Education Commons^™

Leadership And Teacher Agency For Inclusive Classrooms: Insights About Integrating Students With Disabilities Into Inclusive Classrooms From Teachers And School Leaders In Three International Schools, Chad Wood

Dissertations

As international schools continue to flourish, they must consider how to be inclusive and meet the needs not only of multicultural populations of students, but also the needs of students with diagnosed learning difficulties (i.e., students with special needs). Promoting teacher agency is a potentially important component in successfully implementing inclusive practices given that teachers are key actors in the implementation process. Currently, however, there is limited empirical evidence regarding the interconnectedness of teacher agency and inclusion of special needs populations in international schools.

This qualitative research explores the role of school leaders in promoting teacher agency to support the …

The Cultural Dimension Of Structural School Reforms: The Case Of Schedule Changes, Maylen Sullivan

Dissertations

The four-by-four (4x4) schedule—a type of high school block schedule—presents promising prospects for improving teaching and learning. Using a qualitative, single case study methodology, I investigated a school transitioning from a traditional six-period schedule to a 4x4 schedule during its 2nd and 3rd year of implementation. The study aimed to understand the factors that influenced the transition, the stakeholders’ responses to the decision, and the factors that influenced their responses. Some of the main considerations that motivated the decision included the desire to provide more opportunities within the school day for students to meet A/G college eligibility requirements, allow students …

Borderland Voices: Exploring The Educational Journey Of Transfronterizx Students, Families, And Educators For Enhanced Engagement And Empowerment, Sobeida Velazquez

Dissertations

Transfronterizx students and their families cross the U.S.–Mexico border for academic, economic, social, cultural, and linguistic reasons. Socioeconomic disparities, deportation, and work have propelled some families to live in Mexico and enroll their U.S.-born children in U.S. schools to provide more socioeconomic opportunities in the United States. Educators of transfronterizx students are uniquely tasked to work with these nontraditional students. Moreover, transfronterizx students and their families have distinct needs in U.S. schools; as such, there is a need for further research on the transfronterizx experience in the U.S. K–12 system. This qualitative narrative inquiry study aimed to understand the experiences …

From Counterspaces To Community:A Qualitative Case Study Analysis Of Black Community Making At A Pwi, Charles Watkins

Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined how Black college students build and maintain a sense of community at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Informed by relational sociological methodology and the conceptual framework of Black placemaking, this study foregrounded the nuanced process of community building, focusing on the interplay between Black students and the spaces—physical and digital—they cocreate collectively. This study particularly emphasized the significance of the Black Student Union (BSU) as a foundational Black student organization at PWIs. The following lines of inquiry guided this study: (a) How do Black undergraduate students at a PWI define the Black community? (b) What …

California School Psychologists’ Assessment Practices With Cld Students: A Phenomenological Study, Hector Manuel Teran Jr.

Dissertations

School psychologists are tasked with assessing students to qualify them for special education, typically using standardized tests. Standardized testing, like IQ testing, routinely used in the psycho-educational process, serves to justify prejudices, as they often mark people of color as intellectually inferior to White people. A closer look at school psychologists’ assessment practices with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students is necessary, as these students have historically been placed in special education at a higher percentage, likely due to misperceptions related to their race, ethnicity, or linguistic background. While IQ tests are regarded as tools that identify the needs of …

"There Is Power In Being Out": A Three Article Approach Celebrating The Experiences Of Queer University Leaders, Andrew R. E. Lorenzana

Dissertations

Institutions of higher education were historically built to serve a wealthy, White, straight male student population and the leaders of these institutions still largely reflect these demographics. This project specifically aims to celebrate and amplify the life and career of university administrators who identify within the LGBTQ community. Mainly through the use of a portraiture methodology, this three-article study attempts to examine the ways in which LGBTQ identity and career influence one another.

