In the United States' technologically advanced society, high school students should be educated in life skills to help them understand the context and impacts of decision-making that will assist and develop a more effective transition to young adulthood. Life skills have been largely defined as skills and abilities that improve behavior, critical…

The increased focus on globalism and globalization in the world has added new dynamics to the roles expected of educators in international schools. As school seek to ready their students to navigate this increasingly complex world, they are confronted with the charge of developing within them a host of capacities categorized under the aegis of…

Historically, traditional education systems and most scholarship have focused on the academic outcomes of schooling as well as the economic benefits of education for individuals (such as earnings) and societies (such as economic growth). While acknowledging the importance of such outcomes, this study instead focuses on the "social outcomes of…

The aim of this confirmatory grounded theory case analysis was to investigate the perceptions of high school civics teachers on the new Illinois civics curriculum and how this relates to concepts of citizenship. This qualitative study involved focus groups consisting of 20 public high school civics teachers to investigate the use of the…

The importance of technology in education has never been more evident since the COVID-19 pandemic. Seemingly overnight teachers throughout the world had to adapt their pedagogy by incorporating technology in every aspect of learning. Schools must continue to prepare students to thrive in our digital society. This preparation requires tech savvy…

This study addresses common assumptions about women of the borderlands while embracing a transformative consciousness in understanding, making, and reclaiming the meaning of citizenship for Mexican American women from the Rio Grande Valley. This critical ethnography recognizes Chicana Feminist epistemologies as a form of knowledge. Therefore, this…

I set out to understand the teaching and learning of immigration in social studies classrooms through a comparative case study of four veteran public school teachers and their students in a single district located in a post-industrial city in the upper Midwest. I hoped to better to understand the content that teachers addressed, the pedagogy and…

The intersecting issues that this study addresses are the lack of engagement in civic opportunities for underserved youth and the environmental injustices that disproportionately impact marginalized populations. To address these issues, the purpose of this youth participatory action research (YPAR) investigated how a high school science teacher…

The future of the nation, and the future of world civilization, will soon rest in the hands of today's youth (Kleon & Rinhart, 1998). Youth organizations such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and 4-H provide lifelong leadership and life skills that youth of all ages will continue to use throughout their life. Leadership and positive youth…

In Florida, civic illiteracy among middle and high school students is a pressing concern despite state initiatives to increase civic competence (Florida House of Representatives, 2019; FLDOE, 2023b; Florida Department of State, 2023). Recent scores on state civics and social studies standardized assessments reveal a disheartening fact--an average…

American politics today is the culmination of historical, political, social, geographic, and economic events that have significantly impacted this country. Over the last year, America and the world have been tested to political, social, and economic extremes not seen in over a century because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Both the 2020…

This study examines the movement to integrate LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) history into high school US history courses. Using such primary sources as government documents, classroom resources, and organizational agendas, and oral history interviews with teachers, gay rights activists, and scholars, the study probes grassroots…

This dissertation study investigated how immigrant youth attending two different high schools for late-arrival immigrants in New York City constructed civic belonging by attending to their everyday enactments of citizenship across the contexts of school, neighborhood and home. Civic belonging refers to the embodied social practices by which…

The Virginia High School League is a private, non-profit organization whose member schools include public high schools and one private school in the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia High School League Organization, 2015). This organization manages and supervises athletics and other extracurricular activities such as forensics, debate, drama and…

Black, Latine, and Indigenous students continue to face inequities in high school Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) outcomes in the United States (US). Racial disparities between teachers and students contribute to this issue, as teachers of color represent less than thirty percent of public-school educators, while most US…