Education Commons^™

What University College Presidents Need To Know About The Chief Diversity Officer Position, Mary Jane (Gigi) Secuban

Journal of Research on the College President

Renewing commitments to historical injustices, tackling declining numbers of underrepresented students, addressing national outrage to racial and social inequities, and attempting to retain faculty, staff, and students of color on campus are all complex issues that become part of the role of a Chief Diversity Officer on college campuses today. The Chief Diversity Officer can be “a strategic partner, invested leader, and change agent- who helps colleges and universities move forward on the path to address inclusion with policies, programs, and people” (Aguilar, 2020). This article provides guidance to university presidents on how to best support the CDO on their …

What College Presidents Need To Know About Honors Colleges, Noah Pittman

Journal of Research on the College President

In just the past few decades, honors colleges have increasingly become an important feature of the undergraduate experience at public universities across the nation. From the recruitment of students in order to help stem “brain drain” from a state to the cultivation of alumni donors, an honors college can play a critical role in an institution’s overall success. This article will discuss five specific areas that college presidents need to know about how honors college function and the issues they often face, with the goal of furthering an executive leader’s knowledge of these programs.

The Climb To The Top: Advice For Aspiring Black And African American College And University Presidents, Quncy Martin Iii

Journal of Research on the College President

The purpose of this paper was to provide practical advice on how Black and African American college and university presidential aspirants may adequately prepare themselves for such a pivotal leadership role. Seven Black and African American college and university presidents from a variety of institutional types (community colleges, four-year institutions, Predominately White Institutions [PWI], and Minority-Serving Institutions[MSI]) across the United States answered a simple question: What advice can you offer to aspiring Black and African American college and university presidents to adequately prepare them for this leadership role? The authors supplemented their responses with highlights of professional development opportunities for …

Becoming A Champion Of Orientation, Gregory V. Wolcott, William J. Reckmeyer, Andrene Kaiwi Connor, Rigoberto Flores

Journal of Research on the College President

New student orientation programs are one of the most important high impact practices for student success. These introductory programs not only empower students to be able to selfidentify how their academic support needs can be met, they also provide the critically important introduction to building social support networks. College presidents must embrace the critical role of new student orientation programs, understand their complexities, and find ways to illustrate the role of these programs to faculty, staff, and students.

Liaison, Delegates, And Advisors:An Examination Of The Chief Of Staff Role On College Campuses, Laura Jacobs

Journal of Research on the College President

The chief of staff role first emerged as a military and government position to strategize battles and advise generals centuries ago (O’Brien, 2020). It has been more common in the United States to find chiefs of staff (or COS) in political environments: The White House chief of staff often comes to mind when the title is mentioned. In recent years the role has been adopted by corporate entities. Companies often create and hire individuals into the title to organize senior level, institution work (Ciampa, 2020) and the corporatization and resulting organizational changes in higher education (Bleikliea & Kogan, 2007) have …

Stepping Down? Theorizing The Process Of Returning To The Faculty After Senior Academicleadership, Lisa Jasinski

Journal of Research on the College President

While scholars have devoted considerable attention to identifying and developing future academic leaders, scant empirical research has considered the firsthand experiences of senior leaders who returned to the faculty. This grounded theory study developed a theoretical understanding of the process of returning to the faculty after serving as a senior campus administrator. This research examined a common academic rite of passage using the analysis of interviews with 43 former college presidents, provosts, deans, and “other senior leaders” from a variety of postsecondary institutions. Academic leaders in the study characterized the process of returning to the faculty as mostly positive and …

The Effectiveness And Priorities Of The American College President:Perceptions From The Faculty Lounge, G. David Gearhart, Daniel P. Nadler, Michael T. Miller

Journal of Research on the College President

The American college presidency has become increasingly complex, particularly due to the wide variety of demands placed on the position. Indeed, the effectiveness of a president is often seen through the lens of different constituents. Historically, the faculty have played a key role in determining the success of a president, and the current study sought to identify the perceptions of faculty members regarding the effectiveness of presidents. Additionally, the study sought to compare faculty perception of desired versus actual effectiveness of presidential responsibilities.

A Program Evaluation Of The Implementation Process Of A Phonics First® Initiative, Amanda Picard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the Phonics First® program within one district to inform district level curriculum team decisions and program planning moving forward. As a level 4 Directed State Support district, the studied district was looking for ways to close the achievement gap and raise overall academic achievement in reading. To do so, the implementation of core reading program initiatives such as Phonics First® was assessed to determine how best to utilize and monitor the Phonics First® program to achieve the district’s desired outcomes. This study utilized a decision-oriented program evaluation using a …

Welcome From The Guest Editor, Daniel P. Nadler

Journal of Research on the College President

I am truly grateful to the staff of the National Lab for the Study of the College President for allowing me to be a part of their family during this very strange and challenging academic year. I have been impressed by the Arkansas team, and will be excited to see their Handbook on College and University Leadership in the summer of 2021.

