The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second-largest school district in the country, serving over 574,000 students. As with all school districts, L.A. Unified has experienced significant disruptions in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, working to center students' well-being and academic success while responding to urgent operational…

Virtual schools have gained popularity by providing students with the flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere. The appeal of virtual education lies in its capacity to enhance student choices and improve the efficiency of public education (Molnar et al., 2019). Online learning, with its adaptable and personalized approach, proves more effective than…

The purpose of this dissertation was to scrutinize the complexities involved in the formulation and implementation of relevant policies. The design of each study mirrored key elements in the legislative life cycle specifically as it pertained to civics education policymaking, including problem identification, policy creation, and policy diffusion.…

This dissertation examined the application of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in an alternative high school, emphasizing educators' perceptions and experiences. Amid issues created by the COVID-19 pandemic, this study investigated how educators addressed challenges in implementing SEL into their curricula. The study was based on Fullan's…

Equity practices have expanded throughout the California community college (CCC) system. Every CCC develops an equity plan, where each institution chooses a disproportionately impacted population and focuses on improving access, basic skills completion, degrees and certificates awarded, and transfer rates. Each college is required to develop…

Students with mild to moderate learning disabilities across the nation continue to show significant gaps in English Language Arts (ELA) across the country (Gilmour et al., 2019; Schulte et al., 2016). Data from multiple sources confirm ongoing performance discrepancies on statewide assessments when comparing the performance of students with…

School reforms in New Orleans have brought sweeping changes to the way public schools are governed and managed, and to the way in which students are assigned to public schools. Non-profit charter school boards now govern over 90% of public schools, and families are able to choose the public school in which they enroll. Competition within the…

In 2012, Governor Kasich instituted a call-to-action, "Campus leaders throughout Ohio must work together to rethink how the state allocates its investment in our public higher educational facilities." (Ohio Higher Education Capital Funding Commission, 2016). The intent of Governor Kasich was to drive more equitable outcomes and…

Quality physical education, pivotal for the development of physical, social, and emotional skills for an active and healthy lifestyle (Society of Health and Physical Educators [SHAPE] America, 2014; United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2021), has been globally marginalized, necessitating a heightened focus on…

Since culturally relevant teaching was first introduced by Ladson-Billings in 1994, American schools have become even more racially and ethnically diverse, and post-COVID revealed a wider performance gap between Black and Hispanic students compared to White students. What is less clear is how culturally responsive school leaders are standing up…

This study sought to explore the experiences of teachers during COVID-19, their sense of morale, and the supports that were influential to that sense of morale. Three research questions were explored to better understand how teachers experienced teaching during COVID-19: (1) How do middle school teachers describe the experience of teaching during…

The scholarship on school privatization and market-oriented reforms has demonstrated the negative effects on segregation and inequity triggered by this model, not only in Chile but globally. Less is known about how to transition toward a democratic-oriented education approach after decades of embedding the values rooted in a competition-based…

This exploratory and descriptive study investigated the degree to which a NACUBO Economic Models Project framework is perceived by Chief Diversity Officers (CDOs) as being a relevant tool for sustaining diversity core values in institutional diversity program operations. In response to the rapidly changing demographics of the United States and the…

Over the past five years, North Carolina community colleges have experienced a plethora of rapid changes, which can have a negative impact on employee engagement. Individuals who possess a transformational style of leadership typically inspire employees to engage in their work despite a rapidly changing environment. The specific business problem…

This study, "Teacher Insight: The Implementation of the Common Core State Standards in California School Districts" was designed to glean teacher voice on the large-scale reform. With a need for a global workforce in a 21st century society the existing education system is undergoing a tremendous change in order to prepare students for…