School safety is a wicked problem due to shifting needs and available information, the diverse actors affected and involved, fluctuating budgetary demands and ramifications, and relations to broader social and political issues. School safety challenges encompass a range of factors, including threats of violence and fears related to school shootings, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on student mental health and well-being, and research and rhetoric on punitive discipline practices and the school-to-prison nexus, especially regarding the use of School Resource Officers (SROs). Following the murder of George Floyd by police in the Summer of 2020 and the subsequent civil unrest, several school districts across the United States began to reconsider the use of police on campuses, with some choosing not to renew contracts with police departments for SROs. In most cases, school district leaders (e.g., governing boards or superintendency) unilaterally made this decision without authentic school community input or participation in inclusive processes and shared decision-making opportunities. Phoenix Union High School District (PXU), a diverse, urban high school-only district that serves 25,000 students, was one of those districts that did not renew its contract with the local police department for SROs. Instead, PXU undertook efforts to reimagine school safety through two parallel participatory processes: School Participatory Budgeting (PB) and a Safety Committee. Drawing from the literature on school safety, participatory governance, and student voice, I explore school safety's historical and current landscape, specifically the use of SROs and punitive discipline measures, alongside methods of participatory governance within K-12 educational institutions and the benefits, challenges, and implications of student voice in shared decision-making processes. I then chronicle the two processes implemented in PXU using the Empowered Deliberative Democracy (EDD) conceptual framework and a case study methodology. I analyze and discuss the tensions and the transformative potential of participatory processes that include student and school community voices in finding solutions to difficult challenges. In conclusion, I summarize the case study and raise recommendations for using participatory processes to address wicked problems in K-12 educational institutions.

This three-article dissertation considers the pedagogical practices for developing statistically literate students and teaching data-driven decision-making with the goal of preparing students for civic engagement and improving student achievement. The first article discusses a critical review of the literature on data-driven decision-making project conditions in K-12 educational settings. Upon reviewing the literature, I synthesized and summarized the current practices into three distinct models. The models serve to clarify the pedagogical choices of the teacher and the degree at which students' views are involved and incorporated into the projects. I propose an alternative model/framework and discuss possible implications in the classroom. In the second article, I use the framework developed in the first article as the basis for an educational research intervention. I describe a study where I developed a handbook based on the framework and implemented a sample of professional development sessions from the handbook. Advisors and teachers provided feedback on the handbook and professional development. This feedback served as the subject of analysis while I continued to refine the handbook and the professional learning sessions. I describe the refinement process and the implications in terms of design decisions of educational interventions and statistical knowledge for teaching. The final article performs a secondary data analysis of school, teacher, and student level data using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) database. The paper seeks to answer the research question: “Which aspects of teacher professional knowledge measures predict student achievement in the mathematical domain of data and statistical topics?” The results indicate that when controlling for school level wealth index, teacher characteristics are not as influential as the school level wealth index. I discuss future research as well as school policy and curriculum implications of these results.

Recently, the Interactive-Constructive-Active-Passive (ICAP) framework has been gaining increasing prominence in cognitive and learning sciences. The ICAP theory asserts that students learn more deeply when they are cognitively engaged in generative and collaborative learning. Indeed, prior studies have established the value of the ICAP framework for predicting student learning. However, the framework has yet to become widely used by practitioners, possibly due to the lack of accessible resources for applying the framework instruction design. This study sought to fill that gap by implementing and validating the ICAP instructional rubric instrument to rate the design of college chemistry courses at a large public university in the southwest and exploring its relationships with several metrics of student performance via multiple regression analysis: a) level of participation; b) final exam grades; c) course grades; d) course retention; and e) course attrition. This study analyzed data from the university’s learning management system and included student-level controls such as markers of prior academic performance (i.e., GPA and SAT scores) as well as student demographics. The findings of this study suggest that the ICAP framework may be a useful tool for instructors to improve course design. In addition, the ICAP framework’s predictive claims on student deeper learning were further validated by the results of this study.

