A significant teacher shortage exists across the United States due to factors ranging from accountability policies for the performance growth of students, the overwhelming workload due to teacher shortages, and the lack of competitive salaries that other professions offer. Consequently, state officials have introduced and implemented changes to…

Students at an elementary school in urban Georgia scored below grade level in comprehension on the state's end-of-the-year assessment. School leadership implemented Lexia Core5, a blended learning program. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effect of the Lexia Reading Core5 program on the reading comprehension skills of…

In a rural Georgia school district, the multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) framework has been formally implemented and facilitated by system-level coordinators for a 4-year period. As the 2021-2022 school year started, the district began the process of transitioning the leadership of the MTSS process to individual school-level teams and…

In this dissertation, I investigated the impact of the involvement of students with disabilities in the ASPIRE intervention program and examined the relationship between student involvement in the ASPIRE program and academic performance and growth. To do so, first, I outlined how I built my perspective for this study in the areas of transition,…

Research examining the administration, evaluation, and continued implementation of technology-based nutrition education interventions for low-income populations is lacking. This dissertation evaluated the implementation of Food eTalk, a statewide online, self-paced nutrition education program. Implementation occurred in various community- and…

Campus administrators and practitioners must make sense of state policy and system-level initiatives for successful implementation. This qualitative study examined campus administrators' and student health and well-being practitioners' sensemaking of the University System of Georgia's (USG) Mental Health Initiative (MHI) through interviews with…

This study investigated the impact of professional development support structures for enhancing teacher mastery of Response to Intervention (RTI) in an urban elementary school setting. With a focus on effective implementation strategies, the research explored the role of tailored professional development initiatives in equipping educators with the…

This qualitative evaluation of Emory's Oxford Summer Experience Program examined rural students' college aspirations. Educational and economic barriers hinder rural students' college enrollment and degree attainment (Adelman, 2002; Byun, Meece, & Irvin, 2012; Means, Clayton, Conzelmann, Baynes, & Umbach, 2016). Because of these barriers,…

The purpose of this research study was to explore secondary education teachers' perceptions of why they may be underprepared to support English language learners (ELLs) in the mainstream classroom. With the increasing number of ELLs in public schools across the United States, teachers with the background, training, and/or knowledge of how to…

Communications Officers, the core of law enforcement emergency centers, are the first point of contact in an emergency. It is imperative to provide effective training and support geared towards retention and success in a comfortable environment. The purpose of this study was to create a training program evaluation supportive of persistence,…

Higher education faculty receive assistance with their instruction, often through teaching or faculty development centers. Instructional consultations, offered by teaching centers, help to examine and analyze teaching to establish areas of improvement. This study examined the perceptions and experiences of higher education faculty who participated…

Substance use in America remains a public health crisis, especially given the ongoing opioid epidemic and an alarming spike in overdose related deaths. Institutions of higher education have a unique opportunity to provide realistic measures of sustained substance use disorder (SUD) recovery through collegiate recovery programs (CRP) that employ…

This study aimed to explore the extent to which two digital reading programs used in Georgia did or did not fully align with Georgia's instructional reading standards. Many commercial curricula do not appear to effectively support students in demonstrating reading proficiency as measured by state and national assessment outcomes. Therefore, this…

This research looks at the features of successful mentorship programs and their influence on at-risk African American male students. The research examines how an Afrocentric mentoring program affects attendance, discipline, and achievement. This intervention draws on the principles of the African American rites of passage movement to focus on…

Within the past ten to fifteen years, there has been a trend among churches to downsize staff and eliminate the role of "Minister of Education." With these changes in staff structure, a need has emerged for assistance in evaluating adult educational programming within the church. For this project, a process was developed called the Adult…