This study is focused on exploring ways to disrupt imbalanced power dynamics in educational settings, specifically elementary schools. It includes reflections of the researcher's journey and experiences as a teacher in District of Columbia public and charter schools and how those experiences shaped who she became when she entered school…

The purpose of this study was to determine what educational leaders' actions influence the degree of employee engagement within a Special Education Department of a large urban elementary school. Specifically, the action research team measured the outcomes of actions from the lens of special education leaders and special education employees.…

The present bounded case study explored preservice teachers' experiences using a boundary object in the form of a mathematics course assignment during a pre-student teaching clinical experience. The study focused on preservice teachers' perceptions of how utilizing a boundary object influenced the dynamics of their hierarchical relationships with…

Critical Participatory Action Research is a form of research where community members and researchers collaborate to plan and carry out a research project on an issue they identify together (Cammarota & Fine, 2008; Mirra, Garcia & Morrell, 2016). While most CPAR projects engage adolescents, an emerging body of research focuses on CPAR with…

With federal gender equity mandates in place, some may assume that schools are now havens were children are protected from discrimination based on failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity. Yet, research suggests that the school literacy curriculum serves as a site that privileges gender performances consistent with…

Historically marginalized students, especially urban students attending under-resourced schools, experience lower levels of belongingness than their white peers in suburban, well-resourced schools. Much research highlights that student belongingness increases student outcomes such as on-time graduation, standardized test achievement, and lifetime…

This ethnographic study explores the crucial role of family engagement in educational systems and the impact a human-centered design team has on students' success at an elementary school. The research addresses the historical impact of racism and colonization on student outcomes alongside the ongoing challenge of narrowing the opportunity gap.…

The purpose of this dissertation was to understand the ways forms of literacy and cultural oppression operate in the content of the corpus of 60 books distributed by Dolly Parton's Imagination Library (DPIL) to children who entered kindergarten in the fall of 2022 from their birth to age 5. A growing number of affiliates, including many U.S.…

Every citizen has the right to be equipped with scientific literacy to understand and make informed decisions within the discipline of science. Educators can utilize core science teaching practices (CSTPs) to develop scientific literacy. In response, this study identified the CSTPs utilized by preservice elementary teachers (PSETs) to develop…

This autoethnographic study uses personal memoirs to explore the author's allyship and advocacy efforts throughout the past 24 years in the language teaching profession. Through the process of self-reflexivity and introspection, "turning points" are investigated to understand more about what influences the actions and behaviors of…

In response to a proliferation of early literacy policy interventions and heightened and divisive rhetoric around an often-misunderstood concept referred to as the science of reading, this study interrogates the discourse surrounding a state-level early literacy policy within three distinct realms: the macropolitical, the local media, and the…

The current music education paradigm may be considered an oppressive experience for both students and teachers through its historical foundation, standardized nature, and focus on Western art repertoire and its associated skill building. Realizing the oppressive nature of many aspects of music education, some scholars and practitioners have sought…

This dissertation explores the dynamics of a formal classroom and an informal nature-based learning environment, focusing on their impact on student subjectification and knowledge authority. The study, conducted with a cohort of 27 fifth-grade students and their teacher, employs a comparative case study methodology to analyze how teaching…

As researchers strive to work toward equity in education, attention to how teachers and teacher educators develop asset-based perspectives and what role power plays in this process has become a focus in teacher education (Carter Andrews et al., 2019; Philip, 2019; Souto-Manning & Martell, 2019). Within science teacher education, researchers…

The qualitative study examined the mental health aspects of marginalized elementary school students in addition to constructing and implementing a culturally responsive and sustaining mindfulness program to observe if there were improvements regarding emotional regulation and awareness. To achieve this, I constructed a culturally responsive and…