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Full-Text Articles in Education

Examining Social Capital And Its Role In Special Education Leadership, April K. Rist Mar 2024

Examining Social Capital And Its Role In Special Education Leadership, April K. Rist

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to analyze the relationships that existed between the special education leaders and other members of a district leadership team in order to measure their access to social capital. Quantitative data were collected using surveys of one school district’s leadership team and social network analysis (SNA) was used to visually analyze the connections between members of the team. Qualitative data were subsequently collected via semi-structured interviews of each of the 19 members of the leadership team. What types of ties do the special education administrators have to fellow administrators within district leadership teams? What …


The Professionalization Of Collegiate Recreation And The Educational Pathways Of Its Practitioners: An Exploratory Study, Jason R. Incorvati Nov 2023

The Professionalization Of Collegiate Recreation And The Educational Pathways Of Its Practitioners: An Exploratory Study, Jason R. Incorvati

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT THE PROFESSIONALIZATION OF COLLEGIATE RECREATION AND THE EDUCATIONAL PATHWAYS OF ITS PRACTITIONERS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY SEPTEMBER 2023 JASON R. INCORVATI, B.A. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST M.E.S.S., UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA Ph.D. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Ezekiel Kimball, Ph.D. The professionalization of collegiate recreation, like many fields, has led to attempts to standardize training, create shared language, come to an agreement amongst practitioners on what essential knowledge the work should be based upon, and have collective understanding as to how new members to the field should be socialized (e.g., Arminio, 2011; Duran & Allen, 2020; Wilensky, 1964). Professional associations …


Connecting And Developing Through Facebook: An Exploration Of Impact On College Women, Christine R. Sharry Nov 2023

Connecting And Developing Through Facebook: An Exploration Of Impact On College Women, Christine R. Sharry

Doctoral Dissertations

Social media continues to change global society, while providing the opportunity to access information, but also build and sustain relationships with others. These online tools have become a part of everyday life (Greenwood et al., 2016) and have an impact on the way people interact, connect, and learn from one another. College students today have been surrounded by social media since elementary school (Alquist, 2017). Therefore, college administrators and faculty need to understand the impact of these online tools on students’ learning and development to ensure their success. All foundational student development theories were created when digital environments were non-existent. …


An Analysis Of Puerto Rican Testimonios Of Oppression And Resistance In Postsecondary Education, Juan M. Ruiz-Hau Aug 2023

An Analysis Of Puerto Rican Testimonios Of Oppression And Resistance In Postsecondary Education, Juan M. Ruiz-Hau

Doctoral Dissertations

College enrollment rates for Puerto Ricans in the United States and in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico have been steadily increasing over the last twenty years; however, enrollment rates for 18- to 24-year-old Latinos remain low compared to whites of the same age groups. The rationale for this gap often portrays Latinos as deficient, using terms such as “academic underachievement” and “at-risk.” This framing—centered on the individual—shifts the focus away from systemic barriers, such as limited financial resources for Latinos, culturally relevant pedagogy, intergenerational transfer of disadvantage, and systemic racism, among other factors explored this this study. This study contributes …


For The Love Of Teaching: Pre-Service Teachers’ Experience Of Moral Education, Anne Marie Foley Ruiz Aug 2023

For The Love Of Teaching: Pre-Service Teachers’ Experience Of Moral Education, Anne Marie Foley Ruiz

Doctoral Dissertations

Moral aspects of teaching arise each and every day, yet we lack information about how prepared teachers feel about this critical aspect of teaching. This multi-case study explores perceptions of five pre-service teachers in an elementary teacher education program in Western Massachusetts. A series of interviews explore their histories prior to the program and their experiences in the program as related to the pre-service teachers’ orientations to the moral work of teaching. Research questions address the awareness and self-efficacy of student teachers in implementing the moral aspects of teaching. Using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006), this study explores beliefs …


Accreditation Of Teaching And Research Universities In Afghanistan: A Policy Implementation Analysis, Sayed Javid Mussawy Apr 2023

Accreditation Of Teaching And Research Universities In Afghanistan: A Policy Implementation Analysis, Sayed Javid Mussawy