For immigrant youth, the development of national identity has been linked to a broad range of positive long-term outcomes, not only for these youth themselves but also for their children and grandchildren. However, the social ecosystems in which these young people live can positively or negatively impact the development of national identity—and, therefore, affect their integration into the settlement nation. Both national policy contexts and the daily interactions of students in their schools have been found to play a role in immigrants’ beliefs about and attachment to their settlement nations. In this dissertation, I explore the relationship between immigrant students’ sense of national identity, school climate, and the national policy contexts in which those schools are located, seeking to understand the degree to which school climate factors may counteract the influence of national policy contexts. Using hierarchical linear regression, I combine data on 13 European nations from the 2016 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study and from the European Union’s Migrant Integration Policy Index, analyzing the relative predictive strength and significance of a range of factors, including indices of national immigration policy, student demographics, and school factors, such as student-teacher relationships, peer relationships, and participatory engagement in the democratic processes of the school. While I find significant and positive relationships between national policy indices and immigrant students’ national identity, I find that school climate has a larger predictive strength for immigrants’ national identity than national policy contexts, pointing to the role that schools can play as countercultural sites of national incorporation in which immigrant children develop strong and positive identification with their settlement nations.

People often choose one design over another for reasons of beauty and taste. This is known as aesthetic preference. Over the years, philosophers and psychologists have observed the significant impact of aesthetics on human behavior and sought a deeper understanding of how aesthetic preferences are formed and how they drive behavior and choices. Despite recent advancement in the scientific study of aesthetics with the emergence of neuroaesthetics and evolutionary psychology, the complexity and diversity of aesthetic preferences still pose a significant challenge for designers who design for a mass population. This study proposed and implemented a process through which unique aesthetic indicators were identified, from which distinct aesthetic typologies were then derived. To evaluate the process and generate practical results, a mixed-methods approach with exploratory sequential design was used. First, an online survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted (n=20). These methods were used to refine the survey instrument. Next, an extensive online survey (n=1038) was conducted to identify aesthetic indicators. To produce measurable outcomes and define the typologies of individuals based on their responses to survey questions, cluster analysis was applied to the data. Results indicated a set of unique aesthetic indicators from which distinct aesthetic typologies were derived. This study adds to the vast body of knowledge we can use to explore and improve our understanding of aesthetic preference. With the availability of quantitative data and the robust modeling capabilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is not unrealistic that we would be able to model and predict future or unknown aesthetic preferences. Accurate predictions of these preferences can have immense value for the field of design. Aesthetic typologies provide the structure to move design in that direction.

I conduct a series of analyses aimed at assessing equity in selective American colleges over a 20+ year time frame. My main measures of equity are enrollment and completion in selective colleges, which I disaggregate by race/ethnicity. After creating an institutional-level panel data set with variables on college revenues and expenses, tuition, institutional control, and affirmative action case law decisions, I estimate a Generalized Least Squares (GLS) model with institutional level random fixed effects to identify factors associated with enrollment and degree completion for white and non-white students at selective United States colleges. My results suggest that affirmative action case law is associated with changes in enrollment and degree completion rates of white and non-white student alike. Increasing equity for non-white students does not compromise equity for white students. There was a statistically significant relationship between federal spending, enrollment, and degree completion for non-white students. When selective colleges increased tuition, instructional costs, academic support services expenditures, and student support services, Asian American/Pacific Islander students were likely to see enrollment and degree completion declines. Degree completion and enrollment differences were observed for Asian American/Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and white students at public, private and for-profit colleges. In the years after the Adams and Hopwood court decisions, equity for non-white students declined at selective colleges. Enrollment and degree completion for non-white students increased following Grutter, Gratz, Coalition, and Fisher decisions. Enrollment of white students increased following Fordice and Hopwood. Degree completion for white students increased post Coalition and decreased post Fisher.

Each year school districts across the United States are faced with the task of hiring the best teachers they can for the open positions in their schools. In many urban school districts, this task can be particularly daunting. Compared to suburban school districts, urban school districts tend to have higher teacher exit rates, which places additional strain upon the districts’ schools and their resources. Research shows that there are many factors associated with teachers’ decisions to stay at or leave a school. This study aims to determine how the common attrition and retention factors that influence a teacher’s decision to stay or leave by interviewing current and former teachers at a Title I school in an urban setting.

In this study, I interviewed a small, targeted sample of highly valued teachers while I was their school leader. The interview was designed to use questions that elicit teachers’ perspectives about the retention and attrition factors identified in the research in hopes of determining patterns I could use to strategically use to build a teacher retention plan. Analysis of the responses from the interviews included a comparison of composite teacher profiles, each representing a sub-group of teachers with common attributes. This process demonstrated that while factors commonly associated with retention were important, the degree to which specific factors shaped a teacher’s decision to stay or leave is dependent upon their experience and background and where they are in the phases of their careers and life. Additionally, this study identified how school leaders can strategically use a similar interview process to retain key teaching personnel based upon their personal and professional motivations

