Digital Commons Network^™

Technology Leadership Practices Of Appalachian School Leaders During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Todd Norton

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

The COVD-19 pandemic caused a global disruption to education. In some parts of the United States, schools were cancelled for the year, while others shifted their educational offerings to a distance learning model. Kentucky announced short term closures beginning March 13, 2020, but on April 20th the Kentucky Governor announced that schools would not reopen for in-person instruction for the remainder of the academic year. Many school districts quickly developed a plan to continue a modified version of school. In Appalachia, some school leaders were uniquely prepared because their district had implemented a 1:1 device program. In a 1:1 program, …

The Effects Of A Strengths Based Faculty Coaching Intervention On First-Year Undergraduate Student Academic Confidence: A Mixed Methods Action Research Study, Conrad Alfred Davies Sr.

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

Deficiency remediation models of education imply that students may enter the university with deficiencies, problems, or needs that imply the student needs to be “fixed” before they can proceed in their academic studies. In contrast, strengths-based education models infer that students come to the university with inherent talents, natural propensities, and behaviors that can be leveraged to overcome their challenges. These differing perspectives can influence the effectiveness of university policies designed to improve student retention. This mixed methods action research study, undergirded by student development theories, examined the effects of a strengths-based, faculty-led coaching intervention on first-year undergraduate students’ academic …

The Relationship Between Head Coaching Change And Donations To Intercollegiate Athletic Departments, Michael Paulus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intercollegiate athletic departments encounter unique challenges as organizational units of higher education. Among these challenges is generating revenue to support the rising expenses of operating programs, funding coaches’ salaries, and investing in facilities. Many athletics departments generate revenue by fundraising through donor-based seating programs, philanthropic engagement, and stewardship benefits associated with levels of support. While various factors within an athletics organization can influence fundraising, the important position of head coaches is one of them. These visible positions can play a key role in influencing ticket sales, fan interest, and donations, thereby contributing to the financial viability of the entire organization.This …

Organizational And Financial Considerations Of Inter-District School Of Choice On One Small District In The Detroit Metropolitan Area, Lori Lucas

Wayne State University Dissertations

The research study investigated the organizational and financial structure of a school district that participated in inter-district school of choice. The goal was to see if choice, resident and non-resident, had any influence on these structures. The literature that I reviewed highlighted the various organizational and funding mechanisms that school districts need to account for when considering options such as school of choice. This research study was conducted on a smaller scale compared to studies that have been completed on a grander scale. The goal of this study was to review the organizational and financial changes that districts make to …

Labor Union Women And Leadership: Using Labor Education To Build Female Leader Participation For A Stronger Labor Movement, Jacqueline Daugherty

Wayne State University Dissertations

Female union members are nearly fifty percent of the total membership of organized labor, and yet female union members continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions creating a leadership gender gap. The problem of a leadership gender gap is longstanding and is demonstrated in all levels of organized labor, from local to international unions, as well as in the labor federations. The problem stems from deep-rooted barriers that women face with leadership in labor organizations and impacts female union member’s voices and issues being heard at the bargaining table, and can therefore negatively affect women’s wages, hours and working conditions …

Support For Students With Disabilities: How Awareness And Accommodations Differ Across Faculty Members Within The Postsecondary Context, Toby Tomlinson Baker

Theses and Dissertations

This case study sought to determine the most salient needs of higher education faculty who instruct and accommodate students with disabilities (SWDs). Therefore, the faculty were analyzed as a community in a university setting. Currently, the accommodations that faculty provide for SWDs vary from institution to institution. Additionally, certain variables, such as faculty’s years with the university, budget, size, and location of the institution impact the level of support provided and what specific accommodations SWDs receive.The purpose of this qualitative case study was to develop an in-depth understanding of the current level of knowledge that faculty obtain for accommodating SWDs. …

Creating A Collaborative Culture: Can Online Learning Circles Spark Innovation And Promote Intrapreneurship?, Christian Deveaux Greer

Theses and Dissertations

Traditional organizational structures can be stubbornly inflexible and woefully under-optimized for cross-departmental project collaboration. Leaders seeking to innovate within the confines of these structures often have to empower themselves to create ad hoc agile teams that foster creative problem-solving, unlock social capital, and generate value early and often. As the President & CEO of a nonprofit science center in the Midwest, I have discovered that some of our most valuable ideas have sprouted and bloomed because distributed leaders, operating essentially as intrapreneurs, discovered ways to use their informal social networks to break through silos and successfully collaborate across departmental lines. …

Forward Solutions In Digital Learning Transformation: A Study In Navigating 21st-Century Organizational Learning For Learning & Development Professionals, Malika Afiya Viltz-Emerson

