In this dissertation, the participation of 5-year-old Spanish speaking children in a kindergarten classroom community was explored. The school was located in a working and middle-class community in Southern Arizona, where pursuant to state law; the language of instruction was English. Student participants spent four hours every day in an English…

This study used Multilevel Modeling (MLM) with a sample of over 1300 students with disabilities between the ages of six and nine years old nested within 180 school districts. A sample from the Pre-Elementary Education Longitudinal Study (PEELS) dataset (Institute of Education Sciences) was used to explore the relationship between hours in general…

This study explores the use poetry in counselor training and supervision. Over the course of a semester, counseling students enrolled in either a practicum or internship class were taken through a series of poetry-based activities. Ten students volunteered to participate in the study. Using a qualitative research design rooted in phenomenology and…

Scholarly literature points to an important relationship between transformative learning and pastoral ministry, as well as the need for experiential learning in pastoral ministry formation. The necessary role of critical self-reflection in transformative learning underlines the need for theological field education experiences to foster students'…

This doctoral study concerns itself with the emergent identity formation of art student teachers: the knowledge and cultural systems [including TV and movies] through which art teaching identity conceives itself, and the ontological consequences [affects on art student teachers' collective and self (dis)identifications] that evolve from those…

The demands of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) increase each year, requiring all students to be proficient in mathematics by 2014. The county in this project study will not meet requirements of NCLB by 2014 if current trends continue. The guiding research question for this project study investigated the most effective way to meet the needs of all…

The preponderance of research examining college student retention has focused on the influence of academic and social integration factors (Bean, 2005; Braxton, Hirschy, & McClendon, 2004; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1980; Tinto, 1993). Recent research suggested that psychosocial factors may be significantly related to student departure decisions…

Research has shown that academic misconduct is an issue of concern in most subject areas across both secondary and post-secondary education. However, variation in both investigators' research interests and definitions of the behaviors being investigated leave many unanswered questions regarding the seriousness and nature of the problem, as well as…

With the graying of the professoriate continuing and the massive number of baby boomers entering retirement age, universities and college administrations need to adequately prepare for retirement. This is beginning to cause some staffing shortages in the faculty pipeline as well as the loss of institutional history and professional knowledge.…

An original questionnaire concerning academic freedom policies and practices was created and mailed to 1,264 faculty members from 316 private baccalaureate colleges and universities. There is a lack of empirical research on faculty satisfaction with academic freedom policies and practices. The variables under investigation included faculty…

The research described in this dissertation explores the impact of utilizing a LEGO-robotics integrated engineering and mathematics program to support fifth grade students' learning of ratios and proportion in an extracurricular program. The research questions guiding this research study were (1) how do students' test results compare for students…

The notion of a multiversity was stamped into the higher education literature by Clark Kerr in 1963 when he spoke about the numerous purposes tied to U.S. higher education. Kerr highlighted how the University is often pulled in many directions at once, asked to fulfill promises of the cultural, educational, national, societal, and now, of the…

Students who are classified as ESOL at the secondary level may face various factors that prevent participation in class thus inhibiting second language acquisition. The purpose of the study was to determine if asynchronous discussions (ASD) affected the second language acquisition of secondary ESOL students. The researcher examined the effects of…

Significant number of children in the United States have difficulty learning basic reading skills. The majority of children referred to school psychologists are referred for reading concerns. Unfortunately, the gap between good and poor readers widens over time as more advanced reading skills are built upon basic reading skills. Children with…

This dissertation explores unexamined assumptions linking the context of small learning communities to the outcome of quality civic education. Civic education scholars and advocates for small learning communities espouse similar visions of education based on democratic ideals; the purpose of this study was to explore whether and in what ways small…