Education Commons^™

T-Pess And Special Education Teacher Attrition And Retention: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study Of Teacher Perceptions Of Administrator Effectiveness, Janna R. Crow

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenology study was to explore special education teacher retention in a large school district in Texas and the perception of campus principal’s support as defined through the domains from the Texas Principal Evaluation and Support System (T-PESS). Participants in the study came from 550 special education teachers in Desert ISD, a school district in North Texas. I completed semi-structured interviews with a minimum of three special education teachers from elementary, middle school, and high school levels.

The Role Of Fit In The Decision Making Process For Head Principal Recruitment, Hiring, And Placement, Keith William Cottrell

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the role that fit may play in recruiting, hiring, and placing head principals, both from the perspective of the principals and from the perspective of the hiring bodies. District personnel, particularly superintendents and human resource directors, have been surveyed in previous research to ascertain general traits they look for in a head principal candidate (Kwan, 2012; Kwan & Walker, 2009; Pijanowski, Hewitt, & Brady, 2009). Little research exists, however, gathering in-depth qualitative data on the role of fit in the principal placement process.

Data were collected from ten principals in the first …

The Principal’S Role In The Implementation Of A One-To-One Initiative: A Case Study Of Two Schools, Casey Michael Cutter

Doctoral Dissertations

While the popularity of one-to-one initiatives and the body of research concerning their effectiveness continues to grow, there have been few research studies conducted on how a principal leads a one-to-one initiative (Cowie, Jones & Harlow, 2011; Dexter; 2007; Hayes and Greaves, 2013). The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how a principal can lead, support and influence the implementation of a one-to-one initiative. Stryker and Burke’s (2000) role identity theory provided the theoretical framework for this multi-site case study of two intermediate schools in the same district that were in their first year of implementing a one-toone …

You Have To Find That Music That Both Parties Can Dance To: One School District's Experience With Collaborative Conferencing, Janel Marie Seeley

Doctoral Dissertations

In 2011, Tennessee passed the Professional Educators Collaborative Conferencing Act (PECCA), replacing the former mode of collective bargaining between professional educators and school board administrators with a process called collaborative conferencing (CC). The purpose of this study, the first research on the new process, was to investigate the experiences of participants who engaged in CC in one school district. The study also examined participants’ perceived relationship between training and its application to CC. The school district used the newly developed Interest-Based Collaborative Problem Solving and Reflective Practice (IBCPS/RP) model to guide its CC process. This approach is similar to interest …

The Relationship Between Demands And Resources And Teacher Burnout: A Fifteen-Year Meta-Analysis, Tammy Marie Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations

This meta-analysis explored the phenomenon of teacher burnout— the biggest contributor to teacher attrition (Owens, 2013; Unterbrink, 2014; Yu, 2015). The focus of this study was to use meta-analytical procedures to explore the relationship between burnout dimensions (i.e., emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and feelings of personal accomplishment) and specific demand and resource correlates. Demand correlates included work overload, role conflict, role ambiguity, and student misbehavior. Resource correlates included peer support, supervisory support, and decision-making. This meta-analytical research method encompassed fifteen years of published and unpublished studies from January 2000 through January 2015. A total of 116 studies met the following inclusion …

The Georgia School Improvement Specialists: A Qualitative Study Exploring Their Roles With Principals Of Middle Schools Identified As Focus Schools, Jessie Adelaide Beaumont

Doctoral Dissertations

While educational initiatives have used external consultants to effect change since the 1950s (Sulla, 1998), understanding their roles and their work has become increasingly important in helping low-performing schools facilitate change and guide the school improvement process (Brady, 2003; Mass Insight Education, 2012; Toppings, 2013). The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study is to identify and explore the roles Georgia’s school improvement specialists serve when working with principals of middle schools in Focus School status. The benefits and challenges of the school improvement specialists supporting principals with school improvement efforts are identified as well. This study will be framed in …

Tennessee Public High School Principals’ Leadership Behaviors And Teachers’ Job Satisfaction, Amie Broughton Rumph

Doctoral Dissertations

The attrition rate of teachers is alarming (Darling-Hammond, 2002; Keigher, 2010; Marvel, Lyter, Peltola, Strizek, & Morton, 2006). Factor of the attrition include teachers leaving the profession due to lack of job satisfaction or lack of administrative support (Angelle, 2002; Littrell, 1994; Schlichte, Yssel, & Merbler, 2005). Frameworked by Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory (Herzberg, Mausner, & Snyderman, 1959), this web-based, quantitative, descriptive study explored the connections between job satisfaction and perceived leadership behaviors. Participants included 302 teachers from public secondary schools in Central and East Tennessee. Instruments used were the Job Satisfaction Survey ([JSS], Spector, 1994), the Study of School Leadership …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Job Satisfaction And School Climate In An Era Of Accountability: A Mixed Methods Study Of Two High Schools On Tennessee’S High Priority List, Jeffrey Anton Knox

