Current research provides little insight into educators' attitudes toward multiracial learners. This lack of insight may impede the unique needs of multiracial learners, universal planning, and professional attitudes of educators. This survey design study addressed that problem by analyzing educators' attitudes in Michigan charter schools. Rooted…

This dissertation had two purposes: (1) to create and document the development of a new music achievement test entitled the Musical Discrimination and Styles Task (MDAST), and (2) to describe the strength of the evidence supporting the validity and reliability of this new developmentally appropriate music aptitude and achievement instrument. I…

This paper explores how the charter school sector evaluates the success of specialized education programs in order that the Nature School can learn from these best practices and develop its own framework. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with five evaluation experts and eight diverse charter school authorizers overseeing a significant…

Current paradigms for curriculum and instruction have yet to address methods for encouraging intrinsic motivation using educational and psychological principles in a constructivist framework. This research examined the perceptions regarding the potential efficacy and effects of implementing a new paradigm, the Self Sculptor Model, that uses…

School counselors serve students' academic, career, and social/emotional needs through a comprehensive school counseling program, and center their work on concepts of equity, advocacy, social justice, and systemic change, to remove barriers and increase opportunities for all PK-12 students. Charter schools are also unique public school settings as…

This qualitative study investigates factors that influence the persistence of Black female principals of secondary charter schools. It examines the motivators that drive their commitment, the systems challenges that lead to thoughts of exiting their role, and recommendations for strategies that Charter Management Organizations (CMOs) can utilize…

White individuals can play a key role in the realization of an education policy and can drastically impact how a policy is implemented because of their resources and the status that come with associating with the privileged racial group in the current racial hierarchy that exists in the United States. Several education policies, such as school…

There is a lack of research on African American male adolescents who have progressed socially and academically in charter school systems under the administrative and classroom leadership of African American men. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain a deeper understanding of how adolescent African American male students in one…

The performance of public education in Michigan has been significantly below average across the country for decades (US News, 2019). Lawmakers in Michigan sought to remedy this in the 1990's with the introduction of charter schools into the educational landscape. Throughout the years, there has been significant debate around whether charter…

Schools utilize a range of consequences to maintain order and safety. Some employ zero-tolerance policies accompanied by exclusionary tactics like suspension (Martinez, 2009; Muschert et al., 2014). Suspensions are criticized for their disproportionate assignment to students who are Black, male, assigned an IEP, and receiving lunch assistance…

This multiple-bounded case study explored charter-school music teacher practitioners' (MTPs') and instructional leaders' (ILs') perceptions of professional development (PD) in four charter management organizations (CMOs). The purpose was to provide a rich description of these practitioners' professional development, with the goal of spurring…

This convergent parallel mixed method study was designed to identify obstacles that prevent historically underrepresented racial and ethnic student groups from taking online classes at Phi Beta County Community College and to determine what aid students perceive as necessary to remove these obstacles. This study included three Calloway Charter…

Beginning in the fall of 2017, forty-one districts and charter schools entered into three-year legal agreements with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to reduce the racial disproportionality in their district or school's exclusionary discipline practices, specifically the overrepresentation of students of color in suspensions and…

Student-centered teaching (SCT) has been the dominant education philosophy in the U.S. K-12 education. However, the definition and practice of SCT have been rooted in western education contexts. Since students in U.S. schools become more and more diverse, it remains unclear how SCT works for diverse learners. This research delved into the…

This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of high school alumni to understand how and when high school students perceive educator care. A growing body of research points to the importance of the perception of care for optimal student achievement to be attained in a high school setting. Participants of this study were surveyed,…