Although increasing numbers of Latino/a students are pursuing higher education, many do not persist to graduation. The disparity of Latino/a students attending and graduating from Christian colleges and universities is even more pronounced than at comparison institutions. As institutions of Christian higher education seek to increase diversity on…

Previous studies demonstrate the positive effects of parental involvement on student grade point averages (GPAs), standardized tests scores, and other academic outcomes. Because of the positive role of parental involvement on youth academic achievement, many parents and school personnel desire more collaboration between the family and the school.…

In order to accommodate the education needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students, American schools need to do more than add LGBT information to the curriculum in sex education class. If we believe, as Erikson (1968) suggested--that adolescence is the time when young people try to make sense of who they are--and if we believe that…

Faculty contribute to the campus racial climate for all students, but particularly for students of color, and play a significant role in shaping intellectual, social, and behavioral standards through their pedagogical practice (Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Petersen, & Allen, 1998; Solózano, Ceja, & Yosso, 2000; Rankin & Reason, 2005).…

My research combined two qualitative narrative methods, autoethnography and portraiture. These methodologies were used to design word portraits of three second-grade boys, one second-grade and two third-grade teachers, and one special educator. This study's focus was twofold: exploring the literacy and learning perspectives of second-grade…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of background characteristics, initial interaction with the environment, and first-year experiences at a public, research extensive University on the racial identity and racial attitudes of African American/Black first-time, first-year University students. This study is concerned with the changes…

It should come as no surprise that digital video technology is of particular interest to English language learners; students are drawn to its visual appeal and vibrant creative potential. The seven original case studies in this book demonstrate how video can be an effective and powerful tool to create fluid, fun, interactive, and collaborative…

School districts occupy center stage in education reform in the U.S. They manage nearly all public funding and are frequently the locus of federal and state reform initiatives, e.g., instituting meaningful teacher evaluation systems. Financial compensation for district leaders is high, with many being paid more than the chief state school officers…

The definition of literacy is constantly changing and expanding. A sociocultural view of Literacy considers literacy to be multiple, multimodal, and multilingual as situated in and across the social and cultural contexts. As technology, new media and social network has reformed many aspects of writing, they provide ELLs (English language learners)…

The continued prevalence of mental health conditions and substance abuse among students enrolled in institutions of higher education is a significant and progressing concern, with marked impact on retention, academic success, graduation rate, and alarming personal consequences. Yet, many institutions struggle with successfully addressing these…

This volume addresses the most current perspectives and issues related to learning disabilities and is written by leaders in the field of learning disabilities. The layout of the book and ordering of chapters allows readers to follow learning disabilities in a very logical and thoughtful process from legal issues, identification, and assessment,…

Recent psycholinguistic findings showed that (a) a multi-modal phonetic training paradigm that encodes visual, interactive information is more effective in training L2 learners' perception of novel categories, (b) decreasing the acoustic variance of a phonetic dimension allows the learners to more effectively shift the perceptual weight towards…

Many gifted education experts have found that Black, Hispanic, and Native American students are less likely to be identified for gifted programs than Asian American and White students. A study was conducted to ascertain the degree of underrepresentation of these groups in gifted programs in Utah. Using state-collected data from 14,781 students in…

As institutions of higher education strive to prepare global ready graduates, study abroad is on the rise at both 2-and 4-year campuses. Study abroad is also identified as a high impact program that can lead to increased engagement and student success. However, research has centered on the experiences of White, 4-year students. Literature is rare…

This report takes a comprehensive look at achievement for low-income promising learners--past, present, and future. At its core, it challenges the nation to move beyond its near-singular focus of achieving minimum performance for all students, to identifying and developing the talent of all students who are capable of high achievement, including…