Education Commons^™

Assessing The Academic Impact Of Two Adaptive Learning Technology Math Programs Using Hattie’S Visible Learning Theory, Charles C. Swan

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This quantitative study examined the academic impact of two adaptive learning technology math programs (Espark and iXL) alongside the social validity of teachers in a rural western Maine school district who used the program in their classrooms. Using Hattie’s Visible Learning Theory (2008) as the theoretical framework, the study tested two different hypotheses. The first hypothesis stated that both Espark and iXL would have an effect size of .40 or greater when the pre and post tests were compared. The study used the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) assessment for its pre and post assessment because it is a nationally normed …

Mindfully Organizing Collective Teacher Efficacy: A Case Study Of Efficacious Educator Teams, Bruce "B.C." Preston

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Collective teacher efficacy (CTE) has well documented positive effects on student outcomes (Goddard et al., 2017), teacher job satisfaction (Buonomo et al., 2020), and educator persistence (Guidetti et al., 2018) in the face of challenging tasks. Characterized by the collective belief in the group’s capability to successfully accomplish tasks associated with their professional practice (Donohoo, 2018), what influences group efficacy belief formation remains an underdeveloped area of academic and practical understanding (Tschannen-Moran et al., 2014). To better understand the influences that shape CTE beliefs, and how those influences contribute to the known sources of CTE, a multiple–case study design was …

The Lack Of Representation In Leadership At Predominantly White Institutions In The United States: A Qualitative Analysis On The Executive Leadership Pathway For African American Males, Eric Pulley

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This qualitative phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of Black men in the United States who have overcome barriers to advance to leadership positions at predominantly White institutions (PWI). The qualitative phenomenological approach was used to examine three research questions that addressed the factors that encouraged Black men on their paths to pursue executive leadership positions, the obstacles they encountered, and how identifying as a Black male at a PWI affected their career pursuits. Social support theory (SST) guided the theorical framework and critical race theory (CRT) guided the conceptional framework. Interviews from six participants were used. During the interviews, …

How Canadian School Leaders Perceive Their Capacity To Foster Culturally Responsive School Practices To Influence Student Outcomes, Heather Saunders

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Despite numerous studies on race relations and racism in Canada, there is a relative paucity of research on school leaders’ perceptions of cultural responsiveness in the Canadian educational system. Racial diversity among students enrolled in Canadian schools has increased dramatically over the last few decades. The diversity gap between a racialized student population and White school leaders continues to widen, with more than 95% of Canadian school leaders being White (Turner, 2015). The primary objective of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore school leaders’ perceptions of how culturally responsive practices improve student outcomes. This study was guided by the …

A Qualitative Phenomenological Study Of Public School Teachers’ Experiences While Teaching During A Pandemic, Andrew M. Bard

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The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of K-12 public school teachers related to stress and burnout while teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three research questions guided this study: (1) How do K-12 public school teachers describe their lived experiences while teaching during a pandemic?, (2) How do K-12 public school teachers describe their perceptions of stressors related to teaching during a pandemic?, and (3) How do K-12 public school teachers describe their experience as learners while adapting to teaching during a pandemic? Constructivism and social constructivism were applied as the conceptual and theoretical …

How Female Stem Undergraduate Students Form Their Science Identity, Todd Martin Medovich

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This qualitative case study describes how female science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students choose their undergraduate major, the obstacles they faced when making that choice, and how they overcome gender-based obstacles. These descriptions illuminate the manner in which they form their science identity.

There is a gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines (Viadero, 2009). This has been attributed to both biological and sociocultural causes. The biological basis for this disparity includes evidence of physiological differences between females and males, as well as the microaggressions and sexual harassment stemming from these differences (Bottia et al., 2015). …

Perceptions Of Induction: A Phenomenological Case Study, Kimberly L. Stephens

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The first months of teaching can significantly diminish a probationary teacher’s perception of their ability when the nuances of the job and students become overwhelming. On average, a school will lose three out of every 20 teachers annually. The problem this study researches is how faculty and staff provide support for probationary teachers. Too often, induction models remain underdeveloped, understudied, and rarely are formative assessments associated with faculty interactions. In this study, the dynamic interplay between the individual, the environment, and behavior establish a deeper understanding of the teacher network as a social system with expected returns. The tenets of …

Massachusetts High School Teachers’ Perceptions Of Transitions In Teaching And Assessment Related To The Next Generation Science Standards, Alyssa Mocharnuk

