<p> The purpose of this study was to add to the knowledge on the value of professional communities of practice as a performance improvement intervention. <i> Value</i> was defined as the awareness of the benefits and outcomes, provided as improvement in a tangible or intangible way, that positively impact organizations and/or individuals and their personal and professional environment. The problem with the research on the topic of the perceived value of participating in a professional community of practice was the accessibility of information. Previous studies yielded results that professional communities of practice provide value to an organizational environment. However, there was limited information on how individual community members described <i>value</i> in a tangible way. This performance improvement research study answered the question, how do members of a professional community of practice describe their perceived value from participating? This single-case, explanatory, qualitative case study provided rich descriptions of members&rsquo; experiences of their (a) expectations when joining, (b) benefits realized from participating, (c) outcomes received due to participation, and (d) contributors to benefits and outcomes of perceived value from participating in a professional community of practice. The population was members of Toastmasters International, a learning professional community of practice. The sample groups were obtained from 2 sources: prerecorded Toastmasters International member testimonials published on www.toastmasters.org, and purposeful sampling of select tenured Toastmasters members who would be able to answer the research questions due to their experiences in the Toastmasters program. The data analysis included an innovative use of Thomas Gilbert&rsquo;s behavior engineering model. Whereas the model is normally used to find deficiencies that are hindering performance, for this case study, it was used to find the success factors that contributed to performance improvement. The answer to the research question could be summarized into two categories of findings. Research findings were that (a) members were able to evaluate their own participation as it pertained to tangible, quantifiable improvements in their performance (evidenced by 41% of the 49 participants&rsquo; ability to articulate outcomes) and (b) the motivators of participation that resulted in <i>value</i> and <i>personal improvement</i> as defined by the individuals were nonquantifiable elements such as recognition and external opportunities, and benefits beyond their initial expectations. This research could be useful for other formal and informal communities of practice to evaluate value in their organizations.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to illuminate the prevalence and configurations of peer mentoring programs at Central California Community Colleges with emphasis on how the programs impacted student retention. The study&rsquo;s sample was drawn from ten campuses and five centers that operate within five California Community College districts serving approximately 90,000 students annually. Using purposeful sampling, the researcher interviewed five administrators from four campuses and three districts toward obtaining in-depth information about their peer mentoring programs. Eight of the 15 campuses in the subject pool offered a peer mentoring program. All peer mentoring programs were instituted since 2013, and most of the peer mentoring programs were instituted between 2014 and 2016. Diverse peer mentoring programs across sites and districts were instituted between 2013 and 2016. It was revealed that quantitative data to track how peer mentoring impacted retention had not been gathered. This recent proliferation of community college peer mentoring programs refuted the historical underutilization noted in the scholarly literature. Recommendations for future research and practice included investigating whether the Central California Community College peer mentoring program proliferation that was discovered holds true in other areas of the state or country, examining why more campuses in the subject pool did not establish peer mentoring programs, and using quantitative methods to evaluate the efficacy of community college peer mentoring programs.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how college and career readiness teachers describe their lived experiences as they guide students from a K-12 district in Phoenix, toward their postsecondary aspirations. This study was derived from the funds of knowledge theory, status attainment theory, and social capital theory. Using these theoretical foundations collectively provided a stronger foundation for the study. Through interviews with 10 teachers, that taught a combination of fourth-through eighth- grade students, this study is an attempt to understand their lived experiences. This study was not an attempt to develop a new theory. However, this study was able to understand the perceptions and perspectives of college and career readiness teachers as they guided students toward their postsecondary aspirations. The results of this study present an analysis of the data in a non-evaluative, unbiased, organized manner that relates to the lived experiences of college and career readiness teachers. This study had five themes. The themes were: The idea that the structure of the schedule influences relationships; the influence of school support in relation to curriculum for the college and career readiness program; the influence of the socioeconomic status of the students in relation to the teacher&rsquo;s instructional outcomes; the importance of postsecondary education; and parental influence in relation to student aspirations. Given that at the time of this study the researcher was unable to find any literature related to elementary students postsecondary aspirations, this study potentially opens the door to additional future research in the area.</p><p>

