The purpose of this study was to determine the impact that participation in co-curricular activities has on the academic performance and retention of students at an urban community college. This study utilized archived data to make quantitative analyses of the impact of participation in co-curricular activities on GPA scores and one-semester…

This study is about the experiences for first-year women who take part in the Formal Panhellenic Recruitment process but are not accepted for membership. The participants narrate their experiences with Formal Panhellenic Recruitment as well as how the process affected their transition to their institution and how the process changed their path to…

Latine bachelor's degree completion has grown in the last several decades but has not kept pace with other racial and ethnic groups. Millions of Latines have successfully navigated higher education, yet not enough is known about the conduits and barriers to timely degree completion. This dissertation utilizes LatCrit, Anti-Deficit Achievement, and…

Upper level high school math courses, those above Algebra 2, are associated with a host of benefits and positive outcomes for students who take them. Racial disparities in upper level math courses have persisted for decades despite nationwide efforts to improve them. Because of a lower prerequisite requirement, AP Statistics is the most accessible…

This study utilized a pretest posttest design to examine the impact afterschool activities had on students in middle school. Survey and focus group data were used to access participants' behavior, achievement and attendance in while participating in afterschool programs. Findings from the study concluded that student's participation in afterschool…

Exposing students to quality STEM education has a multitude of benefits: critical thinking, collaboration, relationship building, and perseverance are all enhanced by involvement in STEM activities (Ugras, 2018). A well-trained and diverse STEM workforce is also critically important for the United States to remain competitive a global economy.…

White college students have become increasingly interested in being antiracist White allies, raising questions about how to cultivate effective White allyship development. The extant theoretical literature proposes that White allyship development entails a process of increasing critical reflection on racism and consistent engagement in White…

The purpose of this descriptive study utilizing survey research was to understand student perceptions about how private institutions support the persistence of first-generation college students. First-generation college students refer to those students whose parents or guardians have earned a four-year bachelor's degree but may have some…

This dissertation is a phenomenological study of how American military spouses experience, give meaning to and navigate their shifting identities as a spouse of an active-duty military member, parents, as Americans, and as global citizens while living in Italy. Findings from 45 survey responses and 19 in-depth interviews completed in 2021, at the…

When the Coronavirus Pandemic made its way into the United States in 2020, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended that all schools pivot to an online learning format as the country entered a lockdown in March 2020. The Coronavirus Pandemic made it harder for music educators to retain and recruit students into their upper…

In this multicase study (Stake, 2005), I studied a semester-long online implementation of the "Mathematics Discourse in Secondary Classrooms" (Herbel-Eisenmann, Cirillo, et al., 2017) (MDISC) teaching professional development (T-PD)--slightly modified for the university context--which I offered to three mathematics-teaching graduate…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have created opportunities, within schools, as a means to work together to share professional inquiry and further explore various strategies to increase student achievement. Previous research on PLCs mostly focused on ways school staff and faculty engaged on topics of student performance and student…

Food allergies are increasingly common and affect approximately one in thirteen students in the United States (US). Anaphylactic reactions can be unpredictable, severe, and sometimes life-threatening if not treated quickly and appropriately. School health policies and education surrounding food allergies vary substantially within and between…

Parental engagement is an essential element in the social-emotional and academic achievement of students. However, barriers to this involvement continue to exist. Barriers may take many forms including time, school and staff perceptions and bias, power dynamic, communication with teachers, curriculum, and differences in language and culture.…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to describe how Latino parents of children with disabilities perceived their involvement at home or their volunteering at their child's school in Southern California. This study used Epstein's Theory of Overlapping Spheres of Influence and Epstein's Framework of Six Types of Involvement as the…