math courses at Yale, either Math 225 or Math 230, this capstone finds that learning to write proofs is a primarily inductive process. More so than lecture, homework is crucial to this kind of learning, specifically problems where the student needs to consult teaching figures, their peers, or the internet for help. Within the framework of inductive learning, the hints and solutions students gain access to serve as examples of proofs, from which they can identify trends and extract insights. This capstone also investigates the consequences of the inductive teaching method on student behavior, especially when not executed well. Students turn to collaboration and self-learning, but also become heavily dependent on online resources, which harms student confidence. I recommend that instructors establish clearer expectations regarding student learning and provide more opportunities for students to gain exposure to proof examples central to the inductive learning process. This grants students greater agency and empowers them to take control of their learning. 

Adviser: Richard Hersh 

Second Reader: Talya Zemach-Bersin
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  Racial disparities in outcomes represent one of the most troubling issues in healthcare. The source of this problem lies not only in access to care, but the interactions and judgements that play out once patients are in the room. In response to these troubling issues, providers have turned towards the concept of “cultural competency” in the education of medical providers. The widespread adoption of these practices, however, has outpaced thorough research on its efficacy; much of the analyses of cultural competency education’s ability to significantly reduce health disparities, or even bias more generally, remains inconclusive. More insidious are the historical vestiges of race-minded medicine, ideas of multiculturalism, normativity and, race essentialism, that constrain cultural competence’s pedagogical usefulness. Engaging with primary sources and historical texts, literature reviews and contemporary medical pedagogy, this paper assesses how history informs the continued use of cultural competence concepts in medical practice. As such, this paper is situated at the intersection of American medical history, racial justice, and ethics and empathy education in medicine. Several core assumptions of cultural competence are identified; mainly cultural-racial conflation, cultural positivism, and lack of structural fluency. Ultimately, the findings of this paper conclude a systemic and pervasive insufficiency of cultural competence ideology and application. Further, it is proposed that we no longer rely solely on the concept of cultural competency and instead adopt pedagogies related to cultural humility, critical health studies and structural competency as addenda to cultural competence education for the medical profession.  

Keywords:  Cultural Competency, Structural Competency, Critical Health Studies, Cultural Humility, Social Justice in Medicine, Medical Education, Race and Medicine 

Adviser: Talya Zemach-Bersin

Second Reader: Matthew Makomenaw
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  This capstone is a two-part creative project. The first part is a traditional academic essay that weaves together Indian boarding school history, two Lakota educational memoirs, and analysis of contemporary Standing Rock schooling. I will show how Standing Rock schools, differing little in some fundamental ways from Indian boarding schools of the past, continue to assimilate students through western epistemologies while neglecting our traditional Lakota knowledge, language, and culture. The second part is my personal intellectual journey. I reflect on my schooling starting in grade school and ending in my senior year of undergrad at Yale College. I discuss my personal theories for educational change on Standing Rock to not only decolonize - but indigenize. Through my schooling and reflections, I have concluded that we need to return to our own Indigenous ways of knowing. We need to teach through Lakota and come together as a community to heal from over a century of insidious brainwashing and cultural destruction.  

Adviser: Talya Zemach-Bersin

Second Reader: Anne Mishkind
Department of Political Science

Abstract:  What if America’s students were taught that being a good citizen meant questioning rules before rule breakers? This capstone is a project in putting theory and practice into conversation with each other to understand the civic ideals endorsed by Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a widely-celebrated, federally-funded behavioral management framework. Through political and critical theory, including work from Marxist, Black feminist, anti-capitalist, and anti-colonial educational theorists, I will re-describe PBIS to render it as new and subject its contribution to the building of American civic subjects and national character to critique. In a political discourse analysis detailing how power manifests subtly within the PBIS framework to influence students’ perceptions of legality, justness, deservingness, community, and threats to its sanctity, I make three main points. First, I explain that PBIS is a highly disciplinary program which renders authority figures infallible and prohibits students from contributing to the establishment of community norms. Second, I explain that the foundational philosophy of PBIS— behavioral psychology— is a reductive approach to educating children that de-emphasizes moral and interpersonal relationships in favor of appealing to base desires with external rewards. Finally, I will illustrate how PBIS creates a dichotomy of the moral and deserving rule follower and the immoral and undeserving rule breaker to fuel a political economy of abidingness. I will conclude with a discussion of the parallels between the aforementioned and the attitudes which underpin American community and identity, particularly as related to anti-immigrant and anti-poverty sentiment. I hope this capstone provokes questions about a world in which students are taught to locate and resist unjust power— to put humanity above law. 

