Education Commons^™

The Influx Of Public-School Students In Private Schools And The Effects On The Classroom Management Strategies Used By Private School Teachers, James Moore

Student Theses and Dissertations

In the current climate of expanding school choice, epitomized by Arkansas’s LEARNS Act, a significant number of students are transitioning from public to private schools. With policy debates centering on access and funding streams, the impact of this demographic shift remains critically underexplored by researchers. This interpretive phenomenological study addresses the significant gap that exists in examining the classroom management strategies and lived experiences of 12 private school teachers in Central Arkansas. The common misconception is that behavior may be the biggest challenge for teachers; however, findings indicate that the most significant challenge for students transitioning is the academic rigor. …

Examining The Influence Of Principals’ Perceived Authentic Leadership And Teachers’ Psychological Capital On Teachers’ Burnout Syndrome And Turnover Intentions In Catalan Schools, Eduardo Torrecillas Sanchez

Student Theses and Dissertations

This study was performed in the Spanish region of Catalonia. The purposes of the current study were fourfold: Firstly, the study explored whether authentic leadership, psychological capital, or burnout syndrome differed between teachers' genders or experiences. Secondly, the current study investigated whether aggregate measures and/or the dimensions of authentic leadership and psychological capital were associated with burnout syndrome. Third, this study examined whether burnout syndrome predicted turnover intentions. Lastly, this study examined whether authentic leadership moderates the relationship between psychological capital and burnout syndrome, as well as turnover intentions. The multidimensional Maslach’s theory of burnout was selected as the guiding …

Investigating The Challenges That Black Female Superintendents Face While Navigating Local School Boards, Eric Dailey

Student Theses and Dissertations

For the past twenty years, Black women have increasingly ascended to the role of school district superintendent. Black female superintendents navigate education systems that were not built with them in mind creating unique challenges. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to investigate the challenges that Black female superintendents face while navigating local school boards. This study was informed by glass ceiling theory, gendered organizations theory, and a black feminist framework establishing a research base for this study’s focus. Eight Black female superintendents were interviewed using an interview protocol. This study reveals that Black female superintendents experience similar challenges …

Exclusionary Discipline’S Impact On Minority And Low Social Status Student Achievement, Ulanda Latreace Branch

Student Theses and Dissertations

School discipline was intended to keep students safe in schools, but exclusionary discipline methods fail to meet this goal. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the impact of exclusionary discipline methods on student achievement, with an emphasis on ethnic and socioeconomic differences. The problem addressed how subjective referrals, cultural differences, unequal disciplinary tactics, and ineffective reprimands contribute to inequalities in disciplinary outcomes. Drawing on Glasser and Gordon's behavioral theoretical frameworks, this study emphasized proactive educational settings, effective classroom management, student accountability, and positive relationships as paramount to managing misbehavior. The study used a correlational research design, which …

A Phenomenological Inquiry Into Kindergarten Teacher Perceptions Of Literacy Skills, Angela Shelton

Student Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study explored kindergarten teachers’ perceptions of the literacy skills of students from households with limited financial resources, compared to students who attended the universal preschool program located in District A with those who did not. The study addressed three research questions: 1. How do teachers perceive the literacy skills of these students? 2. How do teachers describe their experiences teaching literacy to these students? and 3. What resources or professional development do teachers identify as helpful in supporting literacy instruction? Semi-structured interviews with kindergarten teachers were conducted and analyzed to identify common themes. Participants reported that children …

Factors Affecting Teacher Satisfaction At Two School Districts In North Carolina Post Covid-19 Pandemic, Thomas Young

Student Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an interruption to instruction for teachers and students across the United States and left educators unsure of the future as they returned to in-person classes. This phenomenological qualitative study concluded on the lived experiences of middle school teachers in two North Carolina districts to help uncover the reasons why they are satisfied or dissatisfied with their jobs after returning to the classroom since the pandemic. Inspired by Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory, this research investigated the extent to which working conditions influence teacher morale, retention, and job satisfaction. Fourteen teachers of various subject areas, years of experience and …

Online Student Perspectives Of Impactful Feedback, Kathleen Mcnichols Irvin

Student Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study examined how online graduate students perceived and experienced instructor feedback, focusing on its role in learning, the challenges of applying it, and preferences for formative, summative, or blended approaches. Fifteen students participated in semi-structured interviews, and four joined a follow-up focus group. Findings revealed that students viewed feedback as fundamental to understanding course expectations, improving academic work, and fostering motivation. However, vague or delayed feedback was seen as unhelpful and discouraging, often limiting opportunities for improvement. Three central themes emerged: the value of feedback as a learning tool, barriers to engaging with feedback effectively, and preferences for …

