Education Commons^™

Politics, Policies, And Procedures: The Iron Triangle Of Implementing Education Reform, Clint Reardon Jr

Honors College Theses

Education is often seen as a living thing, something that should grow and change with time. However, for far too many people who experience education from both within the school structure and for those who experience education from outside the school structure it can often seem like the educational system is stagnate, dying, and in some cases dead. One shared reason for this perception is perceived barriers in education that stifle creativity and allow educational systems to grow, adapt, and change to meet the needs of the students they serve. This study set out to identify what those barriers are …

Toward A Better Criminal Legal System: Improving Prisons, Prosecution, And Criminal Defense, David A. Harris, Created And Presented Jointly By Students From State Correctional Institution - Greene, Waynesburg, Pa, And University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law, Chief Editor: David A. Harris

Articles

During the Fall 2023 semester, 15 law (Outside) students from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and 13 incarcerated (Inside) students from the State Correctional Institution – Greene, in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, took a full semester class together called Issues in Criminal Justice and Law. The class, occurring each week at the prison, utilized the Inside-Out Prison Exchange pedagogy, and was facilitated by Professor David Harris. Subjects include the purposes of prison, addressing crime, the criminal legal system and race, and issues surrounding victims and survivors of crime. The course culminated in a Group Project; under the heading “improving the …

Exploring The Application Of Compassionate Leadership Behaviors In The Workplace, Tracy L. Laurie

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

This qualitative case study answers the central research question “How are compassionate leadership behaviors encouraged and/or discouraged in the workplace?” Interviews with five individuals from one work team in an Am Law 100 law firm revealed how the compassionate leadership behaviors of integrity, accountability, presence, empathy, authenticity, and dignity (Shuck et al., 2019) were applied at work. This research explored four themes: leadership courage, growth mindset, empowerment, and coaching performance. Each theme has four subthemes further describing the data: Leadership courage: managing consistently and fairly, being transparent, communicating honestly, and taking risks; Growth mindset: working intentionally, developing others, learning continuously, …

Reclaiming And Reconceptualizing Accountability, Joseph Hailpern

Dissertations

This body of work contributes to the exploration of the intended and unintended consequences of the policy levers, referred to as education accountability policy, that have driven entire systems toward the inclusion of student performance data into educator performance ratings and the impact on the profession. Only from an extensive understanding of where we have been can a reimagined path forward be born to serve our youth and society better. This mixed methods dissertation does so by uncovering the legal landscape that defines the policy levers and bringing educators together in focus groups to delve deeply into these levers’ impact …

A Phenomenological Qualitative Study Of Low Teacher Retention And Morale In A Rural Poverty-Stricken School, Susan Michele Campbell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to understand the factors that are related to low morale and retention as described by teachers who work in a rural, poverty-stricken school in Middle Georgia. The problem addressed in this study was high teacher attrition in rural, poverty-stricken schools. The theories guiding this study were Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene, two-factor theory, and Maslow’s theory of motivation. A purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit 10 teachers who are employed at a rural, low-income school for three or more years. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews conducted individually. The data were analyzed using open …

How Can Urban Early Childhood Educators Advocate For Accountability In Alternative Assessment Methods, Stephanie Scierka

Graduate Teacher Education

Abstract

The introduction of district and educator accountability measures based on student assessment scores has created a move away from developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate practice (Bauml, 2016; Cramer et al., 2018; Frede &Ackerman, 2007; Gullo & Hughes, 2011; Miller & Almon, 2009; NAEYC, 2020; Rushton & Juola-Rushton, 2008). A combination of qualitative, quantitative, mixed-method studies and guidelines from the National Association for the Education of Young Children [NAEYC] (2020) demonstrated a need for developmentally appropriate practices when assessing students. The guiding question focused on how urban early childhood educators could advocate for accountability in alternative assessment methods. The research …

A Study Linking Title 1 Strategic Resource Allocation To Student Academic Success In South Carolina Public Schools, Brenton Jerrod Coe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Strategic instructional resourcing has become an important topic in public education, the most lucrative and expensive business in the United States. It is estimated which the United States spends about $612.7 billion annually on public education. This study will analyze and synthesize data from Title I schools in South Carolina, specifically in the area of resource allocation and its relationship to student academic success. Historically, public education has provided all citizens with an equal and equitable opportunity to receive an adequate education. Over time, access to strong public education can impact the lives of students with regard to social mobility. …

Public School Teachers' Experiences With High-Stakes Testing: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Lamorris Nakita Smith