<p> This study explored the interplay of a community college&rsquo;s vision, its leaders&rsquo; behaviors, strategic planning, and the use of data that contributed to an organizational culture that led to the improvement of student success. The researcher used a grounded theory approach to delve into the relationships and connections between these four institutional characteristics at three award-winning institutions: Bunker Hill Community College, El Paso Community College, and Guilford Technical Community College. The overall goal of the study was to develop a grounded theory regarding organizational success factors necessary to improve student success. The researcher visited each college for a two-day site visit, conducted twenty-three interviews of college leadership, faculty, and staff along with a document review of select publically available documents. The study yielded five findings leading to a grounded theory of five organizational characteristics that promote improving student success in the two-year institution. At all three award-winning colleges, there was a shared vision built upon a collective, unwavering commitment to student success along with frequent and consistent communication on student success. All three award-winning colleges believed their participation in Achieving the Dream which is focused on increasing student success was a key factor and pivotal point in propelling these colleges forward in their student success initiatives. The three award-winning colleges took action to effectuate the desired future. The college&rsquo;s cultures invited innovation and supported initiatives resulting in engaged employees. All three award-winning colleges understood the importance and transformational power of being accountable to themselves and to others. The colleges were growing in their use of data, were courageous in reviewing data, and cultivated a continuous improvement mindset. Finally, each college had a firm belief in understanding that people, passionate and purposeful, are the institution&rsquo;s greatest asset.</p>

<p> This explanatory mixed method research study investigates instructor and student perceptions regarding the factors that enhance or inhibit the self-directedness of American Sign Language (ASL) I students enrolled in institutions of higher education. This methodology was employed to learn from interviews with 10 participants, both students and instructors, as well as 20 students who participated in the Self Directed Learning Readiness Scale (SDLRS) aka the Learning Preference Assessment (LPA) developed by Lucy Guglielmino (1978). The SDLRS survey answered the first research question. As it is shown in research, the interviews clarified the numbers with the personal narratives to support the development of the conclusion of the study. The data collected were videotaped and transcribed by the researcher. A total of three themes emerged from this study to answer the six research questions. The goal of this explanatory mixed method study was to gain more knowledge of what the students in the introductory ASL class perceive their self-direction to be and to identify what works for them in regards to learning strategies. Findings from this study could provide deeper understanding and a rich source of information for the future ASL instructors to help reduce frustration among ASL students. </p>

<p> This study examined the impact of dialogue-based group instruction on student learning and engagement in community college meteorology education. A quasi-experimental design was used to compare lecture-based instruction with dialogue-based group instruction during two class sessions at one community college in southern California. Pre- and post-tests were used to measure learning and interest, while surveys were conducted two days after the learning events to assess engagement, perceived learning, and application of content. The results indicated that the dialogue-based group instruction was more successful in helping students learn than the lecture-based instruction. Each question that assessed learning had a higher score for the dialogue group that was statistically significant (alpha &lt; 0.05) compared to the lecture group. The survey questions about perceived learning and application of content also exhibited higher scores that were statistically significant for the dialogue group. The qualitative portion of these survey questions supported the quantitative results and showed that the dialogue students were able to remember more concepts and apply these concepts to their lives. </p><p> Dialogue students were also more engaged, as three out of the five engagement-related survey questions revealed statistically significantly higher scores for them. The qualitative data also supported increased engagement for the dialogue students. Interest in specific meteorological topics did not change significantly for either group of students; however, interest in learning about severe weather was higher for the dialogue group. Neither group found the learning events markedly meaningful, although more students from the dialogue group found pronounced meaning centered on applying severe weather knowledge to their lives. Active engagement in the dialogue approach kept these students from becoming distracted and allowed them to become absorbed in the learning event. This higher engagement most likely contributed to the resulting higher learning. Together, these results indicate that dialogue education, especially compared to lecture methods, has a great potential for helping students learn meteorology. Dialogue education can also help students engage in weather-related concepts and potentially develop better-informed citizens in a world with a changing climate.</p><p>