Doctoral Dissertations

The quest for quality has encouraged many countries to establish quality assurance and accreditation models to sustain and improve quality. While some established their own procedures, a great majority of the countries including those in the developing world have adopted quality assurance policies developed in the Global North to respond to internationalization and to participate in the knowledge economy. However, most universities in developing countries lack adequate infrastructure to implement accreditation standards. Thus, investigating the implementation of accreditation policies in developing nations provides new insight into the opportunities and challenges posed by internationalization of quality assurance and accreditation. This study …


Validating Middle School Principals' Opinions About The Impact Of Investments, David Adler Apr 2023

Validating Middle School Principals' Opinions About The Impact Of Investments, David Adler

Doctoral Dissertations

Accountability for American public education systems, which spend more than $750 billion annually as of 2019, has been a topic of longstanding controversy. The test-based accountability movement has led to conditions that penalize schools that educate traditionally underserved students (low socioeconomic status, English language learners and students with disabilities are examined in this paper). Further, leaders of these schools lack evidence-based guidance to help make high-impact improvements, as schools serving high proportions of these students are rarely cited as exemplars of high-quality education. In three phases, this study demonstrates the feasibility of using a demographically normed, test-based status metric to …


The Gendered, Racialized, & Dis/Abled Experiences Of Neurodivergent Black Women Graduate Students Across Higher Education, Kat Stephens Oct 2022

The Gendered, Racialized, & Dis/Abled Experiences Of Neurodivergent Black Women Graduate Students Across Higher Education, Kat Stephens

Doctoral Dissertations

Black women graduate students with dis/abilities; those identifying as neurodivergent are scarce in contemporary research. Throughout widespread disability studies, research, and the research on neurodiversity, this lack is consistent regarding minoritized race and gender groupings (Matthews, 2019; Strong et al., 2020). Larger neurodivergent, ADHD, and Autism conversations tend to skew toward White boys and men (Travers, 2018). The convergence of disability (race, gender, and place/space) as another marginalized community and diverse student population, is an additional gap in the literature, despite the benefits of DisCrit (Annamma et al., 2013). Black women graduate students with disabilities, specifically those identifying as neurodivergent …


How Well Does The New York State Higher Education Opportunity Program Work For Black Men? A Mixed Methods Study, Michael A. Dejesus Iii Oct 2022

How Well Does The New York State Higher Education Opportunity Program Work For Black Men? A Mixed Methods Study, Michael A. Dejesus Iii

Doctoral Dissertations

Previous research trended towards a deficit-oriented approach to understanding and explaining Black male underachievement. The past education research has focused on discussing the underachievement of Black males in Higher education. Finding solutions often were prescriptive in “fixing” behaviors in Black males to improve academic achievement. Additionally, there has been a trend towards race-neutrality in education policies, programs, and admissions criteria. And there is a lack of research on whether race-neutrality further exacerbates Black male underachievement by ignoring key race and gender targeted supports services that could improve Black male academic outcomes in higher education. While Black men have historically struggled …


“Sustaining Peace From Campus To Community”, The Role Of Students To Promote Campus-Level Reconciliation: A Case Study Of Maluku, Indonesia, Julia Novrita Sep 2022

“Sustaining Peace From Campus To Community”, The Role Of Students To Promote Campus-Level Reconciliation: A Case Study Of Maluku, Indonesia, Julia Novrita

Doctoral Dissertations

In the context of intractable conflict, a higher education institution, especially a public state university, is not only a learning place for youth aged 18-26 years, but also a symbol of control, power, pride, and identity of dominant regional groups. This condition has made some scholars and practitioners in peacebuilding doubt the capacity of higher education to promote peace and reconciliation in the aftermath of war, arguing that the challenges outweigh the opportunities. Learning from the experience of the alumni of the Non-Violent Study Circles (NVSC) program and their affiliations at the University of Pattimura (UNPATTI), the largest public university …


Professional Learning Cultures At Work: How Principals Serve As Catalysts For Learning, Christopher J. Tranberg Jun 2022

Professional Learning Cultures At Work: How Principals Serve As Catalysts For Learning, Christopher J. Tranberg

