Computational thinking (CT) has been an increasing focus of research and practice since the seminal paper by Wing in 2006, especially in pre-college (K-12) education. Barr and Stephenson defined CT as a problem-solving methodology that can be automated, transferred, and applied across disciplines. With the challenges of fitting CT into already…

Elementary school teachers at a rural school district in southeastern Arizona integrated the Beyond Textbooks framework in their classroom instruction related to academic achievement; however, exploring how rural elementary teachers integrated Beyond Textbooks in classroom instruction had yet to be investigated. This basic qualitative project…

This study investigates the integration of content and language in a Mandarin immersion program, focusing on the interplay between teacher beliefs and pedagogical practices. It examines how these practices align or diverge from teachers' stated educational ideologies through interviews, observations, and a questionnaire. This qualitative case…

Many states use research-based mathematics curricula as an instructional tool to improve mathematics performance outcomes on state assessment scores. The problem was that despite the implementation of a research-based curriculum, students at XYZ Elementary School (pseudonym) had underperformed on the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for…

This study investigated professional development practices and its impact on classroom instruction as perceived by teachers in participating school districts in Mississippi. One hundred and twenty-one teachers who participated in this study responded to Learning Forward's Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI) using the Survey Monkey platform. This…

The purpose of this self-study was to examine my enactment of 3S Understanding, a holistic, democratic and inquiry-based curriculum theory, in a university-based, English-to-speakers-of-other-languages (ESOL) writing course grounded in Subject Learning, Self Learning, and Social Learning. Through disciplined reflective inquiry and collaboration…

The action-research study explores a district leader's experience implementing district-wide individualized learning plans (ILPs) and individualized instruction to enhance student outcomes in reading. The study utilizes collective leadership practices by collaborating with reading interventionists throughout. In addition, this study provides an…

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that jobs within the life and physical sciences will grow by 8% between 2020 and 2030; therefore, it is imperative that students receive an engaging, rigorous, and comprehensive science education. Many urban and minority students have been denied this opportunity as evidenced by their poor performance on…

The idea of freedom in education has its roots in the social justice movements of the 1950s and 60s. Civil rights groups coalesced independently of other marginalized groups and movements of its time. While similar in nature, environmentalism and civil rights issues rarely crossed paths. As environmentalism made its way into science education and…

This practitioner inquiry dissertation is situated within the context of U.S. education policy that persists in defining literacy as print-based and privileges standardized literacy assessments as the singular measure of what students "know". Decades of literacy research have shown that such orientations to education policy and resulting…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the use of mindfulness strategies by four teachers in four separate public school settings in Oklahoma. Data were collected through interviews of each participant to better understand their experiences with implementing mindfulness strategies in their classroom. The Collaborative for…

This mixed methods study explored the influence that the use of implementation frameworks and the deployment of implementation drivers may have on collective efficacy in early learning and elementary settings. It was hypothesized that such a relationship could foster high fidelity implementation of high leverage practices that would support the…

Educators nationwide are receiving training through Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling® (LETRS®), a program rooted in a structured literacy that encompasses all five essential components of literacy recommended by the National Reading Panel (NRP, 2000): phonemic awareness, phonics skills, fluency, vocabulary, and…

A narrative study was used to examine the lived experiences of novice teachers and their knowledge base of culturally responsive pedagogy and its implementation in the classroom. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews of 12 participants who completed a teacher preparation program. Through coding analysis, data was analyzed around…

The racial and ethnic demographics of higher education are becoming increasingly diverse; however, faculty demographics remain predominantly White. With agriculture being one of the largest economic sectors, often with many roles to fill, recruiting and retaining racially and ethnically diverse students into agricultural and related science…