While there is copious research regarding the troubling rates of teacher attrition within the United States, causes of attrition including stress and burnout, the impact of student trauma on teachers and how it can lead to compassion fatigue (also leading to attrition), as well as the negative impact of teacher turnover on student achievement,…

Previous research suggests that the intensity of student engagement in the learning process is a consistent predictor of language achievement (Gardner, 2010; Masgoret & Gardner, 2003). Research from educational psychology indicates that learners are more engaged in learning when their teachers' autonomy-supportive motivating practice supports…

My research uses interaction analysis to investigate two STEM education spaces and discuss how instructors can and should notice and address unproductive group dynamics, particularly in the service of creating more humane learning environments. The primary goal of this work is to investigate how inequities emerge and continue as interactions in…

College students report high rates of mental health problems. Even as help-seeking behaviors have increased over the years and college mental health services report increased utilization, untreated mental disorders are prevalent among college students. The unmet mental health needs of college students are an important college access and…

The use of mobile technology, particularly smartphones, in higher education continues to grow. The purpose of this research was to investigate Saudi students' perceptions of engagement and self-directed learning (SDL) when using smartphones for learning. The research sample included students from one of the Saudi Arabia universities, Z. A…

This dissertation examines the implementation of peer-based career seminars as an intervention to analyze career counseling services in the community college setting and delineate potential benefits for students. Highlights include identifying barriers to access, discussing a student-centered approach to service utilization, and implementing…

This mixed-methods dissertation examines the experiences of academic counselors in the California community college (CCC) system who have provided distance/online counseling. As online education increases and is seen as a way to provide access to higher education at a lower cost to institutions, the need for online support services such as…

Students placed in a traditional disciplinary program at school are not served in a way that effectively deters them from future infractions and subsequent contacts with administrators or disciplinary referrals. Also, the emphasis of many institutions is reactive, responding to incidents of misbehavior or misconduct. Instead, the focus could be…

Demonstrating proactive approaches is one of the preventive measures utilized to decrease the problem behaviors in schools (MacSuga-Gage et al., 2015; Partin et al., 2009). Focusing efforts on halting negative classroom behaviors before escalations occur instead of managing the fallout from emergencies created by problem behaviors is one way that…

The job expectations of career and technical educators requires a unique blend of industry experience and educational experience. Often this blend is difficult to find. In order to fill positions, career and technical education (CTE) institutions often hire personnel directly from industry with little to no educational experience. Therefore, CTE…

"Yogatise" is a home-based, online yoga program that was specifically developed for children and youth with disabilities between 6 and 17 years of age to create a meaningful occupation outside of school and to increase their social, emotional and physical well-being. It has been found that children and youth with disabilities experience…

The problem that drove this study was the need to improve the inclusive practices for high school student athletes with disabilities in a large, diverse school district. The purpose of this study was to examine how high school coaches and athletic directors provide accommodations for students with disabilities (SWD) and the perceived needs of the…

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) defines Non-Traditional Occupations (NTOs) as occupations where specific populations (i.e. one gender or a minority group) are traditionally underrepresented, comprising less than 25 percent of the individuals employed in them. Barriers associated with entry into NTOs can prevent these populations from accessing…

Background: Traditional survey efforts to gather outcome data at scale have significant limitations, including cost, time, and respondent burden. This pilot study explored new and innovative large-scale methods of collecting and validating data from publicly available sources. Taking advantage of emerging data science techniques, we leverage…

Between 2000 and 2013, the suburbs in the country's largest metro areas saw their low-income population grow twice as fast as primary urban cities. In 2018, the Pew Research Center reported that poverty increased more sharply in suburbs than in urban and rural counties (Parker et al., 2018). The rise in suburban poverty coincides with an…