ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND ENGAGEMENT

encouragement throughout the writing of my thesis. Thank you for encouraging me to continue with my education and striving for excellence, for being so willing to help me at every turn of my thesis, and for showing me how to use SPSS. I appreciate your faith in me and your guidance in ensuring everything I did was to the best of my ability. I would also like to thank Dr. Hurbertus von Bremen and Dr. John Rock. I appreciate the patience and willingness the two of you showed me during office hours as I took your challenging courses. I would like to thank you for being so caring and inspiring. I thank you both for serving as member of my thesis committee and for being such excellent models of excellent mathematics professors. Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends for their continued love and support. I would like to thank my parents, Ruben and Alice Ortiz, for their time and sacrifice to ensure I had the best opportunity to achieve my dreams and goals. I would like to thank my older sister for always being in my corner preparing me for what was in my future. I would also like to thank my friends for their love and support. I am very privileged to have such wonderful people in my life. Thank you! ii