Self-Actualized Leaders’ Relationships With Dynamic Teams, Joseph Walter Pieri

Theses and Dissertations

A recent study of 831 companies around the world found that employees on average tend to spend 54% of their time working within teams (Frey et al., 2013). Today, this number is estimated to be an additional four to six percent higher (Gallup, 2020). Despite the upward trend of increased reliance on team-based structures in effort to improve productivity and boost morale, research reveals approximately two-thirds of U.S. employees are not engaged in their workplace (Gallup, 2020). More than half (51%) of workers merely go through the motions of their job, barely meeting minimum position responsibilities. However, leadership is essential …

Using A Behavioral Skills Training Model For Instructing Educators In Functional Assessment And Intervention Procedures In The Classroom Setting, Lorne Thomas Balmer

Theses and Dissertations

Educators often manage behavior through suppression rather than working to address the root cause of problematic behavior in the classroom. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 mandates the use of functional assessment for students with varying exceptionalities to ensure students are educated in the least restrictive environment. However, functional assessment is an evidence-based strategy that could be employed by all teachers to enhance classroom management practices universally. Behavioral skills training is a research-validated approach that is often used to train professionals on a number of skills.

The present study investigated the use of a behavioral skills training …

Middle School Literacy Educators' Views About Student Texting And Its Impact On Student Writing, Rehana Lynda Mohamed Hussain

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation investigated middle school literacy educators’ views about the impact of text messaging on students’ spelling and writing abilities. Specifically, the researcher determined educators’ views about the impact of text messages from Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) and Short Message Service (SMS) on middle school student writing and spelling. The researcher interviewed middle school teachers about their experiences with student writing and whether text speak is present in students’ writing and spelling.

Four research questions are posed: (a) To what extent do middle school teachers notice textspeak within student writing? (b) What do middle school literacy teachers report as the …

An Analysis Of Florida Educators' Perceptions Of The School Superintendency, Qualifications, Leadership Skills, Longevity, And Student Achievement: A Quantitative Study, Natalie Whitco

Theses and Dissertations

High turnover in the role of school superintendent signaled functional disruption, decreased morale and impaired student achievement. The principal researcher sought to explain perceptions among professional Florida K-12 public school educators about key factors related to the role of school superintendent, necessary qualifications, important leadership skills, longevity and its impact on student achievement.

The principal researcher disseminated a 10-question online self-administered survey she developed for the study to a sample of 199 professional Florida K-12 public school educators. Independent demographic variables among sample participants included: gender, current job, highest level of completed education and years of experience as an educator. …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Siblings Of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Adrielle Benini

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to better understand the experience of having a sibling with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research has historically focused primarily on parents of individuals with ASD and their perceptions of how siblings were impacted; however, there was a lack of adequate research where information was obtained from conducting interviews with the siblings themselves.

The researcher conducted a qualitative study with 10 neurotypical siblings, ages 10 to 17, of individuals with ASD. These siblings were interviewed to explore their individual experiences and perceptions about areas in which they found and needed support. The researcher also utilized demographic …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Symbolic Violence In School Curriculum, Nahum Jean-Louis

Theses and Dissertations

The study explores symbolic violence (SV) in school curriculum as a phenomenon that has historically been a problem for Black students in schools around the United States. Defined by Bourdieu as the legitimization of cultural and social domination of the working-class by the dominant elite, SV is expressed in curriculum through various forms, including racial and cultural exclusion of Black students from the curriculum.The literature review explored research conducted over the past few decades that address various aspects of SV and how they manifest in school curriculum. More specifically, an important segment of the literature review has focused on the …

Competencia Digital De Profesores Universitarios: Evaluación De Actitudes Hacia La Tecnología, Conocimiento De Las Tic Y Uso De Tecnologías En Una Universidad Privada De Colombia, Claudia Yanive Prieto

Theses and Dissertations

Competencia Digital de Profesores Universitarios: Evaluación de Actitudes hacia la Tecnología, Conocimiento de las TIC y Uso de Tecnologías en una Universidad Privada de Colombia. Claudia Yanive Prieto Castillo. 2021: Disertación Aplicada, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education and School of Criminal Justice. Palabras clave: digital competence, attitudes, technology knowledge, technology use, ICT, university level teachers Esta investigación partió del problema de que, en el programa de Licenciatura en Lenguas Extranjeras, de una universidad colombiana, no se habían realizado investigaciones que determinen la competencia digital de los profesores. Además, la revisión de la literatura indicó que la …

