Family engagement has long been held as an important component of the educational experience for our students. This study is about how schools tend to aim towards the middle when looking to engage families in their child's school life, and future implications for how educators need to shift from the lens of the middle-class to reach our…

This research focuses on the social pressures experienced by parents at schools identified as middle class across southern California. The literature review of school finances, the LCFF, funding levels, and studies stretches all the way back to the Coleman report. Within this vast body of prior research remained a void in the data. This missing…

The purpose of this dissertation was to understand the financial aid personnel's perspective on the impacts of middle-income student loan borrowing. Student loan borrowing is a concern for many due to the current debt reaching extraordinary amounts. This research explored the impacts specifically on middle-income students as opposed to low- or…

From conversations in school hallways, to SEPTA meetings, to parking lots and church benches, Black middle-class parents have engaged in talk of disillusionment with the IEP development process for their special needs child. Previous literature has provided limited insight into the navigational capital of Black middle-class parents in the special…

This qualitative study, limited to only three female participants and bounded by proximity, sought to provide a better understanding of how the social class background of teachers may impact pedagogy. Utilizing Crenshaw's intersectionality of identity lens and Bourdieu's Cultural Reproduction Theory, this research focused on a social…

For over 30 years, international educators have recognized that Students of Color participate in study abroad opportunities at considerably lower rates than their white peers. Despite concerted efforts to address this disparity, the proportion of Students of Color studying abroad has largely remained unchanged over the last three decades. To…

Enrollment of underrepresented African American (URAA) males in higher education has declined significantly over the last decades. Past studies have identified interrelated factors that impact degree attainment for underrepresented students. Researchers typically attribute those factors to African American males' success and degree attainment.…

I use rich administrative data and several quasi-experiments in Texas to study which students benefit most from college grant aid and why. For "extensive-margin" students, grant aid causes enrollment in college, and therefore has potentially large benefits relative to these students' no-college counterfactual. In contrast,…

This qualitative study encompasses the voices of five Black middle-class male participants in college on their kindergarten through high school journeys. The field of research often studies Black boys from lower socio-economic status with a deficit lens when examining the achievement gap. Bhattacharya (2017) phenomenology research was utilized to…

Mainstream America needs a reorientation. Despite the focus portraying all Black Americans as living in inner-city poverty by mass media or social scientist, the African American middle-class is growing. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand African American middle-class graduating students on Historically White College…

This research was conducted to determine elementary teachers' perception of professional development pertaining to cultural competency and its effects in the classroom. Elementary educators are the first line of formal schooling most students encounter. Currently, United States classrooms are becoming increasingly diverse while educators are…

This study was conducted in a middle-class area where school districts are largely average. The purpose of this study was to better understand how families choose among the options available to their child for entering kindergarten. These options include the neighborhood public school, open enrollment into another public school, homeschooling, or…

Women of Color (WOC)[superscript 1] comprise 20.3% of the U.S. population, and it is estimated by 2060, WOC will be the majority of all women in the United States (Catalyst, 2021). As this demographic shift continues, little research has focused on how WOC experience their place of work. This study examined factors affecting the experience of…

Qualitative research continues to demonstrate a majority white, female, middle-class teaching force is struggling to effectively teach an increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse U.S. student population (Hollins & Guzman, 2005; Nieto, 2000). As a result, teacher education incorporates multicultural education/diversity coursework to…

The learning crisis in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is significantly marked by a high degree of heterogeneity in student learning outcomes. Such variations, extending across student abilities, backgrounds, and learning speeds, are believed to be partly a result of teachers failing to devote sufficient attention to students who are…