BY

I owe more than I can repay to the many individuals who helped me in the development and completion of this dissertation. First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Joan Garfield. Her wisdom, innovative thinking and generosity have helped me grow as a researcher and writer. Her guidance and feedback have been invaluable in completing my dissertation work. I am also grateful to have an amazing co-advisor, Dr. Michelle Everson. Her experience and skills as an editor were vital in the writing of my dissertation. Also, I thank Dr. Bob delMas for providing direction in choosing the appropriate analyses, helping me through issues in analyzing my data, and offering instrumental feedback. I would also like to thank the statistics education community for welcoming me with open arms. I am grateful that multiple statistics educators were willing to serve as reviewers of the statistical literacy assessment I developed for my dissertation and very appreciative that so many statistics instructors were willing to administer my assessment to their students. Without their help, my results would not have been as conclusive. I am also thankful to the wonderful students and instructors in the statistic