Federal Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS) were revised in 2016 to strengthen and improve the quality of all Head Start (HS) programs. The problem addressed in this basic qualitative study is that teachers in a local urban HS program in the southwestern region of Virginia have decreased levels of job satisfaction and cannot support…

The environmental workforce remains largely White, despite calls to diversify. There exists a narrative that environmental education programs can enact change by cultivating Connection to Nature (CTN) among individuals who identify as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). We contend that more work is needed to understand the full range of…

Direct certification has been described by policymakers and academics as a tool which may replace National School Lunch Program (NSLP) eligibility data (Douglas Geverdt, National Center for Education Statistics, personal communication, August 28, 2023). It suggests a policy future in which we change the metric of how we identify disadvantage. On…

Upward Bound (UB), created in 1965 to provide educational enrichment for low-income youths, had to be racially integrated. In 1966, I was among three White northern teens sent to integrate UB at Xavier University in New Orleans. My family had lived in North Carolina in the early 1960s, participating in civil rights actions, so I had had some…

The problem that was addressed in this study was that Title I high school teachers, in Southeastern Michigan, are unclear about how to accommodate their students, who experience parental incarceration and without the intervention of appropriate strategies, these students face a high risk of never completing their high school education and a high…

This study employs the framework of intersectionality to offer a first-person perspective on being an undocumented high school student with college aspirations in the digital age. Using Instagram posts as a data source, the study describes everyday encounters with sexism, racism, classism, and nativism across household, community, and school…

Low-income, minority, and/or first-generation students are more likely to undermatch. The consequences of this decision can negatively impact degree attainment, as well as individual and societal gains. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences and perceptions of high school counselors in order to gain a deeper understanding of how…

The PreK-12 and higher education systems operate as separate and distinct entities (Kirst & Venezia, 2004). States organize them as separate units and the administrators in the systems are formally trained separately and operate separately with few exceptions. While studies have been conducted from the PreK-12 and higher education perspectives…

The West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) Office of Federal Programs conducted a routine monitoring of Upshur County in December of 2022. This resulted in a report of findings which was completed February 10, 2023. Per Federal Program protocols, counties are provided 60 days to respond to findings; establishing Upshur County's deadline for…

The current paper reports long-term impacts of the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) on measures of achievement, cognitive functioning, and behavioral regulation taken toward the end of students' high school careers. The CSRP was a self-regulation-focused early childhood intervention implemented in Head Start centers serving high-poverty…

The current paper reports long-term impacts of the Chicago School Readiness Project (CSRP) on measures of achievement, cognitive functioning, and behavioral regulation taken toward the end of students' high school careers. The CSRP was a self-regulation-focused early childhood intervention implemented in Head Start centers serving high-poverty…

This dissertation, titled "Families, Culture, Community: Expanding Understanding of What Catalyzes Student Success in a Pre-College Upward Bound Program," investigates the critical factors influencing student success in the Upward Bound program through a funds of knowledge framework (Moll et al., 1992; Rios-Aguilar & Kiyama, 2012).…

Since 1995, publicly funded pre-K with universal eligibility has proliferated across the U.S. Universal pre-K (UPK) operates at great scale and serves children with a wide range of alternative childcare options. Because these programs are relatively young, very little is known about their long-run impacts on children. In this paper, I use a…

This paper uses the author's time as a Fulbright Roving Scholar in American Studies to Norway as an entrée into exploring human rights discourse and Human Rights Education in Norway, a country that is often thought of as one of the centers of human rights work in Europe--and appreciates this association. It begins by situating human rights in…

This dissertation consists of two chapters, both of which study the wealth inequality using heterogenous agent general equilibrium model. In particular, the first chapter focuses on a government policy and its implications on wealth inequality. The second chapter incorporates cost to high return assets to generate realistic wealth mobility in the…