Doctoral Dissertations

Principals are an influential factor in a child’s academic success (Manna, 2015; Louis et al., 2010; Waters et al., 2003). Although the path of influence is often indirect, principals affect student learning by developing and sustaining strong professional learning cultures (Hattie, 2009; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2012). As a result of the complexities surrounding principalship, a desire to understand the attributes, skills, and leadership actions of successful principals persists as an international focus of educational research. This study examines principalship through the experiences of various stakeholders within a school system utilizing a descriptive single case study ethnographic qualitative approach. This approach …


Who Benefits From Deferred Entry To College?: Exploring The Relationships Between College Deferment, Postsecondary Academic Success, And Institutional Selectivity, Gabriel Reif Jun 2022

Who Benefits From Deferred Entry To College?: Exploring The Relationships Between College Deferment, Postsecondary Academic Success, And Institutional Selectivity, Gabriel Reif

Doctoral Dissertations

Prior research on delayed entry and gap years have produced conflicting results on the relationships between deferring entry to college and postsecondary academic success. Specifically, studies on delayed entry have linked the phenomenon to lower attainment rates, while the literature on gap years has shown a positive relationship with college GPA. These conflicting findings make it unclear for students, families, counselors, administrators, and policymakers to understand whether deferring entry to college is an opportunity that should be pursued by more individuals or if it is something to be avoided. The focus of this dissertation was to bring prior findings on …


Financing Public Higher Education In Afghanistan: Alternative Sources And Options, Hassan Aslami Oct 2021

Financing Public Higher Education In Afghanistan: Alternative Sources And Options, Hassan Aslami

Doctoral Dissertations

Adequate financing is key to achieving the priority goals of higher education – access, quality, and relevance. In Afghanistan, the demand for higher education has increased remarkably while public higher education institutions still rely heavily on inadequate government funding. In addition, the constitutional provision guaranteeing free higher education up to the bachelor’s level in public institutions, the overall weak economy of the country, and the lack of institutional autonomy, contribute to financial austerity in public higher education institutions. This study explored alternative funding sources and options for financing public universities in Afghanistan. An integrated theoretical framework guided this study as …


Administrators Of General And Special Education Perceptions Of Leadership Practices For Supporting Inclusive Learning Environments For Students With Disabilities, Kimberly B. Cass Jun 2021

Administrators Of General And Special Education Perceptions Of Leadership Practices For Supporting Inclusive Learning Environments For Students With Disabilities, Kimberly B. Cass

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore and analyze general education and special education administrators’ perceptions of leadership practices that support inclusivity of students with disabilities in local public school districts. This study compared inclusive leadership priorities between special education administration and elementary principals across a total of 11 districts. Utilizing Q-sort methodology, special education administrators and principals sorted 40 inclusive leadership statements. The research questions that guided this study were: 1) How are inclusive leadership practice statements ranked similarly and differently among participants? 2) How do participants describe rankings for most and least important inclusive leadership practice statements? …


Chilean Teachers Responses To And Understanding Of Student Interaction With Diverse Peers In The Classroom, Javier Martín Campos-Martínez Jul 2019

Chilean Teachers Responses To And Understanding Of Student Interaction With Diverse Peers In The Classroom, Javier Martín Campos-Martínez

Doctoral Dissertations

Chile’s educational inequality has sparked intense debates in recent years (Cabalin & Bellei, 2013; Stromquist & Sanyal, 2013). While there is a wide consensus concerning the crucial role that teachers play in fostering inclusion in the classroom, research suggests that Chilean teachers, often without intent or awareness, reinforce exclusionary student interactions marked by social class and gender hierarchies (Carrasco, Zamora, & Castillo, 2015; SERNAM, 2009; Tijoux, 2013). Although teachers’ motivation and concern for questions related to exclusion and inclusion in education are spreading, navigating exclusionary dynamics can be particularly challenging especially since teachers’ initial and continuing professional education seldom addresses …


An Exploration Of The Influence Of Dimensions Of Organizational Behavior On The Relationship Between The Allocation Of Financial Resources And Persistence And Graduation Rates, Bryant Morgan Jul 2019