Worldmaking and narrative will be used as a theoretical frame to help analyze the ways in which the telling of a queer individual’s story makes the world …

Ennobling Each Other Through Collaborative Inquiry: Exploring Music As A Provocation For Leadership Development, Ihan Ip

Dissertations

Amid the challenges in a global village, leadership education needs to surpass traditional methods, nurturing creativity, flexibility, and adaptability. This study is a collaborative action inquiry that considers music as an arts-based method in service of leadership development. The study unfolded over five cycles, in which 14 coinquirers collaborated in a process of exploration. The study illuminates the strong potential of music as a provocation for leadership development and reveals crucial realizations in the area of facilitation in collective processes.

This dissertation tells the story of the inquiry with the voices of its coinquirers and offers insights on facilitation through …

Nonprofit Leader Experiences In Sector-Bending After Lean Six Sigma Training: Tension, Concepts, And Changed Behaviors, Beverly Codallos

Dissertations

Government, business, and nonprofit represent three distinct types of organizations governed by different legal frameworks designed to facilitate collective action (DiMaggio & Anheier, 1990). The emergence of hybrid forms and increasing isomorphic pressures in the nonprofit sector (Bromley & Meyer, 2017; McCambridge, 2014) have challenged the traditional separation of organizational forms. This study explored the phenomenon popularized as sector-bending, “a wide variety of approaches, activities, and relationships that are blurring the distinctions between nonprofit and for-profit organizations, either because they are behaving more similarly, operating in the same realms, or both” (Dees & Anderson, 2003, pg. 16). This qualitative study …

“A Real Man . . .”: Deconstructing Machismo Heteronormative Standards With K–12 Latino Male Educators Through Dialogic Spaces, Mario Echeverria

Dissertations

In a K–12 educational landscape where 75% of educators are white women, recruitment of Latino male educators is crucial for diversification, yet these educators represent just 2% of the teaching workforce in the United States (NCES, 2020). These educators grapple with a layered sense of identity as they navigate expectations of hegemonic masculinity and machismo norms that dictate their roles as disciplinarians and saviors, especially for young boys of color (Brockenbrough, 2018; Lara & Fránquiz, 2015; Martino & Kehler, 2006; Mills et al., 2004; Singh, 2021). Unfortunately, Latino male educators leave the profession at twice the rate of their Latina …

Examining Systemic And Dispositional Factors Impacting Historically Disenfranchised Schools Across North Carolina, Raketa Ouedraogo-Thomas

Dissertations

This mixed method sequential explanatory study provided analysis of North Carolina (NC) school leaders’ dispositions in eliminating opportunity gaps, outlined in NC’s strategic plan. The study’s quantitative phase used descriptive and correlation analysis of eight Likert subscales around four tenets of transformative leadership (Shields, 2011) and aspects of critical race theory (Bell, 1992; Ladson-Billings, 1998; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 2006) to understand systemic inequities and leadership attitudes.

The qualitative phase comprised three analyses of education leadership dispositions and systemic factors in NC schools. The first analysis of State Board of Education meeting minutes from 2018–2023 quantified and analyzed utterances of racism …

Online Education: Benefits And Challenges For Refugee Students, Roza Badritdinova

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Currently, only 3% of refugees are pursuing higher education opportunities compared to the 37% higher education participation rate globally. There is an urgent need for quality academic work to leave behind the endless descriptive accounts of refugee life and move toward identifying effective strategies and successful solutions that could facilitate the integration of refugees into higher education. Technology has proffered some hope in providing access to public education for marginalized populations. This study looked specifically at how one online education organization attempts to address refugee education and multiple barriers that prevent the majority of the world’s university-age refugee youth …

Racism Without Race: The Racialization Of Middle Eastern And North African Students At U.S. Colleges, Hannah Mesouani

Dissertations

Although a growing body of literature covers the experiences of international students at U.S. colleges, the stories of those who do not fit into the U.S. racial schema remain untold. This study examined how Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) students understood their racial identities given the United States’ tense history with Islam and the MENA world. Using foundational texts on critical race theory, current scholarship on Arab Americans and foreign-born students, and facets of the Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS), this study examined the experiences of MENA students who study amid a national backdrop of xenophobia and racialized Islamophobia. This …

