The overall aim of this grounded theory multiple-case study was to better understand how K-12 independent schools ("schools") in the United States cultivate a connection between children and adolescents ("students") and the natural world ("environment") by exploring the interplay between this connection and (a) the…

This dissertation investigates the critical role of social-emotional learning (SEL) in urban education through the lens of educators working in a diverse middle school setting in St. Louis, Missouri. With a focus on understanding educators' perceptions and experiences, this study aims to explore the effectiveness of SEL programs in addressing the…

This dissertation investigates the critical role of social-emotional learning (SEL) in urban education through the lens of educators working in a diverse middle school setting in St. Louis, Missouri. With a focus on understanding educators' perceptions and experiences, this study aims to explore the effectiveness of SEL programs in addressing the…

This dissertation investigates the critical role of social-emotional learning (SEL) in urban education through the lens of educators working in a diverse middle school setting in St. Louis, Missouri. With a focus on understanding educators' perceptions and experiences, this study aims to explore the effectiveness of SEL programs in addressing the…

This dissertation investigates the critical role of social-emotional learning (SEL) in urban education through the lens of educators working in a diverse middle school setting in St. Louis, Missouri. With a focus on understanding educators' perceptions and experiences, this study aims to explore the effectiveness of SEL programs in addressing the…

This dissertation investigates the critical role of social-emotional learning (SEL) in urban education through the lens of educators working in a diverse middle school setting in St. Louis, Missouri. With a focus on understanding educators' perceptions and experiences, this study aims to explore the effectiveness of SEL programs in addressing the…

Trauma can have deep impacts on children and the development of their frontal lobe. It is within the frontal lobe that executive functioning skills such as time management, work completion, and organization of materials are housed (De Bellis & Zisk, 2014; Kavanaugh et al., 2016). Symptoms outlined as executive functions are those that are also…

The researcher explored the impact of a student voice initiative (SVI), the Student Ambassador Council (SAC), on the social-emotional competencies (SECs) of middle school, 5th-8th grades students. Drawing upon the principles of youth empowerment, more specifically Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), and social-emotional learning (SEL), the…

Lowel Mason highlights the importance of integrating music learning into the curriculum alongside other fundamental skills such as reading, promoting his belief in the transformative power of music education and its impact on child development. Mason stated, "Children must be taught music as they are taught to read" (Pemberton, 1992).…

Middle school students experience decreased academic motivation and declining achievement without proper classroom strategies and academic support. This single case study explores the parallels between child and adult education theories to identify a practical approach to adolescent learning and teaching by identifying effective educational…

Though the concepts of trauma are not new, studies on adverse childhood experiences have seen a steady increase since Felitti et al. (1998) began their work on its lasting effects. In the context of education, when leaders are not trained to identify behaviors through a trauma-informed lens, students with adverse childhood experiences may be…

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) are traumas experienced from birth to an individuals' eighteenth birthday. These traumas may involve various physical and psychological stressors that cause elevated levels of toxic stress throughout the body. These traumas tend to impact children and their progress in learning and possibly interfere with…

As internalizing and externalizing problems often co-occur, this dissertation utilized a longitudinal dataset of 784 at-risk children (predominantly from low-income families and academically at-risk; 52.6% male) followed yearly from grade 1 to grade 12 to: (a) explore the heterogeneity in the co-development patterns of internalizing and…

The dissertation aims to understand how individual efforts/choices, family environment, and education systems contribute to human capital development and shape educational outcomes. The first chapter studies what drives the parental investment gaps in children in both time and money across socio-economic groups. I develop a dynamic model of…

Despite a 100-year-old history and the existence of schools in nearly every country in the world, Waldorf education is a little known and poorly understood educational model that was developed in Europe by Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner. For many years it existed in the United States in the form of private schools. Few of their teachers or…