Black male students are underrepresented in Advanced Placement (AP) courses. Studies on the perspective and experiences of high-performing Black male students with Advanced Placement (AP) is limited. Available research indicates that high-performing Black students are enrolled at half the rate of White students both nationally and locally in…

Underrepresented students who develop a positive science identity will continue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) pathways. Educators can use culture to guide students toward STEM. Military-connected schools have the uniqueness of diversity and international locations and cultures. The problem is the low rate of enrollment…

Transitioning from elementary school to middle school can be a difficult time for many adolescents. It is a period often correlated with a decline in students' academic achievement, perceptions of performance, potential, and value in schooling. Research has shown evidence that parents' involvement in their children's education significantly…

The purpose of this study was to examine high school students' math values, perceived math achievement, and STEM career choice. Participants (N=515) were rural high school students from the U.S. Northwest. Data was collected by administering the "To Do or Not to Do:" STEM pilot survey. Most participants (n=294) were Latinos, followed by…

This study examined science achievement growth across elementary and middle school and parent school involvement using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (ECLS-K). The ECLS-K is a nationally representative kindergarten cohort of students from public and private schools who attended full-day or half-day…

National efforts to interest students in STEM careers are intensifying around the globe, due to a shortage of professionals to fill the growing demands in these fields. Although some US studies find high interest in STEM in K-12 students, longitudinal studies show a decline in interest following middle school. Many students, particularly females…

Promising Black males are an understudied and underserved population in the field of higher education. The purpose of this study was to understand how promising Black males define academic success and to identify the factors that affect academic success at a large predominately White public institutions of higher education located in the…

Many high schools in America have issues with student nonattendance. The researcher designed this mixed methods study to determine the affect of nonattendance on student achievement and to ascertain whether home-related factors or school-related factors were more significant causes of nonattendance. Both the high school in this study and other…

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship of home parental involvement practices, parental style and student achievement. Dimensions of parental involvement practices are parental instruction, parental reinforcement, parental modeling, and parental encouragement. Dimensions of parental style are authoritarian, permissive, and…

This dissertation sought to explore the choice-of-college decision of academically talented students using Chapman's (1981) Model of College Choice to inform the selection of variables. This study focused on what factors influenced the decision of students who earned an A/A+ average in high school to enroll in their first-choice institution of…

This study explored the trauma histories of individual students in a population of 78 regular education students who were placed in a countywide alternative program in lieu of expulsion. The study also explores the association between the trauma histories and the behavioral, emotional, and academic impairments of these students. Based on an…

This dissertation reports findings from a reading motivation study conducted in an elementary school serving students, all of whom were American Indian, in the southwestern United States. The school claimed to have more than fifty percent of its students scoring proficient or advanced on the state's high-stakes reading assessment and to value the…