Educational Leadership Commons^™

Workplace Learning: An Exploration Of The Relationship Among Organizational Culture, Leader-Member Exchange, And Individual Development Plans, Stacy M. Seaworth

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

As organizations work to adapt to rapidly changing technologies, consumer demands, and an evolving global market, learning in the workplace has become an essential component for successful businesses. Thus, leaders must find effective methods to promote employee learning. This study looked at organizational culture, leader-member exchange (LMX), and individual development plans (IDPs) in relation to employee participation in learning activities. A survey was sent to 50 employees working in an organization that utilized IDPs as a developmental tool. The results showed organizational culture, LMX, and IDPs were positively correlated with learning activities, indicating the more positively employees perceived the constructs, …

A Critical Ethnographic Study Of The Sociological And Educational Factors That Contribute To Scholastic Disengagement Prior To Adolescence And The Nexus To The School To Prison Pipeline, David Diehl

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this critical ethnographic study was to examine the lived experiences of formerly or currently incarcerated, Hispanic males who attended elementary school in Central Coast County (pseudonym), and affiliated, or previously affiliated with, one of the two major Mexican gangs in the State of California. This study sought to investigate what influence or impact, if any, a student's educational experience prior to entering middle school may have on a desire to become involved with the gang culture. The unusually high teenage homicide rate occurring in a non-urban setting has garnered national attention. Teachers, school administrators, a probation officer, …

Designing Leadership: Using Design Thinking To Create, Practices, And Implement A Formal Leadership Development Program, Jon Samuel Wedding

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine what happens when design thinking is used to create a leadership development program, increase leadership competencies, and participants perceptions of design thinking. This study uses action research to examine the experiences and design thinking to create a leadership program in a formal hierarchical. This study collected data during a two-cycle action research process. The findings from this study revealed that design thinking can be used to create a formal leadership development program. The ability to use design thinking’s human centered design can also help increase the leadership competencies of trust and collaborations. …

Factors Influencing Alumni Giving Of First-Generation Hispanic Women, R. Scott Biedermann

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Alumni giving has become a vital revenue source for colleges and universities in the United States. For private universities, alumni support is integral to the institution’s growth and sustainability. As a result, there is a growing body of research on the factors that influence alumni giving in order for fundraising professionals to identify potential donors. This study aimed to enhance this body of research by examining first-generation, low-income, alumni giving from Hispanic women from a California Private University’s (CPU) Neighborhood Engagement Program (NEP). NEP is a need-based scholarship program for underserved students from CPU’s host city. The purpose of the …

Understanding The Experiences Of Underemployed First-Generation Hmong Graduates, Mong Vang

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Underemployment has a rich and lengthy body of literature spanning across multiple disciplines, such as economics, business, psychology, and sociology. Past scholars studying the phenomenon have provided a framework for understanding underemployment and have identified the harm it has on organizations and individuals. Although underemployment is not a new phenomenon, gaps are present in understanding how it affects first-generation, Hmong graduates. This study provides a framework for bridging this gap. As such, this study answered three questions related to how underemployed, first-generation, Hmong college graduates describe their experience finding adequate employment after graduation, perceive the relationship between their personal upbringing …

The Experience Of The Local Control Accountability Plan, Angela Carter Pascual

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In 2013 the California Legislation passed a new K-12 School accountability mandate.

The Local Control Accountability Plan was sought to increase the educational equity for targeted student groups in addition to allowing school districts to mine a diverse set of local school data to develop goals in the 8 priority areas that speak to the needs of their local students. A requirement of the LCAP was that school districts include a diverse set of stakeholders to work in a collaborative manner to develop, critique, and refine local goals. Stakeholder groups are required to consist of district-level administrators, teachers, staff, students, …

The Effects Of The Work Environment On California Community College Counselors' Professional Self-Care, Tina Dang

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Healthy work environments are critical in fostering occupational self-care for helping professionals, but information on the self-care and the work environment is limited among community college counselors in California. Self-care is essential for the counseling profession in California community colleges (CCC), as it promotes wellness, which is needed in order to provide optimal services to students/clients. The lack of self-care results in counselor impairment, leading to undesirable factors (i.e., burnout, health conditions, and decrease in productivity). In educational institutions, counselors often find it difficult to maintain their own self-care. However, work environments have been shown to affect self-care at work …

