Anthropogenic climate change and recreational use of coral reefs has led to the degradation of essential ecosystems globally. Over half of the world's coral reefs have been destroyed causing a loss in biodiversity due to overfishing, sea level rise, intensifying storm activity, and habitat destruction from human activity, making reefs one of the…

Substantial evidence supports comprehensive sex education programs as effective means of promoting adolescent sexual health, but evidence on the effect of state-level sex education policy is inconclusive. Multiple states in the U.S. afford local authority in school policy, and existing literature calls for investigation of the impact of local…

The ongoing literacy crisis in the U.S. highlights an urgent need for effective, scalable literacy instruction. REED Charitable Foundation (RCF) is a non-profit organization that provides structured literacy training informed by Orton-Gillingham, along with ongoing professional coaching and comprehensive implementation support to help all students…

Only 3% of alternatively certified teachers in Florida are retained after receiving certification. When teachers' self-efficacy improves, so does their motivation, mental health, job satisfaction, and student performance. Teacher self-efficacy is unstable and often influenced by situational conditions. A gap in the literature exists regarding how…

There are widespread concerns about disparities in educational attainment in the United States. Unfortunately African American, Hispanic, Native American, and low-income Broward County Public Schools high school students participate in College Bound Type Programs at lower rates than students of other races and ethnicities. Many of these students…

Improving student achievement is a continual focus of educational and political leaders. The strategies used to impact student achievement are varied as are the results. The United States Department of Education provides grant funding to states and local educational agencies with the goal of impacting student achievement through the use of…

Opponents of educational choice recycle the same false prophesies of doom without regard to the evidence or the size and scope of the proposals. Part I of this report assesses the validity of choice opponents' predictions that choice policies will lead to significant losses of district school funding and declining academic performance. Part II of…

There is a strong and politically bipartisan push to increase access to government-funded pre-K. This is based on a premise that free and available pre-K is the surest way to provide the opportunity for all children to succeed in school and life, and that it has predictable and cost-effective positive impacts on children's academic success. The…

Objective: To evaluate a health leader-focused church-based breast cancer prevention intervention in relation to congregants' intended participation, congregants' actual participation, and perceived health outcomes at both individual and church levels using socio-ecological and theory of planned behavior frameworks. Method: Participants for the…

With the increase in school violence on campuses all over the country and the increased media attention that these incidents receive. The amount of pressure on school leaders to develop and implement interventions for students is mounting from all angles. Politicians, parents, students, advocates and others have been extremely vocal in their…

The purpose of this study was to examine if there is any relationship on reading comprehension when background classical music is played in the setting of a 7th and 8th grade classroom. This study also examined if there was a statistically significant difference in test anxiety when listening to classical music while completing a test. Reading…

Group contingencies (GCs) vary in a variety of dimensions that may influence their efficacy and acceptability. This study evaluated the relative impact of four different GC types (independent, interdependent, dependent, and randomized) on classwide appropriate and disruptive student behaviors as well as how implementation of a teacher's preferred…

Badge use has rapidly expanded in recent years and has benefited a variety of applications. However, a large portion of the research has applied a binary "useful" or "not useful" approach to badging. Few studies examine the characteristics of the user and the impact of those characteristics on the effectiveness of the badging…

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between Leader in Me schools teachers' perceptions of culture, climate, and discipline referrals during the 2010-11 school year. Primary data were obtained from 172 teacher-reported surveys, from nine schools in three districts in Florida and Mississippi. A MANOVA analysis was used to…

Single Stop U.S.A.'s Community College Initiative was designed to improve the well-being of low-income communities by connecting individuals to public benefits and other institutional and community resources to address nonacademic barriers to college completion. Through offices located on community college campuses, Single Stop provides students…