A Study Of A Bring Your Own Device Initiative, Myriame Delva Pierre

Theses and Dissertations

The intended purpose of this applied dissertation was to examine how teachers use student-owned technology devices for learning in the classroom and to determine how the use of these devices influence teacher planning and the classroom environment. The Bring Your Own Device initiative was an effort to prepare students by allowing them to use and leverage technology devices in the classroom to advance and enhance their learning (Greer, 2013). It is an initiative that incorporates the use of handheld technology devices into schools to better motivate student engagement. The study determined that mobile devices, as a significant part of daily …

Nphc And Mgc Sororities And Fraternities As Spaces Of Activism Within Predominantly White Institutions, Crystal E. Garcia, William R. Walker, Ciera A. Dorsey, Zachary W. Werninck, Jessie H. Johns

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This study explored how Students of Color within National Pan-Hellenic Council and Multicultural Greek Council sororities and fraternities engaged in activism and in what ways this involvement connected to their membership. Using a qualitative critical narrative approach, we examined the journeys of ten participants. Findings unpack ways participants engaged in activism and resistance aimed at educating individuals and increasing awareness of societal injustices, addressing inequities through service, and inciting disruption and cultivating institutional and societal level change.

Regulating Sexualities Through Gender-Based Rhetoric: The Experiences Of Queer Women Of Color In Culturally-Based Sororities, Crystal E. Garcia, Antonio Duran

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Culturally based sororities emerged on college campuses in order to combat the race-based discrimination faced in historically white sororities. Despite their historic mission to attend to racial issues, questions remain of how culturally based sororities attend to other identities and forms of oppression in these spaces. Centering the stories of 20 Queer Women of Color, this critical narrative inquiry study sought to understand how members of culturally based sororities used gender-based rhetoric to regulate sexual minorities in these spaces. Findings revealed how organizations constructed what it meant to be a Woman of Color, how they used gendered stereotypes and sexuality …

Community-Centered School Leadership: Radical Care And Aperturas During Covid-19, Leticia Alvarez Gutiérrez, Taeyeon Kim, Sonny Partola, Paul J. Kuttner, Amadou Niang, Alma Yanagui, Laura Hernández, Gerardo R. López, Jennifer Mayer-Glenn

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

We share school leaders’ perspectives on Zoom videos concerning the needs of immigrant and refugee families in Title I schools. In these videos, participants crafted and shared personal narratives about their leadership experiences during the COVID-19 era of education. Rooted in participatory design research methods, the process of designing these videos were both a research project and an intervention to assist families and school leaders to better understand each other. We present a close analysis of administrators’ perspectives and describe how our codesigned video methodology enabled participants to coconstruct new meanings of school-community relationships during the pandemic through a radical …

Reimagining Accountability Through Educational Leadership: Applying The Metaphors Of “Agora” And “Bazaar”, Taeyeon Kim

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

This study aims to explore reimagined accountability through collective efforts initiated by school leaders and to challenge the fixed notion of accountability prescribed by policy scripts. Drawing on studies highlighting humanizing leadership and the metaphors of “agora” and “bazaar,” I investigate how school leaders (re)construct and (re)define meanings of accountability in their daily practices. Using portraiture as research method, I analyze qualitative data collected through observation, interviews, and artifacts in a rural school in the United States, over the course of the 2018–2019 school year. In contrast to prevalent discourses around technical, performance-driven approaches to accountability, the principal and teachers …

Revisiting The Complexity Of Racial Understandings And Subjective Experiences Of Race Among Students Of Color In Stem Higher Education: Toward A Racial Reappraisal Framework, Elvira Abrica

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Despite significant investment in expanding post-secondary access and success for racially minori­tized populations within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, persistent educational disparities remain. While the literature has importantly identified and described the myri­ad ways in which students of color experience exclusion within STEM fields on the basis of race (and, perhaps, other social identity statuses), this area of scholarship is not always theoretically grounded in an understanding of racial hierarchies, processes of racialization, or theories of race and racism. That is, despite the abundant literature on students of color in STEM, there is comparatively limited theo­retical attention to …

Sorority And Fraternity Life Professionals’ Perspectives On Challenges Faced By Culturally Based Sororities And Fraternities, Antonio Duran, Crystal E. Garcia, Hannah L. Reyes

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

Featuring the perspectives of 15 sorority and fraternity life (SFL) professionals, this qualitative study highlights the challenges culturally based sororities and fraternities face on college campuses. Guided by a framework grounded in concepts of organizational culture, findings revealed three issues that culturally based SFL organizations encounter: a predominant emphasis on historically white sororities and fraternities in SFL communities, a lack of human and financial capital, as well as inadequate advisor support and training. Implications for research and practice are offered.

