Comprehensive high schools have been unable to meet the needs of all students (Cotton, 2004). Students face challenges, and some have been labeled "at risk" for various reasons. These students constitute a unique group who often require more time, energy, and resources than large, comprehensive schools can offer. Consequently, they fall behind on…

This dissertation is a qualitative research study of two people labeled with developmental disabilities who live in residential settings with various supports provided by local agencies. Scott is 43 years old and lives in a Residential Supported Home with four other housemates and permanent staff support and supervision. Pat is 29 years old and…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the educational and employment experiences of 10 adults who had recently been diagnosed as having a learning disability. Seven of the participants eventually obtained a high school diploma or the equivalent and they all had held a variety of entry-level jobs. The participants felt that having an…

The need exists for educational methods which can positively influence self-esteem, especially in demanding military healthcare settings. Warrior Transition Units (WTU's) are tasked with the challenging mission of caring for seriously injured or ill U.S. Army Soldiers. This paper explored the hypothesis that an educationally-based Mental Skills…

The authors redesigned a Lifespan Development course using Fink's (2003) taxonomy of significant learning and measured changes across his six domains: Knowledge, Application, Integration, Human Dimension, Caring, and Learning How to Learn. Using case studies and group work, 151 undergraduates completed identical pre- and post-tests that measured…

School administrators have some tough hiring decisions to make, and an interview to select the most highly qualified applicants is critically important. Even before the mandates of No Child Left Behind, school administrators strove to hire the best new teachers. Competent, caring, qualified teachers are the keys to enhanced student achievement.…

This study extends the research on issues of trust in family-professional relationships by more fully examining, within a qualitative research design, the nature of trust between parents of children with disabilities and school personnel. The authors examined the trust-related perspectives of 16 mothers of children with various disabilities at all…

As the health, social, and developmental needs of infants in foster care become more complex, foster families are challenged to develop specialized knowledge to effectively address these needs. The goal of this qualitative research study was to identify the process of becoming a foster family and providing family foster caregiving within the…

This article will explore the role of "CYC," a community-based youth center, in providing a sense of what I call "Youth (Comm)Unity" for Chinese American youth from low-income immigrant families. While CYC combines the youths' home and school worlds, it is also distinct from these worlds by forming a new and hybrid culture/space. In doing so, I…

The Garifuna are an Indigenous, Afro-Latino group in Honduras whose distinct cultural, ethnic, and linguistic background has been unacknowledged and frequently misunderstood on a societal level and, consequently, in the schools that serve them. This study argues for the utility of a cultural mismatch approach, one applied primarily to U.S.…

This study examined how teachers perceive Free Primary Education had influenced access, retention and progression of marginalized students in primary schools in Kisii County, Kenya. A critical pedagogy framework was used to unpack and shed light on teacher and school practices that affected access to basic education of at risk students. Data was…

The curriculum revolution of the 90s placed new emphasis on caring. Faculty modeling of caring behaviors is a key determinant in the development of caring in nursing students. The focus of this study was the need to evaluate the implementation of caring as a core value to be taught to students in nursing programs. The purpose of this project was…

This embedded case study collects and analyzes the perspectives of both youth and adults at one public alternative high school for youth at risk of school failure and aims to investigate the program practices and structures that promote school engagement and connectedness. Informed by bodies of literature from the fields of school engagement,…

This instrumental case study explores how the Ethic of Care is experienced within one Midwestern school system as an alternative approach to traditional school system hierarchical infrastructures. Through the qualitative tradition of portraiture (Lawrence-Lightfoot & Davis, 1997), this study documents the caring leadership actions, behaviors…

Traditionally the academic discussion and popular discourse surrounding how a female will engage the role of mother primarily focuses on the decision of whether to be "at-home" or "at-work". However, this ignores the many different parents, parenting decisions, and role conflict experiences that exist in contemporary society. For instance, a…