This mixed-methodology study explores the impact of the Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words (SIPPS) program on the reading success of English Language Learners (ELL) at a Title 1 public school in the Southeastern United States. The literature review emphasizes the importance of educator training and…

Peer-assisted learning (PAL) encompasses the active acquisition of knowledge and skills among students in similar social settings where teaching one another enables reciprocal learning. Same-year/ level PAL (SPAL) is applied in theoretical and clinical teaching across medical disciplines worldwide and is regarded as a teaching and learning…

This study investigated whether the framework of writing for English learners should be guided by the well-established reading-writing relation or by the receptive and productive nature of literacy skills. The writings of 209 advanced English learners in Korea were analyzed in relation to receptive and productive vocabulary knowledge and reading…

In order to humanize and connect future educators across programs, this case study explains how a Northern California four-year university created a weekly professional development speaker series, Teachers, Eduleaders, Advocates, and Scholars (TEAS). TEAS aims to connect future educators to current practitioners to better meet the needs of PK-12…

School and district leadership is complex work. Educational leaders today are charged with a myriad of responsibilities, ranging from everyday operational duties to strategic development of school improvement plans. Leaders are expected to be experts at everything ranging from transportation to transforming teaching and learning. Gone are the days…

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore ways for multilingual students to draw on their background knowledge and culture during writing instruction. In addition, I wanted to investigate how newcomer multilingual students (Canagarajah, 2013) understood and assessed their writing, the relationship between students' self-assessments, their…

For a growing share of learners and workers in the United States, college is failing to live up to its economic mobility promise. The cost of college is rising, accompanied by mounting student debt, and many graduates are underemployed following college. Students face steep barriers to college enrollment and success, including time demands, access…

This Mixed-Method Action Research study aimed to implement an extended Project-Based Learning professional development series with middle school science teachers. The professional development series took place during the teachers' Communities of Practice, offering them high-quality support, active participation, and content-specific conversations.…

The problem addressed in this study was a lack of teacher confidence in implementing culturally responsive practice in early childhood classrooms leading to low academic achievement in minority students. Federal regulations, including the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), mandate that all students are given the support needed to succeed. PK-12…

This Educational Leadership Portfolio is documentation of my efforts to better understand the perspectives and racialized and gendered lived leadership experiences of Women of Color K-12 educational leaders who work in predominantly White public school systems within a county in a mid-Atlantic state. The problem addressed is that there is too…

This study examines K-12 public school teacher turnover, with a particular focus on teachers of color. Recruiting and retaining well-qualified teaching staff is a challenge in the United States, where annually roughly 16% of teachers either leave the teaching profession entirely or transfer to a different school. This high rate of turnover is of…

This mixed methods design-based research study investigated a novel instructional intervention targeting students' motivational regulation strategy use across two semesters in a teacher education course. Course sections (n = 30) were randomly assigned to either an intervention of control condition. Students in the intervention condition received…

Research has shown that teacher evaluation feedback has not positively impacted teachers' practice or instruction. An average of 53% of U.S. Virgin Island teachers disagreed or strongly disagreed on the value of the feedback they received from administrators on the evaluation system. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the…

The lack of consistent elementary musical education in the United States has sustained a steady demand for private music instruction. Private instruction, however, does not usually align with the general music education standards, or the school requirements. There is a lack of research about private music instructors' role in music education for…

The purpose of this quasi-mixed methods study was to explore how African American males' psychosocial factors impacted their motivation to pursue a postsecondary education and if differences existed between the demographic variables and external psychosocial factors of African American males who pursued a postsecondary education and those who did…