One program designed to prepare first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented students to transition from high school to college are early college high school programs which allow qualified students to simultaneously obtain high school diplomas and associate's degrees. However, little is known about how students and faculty perceive such…

College completion is an issue of great concern in the United States, where only 50% of students who start college as freshmen complete a bachelor's degree at that institution within six years. Researchers have studied a variety of factors to understand their relationship to student persistence. Not surprisingly, student characteristics,…

"The ability of this nation to provide a growing economy, strong health and human services, and a secure and safe nation depends upon a vibrant, creative, and diverse engineering and science workforce" (Blue, et al., 2005, p.4). To contribute to technological advancements, engage in global collaboration, solve complex problems, encourage…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the SuccessMaker (SM) program along with teacher instruction and skill development on the academic performance of fourth grade students. School personnel are searching for efficient and effective means for improving instruction and knowledge. Instructional technology can be very…

This qualitative exploratory study investigated practicing and pre-service elementary teachers' representations of the nature of matter and the ways in which those representations were transformed into teaching representations. Seven practicing elementary teachers from a rural elementary school and five pre-service elementary teachers were…

Data centric applications, an important effort of software development in large organizations, have been mostly adopting a software methodology, such as a waterfall or Rational Unified Process, as the framework for its development. These methodologies could work on structural, procedural, or object oriented based applications, but fails to capture…

This mixed methods explanatory study addressed the problem of continuing disparity in achievement between students with special needs and their peers in the educational setting, despite mandates requiring schools to educate these students in the least restrictive environment. The purpose of this study was to determine the types and extent of…

The open access mission is central to the community college role and mission in higher education. Although initially implemented by four-year colleges and universities, adoption of formal enrollment management initiatives in community colleges is on the increase. Admission, matriculation, retention, and persistence are affected by enrollment…

The allocation of quality teachers across schools is of interest because of both the importance and costliness of teachers as inputs in the education production process. Furthermore, because teachers have preferences over their workplace characteristics, this allocation across schools is nonrandom. This research examines teacher mobility within…

Early aggression is a problem in its own right and a risk factor for further developmental problems. Although both effortful control and social information processing (SIP) skills are negatively associated with aggression and are targeted by aggression prevention programs, little is known about the relation between them or about their joint…

Despite the increased promotion of integrated language and content instruction, large gaps in academic achievement persist between English language learners (ELLs) and their English-proficient peers (New York State Education Department, 2011c). In this study, I employ practitioner research methods to investigate ELLs' experiences in an…

This dissertation is a phenomenological case study of two 12th grade English/language arts (ELA) classrooms where teachers used graphic novels with their advanced students. The primary purpose of this case study was to gain insight into the phenomenon of using graphic novels with these students--a research area that is currently limited.…

This qualitative case study was designed to explore how master teachers in transfer high schools learn the competencies they perceive are required to engage at-risk students so that they persist and graduate. The study is based on the following assumptions: (1) The requisite teacher competencies can be defined and identified and, in fact,…

This study examined the institution-building efforts of a leading charter school management organization, Achievement First. The study used a conceptual framework derived from institutional theory in sociology that offers two competing policy contexts in which charter schools and charter management organizations operate--a bureaucratic versus…

Greater academic pressures have been placed on rural schools to provide effective learning that will allow students to fulfill high school graduation requirements and prepare for entry into post-secondary institutions. Rural schools are confronted with many problematic issues including remote locations, limited resources, and shortage of qualified…