Drawing on Lave and Wenger's (1991) and Wenger's (1998) "communities of practice" (CoP) framework, this study explores the shared repertoire of humor practices in the creation of community within the context of a culturally diverse and multilevel adult Arabic language classroom consisting of two native speakers, five heritage language learners…

The purpose of this case study was to identify the challenges and opportunities that school principals face when leading the implementation of dual language immersion programs as instructional strands. This case study also sought to determine what skills and strategies principals utilized to facilitate the change process for all the stakeholders…

Preschool attendance is considered an important factor for predicting later success in literacy achievement. This quantitative ex-post facto study examined whether attendance of public prekindergarten is related to improved reading achievement in 2nd grade students in a rural, southeastern school district. The learning theories of Piaget, Bandura,…

Information Literacy (IL) competencies are defined as "the ability to locate, evaluate, and use information effectively" and are considered essential for students in their academic lives and future careers (ALA, 1989). IL plays an important role in developing critical thinking and problem solving skills, and improving academic achievement through…

The Problem: This study was designed to analyze the evaluation criteria of the instruments used to evaluate superintendents, the job descriptions for those superintendents, and the goals written as part of their Individual Administrator Professional Development Plans (IAPDPs) to determine whether superintendents are being held accountable for…

Many agricultural educators fail to integrate core-subject concepts into their classrooms. Current research addresses the perceptions of agricultural educators regarding core-subject integration, but little research notes the barriers that are identified in these studies or the actions needed by agricultural educators to overcome those barriers.…

Research indicates that families of children with disabilities are at risk for a lower quality of life than families of typically developing children, as the impact that a child with a disability has on a family's quality of life (FQOL) is both substantial and complex (Zuna, Selig, Summers, & Turnbull, 2009b; Zuna, Summers, Turnbull, Hu & Xu,…

The purpose of the quantitative descriptive study was to gain an understanding of the motivating factors leading high school students from rural and urban schools to receive a diploma. A revised version of the High School Motivation Scale (Close, 2001; Solberg et al., 2007) generated from SurveyMonkey.com was administered to high school graduates…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between school readiness skills as measured by the Missouri KIDS and academic potential in reading and math as measured by the scores on the CTP4 in grades 2-4 in a private, independent school. This study identified which school readiness skills most accurately predict the need for…

Jazz musicians are unique individuals who seek to perform from a transcendental state in which tacit knowledge, teamwork, and communication blend to produce an effective performance. Academic leaders are also unique individuals who rely on communication to generate a sense of inclusion within a complex organization that at times epitomizes…

This dissertation investigates the role of grammatical gender facilitation and inhibition in second language (L2) learners' spoken word recognition. Native speakers of languages that have grammatical gender are sensitive to gender marking when hearing and recognizing a word. Gender facilitation refers to when a given noun that is preceded by an…

The purpose of this study was to examine the role that self-determination played in the transition process for young African American women with disabilities who exited high school with a special diploma and participated in a local transition program. Factors under study included the young women's autonomy, self-regulation, psychological…

Long before deciding to become second language (L2) teachers, novice teachers have subconsciously developed conceptions of teaching cultivated by their experiences as learners in both general and language education classrooms. This "apprenticeship of observation" (Lortie, 1975) can foster deeply held beliefs about teaching that are carried with…

For many years special education was not a priority for principals because most special needs children did not attend public school or were not identified as having a disability. However, recent changes in federal and state education legislation require that all public schools show growth in student academic achievement for all children, including…

The purpose of this study was to analyze student academic performance data from year-round calendar high schools across the United States in comparison to those of traditional calendar high schools within the same states. This study sought to determine if the mean passing scores of students for the last three academic years in four important…