Promoting pre-service teachers' development of professional dispositions through purposefully designed learning experiences may be middle level teacher education's most important contribution to a novice's development from student to teacher. The 2022 Revised Middle Level Teacher Preparation Standards explicitly address this expectation in…

This paper investigates admission procedures of Master of Arts programs of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (MA TEFL) in Iran in comparison with universities around the world. Along with a view of the centralised national MA TEFL entrance exam held in Iran during the past three decades, we investigated admission requirements for comparable…

In this study 25 student teachers receiving endorsement in special education interviewed paraprofessionals and self-rated their ability to perform a variety of paraprofessional supervision tasks. The paraprofessionals expressed desires for increased training and skills in behavior management; increased training in general; communication with…

Using a collective case study approach, this study explored a phenomenon called "compulsory heterogenderism," a neologism created to explain the ways in which gender identities and sexualities are consistently understood in and through each other. Put another way, although participants' sexualities (e.g., being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or…

Navigating education and career paths presents young people with many choices and challenges. Underserved youth are particularly vulnerable to the challenges that can interfere with navigating their paths effectively. At the same time, young people equipped with the knowledge and skills to overcome obstacles are able to succeed and realize the…

The improvisations needed to adapt to COVID-19 teaching and learning conditions affected students and faculty alike. This study uses chaos theory and improvisation to examine an undergraduate communication research methods course that was initially delivered synchronously/face-to-face and then transitioned to asynchronous/online in March 2020.…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the influence of collegiate experiences of non-heterosexual African American males (AAMs) on their retention and persistence. Eight non-heterosexual AAMs participated in interviews where they described their college experiences and their perceived impact on their retention and persistence.…

This study presents a conceptual understanding of how mentorship is experienced by the participants of a mentorship program for university students with Autism Spectrum Disorder. We interviewed the participants of the Autism Mentorship Initiative at Simon Fraser University. A grounded theory approach was used to systematically organize data from…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) student perceptions of their residence hall environments are influenced by interactions with peers, resident assistants, residential life administrators, and campus policies. Using the tradition of storytelling and drawing upon the experience of 11 LGBTQ participants, this article provides a…

This three article dissertation is an investigation into the ontology of learning insofar as learning is a process of becoming. In each article I explore the general questions of who is learning, in what ways, and with what consequences. The context for this research is undergraduate engineering education with particular attention to the…

As colleges and universities have increased campus programs, LGBTQ students continue to experience marginalization within the very spaces intended to support them. This study explored how LGBTQ college students experienced campus climate at a Midwest Urban Public (MUP) institution through a framework of the traditionally heterogendered institution…

Organizational actorhood is a term that has gained prominence in literature about higher education as a way to describe some of the key global change processes with emphasis on organizational accountability, formalization of structure, focus on goal definition and managerialism. At the same time, there is less knowledge about how organizational…

In this critical narrative inquiry study, we explored the experience of gay cisgender men in college at the borderlands of social constructionism, critical race theory, and queer theory. Findings included 3 major themes: (a) the salience, tokenization, and centrality of being an "other" in a given space, (b) how performativity varied in…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how Black gay and bisexual male college students experience oppression during their spiritual journeys and how they resist this oppression. Data collection included interviews, field observations, and photovoice. Data were analyzed using quare theory, an alternative to queer theory, which…

In 2016, a higher education task force of St. Louis Graduates (STLG), a collaborative network whose mission is to increase degree completion for low income students, first-generation students, and students of color from St. Louis, commissioned this study from the Illinois Education Research Council (IERC). Through discussion, the following goals…