Educational Administration and Supervision Commons^™

Strerss On Educators At A Discipline Alternative Education Program, Anthony G. Murray

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Interaction with their students during classroom instruction is often a source of stress among many teachers. The academic setting of Disciplinary Alternative Educational Programs (DAEP) poses a risk factor for teachers to experience stress, given that student disruptive behavior has been associated with higher stress levels among teachers. The problem underlying this study was that most studies on DAEP have focused on the experiences of students, with limited information available about the experiences of teachers in this type of academic setting. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the role of job-related stress and coping on the …

Administrators' And Teachers' Perceptions Of Factors Influencing Veteran Teachers' Professional Practice, Mary Frances Mollway

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teachers and administrators have different perceptions regarding the importance and validity of various factors that influence veteran teachers' professional practice. Herzberg's 2-factor motivation-hygiene theory was used as the conceptual framework for this basic qualitative study. The purpose of the study was to gain an understanding of veteran teachers' and administrators' perceptions about motivating and hygiene factors and their influences on veteran teachers' professional practice in a southern California suburban school district. One-on-one semistructured interviews were conducted with 8 veteran high school teachers and 4 high school administrators. The interview responses were audio recorded and transcribed, then coded using open and …

Teachers' Perceptions About A High School Mastery-Based Learning Program, Robert Charles Searfoss

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A public suburban high school in South Carolina used a mastery-based learning program called Power of M that was created with the specific goal of decreasing the number of students who repeated the 9th grade. A large volume of 9th grade students who were enrolled in the English 1 mastery-based learning course failed, which prompted this study. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate teachers' perceptions and experiences about mastery-based learning, about student performance within this program, and about teachers' professional needs to improve program delivery. Bloom's mastery-based learning theory formed the conceptual framework that guided the study. …

Early Childhood Education Trainers' Knowledge And Use Of Andragogical Principles, Kimberly Thornton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Early childhood education (ECE) teachers often lack the experience and skills to provide children with supports necessary to foster academic and social skill development. Professional development can improve ECE teachers' skills, but ECE trainers often lack understanding of adult learning principles, known as andragogy. Knowles' conceptual framework of andragogy was used to explore the knowledge and use of andragogical principles of 8 ECE trainers selected via criterion-based purposive sampling. The research questions focused on ECE trainers' knowledge and use of andragogical principles. Three cases, each consisting of 2 or 3 live professional development trainings for early childhood educators, were used …

Instructional Rounds And Problem-Solving: An Evaluative Case Study, Cheryl Ann Scalzo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the target district, instructional rounds (IR), were implemented to reform district-wide educational practices to increase student problem-solving skills over time. This evaluative case study investigated the perceived efficacy of IRs as a model to address student problem-solving. Specifically, the study examined the influences, if any, that the IR process has had on problem-solving, academics, and pedagogy since implementation. The study was framed by Bandura's social learning theory as it states that behavior is learned from one's environment through the process of observation. Qualitative data were collected from 86 stakeholders through a district-wide questionnaire, semi-structured interviews with 8 administrators, and …

Teacher Self-Efficacy And Classroom Managment, Michelle Mitchell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

When the classroom environment is safe, reductions in aggression and an increase in compliance with rules can be expected. Teacher self-efficacy is therefore likely to play a significant role in teachers’ participation in the change process of implementing strategies that assist with classroom management styles. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and classroom management styles (reward strategies, preventive strategies, initial corrective strategies, and later corrective strategies). Teachers’ characteristics such as age, gender, education level, years of teaching experience, grade level taught, and class size were also explored to provide insight on teacher training …

Telecommunication Organization Employee Development Program's Role In Employee Engagement, Cynthia Jenkins Shuler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The risk of losing the most talented workers due to limited career opportunities had become an issue for telecommunication organizations. Talented workers became disengaged when there were limited opportunities for growth and development. To address this issue, human resource practitioners created employee development programs aimed at increasing employee engagement to help retain talented workers. However, data to determine the link between employee development programs, engagement, and retention were limited. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore managers' and employees' perceptions of how a telecommunication organization's employee development program contributes to employee engagement and to explore employees' experiences resulting …