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to examine how public school elementary teachers perceive high-stakes testing situations as it relates to the impact of test anxiety on young children. Bandura’s (1997) social cognitive theory guided this study as it sought to explain the role of human self-belief in cognition, motivation, and behavior. Eleven teachers who are elementary teachers within a North Carolina public school system, have been teaching at least three years, and have administered high-stakes testing over the course of their teaching careers shared their lived experiences of high-stakes testing through their answers to the following: How …

The Efforts Of K-12 School Principals To Increase Black Student Achievement, Kerry Moore

Educational Studies Dissertations

Policies typically hold schools accountable for student learning by isolating student groups within the school population to monitor academic achievement. Responsibility for ensuring academic growth and learning for all students often falls heavily upon the K-12 public school principal. This study investigated K-12 school principals’ beliefs, prioritization, and execution of research-based strategies meant to increase Black student achievement as well as their efforts to implement these strategies, including factors and conditions promoting or inhibiting implementation. Three guiding questions informed this study: (1) To what degree do principals believe leading efforts to improve Black student achievement is a priority? (2) What …

Investigating Transparency Policy As A Means Of Increasing Sexual Violence Reporting Numbers At Universities, Shaina Isaacsen

Honors Theses

It is well known that sexual violence occurs on college campuses at alarming rates. Despite this, sexual violence remains grossly underreported to universities. In a study investigating why survivors choose to not report sexual violence, only half believed that a university would investigate an assault fairly (Ridolfi-Starr, 2015). This project focuses on investigations of sexual violence conducted by universities, and whether certain adjudication processes can increase overall reporting numbers. Specifically, I focus on different forms of transparency within the sexual violence policy, third-party oversight and outcome publication. By using information collected from Annual Security Reports (ASRs) published by universities, I …

The Irony Of Accountability: How A Performance-Inducing Policy Reduces Motivation To Perform, Jose Eos R. Trinidad

Interdisciplinary Studies Faculty Publications

Although sociological and organizational studies have focused on the influence of quantification on behavior, the author focuses on quantification’s increasingly important consequences on well-being and motivation. Using the case of U.S. education, which has long relied on accountability policies, the author finds that attendance at schools with high-stakes accountability predicted lower student self-efficacy, that is, decreased task motivation and resilience as well as increased fear of failure—salient for low-income, urban, and public schools. These associations, however, did not spill over to social and life satisfaction dimensions of well-being. Taken together, these findings suggest the irony of accountability, where data used …

High-Stakes Testing: A Study Of The Relevance And Its Contribution To Career And College Readiness, Frank M. Cagle Jr

Doctor of Education Dissertations

Educators and policymakers have continued to search for the ideal medium for gauging learning and teacher accountability. After nearly 50 years since the inception of assessments to prove minimum competency, many attempts have been made to reform the process and the assessment tool. With the current focus in education being on career and college readiness and 21st century skills, the purpose of this study was to determine if high-stakes testing contributes to college and career readiness. College and career readiness and 21st century skills have been considered qualities needed to remain competitive in the global workplace. The most desirable qualities …

Let Them Be Little: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of The Experiences Of Kindergarten Teachers During An Era Of Educational Reform, Rachel Denise Whites

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences and perceptions of kindergarten teachers who taught through an era of federally mandated, standards-based educational reforms. This study was guided by two theories as each contributes to an explanation as to how educational reform has strayed far from the central purpose for kindergartens. Piaget’s theory of cognitive development sought to explain how a child constructs a mental model of the world and postulated that there are four distinct stages of human development from birth to adulthood. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory stated that children learn through play and the …

Professional Development For K-6 Teachers, Rebecca S. Monroe

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

For over a century, educators and politicians have been working on educational reform for various reasons and with the hope of a plethora of outcomes. Since at least the late twentieth century, educational reform has been undertaken for the purpose of increasing students’ academic achievement. While a shift in focus of teaching to a focus on learning has occurred, we know changes in the classroom and with classroom teaching still needs to occur. One recent incarnation of reform has been focused on the teacher and the professional development they receive.

