The stigma surrounding math- that it is difficult, pointless, and requires your brain to be wired a certain way- has for a long time impacted the success of students throughout their schooling. Students sometimes perceive math as boring and begin to lose focus when the math concepts become more abstract as they reach middle school and high school. Sixth grade is when the brain shifts to more abstract thinking as kids transition from the concrete operational stage to the formal operational stage of cognitive development. This shift is reflected in the math curriculum and contributes to the struggle students face in learning math. To increase student engagement, gamification is a way to incorporate elements of gaming into education. Gamification can be used to motivate and encourage students to participate in their learning. In this project, a unit for 6th graders was designed to help combat students' math perception and failure that centers around a mystery game. Students learn about variables and expressions while engaging with the interactive mystery.

This mixed methods action research study examined the effectiveness of an Education and Career Action Plan (ECAP) Advisory Program on students’ formation of postsecondary education and employment plans.

The study took place at a public high school in northern Arizona. Participants included thirty-three 11th-Grade Advisory students, four 11th-grade advisors, and me, the action researcher. One quantitative data instrument and three qualitative data instruments were used for data collection. Each of the four data collection instruments provided insight about one of the study’s research questions.

The quantitative data from this study addressed whether the intervention had an impact on the ECAP Advisory Program’s ability to enhance students’ postsecondary knowledge. Results from the quantitative data demonstrated significant positive change, indicating that, through their participation in an ECAP Advisory Program, students developed their postsecondary education and employment knowledge.

The qualitative data from this study addressed how the participants experienced the intervention by providing a deeper understanding of their experiences with their ECAP Advisor and the ECAP Advisory Program. Results from the qualitative data indicated that students’ perceptions of postsecondary education and employment planning changed substantially during their participation in the ECAP Advisory Program. As the study progressed, student participants reported they could more appropriately visualize the postsecondary education and employment environments that aligned with their interests. Furthermore, because of the time allocated for lessons and activities in the ECAP Advisory Program, students participants also reported feeling more prepared to pursue postsecondary education and employment opportunities as the ECAP Advisory Program progressed. And perhaps most importantly, student participants reported that their advisor positively impacted their postsecondary education and employment planning.

Overall, in association with their participation in the ECAP Advisory Program and relationship with their ECAP Advisor, students expanded their postsecondary education and employment knowledge levels, developed and modified their education and employment goals, and felt more prepared to pursue postsecondary education and employment opportunities.

The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of successful community college students classified as neurotypical (NT), learning disabled (LD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Using mixed methods, 45 successful students completed two surveys designed to assess their overall hope as well as specific academic skills and strategies used as part of their postsecondary educational experience. Interview questions were then generated based on the results of the quantitative analysis. Fifteen of the 45 participants were randomly selected to take part in a follow-up qualitative interview. Results indicated some commonality among the successful students with relation to overall attendance, use of email as a communication tool with professors, self-advocacy as it pertained to seeking support from professors and individualizing and personalizing the class/professor selection process. The findings suggested that there are specific strategies associated with student success at the post-secondary level and both K-12 schools and community colleges could incorporate skill building in these areas to improve retention and graduation rates.

Compared to their urban and suburban counterparts, rural students have lower college enrollment rates. Despite many school and community benefits including small class sizes, close student-teacher relationships, and strong connections among community members, many rural high school students’ post-secondary educational opportunities are constrained by factors such as: fewer college preparatory courses, narrow school curriculums, geographic isolation, high poverty rates, and limited access to college and career counseling. This action research study was conducted to examine how and to what extent underserved rural high school students constructed college-going capital through their participation in an English class designed to supplement their school’s limited college-access services. The study took place over a 19-week semester at Seligman High School, a small rural school comprised of approximately 55 students. To support their construction of college-going capital, students’ junior- and senior-level English class curriculums blended traditional college preparation activities with college-level reading and writing assignments focused on the U.S. educational system and its college-access inequities. The theoretical perspectives that framed this study included: social cognitive career theory, sociocultural theory, and critical literacy. Further, research on perceived post-secondary educational barriers and supports, dialogic discourse, and college access informed the study. By using a concurrent, transformative mixed methods research design, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected simultaneously. Then, while maintaining an advocacy stance, the data were analyzed separately and brought together to determine convergences and divergences. Drawing data from student surveys, student and researcher journal entries, student and college coach interviews, dialogic discussion transcripts, and an image elicitation process, this study showed that, through their participation in an English language arts college-going class, students developed college-going skills, knowledge, self-efficacy, and critical literacy. The study also revealed the following: students acquired varying levels of critical consciousness; students benefited from adult mentors coaching them about college-going; and students did not experience significant changes in their perceptions of barriers to and supports for college-going during their participation in the course.

