The Sullivan Report (The Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce, 2004) identified the lack of racial diversity among health care practitioners as a major issue. This report points out that, while the U.S. population has continued to become more diverse, the composition of health care workers has not kept pace with these…

Physics classrooms, from high school through graduate school, chronically enroll far too few women, people of color, English language learners, and low-income students. Research suggests students' science identity functions as a strong indicator for their continued pursuit of physics coursework and careers. Further research indicates students'…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe the strategies teachers chose to successfully differentiate for high achieving upper elementary mathematics students. The context of the study was mixed ability classes in international schools. The study used Vygotsky's sociocultural learning theory as a theoretical framework to…

Research on coaching has been increasing over the last few decades, particularly for literacy and math. What is limited in coaching research is investigations of the process that leads to teacher and student impacts. Additionally, while some research has investigated what makes an effective coach, little has focused on the specific roles of…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the efficacy of the Teaching Early Literacy and Language (TELL) curriculum package for low-income preschoolers was impacted by participant characteristics and variables associated with implementation. In a follow-up to a randomized controlled trial (Gray et al., 2024), data was…

Statistics & data science are growing, rapidly evolving, and increasingly important for an informed citizenry in a data-saturated world. In this dissertation, I address two central questions: (1) who is taking statistics? and (2) what are statistics courses teaching? I estimate that 920,000 US students take statistics in high school each year,…

The purpose of this descriptive correlational quantitative study was to examine contributing factors of students and teachers affecting teacher self-efficacy and students' reading achievement in rural Oklahoma elementary schools in grades first through fifth. The contributing factors of students being analyzed included (a) poverty and (b) race or…

One of the many impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the increasing prevalence and accessibility of online education. This trend has also introduced challenges for students, instructors, and institutions. This study examines factors affecting online course satisfaction, focusing on individual, instructor, and institutional level…

Mathematics is integral to today's world, but many students fear solving arithmetic problems. In the U.S., more than 82% of students in grades 7th through 10th fear math. In 2021, 80% of Florida high school students failed Algebra I end-of-course exam. Math anxiety has negatively impacted students' social cognitive, and academic skills. This basic…

This paper describes the construct of fascination in science, a non-cognitive trait combining interest, curiosity, and mastery skills, and the particular relevance of fascination in science for students during middle school. Grounded in the theory of "Science Learning Activation" and employing data from the longitudinal Activated…

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, longitudinal study was to measure the effects of reflective practice coaching on 35 participants, as compared to participants who did not receive coaching. Data was collected over a period of eight weeks. A secondary purpose was to examine the effects of a standardized case conceptualization training lecture…

School climate is comprised of experiences of school life that reflect norms, values, relationships, teaching practices and systemic structures. A student's perception of school climate can be impacted by individual-level (race and gender), school-level (school socioeconomic status, school size, and schoolwide practices), and district-level…

Many Basic Writing students have stories which are informed by traumas, othering, and marginalization. Finding pedagogies which address students' stories, in addition to meeting academic goals, is crucial. Sometimes, students question how improving their reading and writing skills can help them navigate other areas of their education and…

The immense benefits of e-learning cannot be overemphasized. In addition to solving the time and space constraints posed by the traditional/conventional learning methods, it can be more adaptive and interactive to achieve optimum learning output/results. As a consequence of students' varying backgrounds and different learning abilities, the…

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study is to highlight the extent of missing student motivation guiding principles by describing the lived experiences of teachers in their efforts to bolster student motivation in United States secondary schools. The presence of disengaged and demotivated students in United States secondary school…