In most countries, Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is rarely understood by a number of individuals including educational stakeholders particularly teachers as they are the ones to handle children with autism in school context particularly in mainstream classrooms. While the number of children diagnosed with autism continues to grow worldwide, it is…

Teachers' sensemaking of student behavior determines whether students get in trouble and are formally disciplined. Status categories, such as race, can influence perceptions of student culpability, but the degree to which teachers' initial identification of student misbehavior exacerbates racial disproportionality in discipline receipt is unknown.…

This phenomenological qualitative study describes students' experiences and counter-stories of school climate and how school climate matters for their academic achievement in an urban school district. The study uses a critical race perspective to help understand contextual influences on school climate. Data were collected through eight focus group…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions and development of community college students as they navigate stigmas associated with a 2-year collegiate institution within the mid-Atlantic region. Community colleges continue to be labeled as a disservice in regard to academically and holistically preparing nontraditional…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational predictive study was to determine if and to what extent the dimensions of organizational commitment (affective, continuance, and normative commitment) predicted teacher efficacy among K-8 teachers from an urban school district in the Southwest region of the United States. Bandura's Social Cognitive…

The purpose of the qualitative exploratory case study was to explore third through fifth-grade teachers' perceptions of how being provided with curriculum-based professional development could influence instructional techniques and skills in the classroom. Two research questions guided the study. The questions focused on third to fifth-grade…

This convergent mixed methods study examined the impact of student learning objectives (SLOs) and the evaluation process on teachers' sense of efficacy. The study participants included kindergarten through eighth grade teachers from one large urban Midwestern school district. The quantitative research questions examined teachers' reported sense of…

In an environment of increased accountability and autonomy for school leaders, insufficient assistance relationships between school leaders and district staff hinder the ability of principals to utilize autonomy in ways that translate to improved instruction and student performance. This study sought to examine and strengthen the assistance…

This study aimed to investigate the relationships, if any, between Ready to Graduate indicator, average ACT scores, chronic absenteeism rates, and school counselor to student ratios in Tennessee's four urban counties surrounding Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, and Knoxville, Tennessee. Only eight of Tennessee's 95 counties have a population that…

The purpose of this study was to gather feedback from Black female students who are navigating their way through the secondary STEM pathway. The study, modeled on the "Social Cognitive Career Theory" (Lent and Brown, 2006, 2008; Lent et al. 1994, 2000) was used to explore factors that influenced the interest and persistence of Black…

Family engagement is a major component in assisting student success and academic growth; however, within the inner city, it can be difficult to get families engaged due to many different factors. Schools can increase family engagement by giving families the knowledge to be successful. The purpose of this dissertation is to present how effective it…

As COVID-19 upended the lives of students around the state, schools across Wisconsin saw a troubling increase in chronic absences. This report discusses where chronic absenteeism grew more sharply in Wisconsin. The highest rates of absenteeism occurred in schools with greater numbers of students of color and from low-income households, thus posing…

Studying the experiences of Black educators and Black people is particularly important given the rampant anti-Blackness present in K-12 schools. Often while studying Blackness in schools, the focus is on children and their oppression as it relates to their achievement. This study aimed to expand the fields of raciolinguistics, fugitivity, and…

This quantitative, multiple regression analysis examined the rate of engagement in antiracist practices, as well as the predictors of antiracist actions school counselors report taking to address racism and bias in schools. A national survey data set of 8,266 school counselor respondents was examined. After data cleaning, a total of 5,007 school…

The problem addressed in this study was that non-traditional high school students at the study site were not being provided with in-school intervention and support programs to assist them with academic achievement. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore what in-school programs are offered to non-traditional students at the study…