Prosocial behaviors (e.g., sharing, helping) are important for adolescents' academic and social-emotional wellbeing and can be predicted by students' adoption of prosocial goals. Due to the recent uptick in experiences with learning online for adolescents, understanding what prosocial behaviors look like for students within this context, as well…

Research and interest in trauma-informed pedagogy have grown substantially. Trauma-informed pedagogy includes knowledge of trauma symptoms, associated behaviors, and environmental and instructional trauma-informed strategies. Various scales measure attitudes and experiences with trauma-informed practices; however, the literature suggests a lack of…

This study focuses on creating a reliable and valid instrument to measure high school students' perceptions of academic challenge. The research is divided into four phases: qualitative analysis, item development, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and validation. Initial data from college students' retrospective views and high school students'…

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5; APA, 2013) by deficits in social communication and the presence of restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests (RRBIs). Despite the mandatory requirement of both categories of impairment for a diagnosis of ASD, research…

This study was an initial psychometric investigation of the Universal Behavior Screener (UBS), a nine-item screening measure developed by psychologists within the Hawai'i Department of Education (HIDOE) to identify elementary school youth at risk for social, emotional, and behavioral concerns. Data from nine teachers reporting on 230 students at…

There are many positive effects that family, school, and community partnerships (FSP) have on student achievement, behavior, and social-emotional development (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Epstein, 1994, 2011; Graham, 2011; Henderson & Mapp, 2002; Jeynes, 2005, 2007; Ulugag, 2008). Due to the many benefits FSP have on student educational…

The Academic Behaviors and Skills of College Students (ABS-C) Scale is a measure that assesses in- and out-of-classroom behaviors and skills that may be affecting current academic standing. The measure inquires for self-perceptions of why college students may be having difficulty in courses. The ABS-C Scale demonstrates promising utility as a…

Purpose: The goal of the study was to test an intervention using a brief essay as an instrument for evaluating higher-order information literacy skills in college students, while accounting for prior conditions such as socioeconomic status and prior academic achievement, and identify other predictors of information literacy through an evaluation…

U.S.-based Institutions of Higher Education (IHE) face significant competitive forces including market-based pressures in the form of new and increased competition, an escalating cost base and reduced financial aid sources. The practice of customer loyalty development and the study of the loyalty phenomena are prevalent in the marketing…

An instrument comprising sixteen original vignettes was field tested to gather evidence of their validity and reliability in measuring heterosexist attitudes among educators. Two-hundred seventy pre-service and in-service teachers and counselors completed the instrument. The items were analyzed using statistical methods informed from Classical…

This dissertation is comprised of three manuscripts and presents a line of research aimed at improving the measurement of bullying in schools. The first manuscript investigated the impact of an educational video on self-reports of bullying. A sample of 1,283 middle school students in randomly assigned classrooms either watched or did not watch an…

Since the 1970's there has been a movement in the United States aimed at increasing the integration of students with disabilities among non-disabled peers in general education classes. The practice of inclusion--full integration of students regardless of the severity of disability--is not uniformly accepted. While many agree with the ideals and…

Prior studies have shown that students who are the first in their families to attend college fail to persist in college more so than their continuing-generation (CG) counterparts do. Prior research on this phenomenon has helped to identify various factors that contribute to the lower college persistence of first-generation (FG) students. For…