In responding to Murakami and Siegel's "Becoming Bermuda grass" one is led to reflect on one's own practice in what becomes an example of reflexivity. Following the authors' lead of incorporating Deleuze and Guattari's rhizomatic theory and the art form of decalcomania to reflect on practice, discoveries are made regarding the practice…

After decades of research in agricultural education on teacher knowledge, needs, behaviors, satisfaction, and attrition, calls for additional research and reform have remained fairly consistent. One potential factor influencing the rate at which these challenges are overcome is teacher professional identity, which shapes how teachers interpret and…

"The Leader in Me" (Covey, 2008) is an approach to fostering social and emotional learning that has been adopted by more than 3,000 schools across the globe, but which has received relatively little empirical attention. Grounded in the seven habits from Stephen Covey's (1989)" The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People", the…

Understanding online user engagement is a key challenge for social platforms that support the communal creation or transfer of knowledge and information. Engagement is not only a function of individual attributes but also the result of the social context that derives from platform choices. This dissertation presents several empirical examples of…

To offset economic challenges within schools, there has been a recent increase in foundation funding to school districts. This has created a significant social justice issue in student access and student participation across the state of California. The competing interests of local school communities to shore up inadequate state funding often…

In the last twenty years, citizen science has blossomed as a way to engage a broad range of individuals in doing science. Citizen science projects focus on, but are not limited to, nonscientists participating in the processes of scientific research, with the intended goal of advancing and using scientific knowledge. A rich range of projects extend…

First-generation college students have unique needs during their transition from high school to college. This quantitative study focused on the connectedness of first-generation college students prior to the start of their freshman year at a small university in the Northeast. Traditional and first-generation college students completed a pre-test…

Building Bridges and Bonds (B3), a federally funded study of Responsible Fatherhood programs, is testing a set of innovative approaches designed to help fathers advance their parenting and employment skills. One of these innovations is a new smartphone-based application called DadTime. It is one of the first mobile applications specifically…

Captivating Classrooms explores the specific role that student engagement plays in education, it argues that there are myriad factors that undergird meaningful student learning and participation--such as motivation, exciting teaching strategies, reinventing literacy instruction, and authentic assessment. This book is an extremely valuable handbook…

This qualitative study focused on retired school principals' involvement in special education. More specifically, it explored various ways former principals conceived of their leadership identity and accounted for their level of involvement in special education and with students identified or identifying as disabled. The following research…

Research indicates a connection between successful outcomes for students with significant intellectual disabilities and the individual education program (IEP) team's efforts in the IEP development process. However, little research has been conducted on the perceptions of parents and teachers of students with significant disabilities about parent…

In this 21st century, we would like to prepare our learners to be ready and skilled in their chosen career. School leadership must examine how students will be able to meet the demands of today's academia. However, it is imperative to identify some key factors needed in providing learning opportunities for today's students. A teacher from a public…

Research on father engagement in ECPs [early childhood programs] focuses on defining and measuring father engagement, examining fathers' beliefs and barriers to engagement, father engagement for children with disabilities, child care decision-making by fathers, and interventions to engage fathers in early childhood programs (such as home visiting,…

This qualitative research study was developed around the problem that teachers are resistant to change when implementing educational initiatives that are new to them. "Rather than blame teachers and ask, 'Why do teachers resist?' perhaps those of us who lead change should ask, 'What can we do to make it easier for teachers to implement new…

Charter schools are tuition-free public schools open to all students and held to state academic and financial standards. However, unlike traditional public schools, charter schools are run independently of school districts and operate under a performance contract with an authorizer (a district, the state or another approved government or nonprofit…