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The Role Of The Secondary Principal As A Transformational Leader In High Performing, Project Based Learning Schools In California, Daniel P. Ching

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The Role of the Secondary Principal as a Transformational Leader in High Performing, Project Based Learning Schools in California

by Daniel Ching

Purpose: California (CA) schools are facing increased pressure to implement new content standards and perform well on the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). The new standards focus on higher level thinking skills, technology, and skills that cross multiple content areas. These expectations are aligned with project based learning (PBL) as an instructional model. However, there are very few models for PBL schools that are considered high performing. To implement PBL in high schools requires …

The Experiences Of International And Foreign-Born Students In An Accelerated Nursing Program, Myrna L. True

Dissertations

More international and foreign-born people are choosing to live in America than ever before, many permanently. During the past decade, both education and healthcare have been acutely affected by this change in the national population. To address the need to provide effective healthcare to all ages of a diverse population as well as provide quality educational experiences for international and foreign-born students who enroll in American nursing programs, professional nursing has consistently revised and updated healthcare delivery practices and nursing program curricula. Research consistently addresses the provision of healthcare delivery to a diverse population, but in comparison little has been …

Decision-Making In The Foster Care System, Julie E. Bertram

Dissertations

This study documented and analyzed the processes of mental health treatment decision-making, in the context of family support teams, within the foster care system. The research questions explored engagement, perceptions, and self-rated empowerment among family support teams that serve adolescent foster youth with mental health concerns. The sample consisted of 23 participants from core support teams and 36 other adolescent and adult team members who were involved in the study. Data collection methods included observations at family support team meetings and court hearings, 34 semi-structured individual interviews, a self-rated empowerment scale, and informal conversations in the field. Analysis of non-survey …

Group Empowerment Capacity And Capability In Associate Degree Schools Of Nursing In The United States, Christy Lee Savell

Dissertations

The purpose of conducting this research was to determine the perception of group empowerment capacity (EC) and group empowerment capability (E) among faculty and administrators in associate degree nursing programs (ADN) in the United States (U.S.), whether there was a significant difference in the scores of EC and E between the two groups and if there was a significant relationship between the mediating variables and EC. The study was conducted online with administrators and faculty of ADN programs throughout the United States (U.S.). Information letters with questionnaire links were sent to all members of the Organization of Associate Degree Nurses …

A Mother's Spiritual Journey With Her Disabled Son: An Autoethnography, Margaret C. Higgins Edd

Dissertations

Abstract

This autoethnographic research delves into a mother’s experiences with her disabled son over thirty-five years. Beginning with a thick description of the crib accident that resulted in physical and cognitive disabilities that profoundly change the course of both mother and son’s life, this research chronicles the search for meaning, community, and healing as they negotiate the realms of medicine, education, career, family, and spirituality. Models of disability that seek to explain various ways in which society often views disability are examined, but none resonate with the researcher’s intimate experiences nor satisfies her deepest needs for insight and healing. Making …

Refreshment For The Soul: A Phenomenological Study Of The Student Experience Of Beauty In School, Paul Reiff

Dissertations

Prompted by the ratio-scientific emphasis in the curriculum, I conducted this study to explore the lifeworlds of students to understand their lived experience of beauty in school. This investigation entailed a phenomenological study, the method of which included in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with four high school students. This study aimed to examine the essence of beauty in the lived experience of students in school, to explore the perceptions of students regarding school as a place to appreciate beauty, and to understand the needs of students as a place that develops their aesthetic sensibilities. The findings include the description …

From The Voices Of California Female Superintendents: Examining Barriers And Support Systems In A New Era Of Educational Reform Through The Lens Of Activity Theory, Jennifer L. Martin

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to examine the barriers and support systems female California public school superintendents experienced while attaining and serving in their current position in a new era of educational reform in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

Methodology: This qualitative study examined 12 female California public school superintendents’ experienced barriers and support systems. Convenience sampling was applied to identify participants of specific criteria. The researcher collected and coded data from in depth interviews; interview protocol directly correlated with the research questions of this study. A variety of related artifacts were additionally gathered and analyzed …

A Qualitative Study Analysis On How Utilizing A Token Economy Impacts Behavior And Academic Success, Solomon Defrancis Dr.

