Between 2013 and 2014, 25.2% of 10th grade algebra students who worked with 870,000 adult volunteers in after-school programs in the United States met their goals of improved math proficiency scores. A gap exists involving volunteer training strategies for after-school programs that are effective in improving math proficiency of 10th grade math…

Community-based organizations offer English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) support to community members due to a severe shortage of trained and certified Teaching English Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) teachers (Sutcher et al., 2019). Many of these organizations rely on volunteers to teach and tutor students enrolled in the programs they…

This exploratory study considers how and to what effect personalized and trauma-informed learning were implemented by one teacher at one continuation high school ("XHS"). There is growing evidence regarding the effectiveness of personalized learning in improving student academic achievement (Pane et al., 2015) but limited research into…

Teachers in rural areas need equitable access to professional development to develop their instructional capacities and efficacy. Moreover, the teachers in this district work in rural schools with little access to professional development and resources. Teachers for a Better Belize (TFABB) is a non-profit organization that provides free…

Teachers are being asked to implement cultural awareness into their instruction in the 21st century classroom, yet many lack the requisite knowledge and skills to accomplish this. The purpose of this inquiry was to explore the perceptions of teachers who are returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCV) regarding what in their long-term international…

The purpose of this research was to determine the extent to which two professional learning opportunities in one school district were successful in supporting the integration of technology into teachers' instructional practices. The professional learning (PL) opportunities in the study were part of a Southern California school district's drive to…

This mixed methods dissertation study explored how secondary school educators in specific K-12 competition programs recruited and deployed STEM professional volunteers. The study explored which practices were viewed as most important, and how practices related to constructivist pedagogy, all from the viewpoint of educators. The non-positivist…

Museum settings including aquariums, zoos and science centers rely heavily on their volunteer docent populations to interact with and communicate science and conservation concepts to the visiting public. The interactions docents have with museum visitors are important to meeting the educational expectations of museums and improving public science…

The purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate learning transfer achieved by physician assistant students comparing two instructional methods, human patient simulation and electronic clinical case studies. This prospective, randomized, mixed-methods study utilized first and second-year physician assistant student volunteers taking a pretest and…

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the methodological training needs of adult Sunday School teachers in the Church of God in Christ. Pastors and instructional leaders of two Wisconsin jurisdictions were utilized as participants in the study. Research methodology included a blended approach of quantitative and qualitative methods with the…

The concept of cultural competency, its application, and impact on K-12 learning have not received much attention in the literature. Teachers need to understand the connection between culture and pedagogy when teaching minority and underrepresented students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine whether the skill sets in…