Beginning in the early 1990s, many school districts began to implement zero-tolerance discipline policies that relied heavily on the use of suspensions. As a result, the number of students removed from the classroom and the school environment has dramatically increased over the past 30 years. To increase school safety and combat the rise of school…

Conventional wisdom has suggested that increasing the knowledge and skills of teachers through professional development is the primary way to improve schools and student outcomes. Given the massive monetary spending and time devoted to teacher professional development, it is important to understand how this mechanism of change is impacting…

School climate measurement is an increasingly important component of data-driven school improvement efforts. The present study involved the development of the School Climate Walkthrough Assessment (SCWA), a measure for evaluating environmental indicators and oral student reports of school climate alongside the Georgia Elementary School Climate…

Quality Matters certification is regarded by many American universities, including the university where the study was conducted, as the industry standard for quality online course design. Although a wide body of research has been completed on Quality Matters rubric effectiveness in changing course design, research was needed to explore faculty…

Community colleges support the needs of higher education for students with diverse backgrounds, goals, and outcomes. Historically, students who have been denied access to four-year colleges were granted access to community colleges. Academic success for men of color, particularly African American and Hispanic males, remains the lowest of all…

School climate is a well-studied issue in educational research. However, surveys of school climate tend to be analyzed using item-centered as opposed to person-centered methods. The current study evaluated the 2018 South Carolina School Climate Survey using advanced applications of mixture modeling in an attempt to identify latent profiles at the…

The present study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on middle level females enrolled in algebra in face-to-face instruction or virtual instruction during the 2020-2021 school year. The study analyzed the data from the required summative assessment for algebra students mandated by South Carolina Department of Education. Districts had flexibility…

Purpose: This project is meant to answer the research question: What applicant character traits do Nurse Anesthesia Program Directors and Faculty identify as favorable predictors for successful completion of a nurse anesthesia program, and what evaluation methods are best to evaluate these traits in prospective students? Methods: A prospective…

One of the ways students with an intellectual disability (ID) can reach their fullest potential is by attending an institution of higher education; too few universities and colleges offer programs for these students. There are over 3,000 universities and colleges throughout the United State, yet only 272 of them offer programs for students with an…

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a correlation between the implementation of standards-based grading (SBG) and a rise in student achievement as indicated by the evaluation of end-of-course exam data from the four core subject areas in secondary schools--English, Algebra, Government, and Biology. This mixed methods study…

This research examines the student engagement of senior accounting majors in three major areas of engagement using National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data: level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning and student-faculty interaction. Senior accounting majors are compared to senior business administration majors and…

The theoretical basis of the proposed study is drawn from an ecological-transactional (Lynch & Cicchetti, 1998) systems approach to development, which focuses on contexts, and correspondingly, overlays the gender affirmative model's (GAM) transactional model of support (Keomeier & Ehrensaft, 2018) to reveal protection in the school…

Reading motivation is an important contributor to reading achievement. Students with higher levels of motivation tend to outperform those with lower levels. Reading motivation is a dynamic, situational, context-dependent trait that can vary in children over time and across tasks. Teachers have a valuable opportunity to support students' reading…

The purpose of this study was to explore the technology leadership behaviors of school principals. This mixed-method explanatory study investigated this essential role for 21st century school leaders, informed by the lenses of self-efficacy theory and transformational leadership theory. This study developed and validated the Education Leaders…

Psychology doctoral students face high demands with academics and clinical work, while balancing responsibilities with relationships, finances, and health concerns (Myers et al., 2012). Psychologists in training experienced heightened anxiety and are at greater risk for burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic (Norcross & Phillips, 2020). Research…