This study sought to fill the gap in the literature concerning intrinsic motivation in elementary students in Grades 4-6 by examining 155 elementary school students and in-depth interviews with three elementary grade teachers. This study used data collected from the self-report survey called the Children's Academic Intrinsic Motivation Inventory…

Today's student has more access to global issues than any previous generation. Nearly one million higher education students study abroad worldwide, the workplace reflects a need to be interculturally competent, and students rarely have opportunities to learn how to thrive in the new global environment. This study explored how higher education, and…

College persistence and completion rates for students from families earning low incomes are consistently lower than for students from wealthy families. Some of these inequitable gaps may be associated with students' perceptions of fit and belonging at higher education institutions dominated by upper-middle-class systems and norms. This…

"Backdoor praise" (BDP) is defined as praise that is simultaneously delayed, indirect, and embedded in teacher comments. This case study investigated preservice teachers' perceptions of their use of BDP as a strategy for getting and keeping students on task. Three participants, representing elementary, middle, and high school, were…

American Indian graduate students are experiencing a higher matriculation rate in higher education today; however, those rates are still lower than other underrepresented minority groups' rates. The purpose of this study is to conduct exploratory research to investigate the decision-making process of American Indian/Alaskan Native professionals…

Formative assessment has been identified as an effective pedagogical practice in the field of education, where teachers and students engage daily in an interactive process to gather evidence of the students' proficiency of a specific learning goal. The evidence collected by the teacher and a student during the formative assessment process allows…

Five biracial multiracial lesbian gay bisexual queer student leaders shared stories about their undergraduate experiences at a prestigious southern university. Critical cultural and constructivist paradigm provided the framework for supporting this narrative inquiry. Through multiple interviews, participants shared stories of their background,…

Crisis management is a critical issue facing higher education. Higher education leaders and campus safety advocates agree that the Virginia Tech massacre changed perceptions and approaches to campus safety at colleges and universities nationally. In the University of North Carolina System, it was the two murders of University of North Carolina at…

The purpose of this qualitative case study is to understand transfer students' experiences of their transition to a private four-year college in Brooklyn, New York, one with an approximate enrollment of 1100 undergraduates. Of particular focus are the students' experience of a Transfer Seminar required of transfer students in their first semester…

The field of special education is facing a shortage of teachers. A shortage of special education teachers is an example of a pressing issue within education. The problem is that teacher attrition rates are among the highest within special education. Many special education teachers are leaving the profession after a few years of teaching for varied…

This dissertation investigated regular and special education co-teachers' perceptions of professional development programs and their readiness to co-teach in the elementary mathematics classroom. A gap in co-teaching literature exists regarding how teachers perceived co-teaching professional development and how it impacts their readiness to…

This basic qualitative research study explored the lives of 14 elementary teachers in their classroom environment to answer two central research questions which are: what coping strategies do teachers find most effective and what coping mechanisms provided by administration helps them cope with classroom stress? Data were collected through…

This qualitative study examined how National Board certified teachers (NBCTs) perceive the meaning of reflective teaching and how their perceptions compare to the literature on reflective thinking and teaching. The study included five participants who had completed the National Board certification process. Data collection included three…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of college students who are mothers at a large, public Midwestern research university. Using a feminist theoretical perspective, the focus of the research was to better understand how students who are mothers experience college. I sought to understand how the gendered…

The purpose of this qualitative collective case study was to understand experiences of Black males who successfully graduated from a northeast Hispanic serving community college. The overarching question that guided this study was: How do the experiences of Black male students who participated in a male initiative program at Pinewood Community…