Environmental education across the K-12 science curriculum lacks critical examination of human and ecological relationships, particularly in relation to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. While the "Next Generation Science Standards" include environmental topics within their disciplinary core ideas and…

Equitable access to high-quality schooling has been a prevailing concern among educational stakeholders for decades. Magnet schools were first developed in the 1960s to improve academic achievement and attract a more diverse student body by offering unique programs and instruction not provided at other sites within the same district. With…

School climate reform has been recognized as a positive school improvement strategy. Even though a positive school climate has been shown to increase student achievement and school performance, little research has been done to provide school principals with strategies and practices they can implement in order to create and maintain a positive…

This study aimed at identifying teacher perceptions of social-emotional learning (SEL) in the elementary school classroom. Participants included 345 elementary school teachers. Participants completed a survey measuring the level of SEL implemented in their classroom. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used to analyze the data. Teacher…

The sustainability of the educational system is under threat, with teacher stress leading to high attrition. This dissertation advocates for a holistic development framework that nurtures teacher well-being, essential for sustaining effective learning environments. This study contributes to educational strategies that promote teacher resilience…

This qualitative study involved exploring the relationship between imposter syndrome in post-secondary faculty and their twice exceptional (2e) childhood experiences. 2e is defined as students who are identified as academically gifted but also have a disability. Lack of accurate identification and accommodations for 2e students can lead to…

Students who attend school possess their own "funds of knowledge" from their home life and prior experiences (Moll et al., 1992). Yet, learners from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds are not viewed from a strengths-based perspective but rather a deficit perspective. The deficit perspective perpetuates the oppression and…

For this case study (Yin, 2018) dissertation, I used mixed methods (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2017; Guetterman & Fetters, 2018) to investigate how an elementary school special education teacher, who used a direct instruction (di) reading curriculum, incorporated culturally informed practices (CIP) in her small group reading instruction. In…

Most military-connected students (MCS) with active-duty parents attend public schools in the United States. Due to the highly mobile military lifestyles of MCS, some are at risk for academic, emotional, and social challenges. School counselors are often charged with supporting and advocating for MCS; therefore, it is vital to understand elementary…

Providing engaging, rigorous social studies education at the elementary level is a challenge faced by school districts across the country. In K-12 schools nationwide, social studies education is often neglected so that more time can be devoted to ELA and math, both of which have annual standardized tests associated with them that often carry high…

Despite the increasing number of elementary and secondary school students with language and learning disabilities and federal laws mandating ongoing collaboration among diverse school professionals, the implementation and maintenance of Interprofessional Collaborative Practices (ICP) and classroom-based therapy services among teachers and…

The purpose of this research was twofold: (a) to assess educator self-reported knowledge, skills, and perceptions of twice-exceptional children's characteristics for best practices in identification and (b) to develop strong educator competencies through professional development sessions for serving and nurturing twice-exceptional learners in…

This dissertation consists of two chapters on topics in economics of education. In the first chapter, I develop and estimate an equilibrium model of endogenous instruction and student effort in order to empirically investigate the relationship between instructional choices, classroom composition, and student achievement in elementary school. The…

Although there has been an abundance of empirical inquiry into making in recent years, interestingly, and despite growing interest in the integration of making into N-12 education, little seems to be known empirically about the ways in which teachers are implementing making and creating makerspaces in their own classrooms. Very little direct…

Although teachers' use of quality teacher-student interactions is important for the academic and social development of their students, these types of interactions are not used consistently by teachers in early childhood classrooms. This study was used to explore the education of the classroom teacher as a potential reason for this inconsistency.…