This pilot study investigated the impact of group activity play therapy (GAPT) on displaced orphans aged 10 to 12 years living in a large children's village in Uganda. Teachers and housemothers identified 60 preadolescents exhibiting clinical levels of internalizing and externalizing behavior problems. The participants' ethnicity was African and…

In order to provide effective social, emotional, and behavioral supports to all students, there is a need for formative assessment tools that can help determine the responsiveness of students to intervention. Schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is one framework that can provide evidence-based intervention within a 3-tiered model to reach…

This research contributes to efforts in assessment studies related to science and technology interventions. The work presented in this thesis focuses on understanding the effects of policies that influence science and technology interventions, and determining the impact of science and technology interventions themselves. Chapter 1 explores how…

The purpose of this research is to study the learning experiences of participants in the Student Interracial Ministry (SIM) of Union Theological Seminary in New York. SIM provided the seminarians with an intense learning environment in which they crossed borders including race, gender, class, and culture. For many of these participants, this…

This study examined the effectiveness of a pilot program utilizing practice standardized test questions for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in an economically disadvantaged school and evaluated the impact of the pilot program on pre- and post-test practice tests in language arts literacy and on the 2009 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge…

Clinical decision making (CDM) is a cornerstone skill for nurses. Self-confidence and anxiety are two affective influences that impact the learning and adeptness of CDM. Currently, no instruments exist that measure perceived self-confidence and anxiety level of undergraduate nursing students related to CDM. The purpose of this research was to…

How best to provide special education services to middle school students with learning disabilities (LD) has long been a contentious topic of debate among educators, researchers, politicians, and parents. With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA, 2001) and the reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA,…

High-stakes assessments have encouraged educators to ignore the needs of the top performers. Therefore, the Oakwood School District decided to implement a mathematics pilot enrichment program in order to meet the needs of the advanced mathematics students. As a result, this study used quantitative data to determine if there was a significant…

The purpose of this study was to develop a tool to evaluate the quality of a clinical information system (CIS) conceived by nurses and conduct a pilot test with the developed tool as an initial assessment. CIS quality is required for successful implementation in information technology (IT) environments. The study started with the realization that…

Research suggests that many students learn best when teaching practices are outdoors, nature-based, and experiential. Meaningful outdoor experiences increase students' social and academic achievement and contribute to the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills Experiential and nature-based instruction in the outdoors has been…

This case study examined ways elementary school students from diverse populations (minorities and children from low socioeconomic status environments) were included in a talent development program, and determined if that inclusion proved to be beneficial for gifted identification. With intentional regard for the idea of talent development, this…

Language teacher education (LTE) has received increased attention over the last several decades. Language teacher educators, university researchers, classroom teachers, and future teachers have contributed immensely to existing knowledge on how language teachers learn to teach. Researchers and practitioners have finally acknowledged that future…

Teaching has long been considered an isolated profession with little opportunity for collaboration. A major task for school leaders is to create improvement from within the school. Teachers are a valuable resource and each one possesses expertise in strategies and methodologies that can be a benefit to others. This action research explored the…

This program evaluation study examined the relationship between Problem Solving/Response to Intervention (PS/RtI) training and technical assistance and educator and implementation outcomes following the first year of a 3-year project. Educators from 40 pilot schools in eight districts participating in the study received ongoing professional…

From incorporation into the Russian Empire in 1828, through the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 governmental language policies and other socio/political forces influenced the Turkic population of the Republic of Azerbaijan to speak Russian. Even with changes since independence Russian use--including various kinds of code-switching and…