Material hardship impedes academic achievement at every level of education. This dissertation examines the response of a higher education institution in reducing poverty's impact, specifically food and housing insecurities, on its student population. This qualitative case study researched a single-bound case in the southern United States. The…

For many years schools located within concentrated areas of poverty in an urban school county in south Florida have experienced alarmingly high teacher turnover rates and alarmingly low academic performance scores. In 2015, in a lauded expose printed by the "Tampa Bay Times," five schools, all of which would go on to become part of the…

This qualitative study examines the material conditions and day-to-day realities of youth and family homelessness in the context of widespread economic oppression and rising inequalities in the United States. Using a critical ethnographic methodology, primary data sources included observations in Cinderville Unified School District and interviews…

This study explored the experiences of undocumented immigrants who made the journey from central Mexico to Texas, revealing the contributing push and pull factors (violence, education, lack of opportunity, hope, and better life) that led to their journey. Current literature presents only parts of the journey, experiences, and struggles of…

In this study on educational change in Pennsylvania from 1790 to 1838, I reexamine the history of how the state established its common school system, the predecessor to the state's public school system. In doing so, I identify a series of three leaders, argue that poverty was the primary catalyst for educational reform, and explain the nature of…

Principal turnover remains a significant challenge in U.S. public schools, particularly in high-poverty contexts, where leadership instability negatively impacts student achievement, teacher retention, and overall school performance. This study investigated the relationship between distributed leadership practices and burnout among secondary…

The purpose of the exploratory case study was to examine the perceptions of mentees and how they receive a mentorship program and its perceived effectiveness for novice teachers at a high-poverty elementary school. The theory guiding this study was by Katz, which focused on the four dimensions of training for preschool teachers. The approach…

Children benefit from educational settings with a knowledgeable, caring team providing educational experiences. This mixed-method study aimed to gain insight into the perceptions of school employees who work with students who live in poverty. This study examined school staff's knowledge, perceptions, and experiences to foster student development…

Teachers in high-poverty middle schools need additional supports from administrators to build collective teacher efficacy. Supportive leadership is the driving force in leading collective teacher efficacy in high-poverty middle schools. A qualitative, instrumental case study was utilized to explore how teachers perceive administrative supports…

This study explored how a poverty simulation experience influenced educators' social empathy levels and educational practices. More specifically, twenty-nine educators' levels of social empathy were measured using the Social Empathy Index (Segal, Wagaman, & Gerdes, 2012) in a pre/posttest design. Influences on educational practices were…

Children living in poverty are in high need of mental health services, yet do not receive them (Allegria et al., 2010; Hodgkinson et al., 2017) due to barriers including cost of services, inaccessible location, and transportation issues (Allegria et al., 2015). Additionally, primary caregivers are important gatekeepers for children receiving…

The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to investigate the extent to which being labeled as an economically disadvantaged student contributed to the number of exclusionary discipline referrals in secondary schools belonging to three neighboring school districts in South Texas. The framework was based upon the Diamond et al.…

This quantitative study used a linear regression model to determine if a relationship exists between one independent variable (i.e., Socioeconomic Status) and one dependent variable (i.e., Specific Learning Disabilities). State level data was collected from publicly available databases in the State of Texas that delineate the percentage of…

Educational leaders agree that public education in the United States is in crisis due to the shortage of high-quality teachers in public schools and the subsequent strain those shortages place on the teacher labor market. Because much of the U.S. teacher workforce is comprised of members of the millennial generation, this research examined why…

The purpose of this study, through an analysis of the literature review of general scholars in the field of school poverty, equity, efficiency, and student achievement results, was to determine whether economic disparity had a direct statistical significance to student achievement gaps. Specifically, identification of the five socioeconomic tiers…