This dissertation responds to the question: How is sexuality organized in elementary schools? I argue that despite the absence of overt discussions on sexuality in elementary schools, sexuality is "organized" through social processes that are recursively linked to ideology. Due to the widely held belief that "children" and…

For approximately a third of this decade, a mid-size urban school district took a bold step in its continuing efforts to battle what has been a persistent problem plaguing this Nation's education system for decades or possibly for as long as it has existed--the achievement gap between students of color and their White peers. The district has…

Physical and psychological aggression in dating relationships is prevalent among college students (e.g., Kaura & Lohman, 2007; Shook, Gerrity, Jurich, & Segrist, 2000; Straus, 2008), and students experiencing dating IPV are most likely to speak to friends (Prospero & Vohra-Gupta, 2008). The current study investigated differences in…

Do whites' views about the importance of traditional meritocratic criteria become malleable when they are confronted with circumstances in which Asians appear to be surpassing, whites under the current rules of the game? In the United States, the relative success of Asians compared to whites on various socioeconomic status indicators (college…

School psychologists are adult learners. They support children and youth within the K-12 system who are facing academic, emotional, behavioral, or systematic barriers to education. Among the most vulnerable are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth, and school psychologists need to learn to be LGBTQ competent. The purpose of…

This case study examined the beliefs of African American males on the psychosocial and pedagogical factors contributing to the underrepresentation of African American males in advanced high school math courses. Six 11th grade African American male juniors from a large, comprehensive, Southeastern high school served as individual cases. Within- and…

Apprehending that race is social, not biological, this study examines U.S. racial formation in the early twenty-first century. In particular, Hollywood and Supreme Court texts are analyzed as media for gathering, shaping and transmitting racial ideas. Representing Hollywood, the 2004 film "Crash" is analyzed. Representing the Supreme Court, the…

This systematic review sought evidence for the effectiveness of cultural competence pedagogy approaches in professional nursing education. The objective was to rank the findings from literature published since 2005, evaluating the effectiveness of educational strategies for cultural competence of undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students. The…

An instrument comprising sixteen original vignettes was field tested to gather evidence of their validity and reliability in measuring heterosexist attitudes among educators. Two-hundred seventy pre-service and in-service teachers and counselors completed the instrument. The items were analyzed using statistical methods informed from Classical…

The purpose of this dissertation is to explore the development of the alternative black curriculum in social studies from 1890-1940. W.E.B. Du Bois and Carter G. Woodson worked in collaboration with women educators Nannie H. Burroughs and Anna Julia Cooper to create an alternative black curriculum that would support the intellectual growth of…

This dissertation's purpose was to better understand how messages received through different cultural mediums influences the development of social success skills. Black male students were chosen as the focal participants for this year-long study because they are included among the groups whose social success skills development are thought to…

Key scholars have studied campus climate, and often these climate studies are done through the lens of race and racial issues on campus. A few studies have explored the interaction between campus climate and sexual and gender minority students. However, those studies, like the climate studies through a racial lens, found that lesbian, gay,…

As globalization increases, organizations are seeking individuals that have developed intercultural competency (ICC) and are prepared to lead for the 21st century. Although there are competing definitions among scholars as to what characteristics (ability, attitude, awareness, behaviors, knowledge, skills, or values) make up ICC (Ang & Van…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the disability discourses of ten pre-service teachers enrolled in a one-semester undergraduate social studies and language arts methods course. This undergraduate course drew on a disability studies approach that advocated a social model rather than a traditional medical approach to…

This study examines civic identity (i.e., civic values and responsibility to community and to people) in middle childhood, a previously unexplored developmental period in the civic engagement literature, and how adults and socialization processes in the home and school contexts are associated with children's civic outcomes. Middle childhood is a…