Currently, the United States spends over 18 billion dollars annually …

Measuring What They Value: Exploring The Meaning Of Student Success For Community College Students Of Mexican Origin, Destiny M. Quintero

Dissertations

accountability, Latino, Mexican, Phenomenology, Photovoice, Student success

A Study Of The Perceptions Of School Administrators On Fostering Relational Trust With Teachers In Texas Urban Charter Schools, Meesha-Gay Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Accountability has placed immense pressure on principals leading K-12 public charter schools to increase standards for success. Overwhelmingly, principals accept the charge to produce promising results every day, despite the public scrutiny principals may ensue for not meeting the state’s standard of excellence. Principals are expected to drive high academic standards, initiate instructional vision, interact with parents, oversee policy mandates, address students’ needs, and foster relationships with teachers. The daily demands requiring principals’ attention stimulate stress and may cause principals to wrestle with prioritizing trusted relationships. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to understand how principals foster relational …

Laying The Foundation For Education 4.0: Access, Value And Accountability, Jennifer Karlin, L. Eric James, Lauren Singelmann, Dan Ewert

Integrated Engineering Department Publications

The complexity of the global problems engineers are working to solve has long been discussed in both engineering and engineering education circles. The Grand Challenges for Engineering are grand because of the complexity of the challenges. While the challenges stand over a decade later, the speed at which the terms in which they are described, the shift from Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0, has been slow. As the world becomes more deeply connected, as the internet of things becomes more commonplace in all parts of our lives, as technologies like machine learning and cyber physical systems become accessible to even …

The Enactment Of Quality Assurance Policies In Ecuadorian Higher Education: A Case Study In The Public Universities In The Province Of Manabí, Diego R. Sornoza Parrales

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study investigates how the administrators in the research and quality assurance offices in the regional universities in Ecuador enact the national research quality assurance policy. The massification and diversification of higher education and the internationalization, as well as globalization of higher education institutions create an increasingly competitive environment. Given this competition, resources are scarce, resulting in more frequent and more aggressive budgetary constraints. Government and national funding agencies are including the notion of “quality” in their policies to measure the performance and efficiency of universities and determine budget allocation, demanding universities to “prove their value” to remain operational. In …

Professional Learning Cultures At Work: How Principals Serve As Catalysts For Learning, Christopher J. Tranberg

Doctoral Dissertations

Principals are an influential factor in a child’s academic success (Manna, 2015; Louis et al., 2010; Waters et al., 2003). Although the path of influence is often indirect, principals affect student learning by developing and sustaining strong professional learning cultures (Hattie, 2009; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2012). As a result of the complexities surrounding principalship, a desire to understand the attributes, skills, and leadership actions of successful principals persists as an international focus of educational research. This study examines principalship through the experiences of various stakeholders within a school system utilizing a descriptive single case study ethnographic qualitative approach. This approach …

Diversity Accountability In Higher Education Institutions, Richeleen Ayree Dashield

Theses and Dissertations

This study utilized transformative sequential explanatory mixed methods to analyze diversity characteristics and capabilities in higher education institutions. Faced with environmental pressure, colleges and universities that aspire to become diversity-competent institutions have the potential to understand diversity accountability (evidence building for all) with a critical race theoretical framework. A critical comparative analysis of diversity-competent and peer institutions provided the opportunity challenged past and current ways of understanding diversity by acknowledging the centrality of racism in higher education institutions. This study analyzed data drawn from the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) award recipients to illustrate a way of assessing diversity …

The Impact Of Virtual Learning Modalities On The Academic Success Of Students In One Arkansas School District, Diane F. Richards

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way Arkansas public schools’ offered students an education. While moving through this pandemic, many Arkansas schools implemented optional methods of delivery for their students. Some schools tried to maintain face-to-face classes, while others offered completely online classes. Still, others offered a hybrid format where students attended some face-to-face classes and online classes. One Arkansas school district offered all three options. School districts need guidance as to which teaching methods worked well. The long-term effects of the educational impact of COVID-19 are not known at this time. Schools could benefit from a guide with useful strategies …

A Mentoring Program To Strengthen Teacher Efficacy: A School Improvement Plan, Sarah Devries

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Research findings show that mentoring programs have lacked consistency and accountability in schools, leaving new teachers behind and unprepared for their first years of teaching. Past studies have also documented beginning teachers' practices, wellbeing, and retention; mentoring programs; school leadership and support; and pre-service and induction programs. With research findings in mind, a school improvement plan was created to revise an existing mentoring program toward greater teacher efficacy. This plan improved a current mentoring program to create a successful induction process for new teachers, along with more consistency and accountability for mentors.

