Diversity in classrooms across the United States continues to grow. In order to evaluate teacher education programs and explore how they prepare pre-service teachers with culturally responsive teaching practices; the researcher conducted a mixed-methods study. After analyzing teacher education programs through course syllabi, conducting interviews…

Effective instructional coaching programs have the potential to promote the development of reflective practices, cultural competence, and self-efficacy of educators, but require intentional professional development for coaches. This research inquiry examines instructional coach participants' reflective practices, cultural competence, and…

Cultural competence is described as a set of skills, values, and principles that acknowledge, respect, and work toward optimal interactions between the individual and the various cultural and ethnic groups with which an individual might come into contact. Scholars have been critical of cultural competence training because the three-dimensional…

This dissertation explores community-based learning (CBL) in university Spanish education. Although Spanish education continues to construct Spanish as a foreign language (Leeman, 2014), recent trends such as changing demographics in the US have led to calls for Spanish education to focus more on US Latinx communities (e.g., Torres, Pascual y…

The world continues to witness a crisis when it comes to reconciling cultural differences. In many cases, failure to bridge cultural differences has led to a continuum of violence that begins with individual conflict and ends with wars and terrorism. College campuses, such as the University of New Hampshire (UNH), experience increasing cultural…

This dissertation discusses how engaging in arts-based identity exploration activities can help traditional-age undergraduates (ages 18-24) develop increased self-awareness and cultural sensitivity. The dissertation first explores the participatory inquiry paradigm and the roles of artistic/creative expression in holistic knowledge creation and…

English teachers must be prepared to attend to the intercultural aspects of language learning. In Indonesia, this challenge is compounded by education policies that also require teachers to sustain Indonesian cultural values. Without explicit preparation or guidance, these two expectations could be quite challenging to novice teachers. The…

International mindedness is a recent and evolving research topic in language education and other fields because of its significance in promoting global relations, ethical leadership, intercultural understanding, global engagement, and world communication. This study explored the conceptions and practices of international mindedness of four English…

As the enrollment of Chinese international students (CIS) increased at a private institution in the Midwest, so did suspected cases of plagiarism. This study addressed the problem of how faculty members grappled with CIS' interpretation and application of Western-based views of plagiarism. The purpose of the study was to identify similarities and…

Preparing college students to be contributing members of local and global societies requires educators to analyze the capabilities and needs of their students and to adjust instructional content and practice. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was twofold: (a) to explore how classroom approaches designed to facilitate students' questioning of…

There is growing interest in teaching K-16 students where food comes from and how it is grown, as evidenced by school gardens, farm-to-school programs, majors related to food systems, student farms on college campuses, and campus sustainable food projects. Many of these programs, however, do not necessarily highlight social inequities embedded in…

The Holocaust, which occurred at the hands of the Nazi regime from 1933 to 1945 is the term used to describe the systematic torture and murder of approximately six million European Jews and millions of other "undesirables" (World War 2: Nazi Germany, 2010). The purpose of this dissertation was to provide a deep understanding of student…

In spite of recent progress toward addressing the need for cultural competence with lesbian and gay-identified clients, bisexual-identified clients continue to be marginalized in the principles, theories, and methods of studying sexuality as well as in the training provided by counselor educators. A descriptive content analysis was conducted to…

Are graduates of teacher preparation programs adequately prepared with the skills and knowledge to teach in the 21st century classroom? This study consisted of a quantitative content analysis to investigate the presence of 21st century knowledge and skills within a stratified random sample of teacher preparation programs in the United States as…

A growing number of researchers claim that diverse students with potentially diverse literacies are unable to take up the necessary literate practices to be successful in the university and upon leaving they are unable to master these literate practices, specifically the need to address critical thinking, problem-solving, and writing and to…