The interior lives of teachers have come into focus during the last three years of school in a global pandemic. The ways that teachers' lived experience impacts the choice to become a teacher, the way they approach their training, the choices they make in the classroom and ultimately who they are as a professional are defined by who they are and…

The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to explore how students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) tell stories about experiences transitioning into the collegiate environment in Nebraska. The problem addressed in this study was that students with ASD often do not have the available needed resources needed to successfully transition…

The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to capture how graduates of adult high school diploma and equivalency programs in California told their story of persisting in the completion of a high school diploma or equivalency certificate. The four types of motivation regulation involved in organismic integration theory were used as the…

The purpose of this study was to explore the personal narratives of five recent African American high school graduates, from several rural educational backgrounds, to understand the impact of ruralness on the construction of their mathematics learning process and mathematics identity. Narrative interviewing was used to gain valuable data which was…

Previous research has shown that Black males do not find schools to be safe spaces or places where they feel a sense of belonging. Instead, they do not feel welcomed (Brooms, 2019a). If students must spend 8 to 9 hours in a place daily, we will want that space to be somewhere they want to be. Findings from research conducted by Collins et al.…

High school athletes are not immune to mental health challenges. The persistent lack of state or national mental health guidelines for athletes has impacted high school athletes' abilities to access and apply resources in a mentally healthy manner. This can impact not only a high school athlete's career but can leave lasting effects on collegiate…

This dissertation examines the early history of St. Patrick's High School, an all-boys Catholic secondary boarding school located in the west-Kenyan town of Iten. While an institutional history, this work is primarily concerned with people - the students, teachers, coaches, administrators, and staff who populated St. Patrick's during the 1960s and…

The arrival of refugees over the past two decades changed the face of classrooms in Kansas City, Missouri, resulting in refugee youth being unprepared for post-secondary opportunities. This critical narrative study aimed to explore the lived experiences of African refugee youth (aged 18 and above) attending public high school in the Midwest United…

Those who care about US public schools face urgent challenges while schools remain significant sites of racial inequity (Crenshaw, 2022; Darling-Hammond, 1998). School leaders play a crucial role in shaping educational in/equity for students (DeMatthews et al., 2020; Grissom et al., 2021; Khalifa, et al., 2016). Meanwhile, the increasing demands…

This narrative study seeks to elucidate survivors' experiences of academic and social emotional learning during the high school years within the troubled teen industry, which includes privately operated wilderness therapy programs and residential treatment centers. The study illuminates how the loss of a traditional high school experience can have…

African American females have been historically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career fields. Even with recent initiatives to increase the STEM persistence across all populations, African American female representation has decreased by 1.6% while other underrepresented demographics have continued to rise.…

While little research has been conducted on Asian undocumented students in higher education, it was the powerful story of an Asian undocumented high school student, Tereza Lee, that inspired Senator Richard Durbin to co-author immigration legislation known as the 2001 DREAM Act. Tereza's story represents an important counter-story to what many…

This qualitative classroom-based study investigates the writing practices, choices and reflections of Latinx high school students during an instructional unit on writing testimonio. The study is grounded in a sociocultural theory of writing and draws from LatCrit and Testimonio to understand how writing about self as testimonio shapes the writing…

United States public schools post-Coronavirus Disease 2019 are experiencing a crisis as teachers leave the profession in record numbers, and enrollments in teacher preparation programs across the country continue to decline (Pelika, 2022). Simultaneously, Latinx students' populations continue to grow while Latinx educators struggle to stay in the…

Nothing is consistent but change, and that yields true to the educational landscape in the United States of America. Wlodkowski and Ginsberg (1995) stated, "Any educational or training system that ignores the history or perspective of its learners or does not attempt to adjust its teaching practices to benefit all its learners is contributing…