Educational Administration and Supervision Commons^™

Assessing And Guiding Instructional Practice: Administrators' And Teachers' Perceptions Of The Framework For Teaching Evaluation, Latonya Patrice Wright

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School officials in a large district adopted a research-based teacher evaluation system, the Framework for Teaching (FFT). Despite a 4-year phase-in of the FFT, teachers' evaluation ratings increased while student achievement results decreased. This disparity impacted the school district's growth targets as set by the State Department of Education. If target growths are unmet, school administrators must relinquish school operations to the state. A bounded, qualitative case study was designed to explore administrators' and teachers' perceptions of the FFT and its influence on school administrators' assessment of teachers' instructional practices. Social constructivist and andragogy theories formed the study's conceptual framework. …

Improving High School Service-Learning To Increase Long-Term Impact On Volunteerism, Tracey Boldemann Tatkin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Passage of the Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009 led to wide support for service-learning programs in high schools. The effectiveness of these programs on future volunteerism in college, however, has not been established. In the absence of research clarifying the variables that might influence programming effectiveness, it is difficult to design and adapt such programs to increase their impact. This study explored how high school service-learning programs could be improved to encourage greater student participation and to motivate continued volunteerism in college. A multiple case study methodology was used that included face-to-face interviews with 7 teachers and service-learning coordinators …

A Case Study Investigating Secondary Science Teachers' Perceptions Of Science Literacy Instruction, Phyllis Ann Blackmon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This project study addressed the lack of inclusion of discipline literacy pedagogy in secondary classrooms in a rural school district in eastern North Carolina. Discipline literacy practices are recommended in the Common Core Standards for History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects. The district had implemented content area reading strategies across content areas, yet no significant progress in secondary students' reading abilities had been demonstrated in statewide or national assessments. The conceptual framework that drove this study was disciplinary literacy, founded by the literacy research of Shanahan, Shanahan, and Zygouris-Coe. Within a qualitative case study method, this investigation of 8 secondary …

Impact Of Professional Learning Community On Coteaching, Lalita Karpen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A professional learning community (PLC) is designed to increase pedagogical knowledge and encourage collaboration amongst teachers. Many schools are using a variety of PLCs to increase collaboration and improve teaching and learning. The study school implemented a PLC, but collaboration and effective coteaching practice have not improved. Guided by social constructivism and social cognitive learning theories, the goal of this research was to explore coteachers' perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about the overall effectiveness of the PLC coteaching model to improve instructional strategies. A qualitative case study with semistructured interviews to collect data and a narrative analysis for reporting was utilized. …

A Phenomenological Study Of Ged Graduates Meeting College Readiness Standards At A Community College, Kelley Mischel Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative study was designed to understand the experiences of General Educational Development (GED) graduates enrolling into a community college. Research had not been conducted to explore the experiences of GED graduates completing the 2014 version of the exam and transitioning to college. Guided by Schlossberg's college transition theory and Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, this phenomenological study included 11 participants who described their experiences through written narratives and interviews. Participants described their experiences of being an adult education student while preparing for the exam, the steps within the GED test preparation they considered important to matriculation toward college enrollment, and …

Development Of A Nursing Informatics Competency Assessment Tool (Nicat), Alphonsa A. Rahman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nursing workforce competency in informatics is crucial to providing safe patient care, improving quality, and reducing healthcare costs. Assurance of informatics competency in a workforce with increasingly diverse educational preparations, demographics, and informatics skills poses significant challenges. The question addressed was the lack of nursing informatics competency assessment tool relevant to bedside nursing. The purpose of this project was to develop and review a new nursing informatics competency assessment tool designed to address the individual educational needs of newly hired nurses. The tool was designed to measure nurses' competency in computer literacy, informatics literacy, and informatics management skills recommended in …

Perceptions Of Live Experiences Of Clinical Pastoral Education Students, Brenda Perry Wallace

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This qualitative case study addressed the problem at a West Indies theological college that lacked the ability to provide courses for spiritual care training by using the teaching methodology of clinical pastoral education (CPE). CPE is an experiential process using a clinical method of learning to interpret human conditions. Spiritual care training through CPE teaches clerics how to help persons find meaning in life's situations and make connections with their God. Guided by the frameworks of transformative learning and critical theological reflection, this study explored the lived experiences of 5 purposefully selected CPE students who participated in 1 unit of …

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions Of Response To Intervention And Classroom Instruction, Lora Coonce

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Response to intervention (RTI) is a federal program created to improve student learning and reduce the number of students misidentified as needing special education services. Differing interpretations of how best to implement RTI between campuses and districts have resulted in teachers' confusion and misperceptions of the program. The purpose of this study was to understand how elementary classroom teachers' perceptions of RTI affect classroom instruction. Based on Gagne's instructional theory and Bruner's theory of constructivism, the study examined the perceptions of 10 classroom teachers in 2 low socio-economic elementary schools. The study examined how RTI forms and protocols, administrative leadership, …

Therapeutic Foster Parents' Perspectives Of The Efficacy Of Preservice Training, Mirae Jean Grant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Preservice training programs offered in a city in the Pacific Northwest have not been assessed to determine whether they adequately prepare therapeutic foster parents (TFPs). This phenomenological study identified factors that influenced the impact of preservice training on parents' preparation to manage their foster children's behavior, foster parent attrition, and multiple moves of the foster children. Chamberlain, Rork, McNeil, and Christenson's work linking training programs with the success of foster children was used to frame this study. Data were generated from semistructured interviews of 12 certified local TFPs who had completed preservice training and had at least one child placed …

Teacher Perceptions About Sustaining A Successful School-Within-Aschool, Edward Meidhof

