Educational Leadership Commons^™

Healing That Leads To Action : Restorative Justice, School Leadership, And Institutional Change, Jose B. Celis

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

When immigrant youth are harmed by institutional policies and practices that reinforce idealized notions of nationalism and assimilation through subtractive and coercive strategies, school leaders can turn to restorative justice as a technology of resistance. This participatory action research study, with the author as a participant, captures four school leaders from Colorado, New York, and New Jersey, who interrogated institutional policies and practices and promoted authentic inclusion and equity for immigrant youth through restorative justice. As we participated in a process of collective restorative contemplation, we engaged in a form of personal healing that guided intentional and thoughtful action to …

Gendered Leadership And Patriarchy : A Healing Feminist Autoethnography, Necole Jadick

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This healing feminist autoethnography examines my gendered experiences as a school principal during the 2021–2022 school year, centering upon two research questions: How can personal accounts of sexist experiences disrupt gendered norms in educational leadership? And how can I, as a feminist leader, exist authentically and truthfully in patriarchal institutions without placing myself in professional or academic peril? From July of 2021 through June of 2022, I collected 62 journal entries detailing critical encounters, experiences, and reflections and shared them with a critical friend who helped me process them. I then analyzed them within the context of relevant literature to …

Philosophy For Children As A Form Of Spiritual Education, Olivier Michaud, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Department of Educational Foundations Scholarship and Creative Works

In the last two decades, some authors in the philosophy for children movement have theorized that the community of philosophical inquiry can be a form of spiritual practice, of the care of the self, or a wisdom practice (De Marzio, 2009; Gregory, 2009, 2013, 2014;Gregory & Laverty, 2009). Yet, it is unclear if philosophy for children is, by itself, a form of spiritual education, or if it requires some sorts of modification to be one. And, if it is or can be a form of spiritual education, we can interrogate in what ways and to what extent is it one. …

Evaluative Relationships: Teacher Accountability And Professional Culture, Rachel Garver

Department of Educational Leadership Scholarship and Creative Works

Research on recently adopted methods for teacher evaluation are largely focused on issues of validity and pay less attention to the consequences of implementation for the everyday practices of teaching and learning in schools. This paper draws on an ethnographic case-study to argue that the joint tasks demanded by neoliberal teacher evaluation policies structure interactions among teachers and between teachers and administrators in ways that erode professional culture. Implications for policymakers, school leaders, and teachers are considered.

The Changing Ecology Of The Curriculum Marketplace In The Era Of The Common Core State Standards, Emily Hodge, Serena J. Salloum, Susanna L. Benko

Department of Educational Leadership Scholarship and Creative Works

This manuscript explores how the changing policy context of common standards may have influenced the provision of curriculum materials in the United States. Many educational reforms do little to change the nature of classroom instruction, and prior research has argued that this constancy is, at least in part, due to the common use of instructional materials from a small set of large publishing companies (Rowan in J Educ Change 3(3–4):283–314, 2002). However, common standards have been in place in many states since 2010, creating the potential for states to create and share curricular materials with each other, as well as …

School Desegregation And Federal Inducement: Lessons From The Emergency School Aid Act Of 1972, Emily Hodge

Department of Educational Leadership Scholarship and Creative Works

This study uses the example of the Emergency School Aid Act of 1972, a federal desegregation incentive program, to discuss the benefits and challenges of equity-oriented incentives. This study applies theories of policy instruments and the social construction of target populations to congressional records, archival program materials, and other historical sources to trace the origin and evolution of the incentives and mandates built into the Emergency School Aid Act. The study ultimately concludes that the program’s combination of a financial incentive with rigorous oversight offers lessons for how to incorporate equity-oriented incentives into current education policy.

The Challenge Of Providing High-Quality Feedback Online: Building A Culture Of Continuous Improvement In An Online Course For Adult Learners, Emily Hodge, Susan Chenelle

Department of Educational Leadership Scholarship and Creative Works

Scholars of online learning have acknowledged the additional challenges an online format poses to relationship building and providing effective feedback. This article describes the authors’ experiences providing feedback to adult learners in an online educational leadership course, the challenges they encountered in providing this feedback in a timeframe and manner to which students were receptive, and their research into how to build a culture of continuous improvement in an online course for adult learners. The authors conclude that effective online feedback occurs when course projects are sequenced to provide opportunities for students to receive and engage with feedback formatively, when …

Understanding The Counselor Experience When Working With End Of Life Clients, Connie S. Ducaine

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This was a qualitative study exploring the experiences of counselors working with clients who are coping with an advanced illness and approaching end of life. The study focused on the risks and benefits of fostering relationships with end of life clients, with an emphasis on how these practitioners process their experiences. While supporting clients at end of life, these professionals often were impacted by the deaths of people who they had worked with for varying lengths of time.

