With the emphasis on high standards and fiscal accountability, there is a heightened need to inform the research linking student achievement to the allocation of resources. This mixed methods inquiry sought to study how schools utilized Title 1 and Title 1 stimulus funding from 2009-2011 to determine if correlations existed between areas of…

The purpose of this retrospective study was to develop an understanding of how one group of adults who graduated from a Virginia regional alternative program made sense of their experience in an alternative education setting. Specifically, this study sought to determine if adult participants, several years later, perceived participation in the…

The purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge base about female adolescents with Asperger syndrome (AS). The findings will be useful in providing educators with an insight into the social world of Asperger syndrome in order to give them a better understanding of the syndrome, and to assist them in teaching students more effectively. The…

This dissertation interrogates the experiences of Asian American and Latino law students, as racialized second-generation, children of immigrants entering an elite profession. Intersecting immigration, race and ethnicity, and professional socialization literature, I compare the students' experiences across race, gender, socioeconomic…

Research has shown that the adolescent African American male, in comparison to his peers of other races, is challenged by a diversity of destructive factors that significantly affect his future. This study examined the disparity in academic achievement that exists between African American male students and other student populations in the United…

Scope and Method of Study: Research indicates that the effort to increase the number of minorities underrepresented in medical schools across the United States has wavered for more than 40 years and has never reached population parity. Using the conceptual framework of barriers to adult learning, this case study was designed, through triangulation…

This quantitative, non-experimental, correlational study investigated the effects of the Accelerated Reader (AR) program on reading achievement in elementary school students. The study also examined the perceptions of teachers and administrators about the effectiveness of the AR program. This study took place in three elementary schools located in…

To attain academic goals, school personnel must effectively manage 20% of students who engage in the disruptive behaviors that interrupt instruction, create teacher stress, and contribute to poor student outcomes. Without effective strategies, school personnel often respond to disruptive students with ineffective authoritarian tactics,…

This dissertation examines the relationship between teacher educational background, teacher experience, and student achievement in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade. The first essay of this dissertation, "Effects of Teacher Degree Level, Coursework, and Certification on Student Achievement in Math and Reading in Kindergarten,"…

The purpose of this study was to explore the academic achievement for students with learning disabilities in reading and how to determine if their rate of progress was different from non-disabled students in a sixth-grade language arts inclusion class. The data for this research was gathered from one school district with one middle school. The…

The purpose of this study was to determine whether formal or informal mentoring was more satisfying to online faculty who taught at community colleges. Study research questions inquired whether online faculty members were more satisfied with the formal or informal faculty mentoring they received before teaching online. A mentoring satisfaction…

Scope and Method of Study: This study used qualitative methods to discover the reasons and factors these African American men persisted to degree completion, while the large majority of this group fail. The participants for this study were eight African American males who have successfully graduated from an accredited, predominantly white…

Using meta-ethnography as a research method, this study identified, organized, and synthesized efforts to implement learning communities at the 19 American colleges and universities that prepared written reports at the conclusion of the 1996-1999 National Learning Communities Dissemination Project (FIPSE). The researcher used 10 research questions…

Based on interviews with thirty recently tenured professors at two universities, this study examines what "flourishing" might look like in the early faculty career. Drawing on classical philosophical conceptions of eudaimonia as well as professors' own narratives of their careers, the study considers whether the idea of flourishing…

This study investigated whether online social presence, understood as individuals' perceptions of the genuine presence or other people within a communication medium, is related to online students' evaluations of the quality of their courses and their satisfaction with their class facilitators. Undergraduate and graduate students enrolled…