This thesis was written to gain a better understanding of the barriers and beneficial resources as perceived by service providers of students with an emotional disturbance. This study approaches the literature with a focus on human development. Gaps in the research consist of various theories by groundbreaking theorists that have paved the way for…

The ability to objectively quantify the complexity of a text can be a useful indicator of how likely learners of a given level will comprehend it. Before creating more complex models of assessing text difficulty, the basic building block of a text consists of words and, inherently, its overall difficulty is greatly influenced by the complexity of…

This document lays out a curriculum framework for PK-grade 12 educational programs that is designed to help students achieve data literacy and become statistically literate. The framework and subsequent sections in this book recommend curriculum and implementation strategies covering PK-grade 12 statistics education.

In December of 2012 administrators for the University of Texas (UT) System announced a proposed merger of University of Texas-Brownsville and the University of Texas-Pan American "with an eye toward securing increased state funds and potentially building a medical school." The status of University of Texas at Brownsville (UTB) and…

Competency-based education shifts the focus from teacher-led instruction to student-centered learning, where faculty take on the role of facilitator of learning. While a fair amount of literature exists around the administrative decision-making process and student experiences in competency-based education, there is little in the way of research…

This phenomenological study explored how directors of Texas community college centers of faculty development supported face-to-face instructors as they transitioned to emergency remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic. The eleven director participants in this study, representing small, medium, and large schools from most of the…

The ability to support diverse populations is key in student affairs (SA) work. Professional development is one outlet for expanding multicultural competence in preparation of such work. This dissertation seeks to better understand SA professional development related to disability and disabled identity. The purpose is to assess how much…

Mentorship is the guidance given by a more experienced and older individual to a younger and less experienced individual, usually working in the same profession or field. This relationship is developmental, with the mentor taking a key interest in improving and enhancing the skills of their protege. Many people attribute part of their professional…

The needs of contemporary doctoral scholar-practitionership are placing demands on institutions of higher education to assess the methods by which curriculum and faculty resources are invested in student development. As students continue, often, to remain in practice during doctoral studies, the need to develop and assume an identity as a…

Instructional coaching is implemented by school districts for the professional development of staff (Knight, 2007). The purpose of this quantitative study was to gain information regarding the effectiveness of an instructional coaching program to limit teacher burnout and increase teacher retention. Non-tenured teachers from two rural school…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the perceptions of (a) program design and delivery, (b) professional development opportunities for teachers and leaders, and (c) the inclusion and support of campus leadership among campus principals of gifted programs in small, rural public high school settings within a region of a…

Even though the number of culturally and racially diverse students in the United States continues to rise, most teachers in our schools continue to be white females. When they enter classrooms without having critically examined the ways that they have been shaped by their own cultures or the ways that schools can perpetuate or disrupt…

Community-academic partnerships are believed to increase the effectiveness and feasibility of action research. While factors facilitating and hindering community-academic partnerships have been identified, their influence on the collaborative process is unknown, especially during community-academic partnership initiation and development. This…

The purpose of this systematic analysis is to discern the prevalence of culturally responsive factors in school-based social skill intervention research targeted towards Black youth, specifically K-12 settings. A systematic review method was utilized to identify culturally responsive factors, treatment outcomes, and prevalence of culturally…

Many colleges and universities emphasized a mission to promote global competency development of undergraduate students as a fundamental goal of the academy. The assertion of this research was: faculty global competency must be included in the equation of students attaining global competency. Global competency development by undergraduate students…