My dissertation studies the relationship between counseling and violence within U.S. schools. Much of the research on school security and school safety tends to lean heavily on routine activities theory and other opportunity theories, which limits the study of other factors critically relevant to this topic such as school climate. This…

Actionability is a critical issue in learning analytics for driving impact in learning, bridging the gap between insights and improvement. This dissertation places actionability at the forefront, integrating it throughout the learning analytics process to fully leverage its potential. The study involves designing, developing, and implementing…

Educational data mining focuses on exploring increasingly large-scale data from educational settings, such as Learning Management Systems (LMS), and developing computational methods to understand students' behaviors and learning settings better. There has been a multitude of research dedicated to studying the student learning process, leading to…

This study addresses the problem surrounding low educator self-efficacy for data collection and behavior reduction strategies among elementary special educators. Educators working with students who present behavior challenges do not feel a strong sense of self-efficacy when it comes to data collection and behavior management. Due to this,…

Sociologists of education have a longstanding interest in studying the relationship between schooling and inequality in society. While we know education matters for who gets ahead, we still know relatively less about the processes and mechanisms behind this relationship. In my dissertation, I focus on higher education as a key site where…

Procrastination is a well-known phenomenon experienced by a lot of people in everyday life. People sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally put off their tasks even though they might be worse off due to the delay (e.g., not paying bills due, even though they have sufficient funds in their bank account). It is safe to say everybody…

Access to the Internet has increased connectivity between people across large distances. It has also amplified the desire of college students to engage in the illegal sharing and distribution of data. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to analyze the behaviors that motivate Michigan college students to engage in digital piracy.…

Restraint and seclusion are two crisis intervention practices that educators employ to manage students who display escalated behavior. These procedures, however, are high-risk, intensive practices that have resulted in psychological trauma, physical injury, and even death. While there are no federal laws in place on this topic, the U.S. Department…

The "big data revolution" has penetrated many fields, from network monitoring to online retail. Education and learning are quickly becoming part of it, too, because today, course delivery platforms can collect unprecedented amounts of behavioral data about students as they interact with learning content online. This data includes, for…

Computer-based assessments allow practitioners to collect rich process data by logging students' interactions with assessment tasks. In addition to providing final responses to test questions, computer-based assessments promise to furnish more evidence to support claims about what a student knows and can do through logging process data in log…

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative study was to investigate the relationship of course-taking patterns of community college students enrolled in a major's biology sequence to successful transfer into a biology or biology-related degree track at four-year institutions. The research was guided by the seminal work of Adelman (1999,…

With the passing of Act 82, the state of Pennsylvania has provided school districts with Danielson's Framework as a tool for principals to evaluate teachers. The purpose of this study was to determine the perceived professional development needs of Pennsylvania principals as they implemented the new educator effectiveness system. Three hundred…

This dissertation was designed to examine and assess the impact of a Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports (PBIS) program on student behaviors, academic environment, and the total school environment. The study examined and assessed the impact of PBIS on student suspensions, student attendance, and student interactions. Additionally, this…

The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to investigate the performance of a small, urban high school in the northeastern United States by examining graduation rates, attendance, test scores, and inappropriate student behavior to determine at what levels the school is at risk of losing accreditation. The selected school had declined…

The Good Behavior Game (GBG) has been identified as an effective evidence-based class-wide management intervention to decrease maladaptive classroom behaviors. This study was a systematic replication and extension of previous research on GBG. This study looks at the continued effectiveness of the GBG on increasing appropriate student classroom…