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Attempts to restructure public high schools by establishing separate school-within-a-school (SWS) models have not endured beyond 3 to 5 years. This qualitative case study examined a SWS that has thrived for more than 12 years. The study investigated how teachers at the school explained the success of the SWS, their experience of working at the SWS, and their resilience in addressing the challenges that led to the lack of success of other SWS schools. The theories and models of educational change developed by Fullan, Hargreaves, and Giles and Hord provided a conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected through …

The Association Between Core Science Course Timing And Completion Of An Associate Degree Nursing Program, Patricia Ann Pfeiffer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The aging population in the United States has led to an increased demand for registered nurses. Nursing program administrators must examine ways to increase nursing program completion, which will increase the supply registered nurses. The purpose of this study was to determine the associations among length of time between core science course completion and nursing program admission, on-time completion, and National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) success for students at a southeastern community college. A convenience sample of 288 community students admitted to an associate degree level nursing (ADN) program between 2007 and 2012 was selected. The guiding …

Elementary School Teacher Perceptions Of Factors Influencing Teacher Morale, Dyna M Chambers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The 28th annual MetLife survey of 1,001 American teachers in the United States indicated that low teacher morale is a common problem faced by many public schools. In one public elementary school located in a Southern state, the teacher attrition rate increased from 30% to 40% within 2 years. The purpose of this mixed method study was to investigate teachers' perceptions of morale and their perceived factors that influence low morale at the school. Maslow's theory of motivation was used to understand the impact of teacher satisfaction on teachers' morale and self-motivation for leading change. The research questions were focused …

Towards More Effective Teacher Professional Development Initiatives, Laura Sebastian Hooks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The No Child Left Behind Act (2002) and Race to the Top (2009) legislation have forged new school accountability measures and led to a sharp increase in demand for teacher professional development (TPD). However, data revealed that there is a disconnection between the training that teachers receive and its implementation, limiting its impact on student achievement. This qualitative case study's purpose was to reveal major barriers to TPD implementation and provide suggestions for crafting more impactful TPD. Based on the social constructivist foundation, this study sought to address the factors that increase teachers' receptiveness to more effective teaching techniques. It …

Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Response Impact On Graduate Students, Sean Eric Kil Patrick Gay

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The roles that universities played in the response to the Fukushima nuclear disaster were significant and varied; however, there was limited study on participating graduate students. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of disaster response on graduate students' personal and academic development. This study examined research questions about the perceived impact on academic and personal identity development. Empowerment, cognitive content engagement, general systems theory, and utilitarianism formed the theoretical foundation. This study used a transcendental phenomenological approach to examine the subjects' experiences in the context of involvement in disaster response. The primary source of data was …

Engaged Scholarship Activities Among Tenure-Track And Tenured Faculty Members, Michelle Christine Watkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Institutions of higher education are widely known to be places that help solve the problems of society; however, few college professors seem to practice engaged scholarship after receiving tenure. In a time of decreased funding for public higher education institutions and increased competition for students with private institutions, public higher education institutions would do well to maintain their images as community partners. In this regard, public institutions need to know whether engaged scholarship among the professoriate has decreased, why this may be occurring, and how to inspire professors to create positive social change. This qualitative case study applied Frederick Herzberg's …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Influence Of Professional Development On Music Integration, Marcy Thurmond Simmons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

International Baccalaureate (IB) schools are focused on a school-wide approach to developing inquiring students who are motivated to succeed. The problem explored in this case study was based on a local IB elementary school's response to a reform model to integrate music into other content areas. The curriculum lacked an interdisciplinary approach to music education even though teachers had participated in some professional development (PD) to help them integrate music into content areas. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of elementary teachers regarding the influence of professional development on music integration at the IB elementary school. …

Improving Math Performance In Adult Female Community College Students: An Evaluation Of Project Independence, Robin Tim Frodsham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Project Independence (PI) is a community college immersion program dedicated to assisting women returning to college. The focus of this study and associated summative evaluation was to understand how the PI program addresses anxiety and other learning deficiencies associated with math. Knowle's andragogical models portray adults as motivated and self-directed, and the American college campus fosters a culture of independence. This culture is foreign to many minority, first-generation, and working class adults who learn through interdependence. This qualitative instrumental case study and evaluation is the first to examine the efficacy of PI. The guiding questions of this study concern early …

Does Financial Literacy Contribute To Food Security?, Katherine Grace Carman, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Food insecurity, not having consistent access to adequate food for active, healthy lives for all household members is most common among low income households. However, income alone is not sufficient to explain who experiences food insecurity. This study investigates the relationship between financial literacy and food security. We find that low income households who exhibit financial literacy are less likely to experience food insecurity.

Suicide Postvention Plans: Are Schools Prepared To Adjust To The New Normal, Wendi Aghily

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This project involves the review of suicide postvention plans across school districts in California. The goal is to identify which elements are meet the recommendation, address the recommendations or do not include the recommendations for best practices in suicide postvention. This has been done by analyzing the plans across five components: preparation, identification and support for immediate needs, triage, identification and support for long term needs and a return to a new normal. Consideration was given to the format in which the plans were developed: websites, school safety plans, emergency operations plans, crisis response plans and suicide response plans. Through …

Design Thinking In Education: A Case Study Following One School District's Approach To Innovation For The 21st Century, Loraine Rossi De Campos

Doctoral Dissertations

The latest reform movement in education, known as 21st-Century Learning, is in

response to the transition from a primarily industrial-based economy to a knowledge- based one. 21st-Century Learning demands that educational organizations become more receptive to societal changes and provide educational services that can make the contributions needed to sustain our economic position in the world.

The purpose of this dissertation study was to understand how design thinking supports the implementation of 21st-Century Learning within a school district. Moreover, this project was designed to capture and understand how the strategic integration of design thinking, in the form of a District …