The purpose of this case study was to examine policies and procedures used by high school leaders that positively impact the access and participation of African American students in Advanced Placement courses. The research targeted the chronic and persistent problem of underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in secondary school Advanced Placement…

This dissertation is a qualitative, single case study of an international school in Brazil that explores how school administrators and teachers conceptualize international mindedness, and how it is developed within the curriculum of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program. I provide a rich description of the context, developing four themes…

This qualitative, analytical study at an International Baccalaureate school explored third grade teachers' perceptions of three specific innovative teaching strategies: innovation skills needed by third grade students; barriers and challenges that exist when teaching 21st Century skills; and skills needed by teachers to teach innovation skills.…

Florida has experienced some of the greatest growth of Advanced Placement (AP) programs in recent years and student scores on the AP exams have evolved into a highly significant metric in evaluating student proficiency and teacher and school effectiveness. Despite this growth, it is not well known how AP teachers make decisions about the content…

This quant-QUAL sequential explanatory mixed methods study describes a framework for evaluating the communicative competence (Canale & Swain, 1980; Canale, 1983) of non-beginner students of Chinese for placement purposes at U.S. four-year postsecondary institutions. A pragmatic lens was used to collect and analyze data that generated a…

AP social studies courses are viewed as beacons for rigorous and demanding coursework in secondary classroom settings. Recent curricular revisions and enrollment initiatives made by the College Board have led to further discourse concerning instructional and curricular tensions that still need to be addressed. Moreover, reform made in AP social…

The purpose of this qualitative, explanatory multiple-case study was to examine the perceptions of staff members at two Southern California high schools as they related to the disparate participation in advanced academic programs by ethnic and racial minority and economically disadvantaged students as compared to their White and economically…