Kentucky Public Charter Schools, Pamela Manning-Hamilton

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Kentucky public charter school law was introduced in 2017, the purpose of the new innovative schools were to close the achievement gap among the education system within the state. Charter schools are new-age schools that have a smaller class size, use differentiated instructional strategies that integrate technology to promote engagement, which in turn increases student growth and success. Advantages of charter schools within other states include differentiated environment, culture, and performance. Disadvantages of charter schools involve taking resources from traditional schools, higher resource costs, and demands. The study was approached using a basic qualitative research method. The purpose of the …

Teacher Resilience, Kristen Whipple

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The main purpose of this quantitative research study was to explore the influences that impact teacher resilience. Seven factors that potentially protect teacher resilience were chosen: competency, self-efficacy, agency, relationships, organizational culture, altruism, and sense of humor. These factors were tested against years of service categories and self-perceived resilience scores to determine if relationships exist. A two-part online survey gathered demographic information, self-perceived resilience scores, and resilience factor data from American PreK-12 teachers. To answer the three guiding research questions, the statistical tests of multiple linear regression, Pearson’s r correlation coefficient, and chi-square test of independence were utilized. The …

Overlooked And Under-Referred, Gretchen Spencer

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

According to the National Association for Gifted Children (2019) up to 10% of the population can benefit from receiving gifted services. Due to wide variability in definition, identification and services offered, the NAGC recognized that gifted students have been and continue to be overlooked (NAGC, 2019). Not only are gifted students under identified overall, the ratio of identified students who are Black, Latine, special education, and female was lower than the ratio in the population and occurred at a significantly lower rate than their white counterparts (Ecker-Lyster & Niileksela, 2017). The issue of underrepresentation within the gifted population has …

The State Of Speech-Language Pathology In Guatemala: A Case For Creating A New Post-Graduate University Program, Amanda Blackwell

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Speech-language pathology is part of a broader discipline of allied-health professions including occupational therapy and physical therapy. The professionals in these disciplines work alongside doctors and nurses to provide rehabilitative care for people with congenital or acquired disabilities across the lifespan. The organization and application of the field of speech language pathology is in various stages of development in countries around the world. The current dissertation seeks to understand the state of speech-language pathology in the Low- and Middle-Income Country (LMIC) of Guatemala and suggest a specific plan for the creation of a new graduate program for this discipline.

Career Readiness Of Recent Graduates, Bobby Stewart

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Formal education in the United States starts at five or six years old. Once formal education begins, it guides children into their working life as an adult. P through 20’s (P-20) process of starting educational structure early in the life of a child and guiding the skill development for young adults is critical when considering the skill gap current employees are facing. Skill development is a cost to many organizations and there are many opportunities for skill development in K-12 or post-secondary education. Learning how to better prepare the next generation of workers will provide higher skilled workers. Organizations are …

A Bonded Case Study Of Missouri Secondary Criminal Justice Program Curricula, James Barnes, James Oren Barnes

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory case study measured the Missouri Secondary Criminal Justice Program instructors' perception on the impact of Missouri technical standards, the Industry Recognized Credential/Technical Skills Assessment (IRC/TSA), Career and Technical Student Organizations (CTSOs), individual cumulative career experience, and advisory boards on their curricula. As a local autonomy state, Missouri has no statutorily mandated curricula to guide instructors. Six secondary criminal justice instructors agreed to be interviewed on their perspectives regarding the factors that impact curricula. The research found that instructor experience had the most substantial impact on curricula. The instructors used the technical standards as a scope and sequence for …

Academic And Motivational Challenges Of Prospectve First-Generation College Students From Rural High Schools, Gopakumar Ramachandra

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the academic and motivational challenges of prospective first-generation college students from the rural high schools. This study was mostly focused on the academic preparation and challenges of first-generation college students who have decided to pursue their post-secondary education, the influence and motivation of social capital on their academics, the impact of their geographical background on their transition process to post-secondary education. The participants in the study were thirteen high school students of which twelve students were seniors and one was a junior from high schools of four rural districts of Western Kentucky. A generic qualitative research …

Using Design Thinking As An Instrument For School Improvement And Innovation In Public Schools, Beth Emery Peterson

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Design thinking, a creative problem-solving method in which the end user is an active member of the design team, has historically been used in business and industry, but school leaders are beginning to use the process in education settings. This multiple-case study examined the experiences of two public school leaders who used design thinking for continuous improvement initiatives or to spur innovation in their school or district. Through interviews, the school leaders shared their purposes, outcomes, challenges, and insights of using design thinking to address complex educational problems. Results indicate that design thinking is appropriate to use for continuous improvement …