Special Education: Inclusion And Exclusion In The K-12 U.S. Educational System, Erik Brault

Dissertations

The U.S. Department of Education defines students with disabilities as those having a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more life activities. Previous research has found that students with disabilities placed in inclusive environments perform better academically and socially compared to students with disabilities who are placed in segregated environments. Yet, we know that inclusion in K-12 general education classrooms across the country is not consistently implemented.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the effects, if any, of general education high school teachers’ personal and professional experiences and knowledge on their attitudes toward educating …

Equalizing Postsecondary Transition For At-Promise Youth Receiving Special Education Services: A Chance To Succeed, Karla R. Sanchez

Dissertations

Postsecondary transition can be difficult for At-Promise Youth Receiving Special Education Services (APYRSES). Special educators supporting postsecondary transition often manifest traditional and institutionalized forms of oppressive education while dismissing collective values and beliefs.

This qualitative case study examined the beliefs and attitudes shared by three special education teachers after being introduced to a justice-focused, humanizing intervention to facilitate postsecondary transition for APYRSES. The conceptualized intervention was grounded in liberatory educational frameworks and drew from critical, culturally affirming, sustaining, and humanizing theories that foster cultural reciprocity, self-determination skills, and antiracist social–emotional justice learning to afford opportunities for APYRSES to succeed. The …

Utilizing New Technologies To Measure Therapy Effectiveness For Mental And Physical Health, Jonathan Ossie

Dissertations

Mental health is quickly becoming a major policy concern, with recent data reporting increasing and disproportionately worse mental health outcomes, including anxiety, depression, increased substance abuse, and elevated suicidal ideation. One specific population that is especially high risk for these issues is the military community because military conflict, deployment stressors, and combat exposure contribute to the risk of mental health problems.

Although several pharmacological approaches have been employed to combat this epidemic, their efficacy is mixed at best, which has led to novel nonpharmacological approaches. One such approach is Operation Surf, a nonprofit that provides nature-based programs advocating the restorative …

Resistencia Indocumentada: Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Higher Education Undocumented Students In The San Diego-Tijuana Border Region, Adan Escobedo Sanchez

Dissertations

Undocumented students face myriad obstacles while attending higher education institutions that would deter them from completing their academic journeys. Furthermore, they are placed with a dual narrative that labels them as either dangerous or exceptional. This study explored the lived experiences of undocumented students in college in the San Diego-Tijuana border region to consider what factors have led to resilience and resistance in their academic journey. By understanding these factors, the research aimed to tackle the dual narrative that burdens undocumented students from the illegality as a master status they possess.

This study used narrative inquiry and a literature review …

By Chameleonic Means; "Trust Based" Philanthropic Relationships, "The Business Of Yes," As Experienced By Black Fundraisers, Novien Yarber

Dissertations

In the wake of society’s reinvigorated consciousness around structural and systemic racism, conversations centering justice, equity, inclusion, access, and cultural diversification are going far beyond political discourse. Contemporary fundraising practices are also challenging antiquated hegemonic ways of philanthropy and are critically examining the practice from within. Among many things, this entails diversifying the historically White-female dominated fundraising workforce. In this, fundraising literature has paid minimal attention to intercultural/cross-racial dynamics as implications of diversification of the fundraiser workforce. Although some research may center fundraisers themselves (relative to their ethical and/or professional standards), this dissertation expands this field of study by offering …

Unconscious Bias In United States Marine Corps Leadership Doctrine: Examining Microaggressions Through Document Analysis, Patrick Butler

