The Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a biennial survey required by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights since 1968. This survey measures factors that impact education equity and opportunity for students, including student access to courses, programs, resources, instructional and other staff -- and school climate factors.…

Higher music education presents a unique opportunity to examine change within higher education due to the digital revolution in the music industry over the past two decades. The purpose for conducting this study was to describe, map, and explain the strategies that higher music education programs are using to adapt to the digital revolution in the…

Childhood trauma carries multiple implications that adversely impact children; not only does it negatively impact mental health and well-being, resulting in behavioral issues at home and in the classroom, but it also has lasting, negative consequences on an individual's mental and physical health throughout their lifespan. Trauma-informed care…

While previous research of maker spaces has primarily been focused on public and community spaces, this dissertation looked at maker education in independent schools. Maker education often challenges traditional approaches to teaching and learning, positioning teachers more as facilitators who support students to make meaningful decisions as they…

Problem solving is one of the most essential aspects of human life. Every day, people engage in problem solving any time they attempt to resolve uncertain issues or questions. Of utmost importance, in order to resolve problems effectively, people must "build them" by interacting with situations. In other words, people must actively…

Full Inclusion Program should be the optimal education delivery system for students with learning disabilities (LD) in all school settings, including charter schools. A full inclusion program, in this study, is educating students with LD in the general education setting. The problem is that charter schools do not implement a full inclusion…

This research study explored the experiences of this teacher-researcher and eight student-participants in a Montessori-inspired, nature-based mathematical environment. I utilized an action research study framework with a critical event narrative analysis to describe mine and my student-participants' experiences throughout this study, using…

The use of School Resource Officers (SRO's) has become an increasingly popular strategy in attempting to create safe learning environments on school campuses in the United States. The implementation of SROs saw a significant increase following the school shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, CO on April 20, 1999. As media attention and…

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and questioning (LGBQ) adolescents experience large disparities in an array of health problems and bullying experiences. Supportive LGBTQ community and school climates may protect LGBQ youth from general and bias-based bullying victimization. We combined data from LGBQ respondents on the 2013 Minnesota Student Survey…

Background/Context: School principals have long played a central role in managing building operations and supervising school employees. Over the past two decades, however, policy developments--including site-based management, external accountability measures, and teacher evaluation systems--have increased expectations that principals also improve…

This study examined the participation and experiences of women faculty and administrators in higher education in Uganda and how the culture of higher education impacted their leadership. I adopted a qualitative methodology and an ethnographic case study approach to explore how women faculty and administrators participated and experienced the…

Since the beginning of the 21st century, higher education has changed drastically with instructional technology. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate the perceived lived experiences among ten adult learners and how academic motivation influenced their learning in a technology-based learning environment. The…

A large and growing body of research demonstrates that student success requires more than just academic achievement; it also requires supportive environments that foster the development of key social and emotional competencies and mindsets. Inspired by this body of research, Transforming Education (TransformEd) embarked on a multi-year partnership…

The purpose of this descriptive-embedded multi-case study was to examine the perceived influence of principal leadership styles on the school environment factors that promote academic resilience. The sites for the study are 2 early-college high schools located in a large, urban school district in Texas. The theoretical frameworks used by the…

This study aims to assess the relationship between spiritual involvement, goal complexes, student perception of classroom autonomy, academic achievement. This was done through survey research on a Large Public Midwestern University. Many college students enter the classroom with some form of spiritual identity and that spirituality has become a…