This study examined the extent to which prior beliefs and reading instructions impacted elements of a reader's mental representation of multiple texts. College students' beliefs about childhood vaccinations were assessed before reading two anti-vaccine and two pro-vaccine texts. Participants in the experimental condition read for the purpose of…

In this dissertation, the effects of bilingual immersion curriculum versus monolingual curriculum on achievement of students in a select elementary school were examined. The researcher explored mathematical and reading achievement as measured by formative kindergarten through third grade assessments in a southeastern elementary school. Hypotheses…

Reading skills are important for students' academic success. Phonics specifically is a foundational skill which is necessary for reading fluency and overall reading proficiency. Additional support outside of the classroom can be beneficial for those struggling and at-risk. There are various strategies and interventions that can help student's gain…

Active shooter incidents are increasing across the United States. School leaders are faced with continued challenges in the classroom with growing concerns of school safety for students and teachers. Active shooter training is mandated in Texas. Yet, unknown are perceptions of teachers in Texas about active shooter training. The purpose of this…

Beginning in the fall of 2017, forty-one districts and charter schools entered into three-year legal agreements with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to reduce the racial disproportionality in their district or school's exclusionary discipline practices, specifically the overrepresentation of students of color in suspensions and…

Online learning has become a popular alternative medium among adult learners. Nearly 7 million students in the United States reported taking a distance education course at a degree-granting post-secondary institution (National Center for Education Statistics, 2018). Despite the growing demand for and importance of online learning in higher…

There is an increasing demand for change in mathematics education to combat deficit-based assumptions towards students of color and promote culturally affirming learning environments (Celedon-Pattichis et al., 2018). Equity-centered mathematics research provides a powerful opportunity to resist these deficit constructions towards marginalized…

The purpose of this action research study was to evaluate the effect of a robotics-based intervention on empathy for students enrolled in secondary English and literature courses. Empathy, as a concept, is an integral component of reading comprehension and student motivation. A decline in reported individual levels of empathy among young adults…

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have challenges with communication, changes in routine, and processing social information and communication that can affect their ability to learn and respond successfully to safety threats. When given behavioral skills training (BST), children with and without ASD have demonstrated gains in safety…

According to public discourse, one of the most critical college access and affordability issues is the nation's rising student loan debt. Public concern over the rising cost of college and the use of education loans has incited a great debate on if a student loan debt crisis exists, and if so, for who? Researchers have found that, among federal…

This dissertation seeks to understand the ways in which software developers and managers of software developers perceive workplace learning for software developers. Across three studies, researchers investigated: perceptions of software developers about workplace learning for software developers, perceptions of managers of software developers…

Research continues to study the types of professional development models and the structures which are necessary to impact student outcomes (Darling-Hammond, 1997; Guskey, 2000; Liberman, 1995) to implement educational improvements driven by leadership and policy makers. The diversity of options for implementation paired with sheer volume of…

A significant amount of money is spent on professionalizing the workforce. At the same time, there is limited research on the effectiveness of academic-to-industry corporate partnerships as an innovative solution for meeting workforce development objectives. This exploratory study evaluates an existing University of South Florida industry…

Social skill interventions have become increasingly popular in recent times, as well as the use of technology to deliver and aid interventions for the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) population. Little research exists on the use of apps to teach social skills to individuals with ASD, in particular the behaviour change procedures that exist within…

This paper describes the different elements of a Professional Development School (PDS) partnership between a Community College in New York City and a public elementary school in a low-income neighborhood that serves predominantly children of color and low-income families. A major component of the partnership was a school-wide comprehensive…