Digital Commons Network^™

Postsecondary Opportunities For Young Black Males From Urban Communities: The Barriers Of College Entrance Exams, Steven J. Mitchell

Doctoral Dissertations

This research examines the experiences of young Black males from Tennessee urban communities regarding their postsecondary opportunities shaped by college entrance exams. Through a narrative qualitative approach, this study explores the challenges and triumphs faced by these individuals as they navigated the complex landscape of higher education admissions.

The research site encompassed urban public high schools in West Tennessee, providing a context rich in diversity yet full of systemic barriers to equitable access to postsecondary education. The participants included three young Black males who are freshmen at three different Tennessee postsecondary institutions, each offering unique insights into their journeys through …

Perceptions Of School Administrators On The Effectiveness Of Career And Technical Educator Teacher Preparation, Sheila K. Morris

Doctoral Dissertations

This study investigates the perceptions of school administrators regarding the effectiveness of career and technical educator (CTE) teacher preparation programs. As the landscape of education continues to evolve, the importance of CTE programs in preparing students for the workforce has gained significant attention. Central to the success of these programs are the educators who deliver instruction. However, limited research exists on how school administrators perceive the preparedness and effectiveness of CTE teachers.

Utilizing qualitative research methods, this study explores the perspectives of school administrators through semi-structured interviews. Data analysis reveals themes related to the perceived strengths and weaknesses of CTE …

A Qualitative Case Study Examining Teacher Perceptions Of Servant Leadership In Private K-12 Schools, Leighton Ray Upton

Doctoral Dissertations

Teachers’ values and beliefs are a key motivation to how teachers will perform in the classroom, interact with students and their colleagues, and influence the culture of a school (Borg, 2015; Davis, 2018; Finley, 2016). However, teachers do not always instruct students based on their personal values and beliefs (Fives & Gill, 2015; Diehl & Golann 2023). In this qualitative case study, the theoretical framework of servant leadership was used to understand teachers’ values and beliefs and how those beliefs influenced the culture of a school. Thirteen teachers from three private religious schools in the southeastern part of the United …

Experiences With Student Loan Debt: A Phenomenological Study Of First-Generation, Low-Income College Graduates, Sarah Leigh Gardner Thomas

Doctoral Dissertations

First-generation and low-income (FGLI) individuals currently represent a large percentage of the total undergraduate student enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities. Student loan debt in the United States is also at an all-time high with approximately 43 million Americans sharing the $1.75 trillion total. Because FGLI individuals, like many other college students, often take on large amounts of student loan debt to successfully graduate college, it is worth learning more about the long-term effects that student loan debt has on the experiences of FGLI college graduates within the first ten years of graduating with a baccalaureate degree. The purpose of …

Counselor Influences On College Decision Making, Jordan Mccarter

Doctoral Dissertations

Although numerous studies have been devoted to understanding the role of the counselor in schools, few studies have been conducted to understand the specific influence that counselors have on girls throughout their college admissions process (Bryan, Farmer-Hinton, Rawls, & Woods, 2017; Bryan, Holcomb-McCoy, Moore-Thomas, & Day-Vines, 2009; Bryan, Moore‐Thomas, Day‐Vines, & Holcomb‐McCoy, 2011). The purpose of this study was to examine the interactions between girls and their high school college admissions counselors and the resources and programmatic offerings of the college counseling office that girls experience. Perna’s (2006) proposed conceptual model of college student choice served …

Identity Formation And Role Expansion For Nurse Practitioner Residency Preceptors: A Qualitative Thematic Analysis, Angel Chen Kuo

Doctoral Dissertations

Employer-based nurse practitioner residency programs have been implemented to address the significant shortage of primary care providers in the community clinic settings. However, there continues to be a shortage of clinicians who serve as preceptors to nurse practitioner residents and students. Preceptors, also referred to as clinician educators, are essential in the training of learners and their socialization into the profession. Just as there is a shortage of clinicians of diverse backgrounds to reflect the population served in the community, there is also a significant shortage of preceptors of color to train learners from diverse backgrounds. The purpose of this …

