School choice has influenced several educational reforms in the US and across the world in the last decades. These reforms have often promoted school autonomy, parental choice, and competition between schools to improve quality and equity. Whether those reforms work in practice is well examined, but the roles of policy design such as the extent to…

Responsive teaching is an approach to instruction that foregrounds listening for, attending to and engaging with student disciplinary thinking and ideas in the classroom. This style of teaching differs from how many traditional STEM classes are taught, especially at the college level. Entry-level college science courses that are taught by graduate…

As educational accountability pressures and science teacher attrition rates within American public-school systems continue to rise, so does the need for improved reform-based professional development (PD) opportunities that allow science educators to challenge their pedagogical beliefs and teaching practices. This qualitative case study explores…

Alcohol use, especially heavy or binge-drinking behavior, among college students continues to be an area in need of prevention and effective clinical intervention. With the myriad of known consequences that are associated with problematic and risky drinking, it is crucial that there are evidence-based programs available and offered to college…

This dissertation presents three studies on learning in children museums. The first study is a literature review of the research that was done on learning in children's museums between 2010 and 2021. In this review, I focused on presenting a current state of the field with insights into what research has been done and where there may be gaps in…

As Computer Science course enrollments have increased over recent years, instructors have turned to automated grading systems to help relieve the burden of processing student assignments. However, the available autograding solutions have generally lacked support for traditionally difficult-to-grade advanced topics courses. In this thesis, I…

The problem that was addressed in this study was that local high school students with intellectual disabilities exit their high school community-based vocational program without sufficient skills required to attain meaningful employment. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine local high school educators' perceptions about the…

It is critical to provide inservice elementary teachers the opportunity to advance their science instruction, which in turn can positively impact not only their practice but also their perceptions towards science teaching and learning. Too often, science-specific professional development (PD) programs are scarcely provided as a result of an…

Access to employment is important for students with disabilities (SWD). Employment improves finances, contributes to independence, and empowers people. Despite the value of employment, SWD are less likely to be employed due in part to their lack of job readiness. This study discusses the implementation of job training programs for SWD. The impact…

The cost of a college degree has caused students, higher education institutions, and government representatives to investigate alternative education designs that are advertised as cheaper, more flexible, and based on skills rather than classroom seat time. Students question the rising cost of tuition, increased time to degree completion, and the…

The need for culturally responsive mathematics professional learning (PL) has increased; however, there is not a clearly defined process for the design and facilitation of culturally responsive mathematics PL, especially as it relates to outside consultants. Each school district is unique in its cultural, racial, and ethnic diversity, which adds…

Female adult learners are an expanding population in higher education, even at the postbaccalaureate level. This group of learners has a unique set of needs as they encounter a variety of challenges due to the opposing nature of their life roles. For female adult learners with children, complexities with seeking degree attainment are heightened…

First-Year Engineering (FYE) programs are a critical part of engineering education, yet they are quite complex settings. Given the importance and complexity of FYE programs, research to better understand student learning and inform design and assessment in FYE programs is imperative. Therefore, this dissertation showcases various uses of data…

The purpose of this Action Research study was to investigate and examine how expatriate educators can make western curriculum more relevant and contextual for Chinese students to increase student engagement and learning outcomes through professional learning communities (PLCs) at a Chinese international school. The study examined experiences of…

The purpose of this study was to implement a redesign of developmental education at Delaware Technical Community College and to evaluate its effectiveness in improving overall First Time Ever in College (FTEIC) student success through gateway English and math completion, fall-to-fall persistence, and narrowing or closing of opportunity gaps…