The evolving educational landscape of our students' needs post-Covid has highlighted that student response to intervention must be of concern to all educators. Our student population has experienced an event that is like no other in our shared educational histories and our response to the aftermath of this event and how we assist students who are…

The Lone Star Stem (LSS) program was designed to increase high-quality STEM education opportunities and outcomes for high-need students in Texas. The focus of the program was on implementing rigorous coursework that helps students gain the skills, postsecondary credentials, and experience necessary to embark on well-paying careers in STEM fields.…

The underrepresentation of women in Engineering, Technology, and Computing (ETC) education, with enrollments in leading global institutions falling below 30%, is a persistent challenge; however, emerging data suggests the efficacy of structured interventions. Analyses of contemporary data demonstrate that a confluence of institutional,…

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) allocates funds to States through statutory formulas based primarily on census poverty estimates and the cost of education in each State. To receive funding, a State plan that includes a description of its accountability system must be submitted to the Department for review and approval. For the…

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…

The purpose of this research study was to determine if there is a relationship between the implementation phase of Response to Intervention (RTI), an academic multi-tiered system of support, and eighth grade students' mathematics, reading, and science Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs) proficiency achievement. Data for this study were…

Earning a high school diploma is a milestone that has been linked to many later life outcomes, from employment to incarceration to physical health, and impacts society as a whole through tax revenues and government spending. Yet, youth leaving school prior to obtaining a diploma remains a challenge nationwide, particularly in large cities. Given…

First-year students enrolling into higher education institutions experience multiple transitions requiring the support of student success programs. Students who enter college undecided about a major face additional hurdles to their success and may experience low academic self-efficacy as a result. A strengths-based approach to assisting these…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between schools' multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) implementation, students' perceptions of their social-emotional learning (SEL), educators' perception of students' SEL, and academic achievement for Hispanic/Latino, African American, and Asian elementary school students as measured by…

The success of all students in schools, including students with learning differences, is contingent on how schools operationalize universally designed instruction, positive behavior support, and data-based decision-making for individualized and group-level interventions. When schools have fully functional multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS)…

Regional comprehensive universities with access-oriented missions provide critical pathways for increasing the number and diversity of STEM graduates. The BOND program at California State University, Fresno supports the transition to college for first-time, full-time freshmen in selected STEM majors. BOND incorporates a learning community, active…

Currently, the research on the overall effect of flipped instruction on K-12 students' academic achievement has been insufficient, especially across various subject areas and grade levels. To redress this research gap, this study first synthesised five aspects of research on flipped instruction, including theoretical underpinnings, application…

This study was conducted to compare the impact of technology-centered instructional methods on student performance in literacy to the impact of non-digital instructional practices. Additionally, this research was designed to identify specific program implementation measures used during the implementation of the prevailing instructional method and…

The field of learning analytics is progressing at a rapid rate. New tools, with ever-increasing number of features and a plethora of datasets that are increasingly utilized demonstrate the evolution and multifaceted nature of the field. In particular, the depth and scope of insight that can be gleaned from analysing related datasets can have a…

Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), as a measure of students' academic growth, have been broadly used in the evaluation of teacher effectiveness. In this research I employed a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design and incorporated four studies to investigate using SLOs in teacher evaluation in South Carolina (SC). For Study 1 and Study 2, I…