Reconciling Self-Censorship: A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of University Staff And Administrators, Leigh C. Morales

Doctoral Dissertations

In addition to a global pandemic, the past three years have been marked by racial, social, and political unrest. These circumstances add meaningful context to examine and better understand factors that undermine free expression and contribute to self-censorship among university staff and administrators. To date, few studies have holistically explored the unique experiences of university staff and administrators with self-censorship and how this phenomenon affects their experience on college and university campuses. Understanding why staff and administrators choose to self-censor may allow for a deeper discussion about speech climate and the degree to which colleges and universities implement and uphold …

The Use Of Amicus Briefs To Influence A Supreme Court Decision: Framing Espinoza V. Montana (2020), Anita F. Morgan

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to examine how amici curiae frame policy preferences in amicus briefs submitted before the United States Supreme Court in the landmark case, Espinoza v. Montana (2020). The questions addressed in this study were what dominant policy frames do interest groups use to frame policy preference in Espinoza v. Montana (2020), and which (if any) policy frames found in the amicus briefs emerged in the written opinions of the United States Supreme Court?

Five a priori codes based on Semetko and Valkenburg’s (2000) generic frames were used to analyze 18 out of 45 …

The Devil Did Not Make Me Do It: Understanding Factors That Influence College Choice Of A Faith-Based Institution, Phillip Lowell Cook Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations

The process of choosing a college can be quite difficult for high school students and their families. If the student considers issues of faith in this process, it can cause additional complexity. While researchers have examined many factors that influence the college selection process (Baliyan, 2016; Espinosa, Bradshaw & Hausman, 2000; Noel-Levitz, 2012; Nurnberg, Schapiro, & Zimmerman, 2012; Perez, 2008; Tucciarone, 2007), there is little research that focuses on the factors that influence the selection of a faith-based institution. Research shows the factors that affect this process are varied and include the influence of parents (MacCallum, Glover, Queen, & Riggs, …

Impact Of Covid-19 On New Teacher Retention And Perceived Supports In A Northern California Public School District, Rebecka Maxkenzie

Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative study examined teachers, schools, and district approaches to new teacher retention with a COVID-19 spin. In the changing world of a global pandemic and shifting teaching modalities, including distance or hybrid learning environments, teachers reflected on their experiences of adaptation. Interviews with teachers in their first three years in the profession were conducted to share the stories of new teachers amid COVID-19. New teachers were recruited through a snowball sampling technique from a large school district in the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California. To answer the research questions, participants were interviewed about the presence or absence …

Fifty Years Of Underrepresented Student Advocacy At One Jesuit Secondary School, Sonya Cotero Arriola

Doctoral Dissertations

Across the United States Conference, Catholic and Jesuit secondary schools are experiencing tremendous change in their student demographics. Schools of today are being challenged to consider what true inclusion looks like within their community vis-à-vis students whose racial, economic, sexual and gender identities do not fit the traditional Catholic or Jesuit school mold. The racial and social order of the United States is replicated within Catholic and Jesuit schools, even when those same communities claim to promote values of inclusion and opportunity. History offers valuable insights to school communities grappling with these questions.

