The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore the perceived ease of use and usefulness of an assistive robot educator tool. The theoretical foundation for this study was the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Service Robot Acceptance Model (sRAM), which explore perceptions around the utility of technological systems. The…

The context surrounding today's college-going youth is different from when their parents pursued higher education in the late 1980s to early 2000s. I sought to understand how these parents, now as adults with children on the doorstep of their own college-going process, form knowledge about 21st century college-going and what sources these parents…

Throughout the United States, dual enrollment programs enable high school students to earn college credit by completing college classes while in high school. In 2015, the State of Ohio expanded grade-level eligibility to participate in the state's dual enrollment program, College Credit Plus, to seventh- and eighth-grade students. The purpose of…

This is a study that examined the relationship between students participating in college and career experiences in middle school (7th and 8th grade) and meeting on-track indicators (GPA scores and attendance rates) in their first semester of 10th grade in high school that would suggest graduating from high school on time and eventually enrolling…

The causal-comparative research study examined if academic achievement differs between African American 8th-grade students in schools where they constitute the majority versus the minority in Clarendon County, South Carolina. The research questions investigated 8th-grade African American students' academic performance in English Language Arts and…

This quantitative study is primarily intended to examine whether district level performance results from Grade 8 ELA state assessments can help to predict future passing rates on AP exams. The participants for the study are all 218 K-12 school districts in New Jersey, all of which generated results across score levels and passing rates for PARCC…

This study explores how public-school teachers who host student teachers in urban, grade 7-12 classrooms (referred to as cooperating teachers or classroom mentors in this study) define their role in preparing pre-service teachers. This study is particularly interested in yielding insight into how participants describe the "practice" of…

The purpose of this study was to explore how district funding for 4 years of PSAT administrations for all students in Grades 8-11 impacted Hispanic students at a North Texas school district. Using college admissions data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), the researcher examined overall district-wide college admissions percentages for…

As college-bound high school seniors know, the ACT examination is possibly the single most important assessment students take during their academic careers. ACT scores can determine college entrance, scholarship dollars, and whether students will be placed in remedial courses. Parents pay large sums of money to prepare their children for this…

Algebra 1 is the gatekeeper to higher-level mathematics and entrance into the STEM field, but do schools offering Algebra 1 in eighth grade score better on their standardized assessments than schools offering traditionally paced courses? The purpose of the study was to examine the PSAT and SAT scores of school districts offering Algebra 1 in 8th…

The lack of college readiness in the United States is a critical issue that jeopardizes our economy. The demographic inequality of the crisis, particularly for low-income as well as Black and Latinx students, emerges from systemic problems of race and class in American education and society which suppress students' educational and economic…

This qualitative study analyzes the effects that RENEW, a person-centered goal planning model, has on students with disabilities that are in an alternative school setting. Students in sixth through twelfth grade participated in this study to determine if RENEW can affect students' awareness of post-secondary options and assist with post-high…

Teaching science concepts for conceptual understanding has its challenges. Promoting conceptual change in the science classroom can be difficult because most concepts are complicated and counter-intuitive. This dissertation research aimed to determine the effect of teaching for conceptual understanding models on pre-service teachers' conceptual…

Academic self-regulated learning (SRL) skills closely align with the 21st century skills that lead to student success. Research demonstrates that academic achievement is closely related to the use of SRL in the classroom and that teacher practices are fundamental in imparting these skills to their students. It is not clear, however, how teachers…

Postsecondary access and degree completion are increasingly important concerns for individuals and policymakers. This dissertation presents evidence on three distinct strategies for increasing students' level of preparedness for higher education, rates of postsecondary enrollment, and rates of postsecondary degree completion. The first is an…