This study evaluates dual enrollment programs through the eyes of North Carolina's community college chief academic officers (CAOs). Grounded in Tinto's theory of integration and the transformational leadership construct, a mixed methods approach was utilized to evaluate the perceptions of CAOs regarding the integration of high school students…

States have turned to effective induction programs in response to rising teacher attrition rates and a widening student achievement gap. Comprehensive induction programs that develop highly efficacious teachers report a decline in teacher attrition, an increase in job satisfaction, and a rise in student achievement. The intent of this research was…

This article utilizes mixed methods--a lottery-based experimental design supplemented by qualitative data--to examine college readiness within an innovative high school setting: early college high schools. Early colleges are small schools that merge the high school and college experiences and are targeted at students underrepresented in college.…

This mixed method study offered an examination of the construct of sense of belonging among adult, community college women in the community college setting and its role on student success. Using academic data from women who met the criteria for the study at the conclusion of Fall 2016, results showed that neither group of women…

While press coverage of MOOCs (massive open online courses) has been considerable and major MOOC providers are beginning to realize that employers may be a market for their courses, research on employers' receptivity to using MOOCs is scarce. To help fill this gap, the Finding and Developing Talent study surveyed 103 employers and interviewed a…

Retaining qualified teachers in America's schools is one of the nation's challenges in education. Current research revealed teacher turnover had risen to 16.9% nationally, which equates to 2.7 million teachers, including 2.1 million who left the profession before retirement. In order to make a positive change in teacher retention, teacher…

The majority of students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are leaving high school ill prepared to integrate successfully into adult life, which comes at a huge cost, not only to themselves and to their families, but also to society at large. Technology supports have the potential to improve their outcomes and thus enhance their quality of life.…

This mixed methods study examines perspectives on failure in the classroom by elementary teachers new to teaching engineering. The study participants included 254 teachers in third, fourth, and fifth grade who responded to survey questions about failure, as well as a subset of 38 of those teachers who participated in interviews about failure. The…

Previous research has linked stress to adverse mental health outcomes among Latino adolescents living in the United States. The mechanism through which this process operates continues to be explored, especially in regions of the country where Latin American immigrants and their children have only recently begun to migrate. Our study aimed to…

Technology may play a critical role in impacting student engagement, specifically within an assessment context. Using a mixed methods approach, I examined the relationship between varying degrees of technology-enhancements applied in a mathematics performance task on the outcome of student cognitive engagement. Using a counterbalanced…

The North Carolina Occupational Course of Study (NCOCS) program is an alternative diploma track with a vocational focus toward post school employment to assist students who would not otherwise graduate with a standard course of study. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the local causes of low post-school employment…

This study examined the effects of the recently implemented North Carolina Educator Evaluator System (NCEES) on teaching practices and teacher leadership in a mostly rural county in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. NCEES is designed to improve teaching practices and teacher leadership through performance-based standards. This…

This mixed-method study reports perspectives of virtual school teachers on the impact of online teaching on their face-to-face practice. Data from a large-scale survey of teachers in the North Carolina Virtual Public School (n = 214), focus groups (n = 7), and interviews (n = 5) demonstrate multiple intersections between online and face-to-face…

The purpose of this study was to contribute to a limited body of research on the impact of the role of the school-level instructional technology facilitator on teacher technology efficacy. This mixed-methods study involved the administration of a survey instrument designed to measure teacher technology efficacy, the Computer Technology Integration…

The purpose of this retrospective, explanatory sequential mixed-methods study was to determine the impact of an inclusive educational setting on the behavioral, social, and emotional growth and development of students with various disabilities. Many aspects of a student's educational experiences can be affected by a proper placement in an…