The findings suggest that these counselors experienced many of the same issues that have been documented by other helping professions, and that …

Teaching Mindful Awareness Skills To Middle School Students And Its Relationship To Student Engagement With School And Student Test Anxiety, Kathy Shoemaker

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study examined the relationship between teaching mindful awareness skills to middle school students and both student engagement and test anxiety. The moderating effects of certain cultural characteristics (gender, race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status [SES], English as a second language [ESL], and disability status) on the relationship between teaching mindful awareness skills and both student engagement and test anxiety was also examined. A quasi-experimental pre-/post-test research design with a control group was employed. The Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM), the Healthy Self-Regulation Scale (HSR), the Student School Engagement Measure (SSEM), and the brief version of the FRIEDBEN Test Anxiety …

Professional School Counselors And High School Graduation : Does Assigned School Counselor Correlate With Students' Rate Of Graduation?, Dawn Marie Horton

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

High school counselors are coming under increased pressure to demonstrate both their effectiveness in supporting individual students’ success in school and their ability to provide effective comprehensive school counseling programs. The evidence based research on effective school counseling practices is limited, and additional research is needed to assist practitioners in their work. An important area of concern is the work school counselors do to assist students in achieving graduation. Limited research has been focused on whether school counselors actually impact their students’ graduation rates. In this current research, the graduation rates of students assigned to school counselors were examined to …

“The More We Can Try To Open Them Up, The Better It Will Be For Their Integration”: Integration And The Coercive Assimilation Of Muslim Youth, Reva Jaffe-Walter

Department of Educational Leadership Scholarship and Creative Works

Capitalizing on national anxieties, right wing populist leaders promise to enforce national borders with new constellations of policies that regulate and exclude Muslim bodies. Using the theoretical tool of “technologies of concern” (Jaffe-Walter, 2016), this essay critiques how state security discourses operate through public schools. Drawing on ethnographic research with Muslim youth in a Danish public school and an analysis of European integration policies, the author analyzes how policies and practices that ostensibly support young people’s integration enact everyday violence and coercive assimilation. Highlighting the perspectives of the young people she worked with, the author argues that state efforts to …

Orienting Schools Toward Equity: Subgroup Accountability Pressure And School-Level Responses, Rachel Garver

Department of Educational Leadership Scholarship and Creative Works

This article examines school-level responses to subgroup accountability pressure through an ethnographic case study of a school cited for failing to make adequate yearly progress for student subgroups. Concerns about the calculations and measures used to derive the citation and reservations about acting on accountability data delegitimized the citation and rendered the identified subgroups irrelevant to daily practice. Under district guidance, compliance with subgroup accountability was independent of the school's internal efforts to promote equity.

Getting Connected: Finding Literacy Resources In The Common Core Era, Serena J. Salloum, Susanna L. Benko, Emily Hodge

Department of Educational Leadership Scholarship and Creative Works

The authors provide practical, evidence-based advice for teachers and educational leaders looking for helpful curricular and professional resources that support students’ literacy development in the era of the Common Core State Standards.

The Meaning Of Sexual And Gender Identities In Transgender Men, William B. Baker

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the complexity of the lived experiences of trans men, how sexual orientation and gender identity play out in the lives of trans men, and how that lived experience changed during transitioning. The research was aimed at finding how sexual orientation and gender identity, usually treated as separate and independent constructs, interconnect with each other. Eight transgender men were interviewed in-depth over a period of several months. Their perspectives gave insight into how sexual and gender identities are related and how one informs the other.

The present study showed that …

End-Of-Life Caregiving And Meaning Reconstruction : Experiences Of Adult Children Providing Home-Based End-Of-Life Care For A Parent, Kim Marie Tassinari

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Caring for a terminally ill parent is a tremendous responsibility and a job for which most adult children are unprepared, especially if care is provided in the home. As the silver tsunami or the graying of America, fast approaches, many families will be faced with the tremendous responsibility of caring for a parent. Few researchers, however, have examined the experiences of adult children who have provided end-of-life (EOL) care in the home. Moreover, there is a paucity of research from the counseling profession that explores how individuals construct meaning after EOL caregiving experiences with their parents or how they make …

