Educational Leadership Commons^™

The Early Implementation Of A Teacher Leadership And Compensation System In A Select Iowa Public School As Codified By House File 215, Anthony Dale Voss

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Thirty-one years ago, in 1983, the report “A Nation at Risk” (Denning, 1983) declared that teacher preparation systems were ill equipped to provide teachers the deep content knowledge they would need in order to be successful, that salaries were much too low, and that we needed to do a better job of recruiting young people into the profession. The 2001 reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind) is a call to action, one in which we are reminded that student achievement is stagnant or slipping around the country. In Iowa, attention to the topic of …

Creating Leaders: An Examination Of Academic And Research Library Leadership Institutes, Irene Herold

All Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Fighting On The Frontline: An Examination Of Teacher Retention Practices In Urban Elementary Schools, Kelley J. Young

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

For many teachers employed in schools in metro Atlanta, meeting the demands of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top is complicated by social realities characterized by the urban environment. Teachers’ beliefs about learning, operationalized at either the individual or the collective level, are influenced by the context of the schools in which they teach, and when teaching in the urban context, it is critical that teachers believe students can learn despite their circumstances (Halvorsen, Lee, & Andrade, 2009). The purpose of schools is to ensure academic achievement for children despite age, creed, color, race, or religion; however, …

An Exploration Of The Effects On Programme Design And Development Effected By Educational Leadership In Reaction To Societal And Economic Factors In Ireland, Roisin Donnelly, Nuala Harding

Journal Articles

It has affected many countries around the world, and Irish higher education has not found itself immune from undergoing a period of significant change, powered by a number of factors: economic, political, and technological. While these trends are global in their scope, and profound in their impact, the pace of change in the Irish economy since 2007-08 in particular has required institutions and their educational leaders to encourage the emergence of programmes which can respond to the current national needs. In periods of rapid change such as this, educational leaders by necessity tend to focus on short-term strategy and transition …

Students And Faculty Indivisible: Crafting A Higher Education Culture Of Flourishing, Eileen K. Camfield

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three separate articles addressing related issues central to the culture and future of higher education. The questions that animate the investigations are: In what ways is writing self-efficacy forged in the learning relationships between student and instructor? In what ways, if any, do traditional assessment practices impact student development? In what ways, if any, does institutional culture shape faculty identity, and what is gained or lost in the process? These queries stem from concerns about possible disconnects between visions of higher education's potential and actual practices in the classroom. The dissertation uses grounded theory to …

Principal Instructional Leadership In Ga High Poverty Elementary Schools, Ginger W. Spires

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions of principal instructional leadership practices in Georgia Reward Highest Performing and Georgia Reward Highest Progress elementary schools. As such, this causal-comparative study identified the frequency of principal instructional leadership practices and attempted to determine if these practices can be related to school effectiveness in high poverty schools. The sample of this study consisted of Georgia classroom teachers in high poverty elementary schools, specifically in the categories of Georgia Reward Highest Performing and Georgia Reward Highest Progress elementary schools. Hallinger’s (1983) Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) was utilized to …

The Road Less Traveled: Alumni Perceptions Of The Georgia Early College High School Experience, Tequila Tranise Morgan

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Despite the efforts of traditional high schools to educate all students, at-risk populations tend to lag behind their White and more affluent counterparts in educational achievement, high school graduation rates, and college attendance rates. Early College High Schools (ECHSs) were designed to attract and retain at-risk students through rigorous academic practices, strong support systems, and by providing free access to college credits while students are still in high school.

With the case study approach as a guide, this research used an open-ended interview protocol to collect data from a sample of 16 students who attended one ECHS in Georgia between …

Career-Technical Students In Baccalaureate Programs: Predictors Of The Intent To Persist And Satisfaction With Educational Pathways, Julie Uranis

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research explores the intersections of descriptive attributes, expectations, and influences (independent variables) and the degree to which they predict the intent to persist and satisfaction (dependent variables) of students enrolled in career-technical programs at four-year institutions. Little research exists for this population, and nothing based on the theoretical frameworks of Bean and Metzner (1985) and Lent, Brown and Hackett (1994). Expecting a significant relationship among several factors contributing to the intent to persist for career-technical students in degree programs, this research explores predictors for persistence in this population. This research revealed that there are simpler relationships among the variables …

Influence Of Student Engagement On The Career Transition Of Division I Football Student-Athletes, Ronnie Riley

Theses and Dissertations--Kinesiology and Health Promotion

College’s revenue sports, football and men’s basketball, fuel the billion dollar intercollegiate athletics industry. Historically, those same two sports have maintained the lowest grade point average among all student-athletes. This inverse relationship begs the question, “what academic sacrifices are being made at the expense of college’s revenue sports?”

Student engagement into educationally purposeful activities has been widely acknowledged as having influence on desirable college outcomes. The full extent of student engagement’s effect has yet to be determined. The purpose of this study was to conduct exploratory, qualitative research into the role of student engagement in educationally purposeful activities on the …

Decision Making Of Building Level Administrators And Their Perceptions On Groupthink, Julie Ann Flitcraft

Dissertations

This research study examined how groupthink affects educational decision making for building level administrators by identifying the most prominent symptoms of groupthink and by exposing the characteristics that create an increase of vulnerability to groupthink.

