Modern Foreign Language (MFL) education has long been described as being 'in crisis' by virtue of a long decline in the numbers of students being entered for exams at age 16 and 18. Whilst this decline is generally attributed to policy, harsh grading and the rise of global English, this paper challenges this view by positioning the decline at the…

Intersectionality highlights that different aspects of individuals' identities are not independent of each other. Instead, they interact to create unique identities and experiences, which cannot be understood by analysing each identity dimension separately or in isolation from their social and historical contexts. Intersectional approaches in this…

This study addressed Native American students' perceptions of their educational experiences, 142 years after the first federally-run, off-reservation Indian Boarding School opened, and their perceptions of how university staff, faculty, and administrators could better serve Native students. Qualitative interviews were conducted with five Native…

Teachers' and practitioners' pedagogical practices also have legal professional responsibilities and regulations to adhere to under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. We understand the former as the policy master narrative that can reify inaccessibility in the classroom. We take a paradigmatic shift focusing on "storying"…

This dissertation aims to illuminate and uncover the experiences of Black students' learning mathematics in rural Appalachia and specifically West Virginia. The focal theory for this study is Critical Race Theory (CRT) which centers the experience of Black students and their voices. The intersection of race, mathematics education, and the context…

Purpose: There is a need for precollege learning designs that empower youth to be epistemic agents in contexts that intersect burgeoning areas of computing, big data and social media. The purpose of this study is to explore how "sandbox" or open-inquiry data science with social media supports learning. Design/methodology/approach: This…

Sexual minority individuals (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and others; LGBQ+) have higher rates of mental health problems compared to heterosexual individuals (e.g., Rogers et al., 2021). Minority stress theory (Meyer, 2003) proposes that LGBQ+ individuals have higher rates of mental health problems due to the results of institutionalized…

This dissertation builds on literature centering first-generation college students (FGCS) with immigrant parentage in order to develop an understanding of how many of their unique and intersectional experiences may function as assets that could promote retention and degree completion. The sample is comprised of 30 FGCS who are also first- or…

The purpose of this study is to examine how the perceptions of school climate, specifically school relationships, differ for Black girls with and without an individualized education plan (IEP) as compared to their peers. The study utilized survey responses from high school students in a Georgia school district who participated in the 2020 Georgia…

Food insecurity is a phenomenon with vast and deep implications on a college student's personal and academic experience. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, some college students faced exacerbated food insecurity due to campus closings, fluctuating hours and availability of food options on campus, shifting living arrangements (e.g., limited or…

Introduction: The impact of cyberbullying victimization on youth development, encompassing mental health, academic performance, and socioemotional well-being, has been widely documented. Research highlights the heightened vulnerability of sexual and gender minoritized youth, along with other youth from marginalized groups, to cybervictimization.…

The study examined narrative counter-stories of 10 Division I Black student-athlete experiences at the intersection of race, gender, sport activism, and mental health while attending predominantly White institutions (PWIs) in the Midwest amid ongoing racial and social injustices throughout the United States. The theoretical frameworks utilized…

The principles presented by the deficit model (Tinto, 1975) asserted that low socioeconomic (SES) minority post-secondary students failed to persist and successfully achieve graduation as a result of their inherent deficits. Sherman and Tinto (1975) posited that social and cultural capital deficiencies resulted in high attrition and low…

We center the voice of Dwyan Moore, a Black 12-year-old boy, during his transition of being diagnosed with a learning dis/Ability. We do so to grapple with the problem of disproportionate representation in special education along race and dis/Ability, with particular attention to educational leadership. Disproportionate representation is a…

Using longitudinal data from the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California, Los Angeles, this study examined how race, gender and experiences with faculty interact and influence students' academic self-concept. Findings demonstrated a positive relationship between interactions with faculty and academic self-concept…