An Exploration Of The Influence Of Dimensions Of Organizational Behavior On The Relationship Between The Allocation Of Financial Resources And Persistence And Graduation Rates, Bryant Morgan

Doctoral Dissertations

This study was prompted by the limited body of research describing the relationship between the allocation of financial resources and student outcomes in higher education, and by the instance of contradictory and inconclusive results found in that research. With consideration that yet unidentified dynamics might account for the diversity of results, this study explored the influence of dimensions of organizational behavior on the allocation of financial resources at three colleges with differing rates of persistence and graduation rates, but that were otherwise similar in terms of other defining institutional characteristics. Q Methodology ascertained perceptions of senior leadership at the three …


Understanding Progress Toward Degree Completion For Student Veterans In The Post 9-11 Era: A Focused Life History Narrative, David T. Vacchi Jul 2018

Understanding Progress Toward Degree Completion For Student Veterans In The Post 9-11 Era: A Focused Life History Narrative, David T. Vacchi

Doctoral Dissertations

Veterans have long-succeeded in higher education, but because available data on contemporary student veteran success has been difficult to uncover, some question the success of this reemerging student population. While data is emerging that suggest student veterans are succeeding in higher education, this study sought to reveal factors that contributed to the success of graduating student veterans in the hopes that these factors can be nurtured in current and future generations of student veterans to help ensure their success as students. Using a new method, the focused life-history narrative, and a conceptual model grounded in nontraditional student theory and Astin’s …


Learning Prosociality Through Experience: Modeling The Outcomes Of Postsecondary Study Abroad And Service Learning, Christina Monte Jul 2018

Learning Prosociality Through Experience: Modeling The Outcomes Of Postsecondary Study Abroad And Service Learning, Christina Monte

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT LEARNING PROSOCIALITY THROUGH EXPERIENCE: MODELING THE OUTCOMES OF POSTSECONDARY STUDY ABROAD AND SERVICE LEARNING MAY 2018 CHRISTINA R. MONTE, B.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST M.S., DREXEL UNIVERSITY Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Dr. Ezekiel Kimball In recent years, study abroad and service learning programs have experienced rapid growth on college campuses. Study abroad requires students to travel to another country and experience a different culture while service learning exposes students to differences that exist in their own communities. Study abroad has the ability to internationalize the student experience. Service learning can help students recognize the needs of …


Educational Leaders’ Perspectives On Their Preparation, Practice, And Professional Development In Mtss, Jodi Drury Jul 2018

Educational Leaders’ Perspectives On Their Preparation, Practice, And Professional Development In Mtss, Jodi Drury

Doctoral Dissertations

The role of school leaders today directly impacts students and staff. Research into educational leaders’ perspectives and experiences with Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) provides a lens to help examine the culture of training and constructs of knowledge, of school leaders. The five research questions that drove this research study were: (1) What are school leaders in rural counties in Western Massachusetts current knowledge of MTSS implementation? (2) What experience do these school leaders have with implementing MTSS? (3) What training on MTSS did these school leaders receive? (4) Do these school leaders feel prepared to implement MTSS? (5) What …


The History Of Massachusetts Transfer And Articulation Policies In Contexts Of Evolving Higher Education System Structure, Coordination, And Policy Actors, Daniel De La Torre, Jr. Jul 2018

The History Of Massachusetts Transfer And Articulation Policies In Contexts Of Evolving Higher Education System Structure, Coordination, And Policy Actors, Daniel De La Torre, Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

Community colleges carry out dual missions providing occupational and collegiate preparation in local communities across the United States. These institutions prepare students for advanced study via transfer policies that lead to enrollment in baccalaureate institutions. State higher education systems use transfer and articulation policies to strengthen academic pathways between two-year and four-year institutions. These policies rely on established governance to facilitate student transfer between sectors. The transfer and articulation literature stresses the importance of statewide policy guidelines, yet little has been written about the process of transfer policy development involving state higher education governance and policy groups and actors. The …


Get In Where You Fit In: The Career Paths For White And Black Superintendents, Terrell Melvin Hill Mar 2018

Get In Where You Fit In: The Career Paths For White And Black Superintendents, Terrell Melvin Hill

