Teachers significantly impact students' academic success amidst life difficulties and societal influences (Harlacher & Merrell, 2010; Malureanu & Enachi-Vasluianu, 2021). This qualitative research study was designed to understand the impact of implementing a district-wide social-emotional learning initiative from the teachers' perspective.…

This design study investigated how the Students Assessing Teaching and Learning (SATAL), a student-faculty partnership program implementing assessment as a pedagogical practice, traces and enacts equity in its regular operations. I utilized two frameworks, Montenegro and Jankowski's (2020) and de Bie et al.'s (2021), to analyze pre-existing data…

Despite recent nationwide efforts to improve students' social, emotional, behavioral, and overall mental well-being, rates of mental health among adolescents have not shown improvement. Although school-based, social and emotional learning (SEL) provides the supports necessary to improve these student outcomes, SEL implementation is not always…

School systems have been implementing trauma-informed curriculums to offset any trauma students may be experiencing. In the Head Start classroom, many students enter with trauma and display behaviors that cause secondary traumatic stress for the educators working with them. Exposure to students' traumas can cause educators to experience secondary…

In this dissertation in practice, the background of middle grades mathematics acceleration detailed why the organization benefited from a program analysis. Middle grades mathematics acceleration encourages students to take high school Algebra I in eighth grade so they can earn college-level math credits for free in high school. Often acceleration…

Over the past decades, there has been growth in student academic success programs in institutions of higher learning. However, with this growth instructors in these programs have not always been prepared to teach courses focused on supporting student academic success. The purpose of this study was to understand the role that mentoring plays in the…

The purpose of this study was to examine implementation of a social/emotional learning program being implemented at my school, while focusing on staff and student perceptions with the positive and negatives of the overall program. This mix methods action research study utilized a student survey to uncover student perceptions for the quantitative…

The dramatic and exponential demographic shift in the United States is more apparent in the public schools than anywhere else, further magnifying the importance of addressing and acknowledging racial and ethnic disparities in education. The increase in racial and ethnically diverse learners requires that teachers engage in Cultural Humility; a…

Student voice is the process of allowing students to work collaboratively with adults to produce a learning culture that is conducive for optimum growth in every student. In a traditional setting, the adults make the decisions and the students are passive observers in the learning process. Data has shown that this traditional culture is not…

The problem under investigation was the impact of restorative justice on lowering rates of exclusionary discipline among minority populations. The focus was primarily on students in grades K-12. More specifically, targeted groups included African American and Latino students (particularly males), and parents. Student/teacher relationships were…

In a low performing school, stressful conditions, lack of resources, and student populations that have been subjected to one or more ACEs can make it difficult for teachers to yield successful outcomes. Maintaining a high opinion of self-efficacy is difficult when working in low-performing schools that are struggling to meet state standards. To…

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the implementation of Restorative Practices in selected elementary schools in southeast Texas. Restorative Practices will generally be defined as a social science that studies how to build social capital and achieve social discipline through participatory learning and decision…

This study examined the perceptions of mentors and teachers of "The Change-A-Life Mentoring Program" in the areas of student behavior and academic growth. The rationale for the study was to identify recurring themes that reflect the reported perceptions of the mentors and teachers. The research interview protocol examined components of…

A rural Midwestern school district the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) adaptive assessment did not yield the expected improvements in student outcomes. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand teacher practice regarding MAP implementation. The conceptual framework was based on Fullan and Langworthy's change…

No one would disagree that young children's literacy learning is of primary importance in the early childhood years. One of the best ways for children to learn oral language is through play. However, many teachers view play as a child's work and not as a space where the teacher can support children's literacy learning. This study investigated the…