Theses and Dissertations

While there is a substantial volume of information on digital transformation in companies and basic knowledge of the learning functions in organizations, there is little academic research on the skilling required of Learning and Development Practitioners or Professionals (LDPs) and the impact 21st century digital transformation has on their role. This mixed methods study shares lived experiences and the perceptions of LDPs and identifies challenges with which they are faced. Overall, the study explores transformation of LDPs within the construct of organizations and the digital evolution. The study reviews how LDPs are adapting to the rapid changes and the evolution …

Employee Perceptions Related To Specific Work Processes Within The Crime Control Model Known As The Stratified Model, Robert William Steinkraus

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to measure employee perceptions of satisfaction as they relate to specific work processes and products within the Stratified Model. The Stratified Model is a crime-reduction model that was developed and gradually implemented first within the Port St. Lucie Police Department between 2004-2011. The full implementation of this crime-reduction model occurred in 2012. The Port St. Lucie Police department has since achieved greater reductions of the overall crime rate than other cities in Florida consisting of similar populations. In 2019, Port St. Lucie had the 7th largest population in Florida.

Currently, it is unknown how …

Transforming Campus Climate For Diversity: Accreditation Liaison Officer Perceptions And Beliefs Regarding The Impact Of Regional Accreditation On Institutional Change, David H. Sundby

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Despite attention given to the increasing diversity in higher education, greater barriers to college access and degree attainment exist for many minoritized groups in comparison to dominant groups. Research illustrates that campus climate for diversity, a systemic concept, plays a critical role in the success of minoritized groups. Additionally, institutional accreditation is a critical process, and it may be a catalyst for systemic change. However, there is little research on the relationship between the regional accreditation process and institutional change, with even less research on the impact of accreditation on campus climate for diversity.

To address this gap in literature, …

Crisis Management: Pk-12 Leaders & Resilience Building Practices During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Shafiga Abramova, Oruba Anthony, Haley Brown

Educational and Organizational Learning and Leadership Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented evolving challenges for educational leaders. This study will explore the crisis management practices of PK-12 public school superintendents. Specifically, the team will consider effective resilience-building practices as a means for leaders to manage a prolonged crisis. A comparative case study was conducted to analyze publicly available documents across two cases (Eastern and Western regions) in the state of Washington. During the COVID-19 pandemic, school communities only had access to publicly available documents emphasizing the importance of exploring forward facing documents. The analysis of the study was informed by the theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory …

Identifying Characteristics That Lead To Better Academic Performance For International Students In U.S. Colleges, Hadi Rajabbeigi

Theses and Dissertations

A large proportion of students in the United States is international students. Thus, educational leaders need to facilitate the learning process for this population. This study investigated the characteristics of international students that affect their academic performance. The purpose of this study was to determine how individual characteristics of international students affect the learning strategies they choose and how it affects their academic performance. For this purpose, the survey was designed according to the literature, which measures characteristic variables based on VIA character strengths (Peterson & Seligman, 2004), learning strategies (MSLQ) developed by Pintrich et al. (1991), and academic performance …

Tilting Beyond The Classroom: Utilizing Transparency Components To Develop Student Centered Administrative Processes, Casey E. Humphrey

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Transparency in learning and teaching (TILT) has been shown to benefit student’s ability to be successful within the classroom. Transparent concepts produce positive outcomes within organizational systems as well. However, there is no research that analyzes how the TILT framework can be used to analyze and develop academic policies within educational institutions. This manuscript discusses the potential benefits of utilizing TILT components in the creation of academic policies and processes in order to promote successful student engagement within an occupational therapy academic program.

Navigating Success: First-Generation Pathways To Institutional Integration, Katherine B. Drumm

Theses and Dissertations

Guided pathways mobile applications are one technology-based tool that colleges and universities have implemented in an attempt to educate and guide students through the myriad steps necessary to matriculate, integrate and successfully graduate from their institution at scale. Using Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and capital, Astin’s model of student involvement and Tinto’s model of student integration as a conceptual framework, and building upon the work of Slanger et al. (2015), this study investigated if the Educational Stress scale score from the College Student Inventory (CSI) can act as a measure of student habitus. In addition, this study used institutional data …

Assessing Faculty Perceptions Of A Guided Pathways Model, Lesley Lynn Zimmerman-Cooper

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Since the inception of the guided pathways model in 2015, most related research has focused on the interconnecting processes and practices that lead to student persistence and completion. While the processes and practices are the basis of the model, scholars acknowledge that the model's human capital and change management components are just as significant. An institution must have a majority of its faculty and staff engaged in and excited about shifting to guided pathways for the model to succeed and be sustainable. Buy-in across the institution, but especially from faculty, is essential to the model's overall effectiveness.This qualitative case study, …