Doctoral Dissertations

This mixed methods study examines how teachers and administrators react when the school is under the stress of an accountability system. In this study, teacher job satisfaction and school climate are measured as these often overlooked variables have a great impact on student academic achievement (Goddard, Sweetland, & Hoy, 2000). Accountability systems such as No Child Left Behind need to be explored for negative unintended consequences such as the lowering of teacher job satisfaction and school climate. Questionnaires, interviews, and observations are used to measure teachers’ job satisfaction and school climate of two high schools that have been on Tennessee’s …

Perceived Principal Support And Middle School Teacher Burnout, Cherie Barnett Gaines

Doctoral Dissertations

Burnout is a tripartite syndrome consisting of the constructs of emotional exhaustion (EE), depersonalization (DP), and reduced feelings of personal accomplishment (PA) (Azeem & Nazir, 2008; Law, 2010; Yong & Yue, 2007). Teachers in the midst of burnout are in a “state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long-term involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding” (Harrison, 1996, p. 25). The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between middle school teacher burnout and perceived principal support. The combination of the constructs of burnout and principal behaviors (i.e., supportive, directive, and restrictive) provided the theoretical framework …

Decolonial Multiculturalism And Local-Global Contexts: A Postcritical Feminist Bricolage For Developing New Praxes In Education, Katharine Matthaei Sprecher

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation presents a conceptual bricolage that explores complex, reflexive, and interrelated dimensions of educational praxes. My work is grounded in the assertion that the ever-changing, local-global nature of contemporary societies requires new approaches to curricula, pedagogies, policies, and practices in U.S. schools to meet the challenges and opportunities of a global era. Presenting my research and findings as four articles, I begin with a dialectical analysis of theoretical and pedagogical literatures to develop an adaptable framework for decolonial multicultural education. In Article 1, I demonstrate how this framework synergizes aspects of social reconstructionist and critical multicultural, global, and …

A Case Study Of The Full Service Community School Model: School Level Benefits In An Urban, Southern Elementary School, Elisa Cooper Luna

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory, qualitative single case study was to explore the Full Service Community Schools model in one, urban elementary school. More specifically, the study sought to understand the impact this model had on students and teachers at one particular research site. This study was also intended to examine the impact the Full Service Community School model had on the role of school administrators. The research questions that guided this study were:

(1) How does the Full Service Community School model impact students?

(2) How does the Full Service Community School model impact teachers?

(3) What impact …

Cultural Competence And Its Impact On Student Academic Achievement In Urban Elementary Schools, Amy Louise Brace

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the relationship between the cultural competence level of urban elementary school teachers and the academic achievement of their students as measured by standardized testing. The specific research questions addressed throughout the course of this study were:
(1) What is the relationship between the (level of) cultural competence of the teacher and his/her students’ academic achievement as measured by standardized testing?
(2) How do urban elementary school teachers understand cultural competence?
(a) How do they define/describe cultural competence?
(b) What groups do they include in their definition of cultural competence?
(c) …

Examining A School’S Reform Efforts Through Capacity Building: A Case Study Of An Elementary School, Daphne Helen Odom

Doctoral Dissertations

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Due to accountability measures put in place by No Child Left Behind (NCLB), many schools identified as failing by the legislation are implementing reform efforts. This qualitative case study examined the initiatives one school put in place in order to remove themselves from the NCLB list of failing schools. Additionally, this case study sought to discover evidence of the components of capacity building in one elementary school, Cottonwood Elementary in East Tennessee. The theoretical framework of the study is based on …

Narratives Of The Development Of Urban Teacher Leaders, Susan K. Newsom

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the development of urban elementary teacher leaders as captured in narrative data and analyzed through the theoretical lenses of role identity, distributed leadership, teacher leadership and urban teacher leadership. The narratives of five teacher leaders provided rich descriptions that made it possible to: (a) examine possible mechanisms for encouraging leadership assertion choices; (b) identify support practices for encouraging leadership within future teachers in the urban context; and (c) provide insight for building leadership roles in the school environment for those who coordinate professional development activities.

Data were collected via semi-structured …