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Anne Mishkind
Department of Political Science

Abstract: This project examines the role of the “turnaround principal,” who leads their school through the critical first years following a comprehensive restructuring. It conducts this examination through the lens of literature on school turnaround and principal longevity, and marshals best practices in school leadership, to grapple with the tension between the benefits of principal longevity and the practice of school turnaround. Synthesizing these diverse bodies of scholarship allows the project to take a distinct, critical view of turnaround, assessing the ways in which this kind of rapid, foundational change is effective and the ways in which it can be counterproductive. The project builds a theoretical framework by asking what the rationale is behind various school turnaround models and what the effects of principal longevity are on student performance. The project adds uniquely to the sizable field of scholarship on school transformation and building leadership by combining findings from both fields to develop a stronger understanding of what effective leadership through change looks like in the context of a struggling public school. 

Adviser: Carla Horwitz

Second Reader: Jessica Sager
Education Studies Program

Abstract:  Despite longstanding issues that parents, children, and the workforce face in the U.S. child care system, federal intervention has remained minimal. My interdisciplinary capstone project examines the ways in which the federal government can intervene in the child care market and attempt to improve access to quality child care throughout the United States. I propose firstly, that the federal government incentivize state and local policymakers to reform their zoning laws and promote an increase of child care options in regions where choice is limited. Secondly, I propose funding professionalization of the childcare workforce, to increase their wages, training, and support. Most importantly, I conclude that meaningful change would require federal investment at a level we as a nation have historically been unwilling to make.  

Adviser: Mira Debs

Second Reader: Ana Ramos-Zayas
Ethnicity, Race and Migration Program

Abstract:  In this capstone project, I will discuss the historical and current state of education for Latinx students in the United States, which has been and continues to be characterized by deep inequalities that have contributed to increasingly segregated schools for Latinx students, especially those from low-income communities, and steep achievement and opportunity gaps between Latinx students and their non-Latinx white peers. In order to address the challenges facing Latinx students in public schools, I propose and design a school specifically for Latinx students in San Antonio, Texas. This school will combine various educational models that have been employed in the education of Latinx students in isolated ways in a single school. I argue that such innovative schools designed specifically for students of color are necessary to grant these students the transformative and self-actualizing educational experiences they rightfully need and deserve.  

Adviser: Carla Horwitz

Second Reader: Katrina Garry
Yale College Dean’s Office

Abstract:  Sexual violence has been and continues to be a global epidemic. While some countries have taken a proactive approach to addressing this issue by mandating consent education as part of sex education programming that begins as early as kindergarten, the United States’ sex education system lags far behind, generally leaving consent unaddressed until (at the earliest) high school, and more often until college. These programs fail to recognize child development research that points to attitudes about respect and consent in relationships forming years earlier, in kindergarten-aged children. Using literature relating to rape culture and child development to analyze existing consent education programs, I suggest that a research-informed children’s book has great potential to introduce consent education into kindergarten by helping children recognize and respond to ways that rape culture is woven into our societal fabric. Specifically, the children’s book should aim to ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​teach children, in a digestible and gentle way, to both recognize and feel empowered to confront instances of sexual misconduct, filling a gap in existing children’s literature.  

Adviser: Richard Hersh

Second Reader: Christina Cipriano
Child Study Center

Abstract:  This capstone explores the concept of self-efficacy and provides an overview of why it is such an important factor influencing student motivation, engagement, and achievement. It examines how the promotion of student self-efficacy is currently limited by a range of classroom and environmental variables, as well as how teachers can modify these conditions to effectively cultivate student self-efficacy. By synthesizing literature from the scholarly fields of self-efficacy, mastery learning, trauma-informed teaching, and anti-racist education (ARE), this capstone provides a theoretical framework for teachers to effectively promote self-efficacy for all students, thereby promoting optimal student motivation, engagement, and achievement. Implications of this framework include combatting socioeconomic and racial inequity, as well as ultimately diminishing the opportunity gap.  

Adviser: Anne Mishkind

Second Reader: Mira Debs
Education Studies Program

Abstract: Recent events, from the Harvard affirmative action lawsuit to the debate over New York City’s specialized high schools, have highlighted the ambiguous positionality of Asian Americans in school diversity, painting a picture of this community as a homogeneous model minority opposing school integration efforts. While scholars have long debated the position of Asian Americans as an ethnoracial group in America’s racial landscape, few have investigated the direct connection between this ambiguity and Asian American involvement in progressive movements. Therefore, this capstone project utilizes the context of New York City’s public school integration initiatives to examine how progressive movements can be inclusive of and responsive to the unique position and experiences of the Asian American community. To answer this question, I draw upon race theory and critical pedagogy to design a workshop with Asian American-identifying high school students on the issue of school segregation and integration, in collaboration with the youth-led organization IntegrateNYC. Together, this project hopes to serve as a resource for Asian American progressive youth activism, but also to complicate the Asian American narrative for a wider audience and underscore the importance of including diverse Asian American voices in contemporary sociopolitical debates. 

  Keywords: Asian Americans, school segregation, school integration, diversity, race, critical pedagogy, youth activism