Between the decades of 1970 through 1999, there were major shifts in higher education in New Jersey. Utilizing a grounded theory approach this dissertation created a database of legislation, hearings transcripts, and education reports. Searching this database for commonly used terminology, this dissertation was seeking a pattern in language use…

In this three-paper dissertation project, I explore how 'English' becomes a recognizable object within the context of adult ESOL education. Building on scholarship on named languages (Garcia, 2019; Makoni & Pennycook, 2006), the historical construction of languages (Bonfiglio, 2010; Irvine & Gal, 2000), and raciolinguistic ideologies…

Sexual violence is one of the most serious issues on college and university campuses today. It is estimated that approximately one in five college women experiences sexual assault in their lifetime, and sexual assault has appeared on the AASCU's list of top ten issues in higher education almost every year for the last decade. However,…

This qualitative study implemented a Critical Discourse Analysis using the "PRDE English Program Gender Equity Manual" (2015). In addition, this study compared the narrative literature from PRDE's English 9th textbook--"Inside: Language, Literacy and Content by National Geographic and Cengage Learning" (2014) (NG Texts) , and…

College students with disabilities are an overlooked minority population. However, they comprise an ever-increasing student population in postsecondary institutions. Yet students with disabilities do not persist or graduate at rates similar to their able-bodied peers. People with disabilities have historically been viewed as a low-status group and…

As the online education market continues to expand globally, teaching and advertising have converged in digital spaces in unprecedented ways. Driven by the attention economy, independent online educators must compete to cultivate a consumer base. To attract followers, they must engage not only in online teaching activities but also in…

Background: Educators and public school districts are bound to the legislative policies crafted by men and women who often have little experience in public education other than once having been a student themselves. As a result, policies are often not effective at creating positive change in Texas public schools. In addition, the role of policy…

As the boom in the older adult population continues to grow, so too grows the number of persons suffering from cognitive diseases, such as dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). Older Latinos diagnosed with the disease make up 4 percent (200,000) of the current population; however, little research on bilinguals with DAT has been carried out…

A number of approaches and methods are being used to assess higher cognition within online threaded discussions, as evidenced by the corpus of scholarship. However, a review of the literature suggests that current strategies relating to asynchronous discourse have tended to focus on cognitive processes that are mostly driven by task-oriented…

This study was designed to understand how ACSI certified Christian School leaders in Arizona lead their schools. There are a variety of leadership models available. Servant leadership, being a fairly recent phenomenon has been studied and implemented by numerous organizations and leaders with great organizational success and buy in. One area of…

Anecdotal evidence suggests interdisciplinary ideas receive significant, positive press. The prevailing commentary details the promises and theoretical benefits of interdisciplinarity, yet countervailing viewpoints are noticeably absent from the conversation in major media sources. Moreover, there is a lack of empirical data exploring the values…

Adults learn and develop in various contexts, which affect how they construct and reconstruct aspects of their identities. Such identity construction and reconstruction can occur through mediated or unmediated means. Within the context of this study, adult identity development through unmediated learning within digital spaces is analyzed. Specific…

The focus of this study was to answer the following overarching question: How does a Twitter discussion format compare to a Facebook discussion format in terms of promoting collaborative argumentative discourse? Data analysis focused on the difference in amount of arguments, counter-arguments, reasons, and elaborations generated by participants…

Much attention has been placed on mathematics education in U.S. education policy reform discourses. Most recently, the emphasis has been on connecting mathematics with science, technology, and engineering, termed The STEM Initiative. Although a great deal of research has been conducted to understand how to meet the objectives of STEM, studies are…

This project focuses on the dynamics of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) as a non-binding multistakeholder debate about information policymaking. Using the theory of structuration and critical discourse analysis, I explore how the nation-state-centric and the internet-community-centric perceptions of authority and approaches to decision-making…