Education Commons^™

Understanding The Aspirations And Challenges Of Michigan’S Black School Superintendents: A Toolkit For Building Equity In The Superintendency, Kevin Simmons

Dissertations

Black superintendents are significantly underrepresented in our nation’s schools. Despite a slight increase in representation of female Black superintendents, minorities of all races continue to be underrepresented (Tienken & Domenech, 2020). In this study, I examined the experiences of Black superintendents in Michigan who currently hold superintendent roles, along with the obstacles they faced and their personal characteristics and associated factors that attributed to their resilience and longevity in their role as superintendent. Using a phenomenological qualitative study approach of personal and confidential interviews and survey questions of 12 Black superintendents, data was collected to formulate a toolkit for aspiring …

Stem Education:An Examination Of School Leaders’ And Teachers’ Perceptions On Stem Implementation In Uae Schools, Sara Elkeir Hamad

Dissertations

STEM education in the UAE is currently receiving growing attention due to the massive economic growth, which created a need for STEM-qualified graduates. Accordingly, UAE educational policymakers and curriculum developers advocate developing and implementing STEM education at all educational levels. The research emphasized that STEM education positively affects students’ ability to solve problems, be innovative, think critically, and be technology literate. This study aims to examine school leaders’ and STEM teachers’ perceptions of STEM implementation practices in the UAE context. A sequential explanatory, mixed-method design was employed to collect the data from the school’s leaders and teachers, quantitively using a …

Exploring Principals’ Experiences With Social Justice Issues In Their Work As School Leaders, Djimtibaye Otalbaye

Dissertations

Social justice has taken on a special importance in education today, although it is not a new concept in terms of human history. Social justice is not a local issue, but exists in all parts of the world (Jean Marie et al., 2014). Differentiation among social environments of schools and increasing elements of diversity and roles of schools to create a socially just structure can be seen as main reasons for these issues (Turhan, 2010). Schools are therefore challenged to address the social conditions and hardships of students by responding to their needs (Avant, 2014).

The purpose of this basic …

Teachers’ Experiences In Schools That Serve Rural Communities In The Dominican Republic: Their Readiness To Respond To Challenges, Nidia Beatriz Columna Pérez

Dissertations

In 2016, the Dominican Institute for Evaluation and Research of Educational Quality (IDEICE), indicated educational inequalities due to the geographical location of schools in the Dominican Republic. Despite several policies enacted by the Ministry of Education, including curriculum and teacher credentialing reforms, success indicators such as completion rates and academic performance still suggest a major achievement gap. Limitations in understanding the unique characteristics of schools that serve student in rural communities contribute to education policies that may not be sufficiently sensitive to those circumstances. One particular area of insufficient understanding is the manner in which teachers experience teaching in schools …

What About Us? For Girls Between Worlds: How Black Girls Navigate White High Schools, Cryslynn C. Billingsley

Dissertations

This qualitative study is about the experiences and challenges Black girls have while attending predominantly White high schools and what they are doing to navigate that particular space. The purpose of this study was to explore and understand more about how Black girls navigate White space as minority members of a system that was not originally intended for them. Through semi-structured interviews, Black girls were asked directly to share their lived experiences. This study hopes to illuminate and amplify the voices of Black girls and help others see them by giving them a platform to discuss and tell their stories. …

Teaching With Citizen Science: An Exploratory Study Of Teachers' Motivations & Perceptions, Georgia Bracey

Dissertations

With the continued emphasis in the United States on science teaching reform as a way to increase science learning and the scientific literacy of all, the integration of informal science learning activities like citizen science is emerging as a possible way to enhance formal science teaching and learning. There is a limited but growing number of studies indicating that the general public is learning science content and process from participating in citizen science, but research in this area is just beginning and the use of citizen science projects by teachers in formal classroom settings has barely been examined at all. …

A Leading University With International Reach: Internationalization At Western Kentucky University, David M. Kerr

Dissertations

Internationalization has become a central feature of American universities and has continued to grow in importance as administrators, teachers, and students desire to take advantage of the multitude of benefits (academic, social/cultural, economic, and political) successful internationalization can offer. Several studies have been conducted on internationalization in higher education, but research is needed that seeks to understand internationalization on an institutional level, i.e., the commonly accepted practices used to internationalize a university, the various rationales used to justify internationalization, and the common challenges associated with internationalization.

The goal of this phenomenological study is to examine the process of implementing internationalization …

A Case Study Of The Challenges And Strategies Of Rural School Superintendent/Principals In California, Christine Mccormick

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to identify the challenges faced by rural school superintendent/principals and the corresponding strategies used to mitigate those challenges. The role of the superintendent/principal is considered to be one of the most challenging administrative roles; little if no research had been conducted on the challenges and strategies of this dual administrative role. The target population for the present study was the forty-six superintendent/principals in California County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA), Region 2. Three superintendent/principals from this target population, who have served four years or more in their role, were selected to …

Down Front: Challenges Facing Community College Based Performing Arts Centers, Stephen Bradley Cummins

Dissertations

A number of community colleges have committed significant resources to presenting arts and cultural programming for their communities. These community college based arts organizations face many of the same challenges as other non-profit arts organizations and arts centers located on traditional four-year campuses. However, present research and data considers all centers to be similar and does not take into consideration the unique qualities of community colleges. The purpose of this research study is to first define community college arts presenting and then to identify and explain the challenges facing these arts organizations.

The first stage of the mixed method study …

Identifying And Addressing Issues Faced By New Community College Presidents, Anthony Raymond Miksa

Dissertations

The American community college system is in the midst of a leadership crisis. Community college presidents are retiring at an alarming rate. Further exacerbating the leadership crisis is the lack of qualified candidates to replace the retiring presidents. Senior administrators at community colleges who are the natural choice to replace the retirees are also retiring or choosing not to pursue a presidency. The overarching purpose driving this research was to identify the challenges encountered by new community college presidents, seek to comprehend the information gathering method utilized by new presidents to identify challenges, and finally, to present the strategies the …