According to a report released in 2005, titled "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," there is a critical priority to develop, recruit, and retain top students, scientists, and engineers to maintain U.S. economic competitiveness in response to rapid globalization. To improve our global competitiveness, the U.S. must retain individuals from…

This study is designed to identify the effective implementation practices that special education administrators enact to alleviate the negative and enforce the positive effects of contextual factors when implementing comprehensive school reform. Two research questions were designed to address this issue. Research Question One sought to identify…

The purpose of the phenomenological study was to examine elementary educators' perceptions of full inclusion as the least restrictive environment for students with disabilities. Thirty-six teachers and administrators participated in interviews and responded to multiple-choice survey items. The recorded data from the interviews were…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the impact of flexible scheduling in school libraries on incorporating information literacy skills into the core curriculum. Participants included school librarians from middle schools in neighboring suburban and urban counties. In addition to an open-ended questionnaire, interviews and focus…

Blended learning has sometimes been called the "best of both worlds," combining the advantages of face-to-face instruction with the advantages of online learning. It has been in existence for over a decade, and more research needed to be done to determine its efficacy and desirability for community colleges. The goal of this dissertation…

In public schools today, students who are identified as individuals with gifts and talents are generally confronted with education that is not fitted to their learning needs and self-regulatory potentials (Colangelo, Assouline, & Gross, 2004). The mismatch between needs and services is particularly true of those students who, in addition to…

The federal government, national educational organizations, and universities support undergraduate student participation in study abroad programs. Study abroad provides students the opportunity to gain skills required in an era of global interdependence, such as foreign language proficiency, knowledge of other countries, and intercultural skills.…

This Critical Indigenous Qualitative Research study examined the ways in which K-12 Hopi/Tewa educators and principals negotiated curriculum and pedagogy selected for Hopi/Tewa students. Specifically, the study examined: (1) how the developing theoretical frameworks of Red Pedagogy (Grande, 2004) and Tribal Critical Race Theory (Brayboy, 2006)…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of online faculty mentoring on Registered Nurse (RN) to Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) role transition balance during graduate education. Making the transition from RN to an FNP can seem daunting and there is limited information in the literature about RN to FNP role transition during graduate…

The purpose of this descriptive, post hoc single case study was to understand how the five components of Teddlie and Stringfield's (1993) school effectiveness model manifested themselves in school improvements efforts. This study used Teddlie and Stringfield (1993) five component school effectiveness conceptual model (focus on academics,…

The purpose of this study was to identify obstacles which prevent active participation at home and at school for economically disadvantaged families. Parental involvement has been recognized as one of the most important variables influencing student academic achievement (Henrich & Gadaire, 2008; Jeynes, 2007; Stewart, 2008). Recent history…

Teachers' beliefs about students' home language, race, can impair students' academic performance. This study examined the practical effects of socio-economic environments on teacher beliefs and the effects of teacher beliefs on educational outcomes for students from low-income or Latino homes. A descriptive mixed-methodology design…

Web Based Homework (WBH) effectiveness in increasing learning outcomes in Elementary Algebra students is analyzed. The analysis is accomplished through a comparison of the student final exam scores between students who completed the course using paper and pencil homework (PPH) and those students using web based homework (WBH). The purpose of the…

The intention of this study was to examine the impact of gender and rank on job satisfaction among rehabilitation counselor educators. Women are now earning doctorates at a greater percentage than men and are the majority of faculty at community colleges and four year liberal arts colleges. However, women still lag behind men in terms of salary,…

Many studies have been conducted to evaluate the performance of DIF detection methods, when two groups have different ability distributions. Such studies typically have demonstrated factors that are associated with inflation of Type I error rates in DIF detection, such as mean ability differences. However, no study has examined how the direction…