This qualitative study centers the efforts of …

Women In Senior Leadership Roles Career Mobility, Challenges, Success Stories And Need For Future Research, Giselle Flores Martin

Doctoral Dissertations

Women in Senior Leadership Roles Career Mobility, Challenges, Success Stories and Need for Future Research Women represent 57.4% of the US working population (~77M in 2019). From this, 51.8% held positions in managerial or professional roles. Although women represent over half of the working population and have demonstrated success in management and professional roles, they face challenges in attaining senior level leadership roles across multiple fields. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to look at how women respond to these challenges as they navigate their careers and ultimately the tools they used to successfully advance to senior level leadership …

The Ignatian Leadership Model For Catholic Schools: Critical Spirituality Theory On Leadership Practices, Leonardus Evert Bambang Winandoko

Doctoral Dissertations

Catholic schools in Indonesia played an essential role in educating young Indonesian to serve their brothers and sisters. This study demonstrates how three Catholic schools continue the important role of educating students to serve others: St. Matteo Ricci High School, St. Robert Bellarmine High School, and St. John Berchmans High School. Utilizing a multi-case study of leadership practices, this research study examines the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm’s impact on school leaders who promoted religious inclusivity. The study similarly highlights the challenges in promoting religious inclusivity. This research illustrates how the school leaders infuse their spiritual values into the school community to …

Exploring Student Engagement For Diverse Student Populations: A Case Study Examining Institutional Logics Of Student Affairs Middle Management Leaders, Frangelo Rominque Ayran

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the institutional logics that student affairs middle managers employ to facilitate student engagement programs and resources intended for more diverse student populations. While the positive effects of student involvement and student engagement are both widely documented, disparities between White students and students of color in their rates of engagement continue to illustrate that the effects of student engagement opportunities as forms of high impact practices are dependent upon the racial and ethnic background of students. Higher education institutions faced with the widening divide between low-income students of color in their retention, degree attainment, and engagement rates not …

Dysconscious Racism And Racial Microaggressions In The Public School System, Ryan Lee

Doctoral Dissertations

Dysconscious racism and racial microaggressions are two forms of racism that exist in public schools today. Dysconscious racism is a form of racism that “tacitly accepts the dominant White norms and privileges” in a given environment while racial microaggressions are brief and commonplace indignations to the target person or group whether it was intentional or unintentional (Sue et al., 2009). Teachers of color face these subtllte forms of racism within their own workplaces. The researcher conducted a qualitative study by interviewing six public school K-6 teachers of color of different ethnicities who teach in various school districts across the South …

Higher Education Discourses Of India’S National Education Policy 2020: Analysis And Teacher Counterspaces In Jesuit Institutions, Vincent Pereppadan Poulose

Doctoral Dissertations

Postcolonial India where diversities, tensions, and conflicts caused by social and economic hierarchies, political and religious divisions, cultural variations exist, higher education is expected to play a significant role in building up a harmonious and humane democracy founded on justice to all, especially to the minority communities. Therefore, to examine how the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 envisioned higher education and how it is felt among the stakeholders of a minority, this study attempted to analyze its higher education discourses and the responses of Indian Jesuit higher education faculty members. For analysis, this study employed the discourse historical analysis (DHA) …

Replanting A Wild Seed: Black Women School Leaders Subverting Ideological Lynching, Whitneé Louise Garrett-Walker

Doctoral Dissertations

Much race-based educational research is focused on teachers interrupting systems ofoppression in their classrooms, through methods such as curriculum and instruction, and preparing students to engage in the world (Alston, 2012; Bertrand & Rodela, 2017; Carpenter & Diem, 2013; Gooden & Dantley, 2012; Furman, 2012). I intentionally focus my attention on school leadership because while all stakeholders are responsible for maintaining school culture, as school leaders it is our responsibility to create conditions where the work of enacting social justice is expected in our schools. There continues to be a gap in educational research that deeply examines this level of …

Employment Discrimination: An Efficacy Study Of African American Inequities In The California Utility Sector, Victor Baker

Doctoral Dissertations

Employment Discrimination: An Efficacy Study of African American Inequities in the California Utility SectorThe economic legislation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was designed a vigorous tool of law to address employment discrimination of African Americans and remedy economic disparity that unfavored African Americans. The energy utility industry served as the first Supreme Court defendant and loser of a Title VII employment discrimination challenge by a Black workforce. As a result, energy utility companies have served as the face of resistance to fair employment for African Americans despite the liberal popularity of diversity management programs. Prior …

