This study delved into the perceptions of educators regarding the impact of student trauma on teachers and how they coped within classroom settings. Through semi-structured interviews with 10 selected candidates in rural West Texas School Districts, the research aimed to shed light on the need for enhanced teacher training programs. The findings…

Policymakers and educational leaders across state and federal agencies have invested considerable effort in identifying how schools can both mitigate and exacerbate student absenteeism. Despite extensive research into school-level characteristics and programs, there remains a notable gap in understanding the impact of classroom-level factors on…

This study examined the impact of action research conducted by five science teaching methods course instructors on their students' perceptions of the classroom learning environments at a large public university in Texas. The study analyzed the results from 133 students who completed two administrations of the What is Happening in this Class…

This study examined the extent to which student perceptions of classroom openness and personal characteristics were associated with civic engagement. Survey data including student perceptions of classroom openness, which indicates perceived levels of social and political discussions in the classroom, and personal characteristics such as gender,…

The growing number of U.S. engineering jobs signifies a need for more students to pursue engineering degrees. To increase access to engineering education, in 2015, Texas A&M University established Engineering Academies (EA) in cooperation with selected community colleges. The problem addressed in this study was a lack of knowledge about why…

School leaders and teachers need to be prepared to maximize the potential and meet the diverse needs of the changing student demographics in K-12 schools. This qualitative inquiry of one district's elementary campus examined a principal's leadership efforts to support refugee students' educational experiences. To achieve the purpose of this study,…

In this paper we identify, name, and operationalize six borders typically found in school settings that include dual language classrooms: bordered languages, knowledge, content areas, bodies, selves, and teachers. We identify these borders as a point of departure to show an example of how a two-way dual language classroom operated through a form…

The concept of 'flexible seating' has emerged as a possibility to meeting the goals of an active learning classroom. Recent scholarship has suggested that numerous student learning predictors are enhanced when interacting with flexible seating. This study aims to fill a gap in the literature by investigating the effects of flexible seating from a…

The corequisite model is a promising developmental education reform effort that is helping students transition into college-level coursework more quickly. The purpose of this Brief is to offer recommendations to college leaders, faculty, and staff involved with implementing the corequisite model at their institution. Our recommendations are from a…

Although researchers have explored social-emotional learning (SEL) in schools, the research on rural schools is limited. In this study, the authors explore parents' feedback on the impact of an SEL program on their children in rural schools.

Effective classroom management positively impacts student success and reduces behavioral issues in the classroom. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore professional elementary school teachers' perceptions of successful classroom management in Texas Title I schools. Ten participants responded to these questions: What are…

This dissertation consists of two chapters on topics in economics of education. In the first chapter, I develop and estimate an equilibrium model of endogenous instruction and student effort in order to empirically investigate the relationship between instructional choices, classroom composition, and student achievement in elementary school. The…

The purpose of this sequential mixed methods study was to examine the relationship between classroom climate and student achievement of middle school students. A purposeful sample of 428 middle school students (6th-8th grade) from a large southeastern Texas school district were administered the "Learning Environment Inventory" (LEI) to…

Educational laboratory management is a paramount issue in agricultural education settings. Agricultural mechanics laboratories are found in many agricultural education programs. One of the most important issues an instructor in agricultural education settings faces is safety in the agricultural mechanics laboratory. Identifying and cultivating a…

Emotions can either help or hinder students' learning. This is especially true in early childhood education. This article analyzes data on how two early childhood teachers account for students' emotions in their teaching, a process we call "emotional scaffolding." These teachers use emotional scaffolding for three main instructional…