This qualitative study explored the impact of various professional development models in the Science of Reading on teachers' beliefs within a rural school district in southwestern Ohio, conducted amidst the state's implementation of the Dyslexia Law. The research aimed to address gaps in understanding how different approaches, such as LETRS and…

E-sports, or online gaming, is a relatively new phenomenon taking place on high school campuses across the country. While many view online gaming through a negative lens, there is a growing body of research that E-sports participation provides similar benefits and detriments to those of traditional sports. The purpose of this paper was to identify…

Rural school districts face a unique set of challenges. This dissertation focuses on two rural counties in three school districts in southeastern Ohio and examines the difficulties special education teachers and administrators in rural communities often face. Two special education teachers, a general education teacher, two principals, a special…

Students with disabilities have progressed in achievement compared to their general education peers, but learning gaps remain. The problem is elementary and secondary school students with disabilities have achievement gaps despite receiving specially designed instruction through an individualized education program by an intervention specialist in…

Exposure to school violence has adverse effects on student academic performance and behavior. A safe school environment is essential for student and staff safety and achievement. Safety approaches include authoritative measures, which use security cameras, metal detectors, and controlled building access; and educational measures that include…

This mixed-methods study explored the relationship between teacher academic optimism and personalized professional learning in a rural Appalachian elementary school in southeastern Ohio. Twenty K-5 educators participated, with pre/post-surveys utilizing the Teacher Academic Optimism Scale-Elementary (TAOS-E) yielding quantitative data. Six…

Students today have various feelings of distrust among many of their teachers and administrators regarding the handling of violent episodes. As such, an examination of existing educational research to assess strategies that promote school safety and how to access community partnerships within this study is warranted. The efficacy of nonviolent and…

Student mental health disorders have seen an uptick in prevalence in the United States within the past five years. The current study explores the idea of improving student mental resilience as a way to combat the rising percentages of students who suffer from mental disorders. The study uses a mixed-method design that quantitatively includes an…

School districts across the country are experiencing a mass exodus of teachers and administrators while those who stay struggle to maintain the level of productivity needed to lead our schools and ensure a high-quality education for our nation's students (DeMatthews et. al., 2021; Peters-Hawkins et.al., 2018; Superville, 2020). Black women, in…

Little is known about the extent to which higher-education faculty members required help and resources transitioning back to face-to-face teaching and learning both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Problems have included (a) determining the best resources and technologies for faculty members to use in the classroom in order to ensure that…

In a vastly changing world of fast-paced technology and dynamic forms of communication, dialect variance takes on a significant role within the confines of high school classrooms across the country. As educators are tasked with the job of ensuring that students are capable of putting words together into sentences, both in the written and spoken…

Launched in 2009, the college completion agenda aims to significantly increase the number of community college graduates by 2020. While the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) (2012) believes that the goals of the completion agenda can be achieved without institutions sacrificing their mission or reducing student services, little is…

This is a quantitative phenomenological study of the perceptions of principals of public secondary schools in rural Appalachian Ohio. The purpose of the study is to understand the experiences of the principals as online charter schools become feasible for students in their school district. A random sample of ten principals was obtained from the…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine persistence factors of Minority and White female students at "three rural community colleges in Ohio. The study also examined the demographic characteristics of female Ohio rural community college students." The independent variables in this study were race (White, Minority), gender,…

This qualitative single descriptive case study addressed the perspectives of how minority women perceived higher education institutions support or lack of support in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The problem was that there is a disproportionately small number of minority women being prepared to fill STEM jobs.…