Participants for this study included building level administrators of 25 public high schools in a Midwest suburban county. These volunteers completed a three part survey which addressed the central research questions for the study:

1) What perceptions do current building level administrators have about the shared system of belief within their institution?

2) Among the administrators that believe they were hired because they share the …

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.

At Issue: A Comprehensive Review And Synthesis Of The Literature On Late Registration, Patrick Tompkins, Mitchell Williams

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

Using a literature review taxonomy described by Cooper and Hedges (2009), an analysis of 32 publicly available studies of late registrations was conducted to provide researchers and policymakers with an assessment of the extent, quality, and major findings of the studies. The reviewer asserted that few high-quality studies have been conducted on late registration, and the research does not provide strong evidence that late registration is associated with poor student outcomes. The review provided answers to the following questions: What does the body of research on late registration indicate about the advisability of retaining it as an option for students? …

A Forward To The Special Issue On Neoliberalism In Education The Long Road To Redemption: Critical Pedagogy And The Struggle For The Future, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Peter McLaren introduces a special issue of Texas Education Review focused on Neoliberalism in Education by advocating for critical pedagogy in the face of the challenges and harms wrought by American capitalism, politics, and "economic exploitation, racism, homophobia, sexism, imperialism, the coloniality of power and White supremacy".

Analyzing The Effect Of Individual Factors And Organizational Context On Faculty Participation In Online Teaching, Deborah F. Miller

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study analyzed the influence of individual factors and institutional context on faculty participation in online teaching at public higher education institutions in the United States. Through an ex post facto design, cause and effect relationships were explored using statistical analysis of a large national data set. Variables in the data set directly related to the areas of interest in this study included interest in teaching, student-centered pedagogy, autonomy and control, instructional support, and institutional climate. Factors related to interest in teaching and institutional reward were statistically significant (p

Examination Of Exceptional Student Educators’ Personal Practical Theories And The Implications For Practice, Melissa Jewell Call

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examined exceptional student educators’ (ESE) personal practical theories (PPTs) and how they impact complex decision-making when it comes to students with disabilities and their families. A case study methodology was selected to explore how four ESE teachers and leaders developed their PPTs as well as how they planned, interacted, and reflected upon decisions made during one workweek. The guiding questions of this study were: what are the PPTs of ESE leaders and teachers, what factors influence the development of PPTs, and how do PPTs impact special educators’ work with students with disabilities? To address these questions, four participants …

Stories Of Challenge And Resilience: The Impact Of Ecological Factors On The Lived Experiences Of Low Income, Urban Young Adults Living With Hiv/Aids, Kathleen Anne Thoma

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Transitioning to adulthood is a challenging experience for all young adults, but especially for those who are living with HIV/AIDS and residing in low income, urban areas. Young adults, particularly those who live in low income, urban areas, have the highest rate of new HIV cases among all age groups in the United States. The purpose of this study was to examine the lived experiences of a purposive sample of young adults living with HIV/AIDS who resided in a selected low income, urban area in order to better understand how ecological and health factors presented opportunities and challenges for resilience …

Role Tension In The Academy: A Philosophical Inquiry Into Faculty Teaching And Research, Nicolas Michaud

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to understand the conjunction of faculty roles as teachers and as researchers. This understanding is pursued through philosophical analysis. Discourse ethics, in particular, is used as a framework by which to best understand the roles played by faculty and if the roles of teacher and researcher are, in fact, commensurable. The purpose of the work is two-fold: 1) to develop a construct that may be used by future researchers to better understand the roles played by faculty, and 2) to suggest a best-construct that enables future researchers to propose how actual lived roles should be instantiated in …

Community Leaders' Perceptions Of Their Leadership Behaviors And Practices Used To Influence K-12 Public Education: A Q Methodology Study, Mai Dinh Keisling

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This Q methodology study focused on the perspectives of diverse community leaders concerning how their perceptions of leadership behaviors and practices were used to influence K-12 public education. The leaders’ perspectives were identified, described, analyzed, and compared with others who shared similar views through the use of Q methodology. Through purposeful and snowball sampling, a diverse group of community leader participants first responded to an open-ended questionnaire, inviting them to provide the leadership behaviors and practices they use to influence K-12 public education. This process of concourse development resulted in a total of 263 statements. These statements were then systematically …

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 …

The Perceptions Of Catholic Elementary School Principals In The Archdiocese Of Portland, Oregon Concerning The Catholic Identity And Program Effectiveness Of Their Respective Schools, Jeannie Marie Ray-Timoney

Doctoral Dissertations

The Perceptions of Catholic Elementary School Principals in the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon Concerning the Catholic Identity and Program Effectiveness of Their Respective Schools

Since their inception in the 1800s in America, Catholic schools have been essential to the ecclesial mission of the Roman Catholic Church and to the formation of students for the common good. As Catholic schools move further into the 21st century, they face many challenges, including the formation of personnel in their Catholic identity, the high cost of tuition and operations of schools, the preoccupation for financial success of students, and the ongoing rise of secularism …