The purpose of this study was to examine parent preferences for school counselor professional activities. The primary focus of research was to determine if any relationship exists between (1) parents' demographic factors--gender, age, socioeconomic status, ethnicity--and their preferences for school counselors' professional activities; (2)…

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine if student background variables (age, gender, race, academic preparation); student status (part/full-time student), and student circumstances (commuting distance, independent/dependent financial student status) could predict fall-to-spring attrition (2006-2007) in a sample of 542 first-time,…

Online education is the fastest growing form of course delivery of higher education in the United States. It has revolutionized how students and instructors interact in the educational process. Yet students in online courses continue to experience higher attrition rates than their counterparts in traditional face-to-face classes despite the…

This research study examines transgender (trans) identity, how it is manifested in trans students, the college and university experiences of these individuals, and how organizational systems hinder, enhance, expand, and redefine trans student success. This study provides a greater understanding of a population that is often misunderstood by fellow…

Incorporating relevant numerical information into decision-making is a fundamental and important aspect of numeracy. However, the process through which weight is assigned to particular numerical values is not well understood. The central theory proposed in this dissertation is that the weight assigned to numerical information may be conceptualized…

The current study seeks to build on to the existing literature on career interventions by empirically examining possible outcomes of two of the most widely utilized career interventions, career counseling and career courses. This investigation used Critical Ingredients (Brown & Ryan Krane, 2000; Brown, et al., 2003; Ryan, 1999) to assess the…

There is a growing shortage of Direct Support Professionals (DSPs) in the field of intellectual and developmental disabilities. This shortage is at a crisis now and will continue to become more of a crisis unless changes are made. This is a crisis for many community employers and even more of a crisis for the people with disabilities who are faced…

Goldberg's (1995) recognition that, in addition to various word-level constructions, sentences also instantiate meaningful argument structure constructions enables a non-polysemy-based analysis of various verb 'alternations' (Levin 1993). In such an analysis, meaning variations associated with the use of the same verb in different argument…

This study examines what occurs when principals of urban schools meet together to learn and improve their instructional leadership in collaborative principal networks designed to support, sustain, and provide ongoing principal capacity building. Principal leadership is considered second only to teaching in its ability to improve schools, yet few…

Many people in general think that digital game environment has potential as a learning environment. However, empirical research in digital game environment and education is a still relative young field, so to create a digital learning environment where students are actively engaged in the learning process is a great challenge. In part, it has been…

The research presented in this manuscript was focused on the development of assessments for engineering design outcomes. The primary goal was to support efforts by the Transferrable Integrated Design Engineering Education (TIDEE) consortium in developing assessment instruments for multidisciplinary engineering capstone courses. Research conducted…

In recent decades, the use of large-scale standardized international assessments has increased drastically as a way to evaluate and compare the quality of education across countries. In order to make valid international comparisons, the primary requirement is to ensure the measurement equivalence between the different language versions of these…

The purpose of this study was to assess the characteristics and impact of developmental courses on students enrolled in developmental mathematics and English courses at a small mid-Western tribal college. This was a quantitative, descriptive study of the courses and the students over a six year timeframe. All students who enrolled in…

This study examined the impact of the Serviceman's Readjustment Act of 1944 (the GI Bill) on African Americans' quest for higher education. The central question guiding this study follows: Why has higher education been so elusive for African Americans? With reference to this question, the following sub-questions were addressed: (1) How can the…

This study investigated educators' perceptions of the importance of competencies for teachers of students with emotional and behavioral disorders and their own proficiency in the competencies. Participants included educators who had completed university-based coursework on emotional and behavioral disorders. Competencies from the Qualification and…