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 …

Community College Employee Perceptions Of The Four-Day Schedule As A Community College Institutional Strategy, Mitchell Holder

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

In the face of enrollment declines (American Association of Community Colleges [AACC], n.d.; Barrington, 2020; Schwartz, 2020) and state funding cuts (Lorenzo, 2018), community colleges search for institutional strategies to gain competitive advantages in student recruitment and enrollment management. The four-day schedule has been used by a number of community colleges and four-year colleges as an institutional strategy to reduce costs (Cardinale, 2013; Chen, 2020; Moltz, 2008), improve employee morale (Ellen, 2011; Toppo, 2018; Wallace, 1981), and increase productivity (Bothwell, 2019; Ellen, 2011). Some institutions have adopted the four-day schedule believing it would provide a competitive advantage in student recruitment …

A Phenomenological Study On Increasing The Number Of Student Veterans In Graduate And Postgraduate Degree Programs At A Comprehensive Mid-Sized Regional University, Scott R. Allen

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined how a comprehensive mid-sized regional university can attract, retain and graduate more graduate and postgraduate student veterans. This study was framed by a grand tour question, three research questions, and several sub-tiered questions. Data collected from interviews with student veterans pursuing graduate and postgraduate degrees after receiving a baccalaureate are examined. The experiences noted and documented in this study show that the motivation for student veterans to pursue graduate and doctoral degrees is based primarily on data gleaned from personal interviews and data collected from those interviews. The participants stated that the availability of veteran educational …

The Effect Of District Level Strategic Planning On College Readiness As Measured By Act Achievement, Carrie Ballinger

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate if there is a statistically significant difference between the ACT scores of students who were enrolled in Kentucky public school districts that completed a district wide strategic planning process during the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018- 2019 or 2019-2020 school years and the ACT scores of students who were enrolled Kentucky public school districts that did not complete a district wide strategic planning process over the same time period. A survey was given to determine which school districts had implemented a strategic plan during the 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019 or 2019-2020-time frame. For each …

The Impact Of Socioeconomic Status On The Development Of Stem Identity, Choice, And Persistence, Shawna Adams

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This mixed-methods study seeks to investigate the direct effect that socioeconomic status (SES) has on a student's identity, choice, and persistence in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). There is a diversity and wage gap among the STEM workforce, which is comprised largely of White males with higher salaries than their counterparts. Underrepresented minority groups (URMs) are more likely to come from low SES and typically have fewer educational resources. Identifying the relationship of SES across student groups can yield insights about how to address inequitable practices and increase STEM diversity. Quantitative data was collected via a STEM survey, …

Addressing The Preparedness To Implement The Illinois Culturally Responsive Teaching And Leading Standards, Michelle Mohr

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This is a quantitative study designed to assess the beliefs of in-service teachers as well as those in urban and rural areas as it relates to the preparedness levels of educators to successfully implement culturally responsive pedagogy. With a new mandate for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Leading Standards in Illinois, educators and district leaders must now prepare for state-wide implementation by October 2025. At present, education program faculties in Illinois’s higher education institutions are integrating instruction on culturally responsive pedagogy. As a result, many pre-service teachers are currently receiving training in this area. In-service teachers, however, may lack learning experiences …

Cte Instructors: Preparation To Involvment For Success For Students With Disabilities, Nancy Cavness

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This researcher conducted a quantitative study with help from career and technical (CTE) instructors across Tennessee. The research was to determine how prepared CTE instructors were work with students with disabilities (SWD). CTE teachers who responded gave data pertaining to receiving and involvement in Individualized Education Plan (IEP) process, professional development, and collaboration with stakeholders so SWD would meet success. The data suggests CTE instructors were somewhat involved in the IEP process, but more focus needed to be in areas of training and collaboration.

Trends In Student Attrition At An Urban Community College In The Southeast Region, Shirley Hardy

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the understudied reasons for attrition among urban community college students by way of Satisfactory Academic Program (SAP) appeals. The researcher used a qualitative methodology to understand the challenges associated with the mitigating circumstances attributed to academic attrition resulting in SAP appeals. The foundation for this study was laid by two renowned student departure theories: conceptual model of nontraditional student attrition (Bean & Metzner, 1985) and theory of student persistence in commuter colleges and universities (Braxton et al., 2014). The researcher sought to gain further knowledge to identify environmental factors that cause nontraditional …