Limited research is available on student-athlete development and its effectiveness on the lives of student-athletes. In 1991, the NCAA created an optional program to further support the student-athletes: Challenging Athletes' Minds for Personal Success (CHAMPS/Life Skills Program). By creating this program, the NCAA admitted that student-athletes…

The American GI Forum (AGIF) contains several programs and initiatives, with the significant focus being on supporting students. There is a need to better understand their needs as students so that the organization can better serve them. This study focused on the issues facing veteran students in higher education and the strategies that AGIF can…

With the increasing prominence of the children and adolescent mental health crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic, schools have been tasked with connecting students with supports to reduce non-academic barriers to learning. Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) can assist with this by connecting students and their families with school-based and…

Guided Pathways is a systemic reform movement focused on increasing community college completion rates and student achievement (Bailey et al., 2015b). Within the California community college (CCC) System, every college is implementing Guided Pathways, and the California Community College Chancellor's Office (CCCCO) continues to use this framework…

This study explored the practices and experiences of food resource managers at ten community colleges in the southwestern United States, highlighting their use of food resource rooms to assist food-insecure students. Utilizing the CFIR's domains of intervention source, inner setting, and process, the study probed into the food resource managers'…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how secondary school counselors described the influence of COVID-19 on changes in delivering services to students in Utah. The framework included Lewin's change theory and Utah's school counseling model. The research questions addressed how do secondary school counselors described…

This study identifies how to implement a cultural competency training program within a local Head Start program. Head Start is a federally funded program. It provides comprehensive services to children and families identified as low-income and culturally minoritized. The diversely populated Head Start program at the center of this study strives to…

Student support programs and services in the California Community Colleges lack historical context and documentation. This study provides historical context through document analysis as to the socio-cultural, educational, and financial influences that supported the implementation of student support services, EOPS, and Veteran services. Through a…

In 2014 the White House held a Maker Faire and began a new obsession for American public schools: makerspaces. This capstone begins with an in-depth discussion about the history of American makerspaces and discusses many of the predominant makerspace best practices and the groups that have researched them. The capstone seeks to create a…

It is common for graduate programs to be plagued by delays in on-time student completion or to experience student attrition. Students have experienced such delays in a local program at the University where I am employed as a lecturer. Therefore, this dissertation was undertaken with the aim of supporting university students at the graduate level…

Guided by Knoster's (1991) Model for Managing Complex Change, this qualitative study explored implementing mental health focused MTSS and addressing mental health support within schools. This study focused on the experiences and perspectives of five principals and six school counselors implementing mental health MTSS within a rural Central…

States across the U.S. have been passing legislation aimed at identifying and supporting students who may have dyslexia. In Arizona, this legislation requires school districts to screen students for indicators of dyslexia, have one teacher in every K-3 school trained in dyslexia, and provide evidence-based reading instruction. However, it is…

K-12 teachers in a large metropolitan school district in the Northeast United States experienced difficulties integrating service learning into the curriculum due to state-based curriculum standards. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore K-12 teachers' perceptions of barriers to, and best practices that support, implementation…

Students are experiencing greater levels of mental and behavioral-health issues that are affecting their educational experiences. Schools are providing services to try and address these issues with lack of resources and knowledge. Universal screeners can be a useful tool for schools to not only screen students for these concerns that don't have…

The community school strategy was first introduced in Baltimore City in 2012. Community schools are public elementary or secondary schools that provide comprehensive academic, social, and health services for students, families, and community members (U.S. Department of Education, 2023). In 2021, the state of Maryland made a substantial commitment…