Education Commons^™

Experiencing Intellectually Stimulating K-12 Principal Actions: A Phenomenological Study, John Parham

Ed.D. Dissertations

K-12 principals are held increasingly accountable for school success, yet their direct impact on students is negligible. Principals must thus work to positively impact their teachers in order to indirectly impact student achievement. Transformational leaders are able to utilize intellectual stimulation in order to impact those who work under them. The data for this study was collected through qualitative means, with eight K-12 teachers, representing two school districts in East Tennessee, participating. The findings in this study indicated that principals were able to provide intellectually stimulating experiences for teachers without having to bring in outside resources or even add extra …

Perceptions Of Factors Leading To Forensics-Drama Coaching Efficacy, Anthony Wooley

Ed.D. Dissertations

Participation in nonacademic activities that focus on creative skill improvement, like forensics‑drama, can increase high school students’ intrinsic desire to learn. Intrinsic motivation to learn resulted in academic success at the secondary and collegiate levels and career success at the professional level because the students felt confident in their abilities. Because the forensics-drama coach was the primary factor affecting students’ forensics-drama abilities, a greater understanding of the sources of forensics-drama coaching efficacy was required to discover how to better serve the students. Ten forensics-drama coaches in the state of Tennessee participated in this qualitative interpretive study in which they were …

Teachers' Perceptions Of Efficacy Development In Elementary Public And Private Schools, Amy Henderson

Ed.D. Dissertations

Teacher efficacy has been studied by researchers since 1976. As researchers discovered the breadth of impact of teacher efficacy, the study of the topic increased, and researchers identified positive effects of teacher self-efficacy. Considering these influences on the educational system, researchers sought to study all aspects of efficacy development to replicate positive experiences for teacher efficacy in a large number of schools. A gap in the literature existed regarding efficacy development across unique school settings. Through this qualitative, basic interpretive study, I sought to fill the gap in the literature around teacher efficacy development by adding to the base of …

Third Grade Students' Occupational Aspirations And Perceptions Of Parents' Career Satisfaction, Tiffany Corum

Ed.D. Dissertations

At the time of this writing, little research had been completed on the occupational aspirations of students and students’ perceptions of their parents’ career satisfaction. I completed a qualitative study in which I compared the occupational aspirations of 14 third-grade students, 7 girls and 7 boys, from a low socio-economic school and 14 third-grade students, 7 girls and 7 boys, from a high socio-economic school within the southeastern region of the United States. I also compared these students’ perceptions of their parents’ career satisfaction. I conducted one-on-one interviews with students in which they answered questions about their occupational aspirations and …

Middle School Teachers’ Perceptions Of Professional Development For Blended Learning Implementation, Jessica Wear

Ed.D. Dissertations

As technology use in the classroom became more prevalent, so did the questions of how to effectively integrate technology into instructional practice. From this rise in questions about how to effectively integrate technology, the term blended learning emerged. Blended learning serves as a description of practices for educators to effectively implement and integrate technology in classrooms. Through an adult learning framework, I used a qualitative interpretive research design to examine middle school teachers’ perceptions of professional development for implementing blended learning. I sampled 32 middle school teachers who completed questionnaires, and I interviewed three teachers based on their responses to …

Middle School Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Influence Of High Stakes Testing On Instructional Practices And Student Learning And Engagement In Rural Southwest Virginia, Kelli Mooney

Ed.D. Dissertations

In this qualitative study, I examined teachers’ perceptions of the influence of high stakes testing on instructional practices and student learning and engagement in middle schools in rural Southwest Virginia. Fourteen middle school teachers from three middle schools completed questionnaires, and seven teachers submitted lesson plans as part of this study. I analyzed the data and determined teachers expressed negative perceptions of the effects of high stakes testing on student learning and engagement. Teachers also stated high stakes testing limited instructional practices used in classrooms. Teachers perceived current instructional practices were not conducive for active student learning and engagement; however, …

Teacher Perceptions Of Curriculum-Driven Technology After Working With Instructional Technology Coaches In Middle Schools In One Southeastern School District, Julie Pepperman

Ed.D. Dissertations

The use of curriculum-driven technology in K-12 public schools was mandated by federal law. School and district leaders were required to provide curriculum-driven technology professional development and support to teachers. The use of the curriculum-driven technology coach was an option some schools chose to meet the curriculum-driven technology professional development requirements and needs of their teachers. The purpose of this research was to explore one school district’s middle school teachers’ perceptions of the importance of curriculum-driven technology and their perceived self-efficacy in using curriculum-driven technology in instructional practice after collaborating with a curriculum-driven technology coach. This qualitative study was conducted …