Editors' Remarks, G. David Gearhart, Michael T. Miller

Journal of Research on the College President

Dr. Miller and I are most pleased to share with you the fourth volume of the Journal of Research on the College President from the National Lab for the Study of the College President at the University of Arkansas. While this year has been a great challenge for everyone given the Covid Pandemic the Lab continues to work on a wide variety of issues about the contemporary college president.

Teachers' Willingness To Pay For Retirement Benefits: A National Stated Preferences Experiment, Dillon Fuchsman, Josh B. Mcgee, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Many states have recently made or are considering changes to their teacher retirement systems. However, little is known about how teachers value various elements of their retirement benefits versus other aspects of their jobs and compensation. To help alleviate this gap, we use a discrete choice stated preferences experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey of teachers to estimate their willingness-to-pay for various retirement plan characteristics and other non-salary job components. We find that teachers would be indifferent between a traditional pension and alternative retirement plan designs if the alternatives were paired with 2 to 3 percent salary increases. Our …

Normalizing Struggle, Catherine Martin Christopher

Arkansas Law Review

A person who is effective in law school, on the bar exam, and in practice utilizes the same set of skills in each of those scenarios: close, critical reading; synthesis of multiple sources of law into a coherent rule or schema; appreciation of both the big picture and the fine details of a set of rules of law; analysis of a factual scenario for facts that meet or fail a legal test; assessment of the validity and strength of counterarguments; and, of course, clear, concise, thorough, organized communication. Because all these skills are useful from the first day of law …

An Experimental Evaluation Of Arts Field Trips, Heidi H. Erickson, Angela R. Watson, Jay P. Greene

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This paper presents results of a multi-visit, longitudinal experiment on the academic and social-emotional effects of arts-based field trips. We randomly assign fourth and fifth grade students to receive arts-based field trips throughout the school year or to serve as a control. Treatment students express greater tolerance for people with different opinions and a desire to consume arts. Additionally, treatment students have fewer behavioral infractions, attend school more frequently, score higher on their end-of-grade exams, and receive higher course grades. Effects are strongest when students enter middle school. We find no effect on students’ desire to participate in the arts, …

Computer Science Teacher Survey, Josh B. Mcgee, Sarah C. Mckenzie

Arkansas Education Reports

In April/May of 2020, the University of Arkansas’ Office for Education Policy (OEP), in partnership with Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson's Computer Science and Cyber Security Task Force, fielded a survey with the 400+ Arkansas educators who at that time held a computer science endorsement (528), computer science approval code (5016), or computer science technical permit (5014) on their educator’s license. The survey received 153 responses, a nearly 40 percent response rate.

The Role Of Student Effort On Performance In Pisa: Revisiting The Gender Gap In Achievement, Lina Anaya, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

International assessments are important to benchmark the quality of education across countries. However, on low-stakes tests, students’ incentives to invest their maximum effort may be minimal. Research stresses that ignoring students’ effort when interpreting results from low-stakes assessments can lead to biased interpretations of test performance across groups of examinees. We use data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a low-stakes test, to analyze the extent to which student effort helps to explain test scores heterogeneity across countries and by gender groups. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for differences in student effort to understand cross-country heterogeneity …

Cognitive Science For The Classroom, Kyle Heys

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Kyle Heys shares principles of cognitive science and how they can be used in the college classroom to enhance student learning.

Teaching For Student Success: Practical Ideas For The Classroom, Kyle Heys

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Kyle Heys shares practical suggestions for teachers about how to engage and encourage students for success in the college classroom.

The Impact Of Graduate Assistantships On The Preparation Of Early Career Student Affairs Professionals, Mary L. Skinner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored the graduate assistantship experiences of early career master’s prepared student affairs professionals and examined the role these assistantships played in the preparation for their current position. The study included 10 participants who had all graduated with a master’s in higher education within the past 5 years, had participated in a graduate assistantship within student affairs, and worked full-time within a student affairs department at the time of the study. Each participant took part in a one-on-one interview that was recorded, transcribed, and reviewed for themes. I followed Braun and Clarke’s (2012) six-phase approach to thematic …

Increasing Female Enrollment In High School Computer Science Education, Zenovia Brown Frazier

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“Women have played a vital role in the field of computer science and information technology (IT), developing some of the most essential components of modern IT” (Purdue University Global, 2018). Despite their prominence and achievements in these career fields, computer science has experienced a noticeable decline in the representation of females in industry and in programs of study. This is not a phenomenon reserved for the college classroom and/or the world of work, but is a situation present across schools in the P-12 arena, to include ZBF High School. As such, the purpose of this work was to examine the …

An Exploration Of The Experiences Of Faculty With Disabilities In A Research University In The South, Gonzalo Camp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

While diversity and inclusion has become a benchmark for universities all around the country, faculty with disabilities remain in the margins of higher education discourse and are a neglected population across the spectrum of academia. This thesis aims at exploring the experiences of faculty with disabilities at a specific research 1 university in the South. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five faculty members who self-identify as having a disability. Four themes emerged from this study: able-bodied lens, fear, social isolation, and coping mechanisms. Building on the existing literature, these findings offer new information to expand the knowledge on the challenges …

Teacher Turnover And Teacher Retirement, Dillon Fuchsman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teachers have an important impact on students in the short- and long-term, but only teachers’ experience consistently predicts high teacher quality. This dissertation, divided into three chapters, investigates two topics that are related to teachers’ experience levels: turnover and retirement.