Helping Students Achieve Their Goals : The Experience Of Working With Students With Mental Health Concerns In A Residence Hall, Kevin P. Schafer

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Individuals living with a mental health issue and attending college may experience significant opportunities for growth and also personal challenges in their development into young adulthood. Residence hall directors may be instrumental in assisting this population during their college years. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the experience of residence hall directors working specifically with students with mental health concerns. Grounded in Relational-Cultural-Theory and Chickering’s Student Developmental Theory this study was a two phase study conducted at universities and colleges in the northeast United States. Utilizing a basic qualitative approach deductive coding was used to examine the …

Aspects Of Site Supervision As Predictors Of Group Leader Self-Efficacy For Pre-Service School Counselors, Sarah I. Springer

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

As pre-service school counselors prepare to lead groups in practice, it is important to consider their beliefs about their abilities to run groups with children and adolescents in the school setting. Site supervision is one aspect of students’ experiential training that can impact the development of confidence surrounding group facilitation. The purpose of this study was to examine specific site supervisory factors that impact the development of pre-service school counselors’ group leader self-efficacy. Data from a sample of 123 pre-service school counseling internship students from CACREP-accredited programs was collected in order to determine the impact of predictor variables (general selfefficacy, …

Exploring The Predictive Value Of Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, And Institutional Factors On College Women's Intention To Help In Sexual Harassment Prevention, Amy D. Zavadil

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study set out to explore intrapersonal, interpersonal, and institutional factors among college women as predictors of intention to help in sexual harassment situations. The study included factors of race, sexual orientation, experience of sexual harassment, group or organization participation, knowing a survivor, awareness of policy, and likelihood to report harassment as ecological factors. A hierarchical multiple regression model was used to identify intrapersonal, interpersonal, and institutional factors as predictors of intention to help. Sexual orientation was also explored as a moderating variable. Discussion of implications for prevention educators, Title IX coordinators, and counselors is included, as well as proposed …

The Influence Of Counselor Demographics, Work Experience, And Training On Counselor Self-Efficacy And Multicultural Counseling Self-Efficacy Among Urban School Counselors, Franco A. Gordillo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive value of counselor demographics, work experience, and training on counselor self-efficacy and multicultural counseling self-efficacy in urban school counselors. In addition, the predictive relationship between school counselor self-efficacy and school counselor multicultural counseling self-efficacy was examined. A correlational analysis was used to determine significance among the predictor variables and the constructs of school counselor selfefficacy and school counselor multicultural counseling self-efficacy. Several regression analyses were then applied to determine the predictive relationship of the significant variables and the stated constructs. Lastly, a regression analysis was used to examine the predictive …

Vicarious Posttraumatic Growth And Attachment Style In Mental Health Professionals, Claire J. Wooloff

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Mental health professionals treating clients who are trauma survivors spend many hours listening to traumatic material. The impact of this material may affect the individual in different ways. Some of the negative effects are documented in the literature as vicarious traumatization (Pearlman & Saakvitne, 1995), compassion fatigue (Figley, 1995, 2002) and burnout (Baird & Jenkins, 2003). However, mental health professionals also attest to the positive side of their work including posttraumatic growth (Arnold, Calhoun, Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2005) and compassion satisfaction (Stamm, 2010). Little is known about why some individuals may be impacted negatively, but others experience psychological growth. Attachment …

College Students' Perceived And Personal Mental Health Stigma : The Influence On Help-Seeking Attitudes And Intentions, Alyson M. Pompeo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Despite being vulnerable to mental health problems, college students are a population that is especially influenced by perceptions of peer mental health stigmatization (Quinn, Wilson, MacIntyre, & Tinklin, 2009), a known barrier to seeking mental health services (Corrigan, 2004a; Komiya, Good, & Sherrod, 2000; Vogel, Wade, & Haake, 2006), and the greatest barrier to college students (Evans, et al., 2007; Hepworth & Paxton, 2007; Martin, 2010). This paper begins with a thorough discussion of the participant population—undergraduate college students, including well established theories of college student development, and developmental challenges and issues that are faced. Mental health stigma is also …

The Influence Of Counseling And Social Support On Depression In Mothers Of Fragile Families, Megan E. Delaney

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this study of mothers of fragile families was to examine the relationship between counseling and social support on levels of depression. Demographic variables as well as depression, counseling and social support (specifically, instrumental support) was examined over two waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. A logistic regression was used to create predictor models for future depression including counseling, social support, current depression and relevant covariates. The findings are discussed and implication for practice and future research are included.