In this dissertation I employed a culminating cycle of action research following two earlier ones to facilitate the creation of a professional learning community (PLC). My research took place at an elementary school in an urban area of the American southwest. As principal of this school I had initiated the policies and procedures that were often recommended to create PLCs. However, observations of teachers in PLC meetings indicated that conversations focused on logistical planning issues, rather than on the in-depth pedagogical discussions that characterize high functioning PLCs. To address this problem I introduced a form of peer observation into the PLC meeting. This was achieved by showing short video recordings of teachers in their classrooms. I used a mixed methods approach to investigate how this innovation influenced three constructs associated with PLC meetings: professional learning, the sharing of tacit teaching knowledge, and collaboration in the PLC.

Quantitative data consisted of responses to a survey given as a pre-, post-, and retrospective pre-test. Results showed significant gains for all three constructs between the retrospective pre-test and the post-test, but no significant gain between the pre- and post-test. Analysis of qualitative data produced four assertions. First, the process of peer observation during a PLC meeting benefitted the personal learning of teachers. Second, peer observation benefitted teacher teams' abilities to demonstrate the critical behaviors of a true PLC. Third, the process of facilitating peer observation through video recordings evoked negative emotions. Fourth, the degree to which teachers were able to learn from a video was influenced by their perceptions of the video's authenticity and similarity to their own classrooms.

In the discussion, complementarity of the quantitative and qualitative data was described and results were explained in terms of previous research and established theory. Additionally, practical lessons that were learned, limitations, and research implications were described. In a concluding section, I discussed my personal learning regarding leadership, innovation, and action research; the purpose of the doctorate in education; and strengthening connections between research and practitioners.

Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University recently adopted a "technology infusion" approach to prepare teacher candidates (TC) to integrate technology into their instruction and meet the International Society for Technology in Education Standards for Teachers (ISTE Standards*T) by infusing technology integration approaches into methods courses. At the onset of the technology infusion approach, one important ISTE Standard-T was neglected in the curriculum--that is, digital citizenship (DC), i.e., the responsible, legal, and ethical use of technology. To address this problem of practice, a suite of teaching materials and support services was created, the Technology Infusion Support System (TISS), to help instructors effectively teach DC. The suite consisted of four online modules on essential DC topics including copyright/fair use, digital footprint/social media, acceptable use policies, and responsible student behavior. The support component consisted of ongoing just-in-time support from a technology integration specialist, an instructor's guide, and a resource folder.

This mixed methods action research study was conducted to examine: DC instruction by those who used the TISS and the influence of DC instruction on TC's intention to promote and model DC in their future classrooms. With respect to the second objective, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) guided study efforts.

Participants included teacher education faculty members who taught DC in technology-infused methods courses, their students, and the technology infusion specialists who provided ongoing support to instructors throughout the duration of the study. Data gathered included survey data, observations, focus group interviews, instructor interviews, and researcher journal entries. Results suggested the TISS was a useful intervention in a college using a technology infusion approach. Course instructors provided consistent instruction on a topic outside of their area of expertise. Further, there was a significant increase in the students' intention to promote and model DC in their future classrooms. The discussion focuses on explaining: the effectiveness of DC instruction; how instruction in DC changes students' intentions to promote and model DC; and the usefulness of the TPB model in understanding how attitudes toward DC, and perceived behavioral control, i.e., efficacy, influence intention to promote and model DC.

