This study examines the experiences of high-achieving talented undergraduate Black women inside and outside the classroom at a predominantly white urban university. Much of the higher education research studies how college affects students and how they develop psychosocially during their undergraduate experience. Using a series of semi-structured qualitative interviews with undergraduate honors students, this study examines how Black women make meaning around their experiences in their social and academic lives at college. Intersectionality is used as a theoretical framework to analyze participants’ experiences and to consider the salience of their intersecting racial, gender, and academic identities. Results indicated that inside the classroom participants were spotlighted and felt they were the representatives for their identity groups. In campus life, they were isolated and faced microaggressions from peers. Participants described their intersectional race x gender x academic identity as most salient in their experiences at college. Implications discuss strategies for creating more inclusive academic and social environments and future research for high-achieving undergraduate Black women. / Urban Education

The question of why smart Black girls get in trouble is in need of an answer, particularly when the answer is provided from a smart Black girl’s perspective. In the past decade, researchers have suggested that school bonds amongst students and between students and adults can have a direct impact on the success of the student (Roorda, 2011). This research is particularly relevant as it pertains to school bonds for high achieving students of color within urban school environments (Archer-Banks, 2012; Eisele, 2009). Directly related to this conversation is how school bonds or teacher-student relationships are impacted by school discipline policies and how these policies affect student performance and perception towards school. The school discipline research speaks to clear disparities which suggest that students of color are disproportionately targeted and are frequently given more severe punishments than their peers (Crenshaw et al., 2015; Kinsler, 2010; Monroe, 2005; Townsend, 2000). While Black boys surpass all other students in terms of disproportionate disciplinary sanctions in school, Black girls are not far behind as the most highly targeted race amongst female students (Black et al., 2011; Jordan et al., 2009; Monroe, 2005). With the questions: how do high achieving Black female students conceptualize the cause of their own actions as they navigate classrooms and corridors especially behaviors categorized as discipline issues and 2) what effect does the institution’s discipline of them or their experience of that discipline have on their future aspirations, this study builds on the literature about the self-expressed experiences of African American girls by interviewing eight participants who fit the seemingly contradictory criteria of being high achieving students involved in excessive disciplinary infractions. The study finds that students identify two key areas as propellers of their misbehavior: a contentious teacher-student relationship and personal stress caused by home related issues or negative relationships with peers. Students expressed clear frustration with the discipline policies and felt that past discipline practices did not consider what caused misbehavior resulting in unfair discipline consequences. In fact, students often labeled the school as being unaware of their true self. Despite the high frequency of their involvement with the discipline system, most participants’ view of their personal self was not negatively impacted and all students had positive views of their future success. / Urban Education

School leaders are increasingly being required to support students beyond academic metrics. The Covid-19 pandemic caused unanticipated closures in schools throughout the country forcing many students to an unfamiliar online environment. In the months that followed, anxiety and loneliness rose dramatically, requiring staff to re-think how to best support the social emotional needs of students. The purpose of this study was to identify how principals perceive their role in providing social emotional learning (SEL) support for all students in high-achieving schools (HAS) in both in-person and virtual learning environments. Using a phenomenological research design, principals from high achieving schools were interviewed to identify their perceived role in providing SEL for all students. This research suggests that relationships are essential in providing SEL in a meaningful way and principals rely on a variety of staff to ensure students are receiving SEL in traditional (in-person) and virtual environments. Principals expressed a deepened urgency for SEL needs due to the global pandemic of Covid-19. The role of the principals is uniquely positioned to support both the structural and interpersonal supports needed to develop SEL for all students. As the growing evidence supports the inclusion of SEL-related activities, principal and teacher preparation programs should include SEL training as part of the curriculum as part of pre-service training. Additionally, school divisions should provide in-service opportunities for those already in the field. The findings from this research underscore the important role that principals have in promoting a SEL-supportive culture. Implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are also shared. / Doctor of Education / The purpose of this study was to identify how principals perceive their role in providing SEL support for all students in high-achieving schools (HAS) in both in-person and virtual learning environments. Due to the widespread closure of in-person schooling across the country in the fall of 2020, school leaders have been forced to think differently on implementing support for the whole child. Using a phenomenological research design, principals from high achieving schools were interviewed to identify their perceived role in providing SEL for all students. A review of the literature shows SEL can be delivered at both the classroom and whole-school level and has academic, behavioral, and societal benefits. Findings showed that principals are uniquely positioned to develop SEL-supportive cultures by providing a common vision, structural supports, and opportunities to increase long-term relationships. Principals utilized a variety of people and places to provide SEL for all students, with a strong emphasis on building relationships. The capacity of both school leaders and teachers plays an important role in providing SEL with fidelity. Principal's expressed a deepened understanding of the urgency of SEL. In light of limited pre-service training at both the teacher and administrative level, additional professional development is needed in this area as schools seek to address the whole child.

