This action research study examined the current attendance protocol at a Title I school in the southeastern region of the United States. Data were collected from three sources: survey, interviews, and a focus group. The collected data were analyzed using NVivo 14 software, resulting in six themes--two for each of the three questions for analysis.…

Purpose: The aim of this project is to determine if the development and implementation of an independent living skills workshop would improve the perceived competence of unhoused youth in performing independent living skills. Methods: The Casey Life Skills Short Assessment was used as a pre-test and post-test. It was found that unhoused young…

This study addressed a deficiency in the agricultural literacy of the U.S. population by focusing on the challenges that core subject teachers face when integrating agriculture into their curriculum. Using a phenomenological research approach, this investigation explored the lived experiences of Louisiana teachers who piloted a 4-H STEM…

This dissertation examines a case of an international development initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in the United States and implemented in North Macedonia. The specific initiative was a youth development program including a substantial career counseling component called the Macedonia Youth…

This dissertation explores the development and implementation of a community-based educational program, iDREAM, aimed at teaching minoritized youth about Artificial Intelligence (AI) with an emphasis on ethics and social justice. Partnering with two NGOs, this study integrates Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) and Critical Computational…

The purpose of my research was to understand LAUSD counselors' perceptions related to professional development around crisis response before and during COVID. The goal of this project was to learn how we can best support prevention efforts for students. I learned about counselors' understanding of the suicide preventative measures the district…

This dissertation consists of two chapters that examine the impact of educational and positive youth development programs on students' academic and behavioral outcomes. In the first chapter, I evaluate the effect of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program, a school meal provision allowing schools meeting the eligibility requirements to…

Background: Youth from low-income, racially and ethnically diverse families are at increased risk for academic challenges and nutritionally inadequate diets. Summer programs offer an opportunity to foster interest and engage students in science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) education while addressing summer learning loss.…

This comparative case study investigated how two Title I elementary schools within the same school district implement, promote, and maintain familial/community engagement programs. The district adopted and implemented a family engagement model based on Dr. Karen Mapp's Academic Parent-Teacher Team approach within the Dual Capacity-Building…

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental study was to explore a possible relationship between the number of students in grades 9-12 classified as chronically absent and the inclusion of the Chronically Out of School indicator in Tennessee's accountability model for schools and school districts. Using publicly available data from the…

America's schools were founded on the principle that a democratic nation needed informed, active, and knowledgeable citizens in order to realize the promise of democracy. Over the last 400 years, we have lost our way. Today's schools do a poor job of preparing our students to be engaged, open-minded, and purposeful participants in a system of…

Although many practitioners have turned to the Internet as a viable means of reaching youth with their programs, there is little research on how and when youth engage with online educational resources. The present study employed a grounded theory design to gain an understanding of how practitioners can develop online programs that engage youth.…

By some estimates, students lose an average of 2.6 months of learning during summer break, roughly one quarter of the time spent in school. To combat this problem, the school under study implemented a summer math program that was thematically linked to the Boston Red Sox baseball team. Hundreds of students have participated in the program, but the…

This dissertation offers a case study of the YMCA of the USA's pilot Higher Education Service Project (YHESP) with 61 local YMCAs on how the collaborative evaluation approach functioned to facilitate an organizational culture around evaluation and reinvention strategies of YMCAs as college access service providers. Multiple data collection sources…

Contemporary high school reforms are centered on small school size as an approach to ameliorate disengagement and underachievement of minority and economically disadvantaged students in urban comprehensive high schools. A common strategy is to reconfigure high schools into smaller subunits known as Small Learning Communities (SLCs). Although…