The purpose of this study was to examine the role critical reflection should play in preparing Lay leaders to serve as mission leaders in an interdisciplinary ministry. The aim of this study was to design an evidence-based case of the need for critical reflection as a tool for mission leader formation. A qualitative case study was the method in…

The student-teacher relationship plays an important role in the development of academic and social skills in early elementary (Torres, Domitrovich, & Bierman, 2015; Vitaro, Boivin, Brendgen, Girard, & Dionne, 2012; etc.). Although the importance of the student-teacher relationship is well-established, the importance for special education…

The unemployment rate for autistic young adults after high school graduation is higher than for all other populations with disabilities. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requires transition planning as part of an individualized education plan (IEP) starting no later than age 16. There is evidence, however, that autistic…

Math achievement is an important predictor of progression to later science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and careers. However, attitudinal factors also play a role, and interventions attempting to improve math attitudes may be important for increasing the number of STEM-aspiring students. To design effective interventions, it…

Millions of public-school students in the United States are identified as English language learners (ELLs), whose academic success is tied to their second language (L2) English education. Previous research in adult populations indicates that L2 proficiency is related to the contextual variable of the prevalence of one's first language (L1) among…

Reading is an essential skill for daily life and academic success. According to the connectionist model of reading, word recognition involves orthographic, phonological, and semantic processing, as well as the interactions among them. Language skill such as phonological processing, develops earlier than reading acquisition, and thus likely serves…

This dissertation examined the motivation and source of support for first-generation Latina community college students who aspire to transfer to a four-year institution. The study is informed by Yosso's Community Cultural Wealth model, to explore how participants navigate their school environment and the vertical transfer process through an…

The purpose of this study was to determine how secondary mathematics education changes in Hungary between 1867 and 1956 were reflected in journal articles of that time. In an attempt to accomplish this purpose, the researcher sought to identify which major political and socioeconomic factors affected the role and content of periodicals, how the…

This study investigated a problem facing policy makers, education leaders, and external providers of service that support or facilitate school-based change designed to improve teaching and learning: How to match school needs with providers' services in ways that maximize school improvement. A growing number of organizations provide service to…

In this qualitative feminist narrative analysis of eight women's reflections on their co-curricular involvement as cast members in Eve Ensler's iconic feminist play "The Vagina Monologues," I seek to understand the ways that participants ascribe meaning to these experiences five or more years later. While evidence in the literature…

Understanding speech in an accent or dialect different than one's own can be challenging. McLaughlin and Van Engen (2020) were the first to quantify this increase in listening effort using Task Evoked Pupillary Response (TEPR), a common measure of cognitive arousal. They found that monolingual, English speaking adults' pupils dilated more quickly…

The purpose of this research is to showcase the process of a local Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) with possible policy implications by analyzing teacher attrition patterns over many years. The RPP is a collaboration between a principal, the practitioner, and statistic students, the researchers. All groups were graduate-level students at the…

The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of short professional development interventions, covering core concepts in teaching and learning, on the self-efficacy of academic librarians in the teaching role. The participants in this study were six academic librarians at a large, research-intensive university in Canada for whom instructional…

The question as to where ethical philosophy ought to end and oratory begin was an abiding interest for the rhetorician-philosophers of Antiquity. This study considers the relationship between the two now distinct disciplines in the theory and practice of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, and the United States, through the lens of transformative…

Preschoolers receive inadequate science instruction despite preschool science benefits and adopting early learning science standards in New Jersey. This qualitative exploratory case study explored 17 preschool teachers of 4-year-old students' perceptions of using the New Jersey Preschool Teaching and Learning Standards for science and how they…