This mixed-methods study investigated the relationship between self-concept and problem-solving style and how these two constructs compared and contrasted in regards to a participant's perception of his or her problem-solving ability. The 86 study participants were high-achieving rising 11th and 12th grade students attending a summer enrichment program for agriculture. This study used a concurrent triangulation mixed methods design. The quantitative aspect of the study employed two instruments, SDQ III to test perceived self-concept and the VIEW to determine the perceived problem-solving style. Concurrent with this data collection, 13 open-ended interviews were conducted to explored the description of the problem-solving process during a problem-solving event. The reason for collection of both quantitative and qualitative data was to bring together the strengths of both forms of research in order to merge the data to make comparisons and further the understanding of problem-solving ability of high-achieving youth. The study discovered that self-concept and problem-solving style have a weak relationship for many of the constructs and a negative relationship between two of constructs. The qualitative component revealed that high-achieving youth had clear definitions of problem-solving, a rich and descriptive heuristic approach, a clear understanding of which resources provided key information, and a strong depiction of themselves as problem-solver. An emergent concept from the research was the participants' perceptions of the team-based structure and how the inclusion of multiple ability levels versus high ability levels affected the participants' perceptions of solving a problem in a team situation. The mixing component of the study depicted the influence of self-concept on the problem-solving style. This study was an initial exploration of the relationship between self-concept and problem-solving and compared the current results with previous research. It extended and connected the previous research areas of self-concept and problem-solving style. As an initial study, it led to recommendations for further research across education as well as additional exploration of the emergent relationships identified. Finally, the study denoted the importance of mixed-methods research due to the interconnectivity between self-concept and problem-solving style and the participant descriptions of themselves as problem-solvers. / Ph. D.

This qualitative study was designed to examine the influences of language, culture, and power on teacher instructional decision-making with high-achieving African American students in advanced secondary English classrooms. The research questions were crafted to address how language, culture, and power influenced: (1) teachers' instructional planning when working with high-achieving African American students in the secondary English classrooms as they use literary and informational texts to support literacy development; (2) teachers' understanding of how language, culture, and power impact instructional decision-making when planning for literacy development with high-achieving African American students in advanced secondary English classrooms, and (3) teachers' understanding of how language, culture, and power influence learning and achievement for high-achieving African American students in advanced secondary English classrooms. The framework for this study was grounded in several intersectional theories related to; (a) schools as communities of practice (Wenger, 1998); (b) language as identity shaper and inseparable from culture (Delpit, 2002;Gee, 2005; Labov, 1972; Lee, 2007; Nieto, 2010; Smitherman, 1977; and Thornborrow, 1999); (c) culture as emergent due to human interaction (Carrithers, 1992); (d) power is a force in all relationships and interactions, which creates imbalances and determine the degree to which the language variations and cultures interact freely and equitably (Burbules, 1986; Freire, 1921/1970; Giroux, 1992; Nyberg, 1981; Shrigley, 1986); (e) race is a social construct and racism is normal infiltrating every aspect of US society including the education of marginalized groups (Delgado and Stefancic, 2012; Ford, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1995); (f) secondary students acquire, develop, and engage with literacy differently from their elementary counterparts and require teachers to deepen their knowledge about the ways adolescents engage with texts (Alexander, 2003; Chall, 1983; Goldman and Snow, 2015; Idrisano and Chall, 1995; McConachie and Petrosky, 2009; Moje, 1996/2002; Piercy and Piercy, 2010; Schoenbach, Greenleaf, and Murphy, 2012; Shanahan and Shanahan, 2008). Participant interviews, lesson plans, and field notes generated data to address the research questions. Findings demonstrated language, culture, and power are intersectional and influence every aspect of the instructional decision-making process. This study provides insight into teacher's thinking about their planning and how the inquiry constructs influence that planning. / Ph. D.

