Female international students negotiate multiple identities as non-native learners and women in a society with different cultural, social, and gender expectations than their home countries. However, a review of literature on international students reveals a lack of comprehensive discussion on gender and the international graduate school…

The current political environment across the country is focused on accountability practices in education. It is becoming more common for high-stakes tests scores to be part of teacher evaluation practices and monetary compensation. Therefore, teachers receive pressure to teach toward the test material resulting in giving up control of…

Citizens of the Compact of Free Association (COFA) nations of Micronesia are the newest ethnic migrant group in Hawai'i. This relationship is born out of the long history of the geopolitical relationship between the COFA nations (the Republic of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands) and the United States.…

Using a phenomenological methodology, this qualitative study renewed the examination of gender inequality in higher education administration by allowing women who have experienced the glass ceiling phenomenon at Research Doctoral institutions to provide further meaning by sharing their stories. The glass ceiling phenomenon reveals itself most…

As children increasingly use digital technologies in interactions with their parents (Marsh, 2003, 2004, 2011; Robinson & Turnbull, 2005), such possibilities create new ways in which literacy is practiced (Barton, Hamilton, & Ivanic, 2000; Jewitt, 2008; Street, 1998). Yet, what the literacy field knows about interactions between children…

Drawing from Cultural-Historical Activity Theory, this research analyzed the structural contradictions existing in the variety of educational activities and resistance among a group of alienated adult students in Korea National Open University (KNOU). Despite KNOU's quantitative development in student number, the students' resistance shed light on…

Electronic networks of practice (eNoP) are special types of electronic social structures focused on discussing domain-specific problems related to a skill-based craft or profession in question and answer style forums. eNoP have implemented peer-to-peer feedback systems in order to motivate future contributions and to distinguish contribution…

This dissertation manuscript reports on a study that explored the ways in which the focal children in three Muslim immigrant families enacted identity by way of literacy practice. This study set out to construct a better understanding of Muslim American immigrant families by providing a "thick description" of their identity performance…

In this qualitative study of public high school athletic directors (ADs), the experiences and contacts of eight White ADs (four men and four women) that influenced their ability to attain (achieve) and retain (maintain) the AD position are examined, compared and analyzed, with a specific focus on gender. Specifically, this study examines the…

The research centered on secondary mathematics teachers' beliefs, attitudes, knowledge base, and practices in meeting the academic and language needs of English language learners. Using socio-cultural theory and social practice theory to frame the study, the research design employed a mixed methods approach incorporating self-reported surveys,…

Despite their educational and economic achievements in the United States, Asian Americans continue to be occupationally segregated in the labor force. Asian Americans are overrepresented in mathematics, engineering and biological sciences while underrepresented in field such as education, humanities, social and behavioral sciences (Bureau of Labor…

Decades of research document underperformance of Latino/a youth in mathematics, yet little is known about the day-to-day mathematics socialization of Latino/a youth. This research used qualitative case studies of two Algebra 1 classrooms and seven Latino/a focal students to document and describe two major influences on Latino/a youths'…

A neo-culture of extra-curricular coaching prior to sitting the terminal exam was once the privileged domain of public education systems in the Eastern world, but this is no longer the case. This multi-phase study based on a grounded theory approach considered a diversity of physics learning experiences of students and alumni from two urban…

"The Emperor Has No Clothes: Teaching About Race and Racism to People Who Don't Want to Know" is designed to offer both practical and theoretical grounding for leaders and teachers interested in effectively addressing racism as well as other oppressive constructs. The dissertation offers an overview of the role of western culture in maintaining…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of third-culture students who repatriated to the United States for their first year of college. In the context of this research, third-culture students are American children who lived overseas as a result of their parents' professions for two or more years immediately prior to…