While the bulk of the literature has assumed a colorblind approach to examining inequitable outcomes in community college remediation, this study adopts a critical race theoretical and analytical framework to investigate the ways in which the belief systems of faculty teaching remediation are racialized. Whereas the research has largely ignored…

English Language Arts has historically been tied to the civic purposes of schools, and this qualitative study of a social design-based project (Gutierrez & Vossoughi, 2010) examines the intersection of language and literacy learning and youth civic engagement, a problem space I call "Civics English." In this dissertation, I describe…

Remediating student learning deficits in the area of reading is of the utmost importance, as the ability to read has a lifelong impact on learning. Schools and school districts are ranked on their ability to demonstrate growth in core areas of education, including reading. Although many programs, strategies, and remedies are extant for identifying…

The purpose of this study was to examine the course design and pedagogical decision-making processes of English teachers at liberal arts colleges. Principles of course design iterated by Fink (2013) through the Integrated Course Design (ICD) model provided a framework for the study. The participants in this study were full-time English department…

The study investigated the use of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) in English and Business classrooms in Higher Education from the context of learners' performance outcomes, as well as stakeholders' (learners, administrators, and faculty) perceptions pertaining to their experiences when using an MMOG based curriculum. The findings…

In 2019, the United States hosted the largest number of international higher education students worldwide, and many chose to begin their education at a community college. As a result, community college ESL programs face a critical task. This quantitative study explored the effectiveness of ESL coursework on the academic success of international…

This dissertation served as a study to address opportunity gaps that exist in urban education. The focus was exploring the problem of college academic readiness of First-generation community college minoritized students enrolled and placed into developmental English courses. One community college in the state of California was used to highlight…

Current accountability measures require English language arts (ELA) teachers to teach literacy skills to all students. However, the population of mainstreamed students is becomingly increasingly diverse and includes students on the autism spectrum for whom literacy skills may lie in opposition to population characteristics. Further, educators are…

In writing classrooms, peer review has been shown to have numerous practical and cognitive benefits. However, little research has been done that examines how different types of peer feedback motivate adolescent students and the effects that different types of feedback have on writing quality. While the literature has indicated that peers give each…

This work comprises three articles centered around access and equity in California with a lens toward school inputs, interrogating the extent to which coursework as well as local planning efforts support student learning and progress. Using descriptive analysis, Chapter 1 examines the availability and accessibility of rigorous English courses for…

Resilience, as defined by the literature, deals with the relationship between individuals and their environment. This capstone project followed elementary students over a three-year period to investigate and determine the impact a co-teaching intervention model has on resilience, grade-point average (GPA), state testing scores in English language…

This quantitative study examined the relationships between instructional leadership practices of elementary school principals in high-poverty schools and changes in teachers' ELA instructional practices. This research sought to identify principals' perceptions about their use of instructional leadership practices and the teaching practices used in…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether the method of course placement for the first attempted English and mathematics courses was independent of the student demographic variables of gender, race/ethnicity, and Pell Grant eligibility. The study also analyzed if course success and semester-to-semester persistence were…

This case study sought to explore the perceptions of classroom teachers and an instructional support team regarding the effectiveness of an established reading Response to Intervention model. It compared the perceptions of both groups regarding the model's effectiveness, focusing on its strengths and weaknesses. The similarities and differences…

Community colleges are often the academic home to students who are underprepared in reading and writing. To gain a better understanding of this problem, the researcher conducted an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. The goal of phenomenological research is to gain a deeper understanding of the lived experiences of participants. This…