Native American communities work to preserve and enhance traditional culture in urban and rural environments through an emphasis on strengthening sovereignty and self-determination in order to protect and promote culture and arts programming, giving opportunities for community members and students. Interventions for youth often utilize…

The problem addressed in this study was that the English as foreign language teachers in five government elementary schools were not consistently instructing in a manner that contributed to a student-centered learning environment when teaching reading comprehension. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of…

This dissertation in practice explores common themes between teachers' perspectives of effective professional development experiences and the perceived impact of professional development on classroom teaching practices. The following questions guided the study: 1. What are teachers' perceptions of completed professional development activities in…

The number of students with disabilities entering youth development centers is increasing exponentially. The youth development center schools that are responsible for providing academic services to these students are inadequately staffed with special education teachers to meet the behavioral and academic needs of juvenile offenders with…

The purpose of this action research was to evaluate the impact of technology integrated gamification strategies on third-grade students' engagement in an art classroom at an elementary school with a Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) based curriculum. To increase student engagement, educators and evaluators not only need to…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the perceptions of community college professors regarding the instructional practices for addressing the needs of students with disabilities at postsecondary institutions in Southeast Texas. The participants for this study were purposefully selected from within a population of faculty as a…

Previous research suggests that the intensity of student engagement in the learning process is a consistent predictor of language achievement (Gardner, 2010; Masgoret & Gardner, 2003). Research from educational psychology indicates that learners are more engaged in learning when their teachers' autonomy-supportive motivating practice supports…

The purpose of this qualitative, heuristic study was to explore the successful experiences of nontraditional Black male students at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) in the Midwest. With an astounding rate of growth of the nontraditional student populations in higher education, this study was conducted to contribute to the literature on…

Retaining students through degree completion is a challenge for community colleges, with nontraditional, adult students being retained at a lower rate than their traditional counterparts. Though student engagement is recognized as an effective strategy for retaining students, there is a gap in research on how effective these strategies are for…

The use of mobile technology, particularly smartphones, in higher education continues to grow. The purpose of this research was to investigate Saudi students' perceptions of engagement and self-directed learning (SDL) when using smartphones for learning. The research sample included students from one of the Saudi Arabia universities, Z. A…

This case study explored the ways that aspects of a high school blended learning program (pseudonym: BL High) encourage or discourage personalization. For K-12 learners a major concern exists in the increasingly rigid dominion of the programmatic over the personal, which leaves many students disengaged and disconnected. Having expanded the ways in…

This dissertation examines the implementation of peer-based career seminars as an intervention to analyze career counseling services in the community college setting and delineate potential benefits for students. Highlights include identifying barriers to access, discussing a student-centered approach to service utilization, and implementing…

A hopeful path to furthering social justice in America is to support all young children to develop the habits of mind necessary for guiding, and fully living, their own lives. Unfortunately, much of what is known from brain research, psychology, and the learning sciences regarding the contextual and relational ways young children learn is not…

The interconnectedness of the world today through advanced technology and travel allows students exposure to a diverse cultural landscape. Combined with a fast-changing computer technology-driven education, and culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, there cannot be just one way to teach and learn. This study explored the perspective of…

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study was to explore how college students with Deaf, deaf, and Hard of Hearing (D/d/HH) described how their communication and learning needs were being met in the online learning environments (OLEs). The problem was that college students with hearing difficulties had inconsistent access to hearing…