Doctoral Dissertations

Scholars have not added much to the literature with regards to the small numbers of women and people of color in the superintendent’s role, particularly in New England. Even though women make up the overwhelming majority of teachers, somehow White males continue to hold the majority of superintendencies. This study is significant because it brings greatly needed attention to the career paths that superintendents take, and why White males and females are more successful in obtaining superintendencies. Through personal and confidential interviews, with semi-structured questions, of 12 White and Black, male and female superintendents, data was collected. The themes that …


Residence Directors As Residential Crisis Workers: Exploring The Role Of Campus-Based Critical Incident Stress Management In The Mitigation Of Compassion Fatigue, Noga Flory Jul 2017

Residence Directors As Residential Crisis Workers: Exploring The Role Of Campus-Based Critical Incident Stress Management In The Mitigation Of Compassion Fatigue, Noga Flory

Doctoral Dissertations

Residence Directors, as a result of repeated exposure to their students' trauma, are prone to developing compassion fatigue. Research on the use of college-based Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) has been shown to foster collaboration, consultation, and increased stress debriefing among staff who respond to critical incidents on campus. CISM can teach Residence Directors means of recognizing work-related triggers, contribute to the normalization of stress reactions, and improve healthy coping and self-care strategies. CISM can also potentially help reduce or diminish the incidence of compassion fatigue and burnout, thereby improving Residence Directors' overall professional and personal quality of life and …


The Leadership Experiences Of Female Special Education Administrators, Kerry E. Weir Jul 2017

The Leadership Experiences Of Female Special Education Administrators, Kerry E. Weir

Doctoral Dissertations

When Ella Young Flagg, the first female superintendent of the Chicago Public Schools, proposed that educational leadership was a woman’s “natural field” she could not have predicted that one hundred years later women would have neither a majority of school leadership positions, nor would they be proportionally represented when compared with female teachers (Grogan & Shakeshaft, 2011). Unlike the school leadership positions of the principal and superintendent that have been traditionally dominated by men, female leaders have achieved greater parity in special education administration (Keefe & Parmley, 2003). Although female special education administrators represent an exception to this phenomenon of …


Getting It Right: African American Male College/University Presidents And Their Early Cultivation Of Self-Efficacy, James Randall Jul 2017

Getting It Right: African American Male College/University Presidents And Their Early Cultivation Of Self-Efficacy, James Randall

Doctoral Dissertations

GETTING IT RIGHT: AFRICAN AMERICAN MALE COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS AND THEIR EARLY CULTIVATION OF SELF-EFFICACY MAY 2017 JAMES ANTHONY RANDALL, B.A., MOREHOUSE COLLEGE M.S.W., UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, COLLEGE OF SOCIAL POLICY AND PRACTICE Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by Joseph B. Berger Education remains the single most important means by which individuals in the United States can empower themselves economically, socially, and personally. In spite of this, a significant percentage of young African American males do not even appear to be competing or reaching for the educational opportunities before them as they rank the poorest amongst their peers in a …


Investigating The Relationship Between Implicit Theories About Intelligence And Teacher-Student Relationship Quality, Woodbury B. Clift Nov 2016

Investigating The Relationship Between Implicit Theories About Intelligence And Teacher-Student Relationship Quality, Woodbury B. Clift

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the influence of teacher held implicit theories about intelligence on the quality of their relationships with students within the context of a school co-located in a secure juvenile justice setting serving adjudicated adolescent boys. In Massachusetts, adjudicated youth attending schools co-located in juvenile justice residential settings have significant gaps in their formal schooling, are culturally diverse, come from impoverished communities, and have high rates of learning disabilities. Their teachers, on the other hand, are mostly middle class, white, and well educated. As such, an immense social and cultural relational divide inherently exists between the teachers and their …


Acculturation Stress, Psychological And Sociocultural Adjustment, And Development Of American Adolescents: A Qualitative Study Of Newton High School Exchange Students In China, Binbin Zhu Nov 2016

Acculturation Stress, Psychological And Sociocultural Adjustment, And Development Of American Adolescents: A Qualitative Study Of Newton High School Exchange Students In China, Binbin Zhu

