Hmong students in the US are underrepresented in higher education, especially graduate school. This concurrent mixed-methods study explored the barriers, challenges, and motivations of current graduate Hmong students at Fresno State. The quantitative survey was completed by 38 of all 55 current graduate Hmong students and included the Adult…

Despite the increasing research that lists cultural incongruence in the classroom among the top factors that speaks to the disproportionate numbers of Black females obtaining STEM degrees there is limited research on the actual number of Black female science teachers at the secondary level in education and the impact this plays on Black females in…

University personnel offering online doctoral degrees struggle to address high attrition of students in the dissertation phase; these students can feel isolated, disconnected, and unmotivated. The purpose of this study was to explore ways online doctoral students in the dissertation phase used social networking sites (SNS) to overcome isolation…

The Black student can have a truly adverse experience on the predominately-white college campus. The micro-aggressions and the countries' institutional racism plays into the student's overall experience immensely. It is important for Black students to have community in predominately-white institutions and mentoring is an excellent way to create a…

Colorism or intra-racial discrimination strictly based on skin tone is global phenomenon that is practiced and perpetuated in countries were colonization occurred. Although an international issue, this study focuses on colorism in the United States. While education is a known catalyst toward social mobility, there seems to be a confounding factor…

The purpose of this journal-format dissertation was to investigate the condition of community college policy at the state-level as well as the effects of state-level policies on community college institutions and students. Three separate studies were conducted in this dissertation. Study 1 entailed a systematic literature review centered on…

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to explore the grit practices demonstrated by California elementary school GLAD teacher leaders. Teaching is a grit-demanding profession, and teaching English language learners (ELLs) requires sustained effort, perseverance, and dedication to meet their diverse needs. Identifying the grit practices of teacher…

Community colleges serve as entryways to higher education and a sustainable future for tens of thousands of students in the United States each year and are designed to provide affordable access to education, particularly for lower-income individuals. Within the United States, postsecondary student completion is a significant issue in academia, and…

Teachers play a vital role in the lives of their students. They impart knowledge, provide pastoral care, act as role models and, above all, create an environment that is conducive to learning. But teaching is fraught with numerous challenges that could lead to dissatisfaction; some teachers might decide to leave the profession entirely. In fact,…

Effective school leadership has been ranked the greatest indicator in the hiring and retaining of highly qualified teachers. Considering that the classroom teacher has the highest impact on student academic success, issues such as teacher absenteeism and teacher turnover absorb a great deal of time and resources of school principals while…

This study was a case study to explore the interventions being offered at one institution to support students from low-income backgrounds. The institution experienced higher than average graduation rates compared to low-income serving institutions with similar characteristics. The purpose of this study was to discover the institutional…

As job dissatisfaction continues to be a lead cause of teacher turnover (Brill & McCartney, 2008; Moore, 2012; Smith & Ingersoll, 2004) in both the public and private sectors of education, a deeper understanding of what contributes to the dissatisfaction of the profession is warranted. While several factors influence overall job…

This three-article dissertation presents a perspective of persistence in STEAM learning at the elementary level within the context of a third through fifth-grade elementary school in Northern Idaho. Students at this elementary school were offered extra-curricular opportunities to persist in STEAM learning and while participating in a MakerSpace…

This study examines secondary mathematics and science teacher perceptions of teacher leadership during the first year of a professional development program focused on preparing teacher leaders in rural schools. It also begins to offer details as to what content-focused teacher leadership looks like and how teachers in rural schools enact teacher…

The purpose of this study is to explore the academic and social integration experiences of foreign-born Black male students who persist at a four-year research institution. Research has shown that foreign-born Black males do not self-identify, and, as a result, their experiences in higher education have been grouped in with the persistent…