Women Who Lead: A Feminist Phenomenology Of Crisis Leadership In Higher Education, Ingrid Helene Mcvanner

Doctoral Dissertations

The landscape of higher education is rife with crisis events, ranging from the global COVID-19 pandemic to natural disasters and institutional and industry-wide scandals; yet, most institutions of higher education are unprepared to tackle these crises as they arrive. As an industry, higher education is also largely dominated by men at its upper echelons, despite being a field that is predominantly staffed by women. Amidst the backdrop of the attention COVID-19 has brought to female world leaders and the quest for parity in higher education leadership positions, this study sought to explore the lived experiences of women leaders in higher …

The Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm As A Critical Theoretical Framework To Enhance Teachers' Professional Identity In Diverse Context, Lourdu Sunder Reddy Mummadi

Doctoral Dissertations

Several previous studies have revealed the need and necessity to enhance teachers’ perception of professional identity (PI) as it impacts their feeling of satisfaction and effectiveness in the classroom and their persistence in the profession (Moore & Hofman, 1988; Sanders et al., 1997; Hanushek, 2011). According to some scholars, teachers’ professional identity includes teachers’ understanding of themselves and the factors impacting their teaching (Beijaard et al., 2000; Sachs, 2005; Day, 2018). The danger is that if a teacher lacks self-knowledge, they may be influenced by unexamined beliefs, stereotypes, cultural myths, and, most importantly, fears that affect the ways they relate …

A Critical Feminist Case Study Of The Northern California Cherry Blossom Queen Program, Alison Kepola Nishiyama-Young

Doctoral Dissertations

Asian American women are chronically underrepresented in leadership positions in almost every sector including higher education, government, private, and non-profit (Youngberg et al., n.d.). Many researchers have suggested the need for more leadership development programs specifically designed to support the needs of Asian American women (Akutagawa, 2014; Canlas, 2016; Gee & Peck, 2015; Lin, 2007; Youngberg et al., n.d.). Though there are a number of leadership programs geared towards Asian Americans, there are very few that cater to Asian American women explicitly. Historically, cultural pageant programs in the Asian American community have played this role and one such program is …

Parental Involvement In Support Of African American Families, September Rose

Doctoral Dissertations

Meaningful parental engagement has historically been identified as the root cause of the United States’ academic achievement gap in African American education. However, the systematic structures that impose difficulties for African American’s access to education in school and other aspects of their social development must be addressed to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges these African American families face. Society must consider the perpetual marginalization of not only African American students’ academic experiences, but also their professional and personal development as well. The parental engagement with educators in the San Francisco K-8 schools, has not been studied. The purpose …

Betwixt And Between: Qualitative Examinations Of Leaders’ Internal Processes Of Transition, Margaret M. Ritchie

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines alternative forms of school governance from the personal perspectives of leaders, reflecting upon their transition through the organizational governance change. The effects of moving from a local governance authority to a five school multi-academy trust was both thrust upon the leaders who participated in this study as they, in turn, thrust the change upon others. This new vision of schooling rippled throughout the schools involved, the community in which the schools are located, and the greater local authority that did not embrace this change. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine alternative forms of school …

Splinters From The Bamboo Ceiling: Understanding The Experiences Of Asian American Men In Higher Education Leadership, Jerald Adamos

Doctoral Dissertations

Asian Americans continue to confront perceptions connected to the perpetual foreigner and model minority concepts which challenges their acceptance as leaders in mainstream American culture. Asian men have recently been able to attain higher levels of education that opens doors to higher level positions and organizations yet still face barriers to career advancement opportunities. In consideration of the American higher education system, Whites continue to exceed their proportional representation in areas of the institution while Asian Americans do not. The purpose of this study is to understand how the intersection of racial and gender identity has influenced leadership through the …

