With the visceral response to instances of police brutality and use of excessive force, a resurgence of considerable racial unrest and a heightened awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement in the media makes this study timely in recognizing racial injustice and the need for cultural competency in the stronghold of education. The United States…

The utilization of sport psychology (SP) and mental performance consultants (MPCs) is becoming a mainstream resource among collegiate athletic programs. Junior colleges have yet to make this transition due to the many unique challenges they face. The primary gatekeepers of junior college athletic programs are the Athletic Directors (ADs), and as…

Research on the impacts of mindfulness trainings (MTs) on teachers' psychological health and wellbeing suggests that MTs may be especially well-suited to preparing teachers for the unique demands of the profession (Iancu et al., 2017; Klingbeil & Renshaw, 2018). However, few studies have investigated whether different teachers benefit in…

Many students in the United States are not proficient in mathematics. Mathematics vocabulary is one area that may impact students' understanding of and engagement with mathematics. This dissertation investigated the implementation, effectiveness, and teacher's perceptions of a program for teaching mathematics vocabulary necessary for fourth grade…

In the elementary school, children's learning, thinking, making and doing are usually regarded through universalizing and progression-based accounts particularly from child development. Further, within these developmental frames, learning is often considered as a cognitive process that occurs solely within the conscious mind. In this dissertation,…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how elementary schoolteachers in the United States described their personal perspective of spirituality and spiritual experiences in the educational workplace. This study provides knowledge for the workforce about schoolteachers' transformative change. The research existed within the…

Positive learning experiences and achievement for students are significantly skewed to the knowledge, level of skill, and disposition of the classroom teacher (e.g., Darling-Hammond, 2000; Rockoff, 2004). Ensuring teachers have professional learning experiences that develop their knowledge, skills, and dispositions is critical. This research…

School choice has expanded during the modern school choice movement and students in Indiana can now choose from several school options including public schools, charter schools, virtual schools, or participate in the Indiana Choice Scholarships program and attend a parochial school. The potential for increased educational stratification across…

Volunteer engagement is critical to achieving the mission of volunteer organizations (Boone et al., 2002). Fogarty et al. (2009) found that 4-H volunteers are a mediating factor in achieving positive youth development outcomes and are responsible for teaching at least 50% of the life skills youth gain from participation in the organization. For…

In the United States, there is a significant need for higher education institutions to provide adult degree completion programs (ADCP) to help students complete their degrees. According to the National Student Clearing House Research Center, as of July 2021, there are 41 million students with some college, no credentials (SCNC), in the United…

Rural elementary teachers faced challenges to professional development which differed from their urban or suburban peers. With the increasing popularity of social media at the time of this study, rural elementary teachers had the opportunity to use social media to find and engage in professional development which might otherwise be unavailable to…

This is a qualitative, descriptive, and multi-case study, in which the researcher investigated the perceptions of middle school teachers who were implementing three-dimensional learning aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) into their instructional practices. The participants were 10 middle school teachers who worked in three…

This qualitative case study examined leadership development and mentoring in a chapter of Jack and Jill of America (JJOA), a national organization for African-American women and their children focused on leadership, cultural awareness, and civic duty. While JJOA is a national organization, individual chapters are self-governed, and there is no…

After completing the first-year seminar, this qualitative research study explored traditional first-generation students' lived experiences in their sophomore year. The second year of college is primarily viewed as challenging and difficult for sophomores. Nevertheless, colleges and universities tend to provide less support to sophomore students…

Despite 3 years of implementation, educators at McKinnley Elementary School (pseudonym) did not know teachers' perceptions about whether the Wilson Reading Fundations Program (WRFP) was helping K-3rd grade teachers assist struggling readers with becoming proficient in reading in the elementary grades. The purpose of this qualitative single case…