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Optimising Time For Schoolwide Improvement: Developing A Time-Use Study Process For Mtss Leadership Teams, Hank Bohanon, Eleanor Charlton, Alejandra Vazquez, Anna Press

Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works

School reformers have inundated staff with numerous improvement efforts in recent years. These efforts include multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) that involve early, preventative interventions. Educators, already burdened with heavy workloads, may feel frustrated by the lack of time to implement MTSS approaches. Researchers suggest that time-use studies could help educators better understand and optimize their use of temporal resources. However, no time-study research has specifically addressed school MTSS leadership teams. This research involved developing a time-use study process to support leadership teams in gathering and reflecting on time-use data to improve MTSS implementation. Researchers gathered educators’ recommendations from four …

From Strain To Strength: A Narrative Review Of Wellness Dimensions In Caregiving, Valerie Perkoski

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

This narrative review investigates the positive aspects of being a family caregiver for individuals with developmental disabilities (DDs) using the National Wellness Institute’s Six Dimensions of Wellness (Emotional, Physical, Intellectual, Occupational, Spiritual, and Social). While much research has traditionally focused on “caregiver burden,” this review highlights the often-overlooked beneficial outcomes of caregiving. Emotional wellness is enhanced through gratitude and resilience. Physical wellness is discussed through interventions like physical activity, which can reduce caregiver distress. Intellectual wellness emphasizes personal growth and self-actualization, helping caregivers find fulfillment in their roles. Occupational wellness shows that employment and community engagement can reduce anxiety among …

University Placed-Based Community Engagement And Adult Learners: A Field Report In Mutual Flourishing, Elisabeth Stevens, Kate Witvliet, Abbie Lipsker, Craig Mattson

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Although higher education increasingly focuses on both community engagement and adult learners, community-engaged research rarely considers them together. This article bridges the gap in the literature between undergraduate adult learners and community engagement. Providing one example of a partnership that considers adult learners as necessary partners for community engagement, Calvin University’s 49507 Initiative is a place-based community educational project in southeast Grand Rapids, Michigan, focusing on the goals and needs of adult learners in the 49507 zip code and adjacent neighborhoods. Through 12 focus groups in the community, adult residents discussed their interests in higher education, identified barriers to higher …

Teaching Multicultural Counseling: A Phenomenological Exploration Of Counselor Educators’ Voices, Cameka Hazel, Paul Leheste, Raymond Blanchard

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

This study explored the perceptions of counselor educators who taught the graduate level multicultural counseling course. Six participants shared experiences, leading to four themes: personal and professional rewards, who is fit to teach? dealing with resistance and difficult conversations and limited time and class size. Implications for counselor education are discussed.

Counselors’ Experiences Of The Alliance In Videoconference Supervision: The Role Of Nonverbals, John E. Trenery, Azra Karajic Siwiec, Randall L. Astramovich

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

The role of nonverbal immediacy and intimacy in shaping the supervisory alliance during videoconference-based clinical supervision is understudied. Using a generic qualitative research design, data were collected from 15 practicing counselors through semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis identified six primary themes, highlighting both the perceived barriers and the essential role of nonverbal cues, as well as the need for amplified behaviors in video-based interactions. The findings point to significant gaps in telesupervision training and introduce a novel framework to strengthen telepresence in videoconference supervision. This study offers actionable insight for educational institutions and governing bodies, emphasizing the importance of targeted curricula …

Dismantling Racism In The Classroom: Recommendations For White Male Counselor Educators, Jason L. Vannest, Rebecca J. Vannest, Lorise D. Grey

Journal of Counselor Preparation and Supervision

In response to the historical tradition of Eurocentrism and Whiteness in counseling programs in the United States, the American Counseling Association (ACA) and the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES) have challenged their members to confront implicit bias, become allies with Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC), and commit to challenging racism and implicit bias. Despite these robust calls to disrupt racism and implicit bias, counselor educators - specifically White male counselor educators (WMCEs) - may wonder how to effectively take action due to their own racial identity. Several factors may contribute to WMCEs' reticence to deconstruct racism and …

We Got You Sis: Body Mapping As An Embodied Pedagogical Approach To Sexual And Reproductive Justice Studies, Renata J. Hall

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Adolescent Math Anxiety: Teachers' Grouping Approach At The Intersection Of Multiple Student Identities, Dara Shifrer, Hannah Sean Ellefritz, David Hernandez-Saca, Allison Roda, Karla Santana Martinez