Dissertations

This dissertation employed a document analysis format to examine Marine Corps leadership education doctrine for microaggressions. The United States Marine Corps (Marine Corps or USMC) is the military service with the least diverse officer cadre in terms of sex, gender identity, and race. The study results show a pattern of repeating unconscious bias-related content within the Marine Corps’ documents. Such patterns can negatively affect minority members in terms of their health, acceptance, and performance within the organization. The results also document an overriding bias-culture which puts Marine Corps leadership in a dilemma of trying to encourage conformity to traditional organizational …

Examining The Cross-Cultural Competence Of United States Christian Missionaries Engaged In Developing Indigenous Leaders: A Mixed Methods Study, Craig W. Goodman

Dissertations

For the past two millennia, missionaries have crossed from one culture to another to bring the Christian message to all cultures of the world. Questions about the effectiveness of these mission efforts have been asked and researched by many; however, one key question remains unanswered: what personal attributes help a person to be more competent at crossing cultures as they interact with people from other cultures? Although cross-cultural competence has been studied in a variety of fields over the past 50 years, the models and assessments used have never been applied to Christian missionaries.

To address this deficiency, this parallel …

Breaking Boundaries: Investigating The Experiences Of Racially Diverse Low Socioeconomic Status Students Through A Narrative Inquiry Approach, Ryan Jumamil

Dissertations

Across the US, there is growing inequality of class distribution in predominately white and elite colleges and universities. Although gaining access to these institutions is typically the first hurdle, it is not the only challenge racially diverse low socioeconomic status (SES) students face. By investigating the college experiences of racially diverse low SES students enrolled in a predominately white elite institution, this study creates the foundation for an imperative discussion on the relationship between students' identity and attendance at predominately white elite institutions.

Through a Narrative Inquiry research approach and using semi-structured interviews as a data collection tool, two themes …

Exploring The Impact Of An Online Leadership Course On Japanese Undergraduates' Conceptions Of Leadership, Ryosuke Watanabe

Dissertations

Today’s complex problems transcend borders and require a collective and adaptive learning response. Literature suggests that, because the traditional hierarchical or positional style of leadership cannot effectively address problems we face today, leadership should take a more collaborative and systemic form. Rost (1991) characterized this new approach as the postindustrial paradigm of leadership. Unfortunately, changing the existing conception of leadership is not easy. Furthermore, assessing people’s leadership perceptions is challenging because leadership is often a tacit and latent construct. Because formal leadership education is still in its infancy in Japan, little is known about the impact of leadership education in …

The Mitigation Of In-Group And Outgroup Biases: Understanding The Perceptions Of Educators On The Contact Approach Theory, Brigitte Blazys

Dissertations

The contact approach theory was introduced in the 1950s, by Allport, as a method to mitigate biases. Since then, many DEI practitioners in the United States have formed alliances to create a social justice movement to combat racism, prejudice, and biases in our society. Nevertheless, little research has been conducted in the contact approach theory as these biases, initially observed as in-group and outgroup biases, originate in the early years of life. To begin to fill this gap in the literature, the purpose of this study was to better understand and identify to what extent, if any, prekindergarten through third …

Academic Library Succession Planning In The University Of California (Uc) System, Crystal Goldman

Dissertations

The Library and Information Science (LIS) literature has made clear that academic libraries in the U.S. have experienced decades of hiring freezes and budget cuts that reduced staffing overall and eliminated many middle management positions. Consequently, now that baby boomer library managers and administrators are beginning to retire, there are few qualified applicants to replace them. Thus, many in the LIS field have called for better succession planning by top-level library administrators (e.g., Deans, Directors, University Librarians). Few studies, however, have directly addressed this issue by examining these administrators’ perceptions or behavior regarding succession planning. This study begins to fill …

Head Of School Retention In Independent Schools, Kevin Yaley

Dissertations

According to the National Association of Independent Schools (2020), independent schools across the country continue to experience an increasing number of head-of-school vacancies, both expected and unexpected. Save for the departures by heads who are retiring or obviously chasing greener pastures, the reasons why an increasing number of heads are departing at a disquieting rate are as enigmatic as the departures themselves.