The first chapter studies the relationship between voluntary beginning teacher turnover and teachers’ levels of conscientiousness. It uses the data from the Beginning Teacher Longitudinal Study and the effort that teachers put on a survey taken during their first year in the profession as a proxy for teachers’ levels of conscientiousness. The results of this chapter indicate that teachers putting …

Evidence-Based Social-Emotional Learning And Its Influence On Teachers’ Perception Of Student Behavior: An Analysis Of Ruler And The Anchors Of Emotional Intelligence, Brent B. Harrington

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to assess the extent by which an evidence-based Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) program influenced teachers’ perception of students’ behavior in a small and diverse PK – 8 school district in Westchester County, NY. Specifically, the researcher evaluated the Anchors of Emotional Intelligence and the RULER framework to determine its impact on school climate as viewed from the perspective of staff in the district. Prior to commencing the study, the researcher recognized the negative staff narrative around student behavior in the district as a significant problem of practice that was observable, actionable and high leverage.

This mixed-methods study …

Teen Stress And The High School Experience: Fostering The Adaptive Abilities To Survive And Advance, William P. Dewitt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose if this study is to examine the stress experience of teenagers during their high school years. The study uses existing research to identify causes of stress and stress- management techniques and then gathers students’ perceptions through surveys and a group interview to provide student voice on the issue of stress.

Recent nation-wide efforts have been made in schools to provide more supports for the social and emotional well-being of students, but despite these efforts, stress levels of high school students remain elevated. Understanding the ways in which students identify stress and the adaptive abilities they use to manage …

How Does Disproportionality In Discipline Manifest In Rural Schools In Southeast Arkansas?, Julie Workman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African American students are disciplined in schools at disproportionately higher rates than White students. This trend was first reported in 1975 in a report by the Children’s Defense Fund and since that time, has been highly studied. However, most research has been conducted in urban or suburban schools, with less known about disproportionate discipline in rural schools. This study utilized an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach to explore disproportionate discipline between African American and White students in five rural schools located in Southeast Arkansas. The research questions were as follows: (1) How is discipline disproportionality perceived in specific rural schools …

Who Is Riding The Bus And How Does It Impact Student Sleep, Attendance, Discipline, Mental Health, And Achievement?, Curtis Neil Hicks

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to determine the relationship between morning transportation mode choice, sleep, and factors that impact achievement for students in grades 9-12 at Sleepy Valley High School. The study also examined the relationship between race and/or socioeconomic status and morning transportation mode choice to determine to what extent, if any, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and minority populations are disproportionally affected by the district’s pupil transportation system.

Data related to morning transportation mode choice, factors that impact mode choice, student sleep, and mental health were collected through a 12 question Student Transportation Survey. Each survey …

A Perspective Of Female Faculty In Hospitality Higher Education, Clarissa Mason

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bullying and related incivility have become critical social issues influencing not only individual lives but also society at large; yet, extensive research on bullying only began about four decades ago (Randall, 2001; Sanders, 2004). Bullying can happen to children, but it can also impact adults more often than one would think. The 2014 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey, conducted by the Workplace Bullying Institute , found that “, one-quarter of adult Americans (27%) said they directly experienced abusive conduct at work” (Namie, Christensen, & Phillips, 2014, p.4), and over one third of adults are aware of incidents of workplace bullying. …

The Value Of Study Abroad Experience In The Labor Market: Findings From A Resume Audit Experiment, Albert Cheng, Laura Florick

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Conventional wisdom and some empirical research suggests that study abroad programs enhance skills and personal growth in ways that translate into success in the labor market. However, this research is limited by its inability to address sources of selection bias that may confound the positive relationship between study abroad experience and labor-market success. We conduct a field experiment to overcome these limitations. Using a resume audit, we estimate the causal relationship between participation in study abroad experience and the likelihood of receiving a callback from a potential employer. We also tested for potential heterogeneities by the location (i.e., Asia versus …

Testing, Teacher Turnover And The Distribution Of Teachers Across Grades And Schools, Dillon Fuchsman, Tim R. Sass, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Teacher turnover has adverse consequences for student achievement and imposes large financial costs for schools. Some have argued that high-stakes testing may lower teachers’ satisfaction with their jobs and could be a major contributor to teacher attrition. In this paper, we exploit changes in the tested grades and subjects in Georgia to study the effects of eliminating high-stakes testing on teacher turnover and the distribution of teachers across grades and schools. To measure the effect of testing pressures on teacher mobility choices we use a "difference-in-differences" approach, comparing changes in mobility over time in grades/subjects that discontinue testing vis-à-vis grades/subjects …