Chicanas Completing The Doctorate In Education: Providing Consejos De La Mesa De Poder, Sandra J. Castañón-Ramirez

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study described four testimonios from Chicanas who have successfully completed a doctorate in education degree, both Ph.D. and Ed.D. The literature reviewed three important areas of study. The first is a review of the systemic challenges that Chicanas must hurdle; cheap labor, segregation of schools and neighborhoods, being silenced through English-only education, and deficit thinking. The second area of review focused on ways that Chicanas create strategies for success to overcome these challenges. The third was a review of the theoretical literature through a distinctly and relevant Chicana feminist lens.

Chicanas’ strategies for success were collected as testimonios. …

The Relationship Between Mentoring And Instructional Leadership Effectiveness: Gender Differences Between School Site Leaders, Kristina Britton

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Less than 25% of superintendent positions, the highest level of educational leadership, are occupied by women. This is in sharp contrast to the fact that over 75% of the nation’s teaching force are women. A significant barrier cited in the literature is that there is a deficiency in the support needed for women to successfully promote into higher-level administrative positions. Although mentoring has been shown to be key factor for female administrators’ success in educational administration, this study provides quantitative data to demonstrate the need for quality mentoring opportunities for school site administrators.The purpose of this research study was to …

First Year Female Assistant Principals At The Secondary School Level: Transitions, Perspectives, Aspirations, Jennifer Tilton

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Women continue to be in the minority in school administration in public schools in the United States, although the majority of teachers are female. The role of assistant principal is the gateway to school administration. The purpose of this study was to describe the essence of the transition from teaching to school administration, the role of a female assistant principal, and the career aspirations of female assistant principals. This study used a phenomenological approach to understand the essence of the transition for the participants. Six women were interviewed using a semi-structured interview protocol to collect data on their experiences transitioning …

Higher Education Organizational Structure, Quality Assurance Practice, And Teaching And Learning In Arts Disciplines, David M. Chase

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship of higher education organizational structure and institutional quality assurance practices to and the culture of teaching and learning in artistic disciplines from the perspectives of three artist-educators. The research questions addressed by this study are as follows:

1. How do participants view the relationship of the organizational structure of their institution to the provision of quality assurance practices in their disciplines?

2. What barriers, if any, do participants perceive about the implementation of effective quality assurance practice and policy, and if barriers are perceived, why do they occur?

3. What …

Impact Of A Student-Athlete Career Preparation Program On Athlete Alumni Affinity, Heather L. Hunter

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has indicated the majority of athlete alumni do not give charitable donations to their alma mater or athletics department. With over 4 million former National Collegiate Athletic Association student-athletes, these athlete alumni should have an inherent affinity for their athletics department. The purpose of this research study was to examine the relationship between a student-athlete career preparation program (“Career Program”) and athlete alumni affinity for the athletics department. This study uses the theoretical framework of Social Exchange Theory to examine if an athlete alumni’s affinity for their athletics department increases when they receive support for their career launch. …

The Evaluation Of Positive Intervention Strategies On Chronic Absenteeism At The High School Level, Marla Clayton Johnson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

There is an abundance of research on chronic absenteeism as well as the multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) approach, specifically the element of positive behavior intervention strategies (PBIS), at the elementary school level. A clear understanding of MTSS and PBIS at the high school level and how those approaches may impact chronic absenteeism of high school students is lacking in the recent research. The literature review provided the reader with an overview on PBIS and chronic absenteeism through the theoretical lens of Cooper’s (1982) Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) theory and explained the influence that PBIS has on chronic absenteeism at …

Making Meaning Of Supplier Diversity In Florida's Public Universities: A Narrative Inquiry Of Educational Connoisseurship And Criticism, Cheryl S. Mobley-Gonzalez

