The California Constitution was amended by Proposition 209 and now prohibits its public institutions from considering race, sex, color, national origin, or ethnicity. This puts San Francisco African American high school graduating seniors at a great disadvantage, especially in light of the ever persistent "academic achievement gap" inherent to…

Background and objective. Latinos are the largest ethnic minority in the U.S. and by 2050 they are estimated to become one quarter of the population, yet only one in ten has a college degree. More Latino women (Latinas) are currently attending college than Latino men. To date research has focused on their experiences and where they obtain support…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine today's academic acceleration from the lived experience and perspectives of two young adults whose education was shortened, thereby allowing them the gift of time. Through personal interviews, parent interviews, and physical artifacts, the researcher gained a complex, holistic understanding…

The importance of home-to-school and school-to-home communication and parental involvement is well documented by researchers and acknowledged by practitioners. A number of earlier studies argue that there is a positive association between two-way communication, parental involvement, and student achievement at all levels of K-12 education. However,…

This study examined the founding of the New Jersey College for Women as an exemplary case that illustrates important social and political issues regarding women's access and acceptance to higher education during the Progressive Era. The New Jersey College for Women was founded as a public women's college that was affiliated with the state's…

My dissertation investigates the twentieth and twenty-first century reader's relationship to poetic text as it is altered through daily exposure to technology in the rise of the information age, as seen in the works of Francis Ponge, Pierre Alferi and Veronique Vassiliou. My project also examines historical documents--radio and television…

The first year of college is unique and important for many reasons that warrant focused research. Students are often solely responsible for making many academic decisions for the first time as well as living relatively, independently away from home. One apparent consequence of these challenges is that this is the peak time for dropping out of…

The purpose of this study is to explore the perceptions of students and faculty of pertinent curriculum in a first-year experience course at community colleges. Research has shown that a first-year experience course can help improve retention and increase persistence. Many four-year and two-year institutions offer first-year experience courses,…

This study explored perceptions about the University of Idaho among southeastern Idaho opinion leaders through qualitative inquiry. For many years the University of Idaho has struggled to recruit and retain students from the southeastern region of Idaho. From data collected from focus groups, face to face interviews, and field observations five…

This study tested whether the Stereotype Threat effect is mediated by achievement goals, in particular performance-avoidance goals. Threat level was altered before a difficult math test to observe how the endorsement by females of various achievement goal dimensions was affected. 222 people (96 females) in a pre-calculus class at a Mid-Western…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how gender identity construction in virtuality and actuality affect collaborative learning in a corporate community of practice. As part of a virtual ethnographic design, participants were employees from a major American corporation who were interested specifically in social networking applications. The…

This project examines the early educational experiences of 6 young African American males (ages 18-25) who attended urban schools in San Diego, California. All 6 men were incarcerated for at least 1-year before participating in a pre-release program. The participants were part of a pre-release program in San Diego, California, which was selected…

The research presented in this dissertation focuses on the organizational and consumer need for knowledge based support in unstructured domains, by developing a measurement scale for dynamic interaction. Addressing this need is approached and evaluated from two different perspectives. The first approach is the development of Knowledge Based…

This study examined the level of economics knowledge, overall and on specific economic concepts after Albanian 11th grade and 12th grade students completed their required economics course and investigated how economics knowledge differed by student and teacher characteristics. There were 1,509 students who participated in this research from 12…

In recent years, there has been an alarming rise in psychological disorders diagnosed in children in the United States. As a result, the number of children in school with Individualized Education Plans (IEP) continues to grow in order to meet these children's special needs in the classroom. Despite the rise in psychological disorders, many…