Despite gains in expanding the student pipeline to postsecondary education, first-generation and low-income (FGLI) students complete college at disproportionately lower rates and have limited access to the resources necessary to make informed decisions about higher education. Research has shown that FGLI students are less likely to apply to…

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to analyze a First Grade Summer Jumpstart program after the first year of implementation to evaluate the effectiveness of the program to positively impact academic achievement in reading and math for first grade students. In order to achieve this overall objective, the following research questions framed…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effects of one school district's summer reading program on the summer slide on DIBELS Next Composite Scores for students entering first, second, and third grade. The researcher examined the DIBELS Next Composite Score Data of students who were invited and attended and students who were…

This study seeks to answer the overarching question of how the use of a digitally delivered arts curriculum, including a virtual museum environment, affects teacher's perceptions of curriculum integration and whether they believe it is successful in the classroom. This study is based on the analysis of archival data collected during a pilot study…

The research design was shaped as a result of the chosen methodology, which was interpretive phenomenological analysis. I was back and forth between narrative inquiry and IPA for a long time but wanted to focus on capturing the lived experiences across subjects from similar backgrounds who experienced the same phenomenon, which in this case was a…

Prior to instruction, students often possess a common-sense view of motion, which is inconsistent with Newtonian physics. Effective physics lessons therefore involve conceptual change. To provide a theoretical explanation for concepts and how they change, the triangulation model brings together key attributes of prototypes, exemplars, theories,…

McLennan Community College (MCC) created a developmental summer bridge program in an effort to increase students' Texas Success Initiative (TSI) exam scores and persistence in postsecondary education, decrease their developmental course sequences, and prepare students for college level coursework. In this quantitative research study, student…

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of the dance makerspace, a learning environment designed to support STEM engagement through making and embodied experience for a group of African American youth dancers. It looks at how participants in a 4-week summer camp program at an urban creative arts center-turned-makerspace, constructed embodied…

The flipped classroom has been implemented within the nursing curricula to promote increased student classroom satisfaction, student engagement in the classroom, and improve retention of complex nursing concepts. This research study evaluated how the implementation of the flipped classroom contributed to the overall perception of a new…

This study sought to determine the implications of using lesson study as a professional development model to support graphical literacy in second grade students. This mixed methods embedded study gathered information from 3- second grade teachers and 50- second grade students in a rural public school in Central Alabama. The study collected data…

Direct Behavior Rating (DBR) has emerged as a useful assessment method to identify behavioral risk and monitor behavioral progress. The development of an online training module has provided an option for low cost training accessible to a wide variety of users at their convenience. Although evaluation of the DBR online training module has…

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) undergraduate research programs have been shown to impact students' access, learning, and retention in STEM fields (Reave, 2004; Seymour, Hunter, Laursen, & DeAntoni, 2004). Research has also shown that student-adviser relationships in STEM undergraduate research programs prepare students for…

Data-rich activities provide an opportunity to develop core competencies in both science and mathematics identified in curricular standards. Perhaps even more importantly work with data puts learners in the position to use data to ask and answer questions, a potentially empowering capability. Research on work with data has focused on cognitive…

Alternative teacher credentialing programs (ATCPs) have grown over the last two decades to address persistent staffing shortages in high-need schools. Today, nearly a quarter of new teachers are prepared though these programs. Nonetheless, there are few studies that examine teacher candidates' learning as facilitated by these programs, or their…

The current study attempts to investigate the potential benefit of using a custom-designed virtual reality experience to reduce the social distance between the students and the speakers of the target language. This virtual reality experience provides opportunities for students to acclimate to the Spanish culture and at the same time practice and…