Rural, low-socioeconomic school districts experience academic achievement gaps that are exacerbated by summer reading loss. The United States Department of Education developed a national curriculum in which all students are taught the same skills to address the gap between low-socioeconomic status students and their wealthier peers. However, it…

This qualitative study, limited to only three female participants and bounded by proximity, sought to provide a better understanding of how the social class background of teachers may impact pedagogy. Utilizing Crenshaw's intersectionality of identity lens and Bourdieu's Cultural Reproduction Theory, this research focused on a social…

Gifted and talented initiatives provide challenging education programs designed to cater to the unique dispositions of students exhibiting exceptional promise by tapping into their inherent proclivities for productive discovery and contribution to society. As population trends in the United States move toward increasingly diverse communities,…

The number of Nontraditional-age students has been on the rise in higher education over time, and although this population has been increasing nationwide, there has been a continued decline in nontraditional-age students at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU). This quantitative study focused on the background characteristics, academic…

As educators are becoming more aware of the mental health needs of young adults, and the impact of trauma and poverty on student learning and development, there is an increased need for different pedagogical approaches that view the student holistically in the classroom. In addition, staff and faculty are experiencing burnout in record numbers. An…

Much research in the field of education has been conducted on strategies to address students' academic and socioemotional needs of students experiencing trauma. The problem addressed in this study was that when students do not receive support for their socioemotional and academic needs related to trauma, they can experience low levels of academic…

The purpose of this study was to examine trends in participating schools represented in the Alabama High School All-State Band (AHSASB) from 1986 to 2019. An online library of concert programs (N = 31) was used to catalog all-state participants (N = 15,426), their schools, and membership years. These were combined with information from the Common…

Higher education institutions can provide a unique environment for helping college students identify their talents and develop their values toward the goal of being competent, conscience-driven individuals who contribute to the common good. Despite skeptics questioning the value of a college education by focusing on an ongoing litany of concerns…

This study analyzes the phenomenon of poverty among graduates of several Higher Education Institutions (hereinafter, HEIs) in Puerto Rico. A total of five first-generation graduates from poor socioeconomic backgrounds participated in this research. The main objectives of this dissertation were: (1) to know and identify the challenges faced by…

This qualitative study was designed to explore the programs, policies, and initiatives at Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) that contribute to the upward economic mobility of students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds. While general knowledge surrounding IHEs performance in graduating students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds into…

This study explored rural educators' perceives surrounding the influence of their own sociocultural background on the glocal curriculum they implement and students' glocal worldview development. "Glocal," in this study, referred to the concept of contextualizing globalization through a local lens. Current studies either focused on…

My dissertation explores the higher education transition decisions made by senior high school students from diverse social backgrounds in Chile. I examine how family, school, and the broader institutional and political context interact with and influence these decisions during times of major social changes and educational reform. Through a…

The discrepancies in college enrollment based on a student's socioeconomic background challenges the upward mobility of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Jesuit colleges and universities, guided by Catholic Social Teaching and their own focus on social justice, are uniquely positioned to facilitate the social mobility of the…

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which Black and Latinx undergraduate students of first-generation and low-socioeconomic backgrounds understand how the components of summer bridge programs influence their persistence at four-year colleges and universities. This generic interpretive study revealed that there are several…

As world governments scramble to contain the spread on COVID-19, temporary closure of schools was enforced, and on-site classes were converted to online or virtual versions within short notice. Yet, as dictated by world society, schools must prepare students for standardized tests in order to be acknowledged as legitimate. World rankings impose…