Sociology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Math anxiety represents a substantial barrier to many students’ math learning. In this paper, we apply interdisciplinary perspectives to data on over 13,200 ninth graders and their math teachers from the High School Longitudinal Study. Results suggest that being perceived as dis/abled relates to heightened math anxiety regardless of adolescents’ gender, or race and ethnicity. Our intersectional approach reveals that adolescents’ expressions of math anxiety do not always correspond with gender, racial, and ethnic stereotypes, with Black girls, Black boys, and Latine boys expressing relatively low levels of math anxiety. Finally, consistent with the principles of inclusion and universal design, …

Epistemologies Of Inclusion Across Continents And Cultures, Anne Carr, Athena Alchazidu, Gabriella B. Bonilla, William A. Booth, Antonina Bulyna, Katerina Chudovaf, Pilar Constanzo, Oleh Shlapakov, Jorge L. Schlotteri, Liudmyla Sukhovetska, Patricia Tineo, Olena Yasynetska

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

"It is hard to think in two languages when your feet are freezing." Words swim through her head, but she is unable to catch any of them (twelve-year-old Syrian migrant, Warga 2019).

In these ‘liquid’ times of hyper-diversity, students’ lives marked by their identity practices and social relations can tell us how future inclusive global citizenship will be crafted and negotiated. During 2023, students and professors from universities in Ecuador, Argentina, Dominican Republic, United Kingdom, Czech Republic and Ukraine participated in a series of virtual meetings to explore and present the multiple threads that connect the local expression and negotiation …

Married And Co-Teaching While Abroad: A Case Study, Rachel Renbargera, Munube Yilmaz, Tracey Sulakc

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

The existing literature on co-teaching, higher education, and study abroad settings discusses best practices, but it largely overlooks how these frameworks may interact and influence the co-teaching experiences of married couples, which would ultimately impact student outcomes. This study utilizes a qualitative case study approach to examine how students in a higher education program experience and perceive a study abroad course taught by a married couple. The data were collected from six undergraduate students through focus group interviews, observations, and a survey. Information from the course syllabus and interviews with the professors was also utilized. Results illustrated that married co-teachers …

Mobility, Migration, And Cultural Political Economy: Personal Narratives Of Immigration Policy, Max Crumley-Effinger

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This study embraces the opportunity to explore students’ immigration experiences from a cultural political economy (CPE) perspective, beginning with a review of literature relevant to understanding students’ perspectives of host nation international student mobility and migration (ISM) policy, followed by an outline of the CPE theoretical framework. The study’s methodology is presented, outlining how findings were obtained through a qualitative content analysis of interviews with 40 international students studying in Australia, Canada, and the United States. Findings are then presented through the words of study participants, highlighting how international students connect their ISM policy experiences with the local CPE contexts …

Understanding Interventions For Generational Trauma From The Experienced Counselors’ Perspective, Christina Ann Cartagena

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Healing generational trauma involves counselors’ understanding and recognizing the symptoms of unhealthy coping mechanisms in adults who witnessed adverse emotional reactions as children. Generational trauma occurs when generations have trouble building healthy relationships and pass unhealthy coping mechanisms to future generations. There has been a reported increase in youth and adults seeking mental health services for generational trauma. The problem was that there was insufficient information about how counselors recognize and respond to the symptoms of generational trauma or what treatment methods or modalities to use to support patients. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the …

Ethical Community Engagement And Leadership Development In A Community-Partnered Course, Joy Kadowaki

High-Impact Experiential Learning in Practice: Pedagogical Essays Guided by the PIRA Framework

Joy Kadowaki is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work.

This essay describes a semester-long, community-partnered leadership project in which students collaborated with Five Oaks residents to co-create neighborhood storytelling tools grounded in ethical community engagement and PIRA.

The Heart Of An Educator An Autoethnographic Study Of Homeschool Practices That Reflect Core Udl Principles, Kimberly Clinton

Dissertations

The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework was at the heart of this study, which served as a critical lens for examining the instructional design practices embedded in the homeschool environment. Specifically, I examined how the three core tenets of UDL: representation, action and expression, and engagement were reflected within the Clinton Homeschool Instructional Learning Design (CHILD). The aim was to identify how homeschool instruction, as implemented by the researcher, parallels UDL principles in its responsiveness to learner variability, its emphasis on flexible instructional delivery, and its commitment to student-centered engagement. In contrast to the dominant educational paradigm, which often …

How Does Johnson & Wales University In Providence Combat Food Insecurity On Campus For Its Students?, Ava Zajczenko

