The need for culturally responsive teachers in an increasingly diverse educational system is paramount. The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice teachers' developing understandings of culturally responsive pedagogy in a language arts methods class over the course of one semester. The study also sought to explore the…

The field of evaluation is at a critical juncture as it faces new scrutiny and questions about what constitutes good research and good practice. I argue in this study that if the discipline is to be rooted in a sound empirical foundation, we need a clear understanding of key terms employed by scholars and practitioners alike. In particular,…

The robust number of co-occurring disorders among American Indian (AI) populations within the United States constitutes a significant impact on AI communities. While this issue has been discussed in depth in academic literature, there is little discussion regarding how to treat these illnesses and no evidence-based practice. In order to identify…

The study examined the contributions of "orthographic processing" factors to the spelling achievement of typically developing middle-elementary students. The researcher framed orthographic processing as a multilinguistic, multidimensional construct involving process factors related to procedural orthographic operations and product…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of multilevel support on first-grade teachers' accurate use of research-based strategies during beginning reading instruction and the extent to which teachers maintained use of these strategies. Teachers were trained to use research-based strategies, including choral responding, response…

The low graduation rate of degree-seeking students at public community colleges is an important crisis facing communities across the United States. College satisfaction and withdrawal cognitions in students have been identified as key factors in college persistence by researchers. However, a review of the literature revealed no study in which a…

Continuing professional education (CPE) for respiratory therapists (RTs) represent both a mandate and a desired characteristic of a profession poised to assume a more prominent role in the healthcare landscape. While it is acknowledged that education beyond the professional degree and a lifetime approach to learning is inherent due to the nature…

Communities, also called clusters or modules, are groups of nodes which probably share common properties and/or play similar roles within a graph. They widely exist in real networks such as biological, social, and information networks. Allowing users to interactively browse and explore the community structure, which is essential for understanding…

Creativity is understood intuitively, but it is not easily defined and therefore difficult to measure. This makes it challenging to evaluate the ability of a digital tool to support the creative process. When evaluating creativity support tools (CSTs), it is critical to look beyond traditional time, error, and other productivity measurements that…

Networks are of significant importance in many application domains, such as World Wide Web and social networks, which often embed rich topological information. Since network topology captures the organization of network nodes and links, studying network topology is very important to network analysis. In this dissertation, we study networks by…

Social networks have received much attention these days. Researchers have developed different methods to study the structure and characteristics of the network topology. Our focus is on spectral analysis of the adjacency matrix of the underlying network. Recent work showed good properties in the adjacency spectral space but there are few…

Internet use, in general, and online social networking sites, in particular, are experiencing tremendous growth with hundreds of millions of active users. As a result, there is a tremendous amount of privacy information and content online. Protecting this information is a challenge. Access control policy composition is complex, laborious and…

The purpose of this study was to identity how events perceived as traumatic or very difficult to handle, factors of emotional distress, and demographics may predict nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMPD) among traditional undergraduate college students. This secondary analysis utilized data from the National College Health Assessment II (NCHA…

The school counseling profession is governed by national standards to promote the academic, personal, social, and career development of all students. There is an emphasis on outlining professional dispositions for school counselors. Yet, the personal values, beliefs, and attitudes that influence their interactions with students and the carrying…

Integrating instructional technology within the elementary classroom is required by both state and federal mandates, set forth in the form of standards and guidelines. The integration of technology within the classroom setting requires time, training, and teacher willingness. Teachers are likely to develop beliefs and attitudes regarding the…