Domestic violence is a continuing public health problem. Immigrant women facing domestic violence have additional challenges in dealing with domestic violence and accessing services. Hopeful thinking has been identified as a strategy for intervening and surviving beyond domestic violence. The purpose of this multiple descriptive case study was to…

In the United States, colleges and universities are under pressure from multiple sources to improve course completion and graduation rates and to reduce the cost of obtaining a degree. This qualitative phenomenological case study, underpinned by the social constructivist perspective, explored second-year manufacturing degree students' perceptions…

The purpose of the qualitative exploratory study was to explore the perceptions of successful first-generation (FG) community college graduates to further understand their lived experiences. Community colleges are able to serve the general public yet achieve great status in helping FG students attain their degree. The specific problem was the high…

Skin tone bias or colorism is "the tendency to perceive or behave toward members of a racial category based on the lightness or darkness of their skin tone" (Maddox & Gray, 2002, p. 250). It is "the prejudicial treatment of individuals falling within the same racial group on the basis of skin color" (Thompson & Keith,…

Since the early 1980s, several Muslim communities have attempted to create indigenous Muslim American institutions of higher learning. Many of the first attempts failed to sustain their operations beyond a few years; and until recently, none could attain accreditation. Since early 2000, a second wave of Islamic postsecondary institutions has…

This multisite case study explored the perceptions of athletic department members of the important factors of organizational cultures in athletic departments at small Christian institutions in the Midwestern United States. The study comprised of site visits to three small Christian institutions in the Midwestern United States. At each site, six…

Literature suggests many graduate students receive inadequate, little, or no formal preparation for teaching in higher education. Most extant research on this topic shows preparation has positive outcomes for graduate students, yet few studies examine the process of graduate students' teaching preparation, which could lend important insights that…

This qualitative study examined reflections of 12 Chinese students who studied in a U.S. college, and 10 of their U.S. faculty in terms of their conceptualization of critical thinking. Throughout the study, a situated cognitive framework was applied to analyze the interview data and explore the concept of critical thinking. The participants of…

This study examined factors that contribute to the success of African American professionals in STEM careers. Data were collected through a survey from 40 participants and in-depth interviews with eight of them. The survey was used to explore the participants' educational experiences from elementary school through college and on their STEM-related…

The need to improve student academic performance and school reform continue to receive national attention, but there is limited empirical data that explicates the positive impact of programs that are designed to address this phenomenon. Educators are presented with seemingly herculean challenges in meeting the needs of students from cultural…

This study examined the impact of 1:1 device initiatives in U.S. education K-12 school districts. Specifically, the problem addressed in this research was that studies of the second year of 1:1 technology programs in K-12 school districts had documented challenges among teachers with this change initiative leading to discontent and even…

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore African American tenured teachers' decision-making process related to remaining in public education in Western New York in 2015-2016. Teachers' remaining in the United States public schools has been a problem. It has been, especially, difficult to retain African American…

In 2014, statisticians at the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that women constitute 45% of the workforce. Women's participation in high-level organizational leadership roles remains low. In higher education, women's representation in top-ranking leadership roles is less than one-third at colleges and universities. The conceptual framework for…

Understanding the relationship between fractions and decimals is an important step in developing an overall understanding of rational numbers. Research has demonstrated the feasibility of technology in the form of virtual manipulatives for facilitating students' meaningful understanding of rational number concepts. This exploratory dissertation…

This project was a qualitative longitudinal research study into cultural and structural change in an English secondary school. The schools' consistent underperformance led to its conversion to "academy" status as part of a development under the Labour administration of 1997-2010. The Labour policy for academization was designed, first,…