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The experiences and perceptions of high school science teachers with the transitions in teaching and assessment related to the adoption of the 2016 Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Framework based on the Next Generation Science Standards were studied in this interpretative phenomenological analysis. The Next Generation Science Standards incorporated both traditional disciplinary content ideas and the new science and engineering practices (NGSS Lead States, 2013). Teachers were required to develop new materials, and difficulty in developing new ways of teaching and assessing science (Friedrichsen and Barnett, 2018; Kawasaki and Sandoval, 2020; Wilde, 2018) was exacerbated by the delay in high-stakes testing …

Self-Perceived Leadership Behaviors Of Collegiate Athletic Trainers And Strength And Conditioning Coaches: A Case Study, James Thomas Daley

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The purpose of the case study was to examine the self-perceived leadership characteristics, behaviors, and communication styles of professionals within the pillars of the high-performance sport model, specifically athletic trainers, and strength and conditioning coaches, to gain perspective on their ability to influence student-athletes and colleagues at the NCAA DIII level. A qualitative case study format allowed the researcher to engage with a small sample of participants and explore the differences and similarities between the participant groups. Participants were selected based on their primary job title and setting at over 80 institutions of higher education that participate in NCAA Division …

The Perceived Impacts Of Therapy Dogs On Students As Viewed Through The Human-Animal Interaction Framework, Timothy Smolen

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This study employed a qualitative case study approach to explore the perceptions of teachers/staff members directly associated with the therapy dog (TD) program in their school. These perceptions were regarding the TD program’s effectiveness in (a) student social interaction, (b) stress coping and self-regulation, (c) engagement and/or attention, and (d) motivation and/or self-efficacy. The human-animal interaction (HAI) theoretical framework (Gee et al., 2017) served as a focal lens in this study. Data was collected from a middle school in the midwestern United States and through social media. Thirteen participants were from middle school and eight were obtained via social media. …

Understanding First-Generation Hispanic Student Experiences With Community College Campus Resources, Monica Medina

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Community colleges serve as an essential gateway to higher education for Hispanics. Although first-generation Hispanic (FGHC) students continue to enroll in community colleges, there is limited research to explain their experiences using campus resources. This study’s purpose was to contribute to the existing literature on FGHC students and determine if their use of campus resources helped them succeed. This study used the conceptual framework of academic engagement (Tinto, 1996). Nora’s (2003) and Nora et al’s (2006) student engagement theory as lenses to explain how FGHC students can have pre-college characteristics that can affect their social, academic, and overall goals for …

Case Study: Member Perception Of A Federal Organization’S Employee Recognition Program, David A. Dietz

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The purpose of this qualitative instrumental study was to clarify the purpose of Agency ABC’s Recognition Council, while identifying opportunities for staff recognition and appreciation to be optimized within Agency ABC to assist in creating and sustaining employee engagement. This purpose is in direct correlation to the study’s problem, to fill in research gaps due to a lack of existing documentation, best practices and research regarding federal recognition programs. Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory was the conceptual framework that the researcher applied to this study. The researcher performed semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with five former members of Agency ABC’s Recognition Council members. Interview …

The Resilience Of Black Female Leaders In Higher Education And Racial Microaggression, Simone P. Flowers-Taylor

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This study explored the experiences of Black female leaders in higher education and their encounters with racial microaggression. Additionally, the opportunity to understand the effects of racial slights within the workplace as either a mid to senior level leadership was also explored. Regardless of the multiple diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainings within higher education, Black female leaders are experiencing their share of racial inequality based on their race, gender, or both (DeCuir-Gunby et al., 2019). The unique experiences of racial microaggression encountered by Black women, aligned with the framework of both the Black feminist theory and intersectionality theory respectively. …

School Employees’ Perceptions Of Organizational Support During A Critical Incident, Donavon P. Soumas

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The purpose of this qualitative case study was to discover the lived experiences and perceived organizational support (POS) of school employees’ during the abrupt transition to remote education instruction resulting from a critical incident such as COVID-19. In direct connection, this study’s problem was to fill a gap in the literature regarding school employees’ lived experiences and POS during the abrupt transition to remote education instruction as the result of a critical incident. Organizational support theory and experiential learning theory were the conceptual framework that guided this study. The researcher used semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with 10 school employees at a …

Re-Defining Leadership: Exploring Women’S Roles As Successful Leaders In Online Higher Education, Kristen Card

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The purpose of this qualitative research study was to explore the professional experiences and opportunities of female leaders in the field of higher education as they sought professional advancement. The researcher focused on leaders in contemporary, online colleges and universities, where women have achieved career advancement at higher rates than in traditional college and university settings. The study documented participants’ experiences of leadership and their perspectives regarding how leadership skills are defined and measured in the context of contemporary higher education institutions. The literature review includes environmental elements and ideologies related to successful leadership currently evident in higher education.