Dissertations

Utilizing a qualitative study analysis, this study examines how behavior impacts academic success utilizing a token economy with students who suffer from emotional disturbance disorder. Through focus groups of para educators, therapists and teachers on special education settings, there will be a comparative analysis of behavior and academic success. The study will consist of six education sites throughout the Antelope Valley: A kindergarten through eighth grade (Yellen Learning Center), a kindergarten through sixth grade elementary (Valley View Elementary), a seventh through eighth grade intermediate school (Joe Walker) and three high schools that are ninth through twelfth grade (Desert Pathways, Palmdale …

“Mind The Gap”: The Standardization Of Master-Level Education Competencies Among Humanitarian And International Development Professionals, Polina Kadatska

Dissertations

Quality education of international development/humanitarian professionals is of high importance due to increased donor demands for projects’ transparency, accountability, and efficiency. However, there is a lack of standardization of learning outcomes among the educational institutions that train the workforce for the non-profit sector. The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to describe how humanitarian professional alumni think their Master’s program aligned with the Core Humanitarian Competencies Framework (CHCF) and how these competencies assisted them in their current work. Additionally, the study explored what NGO employers think of applicability of the Framework’s competencies in their organizations and the preparedness of …

Another 40 Years Of Inequity: Two-Tier Schooling As The Lasting Legacy Of Desegregation Policy In St. Louis, Missouri, Renee L. Racette

Dissertations

The St. Louis Public Schools of St. Louis, Missouri were at one time the second largest segregated school district in the United States. In the years since Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954 and 1955, the school district of St. Louis has been attempting to desegregate as ordered by the courts. A group of North Side parents brought a lawsuit against the district and the State of Missouri that, after many years of litigation, found both parties to be liable for maintaining segregated schools, but an out-of-court settlement was reached. As a result of this suit and subsequent …

Children Who Are Deaf Deserve Researched Based Education, Cheryl Ann Hermann

Dissertations

Deaf Education includes many complex components, including: 1) Academics, 2) Cognitive, 3) Hearing, 4) Speech, 5) Language: American Sign Language and English, 6) Social Skills & Emotional Well Being, 7) Deaf Culture, and 8) Instructional Methods. Evidence indicates that children who are deaf achieve academically at the same levels as their peers, “Postsecondary enrollment and degree completion by deaf individuals in colleges, universities, and career and technical education schools have increased dramatically over the past several decades,” (Marc Marschark, 2015, p. 5). However, most of the current research shows that despite numerous interventions and philosophies, children who are deaf continue …

Going From Breakdown To Breakthrough: Human Resource Professional's Perspective Of Conflict In K-12 Public Education, Denise E. Larue

Dissertations

This study was conducted independently, but in collaboration with a team of peer-researchers who came together to study the lived experience of exemplar leaders in diverse organizations as they transformed conflict to reach common ground. This study contributed to the collective work by looking at K-12 Human Resource Officers (HROs) as the population of interest. HROs are often at the center of resolving conflict, yet only a few emerge as exemplar leaders. These exemplar leaders were the target population situated in the phenomena under investigations. The team selected a qualitative phenomenological approach, in an attempt to uncover what strategies exemplar …

The Relationship Between Financial Incentives And Perceptions Of Student Choice At Private Michigan Universities, Ndahwa Musa Masanja

Dissertations

Problem

The rising cost of getting a college or university degree gives millions of students “sticker shock” each year, and paying off student debt has only grown more difficult over time (Liberto, 2012). The College Board, a nonprofit group that runs the SAT exam, indicates that over the past decade, the average annual tuition for community college has risen 40% to $3,122 while the yearly cost at a four-year public university has risen 68% to $7,692. The escalating cost of higher education has inevitably influenced students’ choice of college or university (Felton, 2012). These high tuition costs make a college …

Curricular Instruction Of Global Leadership At Colleges And Universities In The United States, Tara L. Edberg

Dissertations

Colleges and universities in the United States have made leadership education a priority as they prepare students to confront adaptive challenges in the 21st century; “wicked problems” such as poverty, uneven opportunities for education, homelessness, and illnesses worldwide. In addition, with the increased globalization of our world, the need to teach students how to lead in a complicated, multicultural context intensifies. Global leadership is an emergent concept in the leadership field combining leadership practices with those of global cultural competency while highlighting the significance of a dynamic and complex context in the leadership process.

While there has been a significant …