Multiple domains develop simultaneously and interact throughout infancy and early childhood. Although relationships between motor and language skills have been examined cross-sectionally during the first three years of life, little is known regarding the individual factors that influence the development of these domains as well as the relationship…

The diagnosis of individuals on the autism spectrum (AS) has received international attention in recent years. This is partly due to the potentially distressing and challenging barriers individuals and their families face as well as a rise in prevalence rates (Weiss & Rohland, 2014). Research has indicated an increase in individuals on the AS,…

The dissertation presents a pioneering investigation into child speech among Bikolano children. It aims to address the underdescription and underdocumentation of Child Bikol as spoken in the Philippines. Bikol, an Austronesian macrolanguage, often coexists with more dominant languages, making Bikolano children both emergent multilinguals and…

This dissertation study called Young Adults Acting On the World (YAAOW), addresses the injustices of withheld opportunities for critical literacy engagement and the marginalization of refugee-background students through a qualitative experiment of a critical, collaborative project, patterned after social design-based experimentation (Gutierrez,…

In the elementary school, children's learning, thinking, making and doing are usually regarded through universalizing and progression-based accounts particularly from child development. Further, within these developmental frames, learning is often considered as a cognitive process that occurs solely within the conscious mind. In this dissertation,…

The current longitudinal, mixed-methods dissertation explored how various Family Language Policy (FLP) factors (including parent and child language ideologies, practices, and management) influence "Español"-English (hereafter, "Españ"Eng) bilingual students' home language maintenance/loss and their bilingual development.…

This dissertation examines the impact of outdoor learning, including constructivist theories on student development in natural resource curricula. It highlights the importance of experiential, hands-on learning that connects students with nature. This approach challenges traditional methods by exploring active participation and sensory-rich…

Moving can be a stressful and disruptive event for children, but the associations among the type of move, accompanying neighborhood characteristics, and children's development are less well understood, particularly for elementary school children. In the current dissertation, I developed and tested components of a conceptual model that uses…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the influence of social-emotional competence (SEC) and various other student- and school-level variables on the academic achievement of kindergarteners. Data were collected on a nationally representative cohort of kindergarteners as part of the United States Department of Education's Early…

Traditional lecture continues to dominate undergraduate instruction in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) despite the decades-long call to alter teaching to include more student-centered, evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs). While researchers have done some exploration of barriers to change, a need exists for…

This dissertation investigated the performance of Florida's workforce development programs over a ten-year period. The state's system for coordinated training and employment services consists of programs operating and reporting according to the federal workforce initiative standards. They served as the focus of this performance analysis. A…

Despite a 100-year-old history and the existence of schools in nearly every country in the world, Waldorf education is a little known and poorly understood educational model that was developed in Europe by Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner. For many years it existed in the United States in the form of private schools. Few of their teachers or…

The researcher observed, as an educator, administrator, and graduate student, college student's withdrawal from school due to personal reasons or lack of determination. The study of Emotional and Social Intelligence (ESI) and grit enabled the researcher to learn about the traits or characteristics one must possess to achieve a goal, more…

This study used latent class analysis to examine profiles of Head Start classroom quality as measured by the Arnett Caregiver Interaction Scale (CIS) and the Early Childhood Environmental Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) with a large sample of classrooms (n=379). Data used in the study were taken from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Birth…

Throughout the United States and the world, public schools are becoming more culturally diverse. Therefore, teachers and school administrators need to build the foundation to clearly understand students and their families. In this study, three questions will be explored (1) How does professional development in cultural responsiveness affect…