Four …

Organizational Change In The Legal Education Environment: Institutional And Individual Responses To Times Of Crisis, Mary E. Wilson

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The Great Recession of 2008 brought great upheaval to many aspects of the American economy. At first law schools saw an increase in applications and enrollment as individuals sought an education that would lead to employment. Within a few years, however, the job market for new lawyers deteriorated. By 2010-2011, the number of applications to law schools plummeted, as did the enrollment numbers. Since tuition is the life blood of law schools, the field of legal education was faced with an unprecedented crisis. This researcher collected and reviewed publicly available data to examine the changes that occurred in law schools …

How African American College Graduates Who Attended An Early College Describe The Benefits, Reginald L. Towns

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The study documented how first-generation African American college graduates who attended an Early College program in North Carolina describe the benefits of this educational experience. There are many different types and structures of the Early College Program concept, that is, programs where high school students earn college credits. Students taking courses at a community college may leave with an associate’s degree while students attending a college or university will graduate from high school with transferable college credit. Students that attend high schools with Early College programs may finish their last two years of high school on a college campus and …

Professional Advisor Practices For Student Identity Development, Brittany Potter

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Due to COVID-19, the state of higher education has been transformed, including the way student services like advising are offered on college campuses. More importantly, current literature on Generation Z students articulated that they need advisors who will build trust by implementing practices that go beyond prescriptive approaches. Therefore, it was imperative that this research examined how current undergraduate professional advisors work with Generation Z students and the practices that they use. Previous advising literature indicates there is a lack of scholarship surrounding the practices of professional advisors. With little information on professional advising practices and approaches, higher education leaders …

Dual Enrollment Programs: Advising Policies And Practices For High School Students In Post-Secondary Institutions, Devin V. Cribb

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This study focused on the role of academic advising within dual enrollment programs, those programs that allow secondary students to enroll in college credit bearing courses while still in high school. Research questions were as follows: (1) What advising policies and practices are in place for those that advise high school students at post-secondary institutions that host dual enrollment programs? (2) How do those that manage and advise dual enrollment students perceive these policies and how their job roles and responsibilities relate to these policies? (3) How do those that manage and advise dual enrollment students enact current policies to …

Rural Elementary Teachers And The Impact Of Professional Development On Mathematics Instruction, Heather Rockwell

All Theses And Dissertations

Rural elementary math teachers often lack a background in mathematics and even those with a strong mathematics background can sometimes struggle to model elementary math concepts (Holm & Kajander, 2019). Professional development (PD) provides teachers with an opportunity to increase their knowledge and skills while in the field. Although there are clear guidelines of what constitutes high-quality PD, not all PD achieves the same outcomes for teachers and students. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to understand PD experiences from the viewpoint of the rural elementary teachers, specifically the ways the PD experiences impact teacher efficacy and …

Urban Teachers Program: Culturally Responsive Middle School Teachers Describe Their Competencies, Kristina Sterling

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The purpose of this study was to document ways that Urban Teachers’ candidates enact culturally responsive teaching practices in an effort to combat the opportunity gaps in education and increase students’ achievement rate. This study focused on documenting responses to the questions: How do Urban Teachers enact culturally responsive teaching practices in their classrooms? How do teachers in the Urban Teachers program describe overcoming perceived barriers to implementing culturally responsive teaching in an urban school district? The problem of the study was a lack of evaluation of culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practices of those Urban Teachers once they entered the …

The Benefits And Barriers To Arts Integration: Arts Accessibility In Public Montessori, Heather Teems

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This mixed-method exploratory case study investigates the research question: To what extent do pre-K through eighth-grade public Montessori school teachers perceive that their professional knowledge and abilities, experiences, and resources impact their capacity to integrate arts into their general classroom curriculum? Public Montessori teachers from five public-choice Montessori schools in a school district of the suburban and urban areas of southeastern South Carolina were invited to participate. The teachers in these public Montessori schools have varied levels of education and professional development experience with the arts in education. Some participants were general education teachers prior to becoming Montessori teachers due …

Experiences Of Successful African American And Hispanic Non-Traditional Single Mothers At An Urban Community College, Gerald Maitre

All Theses And Dissertations

Single parents who are public welfare recipients and seek to complete a college degree face many obstacles to persist and stay enrolled. Factors such as (a) being custodial parents of a child(ren), (b) juggling a job and family responsibilities, and (c) dealing with financial strains, to name a few, can create role overload which can be daunting (Weber & Tribe, 2019). Because these barriers are present, it is essential to know the motivational orientation of the single parent who has persisted and stay enrolled. Besides documenting the research on programming and policies, the present study explored what motivation students needed …