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Principal Experiences And Persistence In Title I Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade Central Texas Schools, Lisa Islas Walls

Student Theses and Dissertations

The role of the school principal is among the most challenging and influential positions in education. Research demonstrates that principals are the second most significant in-school factor affecting student achievement, after classroom instruction, and that stable, effective leadership is crucial for fostering a positive school culture, promoting teacher retention, and improving student outcomes. Yet, principal turnover remains high, particularly in Title I schools serving low-income and minority populations, where unfavorable working conditions and limited systemic support exacerbate instability. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the perspectives of individual principals on their lived experiences within Title I K-8 public school districts located …

Caribbean Early Childhood Educators, Primary Educators, And Student Teachers' Perceptions Of Visual Literacy And Visual Images Across The Curriculum, Monica Yvonne Hines-Graham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed through this study is the gap in knowledge about the integration and evaluation of visual literacy and visual images across the curriculum of early childhood educators, primary educators, and student teachers, despite it being a requirement for teachers in the Caribbean education system. Grounded in Hall and Hord’s concerns-based adoption model, the purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of early childhood educators, primary educators, and student teachers with the integration and evaluation of visual literacy and visual images across the curriculum. For this basic qualitative design, semistructured interviews with 12 participants from …

A Qualitative Examination Of The Motivations For Homeschooling Among Black Americans, Portia J. Witt

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the motivations and lived experiences of African American homeschooling families. Twelve Black parents from multiple states participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using Moustakas’ (1994) Modified Stevick–Colaizzi–Keen method and coded thematically using NVivo. Nine themes emerged: autonomy, holistic education, community belonging, online networks, public resources, curriculum gaps, personal values, effective learning, and legacy of harm. While racialization in schools—including tracking, microaggressions, and misidentification—contributed to participants’ decisions, motivations also reflected intersectional factors such as faith, disability, mental health needs, giftedness, and a desire for cultural protection and flexible learning. Findings suggest homeschooling serves as a …

Can I Be An Engineer? Factors Influencing Women’S Decisions To Pursue Undergraduate Engineering Studies In The Middle East And North Africa, Rasha Malaeb, Elsa Maalouf, Aya Mouallem, Jana Sabra

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), different institutional and cultural factors seemingly play a significant role in influencing women’s decisions to enroll in undergraduate engineering programs. In this work, we aim to uncover key influences that affect young women’s decisions to pursue undergraduate engineering studies in Lebanon, an Arab country in the MENA region. First, we conducted a survey during a student-led engineering summer program in 2024 at the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at the American University of Beirut. The survey participants were 47 high school female students from diverse regions and backgrounds in Lebanon. …

Cost Effects Of Adding Poultry To Organic Vegetable Production Systems In California, Iowa, And Kentucky, Kwanele Magwaba, Alejandro Plastina, Ajay Nair, Maurice Pitesky, David J. Gonthier, Anne Carey, Faye Duan, Viktor Halmos

Journal of Applied Farm Economics

This study evaluates the economic viability of integrating poultry into organic vegetable crop rotations over three years in Kentucky and Iowa and two years in California. Given the growing global demand for food and heightened environmental awareness, understanding the financial implications of such integrated systems is crucial. Our comprehensive experiment compared integrated poultry-vegetable rotations with vegetable-only systems, assessing costs, revenues, and key factors influencing profitability. While integrating poultry reduced vegetable production costs by up to 10% in some cases, overall system costs increased due to high poultry expenses. Break-even poultry prices averaged $8/lb for low-density systems and $7 for high-density …

Review; Rural Education And Queer Identities: Rural And (Out)Rooted, Sara Hall

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

This book review examines Rural Education and Queer Identities: Rural and (Out)Rooted, edited by Clint Whitten and Amy Price Azano, an interdisciplinary collection that reconceives rural education as a site of queer worldmaking rather than marginalization. Organized around the metaphors of taproots, root systems, and aerial roots, the collection brings together scholarly essays, creative nonfiction, and poetry to challenge dominant narratives that position queerness as incompatible with rural life. The review considers the collection’s implications for pedagogy and place-based education while noting opportunities for further engagement.