As part of its governance responsibilities, the board has unconditional authority over the employment of the head, including, most especially, the ability to influence the retention of the head. Unfortunately, since these boards of trustees operate independently, there …

Oneida College Lacrosse Players’ Perspectives Of The Sacred Game Of Lacrosse, Thomas Reed

Dissertations

Oneida college lacrosse players have an important perspective on the sacred game of lacrosse that needs to be heard. The Oneida are one of six tribes of the Haudenosaunee, or also known as, the Iroquois. Lacrosse is one of the fastest growing sports in the world and the style played today is most similar to the Haudenosaunee style. Oneidas are traditionally orators and lacrosse players. There is a lack of literature on the Oneida, lacrosse, and education. Oneida college lacrosse players face a problem in attempting to preserve their traditional Indigenous knowledge at their respective university communities, while also seeking …

How Navy And Marine Corps Veterans Make Meaning Of The College Choice Process In The Post-9/11 Gi Bill Era, Derek Abbey

Dissertations

The Post-9/11 GI Bill was implemented in 2009. Since then more than 1,900,000 people have used the benefit and more than $90 billion have been paid to institutions of higher learning and to Post-9/11 GI Bill users. During this period there has been a shift in the types of college and universities veterans attend, as well as the educational models they select. These shifts are different than the general population of students. This period also included a spike in questionable recruiting practices by some colleges. In response to many institutions taking advantage of veterans, the President of the United States …

Educating Boys In Jamaica: In Search Of A New Lens, Marcia Sharon-May Chin

Dissertations

The need for innovative solutions to enhance educational outcomes for Jamaican high school male students is evident. For over two decades, national exam results demonstrate that these students have consistently underachieved. Using aqualitative research design, this study explores the possibility of scaling up a student leadership educational model, developed by one U.S. school that has proven successful in educating an inner city minority male student population, to a similarly placed Jamaican high school. Focus groups and interviews were conducted with stakeholders at an all male Jamaican school and with administrators at the Ministry of Education, to understand their perceptions regarding …

Bullies And Allies Near The Playground: Mothers' Experiences Of Aggression In Their Children's Schools, Mara Vicente Robinson

Dissertations

Despite an increasing understanding of the importance of both parent-involvement and aggression among women, there appears to be little understanding of how these two areas influence each other; specifically, the lack of literature examining the extent to which female guardians experienced aggression from other female guardians and the effect it had on their involvement in their children’s schools. In an effort to investigate the extent to which aggression was prevalent among female guardians, the factors that influenced the aggression, and the effects of that aggression on women’s involvement in their children’s education, a convergent parallel mixed methods design was used …

Tracing The Change Process: Fostering And Sustaining Student Affairs Cultures Of Assessment, Margaret Leary

Dissertations

Student affairs professionals have long been strong contributors to college student learning and development and supporters of the perspective that holistic postsecondary learning is critical for not only the individual but society as well. With more attention focused on the value of this learning, student affairs has taken steps to foster and establish cultures of assessment by creating positions for individuals to coordinate assessment efforts across the division – a student affairs assessment leader. Most of the literature focusing on student affairs is informed by valuable practitioner experience and can be strengthened by empirical study. This explanatory single case study …

Formerly Incarcerated Adults In Higher Education: A Life-History Study Of A Restorative Approach To Prisoner Reentry, Robert Michael Ehnow

Dissertations

The U.S. is the world’s “leading jailer” with both the highest incarceration rate and the largest number of prisoners. Each year more than 700,000 inmates are released from prison and re-enter their communities. The majority of released prisoners lack the necessary education, work experience, and life skills to successfully reintegrate back into society.

One alternative to the retributive model of justice used in the United States is a restorative justice strategy. A restorative approach to prisoner reintegration seeks to re-establish community support and acceptance for criminal offenders in order to allow them to become beneficial members of society. The literature …