The Relationship Between Perceived Career Barriers And Career Decision Self-Efficacy On The Certainty Of Initial Career Choice Among Educational Opportunity Fund Program Students, Nicole Pacheco Pulliam

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study was an investigation of the predictive value of perceived career barriers and career decision self-efficacy on the certainty of initial career choice among Educational Opportunity Fund Program (EOF) pre-freshman college students, an under-studied college population with respect to career development (Winograd & Shick Tryon, 2009). The moderating effects of certain cultural characteristics (race, gender and college generational status) on the certainty of initial career choice were also examined. A nonexperimental correlational research design was utilized, along with a multiple linear regression analysis, to investigate the predictability of perceived career barriers and career decision self-efficacy, directly and as moderated …

The Impact Of Academic Advising Using A Learning Centered Model On The College Experience And Advisor/Advisee Relationships Among Traditional-Aged College Freshmen, Sarah Vandermark

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Academic advising is becoming an increasingly important resource on college campuses for purposes of retention, persistence, and student satisfaction. Researchers have found that an academic advisor can play a key role in the academic and personal lives of undergraduate students. If engagement with students matters for learning and persisting towards graduation, then there is a need to identify and evaluate quality academic services, including academic advising, and what are effective methods to enhance student learning and acclimating to a university. In this study, I focused on academic advising using the learning centered approach to advising, which was implemented through a …

Variations On A Theme: The Shift From Distinction To Commonality In Philadelphia's Diverse Provider Model 2002-2008, Katrina Bulkley, Eva Travers

Department of Educational Leadership Scholarship and Creative Works

Recent years have seen a growing push toward Portfolio Management Models that incorporate a variety of "providers" operating public schools. One rationale for this is that such organizations can offer distinct and innovative educational practices. This article describes the Diverse Provider Model implemented in Philadelphia from 2002-2008, and the shifts in practices by many outside providers away from distinction and toward alignment with the district approach. Drawing on institutional theory, we examine possible explanations for these shifts, including the particular structures and incentives in Philadelphia and discuss what can be learned about the prospects for innovation through outside providers.

Meaning And Spirituality In Adolescence : Practices And Perspectives Of School Counselors, Jill Elizabeth Schwarz

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Adolescence is a crucial life stage involving aspects of identity development and decision-making that have potential life-long consequences. Researchers have found that a sense of meaning and purpose is related to a number of beneficial factors during adolescence, including resilience, healthy self-esteem, academic engagement, and overall well-being. Spirituality is a main avenue through which many individuals find a sense of meaning and purpose and may be one of the mediating factors between adolescent meaning-making and well-being. Despite this knowledge, there is a lack of research involving the use of meaning-based counseling in the schools. There is also evidence that students …

The Relationship Between Aspects Of Supervision And School Counselor Self-Efficacy, Daniel Cinotti

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this study of school counselors was to examine the relationship between aspects of supervision and self-efficacy. Satisfaction with supervision, the presence of noncounseling supervisors, role conflict, and role ambiguity were examined in relation to school counselors’ feelings of self-efficacy. The study also included previously established individual factors related to school counselor self-efficacy including gender, years of experience, teaching experience, and training and use of the ASCA National Model. A multiple regression was used to create a predictor model for school counselor self-efficacy using these supervisory and individual factors. Supplemental analysis examined factors that predicted use of the …

Adult Sibling Grief In The Eleven Years After September 11, 2001, Vincent S. Vigilione

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This is a qualitative study probing the lived experience of 11 individuals (Siblings of 9/11) who lost their siblings in the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. The study is grief-oriented with a focus on 1) the journey of 11 years from the initial tragedy and loss; 2) the grief process relative to such a publicized and memorialized event; 3) the ambiguous nature of the loss as it pertains to the Siblings of 9/11 and 4) the mean-making these individuals have established over their 11 year journeys.

Main findings: 1) Ambiguity in the grief process was quite common in the …

Conceptions Of Equity: How Influential Actors View A Contested Concept, Katrina Bulkley

Department of Educational Leadership Scholarship and Creative Works

Discussions of educational equity have played an important role in educational policy in the United States over the past 50 years, and advocates with a broad range of perspectives on reform have sought to claim the equity mantle. In this article, I examine aspects of equity, including the distribution of "inputs" to public education, the process of delivering education, and the outcomes of the educational process. I surveyed a series of experts in educational policy to identify influential actors in national debates. Based on that survey, I conducted 12 semistructured interviews with individuals and representatives of organizations identified as "influential," …