Education Commons^™

A Modern Game Of Telephone: Knowledge Sharing, Remote Work, And Organizational Crisis In A Public Library System, Crystal Hess, Colin Watrin, Cal Erwin-Svoboda

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

Many organizations rapidly shifted to remote work operations as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This quantitative research study investigated how knowledge sharing within a public library system changed as a result of remote work operations and identified impacts to knowledge sharing, including barriers and catalysts. The participants in this study included staff within a large public library system, including librarians, regional managers, and members of the library system leadership team. Participants provided demographic data and responses to Likert scale agreement questions related to the concepts of communication, connection, and knowledge sharing. This data were analyzed using correlational and ANOVA …

Refugee And Asylee Housing Resettlement Experiences In King County, Washington, Alicia Al-Aryan, Chase Huffman, Obed Kabanda

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

Everyone deserves fair access to housing; yet, homelessness and housing insecurity in refugee and asylee populations continues to be an issue. This dissertation studied lived experiences of refugees and asylees located in King County, Washington. Specifically, we examined experiences about refugees and asylees accessing housing programs and information in the resettlement process. This study provided information to further understand housing programs available and how they are accessed by resettled individuals in King County, Washington to mitigate homelessness in the population and to increase access to stable housing. Additionally, the study provided further understanding of barriers to accessing stable housing, while …

Out On A Stem: Gender Wage Gap And Factors That Impact Salary In Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics Careers, David R. Orozco

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

This study explores data of newly graduated students hired into the workforce. It uses data from the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG), a longitudinal study started in 1993 by the National Science Foundation (NSF). The NSCG uses a questionnaire to collect data on demographic, education, employment, and occupation attributes from all graduating students and emphasizes those working in science and engineering fields. In addition, this study sought to identify any wage gap that may exist between STEM and non-STEM fields in the last decade. The study found average salaries of standard occupational codes were affected by race/ethnicity, gender, and …

Crisis Management: Pk-12 Leaders & Resilience Building Practices During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Shafiga Abramova, Oruba Anthony, Haley Brown

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented evolving challenges for educational leaders. This study will explore the crisis management practices of PK-12 public school superintendents. Specifically, the team will consider effective resilience-building practices as a means for leaders to manage a prolonged crisis. A comparative case study was conducted to analyze publicly available documents across two cases (Eastern and Western regions) in the state of Washington. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school communities only had access to publicly available documents emphasizing the importance of exploring forward facing documents. The analysis of the study was informed by the theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory …

A Qualitative Study Of Lived Experiences Of Black Women In Leadership Positions In K-12 Educational Settings, Shukri Olow

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

Women, particularly African American women, have continued to obtain certifications and fulfill degree requirements, yet are underrepresented in K–12 leadership positions (e.g., administrators, principals, and positions of superintendency; Glass & Franceschini, 2007). This qualitative research study focused on lived experiences of African American/Black women in leadership positions in school districts in the region of King County, Washington. Three research questions guided the study and centered around participants’ lived experience in K–12 leadership positions, factors that contributed to the continued engagement of African American/Black women in K–12 leadership roles, and the extent to which an organization’s culture and espoused values impacted …

A Seat At The Table: A Phenomenological Study Of The Gap In African American/Black Women With Nonprofit Executive Leadership Roles, Angela J. Griffin

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of African American/Black women leaders in the nonprofit business sector in the Pacific Northwest. The intent was to understand how their experiences of inequitable opportunities in the workplace prohibited them from attaining and retaining executive leadership roles. A qualitative, transcendental phenomenological approach was used to explore the career pathway trajectory for African American/Black women in the nonprofit sector, to capture the essence of their experiences navigating inequities along the leadership pipeline. To examine their experiences, critical race theory and social cognitive career theory provided a multifaceted viewpoint of African …

Ethiopian Orthodox Church Leadership Support Of Youth From Ethiopian Immigrant Families In The United States, Beimnet Bekele

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate how the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC) in the United States can successfully attract and retain young adults ages 18–30. Additionally, this research examines the factors that cause young adults to leave or stay in the EOTC and makes recommendations for changes that can improve retention rates.

