The purpose of the study was to explore a suburban school district with a homogenous staff and diverse student population that implemented a professional development program centered on the Cultural Proficiency Framework. Cultural Proficiency is a framework that guides the shifting of culture in schools from viewing diversity as problem to…

This multiple case study explored the professional identities of teachers at the intersection of mathematics and language learning. Situated within a neoliberal schooling context, teachers were required to adapt standardized instructional goals and practices to support the cultural, linguistic, and academic backgrounds of new-arrival refugee and…

The term Exceptional Children refers to both the highest performing students in the most advanced classes as well as those with the most severe intellectual challenges and every level of functioning in between. In one southeastern state, Exceptional Children teachers work with high school Occupational Course of Study students. These students, who…

Due to the escalating moral problems in society, parents are asking schools to create an environment to not only teach academics but values and social responsibility as well. This dissertation examines the perceptions of teachers, parents, and administrators in regard to social responsibility at the elementary school level. Many programs exist to…

Using an exploratory case study approach, this research examined the consistency between espoused and enacted values within a large nonprofit organization known as an ethical leader in the human services industry. This research explored ethical business culture, ethical decision making, deontological and utilitarian moral paradigms and learning…

This mixed methods study explored whether a relationship existed between moral development and dishonest academic behaviors in law students. The quantitative portion of the study utilized a survey adapted from James Rest's Defining Issues Test and Donald McCabe's Academic Integrity Survey. Law students were solicited by email from two public…

Moral socialization and moral learning are antecedents of moral motivation. As many as 4 generations interact in workplace and education settings; hence, a deeper understanding of the moral motivation of members of those generations is needed. The purpose of this convergent mixed methods case study was to understand the moral motivation of 5…

What does citizenship education look like in a society ruled by an authoritarian military regime? This dissertation seeks to answer this question by examining official citizenship education policy in Burma/Myanmar and how it is implemented in contemporary government primary schools. Using critical qualitative methodology, I identify the…

This quasi-experimental study at a Northwest university compared two methods of teaching media ethics, a class taught with the principle-based SBH Maieutic Method (n = 25) and a class taught with a traditional case study method (n = 27), with a control group (n = 21) that received no ethics training. Following a 16-week intervention, a one-way…

The process of social change draws upon the strength of many individuals to build a strong collective, develop a shared vision, exercise the power required to necessitate change, and join forces in solidarity. This study examined the role of one particular group in this process, lawyers, by identifying their leadership characteristics and…

The need for U.S. teachers to better understand School Violence Prevention is growing. Evidence suggests however, that 10 years and 10 billion dollars after the Columbine High School massacre, our public schools are not safer (www.community-matters.org). There has been an "after the fact" approach to the problem of school violence. After…

The revised Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004) has offered a change of practice regarding the identification of students with a learning disability. Under IDEA (2004) educators are encouraged to use Response to Intervention (RTI) as a method to determine eligibility for special education services. In an RTI…

American higher education has never been more expensive. Its continued excellence and accessibility depends even more today on charitable subsidy. As previous beneficiaries of that charitable subsidy, alumni are the most logical benefactor of its sustenance. The relatively few alumni who can give most generously make the difference in the success…

This dissertation explores the issues related to the development of national identity amongst middle school students in Japan, from both macro and micro perspectives of the state's educational policy and the students' conception. While it is impossible to understand a national education without placing it in the larger context, the concept of…

As schools expand secularization and laws limiting religious expression increase, one must not forget the religious spirituality of the individual. Individual religious spirituality is still protected under the United States Constitution. Many researchers feel that this religious spirituality should be nurtured, not discouraged in public schools.…