Interdisciplinary Studies: Student Publications

Across the United States, an increasing number of people are becoming food insecure, and a part of this population are college students. With tuition, housing, books, and personal expenses, college students have a large financial burden placed on them when they enter college. Johnson & Wales University is a private university with a prestigious culinary program. With food being at the forefront of many students, professors, and chef instructors’ minds at JWU, this raises the question: How does Johnson & Wales University in Providence address food insecurity on campus for its students? JWU already has multiple resources that exist on …

Human-Centered Leadership Coaching For School Redesign & Career Connected Learning, Monica White

Bank Street Education Center

Focusing on the Bank Street Principal Innovation Fellowship’s first cohort, this report examines how coaching supported principals as they implemented FutureReadyNYC, the district’s career-connected learning initiative. Through case studies of four principal-coach pairs, the report identifies an emerging leadership coaching model—including key principles, practices, and outcomes—that contributed to meaningful school-level progress and offers insights for school systems seeking to use coaching to strengthen principals’ capacity to lead complex change.

2026 February - Mary V. Jordan Center Newsletter, Mary V. Jordan Center, East Tennessee State University

Mary V. Jordan Center Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Voces Of Teachers And The Politics Of Literacy: A Case Study Of Multilingual Kindergarten In A Midwestern Urban District, Rachel Chapman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The United States is home to more international immigrants than any other country in the world with about a quarter of its children learning two or more languages while growing up. This study explored teachers’ experiences with children's home languages as they learned English for the first time in a kindergarten classroom. In kindergarten, children build their emergent literacy skills as they enter the beginning stages of reading, when children use letter sounds to decode words. Because teachers have largely been left out of the debate about policy formation and curriculum on teaching reading, this study focused on teachers’ experiences …

Sit, Stay, And Teach: Exploring Teachers' Perceptions Of Facility Dogs' Impact On Stress And Retention, Dennis Powers

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

The teaching profession remains at a high level of workplace stress, a factor contributing to teacher burnout and turnover. The study examines how teachers in K-12 public education perceived that facility dogs might reduce stress, increase job satisfaction, and aid in teacher retention in public schools of a southeastern state. The study employed a qualitative, cross-sectional survey that was emailed to 112,546 educators from a LISTSERV request. A total of 1,242 individuals provided informed consent and completed the survey, which consisted of Likert-scale measurement items, open-ended questions, and an informational video inserted to achieve a common understanding of the facility …

How (And Why) To Start A Math Circle At The County Jail, Aram Bingham

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Math circles are a common form of outreach usually run by professional mathematicians as enrichment for K-12 students or teachers. As a setting to stimulate interest and develop positive socialization around mathematical practice, a regular math circle can also be an effective bridge to higher education in carceral settings for both facilitators and participants. This article describes my journey through starting and running math circles in county jails, with a view towards the expansion of mathematics education as another tool for the dismantling of mass incarceration.

Women Representation In Higher Education Leadership In Egypt: A Qualitative Study, Eman Fouda

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to investigate women representation in higher education leadership in Egypt. Currently, the representation of women in leadership roles in higher education is not proportionate to the percentage of women in Egypt, or even to the percentage of women employed in education. The importance of this topic arises from the implications of gender inequality. This research explores the perceptions of women in higher education regarding the social and cultural barriers that hinder their advancement to leadership positions. The discussion is in light of the social dominance theory and the cultural and social issues that stand …

Informing Change: A Final Research Report On The Findings From The Longitudinal R&D Partnership For Math Equity Project, H. Colleen Sinclair, Samuel Robison, Youn Kyoung Kim, Stacey R. Terrio, Judith Lee Falgout Rhodes

Reports

This report covers a three-year partnership between the LSU Social Research and Evaluation Center, East Baton Rouge Parish Schools (EBR Schools), and DreamBox Learning, in which we conducted a longitudinal, multi-method examination of the effectiveness of DreamBox’s tech-based math intervention on EBRPS student performance. The three key research questions – developed with guidance from our Gates Foundation funding partners – are outlined below with abbreviated conclusions. The body of the report provides further detail on the methods, results, and interpretations of our quantitative study. We complement these conclusions with qualitative insights drawn from focus groups with teachers and students.

