The purpose of this study was to take a piece of popular culture, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and use it as a pedagogical tool in a graduate criminal theory course to serve as a pilot study. Evaluation data showed that using the Sorcerer's Stone is an effective way to teach students how to apply criminological theory hypothetical examples of behavior.

Diversity across U.S. classrooms is on the rise which is leading to renewed calls for teachers to meet individual learning needs. Studies indicate the failure to address individual learning needs can lead to higher rates of student disengagement, off-task behaviors, and diminished learning outcomes. Differentiated instruction is an approach to teaching that meets the growing diversity of individual learning needs by considering students' readiness, interest, and learning styles. Differentiated instructional approaches help teachers meet individual learning needs by allowing them to modify instruction as needed. However, despite the apparent benefits of differentiated instruction, teachers are hesitant to abandon other educational models. Research has shown beliefs about student learning influence teachers classroom practices. If teachers do not possess beliefs supporting differentiated classroom practices, then calls for additional implementation may go unheeded. Thus it is important to examine teacher beliefs that may help or hinder implementation of differentiated instructional practices. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher beliefs connected to teaching, learning, and differentiated instruction in diverse classrooms. This study used qualitative case study methodologies to interview, survey, and observe the beliefs and practices of four white, female, veteran middle level educators operating in diverse classroom settings. Data analysis revealed the following themes: (a) differentiated instruction is considered essential, (b) teachers' diversity definitions influenced their differentiated instructional strategies, (c) the classroom environment influences teachers self-efficacy, and (d) professional development sessions support differentiated instructional practices. Conclusions drawn from this study may be used to help improve teacher practices--and ultimately learner outcomes--by informing teacher preparation and professional development, state and local educational policies, and curricular reform efforts.

Within each classroom, many children excel academically while others struggle. Some students' difficulties are such that they require placement into educational programs different from grade level core and perhaps delivered outside of general education classrooms. For many, special education programs are the lifeline to reach their innate potential. For others misplaced into special education, their opportunities may be truncated. For the past 40 years (Dunn, 1968), disproportionate representation of minority children in some disability categories has been a problem. Educators commonly ask "Is a child's difficulties due to language differences or a learning disability?" One key area of confusion relates to the cognitive assessment of English language learner (ELL) students. While it is understandable that scores generated by English cognitive tests will not reflect an ELL child's true abilities, less is known about the appropriate use of native language (Spanish) cognitive assessments. This study examined the performance of ELL general education students on the Bateria III: Pruebas de habilidades cognitivas, a Spanish parallel to the Woodcock-Johnson JJI. The performance of 34 third- and fourth-grade participants, 16 who have received native language literacy development (NLD), and 18 who have received English language development, was compared to the normative sample's (monolingual Spanish speakers) General Intellectual Achievement (GIA) score, subtest and cluster scores. ANOVA and t test analyses indicated both ELL groups scored significantly lower than the normative sample on GIA, short-term memory, long-term retrieval and crystallized intelligence and higher on auditory processing. Thus, the Bateria's scores from these factors may underestimate the abilities of ELL students. Correlation analyses were conducted to examine the relationships between language proficiency, acculturation and performance. No significant relationships were found. The last analysis compared subtest mean scores of the ELD group to Flanagan and Ortiz's (2001) predicted pattern of performance on the Culture-Language Interpretive Matrix (C-LIM) for diverse individuals when tested on the WJ-HI. The score patterns of the ELD group did not follow the predicted pattern. A new arrangement of the Bateria's subtests on the C-LIM is suggested. These findings highlight the need for more research to understand how ELL students perform on Spanish cognitive assessments.