<p>The growing diversity of museum visitors has shifted art museums? educational goals towards developing new ways for visitors to create meaningful experiences. Currently, the predominant method of instruction for adults relies on the lecture based format. The argument made in this study suggests that the interactive strategies used for children could be equally beneficial if applied to adults, provided these activities are designed specifically for adults. Based on the research, when interactive activities are made available to adults it is usually done through a ?multi-generational? approach, inherently geared for adults accompanying children. To address this concern, the study surveyed the educational departments and programs of eight museums in Southern California. The results explore current educational trends and conclude with suggestions how museums can begin modifying and implementing interactive strategies for the adult visitor.

<p>Military adult learners enrolled in intensive language courses such as the Arabic Basic Course at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center may need to utilize specific learning strategies in order to reach high proficiency language achievement. These strategies are established in the literature as contributors to high language proficiency achievement. The problem addressed in this study was that the desired high proficiency levels defined as 2+/2+/2 on the Defense Language Proficiency Test remains unrealized. In order to understand how to help students excel in foreign language learning, this study compared self-regulated learning scores of students who met the proficiency goal of 2+/2+/2 to those who did not. The 2+/2+/2 are the scores of the listening, reading and speaking measured by Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) scale. The Motivated Strategies for Leering questionnaire was used to compare the self-regulated learning strategies of the high and the low language proficiency achievers. Interviews of the Arabic learners to understand what self-regulated learning strategies these learners used and how they developed their self-regulated learning strategies were necessary to determine what the high achievers did and what the low achievers did not do so that this information can be used to improve the way that the foreign language learners are taught. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS and Interviews were analyzed following the Powell and Renner&rsquo;s (2003) five steps of data analyses. The results of this mixed-methods study showed that using more self-regulated learning strategies increased the students&rsquo; language proficiency levels and also revealed how the students developed and used these strategies to increase Arabic language proficiency levels. </p>

<p> There exists a need for instructional designers to understand how to incorporate supportive interventions in online developmental pre-algebra/math course designs. College students at the undergraduate level who require remedial assistance and academic supports in mathematics must successfully complete developmental pre-algebra/math courses. The study describes instructional strategies for procedural, active learning, and cognitive constructivist instructional strategies in problem-based learning. The study included six volunteer instructional designers who shared their perspectives for design practices, supportive interventions, and procedures to assist learners. A sample of convenience purposive sampling strategy was used to allow access to the volunteer participants through public social media. The six participants responded to the 16 related guided interview questions and the data was analyzed. Eighteen individual themes emerged related to supportive interventions used in instructional design regarding, instructional strategies, motivation, learning theories, and interaction by students within the courses. The participants shared seven design models and practices for successful learning, seven supports, and 12 developmentally appropriate design practices, used in their instructional designs. The findings of this study support the premise that by combining cognitive constructivism, social constructivism and confidence builders, to effect motivation and self-efficacy for supportive interventions, the learner could potentially successfully complete the requirements for undergraduate online developmental math courses.</p>

<p> Degree completion has been a topic of debate in higher education institutions. Although efforts have been made to raise the rate of completion, the number of students completing college remains low. Low rates may lead to wasted time and money as students often take unnecessary coursework as a result of not having a well-developed plan for completion. To combat this problem, programs have been implemented at community colleges that are designed to meet student needs, develop tailored educational plans, and help students set goals. One such program is the Central Valley Promise (CVP) program, which offers a solution that could meet the specific needs students of the Central Valley of California. Upon meeting the entrance requirements, students are eligible to receive free tuition for one semester and the promise of support to completion for all students. Because CVP has the potential to affect many incoming students, it was important to examine whether it is achieving its goal. This study sought to gain understanding of student transition and career readiness. A survey was given to 402 CVP students during their first semester of college. A comparison group of 112 students also received the survey. All participants were incoming community college freshmen. Also, observations were conducted during three CVP events. Findings included an increased satisfaction and confidence level in academic performance, social life, and choosing a college major among CVP students. Recommendations include continued support for students, adding a mentorship component, and hiring faculty to exclusively work with CVP students. </p><p>