The academic achievement gap in the State of California has been a persistent problem. In California the achievement gap is defined as the disparity between the academic performance of white students and other ethnic groups as well as that between English learners and native English speakers, socioeconomically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities as compared with students without disabilities (CDE, P-16, 2008, p. 11). Jack O'Connel, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has identified closing the achievement gap as one of the primary goals for the State of California. Research has consistently shown that children of color and children of poverty have not experienced the academic success of their white peers. Utilizing the meta-analysis of research data from Mid-continent Research for Educational Learning (McREL), this study is a quantitative review of the 21 Leadership Responsibilities and Best Practices identified by school leaders from Ceres Unified School District, more specifically, from leaders in nine high-achieving schools within the district. The nine identified schools and leaders have experienced academic success with children of color and children of poverty based on their Academic Performance Index Similar Schools Rankings. In the study, two levels of surveys were conducted. The first survey reviewed the leadership responsibilities identified by McREL and asked the study participants to rank the leadership responsibilities based on the responsibilities that they perceive to have the most significant impact on student academic achievement. Employing the results of the first survey, a second survey utilized the top five leadership responsibilities identified by the study participants. Under the umbrella of the top five responsibilities, five best practices were listed and again ranked by the participants based on their perceptions of the leadership practices that have the greatest effect on increasing student achievement. The results of this survey identified the best practices perceived by leaders of high-achieving, high poverty schools. Additionally, a questionnaire was completed by the participants to provide additional demographic data. The study results support the findings that best pedagogical practices are complimented by effective leadership. Effective leaders and leadership practices do have a positive effect on student academic achievement.

Denna systematiska litteraturstudie ägnas åt att undersöker vad dagens tillgängliga forskning belyser om litteraturundervisning i skolans mellanår samt om forskningen lyfter något om litteraturundervisning som kan vara fruktbar för högpresterande elever. Tidigare forskning visar att undervisningen behöver stärkas när det gäller att stimulera och utmana högpresterande elever. Samtidigt lyfter vissa studier fram undervisningsformer som kan vara användbara inom ramarna för den ordinarie undervisningen och som kan leda till att inga elever behöver falla mellan stolarna.

Detta examensarbete har undersökt hur låg- respektive högpresterande elever påverkas av problemlösningsuppgifter i matematikundervisningen. Är det främst de relativt högpresterande eleverna som har störst nytta av matematisk problemlösning för att få en djupare förståelse i matematik? Kan problemlösning användas för att få upp intresset för lågpresterande elever? Spelar det någon roll hur problemuppgifter är formulerade? Arbetet har genomförts genom en begränsad systematisk litteraturöversikt genom en databassökning via sökmotorerna DiVA, ERIC och Springer följt av en narrativ analys av tolv utvalda artiklar. Resultatet från detta examensarbete tyder på det främst är de relativt högpresterande eleverna som har störst nytta av matematisk problemlösning för att få en djupare förståelse i matematik. Det är främst dessa elever som möter problemlösning i sin matematikundervisning, vilket gör att de blir mer vana vid problemlösning än andra elever. De lågpresterande eleverna ges inte samma möjligheter att utveckla sin förmåga att lösa matematiska problem. Problemlösning kan dock användas för att få upp intresset för lågpresterande elever. Gruppsammansättningar kan här ha en stor betydelse för hur bra elever kan prestera. Lågpresterande elever presterar t.ex. bättre efter samverkan i en heterogen grupp tillsammans med mer högpresterande eleverna. Resultatet tyder också på att det har betydelse hur problemuppgifter är formulerade för att öka elevernas förutsättning att utveckla sina förmågor att lösa matematiska problem. Textbaserade problemlösningsuppgifter anpassas sällan till elevernas kunskapsnivå. Problemlösningsuppgifter bör därför vara konstruerade så att de inte är för svåra utan är anpassade till elevens kunskapsnivå. Det finns t.ex. en tydlig koppling mellan textbaserad problemlösning och elevernas läsförståelse. Examensarbetet drar också slutsatsen att elever får begränsade förutsättningar att skapa lösningsmetoder eftersom uppgifterna i deras läroböcker mycket sällan kräver ett kreativt matematiskt resonemang för att kunna lösas. Läroböckerna behöver därför kompletteras med flera problemlösningsuppgifter, särskilt på en enklare nivå och i sammanhang som eleverna kan relatera till. / This thesis has investigated how low- and high-achieving students are affected by problem-solving tasks in mathematics education. Is it primarily the relatively high-achieving students who benefit most from mathematical problem solving to gain a deeper understanding in mathematics? Can problem solving be used to raise the interest of low-achieving students? Does it matter how problem solving tasks are formulated? The work has been carried out through a rapid systematic literature review through a database search via the search engines DiVA, ERIC and Springer, followed by a narrative analysis of twelve selected articles. The results from this thesis indicate that it is primarily the relatively high-achieving students who benefit most from mathematical problem solving to gain a deeper understanding in mathematics. It is mainly these students who encounter problem solving in their mathematics teaching, which means that they become more accustomed to problem solving than other students. The low-achieving students are not given the same opportunities to develop their ability to solve mathematical problems. However, problem solving can be used to raise the interest of low-achieving students. Here, group compositions can have a major impact on how well students can perform. Low-achieving students perform e.g. better after collaboration in a heterogeneous group together with higher performing students. The results also indicate that it is important how problem tasks are formulated to increase the students' prerequisites for developing their abilities to solve mathematical problems. Text-based problem-solving tasks are rarely adapted to the students' level of knowledge. Problem solving tasks should therefore be constructed so that they are not too difficult but are adapted to the student's level of knowledge. There is e.g. a clear connection between text-based problem solving and students' reading comprehension. The thesis also concludes that students are given limited opportunities to create solution methods because the tasks in their textbooks very rarely require creative mathematical reasoning in order to be solved. The textbooks therefore need to be supplemented with several problem-solving tasks, especially at a simpler level and in contexts that the students can relate to.

