The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the decision-making process of a group of core elementary teachers in Illinois Metro East districts around attending professional development. 10 teachers from two Metro East districts were interviewed about their motivations, choices, and factors when considering what professional development to…

The purpose of this study was to understand undergraduate students' perceptions of the teaching profession and how these perceptions influence their decision to enter, or not, the teaching profession in the state of Illinois. The Illinois Association of Regional Superintendent of Schools (2023) survey reported 79% of schools say they have a…

This dissertation examines the processes and procedures high schools utilize to increase student voice and student efficacy within the identification and enrollment of students into grade 9 literacy intervention. The purpose of this collective case study is to investigate how schools identified students for additional literacy support and how they…

Data-driven decision making (DDDM) involves using information gathered from and about students to make ongoing decisions about their instruction. Many teachers struggle with implementation of DDDM practices to optimize instruction, underscoring the importance of teacher education vis-à-vis DDDM. The present study secondarily analyzed existing data…

Childcare instability can negatively affect family well- being. Yet not all childcare changes are bad for families. This qualitative study (N = 85) examines work, family, provider, and subsidy- related factors contributing to childcare changes among families with low incomes. We focus on the desirability--the extent to which parents wanted to…

The purpose of this study is to determine what factors affect teachers to stay or leave Illinois public school districts that are classified by their state report cards as having 95% or greater low-income student enrollments. Many teachers are dropping out before getting much experience. These teachers are either going to higher socioeconomic…

This study explored how associate deans in Illinois community colleges understand and practice culturally responsive leadership (CRL) in their institutions. The conceptual framework for this study is composed of the Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL) model in the K-12 system first proposed by Khalifa et al. (2016) and the Applied…

Learning another language is considered a key 21st century subject, something that all students should begin in elementary school. However, most school districts in Illinois do not offer students the opportunity to learn another language in elementary school. There are effective and high quality programs available to learn another language that…

Social and emotional learning (SEL) has been increasingly emphasized in educational research and practice for promoting children's wellbeing. Perhaps the most well-known SEL framework is the model provided by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). This framework has become the dominant framework informing state SEL…

Active teaching methods are believed to facilitate higher-order thinking skills and prepare allied health students for independent clinical decision-making. This quantitative, correlational study aimed to explain the relationships between student preferences for active over traditional methods and their beliefs, the frequency and positiveness of…

In the U.S., state guidance to schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was politicized. We used state-level political affiliation to explore whether access to curricular resources differed pre-pandemic or during pandemic remote teaching and teachers' reported control over curricular resources during pandemic teaching. We found that…

Due to the overwhelming number of teachers exiting the profession each year, recruitment and retention efforts continue to be a high priority for stakeholders within agricultural education. Specifically, teacher attrition has been identified as one of the leading problematic issues hindering growth of school-based agricultural education (SBAE)…

The development of language in a deaf or hard of hearing child is dependent upon early and effective communication access (Marschark, 2018; Marschark & Hauser, 2012; Pittman, Sass-Lehrer, & Abrams, 2016; Scott & Dostal, 2019; Scott & Henner, 2020). For many parents of deaf and hard of hearing children, the most common early…

The Partnership for College Completion (PCC) was founded to "advance equity in higher education" by supporting colleges and universities to improve college completion for Black, Latinx, and Pell-eligible students--those groups that experience persistent disparities in completion. Simultaneously, PCC engages in state policy reform to…

This qualitative case study explores the motivating factors that influence CTE pathway selection for African American men students and will investigate the interplay between two components of Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), self-efficacy and outcome expectations, and their role in the career decision-making process. Drawing upon SCCT, this…