Despite the magnitude of the investment in professional development (PD) for K-12 educators and its limited returns, research on PD has typically only focused on effective elements of program design. Little work has been done to explore the role of facilitators or leaders of professional development. However, by better understanding the complex…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how K-5 teachers describe the connections between their personal career development and their ability to implement digital citizenship pedagogy in the classroom. Twenty-four K-5 teachers completed a demographic questionnaire before signing up to participate in either a…

This mixed-methods case study was designed to explore and comprehend the perceptions of secondary educators regarding social-emotional learning (SEL) training and implementation. Data were gathered via a survey of 10 middle school educators to determine their awareness of SEL prior to participating in SEL training. The training was in the form of…

U. S. educational policies focused on the use of high-stakes standardized achievement tests and top-down accountability to improve student achievement have had an insignificant impact. Furthermore, the focus on once-a-year standardized tests to measure student success negatively impacts daily classroom instruction and assessment practices.…

Students are starting middle school without the foundational reading skills necessary to access the texts in their content area classes, such as science and social studies. This is causing great frustration for the teachers who feel unsure of how to help these students because they did not learn about how students learn to read in their teacher…

This study examined higher education instructors' lived experiences using learning analytics data to make sense of and improve their online course design. Mishra and Koehler's (2006) Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (TPACK) served as the theoretical framework for this study, providing a lens for understanding how faculty apply…

This dissertation investigates the effectiveness of a professional development program aimed at enhancing early childhood education (ECE) teachers' abilities to identify and address developmentally appropriate versus maladaptive behaviors in young children. Utilizing an explanatory sequential mixed methods design, the study involves pre- and…

The rate of children being diagnosed with autism is growing rapidly. Currently, 1 in every 36 children born will go on to have an autism diagnosis (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). Teachers and early educators working with young children do not have the training required to identify children at risk for this developmental…

The problem addressed in this study was that teachers struggle to apply the middle school concept in three middle schools in the U.S. region of New England. This study was a qualitative investigation of teachers' perceptions of the middle school concept and their needs for additional support to effectively apply it. The conceptual framework for…

Trauma-informed care in schools has been a relatively newly researched topic, albeit with limited focus on the efficacy of related practices from the perspective of those implementing them. Educators have been considered service providers with limited knowledge of trauma and trauma-informed care as their career education programs tend not to…

Many industries implement online learning for training and professional development to enhance the student experience. The specific problem addressed in this study was school staff do not have adequate knowledge of mitigating violence, such as school shootings, with ineffective current professional development. This design and development model…

Trauma informed research related to school initiatives focuses on the framework and implementation of initiatives instead of intensive evaluations and measures of effectiveness (Christian-Brandt et al., 2020). To address the gap in research, this study focused on the central question, "what is the experience of participants that have…

Many researchers have argued that teachers are the most important school-related factor to increasing a student's academic performance. In turn, schools often turn to professional development (PD) to strengthen educators' performance and knowledge levels. Indeed, PD can be a prime tool to improve school performance. However, its efficacy is…

The problem addressed by this qualitative case study is that many principals do not understand special education law and policy after completing administrator programs, which may affect their ability to conduct proper or effective implementation of special education law, policy, and instruction. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to…

Increasing student diversity and the global emphasis on inclusive education necessitate a critical focus on teacher preparedness in implementing inclusive practices within classrooms. Teacher preparedness in inclusive practices is essential to ensure all students thrive in a truly inclusive educational environment. Universal Design for Learning…