A significant challenge for the EOTC in the United States is that of youth retention. Young adults often leave the church following graduation from high school. According to a Religious Landscape Study conducted by the Pew Research Center (2015), the decline in the presence and …

Women Leaders In Social Entrepreneurship: Leadership Perception, And Barriers, Almas Aldawood

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

Social entrepreneurship increases women’s social inclusion and empowerment by providing self-employment opportunities (Datta & Gailey, 2012). There is growing attention, locally and globally, to social entrepreneurship from economic, social, environmental, and industrial lenses (Cornforth, 2014.) Grounded by feminist and empowerment theories, this phenomenological case study investigated the perceptions of women social entrepreneurs about leadership. In addition, the study explored the barriers to effective leadership in social entrepreneurship.

A total of five participants participated in this study. The participants were five women leaders in social enterprise with experience in the field ranged from 3-40 years. Data was collected through multiple avenues …

Funnel Vision: Through The Looking Glass Of Recruitment And Admission Practices, Adekunbi O. Ajiboye, Heather L. Anderson-James, Jennifer Fountain, Jose Alejandro Vega-Gutiérrez

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

This inquiry employed a convergent mixed-methods case study through a collaborative partnership with a College of Education at a private, West Coast Jesuit university. The study’s purpose was to interrogate recruitment and admission policies and practices of a Student Affairs graduate program to determine the extent to which they did or did not align with equity- and justice-oriented principles. The Education Deans for Justice and Equity framework, Critical Race Theory, and Social Reproduction Theory served as the conceptual and theoretical frameworks for this study. Research participants were employees and students associated with the program and its recruitment and admissions processes. …

A Document Analysis Of Leadership Language That Enhances Family-School Collaboration In Efforts To Narrow The Achievement Gap, Andrew Johnson, Daryl Wright

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

Complex problems such as the achievement gap need to be presented to all the stakeholders in the school community to utilize their combined expertise. This requires a specific language to encourage all the stakeholders in the process. Effective leaders achieve this through the principles of transformative leadership by communicating in a way that motivates, challenges, and encourages cooperation. This qualitative comparative case study utilized a document analysis to understand the barriers and solutions to family–school collaboration and leadership solutions to narrow the achievement gap in a highly resourced district. This district recently passed an equity initiative that called for the …

Community Cultural Wealth In The Community College: A Systematic Review Of Latinx Student Engagement, Amity Butler, Erik Engstrom, Gena Lusk, Shurla Rogers-Thibou

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

This study is a systematic review of existing research literature dealing with Yosso’s (2005) community cultural wealth model and its influence on practices of student engagement for Latinx community college students in the United States. Inclusion criteria was limited to peer-reviewed studies and doctoral dissertations published between January 2014 and December 2019. A total of 21 studies were discovered, data extracted, and synthesized using methods of qualitative data collection and analysis.

Study findings included two to four practices for each of the six forms of capital in Yosso’s theoretical framework. Practices such as mentoring, goal-setting, program mapping, storytelling/testimonios, and an …

Repaying The Education Debt Through Professional Development: An Equity Audit, Jenai Choi, Britney D. Holmes, Todd Martinez-Simmons

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

Dr. Ladson-Billings has reframed the commonly understood achievement gap as an education debt that is owed to all students, especially Black and Brown students. Research suggests the difference in achievement as measured by assessment, attendance, and graduation is marked by racial lines. One-way school districts have tried to address race-based injustices is by providing equity-focused professional development (PD) for district employees. This is a qualitative critical case study focused on understanding how a school district located in Western, Washington is working toward creating a more equitable education for all students. The research team used components of an equity audit to …

Barriers To Digital Equity: A Case Study Of King County, Supanee Mclean, Victoria Frazier, Tony Vo

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to explore how schools educate students in the use of digital technology. Using a concurrent mixed methods case study approach, the researchers identified potential barriers for schools in educating students in the use of digital technology. Additionally, this study identified factors that provide effective use of technology in schools, which can educate students with the necessary skills to serve their community and society in the future. Researchers sampled school leaders and district administrators of all school districts within King County. Data was collected from a document review and online survey questions to conduct a …