Academic advising administrators, academic advising professional organization leaders, and academic advising scholars have not had access to information about how academic advising is organized in their states. The purposes of this study were (a) to describe the organization of academic advising in Ohio's two-year public colleges; (b) to explore…

Leading school change is a challenging endeavor. Successful leadership requires strategic and sustained effort, particularly in the shifting and uncertain environment of urban public schools. The concept of distributed leadership--in which multiple actors tackle the challenges of school leadership in concert--is a promising way to strengthen…

Numerous researchers have investigated distance education in postsecondary settings, but there is a paucity of research regarding the design and delivery of online professional development for K-12 educators. The goal of this mixed methods sequential exploratory study was to examine attitudes of middle grades educators toward an online…

Since 1970 suspension rates for adolescents have more than doubled across the nation. Numerous risk factors serve as determinants and are associated with such outcomes. However, presented with these alarming statistics advocates have called for an alternative to out of school suspension policies and practices. Embedded within this context is an…

With the passing of legislation like the No Child Left Behind Act (2002) and an increased focus on continuous improvement in public education, professional development has progressed from a passive form of learning for educators to a process in which educators are interacting, collaborating, and learning through various methods. This study…

This dissertation gathers and classifies the self-reported reasons students gave for withdrawing or considering withdrawing from first year composition (FYC) courses at an urban community college on the Gulf Coast of Texas (CCGC) between 2004 and 2008. With an average student attrition rate of 20% in FYC courses at CCGC, the research question…

The purpose of this study is to impact the teaching and learning of math of 2nd through 4th grade math students at Porfirio H. Gonzales Elementary School. The Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) model serves as the independent variable for this study. Its intent is to promote math instruction that emphasizes problem-solving to a greater degree…

Too many of our nation's youth have failed to complete high school. Determining why so many of our nation's students fail to graduate is a complex, multi-faceted problem and beyond the scope of any one study. The study presented herein utilized a thirteen-step mixed methods model developed by Leech and Onwuegbuzie (2007) to demonstrate within a…

This study examined Missouri's A+ Schools Program and its impact on school improvement. Effective schools research combined with the mission learning for all provided a conceptual foundation for guiding research development. A mixed-method design allowing a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative data was applied using telephone interviews…

Efforts aimed at strengthening the governmental public health workforce have led to increased attention on undergraduate public health education. The focus, to date, has been on four-year institutions with minimal attention provided to community, or two-year, colleges and their potential role in addressing public health workforce needs. Progress…

This study furthers the understanding of the connections between learning approaches and learning strengths. The research population embraced 65 males from the Jewish ultraorthodox community, who abide by distinct methods of study. One group follows the very didactic, linear and structured approach with performance orientation, while the second…

The primary focus of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of games when used in tertiary-level mathematics classes in the United Arab Emirates. Our study incorporated a mixed-method approach that involved surveys (to assess students' perceptions of the learning environment and attitudes towards mathematics), interviews, observations of…

Despite increasing investment in building, supporting, and managing communities of practice that meet the strategic business needs of the organization, the literature indicates that little is known about strategic communities of practice in organizational work settings. The purpose of this study was to investigate determinants and outcomes of…

Design-based research (DBR) evolved near the beginning of the 21st century and was heralded as a practical research methodology that could effectively bridge the chasm between research and practice in formal education. In this article, the authors review the characteristics of DBR and analyze the five most cited DBR articles from each year of this…

In this article the author describes a mixed-methods study of first-year urban teachers' social support networks. Social Network Analysis (SNA) data on the support networks of 24 first-year teachers provided a background context and framework for the case study analysis of 4 of the teachers. Findings of the analysis identified 2 important networks…