This study examined associations between reports of receiving information on sexual education topics common to different sexual education curricula (e.g. abstinence only until marriage, comprehensive) and reported confidence in sexual communication of information and preferences, taking into account information received from school health classes, parents/guardians, online resources, and peers.
Data used from 293 participants aged 18-25 was used to perform descriptive analyses and linear regressions adjusted for significant covariates. Exposure to a comprehensive sexual education curriculum was found to be significantly positively associated with increased sexual communication confidence, while exposure to an abstinence only until marriage curriculum was not found to be a significant predictor. All resources were found to be positively associated with sexual communication confidence with the exception of health class, which was an insignificant predictor.
Comprehensive sexual education is an important factor in increasing young adults’ confidence in sexual communication of information and preferences. However, sexual education delivery in health classes in the United States is currently ineffective. A reevaluation of how sexual education should be delivered in the United States is needed.

Despite a substantial increase of Masters of Music Therapy degree recipients between 2002 (Cohen et. al, 2002) and 2017 (American Music Therapy Association, 2017), these numbers are not paralleled among recipients of PhD degrees with music therapy emphases. Additionally, it is notable that the Master’s Level Entry (MLE) Subcommittee Report (2017) notes “lack of doctoral programs and/or doctoral level music therapy faculty needed to sustain graduate level music therapy education programs” (p.18) as a deterrent to the move to Master's-Level Entry within the music therapy milieu. This underscores the importance of doctorate-level music therapists to the profession. Could increasing the prevalence of doctorate-level music therapists help to promote advanced studies in music therapy, and in turn augment the status of music therapy education and training? The purpose of this project was to examine advanced-level music therapists’ perceived catalysts and barriers to pursuing a doctoral degree in music therapy. Incorporating the Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et. al, 1994) as the underlying framework, qualitative data was garnered via semi-structured interviews with advanced-practicing music therapists located in the southwestern United States. A thematic qualitative data analysis was conducted, whereby parent codes reflected key constructs of the theoretical lens and child codes were developed inductively. Interviewees highlighted advantages of pursuing a PhD including: professional status, educational growth, and opportunities to educate others. Likewise, they identified pertinent barriers pertaining to finances, narrow job market, and dominance of research foci over clinical skills. In light of these findings, a framework for a hypothetical, Southwest-based professional development seminar was developed and embedded into the SCCT context. The hypothetical program encompassed key objectives to educate participants about the key processes, benefits and drawbacks of pursuing the music therapy doctorate, and aimed to help participants develop penchants toward the pursuit of doctorate degrees. The nine modules featured discussions and interactive learning techniques, in addition to proffering individualized mentoring from music therapy doctorate recipients as a key mainstay of the program. Modules addressed the following topics: Introductions and testimonials; PhD application and funding processes; Clinical skills; Work/life/school balance; Faculty responsibilities (research, teaching and service); Mock interview/audition; and Mentorship presentations.

This study took place at SUNY Buffalo State College in Buffalo, NY during the 2018-2019 academic year, and was conducted to examine the effect of the Health Ambassador (HA) program on reducing drinking, drug use, and other potential detrimental health behaviors among Greeks and athletes. Study participants included 147 participants derived from two groups of undergraduate students. Group 1 included 18 students who participated in the Health Ambassador program. Group 2 included 129 men and women who were recruited from three athletic teams and two campus sororities. Group 2 was further divided into intervention and control groups.

A five-week multi-phase health and leadership intervention, consisting of health and leadership trainings and workshops, was implemented over two semesters. Through a blended approach, which incorporated both in-person and online trainings, health ambassadors were educated in health and leadership content and developed prevention workshops to positively influence Greeks and athletes’ perceptions and behaviors toward substance use. Following the trainings, the health ambassadors delivered these substance prevention workshops to members of the intervention group. Self-Efficacy Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior served as the theoretical frameworks for this study in order to determine health ambassador opinions around serving as student leaders and assess Greek and athletic student beliefs over engaging in potentially unsafe health behaviors, including alcohol and substance abuse.

The study employed a convergent parallel mixed methods approach where both quantitative and qualitative data were collected concurrently, analyzed separately, and compared to determine if the results substantiated each other. Taken from surveys, questionnaires, group interviews, observations, and field notes, this study shows that (1) past 30 day use of alcohol, binge drinking, and marijuana positively decreased following the health ambassador intervention, (2) intervention group participants became more effective at refusing drugs and alcohol and were more confident in making healthier choices, (3) health ambassadors overcame initial fears and biases toward working with Greeks and athletes, and achieved success presenting health material and functioning as student leaders, (4) the individual and collective efficacy of the health ambassadors positively increased. Additionally, study limitations, implications for research, implications for practice, and conclusions were discussed.