School mental health practitioners and researchers are increasingly concerned about educator job-related stress and its implications for teacher burnout, teaching efficacy, turnover, and student outcomes. Educators' collegial networks in their schools are natural resources for stress support, yet little is known about the extent to which educators…

This dissertation was designed to examine and assess teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) during virtual instruction resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The study examined whether teachers' race/ethnicity, years of teaching experience, level of education, and gender separately and…

School mental health practitioners and researchers are increasingly concerned about educator job-related stress and its implications for teacher burnout, teaching efficacy, turnover, and student outcomes. Educators' collegial networks in their schools are natural resources for stress support, yet little is known about the extent to which educators…

The current study investigated the relationships between bonding social capital, perceptions of justice, and well-being (i.e. the level of depressive symptoms endorsed) in middle and high school students. Previous research has found personal belief in a just world (BJW) and bonding social capital to be associated with positive student well-being…

This case study explores ways that socio-cultural and environmental factors influence the technological experiences of marginalized, underrepresented youth at an urban summer learning program, which supports Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and environmental sustainability education. The study specifically explores the…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBQ) youth experience more heterosexist bullying victimization than their straight peers, which contributes to mental health disparities. However, LGBQ youth may simultaneously experience other types of bias-based bullying (e.g., racist, cis-sexist, and able-ist bullying). Informed by intersectionality theory,…

Background: Technically sound measures are necessary for accurately identifying youth at risk for depression, but many studies rely on classical test theory metrics or adult samples to evaluate measures. This study examined the use of the PHQ-8, a common and freely available pediatric depression screener, in an adolescent sample using item…

The meta-analysis, that included 75 studies, examined the relationship between illegal drug consumption, on the one hand, and student academic and behavioral outcomes, on the other, for the middle school to college grade levels. The meta-analysis first (research question #1) addressed whether there is a statistically significant relationship…

I investigate longitudinal preferences for schools revealed by families' applications to middle and high schools within a large urban school district's universal enrollment system. I find that preferences for schools' racial/ethnic composition are more stable than preferences for quality and proximity to home, even after concurrently controlling…

Has the achievement of U.S. students improved over the past half century? Have gaps between racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups widened or narrowed? These and similar questions provoke near-constant conversation. But answers are uncertain, partly because research to date has yielded inconsistent findings. In this article, the authors bring…

Nationally, educators suspend Black students at greater rates than any other group. This disproportionality is fueled by stereotypes casting Black students as "troublemakers"--a label students too often internalize as part of their identities. Across two independent double-blind randomized field trials involving over 2,000 seventh…

A growing body of research shows that students benefit when they demographically match their teachers. However, little is known about how matching affects social-emotional development. We use student-fixed effects to exploit changes over time in the proportion of teachers within a school grade who demographically match a student to estimate…

This dissertation researched the scope of mathematics achievement disparities in the United States and how these disparities can be minimized through a self-efficacy lens. To answer pertinent research questions with data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2019 mathematics assessment in Grades 4, 8, and 12, gap analyses,…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted face-to-face instruction in schools across the United States and the world. Using the Online Student Connectedness Survey (OSCS), we analyzed data from three middle schools in a suburban school district in the southeastern United States in order to determine if there were any statistically significant interaction…

The racial/ethnic disparities and average declines in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) motivation during adolescence are worrisome. Although STEM motivational beliefs are theorized to function in conjunction with one another, the unique patterns and how they change over time for different racial/ethnic groups remain…