Education Commons^™

The Effects Of School Board Behaviors On Student Outcomes: An Evaluative Study Of Lone Star Governance, Morris Lyon

Education Theses and Dissertations

Enhancing student outcomes is fundamentally attributed to classroom teachers, yet Rice et al. (2000) highlight the influential role of school boards in shaping these outcomes. This study delves into the efficacy of Lone Star Governance (LSG) as a facilitative instrument for promoting optimal governance practices across diverse schools. It also investigates the influence of governance coaching on student performance.

This research targeted rural school districts in the coastal bend of Texas that participated in the Texas Education Agency's Lone Star Governance training. Employing a mixed-method embedded design, specifically an embedded experimental research model, the study assessed accountability score advancements. Complementing …

Leveraging Results-Driven Accountability To Improve Academic And Behavioral Outcomes For Students With Disabilities, Lori R. Anderson

Education Theses and Dissertations

The Office of Special Education Programs’ (OSEP’s) vision for Results-Driven Accountability (RDA) is that OSEP will target its work and investments to best support States in improving results for infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities. State Education Agencies (SEAs) are accountable to OSEP regarding Results Driven Accountability reporting and supporting school districts in the process of improving outcomes for students in special populations. RDA is an accountability system to report data to district and campus leaders related to academic achievement, postsecondary readiness, and disproportionate analysis of students who are Bilingual Emergent/English as a Second Language Learners (BE/ESL), experiencing homelessness, …

Evaluation Of A District’S Leadership Development Pipeline, Alyta T. Harrell

Education Theses and Dissertations

Leading a school campus is an increasingly challenging and critical task that requires effective leadership. It is important to identify the specific leadership skills needed to create a culture conducive to learning, meet the unique needs of a particular campus and community, and enable continuous improvement. The leadership development pipeline aimed to identify, develop, and support potential school leaders, fostering their growth through targeted professional development, mentoring, and support. This mixed methods embedded experimental model study evaluated the effectiveness of a district's leadership development program, focusing on best practices for school leaders. The study employed a combination of quantitative data …

Facilities Beyond Physical Spaces: A Case For The Intentional Design And Use Of Learning Space, Yanira Oliveras

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

In 2022, the state department released new standards and a competency-based education curriculum. Simultaneously, the Toledo Creek School District has experienced an unprecedent shift in the student population demographics. The shift has resulted in two distinct zones, east and west, with income averages on the two extremes of the income spectrum. Given the shift in both the curriculum and demographics, the superintendent in consultation with stakeholders decided to implement project-based learning (PBL) as the district’s instructional model. PBL has a significant research-based supporting implement for authentic learning as intended by the new standards and better supporting deeper learning among all …

Using Extreme Pedagogy Toenhance Entrepreneurship Education, Dave Silberman, Herman Aguinis, Rob E. Carpenter

Human Resource Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

We address the ongoing concern that entrepreneurship education (EE) is not preparing students sufficiently well for jobs in the 21^st-century. We argue that many criticisms leveled against EE for not effectively addressing the entrepreneurial skills gap are due in part to EE’s emphasis on the roles of specific stakeholder groups separately (i.e., universities and their leaders, instructors, students, potential employers) rather than a shared focus on developing valuable graduates. Stated differently, there are competing and conflicting “ownerships” over the entrepreneurial skills gap. We enhance current pedagogical methods by offering a learning innovation called extreme pedagogy. Extreme pedagogy takes …

Reinventing Identity In Transition From Principal To Professor: A Collaborative Autoethnography, Forrest J. Kaiser, Jennifer Bailey

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

School leadership is a fast-paced job where stakeholder feedback is frequent, and decision-making requires quick thinking and strong organization. When school leaders transition from practitioner to scholar, they face a dramatic change in pace and responsibility. Unlike their peers who come from academia, practitioner-scholars experience a unique context and career shift that requires navigating unfamiliar organizational structures and translating existing skills into new contexts. This collaborative autoethnography explores the lived experiences of two junior faculty who recently transitioned from the campus principalship to the tenure track professoriate during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a process of individual writing, group reflection, and …

Community-Engaged Audit For Reform: One District’S Approach To Address Equity Issues, Kelly Brown

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

The traditional equity audit itself is going through a reform process. The process began with Skrla (2004, 2009) reimagining the traditional audit with a focus on equity. However, researchers support the notion of using audits to disrupt and dismantle oppressive practices and systems (Khalifa et al., 2016) and involving the community to ultimately have power through the audit process (Green, 2017). Translating theory into practice can be more difficult when school leaders cannot rely on their personal training and experience to solve the problem. The purpose of this case study is to analyze how one urban school district implemented a …

