Grit, defined as perseverance and passion for long-term goals, has garnered attention in educational research for its potential to predict academic achievement and well-being. Despite this, its psychometric properties and applicability across diverse populations remain underexplored. This study aims to validate the Grit-O scale and explore its…

The retention of high-achieving students in a university honors program is a significant challenge for academic institutions. This dissertation evaluates how well an honors college at a large, urban, public university retains students in the Honors College. The evaluation is a mixed-methods utilization-focused evaluation conducted by an internal…

This study investigated high-achieving and non-high-achieving students' persistence in STEM fields using nationally representative data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 for the years 2009, 2012, 2013, 2013-2014, and 2016. The results indicated that approximately 70% of high-achieving and non-high-achieving students continued their…

Magnet schools have been a main tool or innovation in urban education settings in the United States, originating in the early 1970's and expanding into most large urban districts today (Blank, 1989). While some magnet schools do not rely on a specific criterion to determine entry, many do. This study focuses on such a setting where students must…

The purpose of this mixed study was to investigate the differences between higher and lower achievement middle school rates pertaining to leadership qualities, opportunity to learn, instructional practices, parental involvement, and professional development. Qualitatively, principals were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol.…

This study was designed to investigate friend influence on academic achievement and task avoidance during middle childhood in a sample of 794 participants in 397 stable same-sex friendship dyads (205 girl dyads and 192 boy dyads) from four municipalities in Finland: two in Central Finland, one in Western Finland, and one in Eastern Finland.…

As reform efforts are prescribed in every state through mandates and regulations in an effort to better prepare students to compete in a global economy, and as states like Indiana implement new evaluation plans for teachers based on a rigorous rubric and objective measures of student achievement, close attention to the ripple effects must be…

The current study utilized data from screening and full evaluations for learning disabilities conducted at a university-based learning center. Results from the screening assessments were analyzed to determine the extent to which they predicted the diagnosis of learning disorders in postsecondary students. Mean scores from the screening assessments…

The research indicated effective mathematics teaching to be more complex than assuming the best predictor of student achievement in mathematics is the mathematical content knowledge of a teacher. This dissertation took a novel approach to addressing the idea of what it means to examine how a teacher's knowledge of mathematics impacts student…

Time log data (time-spent and adjective evaluations), a six question survey about time management attitudes, and the Adult Self Expression Scale (behavioral and situational subscales), were examined regarding how well each predict GPA. This paper contains two studies. The first study uses canonical correlations to examine the natural relationships…

The challenge of improving the performance of public schools has been given attention from a variety of advocacy groups, researchers, government agencies, education organizations and schools. Since the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2002, titled No Child Left Behind, the stakes for public schools are higher.…

This study was conducted to (a) explore high achieving high school students' perceptions of the teaching profession, (b) examine the influence of these perceptions on intentions to teach, and (c) test a recruitment suite of tools to determine the effectiveness of recruitment messaging and strategies. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)…

The purpose of this study was to investigate how high school mathematics teachers' descriptions of academic optimism, responsive teaching, technological pedagogical content knowledge, formative assessment, reflective practice, supervisor instructional leadership, and receptivity to change are related to student mastery on a NYS Regents exam in…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether middle school teacher attitudes on personal teaching efficacy and responsive teaching and their descriptions of their principal's leadership behaviors in the areas of leader social relationships, leadership/goal setting, and collaboration for learning differ for high- and low-achieving Grade 8…

The purpose of this study was to determine the perceptions of building principals toward superintendent leadership responsibilities and practices of goal setting, nonnegotiable goals for achievement and instruction, board alignment with support of district goals, monitoring goals for achievement and instruction, use of resources to support the…