As more children from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds (CLD) enroll in American public schools, the educational environment is changing. Teachers find it difficult to accommodate and assist this demographic of students, while attempting to comprehend the intricacies of students with such unique demands in schools that are historically…

Response to Intervention (RtI) is a three-tiered model utilized by teachers to support students. The first tier represents instruction and services provided to all students at the classroom level. The second tier focuses on short-term instruction for small groups of students, and the third tier centers around the most intensive level of…

Professional identity development of play therapists is an emerging topic of research. Though there is research on theoretical orientation development, there is no research on theoretical orientation development of play therapists. This constructivist grounded theory study aimed at developing a substantive model describing the process of…

Leveraging the education system for Black and Brown students has been an ongoing occurrence in the United States. This dissertation explores how Black women principals use leadership practices to create a safe learning environment that promotes learning in a caring and nourishing manner. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to…

Women are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) in higher education institutions and the technology field and vulnerable to attrition. The reviewed literature suggests that the impact of other factors, beyond students' academic performance, leading to well-being and success and affecting female students' retention…

This qualitative program research development was created to help all school staff, counselors, administrators, and teachers apply anti-racist, social justice, and restorative justice approaches to a culturally responsive curriculum. The research articles and books used in this dissertation break down each approach and how to implement them in a…

Using the Applied Critical Leadership (Santamaría & Santamaría, 2012) framework to operationalize leadership and to celebrate the ways in which Black women Vice Presidents of Student Affairs (VPSAs) acquire institutional access to create real change, this study sought to identify what motivates Black Women to engage in creating supporting…

This scholarship-to-practice paper examines the importance of engagement among college students and highlights a partnership between two online institutions -- a two-year community college and a university -- dedicated to fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Guiding this work is the premise that higher education should be…

For more than six decades, Tanzania has been hosting more than three million refugees, of whom more than 300,000 have been naturalized as citizens. Traditionally, there have been learning and developmental disparities between children from refugee backgrounds and those from local majority communities. This study compared the school preparedness of…

Systems navigation can be difficult, especially for low-resourced families (i.e., families who are "low income" or meet one of the following indicators: mother has a high school diploma or less; primary caregiver is unemployed; or the family receives governmental assistance). Navigators may help families access services; however, the…

Fostering a sense of belonging is fundamental to recommended organizational structures in middle grades schools including interdisciplinary teams, advisory relationships, flexible instructional schedules, and heterogeneous grouping. Middle grades educators must ensure that organizational structures support a sense of belonging and also…

A portion of EL-identified youth want to exit the EL instructional services to which they are legally entitled. Moreover, institutionalized adultism within EL policy does not provide youths a role in decision-making about these services. As a result, little is known about how individuals who attempt unsanctioned exits conceptualize EL…

In the context of continued equity gaps in student success within and beyond STEM, this paper explored the extent to which the representation of underrepresented racial minority (URM) and first-generation college students predict grades in postsecondary STEM courses. The analyses examined 87,027 grades received by 11,868 STEM-interested students…

This study explores factors influencing school adjustment in immigrant students in Catalonia, Spain. Low school adjustment levels can lead to failure or dropout, particularly among immigrant students. The research analyzes acculturation strategies, intergroup contact, perceived discrimination, and origin's impact on school adjustment. Students…

When working with sex workers, mental health professionals should provide affirming and validating health care that does not further perpetuate victimization. This brief report introduces a community and open studio approach to art therapy as a potential means of increasing mental health accessibility for sex workers. Based on two case studies,…