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Researchers contend that higher education organizations and systems, no matter their description (public, private, two-year, or four-year), build society. Nationally, many higher education leaders discuss metrics and measures such as graduation rates, class sizes, intercollegiate athletics, famous alumni, and the extent of community engagement, as important elements of societal influence. However, within public higher education scholarship in Florida, supplier diversity is an under-recognized area. Contrary to the better-known student, faculty, and staff diversity initiatives in Florida’s colleges and universities, diversification of vendor participation for procurement and contracting lacks a systematic focus. Little scholarly knowledge exists regarding the extent to which …

Examination Of Athletic Academic Support Services Of Ncaa D-I Hbcus, Clifford Eugene Harrell Ii

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Since 1991, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has mandated academic support services for student-athletes at all Division I institutions. Today, there is a vast difference of athletic academic support units at Power 5 Conferences compared to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The resources at Power 5 Conference institutions are also immensely different at HBCUs although the main services provided are similar. Advising, tutoring, orientation, assessment of study skills, compliance checks, personal counseling, career counseling, student-athlete scheduling/advising, testing of academically at-risk student-athletes are all services that are provided at both Power 5 institutions and HBCUs but there is still …

Supporting Safety Culture In Academia: Giving A Voice To Faculty, Emily K. Faulconer, Chelsea A. Lenoble

Publications

In the words of Sir Winston Churchill, “The difference between mere management and true leadership is communication.” Department leaders have a vital role to play at all institutional levels when it comes to achieving an optimal safety culture that promotes safety voice behavior.

At the university level, this role is to help the university develop a solid foundation that will support a strong safety culture. At this level, it can be a challenge to mobilize and sustain the necessary resources to effectively develop and communicate a clear, consistent message that is aligned with implicit and explicit reward structures.

A Thirty State Analysis Of Teacher Supervision And Evaluation Systems In The Essa Era, Ian M. Mette, Israel Aguilar, Doug Wieczorek

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications

We analyzed teacher supervision and evaluation policy systems in 30 states since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 in the United States (US). This qualitative study of state ESSA policy documents and legislation examined how teacher supervision and evaluation systems (TSES) models have been developed under ESSA, specifically regarding how the construction of TSES models conflated formative feedback with summative evaluation. Despite evolving federal-level and state-level education accountability policies spurred by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001, we argue that TSES systems are influenced by state-level historical political culture (Elazar, 1994; Fowler, 2013), workplace …

What’S Love Got To Do With Educational Leadership? A Case Study In Principal Practice, Dessynie Edwards, Israel Aguilar, Juan Manuel Nino

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications

The pressure to close the student achievement gap compounded by federal mandates and laws forces principals to hyper-focus on accountability as one of the major technical aspects of the profession; however, principals who can balance the technical (systems world) with the relational (lifeworld) and facilitate authentic care over aesthetic care, are warranted so that the achievement gap can be understood for what it really is, an opportunity gap. Thus, it’s important to document the processes, strategies, dispositions, or beliefs of school leaders who employ authentic care so that principal preparation programs can teach these as skill sets for preservice leaders …

A Thirty State Analysis Of Teacher Supervision And Evaluation Systems In The Essa Era, Ian M. Mette, Israel Aguilar, Douglas Wieczorek

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications

We analyzed teacher supervision and evaluation policy systems in 30 states since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 in the United States (US). This qualitative study of state ESSA policy documents and legislation examined how teacher supervision and evaluation systems (TSES) models have been developed under ESSA, specifically regarding how the construction of TSES models conflated formative feedback with summative evaluation. Despite evolving federal-level and state-level education accountability policies spurred by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001, we argue that TSES systems are influenced by state-level historical political culture (Elazar, 1994; Fowler, 2013), workplace …

Turning Around Small, Private, Tuition Dependent Colleges: How Boards Of Trustees Impact Decline And Turnaround, Michael Bills

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Even before the COVID-19 Pandemic, higher education has been facing unprecedented threats to existing business models. Small, private colleges heavily dependent on tuition revenue are particularly at risk. These at-risk small, private colleges need to make significant changes if they are to stave off decline and turn themselves around. Most of the literature on turnarounds of colleges and universities is focused primarily on the president, and is largely the reminiscences of former presidents. The board of trustees, however, is the ultimate governing authority of a college/university. If an at-risk institution needs to change in order to survive, the board must …