The Student Experience With Success Coaching As A Retention Initiative, Lisa Richardson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges have recently begun supplementing nonacademic support services with student success coaching to increase retention. While preliminary research indicates that coaching may positively influence student retention, little is known about the student experience with coaching. The objective of this dissertation was to understand how students perceive participating in a structured coaching relationship in the Coach2Success (C2S, a pseudonym) program as influencing their persistence at Midwest Community College (MCC, a pseudonym). Data for this qualitative case study was collected via semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Interviews were conducted with 11 student participants in the success coaching program who had been …

The Impact Of Cultural Competency On The School Improvement Process: A Phenomenological Study, Michelle Dekam Palmieri

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Schools have undergone a multitude of reform in recent decades, most based on American educational accountability structures and policies. School improvement efforts have taken on a variety of forms. Despite the intensified pressure for improvement, there has not been an increase in our nation’s student achievement. In fact, racial inequities in academic performance continue to grow. As the students in our public educational systems continue to become racially, culturally and linguistically more diverse, educators need support and training to become culturally competent and racially conscious. Developing cultural competency is not a quick nor simple feat, yet there are countless research-based …

Intra-University Collaboration Between And English Language Center And A Disability Resource Office To Support International Students With Disabilities: A Bridge Towards Inclusive Excellence, Matthias Maunsell

All ETDs from UAB

As universities endeavor to increase international student enrollment, they are also legally mandated to support international students with disabilities (ISWDs). For ISWDS engaged in English language study, both the English Language Center (ELC) and the Disability Resource Office (DRO) are directly implicated in their educational success. However, the connection between these two units and their efforts to leverage institutional resources have received limited attention. Guided by the Inclusive Excellence model that centers diversity, equity, and inclusion in all aspects of higher education and strongly emphasizes campus partnerships, this study explored the interrelationship between an ELC and a DRO in support …

Effectiveness Of A University Employee Assistance Program Using The Workplace Outcome Suite And Client Satisfaction Survey, Josephine Jackson Banks

All ETDs from UAB

Background: Gallup (2013) reported that 30% of the U.S. workforce was not engaged in their work which means they were not reaching their full potential or productivity level. For organizations, lost productivity due to absenteeism or less than ideal performance at work impacts company performance and bottom line. Employee assistance programs are a resource to help increase employee health, productivity, and satisfaction through counseling interventions. Methods: Data were collected by a large urban university EAP over a 20-month period. The analysis was limited to EAP clients over the age of 18. A total of 866 subjects participated in this study, …

A Grounded Theory Study: The Lived Experiences Of K-12 Administrators Regarding Leadership Effectiveness Over Time, Sandy Georgette Deades Ritchey

All ETDs from UAB

The purpose of this study was to generate a theory in education comparable to studies in other disciplines by exploring how current leadership theories can be expanded to explain how leadership effectiveness changes over time. This study explored active and retired principals' experiences to see how their effectiveness may or may not have changed over time. I was particularly interested in learning if there was a point in their careers when they perceived that they were no longer as effective as they used to be or could have been, what this looked like, and how this guided their next steps. …

Exploring 4-Year Business School Curriculum’S Relation To Graduates’ Hiring And Earnings, Richard A. Gayle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2013, roughly 7% of college graduates under 25 could not find employment, and about 37% were underemployed. Public university tuition costs increased by 42% between 1999 and 2012, and 71% of college graduates have an average of $29,400 in outstanding student debt. Employers for several decades have complained about how higher educational institutions have failed to deliver graduates with developed nontechnical skills comprising (a) work ethic, (b) communication, (c) organization, (d) problem solving, and (e) teamwork. The purpose of this qualitative archival study was to assess and explore integrating the nontechnical skills that businesses require to hire graduates immediately …

Mediated Effect Of Perceived Supervisor Support On Leader-Member Exchange Quality And Employee’S Commitment, Jeffery Proby

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social exchange relationship quality can influence an employee’s commitment to supporting continuous improvement (CI) initiatives. Researchers have established that leader-member exchange (LMX) quality and perceived supervisor support (PSS) can reduce employee commitment, affecting an organizational outcome. Based on the theoretical foundation of LMX quality theory, the purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to examine the relationship between the independent variables (LMX quality) and the dependent variable (affective commitment [AC]) through the mediated variable (PSS) and moderated mediation variable (workplace ostracism [WO]). Employee age, gender, tenure with the company, ethnicity, certification level, and the manufacturing sector were control variables of …