The ways in which faculty navigate the relationship between their personal identity and the identities of their military connected students, especially concerning their approaches to teaching behaviors (Barnard-Brak, Bagby, Jones, & Sulak, 2011) are influenced by normative values that their institution or department supports (Weidman, 1989) as well as by the values that they themselves hold (Barnard-Brak et al., 2011). Given the fraught history of academia and the military (Summerlot, Green, & Parker, 2009; Downs & Murtazashvili, 2012), such variables are especially important to measure as student-faculty interaction impacts student learning outcomes (Cruce, Wolniak, Seifert, & Pascarella, 2006; Ethington, 2000; Kim, 2010; Kim & Sax, 2009, 2011, 2015). Toward that end, the primary purpose of this study was to create a multi-institutional survey instrument that operationalizes perceptions of teaching behaviors amongst faculty who educate military-connected students (MCS) at civilian colleges and universities. Main objectives included creating and developing items specific to unique teaching behaviors and ensuring validity of this instrument. I used a variety of analyses to create the instrument and to ensure validity of content within the survey. I followed DeVellis’ (2017) model for scale development to create and validate the Military-Connected Student-Faculty Interaction Questionnaire (MCSFI-Q). Eleven field experts participated in cognitive interviews to provide sources of evidence for construct validity (Miller et al., 2014) as well as to uncover and resolve content validity and construct validity issues (Padilla & Benítez, 2014). Following data collection, I conducted content and construct validity analysis to develop a valid and more parsimonious survey instrument. Results from all analyses led to the conclusion that the MCSFI-Q is comprised of conceptually valid items that operationalize teaching behaviors amongst faculty who educate MCS at civilian colleges and universities and that the MCSFI-Q has the potential to collect accurate data. Research next steps include further empirical testing in order for the MCSFI-Q to be useable in measuring teaching norms amongst faculty who educate MCS at civilian colleges and universities.

Researchers suggest that restorative justice processes in schools are a successful alternative to traditional punishments for school discipline, and are used for both reactive and proactive responses to behavior issues. However, the processes are not sustainable if the administration implementing restorative justice do not promote a restorative justice ideology (RJI), and if all systems that impact the student are not aligned. Therefore, study was conducted to compare the level of restorative justice ideology between groups of administrators, teachers, and parents with a validated restorative justice ideology survey instrument that includes cooperation, restoration, and healing, and an accumulative score for RJI as a whole. Data were collected and analyzed with a One-Way ANOVA test at a selected convenience sample of 45 schools in a Western state. Using the theories of restorative justice, pedagogy, and Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems model, the comparison of ideologies between these groups indicated a statistically significant difference between administrators and parents in the restorative justice ideology belief of restoration, and in the overall belief of restorative justice ideology, showing a lack of alignment. The findings can impact social change by the identification of barriers in sustainable implementation of restorative justice in schools. The findings can also be used to suggest an evidence-based model that includes parents and families in all stages of planning, implementation, and continued practice, along with consideration that restorative justice is a belief system rather than a behavior intervention.

Heeding current best practice, many teachers prioritize student-centered instruction as the most effective pedagogy to achieve student learning. However, preservice teachers at a small, southeastern U.S. university have expressed reservations in executing student-centered instructional methods when they become lesson facilitators. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine whether probational elementary teachers have the knowledge and skill set to execute student-centered instruction and identify the characteristics of this method based on their preservice experiences. The conceptual framework consisted of constructivist, humanism, and social learning, theories . The four research questions focused on participants' understanding of student-centered and teacher-centered pedagogical methods, whether or not their understandings changed in practice, and what factors influenced those changes. Purposeful sampling provided 5 probationary elementary teachers who had graduated from the same university. Data included 3 semistructured interviews, 2 classroom observations, and a review of instructional materials. Data were inductively coded and analyzed throughout the collection process. Findings revealed that each participant practiced and could theoretically identify the characteristics of both student-centered and teacher-centered methods; however, they could not identify these characteristics consistently in their own practices. Findings indicated that preservice teachers needed more exposure to student-centered pedagogy. Teachers who develop proficiency with student-centered pedagogy may be better able to empower students to solve problems, make decisions, advocate, and negotiate relationships with others. These characteristics are the foundation for active citizenship making positive social change possible.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience difficulties with learning age-appropriate daily living skills (DLS) at their homes, schools, and in the community. Such skills are significant for independent life, post-school education, employment, and overall quality of life. Video prompting (VP) is a teaching practice that has demonstrated positive outcomes in teaching a variety of DLS to individuals with ASD. The overarching purpose of this collected papers dissertation was to investigate the effects of VP interventions on improving DLS of individuals with ASD. This dissertation included two separate papers. The first paper was a meta-analysis that examined the overall effect of VP when teaching DLS to individuals with ASD across single-case research design (SCRD) studies. An analysis of potential moderators was also examined: VP intervention types, participants’ ages, and participants’ disabilities. There were 54 participantsacross17 studies meeting the study’s inclusion criteria. The results demonstrated a high-moderate effect size (ES) for VP on the acquisition of DLS across 17 studies including 54 participants. The analysis of potential moderators showed no significant differences across all moderator variables. Limitations and implications for research and practices are provided in Chapter II. The second paper was a SCRD study comparing the effects of VP alone to least-to-most prompting alone on improving three office-related tasks to secondary-aged children with developmental disabilities. An adapted alternating treatment design (AATD), including baseline, comparison, best treatment, and final treatment phases was used to examine the interventions. Data related to the effects, efficiency, and social validity of both interventions were collected to address the research questions. Video prompting was effective for all participants, while least-to-most promoting was effective for two participants. Also, VP was more efficient than least-to-most prompting in terms of sessions-to-criterion and percent of errors for all participants. Least-to-most prompting was more efficient than VP in terms of the total duration of teaching time for all participants. Finally, all participants and their teachers reported positive perspectives regarding the study’s procedures and outcomes. Limitations, future research, and implications for practices are discussed in Chapter III. Lastly, the summary of the entire dissertation and extended discussions of both papers are presented in Chapter IV.

