While trauma-inclusive approaches to student learning have been well documented in K-12 contexts, postsecondary education has done little to incorporate trauma-inclusive pedagogy into college classrooms. Using a sample (n = 529) of graduate and undergraduate students at a public rural-serving regional serving university, this study aims to explore…

A majority of the research on the impact of learning communities has focused on the positive outcomes for students in their first year of study (Andrade, 2007; Goldman, 2012; Laverick, 2018; Wathington, Pretlow, & Mitchell, 2010). Less is known about the impact of learning community involvement as students complete their enrollment and persist…

An important future direction for service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) is to collaborate with the sustainability in higher education (SHE) movement. SHE is a diverse, transdisciplinary area of inquiry and practice that seeks to help lead efforts to create a "thriving, equitable and ecologically healthy world." When SLCE…

Research indicates that a majority of honors students across the country are able to earn honors credit through the fulfillment of honors contracts. These learning contracts grant honors credit to students who perform additional work in non-honors-designated sections of other courses. Despite their popularity, little has been written on the design…

Project-based learning (PjBL) is an approach often favored in STEM classrooms, yet some studies have shown that teachers struggle to implement it with academic rigor. This paper explores the relationship between PjBL and rigor in the classrooms of ten STEM-oriented high schools. Utilizing three different data sources reflecting three different…

Colleges and universities are increasingly adopting various software solutions to raise degree completion rates and lower costs (Ferguson, 2012; Vendituoli, 2014; Yanosky, 2014). Student success software, also known as Integrated Planning and Advising Services (IPAS), appears to be in high demand among both students and faculty (Dahlstrom &…

Alternative schools give us a perspective for viewing our educational system as a whole, while also considering the message and purpose of our institutions. Who does alternative schooling serve? What is the job of alternative schooling? Hugh Cale Community School, located in eastern North Carolina, offers insight into the role and purpose of…

Early college (EC) is a novel educational model in the US that combines high school and college in an effort to increase underrepresented students' access to higher education by providing engaging, hands-on instruction in a supportive learning environment. For this phenomenological inquiry, we sought to understand the role of care-based relating…

When implementing innovative teaching techniques, instructors often seek to gauge the success of their methods. Proposing one approach to assessing classroom innovation, this study examines the ability of students' ratings of engagement and instructional practices to predict their learning in a cooperative (team-based) framework. After identifying…

This mixed-methods study investigates the perspectives of twice-exceptional students on learning strategies that have been recommended for them in the literature. Have the strategies recommended in the literature been implemented? Do students perceive the strategies to be beneficial in helping them learn? Participants represented a broad range of…

The overall results from the 2011-12 student survey were positive. The most positive results pertained to overall satisfaction with the participants' school, with the most unfavorable results centered on the consistency of challenging work being assigned to students and bullying. In general, 4th grade students responded more favorably than 7th and…

The purpose of this single, intrinsic, evaluative case study was to examine the problem of nontraditional transfer student completion at a private, religious-based, doctoral degree-granting, moderate research university in North Carolina. The following research questions guided the study: (a) How do institutional policies, procedures, and…

This study evaluated attitudes toward interdisciplinary education by appraising the Interdisciplinary Health Communication (IHC) Certificate program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a case study. Sixteen affiliated faculty and thirteen students enrolled in the IHC program as of 2008-2009 were surveyed. Although the attitude…

This dissertation was designed to examine and evaluate the effectiveness of a Ninth-Grade Transition Program at a Rural High School in Central North Carolina. The ninth grade is a pivotal year that determines which students will prevail and which students will fail to finish high school (Hertzog, 2003). It is essential that schools put in place…

As a sixth year student of Spanish looking back on her foreign language education, the author believes she has a greater understanding of what attracted her to and maintained her interest in the language. Yet she also recognizes areas in her education that could have benefited from change, including flexibility in creating her own program of study…