Student absenteeism is an issue facing many school districts across the United States. Literature in the field of education has often overlooked the effects of transportation on student attendance, creating a need for educators and administrators to further examine the efficacy of public transportation programs that allow students to ride fare-free to school. An extensive assessment of the literature revealed that there are few papers investigating the relationship between student absenteeism and the use of public transportation. The link between attendance and transportation has largely been focused on school busing programs, which have been found to increase student attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism. However, fare-free public transportation programs were found to harm student attendance. Further research should examine how unlimited access to stops can affect student attendance. Additional research could also look at how similar programs in rural areas perform. Further findings could aid school districts in budgetary decisions to keep such programs and help to reduce chronic absenteeism.

This study aims to understand the relationship between credible messenger mentoring practices, involvement with faculty-informal mentoring, and their impact on the educational journey of formerly incarcerated community college students. Therefore, the following research questions are asked: 1)How does credible messenger mentoring impact the pathway of formerly incarcerated community college students into a four-year institution? 2)How does the involvement with faculty-informal mentoring impact the pathway of formerly incarcerated community college students into a four-year institution? The study will employ a Freirean theoretical framework and methodology by applying Paulo Freire's problem-posing method. Additionally, Dr. Fierros and Dr. Dolores Delgado Bernal's platicas Chicana/Latina Feminist methodology informs the study's data collection methods with the goal of not furthering the co-researchers trauma or causing them to relive traumatic experiences with authoritative figures. Notably, Freire's three-step approach will allow the transformation of participants into active co-researchers. 1) Through an unstructured platica, co-researchers will help name the problem. They will be asked what they think are the most important issues or challenges they have confronted as formerly incarcerated students at HighPeak Community College. 2) Based on their responses to the previous question, co-researchers will help identify the causes of the problems they named through an unstructured platica. 3) The co-researchers and I will platicar how we can understand the causes of the problems named while solving the issues they have identified. It is suspected that the co-researchers will identify the issues or challenges faced at HighPeak Community College surrounding the themes of community and resources.

As social-emotional development continues to be a goal of public-school education, it is essential for educators to be provided the tools needed to effectively understand their personal relationship with imperialism and white supremacy and reasonably account for the impact this position has on the communities in which they educate. Educators are asked to teach students ideas like self-confidence, empathy, racism, colorism, homophobia, etc., through literature without formal guidance for navigating the role of the educator as an individual in relation to the topic being taught and the students themselves. The deeply personal relationships teachers build with students are important and require environments and practices that nurture them. By creating the most updated literature review on the topic, this research proposal intends to create room for full actualization of a common priority within the education field: The students' needs. This proposed study aims to answer the following questions: What do students need to feel safe in their learning space? What does professional development look like in a profession that relies on social and emotional connections to be effective? How does the introduction of Black literature into the literary canon affect traditional teaching pedagogy? In this review, I will analyze the relationship between education and Black liberation, and take a critical look at self-efficacy in teachers and current professional development practices in an effort to understand the role each of these aspects plays in the creation of equitable spaces for Black students.