This study explores the establishment and evolution of an informal online community, tracing how it developed and evolved. More specifically, the study analyzed the characteristics of the online space, as well as how members engaged within the community, including participation patterns, preferences, and opinions and identity construction. The…

This dissertation explores children's authors' experiences of and motivations for including religious and spiritual themes in their picture books. It investigates the intricate connection between authors' backgrounds, including their cultural, spiritual, or religious, and familial roots, and how these elements permeate their writing. The study…

The multiple-choice (MC) item format has been widely used in educational assessments across diverse content domains. MC items purportedly allow for collecting richer diagnostic information. The effectiveness and economy of administering MC items may have further contributed to their popularity not just in educational assessment. The MC item format…

The purpose of this dissertation is to identify factors that are associated with evidence-based practice (EBP) implementation. This research is an important step toward finding reasons why many EBP implementation efforts have failed. As a result, this study can provide better ways to improve EBP adoption rates. Particularly, this dissertation…

Registers are culturally recognized varieties of language that are associated with situations of use (Biber, Egbert, & Keller, 2020). Variation in frequencies of linguistic forms across registers is thought to be functional for the situations they are associated with; that is, certain language features are more common in one register than…

Many studies have been conducted to determine if graphic organizers are effective instructional tools. However, extensive research has not focused on teachers' perceptions and usage of graphic organizers in the content areas of English/language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies. Therefore, this study investigates how middle school…

Globally, higher education institutions (HEIs) face increasing pressure to learn, change, and adapt to survive and thrive in an increasingly complex and turbulent in today's environment (Alsabbagh & Khalil, 2017; Coman & Bonciu, 2016; Tierney, 1988, 2008). Furthermore, HEIs are the catalyst to create new knowledge that contributes to…

Despite its status as a wealthy, developed nation, the United States is plagued by widespread deficiencies in adult literacy. The problem is quite severe among individuals who were born in country, yet the situation for the nation's immigrant population is nothing short of alarming. Using the U.S. portion of the data set for the international…

This study explores working business professionals' perspectives towards the implementation of two-way language immersion programs in Texas public schools. Participants were selected for participation by means of a pre-selection survey that assessed various aspects of the cultural, educational, linguistic, familial, and business background of the…

This research study utilized a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the factors to which neurodivergent individuals credit their personal and/or professional success. This mixed methods study was guided by research questions in areas of interest and concern to this researcher, specifically: support systems, social skills training,…

In 2017, the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) and the Mississippi Community College Board (MCCB) adopted a program developed in 2010 by the National Governors Association titled Complete 2 Compete (C2C). The C2C program was created to combat the disparities in educational attainment and to meet the demand for a more educated…

The present dissertation discusses the importance of rootedness, defined as orientation towards place, and how it factors into sociolinguistic studies. Although rootedness is not a new concept in sociolinguistics, it has been infrequently operationalized to understand its role in language change. Linguists have discussed concepts similar to…

There have been increases in both teacher turnover and the number of new- or early-career teachers as the leading demographic of educators within schools across the United States. In order to allow new teachers to be best prepared for teaching positions within their schools, districts implement systematic induction procedures whose key component…

The ways in which high schools allocate their staffing and assign individual roles related to career development are pertinent to students with and without disabilities accessing career preparation that equips them for employment following graduation. Rural school districts can especially benefit from strategic role allocation that addresses gaps…

The purpose of this case study was to gain a deeper understanding of the factors that support combat student veterans in a private institution of higher education. The theory guiding this study was Astin's developmental theory of student involvement for higher education. The conceptual framework guiding the study was Vacchi's model of student…