Community access and participation for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) depends in part on competent, committed direct support professionals (DSPs) who support people with IDD. With knowledge of the person's communication preferences, support needs, and environments where supports are provided, DSPs can support their…

For over 100 years, youth mentoring has grown to be an evidenced based prevention strategy for youth, demonstrating positive youth outcomes through strong relationships with caring adults. While trusting relationships are the mainstay of the positive impacts achieved through mentoring, the difficulty in recruiting volunteer adults has not met the…

Despite the plethora of research highlighting the adverse impacts on children's social emotional, behavioral, and physical wellbeing, children impacted by trauma are among the least likely to receive mental health services. Schools have been identified as a promising setting for early prevention and intervention, with evidence-based strategies…

The leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States is tobacco product use. The 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey, which was completed in 2022, showed that the e-cigarette epidemic among youth continues to remain a public health threat. The survey revealed that over 2.5 million middle and high school students…

This paper explores how the charter school sector evaluates the success of specialized education programs in order that the Nature School can learn from these best practices and develop its own framework. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with five evaluation experts and eight diverse charter school authorizers overseeing a significant…

Today's society requires students to navigate many challenging situations that require certain social emotional learning skills. Previous research suggests that skills like resilience can be built or developed (Daniel & Wassell, 2002; Masten, 2014; Ngo, 2019). Resilience and sense of belonging are factors that impact climate at after-school…

This study was conducted to specifically analyze the experiences of Haitian students during their college developmental education writing classes. The rationale was to fill the gap with scientific knowledge about better ways to help developmental education writing students since there is a need to improve their success rate. The following research…

This study explored the ways that STEM faculty learn about, design, and implement inclusive STEM teaching practices to improve student belonging. An interpretive phenomenological approach was employed to understand the personal experiences and thought processes of faculty as they worked to further develop their understanding of issues of equity…

This dissertation was a multiple case study research project designed to identify whether the "Men of Merit Program" (MOMP) met its goal of increasing persistence, retention, and graduation rates of African American male students at a Western New York Community College. Earlier statistics reported that other American colleges had shown a…

Using a case study approach, this qualitative study was an examination of a California community college's counseling faculty perspectives on a collegewide reform known as guided pathways (GP). Relying on semistructured interviews, the examination focused on how the counseling faculty perceived their roles in the GP implementation process, the…

The transfer of training from learning environments to workplace environments has been a major concern for training professionals and researchers for decades. How should organizations evaluate the effectiveness of their training programs and what impacts are those programs having on their employees' on-the-job performance? These questions are…

Wise Ways School District (pseudonym) is a public school district in northern New Jersey which consists of grades K-12. The high school is a four-year comprehensive institution that serves 583 students in 9th-12th grade. Wise Ways High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school whose goal is to address the needs of all of its students.…

This qualitative study aimed to explore the influence of Hip-Hop on the perceptions about resilience and cultural capital among BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) male students who attend a community-based organization. The study included 20 BIPOC male participants who consider Hip-Hop as being an active part of their lifestyle. All…

Clinical experience is an essential element of any educator preparation program. These experiences provide authentic, real-world learning environments for teacher candidates to practice and improve their instructional skills. Analyzing how clinical experiences impact teacher readiness assists in the development of effective educator preparation…

The purpose of this quantitative study is to understand the role that character education curriculum, specifically the "Leader in Me," plays on overall elementary school culture. The primary question guiding this study is, has the implementation of "Leader in Me" provided any measurable impact on elementary school culture prior…