The purpose of this study is to explore teachers' experiences promoting equity and building student-teacher relationships in K-12 online and virtual classrooms. Research studies exploring and addressing equity in education are ample within the body of research, but there is limited research conducted in or about the K-12 virtual learning…

Research and theory have long demonstrated the benefits of constructivist, learner-centered instruction (Crouch & Mazur, 2001; King, 1993; Prensky, 2001), and recent advancements in technology and the emergence of flipped learning have made these practices more attainable. Yet, due to its perceived efficiency, the traditional lecture remains…

An Ethnohistorical Exploration of Educational Technology Implementation in Metropolitan Omaha Area Public Schools is a written account of the evolution of 1:1 program in five public school districts. These metropolitan Omaha area districts share their journey in developing programs that provide equity in accessing educational technology to all…

Today, many school districts purchase technology devices for teaching and learning, which provide educators and students opportunities to transform the learning environment. Now more than ever, access to a technology device allows stakeholders to connect, collaborate, and create in ways that were not possible before. With the influx of technology…

Access to technology has increased significantly in K-12 classrooms in recent years, with many districts and schools achieving a 1:1 device-to-student ratio. Considering this increased access to technology, blended learning has become more commonplace as an instructional approach. However, the advancement of blended learning has outpaced the…

Decades of research have documented the positive impact of culturally responsive teaching on academic outcomes for African American and LatinX students. However, as the field of education has become increasingly embedded with technology as a powerful tool of instruction, more attention is needed to understand how culturally responsive teachers use…

The field of computer science education currently lacks consistency in access, equity, and inclusion for students in historically marginalized groups, particularly students with disabilities. At the same time, research demonstrates a need for high-quality teacher professional development to support the inclusion of students with disabilities in…

African American/Black, Hispanic, and biracial students living in rural low-income households without technological devices or high-speed internet may experience instruction barriers, resulting in losing access to educational resources in rural California schools. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to gain a deeper understanding…

The coronavirus pandemic, COVID-19, was an ongoing pandemic as of the end of the 2019-2020 school year. COVID-19 has forced people to quarantine and move their jobs, including schools, to remote facilitation. Roughly 124,000 K-12 public and private schools in the United States transitioned to remote learning during this time, forcing about 55.1…

This dissertation employs the use of primary research, oral history, and narrative and auto-ethnography of my own experiences as a hybrid educator across both systems, and the extant gaps in educational technology, or ed tech, implementation across two of the largest urban public education institutions in the country: the New York City Department…

An inclusive technology ecosystem includes leadership, design, support, maintenance, and continuous improvement of technology infrastructure that supports the teaching, learning, and assessment of all students. The Center on Inclusive Technology in Education Systems (CITES) is a project led by CAST, a nonprofit education research and development…

PreK-12 technology leaders are the men and women in senior-level school technology leadership positions. The role of the PreK-12 education technology leader is complex and serves as the centerpiece of school technology leadership. The purpose of this Q methodology study was to examine and emphasize the importance of PreK-12 technology leader…

This applied dissertation responded to two public problems: digital divides and unequal access to educational opportunities via the growth of virtual schooling in kindergarten through Grade 12 (K-12) in the United States. A qualitative instrumental case study approach was used to explore the relative advantages and disadvantages of public K-12…

Introduced in the era of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and continued with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), states are required to assess students in English Language Arts. The Mississippi Department of Education, in accordance with NCLB and later ESSA, developed the statewide accountability and accreditation model to measure student progress…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how a central district leadership team in an average-size school district in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States negotiated role ambiguity and facilitating conditions for the chief technology officer (CTO) to build successful district technology capacity through a 1:1…