This study used a grounded theory methodology to examine the experiences of deaf middle school students attending a program for deaf children in a public school to answer the following question: How do deaf children in middle school construct meaningful texts? The students were in one of two self-contained classes taught by a teacher of the deaf.…

This qualitative study explored African American teachers' perceived levels of support with regard to mentoring, internal supports, external supports, and other contributing variables to determine the extent to which they fostered sustained employment in suburban school districts . The research data included input from 61 African American teacher…

Professional development within many school districts has become more closely linked to school or district achievement goals, daily practice and student assessment data. Both empirical research and experiential-based writing in the field have suggested that data-driven job-embedded professional development supports teacher learning and improved…

Elementary teachers' attitudes toward professional development and ways to increase teachers' participation in professional development were explored in this qualitative, grounded theory. The researcher conducted five focus groups comprised of elementary classroom teachers, special area teachers, and Instructional Facilitators. Data from the focus…

The purpose of this study was to conduct a program evaluation of a K-5 Gifted Education Program. Program evaluation addressed how well the gifted education program studied met the National Association of Gifted Children standards. In addition, this study included stakeholder perceptions of the current gifted education program K-5. This program…

This report analyzes data from the 1982, 1985, 1992, 2002, and 2008 Surveys of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA). Analyses focus on differential arts participation by race/ethnicity and the effect of race/ethnicity on arts participation. Descriptive and inferential analyses explore trends in arts participation by race/ethnicity across the…

This dissertation examined long-term metacognitive effects of participation in a Strategic Learning course for postsecondary students with and without disabilities. The researcher integrated existing archival data from three sources, a university-wide assessment program, assessments of 114 students who took a postsecondary Strategic Learning…

The current situation in U.S. K-12 education is such that there is no clarity, consistency, or consensus in the manner in which schools go about implementing a data-driven decision-making process. Simply stated, there is no clearly articulated direction provided to school systems regarding policies and procedures for data analysis. School systems…

The process of information technology adoption and use is critical to deriving benefits of information technology. Thus, one of the most challenging issues in information systems research is to understand how people have experienced the adoption process that may lead to insights to why they accept or reject the information technology (Davis,…

The purpose of this study was to examine and document whether there is a correlation between relevance (applicability) focused courses and rigor (scholarly research) focused courses with pedagogical instructional methods or andragogical instructional methods in undergraduate business schools, and how it affects learning behavior and final course…

This study was designed to determine which factors contributed to the development and persistence of a women's leadership development program in higher education. The "Hedwig van Ameringen" Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine[R] "Program for Women" was the basis for this single-case study. To speculate about ELAM's development and…

This dissertation examines the extent to which novice secondary mathematics teachers (licensed and currently teaching in Utah) perceive they are prepared to do the work of teaching secondary mathematics. It first examined if novice secondary mathematics teachers' perceptions of their knowledge and skills of doing their work fell into four…

The "Census in Schools Educator Update" is sent to educators and educational organizations periodically to keep them informed about current and upcoming census data and to provide ideas about how to use data in the classroom. This issue of the "Census in Schools Educator Update" newsletter includes the following items: (1) Have You Seen the Census…

Walking readers step by step through complex concepts, this book translates missing data techniques into something that applied researchers and graduate students can understand and utilize in their own research. Enders explains the rationale and procedural details for maximum likelihood estimation, Bayesian estimation, multiple imputation, and…

This 8-week case study involved evaluating the impact of the Reading Recovery intervention program on students with reading difficulties. The participants of this case study were 2 at-risk first-grade students selected for participation in the Reading Recovery program, which provided 30 minutes daily of one-on-one instruction. This study employed…