The purpose of this study was to research methodologies and practices that would serve as tools in engaging Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) students in learning. The opportunity gap refers to the inequitable access to resources and opportunities for BIPOC students. BIPOC students represent Black, Indigenous, and people of color.…

Advances in technology and cultural shifts towards a more open sharing of information afford college instructors additional methods to establish a powerful teacher-student connection. By creating and curating Open Educational Resources (OER) for students, instructors customize the learning experience for their students and show them that they care…

Taking advanced courses in high school predicts a broad array of positive postsecondary and labor market outcomes. Yet students from historically disadvantaged groups and low-income backgrounds have long been underrepresented in these courses. To address this problem, more than 60 districts in Washington state implemented a policy that…

Contemporary society is changing and evolving at a fast pace; children in our society are exposed to a plethora of information, which is both overwhelming and confusing to young minds. It has never been more crucial to help children navigate around the complexities of our world and support them in attaining the essential tools to help them on this…

Over the past few years, several states have begun to explore or pilot different through-year assessments to serve as replacements to the traditional end-of-year summative assessments that are currently the predominant source of information used by states to meet federal accountability requirements. While there are several different assessment…

There is a shortage of effective and diverse teachers at high poverty, high minority, and rural schools in one Midwestern state. The purpose of this problem-based learning investigation was to identify strategies, policies, and procedures used by Human Resource departments of school districts in the state to recruit, hire, and retain effective and…

There is a shortage of effective and diverse teachers at high poverty, high minority, and rural schools in one Midwestern state. The purpose of this problem-based learning investigation was to identify strategies, policies, and procedures used by Human Resource departments of school districts in the state to recruit, hire, and retain effective and…

There is a shortage of effective and diverse teachers at high poverty, high minority, and rural schools in one Midwestern state. The purpose of this problem-based learning investigation was to identify strategies, policies, and procedures used by Human Resource departments of school districts in the state to recruit, hire, and retain effective and…

Many institutions have turned to individualized holistic review to make admissions decisions, which is meant to take a comprehensive view of the quantitative and qualitative elements that comprise a single application. Prior research shows holistic review lacks a common definition and the gap between theory and practice has not been thoroughly…

The Common Core State Standards have driven an awareness for college and career readiness in schools today. This effort has brought to light the role text complexity plays in the classroom and the importance of students being exposed to complex text. Educators' understanding of complex text and their expectations when choosing text is…

This dissertation and research looks into the area of Culturally Relevant Practices and hiring in K-12 schools and the potential effect on all students in having minority leadership present. The research dives into interviews of teachers, hiring leaders, district leaders and building leaders. It also uses survey results from over 700 students,…

This dissertation and research looks into the area of Culturally Relevant Practices and hiring in K-12 schools and the potential effect on all students in having minority leadership present. The research dives into interviews of teachers, hiring leaders, district leaders and building leaders. It also uses survey results from over 700 students,…

In recent years, there has been a large increase in college programs for crime scene investigations. In order for college graduates to be competitive when applying for these highly sought-after jobs, graduates must be able to demonstrate the skills and knowledge they have acquired during their college coursework in lieu of on-the-job experience.…

Many inmates in rural areas remain unprepared to obtain employment after incarceration because of the limited access to preparatory and reentry programs. After prison, these ex-offenders lack the vocational and educational resources required to obtain viable employment and struggle with their employability. Research has established that the lack…

Successful reading comprehension is not a guarantee, even for highly skilled readers. When comprehension fails, the ability of the reader to recognize the failure may be critical to avoiding "mis"comprehension (i.e., false confidence in an inaccurate text representation) and to taking steps to improve comprehension. Generally, people…