The proposed dissertation follows a three article format. The articles represent two distinct but interrelated strands of research; the first article examines the role of a cooperating teacher as an expert and co-learner. The second article is an exploratory case study examining the use of a structured mentoring guide, The Reflection and…

With the needs of the workforce continuously changing, community colleges need to be able to adapt quickly in providing students with the skills they need to be successful in the workforce (Baird & Parayitam, 2019; Beckem & Watkins, 2012). Many employers claim that a common problem among college graduates is that they are not consistently…

The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine how the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) College Football Playoffs (CFP) affect the Group of Five conferences when it comes to postseason opportunities and revenue arrangements. The FBS Group of Five programs may not be receiving their fair share of revenue and postseason…

This study examines public-private partnerships (P3s) as represented in the Association of College and University Housing Officers -- International (ACUHO-I) publications from 1951-2023 and shares themes and patterns found. P3s have been used for on-campus student housing since the 1960s, yet the method is not well represented in the discourse of…

Professional development (PD) hours are required for licensure renewal for the more than 110,000 teachers in Ohio. Despite being entrenched in the culture of education; many teachers view PD negatively. In this qualitative study, three structures of PD are studied to determine their impact on teacher attitudes. These three structures are online…

Research studies suggest that professional development would better prepare the 84% White teaching force to serve diverse classrooms. Schools have begun providing professional development with desired outcomes of better serving their diverse student body. This research study focused on educators who received summer camp-style immersive…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the effectiveness of attending the IDEAcon Conference virtually compared to attending the conference in-person. The study was conducted by surveying educators who attended both the IDEAcon conference in 2020, which was in person, and IDEAcon 2021 which was virtual. Using a Likert-like online…

There is much left uncovered regarding how schools can meet the needs of Black girls when returning to school from suspension. An opportunity remains to identify best practices for Black girls as they reenter school following out-of-school suspension as studies suggest that they have specific needs in public education spaces (Hill-Collins, 2000;…

Most elementary teachers (ETs) have majors in the humanities as undergraduates and much of the pedagogical training in a teacher preparation program tends to focus on literacy, so many ETs lack math pedagogical content knowledge and have a stronger knowledge of, and how, to teach literacy (Gonzalez-DeHass, et al., 2017; Bursal & Paznokas,…

Teacher performance evaluations can serve two purposes: summative/accountability and formative/professional development. The current perception in the field is that performance evaluation systems predominantly focus on fulfilling a summative agenda over formative, which blurs the lines between the two purposes of evaluation (Popham, 2013). As a…

Although Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has been recognized as important for success in the 21st century (AAAS, 1989; Bryan et al., 2016; Bybee, 2013; Bybee, 2018; CoSTEM & NSTC, 2018; Moore et al., 2016; Murphy, 2011; United States Department of Education, 2016), elementary and middle school educators are…

A Future Search (FS) Conference is a systems based large group intervention that utilizes a dialogue process among interdependent stakeholders to analyze the past, understand the present, envision a better future, and agree to action plans to work towards the desired future. This study uses an instrumental case study design (Stake, 1995) to…

The problem addressed in this study was that online training designers experience barriers when implementing evaluations to assess knowledge transfer after 3-6 months. This qualitative exploratory case study aimed to explore online training designers' experiences and perceptions regarding the barriers faced when working with project stakeholders…

Traditional journal analysis for the identification of diciplines is limited in developing areas of study due to the lack of journals specific to that area of study. Identifying knowledge domains worthy of study for the identification of developing disciplines has been difficult. Conferences are at the forefront of building knowledge in scientific…

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to examine how an exemplary writing teacher makes intentional decisions in her writing practices including engaging students in the writing conference as part of writing workshop to support her young writers in their developing craft. For several decades, scholars have researched, studied, analyzed,…