The World Economic Forum (WEF) found that Botswana's information and communication technology (ICT) networked readiness index (NRI) had declined from position 89 in 2012 to 104 in 2015. A decline in Botswana's ICT NRI resulted in a modest gross domestic product (GDP) growth increasing from 4.2% in 2012 to 5.0% in 2015. The purpose of this…

Afterschool programs linked to schools provide opportunities to keep children safe and engage them in enrichment activities that can support their growth and development. Often, these programs are led by afterschool directors with a background in youth development and no experience or education in leading in educational environments. These…

Effective public history dialogue depends on all voices having adequate access to interpretation and experience set in historical and/or cultural environments. The dissertation explores programming developed specifically for secondary education students who have intellectual disabilities and other related cognitive and developmental disabilities.…

The rapid pace of change for knowledge workers competing globally necessitates ongoing continuous learning. Increasingly, knowledge workers will need to be ready--willing and able--to engage in self-directed learning. This makes it important to understand what factors in the work environment might be related to the self-directed learning…

This study examined the application and perceived effectiveness of the Council for the Advancement of Standards (CAS) in a community college Student Affairs Division. The two research questions were as follows: (1) How does a Community College apply CAS standards? (2) What is the perceived effectiveness of applying those standards? A case study…

As nationwide school enrollments are projected to increase slowly over the next decade, it is predicted that there will be a greater increase among students identified for special education services. As a result, the employment of paraprofessionals who aid these students is expected to grow by ten percent between 2008 and 2018 (Bureau of Labor…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the perceptions of certified support staff at a Georgia middle school, focusing on their opinions of Professional Learning Communities (PLC), the roles they played in PLCs and the effect PLCs had on their professional practices. This descriptive case study utilized open-ended interviews,…

In a recent meta-analysis of online learning, the U.S. Department of Education supported findings to suggest that learners benefit from exposure to blended learning environments when digitally skilled teachers implement technology into traditional classes. Data from these studies support evidence to benefit learners by increasing interest,…

The purpose of this case study was to evaluate the perceptions of participants regarding their effectiveness in responding to defiant student violence as a crisis response team, following crisis response team training. The participants were a group of 10 volunteer PK-6 public school educators from western Wisconsin. The study took place during the…

Problem: Leaders today need a new set of knowledge and skills to be effective in collaborative environments. The focus of this study was to investigate how collaborative environments can contribute to leadership development. The purpose of this study was to describe how the collaborative environment of summer camp helped shape emerging adults as…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) provide schools with a tool to meet the professional development needs of their teachers through ongoing, job-embedded staff development designed to improve instruction and student learning. While research exists on the development of PLCs, there is a gap in the literature concerning the principal's role in…

The purpose of this study was to examine the collegial coaching model of staff development used by 8 English teachers at one Georgia high school. The 8 teachers worked in 4 groups of 2 to develop curriculum, design lessons, and create assessments for one grade level of students. The theoretical foundation for the collegial coaching model dates…