The Great Mountain High School (GMHS) started a program to help support students at risk for not graduating high school. The focus of this study was to provide a formative program evaluation of the created program that (a) investigated the fidelity of implementation of the activities and processes of the program, (b) gathered an understanding of…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive design study was to understand how 6-12th grade teachers describe their teacher evaluation experiences and the role those experiences play in shaping their instructional practices. The literature review indicated the need to understand how teacher understandings of evaluation tools influence their…

This classroom-based qualitative study examines a multiliteracies approach to teaching Young Adult Literature graphic novels and memoirs within a five-week book club study unit that took place within a twelfth-grade secondary English language arts classroom in an urban school in the Southwest. It explores the teaching and take up of several…

This dissertation uses three empirical papers to examine the relationship between student gender, student's income expectations for the future, and persistence in schooling. First, I use survey data from the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS) to examine how both children's and parent's earnings expectations for students in 12th grade vary by…

Education reform has been at the forefront of educational research for decades, depicted by government initiatives and policy, research, and pedagogical changes and recommendations. When considering elements of educational change, policy, best practices, and individual merit and retention have also been heavily in the spotlight, such as "A…

Purpose and Method of Study: This study aimed to determine variables or combinations of variables that impact the hope levels of tenth- to twelfth-grade students at a large urban public school in Oklahoma. While many factors influence students' hope, there is little information about the impact of HAE and PSC, in addition to the variables grade…

There exists a gap in the literature that discusses the issue of those who teach STEM degree courses who have not been given appropriate training to effectively integrate and implement analytical problem-solving skills (APSS) within their curriculum. At the center of this research is the need for effective training of implementing analytical…

This study was conducted with 11th- and 12th-grade high school students in western Florida. These students were not meeting the required achievement level in English language arts needed for graduation. This qualitative study investigated the barriers that hinder high school students' achievement in English language arts as a graduation…

This case study investigated how grade 8-12 teachers utilized the novel EdTech tool Equity Maps in their dialogic lesson designs. Grounded in theoretical framework of social constructivism and the conceptual framework of the triple E, this case study engaged a purposive sample of 13 highly qualified practitioners in semi-structured interviews with…

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore 12th-grade English teachers' lived experiences of engaging struggling adolescent readers at a large public school district in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area of the United States. The theory that guided this study was Vygotsky's social constructivism theory as it relates…

Over the years, Web 2.0 tools have played a more dominant role in education as they provide the skills necessary for 21st century learning (McLoughlin & Alam, 2014; Sadaf, Newby, & Ertmer, 2012). While this shift with educational technology has been prevalent in most schools, small rural communities such as American Samoa have yet to have…

Many students across the US, specifically in Texas, struggle with writing on grade level. On the last National Assessment of Educational Progress (2012), 70% of eighth- and twelfth-grade students were not writing on grade level. On the 2021 State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) Writing, only 26% of the fourth grade students met…

Educator burnout is a prevalent global issue adversely affecting productivity and contributing to elevated turnover rates, depression, and diminished personal accomplishments. Despite the relentless demands placed on educators, school systems often overlook collecting data from those directly impacted by burnout. This study focused on…

Few students with disabilities applied for postsecondary education disability services and, as a result, had lower graduation rates from four-year colleges than their non-disabled peers. The purpose of this qualitative, interpretive study was to discover the perceptions of Tennessee public high school case managers regarding IEP transition…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the lived experiences of students with dis/ability labels who are in special day classes (SDC). Using a narrative case study, five participants from an urban high school in California were selected to be interviewed for the study. Additionally, a class assignment of education journey maps was…