Collaborative Conversations For Culturally Sustaining, Socially Just Pedagogy: Creating A Safe Space For Dialogue And Practice, Sarah N. Newcomer, Kathleen M. Cowin

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

Given the increasing number of culturally and linguistically diverse students in our nation’s schools (NCES, 2020), we need teachers and school leaders who teach in inclusive and socially just ways. In this qualitative case study (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), we paired up leader candidates (LCs) and teacher candidates (TCs) in a series of collaborative conversations focused on culturally sustaining, socially just pedagogy (CSSJP) (Authors, 2018), to learn how bringing teacher and leader candidates together may support their understandings of enacting CSSJP. Collaborative conversations may help TCs and LCs share the responsibility of doing the challenging, but necessary, work of enacting …

School-Based Mindfulness Program And Anxiety Prevention In Eighth Graders: A Randomized Pilot Study, Sarah Sass, Staci Zolkoski

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

Adolescence is a period marked by challenges, and an adolescent’s sensitivity to stress and anxiety can interfere with resilient coping. Educational leaders should consider mindfulness programs because they appear promising in preventing mental health issues in adolescents and are acceptable to youth from diverse backgrounds. The present randomized school-based pilot study addressed whether mindfulness was associated with preventing stress, anxiety, or depression, and whether resilience would increase in healthy eighth graders randomized to 8-sessions of a mindfulness program or a wait-list control group. Self-report measures of psychological functioning (e.g., stress, anxiety, depression, resilience) were completed before and after a mindfulness …

Eradicating Anti-Black Racism In U.S. Schools: A Call-To-Action For School Leaders, Altheria L. Caldera

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

This manuscript is a theoretical treatise that examines anti-Blackness in the nation’s schools and contributes to the ongoing discussion about how schools can better serve Black students. It is a three-pronged call-to-action for social justice-oriented school leaders. I urge school leaders to 1) examine anti-Black racism as a distinct form of racial discrimination, 2) imagine ways educators can fully humanize Black children in U.S. schools through a disposition characterized by Black cultural reverence, and 3) connect with existing efforts to counter anti-Black racism in schools. To accomplish these goals, I investigated the historical socio-political context that has shaped the educational …

Stem Achievement Among Diverse Students And Elementary Pre-Service Teacher Preparation: Considerations And Recommendations, Calli Lewis Chiu

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

Shifts in school demographics toward greater ethnic and linguistic diversity necessitate preparing a workforce of teachers who are skilled in inclusive teaching practices for all students. While improvements have been made over the past two decades, there is still a significant need to support pre-service elementary teachers in becoming capable instructors of STEM content in order to promote STEM achievement among diverse PK – 12 students. It is the obligation of all educational leaders to advocate for practices that work to dismantle systemic forms of inequality. This manuscript examines the increasingly significant role of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) …

Team Leadership Webinar Series, John Kemppainen

Research Consortium for Belizean Studies

A 10-part series of webinars on Educational Team Leadership for Belizean educators.

Educational Leadership In A Mayan Village In Southern Belize: Challenges Faced By A Mayan Woman Principal, Yanira Oliveras, Wesley D. Hickey

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

A Mayan woman principal taking a position in a historically paternalistic village in Southern Belize faces inevitable challenges due to the cultural structure of the village. In this case, the challenges go beyond cultural norms. Mrs. Po, a Mopan woman leading a school in a Kekchi village, faces challenges related to her role as a teaching principal in a multigrade school, her lack of leadership preparation, the remoteness of the village, and the language barrier, among others. The reader is encouraged to ponder the myriad of issues that impact the principal’s efforts to improve the education system while working in …

Cultural Factors That Impact Latina/O College Student Success At Predominantly-White Institutions: Past And Current Knowledge For Educators, Ricardo Montelongo

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

As the new century approached in 2000, educational leaders, practitioners, and researchers were continuing to understand the educational experiences of the fastest growing student population in the United States – Latina/os. Knowledge on factors influencing outcomes for this group were produced to inform educators. However, Latina/os continue to face barriers and challenges at all levels in their pursuit of educational opportunity, especially in higher education. The significance of the demographic shifts Latina/os bring to education should give educators a sense of urgency to better understand cultural factors that impact Latina/o student success. This paper will provide an overview of the …

Legal Rights Of Transgender Students In Education, Almond A. Seals, Melissa C. Gonzales

