This study examined the relationship among projective drawings and mental health symptomatology to determine if projective drawings provide clinical utility in pet bereavement. Projective drawings, standardized questionnaires, and clinical interview results were collected from 33 adults grieving the loss of a pet. Drawings were coded into a…

Teachers are key players in creating inclusive dance education environments. Guided by a conceptual framework of relational ethics, this qualitative study explored the perceptions and practices of four elementary school dance teachers teaching in public schools in two large school districts in Western Canada. Data collection involved interviews,…

Instructional strategies can be helpful in facilitating students' knowledge construction and developing advanced cognitive skills. In the context of collaborative learning, instructional strategies as scripts can guide learners to engage in more meaningful interaction. Previous studies have been investigated the benefits of different instructional…

The present study examined the conditions and challenges of successfully including adolescent students with mild intellectual disabilities within a mainstream school context. The study was based on qualitative interviews with nine special education teachers who worked in special education groups in lower secondary schools. A thematic structural…

Educators have regarded building leader-member relationships using collaboration as a fundamental component to successfully improve students' academic achievement. Ineffective collaborative leadership practices may lead to achievement deficits particularly for many urban charter schools operated by educational management organizations. The purpose…

This dissertation addresses the problem of teacher self-efficacy theory being largely absent as a concept of study in composition studies, despite the field maintaining a primary focus on issues like teacher development and effective composition pedagogy. This absence of the study of teacher self-efficacy, defined as "a [teacher's] judgment…

Policymakers need information about the schools in their state. What programs are the most cost effective and work best for students? How can states attract and retain great teachers? What information do parents need to ensure that their kids are on track to graduate? For answers to questions like these, policymakers need high-quality data.…

Classroom size, curriculum, and student attendance are all important factors that affect student outcomes, but these factors cannot compare to the classroom teacher's influence on student academic performance. Unfortunately, highly qualified teachers are not equally effective in different school settings. Findings associated with highly effective…

As they prepared for the 2016-2017 school year, administrators and teachers at Design Tech High School ("d.tech"), a public charter school in Northern California, decided they needed a deeper understanding of how students learn. According to Nicole Cerra, Director of Learning, "Obviously you need to get to know students…

The Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act was implemented in 2008 (P.L. 110-351) in an effort to meet the needs of youth in foster care, including issues related to educational stability, educational services to support stability, and transition into higher education or the workforce. This article examines the written laws,…

Systems archetypes are patterns of structure found in systems that are helpful in understanding some of the dynamics within them. The intent of this study was to examine educational attainment data using the success-to-the-successful archetype as a model to see if it helps to explain the inequality observed in the data. Data covering 1990 to 2009…

The completion agenda is in full force at the nation's community colleges. To maximize the impact colleges can have on improving completion, colleges must organize around using student progress and outcome data to monitor and track their efforts. Unfortunately, colleges are struggling to identify relevant data and to mobilize staff to review…

Data analysis requires subtle probability reasoning to answer questions like "What is the chance of event A occurring, given that event B was observed?" This generic question arises in discussions of many intriguing scientific questions such as "What is the probability that an adolescent weighs between 120 and 140 pounds given that…

Violent crime incidents occurring in Irvington, New Jersey, in 2007 and 2008 are used to assess the joint analytical capabilities of point pattern analysis, hotspot mapping, near-repeat analysis, and risk terrain modeling. One approach to crime analysis suggests that the best way to predict future crime occurrence is to use past behavior, such as…

The selection and use of communication media has been the center of attention for a great number of researchers in the area of organizational communication. The channel expansion theory combines elements of the main theories in this area; however, these investigations have a static cross-sectional design rather than a longitudinal analysis. With…