Educational reforms have a tendency to fade or divert in unproductive ways. To disrupt this cycle and understand why unwanted practices persist and new ones distort, the supports that sustain practices need to be considered. In this study, I use action research to examine the supports of institutionalized patterns of practice within the classroom…

This dissertation addresses contemporary nontenured PhDs in English, who face a number of disciplinary crises: (1) tenure is steadily declining, (2) it's increasingly difficult to publish, (3) the general relevancy of the field has become dubious, and (4) the number of English majors is shrinking. This confluence of crises makes competition for…

Since the election of the first American college president in 1640--Henry Dunster of Harvard College--the position of president has been one of extreme responsibility and high visibility. There are many questions regarding how best to prepare individuals to attain this role (Chandler, 2006). Individuals come to the presidency from a variety of…

An issue faced by educators throughout the United States is how to successfully educate preservice teachers on various laws, cultural differences, attitudes, and current teaching strategies affecting English Language Learners (ELL) and their educators. Western Illinois University (WIU) implemented an online ELL Module in 2009 that all preservice…

In education, as in other realms of life, motivation plays a crucial role in the performance of students. Deci and Ryan's (1985) Self Determination Theory identified various types of motivation along a continuum from weakest to strongest. Yet, until recently, no reliable method existed to accurately measure the strength of motivation along this…

With the highest attrition rate of any minority group enrolled in higher education institutions, American Indian/Alaska Native students rightly garner considerable attention. Researchers and administrators study the factors for both attrition and persistence. Such scrutiny calls for studies of those individuals who successfully navigated the…

Math anxiety levels and performance outcomes were compared for bilingual and monolingual community college Intermediate Algebra students attending a culturally diverse urban commuter college. Participants (N = 618, 250 men, 368 women; 361 monolingual, 257 bilingual) completed the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale (AMAS) and a demographics instrument.…

Undergraduate education majors in a teacher preparation program completed a computer-assisted instructional program for a study designed to examine the effects of type of instructional control and program mode on the achievement, option use, time spent on program, and attitudes of higher and lower ability students. Students were assigned to high…