Doctoral Dissertations

Theories from the extant acculturation literature functioned to categorize international students’ adaptation experiences and predict their acculturation outcomes. Also, relevant studies focused mainly on students at the tertiary level. For adolescent students seeking self-development toward independence and autonomy, how they negotiated their identity challenges and tensions in a cross-cultural context, and how surrounding others in their socialization impacted on their psychosocial adjustment process and transformative experiences have not been actively explored. This qualitative study approached adolescent students’ acculturation as an integrated development and learning process to explore the effects of developmental and cultural factors on their cross-cultural adaptation, especially examined …


Shared Focus/Collective Responsibility: The Lived Experience Of Educators As Members Of A Data Team In A Connecticut Public High School, Abbie-Jean M. Lareau Nov 2016

Shared Focus/Collective Responsibility: The Lived Experience Of Educators As Members Of A Data Team In A Connecticut Public High School, Abbie-Jean M. Lareau

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT SHARED FOCUS/COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY: THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF EDUCATORS AS MEMBERS OF A DATA TEAM IN A CONNECTICUT PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL This study explores the experiences of five high school English Teachers in a Connecticut public school acting as an Instructional Data Team as prescribed by the Connecticut Accountability for Learning (CALI) model. Data Teams are teams of educators that participate in collaborative, structured, scheduled meetings, which focus on the effectiveness of teaching as determined by student achievement. Data Teams adhere to continuous improvement cycles, analyze trends, and determine strategies to facilitate analysis that results in action. Data Teams can …


Turning Around The Culture Of Teaching And Learning: A Turnaround School Success Story, Rachael B. Lawrence Jul 2016

Turning Around The Culture Of Teaching And Learning: A Turnaround School Success Story, Rachael B. Lawrence

Doctoral Dissertations

In 2009-2010, Riverton Elementary School in Portland, ME was awarded a School Improvement Grant (SIG), supported by the Federal Department of Education (Federal DOE) through the Maine Department of Education. With this funding, Riverton undertook the challenge of the turnaround school model between 2010-2013, which resulted in positive change in academic achievement for their students and an improved teaching and learning climate and culture. This dissertation examines why the turnaround model may work, what is currently known about SIG funded turnaround schools, and what the specific actions and changes that led to the successful turnaround of this school were. While …


Special Education Leadership Practices That Support Postsecondary Transition Service Delivery For Students With Severe Disabilities, Laurel A. Peltier Nov 2015

Special Education Leadership Practices That Support Postsecondary Transition Service Delivery For Students With Severe Disabilities, Laurel A. Peltier

Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT SPECIAL EDUCATION LEADERSHIP PRACTICES THAT SUPPORT POSTSECONDARY AND TRANSITION SERVICE DELIVERY FOR STUDENTS WITH SEVERE DISABILITIES SEPTEMBER 2015 LAUREL A. PELTIER, B.A., GORDON COLLEGE, WENHAM M.A., UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND, KINGSTON C.A.G.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ed.D. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by Dr. Mary Lynn Boscardin In the past decade, researchers have made new forays into understanding educational leadership and the connections between leadership practices and outcomes for students. While evidence-based leadership practices at the building and district level are critical to the success of students in general and special education settings as a whole, the need for …


Implementing Universal Social And Emotional Learning Programs: The Development, Validation, And Inferential Findings From The Schoolwide Sel Capacity Assessment, Cheyne A. Levesseur Nov 2015

Implementing Universal Social And Emotional Learning Programs: The Development, Validation, And Inferential Findings From The Schoolwide Sel Capacity Assessment, Cheyne A. Levesseur

Doctoral Dissertations

In order to effectively transport universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs into natural settings, it is important to understand implementation barriers that may hinder the likelihood of successful outcomes (Fixsen, Naoom, Blasé, Friedman, & Wallace, 2005). The current study is primarily based on the notion that within the planning phase of implementation, few technically adequate assessment measures targeting both organizational capacity (OC) and provider characteristics (PC) for SEL programming actually exist. The purpose is to extend the SEL implementation assessment literature by developing a new rating scale designed to measure SEL implementation barriers (School SEL Capacity Assessment [SSCA]) and …