Teachers’ Perceptions And Strategies Implementing The Alabama Reading Initiative To Teach Literacy, Latanya Williams-Collins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A report from a 2015 descriptive study of the Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) showed that 85% of the participants who were trained in strategies to address students’ reading difficulties in high school were not implementing them. Teachers’ implementation of ARI was the focus of this study. Pragmatism was the epistemological framework of the study, and Roger’s diffusion of innovation theory was the conceptual framework used to support the study. The purpose and corresponding research questions examined the extent of ARI implementation, reasons for not implementing those strategies, and ideas for future professional development in ARI. Six content-area teachers who taught …

Wounded Warriors And Their Transition To The Community College Classroom, Virgil Nathaniel Adkins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many postsecondary institutions face challenges when veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or traumatic brain injury (TBI) enroll in college and become student-veterans. Staff and faculty may need to better understand how to accommodate these student-veterans as they transition from military to student life. The purpose of this study was to explore the perspectives of 3 groups at a Texas community college regarding classroom accommodations for student-veterans with PTSD or TBI: (a) student-veterans with PTSD or TBI, (b) the faculty, and (c) the disability counselors. Schlossberg's theory assessing an individual's assets and abilities in transition was the conceptual framework for …

Middle School Teacher Perceptions And Implementation Of Special Education Coteaching, Leanne Marie Henning Ratcliff

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Coteaching is a mandated practice in which students with disabilities are educated in the general education setting among their peers, but it often is not effectively implemented. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of both middle school general education and special education teacher relative to coteaching parity and barriers to effective coteaching practices. Friend and Cook's conceptual framework of collaboration, outlining the importance of understanding roles when working in teams, supported the purpose and design of this study. The research questions were designed to investigate the extent to which the general and special education teachers share …

Peer Taught Sex Education's Influence On Adolescent Sexual Decisions And Hookups, Sarah Kathleen Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The Teen Prevention Education Program (PEP) utilizes different methods, mainly peer teaching via skits and small groups, to help influence adolescents to make informed sexual decisions. The purpose of this study is to find how Teen PEP can have an effect on an adolescent's decision on whether to or not hookup. This study utilized interviews with participants of the program asking them about their views on hooking up and how they view how Teen PEP aided in their decision-making whether to or not hook up. While transcribing the interviews and looking for keywords related to the research questions, the analysis …

Perspectives Of High School And Community College Instructors On College Readiness, Cynthia M. Scheuer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The preparation students need to complete college successfully is important to many stakeholders, including students, educators, and the community. Colleges struggle with enrollment and retention while high school teachers and community college instructors focus on the preparation of students to succeed in college. High school teachers and community college instructors are uniquely qualified to inform the determinants of college readiness across the continuum of education. This research study explored the perceptions of high school teachers and college instructors on the skills and behaviors required of students to be successful in college. This qualitative descriptive study was based on the conceptual …

Music Therapy Effects On Social-Communicative Response Of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Raymond Payton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are challenged with communicative skills, which can negatively influence their emotional development. As children with ASD in the local school were not demonstrating functional communication skills as measured by the Assessment of Social Skills for Children with Autism (ASSCM), music therapy was introduced as remediation. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which music therapy increased the ASSCM scores. This single subject design study was guided by Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory, which holds that individuals are impacted by various environmental systems around them. The research question addressed the extent to …

Teachers' Perceptions Of African American Middle School Males' Reading Performance, Louis David Figueroa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School administrators at a middle school in the northeastern United States lacked understanding regarding reading services and teaching strategies to improve African American middle school (AA MS) males' performance on standardized state reading assessments. English language arts (ELA) teachers' perspectives on and experiences of teaching reading to AA MS males at the target site were explored using Kolb's model of experiential learning. A qualitative intrinsic case study with an anonymous survey was used to collect data at the target site. Fifteen individuals who met inclusion criteria of being 6th- or 7th-grade ELA teachers at the target site were recruited using …

Discipline Policy And Preschool Special Education Students' Social Skills, Amanda Lee Tamagni

