This study examined adolescent developmental experiences and participation in extracurricular activities. Providing youth with multiple channels to nurture their development and acknowledge their interests and strengths can play a significant role in their holistic growth. This is a descriptive study of a mixed-methods design (quantitative and…

How prepared are central office administrators to lead school districts in the face of changing standards and changing student populations? The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the responses of central office administrators in the top 5% performing school districts in Washington State with the goal of identifying common attitudes…

This dissertation examined the beliefs of elementary teachers to determine if their perceptions of effective principal leadership align to transformational leadership theory vis-a-vis the Educational Leadership Policy Standards (ELPS). A phenomenological, single-case study approach was utilized by means of a mixed-methodological, Web-based survey,…

This study examined if the wellness of older adult residents of a continuing care retirement community was enhanced through the promotion of a sense of mattering to others. A ten-session reminiscence therapy protocol (REM) was developed as a treatment baseline for this study and four tenets of mattering promotion were developed as an additive to…

Given the negative impact of students' challenging behaviors on the learning process, a need exists to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how teachers' beliefs, practices, and knowledge relate to their abilities to effectively manage classroom behaviors. Three-hundred and forty-two (342) public school (PK-12) teachers in a…

Rapid advances in data-rich domains of science, technology, and business has amplified the computational challenges of "Big Data" synthesis necessary to slow the widening gap between the rate at which the data is being collected and analyzed for knowledge. This has led to the renewed need for efficient and accurate algorithms, framework,…

In this project I examine the ability of undergraduate students to articulate a working definition of culture and cross-culture. The students were predominately elementary education majors, enrolled in one of two culture-based elective courses at the University of Alaska Fairbanks during the 2010-2011 school year. Through the use of…

This research explores students' perceptions of learning in one to one laptop programs in rural Alaska. This research used constructing grounded theory methods by conducting five focus groups in rural high schools in order to gather and analyze data from the students themselves. The research intent was to let the students' words and…

The topic for this dissertation is to investigate perceptions within the implementation of established one to one laptop learning programs in Alaska high schools. A primary purpose is to gain understanding of teacher and student perception of their technology use levels by establishing a level of adoption. A secondary purpose is to gain…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine a suburban, non-Title school that was rated "Recognized" on state testing but missed Adequate Yearly Progress. The goal was to understand what non-Title I schools do to address gaps by studying the academic culture of the school. Foster High School was the school chosen for this…

This study explored the ways that students in an online teacher education program connected in a specially crafted peer mentoring program developed for cross-level peer mentoring. Program administrators developed the peer mentoring site in response to observations that enrolled students, particularly new students, were often unsure of how to…

This study was implemented to investigate how three Texas high school campuses improved their campus accountability ratings using the High School Allotment (HSA) funding. Three high schools were selected based on criteria, including campus size, ethnic breakdown of student population, use of HSA finding, and improvement in the campus…

This study examines the perspective of public secondary education through the lived experiences and voices of 10 African American male students. The study was qualitative in nature and utilized an action research case study design. The researcher conducted semi structured interviews with a randomly selected group of African American male students…

This portrait captured a journey of 13 individuals that participated in an educational leadership course. The subjects were members of a Cohort and the course was the last course in the program. The portraiture methodology was utilized so that the nuances in relationships, feelings and the portraitist's voice could create a layered,…

Teacher shortage in special education has been an ongoing dilemma considered critical and severe. The demand for fully qualified special education teachers continues to rise due to various federal mandates as well as an increase in the number of students requiring special education services. The supply of fully qualified special education teachers…