Identification Process Of Black And Hispanic Students In Elementary Gifted Education, Verschello Maria Nelson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A substantial disparity exists between the proportion of students of color, (SOC), compared to White students in gifted and talented (GT) education. The problem of SOC not being proportionately identified for the GT program relative to the total school population at a Southeastern U.S. suburban school district was the problem addressed in this study. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to identify educators’ perspectives of how the GT identification process supports or hinders the identification of SOC. Using Warne’s theory of GT identification, and Renzulli’s theory of intelligence, the research questions focused on educators’ perspectives of how the …

Emotion Regulation, Affective, Continuous, And Normative Commitment For Turnover Intentions Among Degree-Seeking Employees, Danette Colleen Sutter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Multiple researchers have investigated employee turnover related to affective, continuous, and normative commitment, and none reported the predictive power of emotion regulation reappraisal on these components of commitment with turnover intentions among degree-seeking employees. The purpose of this quantitative survey research study was to explore emotion regulation reappraisal and its predictive power for organizational commitment associated with degree-seeking employees' intentions to quit jobs. In this study, a small sample of N = 18 degree-seeking employees took part in survey methodology. Multiple regressions were performed to calculate the variance of independent variables, emotion regulation and affective, continuous, and normative commitment associated …

Employee Perceptions Of Collaborative Communication Skills Learned In The Informal Workplace, Wendy Marie Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Collaborative communication skills are underdeveloped through higher education experiences; therefore, employees need to develop these skills while working. Current research has not focused on how employees identify collaborative communication skills developed from informal workplace learning experiences, specifically those presented as coaching, mentoring, and networking. Marsick and Watkins’s informal workplace learning theory was the conceptual framework for this basic qualitative study, which used a researcher-produced interview protocol with eight United States employees who had been in their positions longer than 6 months. Data were analyzed using three rounds of hand coding. Participants described how informal coaching, mentoring, and networking encounters influenced …

Factors Influencing K–12 Female Educators’ Decisions Not To Apply For The Superintendency, Tiawana Giles

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractDespite holding 75% of certified positions in K–12 schools in the United States, women hold just 24% of public school superintendent positions. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to gain an understanding of why female principals and central office personnel attained superintendent credentials and have not yet applied for a superintendent position. The conceptual framework for the study was feminist standpoint theory, which is often used to guide research regarding the knowledge and understanding of marginalized groups. Two research questions were used to explore why female K–12 principals attained their superintendent license and why they decided not to …

Caribbean Lecturers’ Self-Efficacy And Their Perceived Barriers To Technology Adoption, Na-Ajele Gadija Williams-Buffonge

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educational technology is a learning tool that helps lecturers enhance learning through instructional practices; however, it is unclear why lecturers have difficulties adopting technology. The purpose of this study was to examine how lecturers’ self-efficacy at one college in Antigua and Barbuda influenced their technology adoption in terms of their instructional practices, including perceived barriers and supports for technology use. The conceptual frameworks for this study were Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Rogers’ diffusion of innovation. The study included nine lecturers from a Caribbean college in Antigua and Barbuda as participants. Data were collected through interviews and analyzed using open coding …

K-12 Teachers' Perceptions Of Barriers To Implementing Service Learning, Cassandra Aiesha Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

K-12 teachers in a large metropolitan school district in the Northeast United States experienced difficulties integrating service learning into the curriculum due to state-based curriculum standards. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to explore K-12 teachers’ perceptions of barriers to, and best practices that support, implementation of service learning into the curriculum while considering state-based curriculum standards. Cooperrider and Srivastva’s theory of appreciative inquiry, which emphasizes assets rather than deficits within organizational structures, was used as the conceptual framework that guided data collection and analysis. Research questions were used to describe the perceived barriers to, and best practices …

In The Principal’S Office: Testimonios Of Chicanas And Latinas Leading Urban High Schools, Nova Star Meza

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The number of Chicanx and Latinx students in U.S. public school settings increased significantly at the close of the last century and continues to increase well into the 21st century. The numbers of Chicanx and Latinx, and more specifically Chicana and Latina, high school principals, however, have remained disproportionately low. Studies that focus on leadership identities of Chicana/Latina school leaders are few. Testimonios in this study shine a light on voices of six Chicana/Latina high school principals; these leaders described their background and schooling, their career journeys, and their leadership paths. This study is informed by two theoretical frameworks: Chicana …

Shifting Paradigms: Using Action Research To Redefine Engagement In Faith Formation In Unitarian Universalism, Amy Huntereece

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The issues that this research addressed were the changes related to engagement in religious education (RE) in the Unitarian Universalist (UU) church in the past several decades. To address this problem, the purpose of this research was to innovatively problem-solve with other religious professionals and consider how to redefine engagement to support families in their faith formation. The research aims to answer the question: How could UU RE professionals more effectively engage families in faith formation opportunities designed to meet the desired outcomes of RE parents/caregivers? To gather data, interviews with seven Millennial and Generation X parents/caregivers from the Baja …