The purpose of this case study was to develop an understanding of the elementary principal's perceived role in creating and sustaining a collaborative workplace environment within their school. Collaboration among education professionals, when used effectively, is one strategy that has demonstrated improvement of instruction and student learning.…

There is much debate in academic advising practitioner literature and in the popular media over the influence exerted by involved parents on students and colleges. There is a broad consensus that parental involvement has increased to levels not previously witnessed on college campuses (Cutright, 2008; Shoup, Gonyea, & Kuh, 2009; Wartman &…

Education is witnessing an increasing demand for technology use in the classroom. At the same time, new teachers are entering the profession in high numbers, some being labeled as "Digital Natives" while others are labeled "Digital Immigrants". This qualitative case study investigated the technology practices of Digital Native and Digital…

Recently, colleges and universities across the country have created executive level positions responsible for institutional diversity. The origins of this work within higher education lay in the civil rights movements and its consequences for desegregation of higher education. Early diversity officer positions usually resided within student…

This dissertation evaluates the relationship between African American English and White Vernacular English as spoken in a small rural town in western North Carolina for consistencies in vowel production by group membership and for participation in the Southern Vowel Shift (SVS), a vowel rotation currently occurring in the Southern United States. A…

Contemporary young people are engaged in a variety of information behaviors, such as information seeking, using, sharing, and creating. The ways youth interact with information have transformed in the shifting digital information environment; however, relatively little empirical research exists and no theoretical framework adequately explains…

The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to examine and determine the level of incivility in the workplace as a growing problem from the perceptional views of graduate students enrolled in accelerated degree programs for graduate studies in Business Administration, Criminal Justice Administration, Gerontology, Health Management, and…

The digital native has been the darling of market research and a major focus of education consternation throughout the first decade of the 2000s. These are the children and young adults the literature describes as those born after 1980 and who exhibit high technical savvy, particularly as it pertains to information and communication technology…

Research concerning Latinos and their educational attainment has posited several reasons for Latino underrepresentation and underachievement. This study sought to counter such deficiency models and examine certain predictors of academic success among college Latinos. Specifically, this study predicted a negative correlation between generational…

This dissertation consists of three essays on education and macroeconomics. The first chapter analyzes whether public education financing systems can account for large differences among developed countries in earnings inequality and intergenerational earnings persistence. I first document facts about public education in the U.S. and Norway, which…

This dissertation advances research in sociolinguistics by analyzing phonetic variation in a majority Asian American community in San Francisco, California. As one of the first community studies focusing on Asian Americans in an urban US context, this work speaks to ongoing discussions about speaker ethnicity, phonetic variation, and regional…

Recruiting and retaining African American students is an ongoing challenge for many post-secondary institutions. This dissertation examined the contributing factors to this increasing dilemma and review strategies that may be helpful in the retention of African American male college students. This study also examined the instructional leadership…

As the economy has become increasingly global, organizations whose employees are more creative and innovative compete at a higher level than those who do not. And, organizations that incorporate multi-generations into their workforce will realize more creativity and innovation within their organizations. Now, and in the future, leaders will…

Research historically has demonstrated that a generational disconnect between the popular cultures from which students and teachers define normative behavior can impact classroom management and student learning. The purpose of this study was to examine attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of high school faculty toward the hip-hop culture and its…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether differences existed among generations (Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Y) regarding the levels of parental involvement within each of these generations. Also examined were additional factors such as the parents. socioeconomic status, educational level, marital status, and ethnicity. The…