A department of computer information systems at a community college in the southeastern United States was struggling to retain students, a large number of whom often dropped out within the first and second semester of enrollment. Identifying potential solutions to the retention problem is important to department leaders, faculty, and students…

This study describes teachers' experiences of success and failure in teaching through interviews. The analytical framework for this study was based on Activity Theory (Leon'tev, 1978), and the research methods were developed by Herzberg et al. (1959). The inclusion of factors identified by Seligman (2006) and Maslach (1982) allowed for…

The high rate of teacher turnover in the United States has prompted a number of studies into why teachers leave as well as why they stay. The present study aims to add to that knowledge specifically regarding why teachers choose to stay at urban schools. Several reasons teachers in general choose to stay have been identified in previous studies…

The purpose of this research is to provide insight into immigrant Latino parents' perspectives on parental involvement in elementary school settings as influenced by the Title I Family Literacy Program (TFLP). A comparison is made of Latino parents who have been participating in the TFLP for more than one year, participants new to the program…

As open-door institutions of higher learning, community colleges should continue to increase their understanding of the characteristics, needs, and satisfaction of underprepared students. Understanding the satisfaction levels of underprepared students provides a foundation upon which to build support for student success and retention for…

This research describes a qualitative, naturalistic case study of a situation-specific, in-depth exploration of the use of ten student discussion roles in and adult education, online asynchronous discussions. Discussion roles were designed in order to enable students to respond better and create deeper and more meaning-filled threaded discussions,…

The demographics of the American K-12 student body population have changed and include a growing number of students with limited English proficiency (LEP). These students require special instruction, but the prevalence of specialized English as Second Language (ESL) teachers is in short supply. This shortage has lead to general education teachers-…

In the U.S., future economic viability is being challenged by an increasing inability to replace retiring engineers and scientists through the year 2020 due to declines in learner motivation and proficiency in science. The expository laboratory appears to be linked with non-engagement and is one possible contributing factor to this problem…

Picture archiving and communication system (PACS) workflow directly affects the quality of emergency patient care through radiology exam turn-around times and the speed of delivery of diagnostic radiology results. This study was a mixed methods training and performance improvement study that evaluated the effectiveness and value of a hospital…

Given the emphasis placed on strong leadership as a condition for high performing schools, identifying and assessing the characteristics of effective school leaders have become essential tasks for local jurisdictions, state departments of education, and the federal government. However, many forms of appraisal have failed to assess the daily work…

The literature on principals shows a correlation between effective leadership and increases in student achievement. However, low-income students continue to be disproportionately represented among students who are below grade level in reading and math. No case studies using a student learning framework have been conducted on principals. To address…

According to the American School Counselor Association (ASCA; "The ASCA National Model for School Counseling Programs," 2003), school counselors are trained to counsel students regarding academics, social and emotional issues, attendance, and so forth. Because of the growing number of students who are at risk of academic failure, it…

The purpose of this study was to investigate what happened when grade 11 high school honors students blogged about their summer reading under the monitoring of a teacher during vacation. I proposed that an educational blog might serve as an effective tool during summer vacation to help students retain skills or learning while at a physical…

Ample evidence exists to support the conclusion that enterprise search is failing its users. This failure is costing corporate America billions of dollars every year. Most enterprise search engines are built using web search engines as their foundations. These search engines are optimized for web use and are inadequate when used inside the…

Approximately 1/3 of the children in the United States are overweight or obese. Children in Mississippi have the highest rate of obesity among all other states. The outcome of this epidemic presents an increase in poor health. To address the problems associated with overweight and obesity among children, schools in the U.S. were required to…