Teachers’ Perceptions On The Implementation Of Professional Learning Communities And The Relationship To Student Achievement, Marian Arnett

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

For decades, mandates have driven the way we educate our students. Seemingly ever since the inception of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), schools across the nation have struggled to meet federal standards for student success. However, when many schools still failed to show a significant amount of achievement, they became labeled "Priority" or "Focus" schools under the federally mandated laws of NCLB. The vital need to promote best educational practices leads to the educational strategy of teacher collaboration. Research calls for higher levels of teacher collaboration in the educational setting as a strategy to address lackluster performance trends (Anrig, 2015). …

Steering At A Distance: A Qualitative Case Study Of Institutional Autonomy At A Vietnamese Public University, Anh Thi Hoai Le

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In 2012, the Vietnamese government enacted the Higher Education Law to give public universities institutional autonomy. Since the passage of the law, the term institutional autonomy has become contested; different interpretations have arisen among different actors concerned with implementing the policy. In a qualitative case study, I explore the meaning of autonomy in the context of Vietnamese higher education where the legacy of centralized governance is strong. To understand what autonomy means in this context, I use thematic analysis and interpretive policy analysis and draw on state steering theory (Wright, 2019b) as a theoretical framework through which to gain insight …

Negotiating Incomplete Autonomy: Portraits From Three School Principals, Taeyeon Kim, Jennie Weiner

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Purpose: This study builds on research scrutinizing school autonomy in policy and school governance by shifting the focus from a formal structural view of autonomy to examining how principals negotiate autonomy in their daily work. Drawing on multiple dimensions of autonomy and street-level bureaucracy, this study examined how principals, as both professionals and bureaucrats, work to expand and strategize their autonomy in practice.

Research Methods/Approach: We used portraiture to document and interpret the experience and perspectives of three principals at urban, suburban, and rural PK-12 traditional public schools in the Midwest of US during the 2018–2019 school year.

Findings: Principals …

Evaluating Educational Efficiency In Texas Public Schools Utilizing Data Envelopment Analysis, Jeremy Thompson, J. Kenneth Young, Kaye Shelton

School Leadership Review

Policymakers and professional educators attempt to be good stewards of public funds while simultaneously raising expectations for student outcomes that reflect academic excellence in the public school system. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of Texas public school districts and the factors influencing the inefficiency of districts. This study is a replication of a similar efficiency study conducted by Carter (2012), which considered student performance in the 2009-10 school year on the TAKS tests. This study utilized quantitative research methods to gather data and implemented data envelopment analysis (DEA) to calculate a relative efficiency score for …

Relationships, Relevance, And Reflection: How White Teachers Are Working To Dismantle White Supremacy In Their Classrooms Through Culturally Responsive Education, Zion W. Gezaw

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the multitude of ways in which White supremacy manifests in the education system and examines how White teachers specifically are working to dismantle White supremacy in middle school classrooms through culturally responsive education. This educational criticism and connoisseurship study focuses on the interactions of White teachers in relation to their Black students, along with observations of their teaching and planning methods. The following research questions guided this research: How are White teachers implementing a culturally responsive classroom environment for Black students? How do White educators plan and enact a culturally responsive curriculum for Black students? How do …

The Relationship Of Coaching On Quality Ratings In Early Childhood Care, Michelle Renee Burkhard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Early childhood educators serving children ages birth through 8 years seek to continuously improve the quality of the learning environment and curriculum practice. All 50 states created a Quality Rating Improvement System (QRIS) to assess childcare center program quality and provide coaching for teachers. Early childhood education programs with intentional coaching score higher on several measures of quality associated with better child outcomes. Research demonstrates that there is a gap in understanding the relationship of coaching to quality scores within one Northcentral state’s childcare centers. The purpose of this quasi experimental quantitative study was to determine the difference in mean …

Reimagining Accountability Through Educational Leadership: Applying The Metaphors Of “Agora” And “Bazaar”, Taeyeon Kim

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This study aims to explore reimagined accountability through collective efforts initiated by school leaders and to challenge the fixed notion of accountability prescribed by policy scripts. Drawing on studies highlighting humanizing leadership and the metaphors of “agora” and “bazaar,” I investigate how school leaders (re)construct and (re)define meanings of accountability in their daily practices. Using portraiture as research method, I analyze qualitative data collected through observation, interviews, and artifacts in a rural school in the United States, over the course of the 2018–2019 school year. In contrast to prevalent discourses around technical, performance-driven approaches to accountability, the principal and teachers …

Improving Students' Scores On The Georgia End Of Course Assessment For Biology, Natasha Takia Simpson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this applied study is to solve the problem of underperforming student test scores on the End of Course Biology assessment for high school students at an alternative school in Georgia, and to formulate a solution to address the problem. A multi-method design will be used consisting of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first approach will be structured interviews with the administration. The second approach will be focus groups with teachers. The third approach will analyze quantitative data from student surveys. The results may provide insight into an underlying problem in underperforming scores on the End of …