Educational Leadership Commons^™

School District Leadership, Resources And Literacy Development: A Phenomenological Study On School District Leaders’ Experiences On Budget Allocation For Literacy, Jared E. Littman

Theses and Dissertations

School district leaders can have a vast influence on school improvement and student achievement. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of school district leaders with budget allocation and decision-making responsibility for literacy and the factors that determined their budget allocation decisions. This study also addressed school district leaders perceived benefits of funding allocated to literacy development. Data was collected through in-depth, semi-structured one-on-one interviews. A thematic analysis, interpretive phenomenological approach was used to analyze the data. Themes and patterns that emerged from the data were: 1)literacy sets the foundation for the budget although doesn’t represent …

Why Do I Teach Math This Way: A Qualitative Examination Of How Teacher Experiences Impact The Implementation Of Instructional Practices, Carrie A. Heaney

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Since the 1960s, there has been an effort among the mathematical education community to shift instructional practices from a focus on arithmetic, memorizing rules, and completing practice worksheets to instructional practices that allow students to see mathematics as content that requires thinking and pattern explorations. Many mathematics teachers have not fully embraced these shifts in instructional practice. This study aimed to examine secondary mathematics teachers’ experiences and how those experiences connect to teachers’ implementation of student-centered instructional practices in the lessons they design. This qualitative study utilized a grounded theory approach to examine how a teacher’s experiences as a student …

Dismantling The Education-Survival Complex: A Qualitative Case Study Of How High School Youth Resist Whitestream School Policies And Foster School Change Through A Youth-Development Organization, Tracie Trinidad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to critically examine how youth resist whitestream school policies and foster educational change through community sociopolitical youth-development organizations. The methodology for this study is a qualitative case study (Fraenkel & Wallen, 1990; Merriam, 1988), as I am focused on participant perceptions and experiences, and how they make sense of their resistance experience through participation in sociopolitical youth development organizations like Youth for Social and Political Activism (YSPA). In total, eight participants spoke about their racial identity through their lived experiences in public school and YSPA programming.

The data and analysis are presented in the …

Bridging Soft Skills Gap Between University Graduates And Entry-Level Professional Careers In Kigali, Rwanda, Audrine Iradukunda Mdp

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

On a global level, three out of four employers claim to have difficulty finding university graduates with the soft skills companies need, and educators agree. The soft skills gap is also a massive challenge in Rwanda, as researches show that recent graduates struggle to enter the job market and find decent employment upon graduation due to a lack of practical exposure and experience with soft skills. This paper explores a career readiness program that aims at bridging the communication soft skills gap between university graduates and entry-level professional careers to increase the number of employed graduates from local institutions. The …

Principals’ Perspectives Of Trust And Vulnerability In Leadership: A Grounded Theory Study, Megan Ostedgaard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Leadership is a challenging task and leading well requires interpersonal skills that inspire those they lead to follow them. The aim of this grounded theory study is to explore the experiences of educational leaders who thoughtfully engage in trust-building and express vulnerability in their leadership practices. This study explored how six principals at kindergarten through 12th grade schools experience trust and vulnerability as building leaders. Three research questions guided this study: how do leaders experience trust, how do leaders generate trust, and how do leaders experience vulnerability.

In this study, we begin by understanding the background to the problem and …

Early Numeracy Development And Instruction, Karise Mace, Michele White

Education Faculty Research

No abstract provided.

Use Of Threat Assessment In South Dakota Schools, Damon Alvey

Dissertations and Theses

Student safety is a priority of administrators today and schools use a variety of threat assessment protocols to reduce potential violence in schools. Risk factors and crisis planning are essential components in building effective school safety plans. Research on mass school shootings identifies practices that when used appropriately may serve as a warning for future acts of violence. This descriptive quantitative study examined South Dakota school superintendents’ perceptions of threat assessment. This study also sought to identify barriers to effective threat assessments. The results of this research study show that superintendents in South Dakota view threat assessments as important. Superintendents …

