Education Commons^™

Exemplary Middle School Principals Leading Through Conversation, John Ashby

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the behaviors that exemplary middle school principals practice to lead their organization through conversations using Groysberg and Slind’s (2012) four elements of conversational leadership: intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality.

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative study described the lived experiences of exemplary middle school principals in Orange County, California. The researcher was part of a thematic research team of 12 peer researchers and 4 faculty advisors. Through purposeful sampling, the researcher selected 10 exemplary middle school principals who met at least 4 of 6 criteria identifying someone as exemplary. Data collection …

Bridging The Divide: A Case Study Investigating Digitally-Wise Teacher Perceptions Of Middle School Cyberbullying, Tiffany Graves

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of middle school, technologically proficient, or digitally-wise teachers, regarding how they defined, prevented, recognized, and handled incidences of cyberbullying in four middle schools located in Southern Virginia. Data was collected using an open-ended questionnaire, archival data, including school public records and lesson plans, and interviews. Data for this study were triangulated and synthesized following Stake's data analysis procedures to create naturalistic generalizations for the readers. All data was coded and 10 emergent themes developed. Digitally-wise middle school teachers voiced confidence about their ability to define cyberbullying; they shared …

The Effects Of School Uniforms On Student Behavior And Perceptions In An Urban Middle School, Jacqueline M. Mccarty

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

Public opinion polls have consistently highlighted the prevalence of violence in America's schools. Specifically, school personnel have witnessed increased assault and theft related to the wearing of expensive clothing. Concomitantly, administrators have noted decreased attendance rates triggered by clothing issues. Given the gravity of these problems, school officials nationwide have enacted uniform policies in hopes of improving school safety and student behavior. However, current research establishing the effectiveness of these policies is largely anecdotal. The few studies utilizing empirical measures mainly highlight short-term outcomes and often fail to address student perceptions regarding clothing-related problems.

By contrast, this study investigated the …