This three-paper dissertation uses social network analysis to examine the literacy development and small group discourse of multilingual students in Grades 4 and 5. The data come from a randomized-controlled trial testing the effectiveness of homogeneous and heterogeneous small groups for English learners. The first paper tests whether two types…

Reading Comprehension is one of the key skills that supports the child's overall learning progress. Belize is a developing country striving towards the development of its educational system. The primary purpose of this research study was to determine the effects of reciprocal teaching with multilingual students in Belizean elementary schools. A…

K-3 teachers face challenges in meeting the learning needs of their emergent bilingual (EB) students in rural southeastern schools in the United States. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore K-3 teacher perspectives on challenges to meet the English language learning needs of their EB students and to identify what K-3 teachers…

This qualitative action research case study is focused on better understanding the complex and intricate nature of code-switching among Black students. In today's educational climate, many Black students find themselves speaking one way with their closest friends and family members in front of the swing set and television and another way with…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how the structured collaboration guided by a modified Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) framework between mainstream and emergent bilingual and multilingual (EBM) teachers can support mainstream teachers in increasing their self-efficacy in serving EBM students in class. This study employed…

Purpose: The overarching purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which differences existed in Grade 4 STAAR Writing performance by student economic status, gender, and language status. In the first article, the purpose was to investigate the extent to which student economic status (i.e., Not Poor, Moderately Poor,…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to examine the extent to which differences were present in the mathematics achievement of Grade 3 Emergent Bilingual students by their economic status, ethnicity/race, and gender. In the first study, the extent to which economic status (i.e., Poor and Not Poor) was related to the…

This dissertation addresses a critical gap in the literature by examining how the organizational environment shapes the understanding of instruction and practice for multilingual learners (ML) among general education (GE) elementary classroom teachers. Building on inhabited institutionalism theory, the study investigates the interrelationship of…

The current longitudinal, mixed-methods dissertation explored how various Family Language Policy (FLP) factors (including parent and child language ideologies, practices, and management) influence "Español"-English (hereafter, "Españ"Eng) bilingual students' home language maintenance/loss and their bilingual development.…

The main purpose of this pilot study was to explore the rate and extent to which school psychologists are considering different developmental, linguistic, and environmental factors of English Learners. The sample of this study included coding bilingual psychoeducational evaluations (N=120) for such factors using the D-STPGE scale as a guide to…

This three-manuscript dissertation-in-practice explores the opportunity gap in literacy between multilingual and monolingual English-speaking students in an elementary school located in the Northwestern United States. The first manuscript provides a final diagnosis of the problem based on findings from literature and needs assessments in my…

Family-school engagement has been found to influence students' emotional and mental well-being. Meanwhile, culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) families have often been found to perceive and respond to engagement efforts differently than Euro-American families. The unique needs of emergent bilinguals, a subsample of the CLD community,…

This dissertation study explores how a student creative artifact, (a book, developed by a Korean bilingual student, named Jinwoo) in an U.S. elementary school made a lasting contribution within and beyond the school community. Jinwoo's book offers creative insights into Korean emergent bilingual students' learning experiences in the U.S…

The purpose of this Action Research study was to examine and improve the instructional practices and social-emotional learning for multilingual learners in third-grade, urban public school classrooms. Participants and data collected in Cycle 1 consisted of six interviews with third-grade classroom and special education teachers, three classroom…

This study employs an exploratory descriptive quantitative statistics design. District-level results in the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) are explored to describe the achievement gaps that exist in districts implementing Transitional Bilingual Education (TBE) programs and districts implementing Dual Language (DL)…