The purpose of this study was to identify the experiences, attitudes, and successes of a group of high achieving African American female students that impact their on-time high school graduation. On-time graduates are described as students who complete high school in four years. High achieving African-American female students completing high school on time identified factors related to family, school, and community as essential in their success. Several underlying factors are within the three themes that studies show can be used as a way to pilot programs, deter drop-outs from leaving school early, and cohesively work in communities across the United States. A qualitative approach was used to analyze a selected group of high achieving African American females' perceptions to their success in high school. The research questions were: 1. What school factors do a group of high achieving African-American female students perceive as attributing to their on-time graduation from high school with honors and advanced diplomas? 2. What family influences do these high achieving females perceive as attributes to graduating on-time with honors and advanced diplomas? 3. What community influences do these high achieving African American females' perceive as contributors to on-time graduation with honors and advanced diplomas? Twenty-four high achieving African American females' from one high school were eligible to participate in the study. Eight students participated in the study, which included open-ended interview questions and a sentence completion questionnaire. All interview questions were centered on the support provided by the school, community, or family. The results of the study showed parents; specifically the mothers of the participants had the greatest impact on the high achieving African American females' performance in high school. The teachers of the high achieving African American female students were supportive and caring. The community recognition that the high achieving African American females received was a motivating factor to varying degrees. The high achieving African American female participants, in the study, all possessed intrinsic motivation and work ethic to be academically successful. / Ed. D.

The problem addressed in this study was the inability of certain schools in a rural school district in Florida to achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP) in comparison to a neighboring school district where students consistently made AYP. Research has shown a positive relationship between student achievement and principal leadership skills. The purpose of this study was to identify patterns in elementary teachers' perceptions of their principals' leadership skills related to student achievement and elementary principals' perceptions of their own leadership practices and compare those perceptions. The conceptual framework for this qualitative case study design was instructional leadership. Twelve teachers of Kindergarten to Grade 5 from 3 high-achieving elementary schools volunteered to participate and provided data through 2 focus groups with 6 primary grade teachers and 6 intermediate grade teachers respectively. Principals at the same 3 high-achieving elementary schools provided data through semistructured interviews. Open coding and thematic analysis yielded 4 themes from the principals' responses, including instructional leadership, hands-on leadership, communication and collaboration, and management by visibility. The teachers' responses resulted in the themes of high expectations for student achievement, a supportive learning environment, consistent collection and review of student achievement data, and an overall positive school climate to promote exemplary instructional practices and student success. A positive social change that can stem from this study is implementing principal leadership practices related to the findings in low-achieving schools. This may result in gains in student achievement, leading to increased academic and economic opportunities.