Reading skills are widely recognized as fundamental abilities, crucial not only for academic success but also for participation in social activities and navigating interpersonal challenges. In the early formation of reading abilities, mastery of sight words is instrumental in effectively enhancing reading proficiency, particularly for individuals…

With the latest advances in conversational agents like Siri and Alexa, and Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and PaLM, Question Answering (QA) systems have become more important. Users submit millions of queries per day and it is up to the system to provide reliable, to-the-point answers. In this dissertation, we explore various aspects to…

Multidimensional Item Response Theory (MIRT) has been widely used in educational and psychological assessments. It estimates multiple constructs simultaneously and models the correlations among latent constructs. While it provides more accurate results, the unidimensional IRT model is still dominant in real applications. One major reason is that…

This study focuses on the relationship between school culture and teacher efficacy in an elementary school setting. Research has been conducted about these two aspects of the education system, however, there is limited research in regard to the elementary school setting. Elementary schools are a unique setting because the responsibility for…

Words contain multitudes. This multiplicity of meanings raises two key questions, both of which this thesis attempts to address. First, are word meanings categorical or continuous? The results of Chapters 2-4 support a hybrid model, in which word meanings occupy a continuous state-space (Elman, 2009), which is further discretized along the…

This dissertation study utilized an author-researcher-developed multistage university technology transfer capital efficiency model to evaluate university technology transfer relative capital efficiencies and trends via nonparametric and parametric analyses. Five research milestones were achieved. In completing research goal one, the…

The problem addressed in this study was the advantages and disadvantages that families enrolled in an early intervention (EI) program experienced as they transitioned from in-person EI coaching sessions to teleintervention EI coaching sessions. This qualitative inquiry narrative study explored the perceptions of the challenges of families enrolled…

The purpose of this study, through an analysis of the literature review of general scholars in the field of school poverty, equity, efficiency, and student achievement results, was to determine whether economic disparity had a direct statistical significance to student achievement gaps. Specifically, identification of the five socioeconomic tiers…

Primary informal caregivers perform most of the caring work with no financial compensation and often no training, experiencing the burden of care. Unless their socioeconomic status allows them to hire a formal caregiver for their care recipients or use healthcare facilities, they need to spend their opportunity cost to take care of their care…

This study has as its aim an exploration of the effects of sources of funding on efficiency in higher education. The question of interest in this study is the extent to which differences among campuses in "demand-side" revenue as a share of all revenues is associated with differences in efficiency, by type of college or university and…

Collaborative leaders have become essential to organizations, especially health care professionals, performing efficiently and having the capabilities to manage, adapt, and sustain operations (Iachini, et al., 2019). Collaborative leadership is critical for ensuring leaders and organizations transform to become more efficient in planning,…

This mixed methods study explores burnout in individuals who work in learning design and performance improvement. Fifty-three learning professionals completed a survey that gauged the degree of burnout, burnout causes and supports, and job satisfaction. Ten of those participants took part in interviews to collect further qualitative data. The data…

This dissertation examines the processes and procedures high schools utilize to increase student voice and student efficacy within the identification and enrollment of students into grade 9 literacy intervention. The purpose of this collective case study is to investigate how schools identified students for additional literacy support and how they…

Despite well-documented links to improvements in students' academics and behaviors, implementing and maintaining evidence-based practices (EBPs) within the classroom can be difficult for educators. While professional development can support teachers with the implementation of EBPs, traditional professional development activities can be…

The purpose of this professional practice dissertation (PPD) was to examine and provide Department of Defense Education Activity Schools practical and real-world solutions with regards to continuous improvement within its educational equity program. This process was examined and analyzed through a qualitative action research approach and design…