By 2024, students of color (i.e., youth who are Black, Latino, Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, American Indian, and multiracial) are projected to represent 56% of the student enrollment in U.S. public schools (Kena et al., 2015). The diversity of our current and future student population merits differentiated strategies to best support…

Although theoretical approaches to second language acquisition (SLA) have varied in their perspectives and directives on vocabulary teaching and learning, the consensus is that vocabulary knowledge is essential to second language (L2) acquisition. In classroom based settings, students of foreign languages spend the better part of their initial…

Black children are brilliant. They are infinitely capable of learning. However, as a result of the racialized sociohistorical contexts of schools and teaching, Black students are rarely seen as brilliant or perceived as capable in classrooms. Thus, professional development must create and structure opportunities for teachers to learn to notice and…

The central purpose for this dissertation in practice was to explore the practices, challenges, and recommendations of P-12 instructional coaches in a mid-sized public-school district in the state of Texas regarding job efficacy and factors that influence attrition. This phenomenological study involved 10 instructional coaches with at least one…

The increased use of technology and access to social media has changed how individuals communicate. According to McNamara (2018), the use of social media via the internet has become an increasingly popular and pervasive aspect of people's lives. Teenagers use social media and technology as their primary method of communication, with U.S. teens,…

According to the International Information Systems Security Certification Consortium (ISC)2, Cybersecurity Workforce Study, 20% of the global cybersecurity are women. The numbers of women are an increase from 11% in 2013, but considering that women represent 52% of the workforce, it is not enough. The U.S. Department of Labor and Statistics…

Free, public education is a foundation of this country's democracy. Improving levels of student achievement is a critical aspiration to the development of a citizenry that is competitive in future global markets. This study was created with the intent of determining if traditional formats used for professional development have an impact on student…

Research has demonstrated links between childhood trauma and changes in brain development that negatively impact students' academic achievement, language development, student behavior, and mental health. Trauma impacts children across all aspects of their lives, including within the school setting. Traumatic experiences can have a negative impact…

This comparison study examined differences in knowledge, beliefs and instructional practices regarding early literacy instruction between first grade teachers (n = 17) who received extensive content specific professional development (n = 13) and teachers who did not (n = 4). Participants were from 14 elementary ethnically and socioeconomically…

As an indigenous serving institution, the University of Hawai'i (UH) serves all indigenous groups including Pacific Islander groups. Continual and practical training of emerging educational leaders at the UH is critical to the ongoing success of Hawai'i's only public post-secondary institution. Employing the oral history methodology, I examined…

Individuals with orthopedic impairments often have trouble with range of motion and may experience barriers in participating in physical activities with peers. This qualitative study explores school site personnel's overall perceptions using the Mobility Opportunities via Experience (MOVE) program among individuals with orthopedic impairments in…

Researchers have determined that positive teacher-student relationships are key to students' academic and emotional success; however, new teachers need to be taught the specific skill-set of how to build relationships. The purpose of this study was to understand the perceptions of new teachers regarding building of relationships with students to…

A recent college graduate working as a coffee shop barista, earning minimum wage and carrying thousands of dollars in student loan debt, is a familiar trope in conversations about the value of a bachelor's degree. In the college-for-all era, young people are encouraged to attain a bachelor's degree to bolster their labor market opportunities…

The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore what happened when preschool teachers engaged in multimodal meaning making around notions of literacy through visual art making. Eight participant preschool teachers attended 3 six-hour long multimodal workshops designed around social semiotic theory of multimodal communication…

The field of education has undergone great change, affecting the classroom of many institutions. Changes that occurred at the classroom level, for example the integration of technology into the classroom, have proven to be a challenge for most educational institutions. The problem addressed in this study was that teachers were expected to…