This Action Research study investigated adult (i.e., teachers and parents) use of picture books with children as tools to support the exploration of their individual cultures and ethnicities. Participants in Cycle 1 consisted of educators (i.e., teachers, administrators, and librarians). Data was collected through interviews, lesson plans, and…

This study examined and explored the lived experiences of foster parents of color who were educators at the time of providing care. Additionally, this study sought to make recommendations to schools and the child welfare system to improve support for foster parents and foster children. Although there is extensive research that encompasses the…

This study was a companion study, modeled after a 2013 study that explored the relationship between secondary teachers' self-efficacy beliefs, their family involvement self-efficacy beliefs, and the frequency and type of parental involvement practices. This study explored the same relationship between elementary school teachers and parental…

Women are underrepresented in the majority of STEM disciplines resulting in fewer women to seek STEM leadership positions. Although in the past decade progress has been made to remove gender barriers in STEM in efforts to close the gender gap, one contributing factor to gain more women in STEM disciplines is to increase the number of women in STEM…

Parental involvement is an integral variable that bears a significant value in the overall academic achievement and learning process of a student's educational journey. Therefore, all parents should play a major role in their children's academic success from elementary through middle and high school. The prime focus of this research was to examine…

The primary focus in this study was to capture the experiences of parents who have participated in the IEP process. Specifically, the research expounded on how parental experiences during the IEP process impacted or informed education plans for their children and informed education leaders seeking to improve the IEP process experience. This study…

This phenomenological action research study explored how the experiences of 10 full-time community college faculty mothers at two community colleges in the Greater Cincinnati region experienced and attributed meaning to their both of their roles. The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020 played a large part in the experiences and…

The topic of school safety remains a widely researched subject globally. Teachers' perspectives concerning various stakeholders' roles and responsibilities in ensuring a secure school environment are often overlooked within this field. Unfortunately, there is a noticeable gap in this area's available literature. This research aims to fill this…

Historically, gender norms have allowed faculty who were men to remain an ideal worker by being dedicated to work regardless of family status because they had a wife to keep up the domestic and childcare duties (Tierney & Bensimon, 1996; Wolf-Wendel & Ward, 2006). Although both men and women have served as faculty members and parents, the…

When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, education had unexpected impacts, including the closure of schools and the disruption of learning for students. Students with disabilities experienced increased challenges related to these impacts. The problem was to understand the challenges of secondary special education teachers and parents to meet the…

The manufacturing industry is crucial to the United States economy, constituting more than 10% of the gross domestic product (National Association of Manufacturing [NAM], 2022). However, the sector faces challenges such as a shortage of skilled labor and underrepresentation of women, which threaten its sustainability (NAM, 2023). Various…

The purpose of this case study is to build awareness of the Latinx school parents' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. This case study also explores how one's cultural intuition can help advocate for the Latinx parents and their school children during a novel time. To find this information, I interviewed 7 parents and found the emerging…

The critical consciousness framework informs us that for parents and teachers of Black youth to be best positioned to disrupt systemic racism in education they must both critically reflect on the systems that oppress Black youth and become motivated to challenge those systems. Still, little empirical research exists investigating the critical…

The purpose of this study was to examine lived experiences of first and second generation Black African immigrant undergraduate students in regard to self-identification and education achievement and to explore the support that these students need for a smooth bridging of cultural differences between their homes and school. The data were collected…

The student perspective in research done in online and STEM education is largely absent but is important for understanding how both of these areas can come together to best serve students. This study uses teacher ratings, school data and student interviews to investigate the perceptions students in online STEM courses have of their past and…