The purpose of the iE3 Project was to explore the effect of using a collaborative apprenticeship model on the integration of student-owned mobile devices into classroom instruction. The iE3 Project was designed to overcome perceived barriers that prevented teachers from using student-owned mobile devices in the classroom. Based on earlier work, teachers suggested those barriers were support, time, resources, and professional development. Thus, the iE3 Project was conducted to empower teachers initiating the use of student-owned mobile devices as instructional tools. The study is grounded in situated cognition theory, situated learning theory, social cultural theory, and extends Evan Glazer's study of collaborative apprenticeship in a "bring your own technology" (BYOT) school environment. The literature review includes relevant studies from such areas as providing teacher support, employing collaborative planning time, using mobile technology resources, and offering authentic professional development within situated contexts. Participants included K-8th grade teachers. The 11 "non-user" participants established roles as peer-teachers (PT) and worked collaboratively with 11 "mobile device user" teacher leaders (TL) for twelve weeks during the iEngage, iEducate, and iEmpower phases of the iE3 Project. Participants completed pre- and post-intervention Stages of Concern Questionnaires and Innovation Configuration Maps, engaged in collaborative planning time, posted collaborative weekly reflections and descriptions of digital images online, completed a Perceived User Level retrospective survey, and participated in semi-structured interviews. The results of the project indicated a collaborative apprenticeship model as implemented in the current project was successful in addressing perceived barriers and empowered teachers to use student-owned mobile devices as instructional tools. Generally, results showed PT made substantial gains in using student-owned devices during instruction; reduced instructional, management, and other concerns about using mobile devices; and transformed them in terms of their thinking about using mobile devices for classroom instruction. Moreover, the perceived barriers were mitigated by using the collaborative apprenticeship model. In the discussion, complementarity of the quantitative and qualitative data were discussed and connections were made to the extant literature. Additionally, lessons learned, limitations, implications for practice, and implications for additional action research were discussed.

Academic transitions are a necessary and important part of an ASD student's life. Parental involvement and perspective is a vital part of each transition planning process. The primary goal of this research is to identify trends in parent perspectives regarding ASD academic transitions through meta-synthesis of current research. The research also seeks to identify shifts in parent perceptions of the importance of specific transitional program elements during different academic transitional periods. Results indicate a clear trend within each academic transition category as well as trends throughout the transition periods. The main trend in parental perspective throughout the transitions is the de-structuration of the transition planning process and increased personalization with the advancement of each academic transition. Possible uses of research results to ease the transition planning process for parents are summarized and discussed.

This study compared a stimulus fading (SF) procedure with a constant time delay (CTD) procedure for identification of consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) nonsense words for a participant with autism. An alternating treatments design was utilized through a computer-based format. Receptive identification of target words was evaluated using a computer format and the researcher conducted a generalization probe for expressive identification evaluation. Neither treatment condition resulted in consistent gains on the receptive identification measure. Both treatment conditions resulted in gains on the expressive identification assessment. The SF treatment condition was more efficient due to 1) accuracy in identifying all of the SF target words in fewer sessions than the CTD target words and 2) incidental learning that occurred as a result of exposure to additional SF words as distracter choices and in receptive identification assessments. Implications are discussed.

Abstract   Much has been researched and written concerning the structure, attributes, and benefits of the professional learning community (PLC), yet many have found that this highly collaborative model is difficult to implement. One reason for this was that conflict among team members often limited communication and therefore halted collaboration. In an attempt to overcome conflict, the researcher introduced an intervention to five grade-level teaching teams at a suburban elementary school where staff had been struggling to develop teams into PLCs. The intervention consisted of training participants in the use of collaborative norms, and then tracking the use of these norms during team meetings, as well as gathering the teachers' perceptions on how their team was being affected by the use of the norms. Seven training sessions were conducted, each devoted to an individual norm such as pausing, putting ideas on the table, or presuming the positive, and so on. A mixed-methods action research model was utilized in gathering and analyzing the data in this study. Qualitative measures included reflection journals completed by the teachers, open-ended survey questions, and written responses in which the teachers described prior to the intervention and again after the intervention how their team: 1. Is like a PLC, 2. Is not like a PLC, and 3. Is becoming like a PLC. Quantitative measures included a survey of team communication that used questions regarding efficacy, conflict, and candor/trust. Quantitative measures also included an instrument developed as part of the System for Multi-Level Observation of Groups (SYMLOG) which is used for recording evidences of values observed in team members. Results demonstrated increases in teachers' perceptions of friendliness among their colleagues, ability to deal with conflict amicably and constructively, and in teachers' perception that they were now being listened to and understood more than they had been previously. Teachers also reported that they came to think of their team as a PLC, and began to perceive that there were benefits with respect to student achievement because they were becoming a PLC. Discussion focused on lessons learned, implications for practice, and implications for research.