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

Nearly 150,000 school-aged teenagers in the United States identify as transgender, but the population continues to face harassment, bullying, and discrimination from their peers and educators. The most recent battles for bathroom access based on gender identity has led to significant policy debates nationally and statewide. It is critical for school leaders to promote an all-inclusive and safe school environment to help improve the academic experience for transgender students. The purpose of this paper is to outline the current anti-discrimination federal and state laws that protect against sex and gender identity harassment in school, including Title IX, Equal Access Act, …

Developing A Community Of Academic Success Through A Teacher Preparation Initiative, Elizabeth T. Murakami, Ann Marie Smith

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

This study reflects the experiences of professors of education at a 4-year Hispanic-Serving institution in a pilot program to collaboratively develop a curriculum alignment. The professional development opportunity, Teacher Preparation Initiative (TPI), focuses on preparing faculty in a college of education to use concepts which student-teachers could incorporate in their teaching. The study was designed as an ethnographic descriptive single-site case study, and reports on one of two nationwide pilot initiatives. For the purpose of this study, we observed the transformative potential for change in higher education institutions.

"Thank You For Saying My Name": Academic Recognition As A Counternarrative For Black Male Achievement, Kendra Lowery

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

The author reflects on her experience as a middle school administrator involved in a school-wide initiative to recognize academic growth and achievement. She draws upon Perry’s theory of African-American achievement (2003) to explain how this recognition, which included several Black boys, contributed to a counternarrative of Black male achievement. In contrast to the dominant narrative of academic failure and discipline problems (Dumas & Nelson, 2016; Grant, 2011; Howard, 2013; Monroe, 2005; Noguera, 2008), this recognition created a new narrative of academic excellence and achievement (Allen, 2015). The concerted effort by school leadership to include new and underrepresented faces in a …

Woke Pedagogy: A Framework For Teaching And Learning, Altheria Caldera

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

The sociopolitical context of schooling demands that teachers acknowledge the ways their students’ and their own experiences are shaped by the intersections of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, and other discriminatory factors. This is especially true during times of heightened civil unrest resulting from pervasive and persistent injustice experienced by minoritized populations. To engage students in pedagogy that connects with their lived experiences and that equips them to critically examine inequities, teachers must refute colorblind pedagogy in favor of woke pedagogy. Woke pedagogy, like critical multicultural education, is defined by teaching practices that integrate critiques of contemporary justice-related issues with academic …

Considerations In Promoting Parent And Family Involvement, Staci M. Zolkoski, Donna M. Sayman, Calli G. Lewis-Chiu

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

It has been recognized for decades that parent and family (PF) involvement is a vital component of students' educational experiences. Moreover, PF involvement is identified as an important protective factor for students. Thus, school administrators and educators understanding and encouraging positive relationships between families and schools may be one way to promote academic, social, and emotional success for youth throughout their lives. The purpose of this paper is to examine the literature on PF involvement and delineate a proposed model of PF involvement to foster resilience in children and youth.

Integration, Not Gentrification: Using Participatory Action Research To Foster Democratic Leadership In An Urban Pta, Courtney E. Wait

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

This study explores the relationship of a new Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to a historically low-income public school in a gentrifying neighborhood. The PTA was formed by a group of white middle class parents who did not reflect the broader school population. To serve diverse communities, school leaders need to organize families to participate in the school democratically. Utilizing Participatory Action Research (PAR), this study demonstrates that there are no shortcuts to building more democratic parental participation in diverse urban schools: communities need to engage in collaborative inquiry to dismantle barriers to involvement, strengthen the connection between home and school, …

Ell Teachers’ Attitudes Of Google Earth For Inquiry-Based Instruction On Ell Students’ Language Development In A Rural New England State, Mark Congdon Jr., Ian Mette, Andrea Mercado, Laura Lindenfeld, Emily Tupper

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

This study investigated factors predicting the intentions of English Language Learner (ELL) teachers to use Google Earth for language development instruction. The researchers used quantitative research methods using an electronic survey (n=40), with a 28% return rate. Results indicated that attitude was a significant predictor of ELL teachers’ intentions to use Google Earth during instruction in a rural New England state. Additional findings indicate that when comparing teachers who intended or were using Google Earth during instruction to those who did not, there were significant differences between groups. However, 95% of ELL teachers within this rural state received no training …

The Development Of The Multicultural Awareness, Skills, And Knowledge Survey: An Instrument For Assessing The Cultural Competency Of Pre-Service Teachers, Jeannette Jones, Scott L. Walker

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

Based on data from the National Center for Education Statistics in the United States, the public school student population is becoming more diverse (2003, 2011). As a result of this, teachers need to be culturally competent so they can meet the unique needs of the diverse student body they will be teaching. This quantitative study offers an examination into the creation of an instrument, the Multicultural Awareness, Skills, and Knowledge Survey (MASKS), used to measure the cultural competency of pre-service teachers, as well as a preliminary analysis of the data findings. This document provides a description of the steps used …

