The purpose of this study was to examine family engagement practices in a rural Midwestern middle school. Grounded in the National PTA Standards for Family-School Partnerships as a conceptual framework and utilizing the Comprehensive Rural Wealth Framework as a theoretical foundation, the study explored family engagement resources, student growth…

Since the 1990s, colleges and universities throughout the United States have witnessed a substantial increase in student population demographics. In particular, upticks have been reported in the number of first-generation students enrolling in colleges and universities. There is evidence that first-generation college students often face…

STEM fields, and engineering disciplines in particular, historically have reflected a traditionalist approach to education. For pre-professional students, this context may be highly competitive, and may include an expectation that undergraduates will sink or swim while making their way through a course progression designed to "weed out"…

For centuries, Black people have fought and wrestled against forces of human domination that have hindered their progression to obtain and maintain basic needs, particularly in higher education. More specifically, white supremacist structures have sought to prevent Black people from being educated and taught about their history with emphasis on…

Prior research on student voice shows that when adults genuinely listen to and value student input, students are more likely to feel they belong and can learn in their educational setting. Given this, the purpose of this research study was to evaluate if previously disenfranchised students would develop a greater sense of agency, academic identity…

Black male student-athletes at predominantly White institutions (PWI) are funneled through Student-athlete Academic Support Services (SASS) programs where advisors primarily focus on maintaining NCAA athletic eligibility instead of degree completion, which is detrimental to their academic identity development. The purpose of this qualitative,…

This dissertation examined the significance of the Undergraduate Students Together Reaching Instructional Diversity and Excellence (USSTRIDE) community of practice (CoP) mentorship program offered at Florida State University College of Medicine and its profound impact on first-generation, rural, and economically disadvantaged undergraduate student…

Service-learning has become deeply embedded in higher education, as both a co-curricular and curricular tool to achieve learning outcomes, promote civic engagement and promote diversity. Yet it has also struggled with the critique that service-learning, unintentionally, reinforces deficit thinking by promoting a dominant narrative centered on the…

The New Castle County VoTech School District (NCCVT) in Delaware, with St. Georges Technical High School as a school within this district, embraces the vision of creating graduates who are college and career ready, advocating for the use of rigorous academic curricula to equip students with the necessary skills for life beyond high school. Despite…

The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive, single-case study was to explore educators' perceptions and uses of strategies to support 5th-grade middle school students' basic psychological needs for relatedness in the Southeastern region of the United States, because it was not known how educators perceived and used strategies to support…

The retention rates of Black male students in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have been low leading to low graduation rate. To understand this phenomenon, it is important to investigate the factors that affect the academic and leadership development of Black male students in HBCU institutions. Due to lack of policies both at…

As higher education institutions continue to employ students to carry out operational functions and supplement professional staff, they should question how the on-campus employment experience is adding value to students' holistic development and education (Peck et al., 2015). The purpose of this study was to identify student employees' holistic…

Students arrive at an institution of higher learning in pursuit of a bachelor's degree, however those who graduate leave the school with much more than a diploma. Research suggests that the challenges of college life, as well as the support provided by educators, provides countless opportunities for students to develop cognitive maturity,…

The discipline of data science has gained substantial attention recently. This is mainly attributed to the technological advancement that led to an exponential increase in computing power and has made the generation and recording of enormous amounts of data possible on an everyday basis. It has become crucial for industries to wrangle, curate, and…

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to better understand how student-athletes make sense of their identity while competing in intercollegiate athletics. I examined their identity from three contexts, (1) student, (2) athlete, and (3) socially. This study explored the topic of student-athlete identity using a qualitative approach.…