This study examined the use of an intervention, Contrastive Analysis (CA), with fourth-graders’ writing in a Central Appalachian elementary school. The purpose was to improve the use of Standard English in students’ writing in Appalachia by decreasing the number of vernacular features typically used in the writing. The researcher collected data through Consent and Assent Forms, interviews with the fourth-grade teacher, classroom observations and an accompanying CA observation evaluation rubric, pre- and post-writing prompts, selected writings and Writer Self-Perception Scale (WSPS), as well as communication data. Data analysis was accomplished for both the prompts, writing pieces and the WSPS scores. The primary results of the study indicated that the students’ use of vernacular features did in fact decrease after the implementation of CA. An approach that takes into account the vernacular or nonstandard dialect from the home speech of children, CA is utilized to help them perform better in writing in school. The CA approach has been used successfully with African American students primarily in large urban areas. The research results indicate that lessons from CA may be “customized” and used successfully with students who are speakers of Appalachian English. During the eleven-week study, the fourth-grade teacher implemented the intervention and a fifth-grade teacher also led a non-intervention group. A comparative analysis was done to determine whether membership in the fourth grade intervention group was a significant factor in lowering non-standard features in writing. This was a descriptive case study. At the beginning and end of the study, teachers of the fourth- and fifth-grade groups administered pre- and post-tests to their respective groups in the form of writing prompts. The researcher and a second reader did vernacular counts of the writings of both groups. A comparative analysis of the frequency of vernacular features (VFs) in the writing of the fourth-grade group showed decreases greater than the fifth-grade group in three of four categories of vernacular features in writing. The categories were: regularization of past-tense verbs, multiple negation, subject/verb agreement, and pronominal difference. There was only a 1% greater decrease of VFs for the fifth grade in the fourth category. A scale of self-efficacy in writing, the Writer’s Self-Perception Scale (WSPS), was also administered by the teachers pre- and post-study to both groups of students. The difference between the fourth- and fifth-grade pre- and post-WSPS scores was not statistically significant. The findings of the study are important because they show that the use of the CA approach, when used with students from the Appalachian subculture who are speakers of Appalachian English, does make a difference in their rate of usage of Standard English in writing.

There is much research conducted on training teachers to use the evidence-based teaching strategies known as system of least prompts. However, there is little research conducted on using a modified system of least prompt. This study examined the fidelity of implementation by two early childhood teachers using a modified system of least prompts with preschool aged children. A multiple-probe design across participants was used to determine the effect of fidelity of implementation of a modified system of least prompts strategy on the level of on-task student engagement. The results showed that early childhood teachers could implement the modified teaching strategy with fidelity while also increasing the level of on-task engagement.

This study analyzed the perceptions of University of Kentucky Dietetic and Human Nutrition students as they relate to the benefits and barriers of study abroad educational opportunities. The final sample consisted of 164 participants, with 18.9% (n=31) in the Coordinated Program in Dietetics (CP), 32.3% (n=53) in the Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD), 42.7% (n=70) in the Human Nutrition (HN) program and 5.5% (n=9) who identified their program as ‘other’. The primary barriers to participation in study abroad were cost and problems fitting education abroad into the current program of study. The primary benefits were identified as dietary and health knowledge acquisition, cultural knowledge acquisition and forming relationships with other students, professors and members of the host community. The information found in this study can be used in the design of study abroad programs for nutrition majors to make programs tailored to fit these students’ needs.