The literature shows that both faculty and students hold favorable opinions about UDL principles and practices and students' benefit from such practices when implemented in the higher education classroom. Despite this, faculty members remain resistant to implementing UDL principles and practices. Few studies have examined the barriers impacting…

Roles of Hybrid Teacher Leadership (HTL), positions which involve classroom teaching for part of the day and academic coaching, curriculum planning, department chair, or professional development responsibilities for the remainder of the day, are becoming more prevalent due to budgetary concerns and teacher shortages. This autoethnography analyzes…

Institutional effectiveness (IE) is required for colleges and universities by the six regional accrediting agencies for education in the United States, but the creation of cyclical, systemic, ongoing IE plans has proven to be a challenge for institutions, and especially for community colleges. The literature indicates faculty resist IE work when…

The purpose of this study is to examine the experiences of a democratic school leader and understand how his conception of leadership is congruent or incongruent with notions of democracy and democratic leadership. This small, participant-observer case study follows a democratic school leader and his staff for a year and examines those challenges…

While program-level assessment has become common in higher education, questions remain about the impacts of assessment on teaching and learning in academic programs. Despite the considerable assessment activity happening in higher education, assessment scholars still have difficulty finding evidence of programs "closing the loop," that…

The Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (CCSSM) highlight the importance of students' conceptual understanding, mathematical reasoning, and problem solving in order to prepare students for college and careers. However, the success of this reform effort largely depends on how teachers actually design and implement instruction based on the…

Afterschool programs linked to schools provide opportunities to keep children safe and engage them in enrichment activities that can support their growth and development. Often, these programs are led by afterschool directors with a background in youth development and no experience or education in leading in educational environments. These…

This dissertation explores the contemporary educational construct known as Social and Emotional Learning, or SEL. It investigates how the child, the teacher and the relationship between children and teachers are figured in the SEL-managed classroom. The dissertation also examines the extent to which SEL is produced by, and productive of, culture,…

What happens when teachers start to observe each other's classes? How do teachers make meaning of observing and being observed? What effects, if any, does requiring peer observation have on the teaching community? This research explores these questions in a qualitative study of peer observation of teaching (POT) in the 2nd-12th grades of an…

The definition of clear goals is essential to the effectiveness of training intended for the advancement of professional development. Properly articulated instructional goals also facilitate the evaluation of the intended outcomes of the learning event. Although outcomes-based instruction is prevalent in K-12 settings as well as in post-secondary…

This research explores the difficulties faced by many migrant, refugee, and immigrant adults confronted with technological ubiquity in economically developed countries. Preparing migrant adult learners for the digital world by building digital literacy skills can help to maintain home language proficiency, support English language learning, and…

Educators and researchers have long considered parental involvement an integral part in the success of students and researchers have concluded that there is a connection between parental involvement and the retention rates of students who are involved in regular education curriculum. However, much less information is available regarding the…

This qualitative case study examined South Korean elementary teachers' beliefs about the goals of multicultural education in relation to practices and contexts within social studies instruction. The first research question examined the distinguishing features of South Korean elementary teachers' beliefs about the goals of multicultural education.…

This study investigated the practice of elementary art teachers who utilize carts for the delivery of art lessons; to understand how the art on a cart practice influences art educators' approaches to curriculum development and instruction; and to identify challenges, benefits, and best practices. The practice of art on a cart is defined as the…

In standards-based education the importance of interpreting standards and effectively embedding them into instructional design is critical in connecting curriculum and instruction. Finding the link between standards and instruction while striving to engage students has proven difficult. Too often instructional design does not meet the cognitive…