Reflective Practice: A Qualitative Study Of A Teacher Leader Program, Mark Herron

Ed.D. Dissertations

Because of the increase of the rigor of state standards and of accountability, the Lincoln County School District sought to become a part of the state Teacher Leader Network during the 2016-2017 school year as a way to provide teachers best practices for improving the culture and climate of their schools, participating in collaborative professional learning, and helping students be more successful on high-stakes end-of-course assessments. As a result of their efforts, the Lincoln County Learning Leader program was born, which led to implementing the professional learning community process in each school as the vehicle to accomplish the program’s objectives. …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Alternate Academic Standards And Alternate Testing In Northeast Tennessee, Jodie Bakely

Ed.D. Dissertations

In accordance with the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), Tennessee developed alternate academic standards and an alternate assessment for students with significant cognitive disabilities. This study examined teacher perceptions of the alternate academic standards and alternate assessment in Northeast Tennessee. The researcher interviewed nine teachers of students with significant cognitive disabilities who had used the alternate academic standards and alternate assessment with their students in Northeast Tennessee. The study found that the teachers interviewed did not see the value in using the alternate state standards or alternate assessment with their students. The implications of this study included a need for …

Teacher Perceptions Of Funds Of Knowledge In Central Appalachia, Kiplyn Collins

Ed.D. Dissertations

This study examined teacher perceptions of their use of funds of knowledge pedagogy in classrooms in two counties in central Appalachia. The funds of knowledge theory was originally applied to the migrant Mexican American population and then transitioned to other minority populations but has rarely been examined within the Appalachian region, nor the central Appalachian region specifically. Since the President’s Appalachian Regional Commission in 1964, the Appalachian region has been recognized by its financial struggles, low employment rates, and low educational achievement. While numerous researchers have examined the problems of education in the area, few studies have sought methods for …

Teachers' And Administrators' Perceptions Of Departmentalization In Elementary Schools, Mary Day

Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine administrator and teacher perceptions of the two primary classroom organizational structures in kindergarten through second grade within a rural East Tennessee school district: 1) departmentalized and 2) self-contained. Data were collected from seven elementary schools. The number of survey respondents were: 25 kindergarten through second grade teachers and eight administrators represented a 63% return rate for teachers and an 80% return rate for administrators. This researcher determined three primary categories among the administrator and teacher responses from both organizational structures: 1) student and teacher relationships, 2) classroom transition, and 3) academic …

Academic Match And The Tennessee Promise: Rural High School Counselors’ Perspectives, Charles Painter

Ed.D. Dissertations

The number of Tennessee students increasingly enrolled in postsecondary institutions since the introduction of Tennessee Promise (TN Promise); however, program requirements coupled with counselor behaviors related to TN Promise may lead to academic undermatch. This researcher used a qualitative research design to investigate the responses of high school guidance counselors in rural school districts in East Tennessee. Eight high school counselors participated in the study. Data analysis revealed that high school counselors encourage all eligible students to enroll in TN Promise without considering academic match. High school counselors used implicit actions and activities to enroll students in TN Promise. High …

Teacher Perspectives Of Their Implementation Of Guided Reading Instruction, Kristi Presley

Ed.D. Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of guided reading in the classroom and the perception teachers had related to their own self-efficacy in their implementation of guided reading instruction. Using an interpretative qualitative methodology, this researcher interviewed twelve teachers in Tennessee concerning their implementation of guided reading instruction in their classrooms. This researcher designed and utilized a Guided Reading Fidelity Checklist for the purpose of analyzing the collected data. This researcher identified misalignments regarding the fidelity of the implementation of guided reading instruction. The findings of this study demonstrate a need for teachers to have further …

Leadership Traits, Tools, And Practices: Decision Making In A Crisis, Linda M. Murawski

Ed.D. Dissertations

Crises often present complex, uncertain, and unstable situations where routine decision making is not enough. Crises are typically unpredictable yet leaders must prepare to make decisions using a variety of traits, tools and practices. While all leadership is dependent on many factors and subject to many variables, in a crisis, those variables are magnified. Effective decision making during a crisis is a key trait of crisis leaders and is developed over time and with practice.

Using the classic Delphi Technique, the researcher obtained qualitative data from experts in crisis management concerning (a) the difference between non-crisis and crisis decision making, …