This phenomenological study explored fourth-grade students' perspectives on the barriers and successes they experienced in flexible blended learning. Focus group interviews were conducted to gain insight into the students' motivation, perceived barriers, possible changes, and their own skills and characteristics for success. Thematic analysis was…

This dissertation examined how the perception of the achievement-emotion of boredom impacted the academic agency of sixth-grade mathematics students. The study for this dissertation was completed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through an explanatory sequential mixed methods study, sixth-grade mathematics student volunteers from a Midwest middle…

The researcher explored the impact of a student voice initiative (SVI), the Student Ambassador Council (SAC), on the social-emotional competencies (SECs) of middle school, 5th-8th grades students. Drawing upon the principles of youth empowerment, more specifically Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), and social-emotional learning (SEL), the…

Instructional strategies are important components for facilitating active engagement in reading text. This comparative case study sought to determine what instructional strategies three sixth-grade science teachers used, and how these teachers planned for, used, and scaffolded the instructional strategies in their classrooms to facilitate…

The quality of education and the teachers' effectiveness impact students' lives beyond classroom performance (Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2012) and achievement on standardized tests. However, some claim there is a prevalent failure to recognize teacher's effectiveness, to effectively document poor teacher performance and to provide teachers…