Investigating The Future Of Student Affairs Professionals, Quincey Penn

CGU Theses & Dissertations

To date, we have the most diverse workforce in history. There currently four generations of professionals within our workforce: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Gen Z. Millennial and Gen Z professionals have recently overtaken Generation X and Baby Boomers as the largest generational cohort in the workforce. During this generational transition within the workforce, the Student Affairs field within Higher Education has experienced extremely high turnover, impacting colleges and university’s ability to sustain student support. If this trend continues, colleges and universities will have a limited pool of qualified candidates to fill current and future leadership positions. The study …

Encouraging Persistence Among Native American Nursing Students By Fostering Cultural Identity Development At A Predominantly White University, Valeriah Rose Bi Eagle

Dissertations and Theses

There has been a calling to promote diversity in the healthcare workforce to alleviate the health problems that currently exist among the Native American population. Minorities are disproportionately represented in the nursing workforce (Beard, 2014), especially Native Americans. Increasing the number of Native American nurses in the healthcare workforce has been found to significantly reduce these health disparities (Eddie, 2018; Eschiti, 2004; Gebbie et al., 2003), supporting the need for more Native American nursing students to graduate from college. There has been little research regarding the implications of cultural identity experienced by Native American nursing college students in higher education …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Stem Identity Experiences Of Women Stem Faculty Who Obtain Federal Grants, Nicole Whetstine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how STEM identity development influences the experiences of women STEM faculty who obtained federal grant funding. Data was collected from semi-structured interviews conducted with ten full-time women faculty in STEM employed at U.S. postsecondary institutions who were or were previously lead investigator on a federal grant. Herlihy and Campbell's (2018) socio-cultural-STEM identity theoretical framework informed the data analysis. Findings from the study revealed four primary ways in which participants were positively influenced in STEM including: (a) having supportive interactions with others; (b) being encouraged by others; (c) finding connections with …

A Causal Comparative Study Of Principal Perceptions Of Instructional Leadership Practices In One Central Florida School District, Tracy Shenuski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of this causal comparative quantitative study was to examine relationships between types of crises, perceptions of instructional leadership practices, and length of service as principal. Data from a purposive sampling using the Instructional Leadership, Job Satisfaction, and Retention Survey (ILJSRS) were collected from principals in one district and analyzed to assess the impact crises played on their perceptions of instructional leadership practices and their retention. Independent variables included demographics, type of crisis (weather, violence, health), and principal retention. The dependent variable was perception scores on the ILJSRS. Statistical analyses included the General Linear Model with Robust Standard Errors …

A Qualitative Inquiry Into Scholarly Publishing Between Librarians And Subject Faculty, Michael Furlong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

This is a phenomenological exploration of academic librarians collaboratively publishing with subject faculty. The explorative study investigates academic librarians and subject faculty who conduct research outside of librarianship. The purpose of this qualitative inquiry is an exploration of barriers subject faculty members and academic librarians encounter when conducting collaborative research. The study was performed because of an identifiable research gap and a paucity of qualitative studies related to librarian and faculty research partnerships. Much of the existing scholarship focuses on quantitative data exploring librarians' publishing outcomes. Data collection was performed by interviewing five academic librarians and five subject faculty pairs. …

Exploring Quality Of Life Perception Among Pre-Clinical And Clinical Phases Of Medical School Students In One Medical School Program In The Southeastern United States, Carley Blades Myszkowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Medical education is a complex, intense, and demanding process. Research showed that medical school students experienced significant changes and navigated intense and fluctuating stressors during their four years of medical school (Compton et al. ,2008; Hojat et al., 2004; McKerrow et al., 2020; Pagnin & De Querioz, 2015). Research has shown medical school students were impacted by substantially reduced physical, mental, and emotional health (Rajapuram, Langness, Marshall, & Sammann, 2020). Both internationally and nationally there was a growing interest in researching the health and wellness of medical school students, particularly focusing on quality of life (QOL) (Heidari et al., 2014; …

Reading By Ear: Music Teachers' Roles In And Attitudes About Identifying Students With Dyslexia In Kentucky's Public School System, Alison Ward Brown

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Identifying students with literacy disabilities, such as dyslexia, efficiently in public schools is crucial for early intervention. Literacy and musical skills share common neurological pathways, so music educators possess a skill set that could be advantageous in screening students. This study utilized a descriptive research design to identify music educators’ roles in the identification of students with dyslexia/reading disabilities in Kentucky’s public schools, and their attitudes about those roles. Data was collected through a survey completed by Kentucky public school music teachers. Results indicated that 92% of respondents had not participated in the screening process for children with literacy disorders/dyslexia …

