The problem addressed in this study is that chronic absenteeism of special education students impacts school performance, graduation rates, and future employment opportunities. The purpose of the phenomenological study was to document the lived experiences of parents of high school special education students as chronic absenteeism of their special…

Recent education-based challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a growing need to read and understand multiple internet-based sources in both academic and daily life, have highlighted the importance of better understanding how children read and learn both online and in traditional print-based environments. Previous research suggests…

The purpose of this research was to gain understanding and awareness of the perspectives of Black teachers who were raised in Africana Vernacular English (AVE)-speaking households and how they used their upbringing to navigate home and school settings. The specific linguistic and cultural needs of AVE speakers are not being adequately accommodated…

The problem addressed in this qualitative multi-case study was that high school and college students who transitioned to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic experienced increased mental health issues due to the lack of social relationships caused by social isolation. The purpose of this qualitative multi-case study was to examine high…

This dissertation investigates the child language acquisition of Kosraean (ISO 639-3 kos) and English (ISO 639-3 eng) on the island of Kosrae of the Federated States of Micronesia, with the aim of assessing the current vitality status of Kosraean and its strength compared to English. The concerns raised by the community regarding child proficiency…

Background: This paper poses to discuss and examine the concern of unmonitored and excessive internet use by school-age children, ages eight years to 11 years old, along with the importance of employing a Family Media Use Plan, which is recommended by the American Family of Pediatrics (AAP). This issue, although not often studied, is a common…

Families play an essential role in their children's academic, social, and emotional development. Many families want to support their children's learning but are unsure of how to do so. It is an important task of schools to find ways to engage students' families and help them support their children's learning at home. This study explored the…

The COVID-19 pandemic substantially disrupted normal operations at liberal arts colleges (LACs) across the United States, as well as the lives and educational trajectories of their undergraduate students. This dissertation collected data from 775 undergraduate LAC students enrolled in two colleges in the U.S. South during the spring 2021 semester…

This mixed-methods study aims to determine if the use of video communication can positively impact the self-efficacy reported by caregivers. Three inquiry questions guided the study. First, how can the use of informative, targeted videos influence the self-efficacy reported by a caregiver? Next, how well do caregivers understand what is expected…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify patterns and experiences of Black or African American military veteran students as they maintained persistence towards completion of their degree. This design used the social cognitive theory, the self-efficacy theory, and the composite persistence model. Three research…

This dissertation addressed the topic of early childhood literacy development in the home environment. The dissertation will focus on studying the early childhood literacy experiences a small population (7 to 10 participants) of single mothers living in the municipality of Utuado, Puerto Rico had during this stage of their lives. The single mother…

Translanguaging research among multilingual students has received considerable attention across different contexts of practice. The most robust contexts in translanguaging research have been the classroom contexts between teacher and students. This study examined the affordances of translanguaging spaces "between class sessions" in…

Infants and toddlers experience the world in interaction with others. Likewise, social interactions are important in learning about math--concepts of number ("one," "two," "three"), space ("on top," "upside-down," "round"), and magnitude ("more," "big,"…

Providing early intervention and continuous service provision to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families in Puerto Rico can be complex due to multiple factors including limited resources, difficulty accessing service providers, and yearly environmental impacts such as hurricanes (Chandra et al., 2021). Implementing…

In March of 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, drastically changing teaching and learning. Children were immediately placed in emergency remote learning, and parents became facilitators of their children's learning while children were in their virtual learning space. This study explored families' experiences with…