USDA helps millions of children from low-income households access healthy meals by purchasing food, including seafood, for the NSLP. USDA-purchased foods represent about 15 to 20 percent of the food served in the NSLP. According to the DGA, programs, such as the NSLP, can play an essential role in providing access to healthy meals. This can help…

Black male community college students have the lowest retention and completion rates among any racial group (National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, 2017). During this dissertation, I examined the root causes of Black male community college students' low graduation rates through a systematic literature review, and then identified mentoring…

The purpose of this research study is to explore how current higher education institutions use outcomes-based assessment in student affairs departments to measure their impact in decreasing inequity among students. Historically, assessment has always been an integral part of higher education. Since the 1970's researchers and higher education…

Professional development (PD) programs do not always reach the teacher or allow for sustained usage of technology. However, recent studies show that teachers are more open to use technology after increased technology dependence during the COVID-19 pandemic. Motivated by that new openness to technology integration, we used interview and survey data…

American summer camps employ over one million individuals every summer. However, little research has been conducted evaluating the experiences and outcomes for the camp staff. In particular, research efforts have done little to examine the subset of staff members working in formal leadership positions at summer camps. Often college-aged emerging…

Instructional coaching programs are designed to improve teacher effectiveness to ultimately improve student performance. The role of the instructional coach varies among schools and is dependent on building leadership or the most recent trends of a school district. Inconsistency in the roles and responsibilities of instructional coaches can impede…

Reading nonfiction texts with understanding is important to school success, yet many students struggle to do so. This randomized controlled trial extends previous research by contrasting an earlier iteration of a comprehension tutoring program (Comp) against a variant with strategies for transferring learning (Comp+Transfer). Participants were 189…

Adolescents in the United States are in a mental health crisis. It is estimated that more than 20% of children ages nine to 17 struggle with behavioral, emotional, and social problems and mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1999). Mental health…

Reading nonfiction texts with understanding is important to school success, yet many students struggle to do so. This randomized controlled trial extends previous research by contrasting an earlier iteration of a comprehension tutoring program (Comp) against a variant with strategies for transferring learning (Comp+Transfer). Participants were 189…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine how college undergraduates perceive the effectiveness of internships that lead to career aspirations in their major. The theoretical foundation was Super and Hall's career exploration stages of the working life model. The sample was college undergraduates from a public urban…

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased in recent decades around the world. In Colombia, there is not a clear statistic about the prevalence of ASD, but it is estimated that 16% of the population under 15 years old has some type of developmental disability (National Administrative Department of Statistics-DANE, 2015).…

In addition to many global disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, institutions of higher education within the United States were forced to move classes online and put a pause to many initiatives. Areas that were particularly affected by the pandemic were education abroad and global service-learning (GSL) programs. As GSL programs resume…

This study presents findings from a randomized controlled trial of an afterschool program intended to develop mathematics identity for students from grades 4 and 5 in groups underrepresented in STEM. Mathematics identity refers to the ways that students think about themselves in relation to mathematics and the extent to which they have developed a…

The program evaluation examined the eighth-grade unit of the Second Step Program as implemented to special education students attending an approved private special education program (APSEP) in Connecticut. At the APSEP, special education students struggle to develop peer relationships, lack feelings of self-efficacy, and require a high level of…

This study applies the gap analysis model to understand barriers facing teachers to differentiate instruction for special needs students in the general education setting. The purpose of this study was to conduct an evaluation gap analysis for implementing differentiated instructional strategies to improve outcomes of special needs students in the…