Seventh Grade Mathematics Results In A Standards-Based Learning Environment: Examining Teacher Collaboration And Leadership, Demetria C. Moon

Dissertations and Theses

The pressure on schools to improve student performance in middle school mathematics combined with the movement towards standards-based instruction leaves teachers searching for the most effective instructional practice and administration examining their role in improvement efforts. This study examines the effect on student achievement in middle school mathematics as a function of the quality of teacher collaboration interacting with administration presence during collaboration. This study used a quantitative research design in which seventh-grade mathematics teachers from two different middle schools in the same district with similar demographics taught the same standards-based unit of study and administered a common summative assessment …

Encouraging Persistence Among Native American Nursing Students By Fostering Cultural Identity Development At A Predominantly White University, Valeriah Rose Big Eagle

Dissertations and Theses

There has been a calling to promote diversity in the healthcare workforce to alleviate the health problems that currently exist among the Native American population. Minorities are disproportionately represented in the nursing workforce (Beard, 2014), especially Native Americans. Increasing the number of Native American nurses in the healthcare workforce has been found to significantly reduce these health disparities (Eddie, 2018; Eschiti, 2004; Gebbie et al., 2003), supporting the need for more Native American nursing students to graduate from college. There has been little research regarding the implications of cultural identity experienced by Native American nursing college students in higher education …

Native American Women Superintendents’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs During The Covid 19 Pandemic, Janet Jeannine Metzger

Dissertations and Theses

This multiple case study focused on three Native American women superintendents’ self-efficacy beliefs and the impact of the Indigenous culture on their decision making as they led their school district through the Covid 19 pandemic. Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy theory served as the underpinning theory of this study. The qualitative research design for the study relied on data gathered from individual interviews and written responses to journal prompts. All participants had at least two years of superintendent experience in public school districts during the time of the pandemic. The researcher analyzed the data through open coding/In Vivo coding. The data were …

Initial Implementation Of Culturally Responsive Social-Emotional Systems Of Support For Anishinaabe Kindergarteners: Student Outcomes And Teacher Perceptions, Dustin Everett Hinckley

Dissertations and Theses

This study examined the academic and social-emotional outcomes and teacher perceptions of the initial implementation of a culturally responsive social-emotional learning Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) within a culturally homogenous rural Kindergarten Center. For this study, academic and behavioral student outcomes and teacher perceptions of both the implementation process and the outcomes of the implementation were explored. A quantitative ex post facto study based on students’ academic achievement scores and behavioral data, along with survey research to determine teacher perceptions, compared a cohort of students who participated in the culturally responsive social-emotional learning MTSS with a cohort that didn’t. Overall, …

How Do Parents Of Typically Developing Children Perceive And Interact With Children With Exceptionalities?, Zurisaday N. Decker

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

The purpose of this study was to examine how parents with children displaying typical development, perceive and interact with children who have exceptionalities or disabilities and explore parents’ openness to having discussions about exceptional children in inclusive classrooms. Given that parents function as foundational sources of knowledge to children in their early childhood years, understanding parents’ perceptions of and interactions with children with disabilities may help to understand how these parents’ children will, in-turn, perceive and interact with classroom peers with disabilities. This line of inquiry is supported by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, which views microsystems such as the family, …

Building Resilience In Ctls: Reflections On Practice, Lisa J. Hatfield, Julie Maxson, Jennifer Marshall Shinaberger, Hanna E. Norton, Cynthia (Cia) H. Demartino, Annette Finley-Croswhite, Gigi Gokcek

History Faculty Publications

What are the qualities of the “now” that make teaching and learning an urgent, if not a moral, imperative? A group of faculty, administrators, and educational developers respond to this question with individual narratives bound together by a common theme of reflective practice in times of crises to help faculty become more resilient in preparing for ongoing upheavals and unexpected crises while pursuing more inclusive communities. Our personal narratives reflect on the subjects of flexibility in the face of crises, technology and ethics, study abroad exposure to ethical challenges, students’ growing anxiety and mental health, modeling metacognition with peers and …