This grounded theory study seeks to 1) understand what barriers North Carolina kindergarten teachers experience as they implement a new authentic formative assessment, the North Carolina Early Learning Inventory (NC ELI), and 2) identify factors that increase implementation fidelity with the new measure. Data were collected from 10 teachers, from…

The relationship challenges faced by women in leadership ranks within the academy are rarely researched. There is a dearth of research that explores the relationships between women in higher education settings and their colleagues, along with their ability to ascend to roles of leadership. Women have become well prepared to compete in the academy.…

Evidence-based programming and the importance of research has gained attention among outdoor and adventure-based programs in recent years (Sibthorp, 2009) regardless of the challenges that often accompany this type of investigation (Bialeschki, Henderson, Hickerson, & Browne, 2012). Programs must often develop their own evaluation instruments,…

There are many unmet needs among parents of children with autism for parent respite and social time for their children. The use of undergraduate student volunteers is a potential strategy for meeting some of these needs. Separate focus groups for parents and for undergraduates were convened to assess feasibility, comfort, reservations, and mutual…

School districts across the nation are grappling with the issue of high principal turnover coupled with a decrease in number of experienced applicants to fill vacancies (Guterman, 2007; Hall, 2008; Johnson, 2005; United States Department of Education, 2010; Villani, 2008). In addition, college preparation programs are being called into question as…

Background: In 2012, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force released a hotly debated recommendation against prostate-specific antigen testing for all men. The present research examines African Americans' beliefs about their susceptibility to prostate cancer (PCa) and the effectiveness of prostate-specific antigen testing in the context of the…

This qualitative study focused on high school social studies teachers' understandings of and perspectives about vocabulary acquisition and instruction. The research questions were the following: (1) What do high school social studies teachers understand about vocabulary instruction? and (2) How do high school social studies teachers support…

Parents play a significant role in molding their children's nutrition knowledge and behavior. The purpose of the present study was to explore parental influence on preschooler's nutrition education from the perspectives of North Carolina-based Head Start coordinators and teachers. Investigators conducted 63 in-depth, structured interviews with…

To address the persistent failure of schooling to support underserved students, youth participatory action research (YPAR) has emerged as an alternative and critical paradigm for educational practice. YPAR re-centers authority on marginalized voices and understands research as a tool for social change. Grounded in critical pedagogy, such projects…

Important to issues of writing instruction are the ways in which teachers, specifically those who teach in the discipline of language arts and English, understand and see themselves as writers. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how secondary English teachers positioned themselves and were positioned by others as writers through…

This study examined the effects of the recently implemented North Carolina Educator Evaluator System (NCEES) on teaching practices and teacher leadership in a mostly rural county in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. NCEES is designed to improve teaching practices and teacher leadership through performance-based standards. This…

This study discusses East Carolina University's (ECU) preparation program and its emphasis on the study and application of diversity throughout the internship. ECU's comprehensive internship provided candidates time to apply theory and knowledge about school leadership and diversity topics addressed on a monthly basis at internship seminars. A…

This study explored the interplay of a community college's vision, its leaders' behaviors, strategic planning, and the use of data that contributed to an organizational culture that led to the improvement of student success. The researcher used a grounded theory approach to delve into the relationships and connections between these four…

This article reports on a study to determine which information sources organic growers use to inform farming practices by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with 23 organic farmers across 17 North Carolina counties. Effective information sources included: networking, agricultural organizations, universities, conferences, Extension, Web…

The population of English learners (ELs) is increasing dramatically and teachers need to learn how advocate for these often marginalized students. This study investigates various syllabi from English as a second language pre-service teacher course work that are aimed at preparing future teachers to advocate for ELs. The researchers employed…