Academic advising is regarded as an important student support practice that impacts college students' academic retention and graduation (Habley, 2009; Holland et al., 2020; Kuhn, 2008, Mayhew et al., 2016). However, research examining the use of academic advising services revealed that, as a demographic group, Black male undergraduate students are…

Nursing educators are challenged to find strategies that will develop critical thinking and clinical judgment abilities in students. As technology has advanced, the use of virtual simulation platforms has increased in use in nursing courses. This study examined the effect of a pilot virtual simulation intervention on critical thinking and clinical…

Perceptions of student-teacher relationship quality have been shown to directly impact student achievement and the long-term career success of teachers. Students who perceive supportive relationships with teachers show increased school attendance, higher graduation rates, and more engagement in school. Moreover, teachers who perceive greater…

The Asian American population is expected to grow to 46 million by the year 2060. Historically seen as a monolithic group, there are more than twenty subsets that make up the Asian-American demographic. The five Chinese and five Indian participants in this study belong to the top two Asian-American origin groups. This exploratory mixed-methods…

America is a very diverse country, with over 40% of the population identifying as people of color, and the proportion of public school students of color rising to 55% by the year 2027. Although the face of students in schools has changed, the ethnic composition of the educators has not. These race/ethnicity differences between school staff and…

This dissertation is intended to add to what practitioners and researchers know about factors that affect a high school's postsecondary enrollment rates. It uses several regression models on a data set of all New Jersey High Schools from the 2012-2018 school years to answer three research questions. These questions were designed to gain an…

This dissertation is comprised of three essays, each examining a different topic in labor economics. In Chapter 1, I examine the productivity and selection effects of K-12 teacher tenure by leveraging variation from New Jersey's TEACHNJ Act. This law extended the pre-tenure period from three to four years and allowed districts to dismiss…

Many scholars have suggested over the past several decades have pointed to a persisting achievement gap between white and black students. A lack of parental support and advocacy, peer influences, student health issues, poor nutrition, and low socioeconomic status are among the factors contributing to this gap (Chubb & Loveless, 2004). This…

This study examined the influence of grouping formation on the scores on the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK 3) in Grade 3 English Language Arts. Grouping within the general education classroom was compared to grouping between the same grade level. The analysis included a multiple regression model for student variables gender,…

This study examined predictors of school and life satisfaction of fifth-grade students. Two situational predictor variables (school climate and school stress) and two intrapersonal predictor variables (locus of control and academic self-concept) were examined. It was hypothesized that positive school climate, low levels of school stress, internal…

Entry into a career in law enforcement is most often dependent upon the aspiring candidate's relative success on a competitive, written, multiple-choice examination. In the state of New Jersey, as in many states, civil service laws preclude consideration of formal educational attainment when establishing the ordinal, eligibles lists for law…

This study examined the impact of student variables (student socioeconomic status, race, attendance, and gender) and the school variable of placement in an inclusion setting on the academic achievement of general education students in grades 6, 7, and 8 in an urban school district. Academic achievement was defined as a general education student's…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the length of years of preschool attendance on the academic achievement and retention of third and fourth grade students in high and low achieving schools. The study consisted of the analysis of secondary data, i.e., mathematics and language arts literacy scores as the measurement of academic…

The Talent Development High School (TDHS) reform model, with career academy programs, was introduced at Randolph High School. Three academies were implemented, one called the Arts and Humanities Academy (A&H) focused on careers in creative arts, law, and public service; another titled the Business and Industrial Technology Academy (BAIT) was…