Principals play an essential role in ensuring student success and achievement. This is achieved through an effective principal's vital role in optimizing teacher impact over an entire campus because quality teachers significantly impact student achievement. This study aimed to gain insights that can contribute to a generalized knowledge of how…

Students tend to perform at the academic level expected of them. Although most expectation research has centered investigation of decontextualized teacher-student dyads to understand whether students behaviorally confirm their teacher's expectation, we now know that expectations operate at whole-group or system levels. Since underestimation is…

The focus of this study was school transformation to accommodate "new literacies, skills, and dispositions that students need to flourish in a networked world" (Richardson, 2016, p. ix). Many schools operate within a traditional model developed during the Industrial Revolution to fit the need for efficiency and compliance (Robinson &…

Research suggests that the most efficient way of improving students' performance, in mathematics and science, is by recruiting and retaining highly qualified mathematics and science teachers. This study augments the body of research aimed at the recruitment of STEM majors to the field of education. The purpose of this study was to determine how a…

This qualitative case study was designed to better understand the phenomenon of how identified "distinguished" upper elementary educators within Domain 2, "The Classroom Environment," of Danielson's (2007) "Framework for Teaching," create and sustain a learning environment that fosters genuine respect and care, and…

This study investigated the relationship between flexible learning environments and student attitudes about reading. Flexible learning environments are spaces wherein learners can choose from different seating or standing options, locations within the learning space, and the size group with which to work. This allows the learner to find the…

Legal educators are routinely banning students' laptops or wireless connectivity in law classes. Faculty assumes students are significantly off-task and in-class laptops are harmful to learning. Current research focuses almost exclusively on undergraduate students technology uses in- and out of the classroom. Only a handful of studies objectively…

Few research studies listened to the voices of high school students with disabilities' regarding their lived experiences during placement in an inclusion setting and a resource setting. The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to understand the central phenomenon of the study for 10 ninth grade students with disabilities served…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe the experiences of elementary and middle schoolteachers who have used stationary movement devices (SMDs) in their classrooms. A phenomenological approach was as a foundational exploration of SMD use in the classroom setting because there was a lack of directly related research.…

Reading is key in all aspects of education and improving reading instruction continues to be an issue of national focus. Although there is considerable research on the nature of teaching reading from a variety of viewpoints, little has focused on student perspectives, particularly at younger levels. The purpose of this case study is to describe…

The purpose of this narratological heuristic multiple case study is to describe the specific components that teachers need in both their knowledge and skills to meet the individual needs of their students in a blended learning classroom. The study was conducted in six schools--elementary, middle, and high schools--located in a suburban district.…

The purpose of this study was to understand the reasons, as perceived by elementary school teachers at the target Title I school, for low student achievement in reading. The conceptual framework that guided this study was the ecological theory that postulates that students' academic achievement is influenced by several subsystems that affect human…

Generally in today's classrooms educators have the responsibility to develop teaching practices that are best suited for a particular group of learners. Since the early days of 1-room schools, various teaching styles have been developed to accommodate a changing world. As the curriculum has broadened through the years, individual student needs…

This dissertation presents three interrelated studies examining opportunities for student learning through contributory citizen science (CS), where students collect and contribute data to help generate new scientific knowledge. I draw on sociocultural perspectives of learning to analyze three cases where teachers integrated CS into school science,…

Educators have been challenged for many years to engage their students, but often students still seem to be disengaged (Klem & Connell, 2004). Research indicates student engagement is critical to student achievement and success in school (Appleton, 2008; Connell, Spencer, & Aber, 1994; Easton, 2008; Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris,…