School principals face an increasing number of professional demands, especially the challenge of improving student achievement. As such, the purpose of this dissertation is to study the effect of leadership coaching on a school principal's responsibilities related to carrying out these demands. Specifically, the researcher examined a subset of…

The objective of this project is to review the literature on adolescent depression with a focus on prevalence, risk factors, symptomology, comorbidity, and the need for increased awareness within the secondary school system. Adolescent depression is one of the most overlooked, undertreated, and debilitating psychological disorders (Cicchetti &…

Combining social capital theory and immigration history and theory a qualitative study was conducted using a variation of Critical Incident Technique to identify the motivations of individuals in rural communities who championed community responses to the influx of large immigrant populations. Twenty-eight individuals identified as key champions…

This dissertation seeks to rearticulate racial formations in the United States and expand the discourse on race in higher education by placing Asian Americans at the center of the discussion. Through the use of genealogy and discourse analysis, this research presents a broader description of the Asian American racial experience in higher education…

The current study proposed to determine the level of spiritual transformation in students at conservative Wesleyan-Arminian Bible colleges and the association of spiritual transformation with selected Bible college activities. A quantitative survey was designed, validated, and implemented to measure students' self-reported levels of spiritual…

Evidence suggests that college preparation programs successfully support students through college preparation and application process. However, most research into college preparation programs does not attend to students' collegiate experiences once they leave college preparation programs. This dissertation explored the long-term influence of Small…

This phenomenological case study investigates the lived experiences of five educators who engage in on-board educational programs, offered by the non-profit environmental organization "Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc", and follows their stories of place-conscious development leading to place-based educational engagement. By analyzing surveys,…

The study captured the essence of the core ideas, prevalent themes or events in the student's time in higher education that helped him or her become engaged in such a way as to prevent departure from the university prematurely. It helps understand successful first-generation students. It examined their resiliency, motivation, self-efficacy,…

The focus of the study was to identify secondary school students' difficulties with aspects of linearity and linear functions, and to assess their teachers' understanding of the nature of the difficulties experienced by their students. A cross-sectional study with 1561 Grades 8-10 students enrolled in mathematics courses from Pre-Algebra to…

The 2005 Summit on High Schools led to redesigning schools and promoting 21st Century Skills. Consequently, this study assesses the implementation of supplemental online courses, offered through the Virtual High School (VHS), at one suburban New Jersey public high school. The following questions guided this research project: (1) How do the VHS…

Swirling is an emergent transfer pattern among college students. Swirlers are students who may have participated in a combination of reverse transfer, lateral transfer, or traditional transfer patterns. The available research on swirling has been predominately quantitative in nature. This study was designed to obtain qualitative data on…

This dissertation examines the nexus of communication, diversity, and policy setting in major institutions--higher education, the media, and government--in an historical era when the Internet, social networks, mobile devices, and other forms of digital media define the times. The ultimate aim is to develop a new, conditional lexicon that provides…

This study of taking-on was conducted using classical grounded theory methodology (Glaser, 1978, 1992, 1998, 2001, 2005; Glaser & Strauss, 1967). Classical grounded theory is inductive, empirical, and naturalistic; it does not utilize manipulation or constrained time frames. Classical grounded theory is a systemic research method used to generate…

The purpose of this study was to determine if exposure to a research-based presentation on grade retention, including the academic, socio-emotional and behavioral outcomes, would yield a change in teacher beliefs regarding retention as an intervention strategy. Teachers from a small urban school district were asked to complete a pre-survey, view a…

This research involved two observational studies. It explored the scaffolding processes as part of classroom pedagogy. The research shed light on the way a teacher's instructional methodology took shape in the classroom. The target event for this study was the time in which a novice learner was engaged publicly in uttering a sentence in Arabic in…