Measuring Faculty Motivation And Engagement Through An Institutionally Supported Faculty Development Program At An Academic Healthcare Center, Elizabeth S. Rose

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Trends in the literature suggest that institutional support, defined as provisions for balancing work demands, schedule, and protected time, is a critical factor consistent with institutional academic success and an increase in faculty satisfaction. Competing factors including societal scrutiny, cost containment the safety and effectiveness of academic healthcare institutions, faculty recruitment and retention, increasing expectations for faculty, and pressures for high-functioning productivity can lead to feelings of ineffectiveness for faculty.

This summative program evaluation focused on the success of the Scholars Program, an institutionally supported faculty development program. The researcher sought to identify and describe faculty perceptions of the program’s …

People Manager Mindset Perceptional Influence On Culture At A Large Technology Company, Robert Patterson

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The purpose of this study was to identify the perceptions of a growth mindset, meaning an innate desire to learn, persist in the face of setbacks, value failure as essential to learning and regularly seeks feedback to improve by eight people managers in a large technology company (e.g., Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google, Facebook, and Amazon). Utilizing LinkedIn.com, eight people managers were identified and asked to describe their roles in communicating their organization’s culture to their direct reports and the tools supplied by their respective Company to influence their process (e.g., trainings, internal communications, etc.). Additionally, the study documented examples of how …

Leadership Style And Subordinate Work Stress, Jennifer Yoho

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The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the work stress perceived by public safety dispatchers and determine whether the supervisor’s leadership style played a role in the stress experienced. Research showed, and evidence suggested, that many stress-related symptoms at work occur because of unhealthy supervisor-subordinate relationships (Skakon, Nielsen, Borg, & Guzman, as cited in Belanger et al., 2016). Previous researchers found that a leader with a toxic, laissez-faire, or destructive leadership style increased the stress experienced by the employee (Syed, Rehman, & Kitchlew, 2018) while a supervisor with a transformational leadership style decreased the stress (Abbasi, 2018). Pishgooie, …

Computer-Mediated Communication Of History Museums In The Midwestern United States: A Web Content Analysis, Heather Lynn Dialfredi

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Adult museumgoers have come to expect increased access to museum information and resources through computer-mediated communication (CMC). Current research suggests that museum websites can increase the desire to visit the museum physically. The purpose of this study is to investigate how small, medium, and large history museums in the midwestern United States communicate the value of digital experiences to adult museumgoers. This qualitative content analysis follows Pauwels’ (2012) Multimodal Framework for Analyzing Websites as Cultural Expressions. The data was collected from 16 history museum websites, then analyzed using MAXQDA. The data collected provides insight into the methods and language museums …

The Influence Of Concept-Based Instruction On Student Academic Engagement, Amanda Romey

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Student engagement, including behavior, academic, cognitive, and social/emotional engagement is a complex multidimensional element of students’ overall well-being and success in school. As dropout rates continue to increase along with students feeling disenfranchised from the current educational system, there is a deep need to improve students’ experience in school by having them engaged in their learning. The purpose of this qualitative study is to identify the influence, if any, of concept-based curriculum and instruction on student academic engagement. This study examined the multiple elements of student academic engagement by addressing the concept-based learning construct, and student ownership of their learning …

Exploring Public, Primary School Educators’ Perceptions Of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Jessica Berry

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This qualitative narrative inquiry was used to explore public primary school (K–8) educators’ perceptions of ACEs and how their understanding of ACEs might contribute to creating a trauma-sensitive school climate. The conceptual framework of the study was centered on Mezirow’s Transformational Learning Theory, with the premise that learning and change require: (a) a recognition of one’s own biases, norms, and constructs, which would be followed by (b) reflection, (c) the realization that change is needed, and (d) a willingness to learn (Mezirow, 1991).

Ten public school K–8 educators from the state of Maine participated in semistructured interviews that were transcribed …

1:1 Chromebooks In High School Classrooms: Teacher Perceptions Of Integration Efforts, Jason Saltmarsh

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The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry study was to fully explore high school teachers’ perceptions of their experiences teaching in a 1:1 Chromebook environment. Data included high school teachers’ personal narratives detailing their experiences and observations about the use of 1:1 Chromebooks to support teaching and learning. Study data also included in-depth interviews with eight high school teachers. The four constructs of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology provided a theoretical framework for this study. Educational leaders face significant challenges in understanding the considerable impact of teachers’ perceptions of their decision to integrate and effectively use …