Exploring Teacher Perspectives On The Self-Esteem Of Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders: A Qualitative Study, Bahaa Al Ghraibeh

Archives of Assessment Psychology

Self-esteem affects many other abilities of students with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD). Teachers can play a crucial role in influencing the self-esteem of these students. This interpretive qualitative study aims to investigate teachers' perceptions of the self-esteem of students with EBD, identify the factors they believe affect these students’ self-esteem, and explore the strategies they employ to enhance the self-esteem of these students. The results reveal three key themes: first, teachers perceive that students with EBD frequently face challenges related to self-esteem; second, they recognize that a variety of factors influence the self-esteem of these students; and third, teachers …

Assessing Learning In Simulation Learning Experiences In Graduate Programs For Speech-Language Pathology: A Phenomenological Study, Robyn Walker, Casey Ozaki

Teaching and Learning in Communication Sciences & Disorders

The purpose of this study was to use qualitative inquiry to explore how faculty assess student learning in clinical simulation-based learning experiences (SBLEs) used to demonstrate clinical competence in graduate programs in Communication Sciences and Disorders: Speech-Language Pathology (CSD). The following research questions were addressed: How do faculty experience the assessment of learning in SBLE? In what ways do faculty assess student learning in SBLE specifically designed to meet clinical competency standards? What, if any, effect has the COVID-19 pandemic had on the use of SBLE and assessment of student learning used to address clinical competency standards? A total of …

The Indispensable Role Of The Sister Disability Agencies: Safeguarding Progress And Enhancing Outcomes Through Collaboration, Lesley Cottrell, Susan Given, Christina E. Wiseman

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

This manuscript emphasizes the critical importance of having a Disability Network of services—including University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDDs), State Councils on Developmental Disabilities, and Protection & Advocacy organizations - in promoting systemic innovation and improved outcomes for individuals with developmental disabilities. Highlighting a case study from West Virginia, where collaboration between West Virginia University’s Center for Excellence in Disabilities, Disability Rights of West Virginia, and the West Virginia Developmental Disabilities Council has resulted in cost-effective, sustainable improvements, this paper underscores the urgent need to protect and expand these programs amidst current policy threats. The evidence underscores that …

Increasing Participation Through Online Focus Groups With Adults With Intellectual Disabilities, Emily L. Cary, Chris A. Taylor, Susan Havercamp, Andrea Witwer

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

The aim of this study was to develop and describe methods on how to conduct virtual focus groups with adults with intellectual disability. Using a community-engaged research approach, adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities helped develop virtual focus group methods. We report on the implementation of these methods through an illustrative application of applying these adaptations to virtual focus groups with 13 adults with intellectual disability in a study assessing their perspectives on mental health therapy.

This work resulted in several adaptations that can enhance inclusivity of focus group research to individuals with intellectual disability. Adaptions broadly included: involving guardians …

Educating Medical Trainees On Mental Healthcare And Intellectual And Developmental Disabilities, Andrea Palmieri, Joan B. Beasley, Micah Peace Urquilla, Jennifer Mclaren

Developmental Disabilities Network Journal

Many children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) experience mental health conditions and commonly receive treatment with psychotropic medications. Prescribers often overuse these medications in children with IDD, who are frequently treated with polypharmacy and antipsychotics, a trend that continues into adulthood. Medical trainees receive little training regarding the IDD patient population. This paper describes the development and evaluation of an evidence-informed, easy-to-use training curriculum. The 6-hour training establishes a foundation for medical trainees regarding the treatment of mental health conditions in people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD-MH) as part of an integrated health, interdisciplinary treatment approach. …

Lanthorn, Vol. 60, No. 10, January 26, 2026, Grand Valley State University

Volume 60, August 4, 2025 – April 20, 2026

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Stories From Former Foster Youth College Graduates: The Positive Impact Of K-12 Schooling And Related Educational Policy, Amanda Moon, Kristen D. Seay

Faculty and Staff Publications

Youth in foster care face disproportionate challenges when it comes to education and personal well-being. Many studies use a deficit lens when evaluating these challenges. In contrast, this study is asset-based, centering first-person accounts from five former foster youth college graduates. Using a counter-narrative framework, we conducted semi-structured interviews with participants to reveal key supports in K-12 schooling participants believed helped them achieve academic and life milestones. These were relationships with teachers and coaches, access to extracurricular activities, and literacy-rich environments. We also reviewed 11 relevant federal educational policies to identify provisions and implementation needs that aligned with participant experiences. …

Leader Perspectives From Policy To Practice: An Exploration Of Deiajb Accreditation Expectations In K-12 International Schools, Jennifer Lea Garzia

LMU Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, various school accreditation bodies have incorporated new standards and processes that focus on diversity, equity, inclusion, access, justice, and belonging (DEIAJB). Yet, how DEIAJB expectations are perceived and implemented remains underexplored. This study examines the perceptions of international school leaders in Brazil and Italy, and how they interpret and enact DEIAJB school accreditation expectations. In this qualitative exploratory study, ten international school leaders were interviewed. Guided by Shields’ Transformative Leadership Theory (2009), data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using thematic coding. Findings revealed that leaders viewed DEIAJB accreditation expectations as a legitimizing framework that …