Fostering Engineering Identities And Attitudes Through Place-Conscious Learning Introduction, Rebekah Hammack, Miracle Moonga, Nicholas Lux, Paul Gannon

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Limited research focuses on how participating in place-conscious engineering affects students’ engineering identities and attitudes toward engineering. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study investigated the effect of engaging elementary school students in place-conscious engineering activities on their engineering identities and attitudes toward engineering. Twenty fourth grade students enrolled in a rural elementary school in the northwestern United States completed two place-conscious engineering activities: (1) after a local wildfire polluted the air with smoke and made it unhealthy for breathing, students designed and built air filters to prevent smoke from entering the homes of affected families residing in a nearby community, …

Trans/Queer/Cuir Literature And Resources, Julien Torrento

FIRE Fund Bibliographies

This bibliography assembles interdisciplinary scholarship, literature, and cultural production centered on trans, queer/cuir, and gender-nonconforming Latinx and Caribbean experiences. The selected works foreground embodiment, migration, performance, kinship, and resistance as sites through which marginalized subjects negotiate violence, survival, and worldmaking. Across academic, creative, and archival forms, these sources challenge normative frameworks of gender, nation, and citizenship while imagining alternative futures rooted in community and futurity.

About The Contributors

Impact: A Journal of Community and Cultural Inquiry in Education

No abstract provided.

Formatted Feelings: Rap As A Pedagogy Of Capitalized Emotion, Guanhua Yao

Impact: A Journal of Community and Cultural Inquiry in Education

This article examines mainstream rap as a key apparatus through which capital formats emotional life under platform capitalism. Utilizing grounded theory coding for ten Billboard No. 1 rap tracks released between 2005 and 2025, the analysis identifies durable affective templates, commodified desire, spectacularized power, and curated vulnerability, that standardize how emotion becomes legible, repeatable, and marketable. Synthesizing affect theory, media sociology, and social dramaturgy, the article argues that rap teaches listeners how to perform feeling in ways compatible with visibility regimes and datafied attention economies. Rather than treating these songs as expressive artifacts, the study reframes them as pedagogical infrastructures …

Teacher Representation In Film And Television, Kailey Deweever

Impact: A Journal of Community and Cultural Inquiry in Education

This article explores teacher representation in film and television, highlighting four main archetypes. It discusses how positive portrayals improve public perceptions and teacher self-image, while negative depictions harm both. Additionally, it critiques how infrequent depictions of actual teaching often trivialize the complexity of the profession.

Keywords: Teacher self-image, popular culture, teacher archetypes, teacher representation, film, television

Latisha King: Queer Confusion, Aggression, And Correction, Hannah Bollin

Impact: A Journal of Community and Cultural Inquiry in Education

Latisha King was a 15-year-old biracial and transgender student at E.O. Green Junior High who was shot and killed by one of her peers on February 12, 2008. Latisha’s untimely death was followed by a court case during which she was blamed for her own murder due to her gender identity and sexual orientation. Through a thematic analysis of scholarly work alongside public media sources surrounding the case, this study argues that the transphobia that Latisha faced in her classroom was continued in the courtroom and media. More specifically, this article argues that the classroom, murder trial, and public media …

Notes On Redefining "Popular" Culture, Paul J. Ramsey

Impact: A Journal of Community and Cultural Inquiry in Education

This article critiques the classic literature on popular culture, redefines the concept for the contemporary era, and introduces the following articles in this special issue of Impact. The articles in this issue demonstrate not only the ways in which popular culture has evolved in recent decades but also reveal the deeply educational aspects of that culture by shining a light on what is learned through it. 

Keywords: popular culture, education, informal education

Front Matter

Impact: A Journal of Community and Cultural Inquiry in Education

No abstract provided.

Coming Full Circle: From Internship To Award-Winning Advocacy, Jennifer Vermeer

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Guiding Students Toward Faithful Living, Jennifer Vermeer

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Faith Behind Bars, Jennifer Vermeer

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Equipping Beyond Campus: A Look At Dordt Faculty As Public Scholars, Sarah Moss

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Momentum, With A Mission, Sarah Moss

The Voice

No abstract provided.

New Spaces, Jamin Ver Velde

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Teaching That Transforms, Sarah Moss

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Defender Days Brings Families To Campus, Jennifer Vermeer

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Dordt Remembers John Baas And Liam Sorensen, Sarah Moss

The Voice

No abstract provided.