This mixed-methods dissertation investigates the complicated relationship between the quality of formal educational attainment and political participation in the United States. Numerous federal-level education reforms, influenced by the Corporate Education Reform (CER) movement, have impacted the quality of educational attainment, and the formal…

This dissertation consists of three essays in the economics of education. The first essay considers the impact of charter school openings on student achievement, behavior, and demographics in the traditional public sector. Using longitudinal school- and student-level data, I estimate the effect of charter school openings on traditional public…

As early as 1954, families of children who had been segregated into separate spaces fought and succeeded in having their concerns heard in the landmark Supreme Court case, "Brown v. Board of Education." In 1975, P.L. 94-142, "Education for the Handicapped Children Act" (EAHCA) was important because it exposed the history of…

Although calls for a more diverse workforce in biomedical fields have been widespread, racial and ethnic gaps in biomedical degree attainment remain. Contextualist perspectives seek to understand persistent STEM inequities by examining person-in-context experiences and how systemic factors filter into students' proximal contexts shaping their…

The burgeoning research on contemporary educator movements provides insight into what activist educators know and believe, what they learn through their collective organizing and activism, and how they conduct inquiry to generate new knowledge for praxis. Yet, although this work suggests that these educators engage, generate, circulate, and…

Willingness to Communicate (WTC) plays a crucial role in developing students' speaking proficiency in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning. This study investigates whether students' in-class WTC can be enhanced through an AI-supported program and explores their perceptions of using the AI for future academic speaking development. A…

Navigating school can be tough, especially if you're neurodivergent. Sensory overload, confusing social situations, misdiagnoses, and the stress of masking it all can leave you feeling lost and misunderstood. But it doesn't have to be this way--this guide is here to help! Written by an autistic person who's been there, Gracie Barlow has lots of…

Despite the extensive research evidence about the importance of high-quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), English policy makers continue to promote nurseries for the 'childcare' they provide, rather than the transformational effects they can have in areas of socio-economic challenge. The aim of this study was to investigate if and…

Building on the idea that the culture of an organisation has an extremely deep influence on the personalities, minds and identities of people who participate in it (Hofstede 2015) -- we reflected on how the US and Polish cultures' specific values and beliefs were represented and symbolised in the early childhood settings. We focused our analysis…

Seven scholarly papers and twelve abstracts comprise the content of the twenty-fifth annual Brick & Click Libraries Conference, held annually at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri. The 2025 paper and abstract titles include: (1) Active Learning Toolkits: Online Learning & AI Literacy (Kelly Jones, Holly McMasters);…

The shortage of classroom teachers is a national urgency. At a time when high-quality educators are most needed, the challenges of recruiting and retaining teachers are significant and escalating. One state's unique response to this challenge offers lessons for others. Through a partnership with the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary…

Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings are an important component of special education; however, few students actually attend and meaningfully participate in their meetings. Using a large-scale national survey, this study examined student attendance and participation at IEP meetings and the predictors of these outcomes. Respondents were…

Making students become intrinsically motivated to participate in daily class activities is an open challenge that has been addressed in different ways. In this article, we evaluate the impact of an educational innovation project, named TrivialCV, in terms of student motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes. We analyze the impact of two types…

During the second semester of the 2019/2020 academic year, due to the regulatory restrictions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, Bologna University, like many others, was compelled to stop delivering its face-to-face offering and to switch, in a very short time, to the creation of a technological architecture that would enable students to…

This qualitative study probes into teacher power use and student silence in an EFL classroom in an English department of a private university in Makassar, Indonesia. Anchored by a qualitative analysis and participated by one female teacher and three EFL students, data were garnered through in-depth interviews and observation. It was designed to…