Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the extent to which differences existed in the attainment of Texas Education Agency approved industry-based certifications of Texas high school graduates by their ethnicity/race, gender, and economic status. In the first study, the degree to which the attainment of Texas…

With increased focus on data literacy and data science education in K-12, little is known about what makes a data set preferable for use by classroom teachers. Given that educational designers often privilege authenticity, the purpose of this study is to examine how teachers use features of data sets to determine their suitability for authentic…

Background: Over the past several decades, understandings of civic knowledge and engagement have been enlarged in productive ways; the field has been transformed by contributions rooted in and showcasing critical, cultural, transnational, activist, and participatory approaches to the civic. Civic action research fits neatly amid these new…

The prevalence and pervasive nature of emerging chemicals of concern have created widespread environmental injustice apprehensions in vulnerable communities. To alleviate and address these concerns, identifying, engaging, and training a diverse environmental health research workforce will be critical and necessary steps to combat and prevent the…

Background: Adolescent mental health issues are a major public health concern, highlighted by the US Surgeon General as a crisis. Traditional school-based interventions show inconsistent success, creating a demand for effective solutions. Aims: This study evaluates the impact of technology-supported cooperative learning (CL) on adolescent mental…

Students' career decision is a relevant topic in career development with scholars and practitioners aiming at understanding which factors can contribute to students decision-making to support them in their career path. In this study, we argue that facilitating conditions can positively influence the career decisions of students. This relationship…

This qualitative study explored the perceptions of five high school science teachers to understand how the alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment within the instructional program was perceived as purposeful to student learning in the age of accountability and the standards movement. A conceptual framework including alignment and…

For the current research, the researcher set out to explore the impact of distributed leadership in terms of teacher empowerment and effects on school culture. The first main objective was to assess the approaches considered by school leaders when distributing tasks. The researcher also investigated the various factors considered by the leaders…

Although several studies have focused on why school climate is important, the timing of the collection of climate measures should be considered. This is of particular interest to schools that gauge school improvement efforts within a school year and are interested in how climate changes from the beginning to the end of the academic year. We show…

The "Lau v. Nichols" Supreme Court case specifies two core responsibilities of schools -- and rights for students -- with regard to students classified as English learners (ELs): 1) opportunities to learn English; and 2) equitable access to grade-level content. Yet 50 years since "Lau's" passage, students' right to content may…

Identifying a student's mental model is important for understanding scientific concepts. Dispersion and polarization are the sub concept of physics that studied in high school on light waves concept. This study aimed to develop dispersion and polarization conceptual inventory (DIPOLCI) to identify students' model mental using Rasch analysis. The…

The education science (or pedagogy based on scientific principles) of the learning of spectroscopy analysis in terms of critical thinking was examined in a community college setting with high school outreach and senor college transfer students enrolling in courses and/or projects. The most important discovery of science in the 20th Century was the…

This study was designed to determine the fidelity of implementation (FOI) in a knowledge-based physical education (PE) curriculum using the 5E instructional structure. Utilizing a mixed-data method, observation checklist and fieldnotes data were gathered from 18 teachers' classes across 10 lessons of the 20-lesson curriculum. Results showed a…

Augmented Reality (AR) technologies allow for holograms to be layered over the real-world, "augmenting" human vision by overlaying illustrations onto 3D space. Here we explore the question: What affordances does AR in a collaborative environment have for the future of mathematics education in uncertain times? We conducted a study where…

During the 2022-23 school year, IDRA's Youth Advisory Board student research team led a project to examine the intersections of culturally responsive education and school discipline in Texas public schools. With youth participatory action research (YPAR) as the guiding framework, this study employed mixed-method research methodologies to assess…