This dissertation served as a case study that examined the impact of a districtwide system of support drawn from existing literature and organizational structure and management. The identified framework, the Limelight County College and Career Readiness Intervention (LCRI) Framework, utilized the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycle of improvement…

There has been a deliberate attempt to close the achievement gap by altering educational policies, yet the gap still exists. This phenomenology qualitative study sought teachers' opinions on whether STEM was seen as an effective intervention strategy for closing the achievement gap among African American students, and if so, why it wasn't used…

The purpose of this semester-long project was to redesign the ninth grade English language arts curriculum to include a literacy-based multicomponent intervention to meet the needs of developing readers, while simultaneously maintaining a rigorous curriculum challenging proficient readers in a general education classroom. I examined peer-reviewed…

An online curriculum intervention focusing on electronic interactions structure and percent composition was developed using a modified Knowledge Integration design framework. A study was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the design and student perceptions of their experiences. A sample of 58 students enrolled in an introductory chemistry…

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how instructional technology impacts teaching and learning. Specifically, in this study I show how learning analytics could be implemented to encourage student responsibility for learning and identify effective faculty course designs that help. Typically, learning analytics focuses on data mining student…

There is a need to enhance science and geoscience literacy. Effective instruction allows students opportunity to build their own models, test them, make their own arguments, and discern reliability of the claims and arguments of others. Attempts at designing and importing such instruction have shown limited implementation fidelity, even with…

This study investigates the perceptions of a small group of Language Arts intervention teachers who have been prescribed a commercially-prepared intervention curriculum for use with their students. Written surveys and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data in pursuit of answers to the following research questions: (1) How do teachers…

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of open enrollment, curriculum alignment, and data-driven instruction on the test performance of English Language Learners (ELLs) and Re-designated Fluent English Proficient students (RFEPs) at Shangri-la High School. Participants of this study consisted of the student population enrolled in…

There is a void in current research and literature critically analyzing how charter schools and their leaders provide equal access to all students. The language used in both federal and state legislation (in the 40 states that have passed charter school legislation) providing a legal basis for the establishment of charter schools explicitly…

A study of "at risk" high school youth revealed how student participation in the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program positively affected student achievement and increased college aspirations and entrance rates. The experiences of the students, teachers, and administrators were examined using a case study approach…

Although public school teaching by its inherent nature presents numerous classroom challenges, the public high school teacher today is faced in addition with multiple external mandates from several outside stakeholders. Given the established track record of professional learning communities (PLCs) to provide teacher support and development, I…

The goal of this case study was to identify the cultural norms, practices, and programs of an urban school that narrowed the achievement gap. The reason for identifying these factors in a successful school was to add to the body of literature regarding the achievement gap and what a struggling school was able to do to narrow the gap. This case…

In recent years, researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) have become increasingly interested in the implications of sociolinguistic research for L2 learning. Among the many questions that arise are whether the development of sociolinguistic competence should be an instructional goal as early as the beginning level, and what…

To be effective in providing a writing literacy program, regardless of communication approaches, educators should establish program-wide conditions that promote English writing literacy over time. The researcher's purpose for this study was to identify shared characteristics of writing intervention programs in three different communication school…