The Implementation Of Visible Learning Practices Among Refugee Learners In North-West Texas, Laurie A. Sharp, Jane Dougherty, Genie Baca, Elsa Diego-Medrano

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

The resettlement of refugees has enriched the diversity of many communities throughout the United States. However, the transition associated with refugee resettlement has significant effects on both refugees and the communities in which they have been resettled. Due to the extreme diversity represented among refugees who have been resettled, public school systems and education professionals must identify best practices that meet the rigor of state accountability requirements and foster educational equity among all students. The purpose of this article is to describe how one large elementary public school campus located in North-West Texas has addressed these challenges through an ongoing …

Leadership In Diverse Schools: An Examination Of Early College High School Principals In North Carolina, Hattie L. Hammonds

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

The purpose of this qualitative, multi-site, multi-case study was to examine how three early college high school principals in North Carolina promote the success of the first generation, students of color and low-income students they serve. The study examined these principals through a conceptual framework of democratic, socially just, culturally responsive leadership. Findings show that two out of the three principals demonstrated the qualities and characteristics of democratic, socially just, culturally responsive leaders. Additionally, each principal led their school based on the values and beliefs each held about student achievement, access, equity and educational opportunity. The study has implications for …

The Physical And Cultural Desegregation Of Latinx Students In United States Public Schools: Historical Precedents And Suggestions For Educators, Cassandra M. Vara

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

Since the inception of public education in America, students of color have been segregated from their White peers. The historical segregation of Latinx students is a long-standing one, with legal and social repercussions still experienced in the 21st century. While the physical segregation of Latinx students precedes the era of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the cultural segregation of Latinx students occurs even in today’s supposed post-segregation society. When policymakers fail to protect such students, it is the duty of educational leaders to ensure that the environment, coursework, and curricula of public school campuses help Latinx students feel included, …

An Intellectual Space For Educational Leaders' Diversity And Social Justice Discourse, Yanira Oliveras-Ortiz, Jennifer Jones

Diversity, Social Justice, and the Educational Leader

Educational leaders, particularly the campus leaders, have often defined their job and responsibilities as overwhelming. However, regardless of the endless tasks on school administrators’ to do lists, ensuring that every child receives an excellent education should be at the forefront of everything educational leaders do. An excellent education is one that not only transfers knowledge to children but also one that develops the critical thinking skills that students will need to make sense of the world and be successful citizens of the democracy in which we exist. Educational leaders have the moral responsibility to understand, and hopefully embrace critical pedagogy …

School Administrators As Instructional Coaches: Teachers’ Trust And Perceptions Of Administrators’ Capacity, Yanira Oliveras Ortiz

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dr. Yanira Oliveras-Ortiz examines the role of school administrators as instructional coaches. In this quantitative study, which is part of larger study, she analyzed the perceptions of 198 teachers about their administrators’ capacity to be instructional coaches as well as the level of trust teachers have on their administrators to serve as evaluators and instructional coaches.

Preparing Administrators To Lead 21st Century Learning, Jennifer S. Jones, Yanira Oliveras Ortiz

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Leading 21^st century learning in schools looks radically different than it did 25 years ago. The rapidly changing demographics of culturally, ethnically, linguistically, racially and economically diverse students brings a complicated mix of challenges for administrators who must respond to the varied interests and needs of the school community. It is essential for school districts and principal preparation programs to collaborate in the development of the 21^st century school leaders through authentic, relevant internship opportunities. By collaborating with higher education, school districts can do their part in the development of school administrators with the instructional expertise and the …

Building Bridges: Opportunities Abound For P-20 Collaborations, Jennifer S. Jones, Wesley D. Hickey

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

PK-12 leaders value opportunities to collaborate with outside entities to improve student achievement and career-readiness. With increasing federal and state student-performance expectations for more than 1.4 million students enrolled in Texas public schools, collaborating with a public or private university, a community college, or a technical or health institute can provide important mutual benefits.

Principal Perceptions Of Strategies To Increase Effectiveness Of Educational Non-Governmental Organizations In Southern Belize., Wesley Hickey

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Collaborations among schools and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are common in developing countries. These partnerships have the potential to provide effective support for educational initiatives. This study used survey methodology to determine characteristics of NGOs that increased effectiveness as determined by experienced principals (n=15) within a region of Belize. The survey used open-ended questions, and these responses were disaggregated in order to determine themes. These principals wrote that effective NGOs built strong relationships with the schools, aligned efforts with the school’s mission, and assisted with providing resources.