An Analysis Of Personality Characteristics, Emotional Intelligence, And Leadership Attributes Of Louisiana Community And Technical College Chancellors, Heather Spillers Poole

Doctoral Dissertations

This study explores the personality characteristics, emotional intelligence, and leadership attributes of twelve Louisiana community college chancellors in order to better understand leadership selection in community and technical colleges. Hogan’s Leadership Forecast Series and the self-reported Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire short-form were used to explore and describe the leadership qualities of chancellors. More specifically, the Hogan Leadership Forecast Series of assessments included the Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory (MPVI), Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), and Hogan Development Survey (HDS). Assessments were administered in May 2018. Findings indicated that, in general, chancellors varied widely in their personality characteristics (including both potential “bright-side” and “dark-side” …

An Examination Of Efficacy And Resilience In College Students: Influences On Socially Responsible Leadership, Paula Berry Atkins

Doctoral Dissertations

My study explored socially responsible leadership and its relationship to leader efficacy and resilience in college students. The investigation also examined the role of gender and race in these relationships. The study employed the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL), which assesses student and educational outcomes relevant to the values underlying the Social Change Model of Student Leadership. The MSL utilizes the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale (Tyree, 1998) as a foundation but also includes measures of leader efficacy and resilience. Utilizing archival data from the 2015 administration of the MSL, my sample (N=840) included equal numbers of males and females equally …

The Relationship Between Instructional Leadership And Organizational Commitment Of Teachers, Mary T. Skelton

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if principal instructional leadership practices are related to elementary teachers’ organizational commitment. Quantitative data were collected through an online survey from kindergarten through fifth grade teachers in a southern state. The survey respondents were full time regular education classroom teachers who had been teaching for at least one year under their current principal. There were 182 respondents who completed the entire survey and whose data were statistically analyzed. The 75 survey questions that were statistically analyzed measured teacher’s perceptions of principal instructional leadership and self-reported organizational commitment of teachers with a Likert …

Support Provided By Administrators For Mathematics Teachers: A Case Study Of One North Louisiana High School, Jessica M. Hunter

Doctoral Dissertations

National and International assessment results as well as general student unpreparedness for college and beyond in terms of mathematical abilities indicate a need for increased student achievement in mathematics (Hart, 2005; National Center for Education Statistics, 2017; Peterson, Woessmann, Hanushek, & Lastra-Anadon, 2011). The purpose of the study was to explore effective leadership traits of secondary school administrators that foster and support teachers of mathematics. Research specifically made connections to instructional and transformational leadership practices, actions, and traits. This exploration was investigated through a case study using interviews completed by high school educators, administrators, and district leaders.

A sample of …

Prevention And Education: A Case Study Of An Anti-Human Trafficking Nongovernmental Organization In Mumbai, India, Danielle Kraaijvanger

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the role of community-based NGOs in developing and delivering prevention interventions and nonformal education programs that work to end human trafficking of at-risk women and children. Specifically, the study explored the intersection between human trafficking and education, and the critical role NGOs play in human trafficking prevention. Essential to understanding this phenomenon was giving voice to the experiences of children who are the recipients of such prevention and education interventions.

An international community-based, anti-human trafficking NGO—Prerana—served as the case study setting. Direct observations and participant interviews …

The Perceptions Of Saudi Arabia Higher Educational Leaders On Servant Leadership: The Use Of Authority And Power, Areej Abdullah Shafai

Doctoral Dissertations

With the rapid changes occurring in Saudi Arabia toward achieving Saudi’s 2030 vision, more opportunities and developments will emerge in education and leadership, as one of the main orientations of the vision. The Ministry of Higher Education in Saudi Arabia seeks to raise the quality of higher education and its features to provide outputs that contribute to serving the community and economic development. Responding to the requirements of the labor market, the Ministry of Higher Education is seeking to make higher education in Saudi Arabia competitive with higher education systems in other developed countries. Thus, improving leadership in higher education …