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Preschool special education students lack of personal-social skills is affecting their kindergarten readiness and placing them at risk for exposure to school discipline in a large school district in the Southeastern United States. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the quality of school discipline policies and personal-social skills of preschool special education students within the focus district. Ecological systems theory provided the framework for the study. Data collection included archived personal-social skills scores, as measured by the Battelle Developmental Inventory 2 (BDI 2), of 354 preschool special education students. Four trained educators rated the …

Predictive Factors Of Student Mathematics Achievement Decline Between Third And Fifth Grade, Jean E. Salters

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Low math achievement among elementary school students is a concern because students who lack a strong early foundation in mathematics may experience difficulty learning in future mathematics classes. Students in 2 rural southeastern school districts demonstrated low math achievement in 5th grade and their scores declined from 3rd to 5th grade. In this quantitative study, teacher-related factors that research has shown to predict student achievement were examined using Bandura's theory of self-efficacy and Ball and McDiarmid's emerging theory of subject matter content knowledge. The research question asked whether the teacher factors, years of teaching experience, hours of professional development in …

Teacher Job Satisfaction And School Leadership, Saroya N. Pendleton-Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher Job Satisfaction and School Leadership

by

Saroya N. Pendleton-Brown

MSA, Fayetteville State University, 2011

BBA, Baker College, 1993

AAS, Jordan College, 1991

Doctoral Study Completed in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Education

August 2019

The problem in a middle eastern school was the high annual rate of teacher attrition, which is above 25% per year. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine teacher perceptions of the attrition rates as they relate to the school leadership style at this study site. Herzberg's theory of motivation, which provides insights regarding job satisfaction, …

Effects Of A Student Success Course On Retention Of First-Year Community College Students, Deatrice Allen Willis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Low retention rates among 1st year students plague many community colleges in the United States, including the study site used for this research. Preparing 1st year community college students both academically and socially are key aspects of combating this issue and enhancing student success and persistence. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the influence of the First-Year Experience (FYE) course in improving student retention and promoting student success. Rodger’s student development theory and Tinto’s theory on retention guided this study. A causal-comparative design was used to examine the difference in retention rates and GPA between students enrolled …

Information Sources That Influence The Financial Literacy Of Puerto Rican College Students, Enid Alvarez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers agree that Puerto Ricans lack basic financial knowledge that would allow them to participate in the financial system actively. However, the literature did not provide any data about the knowledge transmission practices that Puerto Ricans use to gather and transmit financial knowledge. As a result, there was a limited understanding of the social learning processes used by Puerto Rican college students to make financial decisions. Using consumer socialization and family financial socialization models as the theoretical framework, the purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental study was to identify the information sources that Puerto Ricans use to gather financial knowledge. A …

Promoting Nurses Management Of Night Shift Sleepiness, Sunday Iken Okundolor

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nurses are largely unaware of the problems of night-shift-nurse sleepiness and available strategies to manage night-shift sleepiness. The purpose of this project was to examine nurses' self-perception, awareness of sleepiness, and current strategies to manage this problem in the emergency medicine department of a major academic hospital in the western United States. The validated de-identified Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) was used to measure the prevalence and intensity of night shift nurses' sleepiness prior to the development of an educational program on strategies to manage sleepiness. Of the 164 registered nurses surveyed, 72 (43.9%) reported sleepiness greater than 7 on the …

African American Christian Senior Pastor's Beliefs About Mental Health Treatment, Trinaa L. Copeland

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the African American community, the Black Church and its clergy have served as gatekeepers to formal mental health treatment. Little is known about the beliefs of African American Christian senior pastors about mental health treatment and their personal views influencing their counsel to congregants seeking support through the church. This transcendental phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of African American Christian senior pastors in relation to how they understand mental health treatment and provide it to their congregants. The research questions explored three areas: (a) the senior pastors' experiences in rendering mental health treatment, (b) the senior pastors' personal …

Technology With Differentiated Instruction For Advanced Middle School Students' Reading Achievement, Clarissa Haymon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educators offer rich learning experiences to all students, including advanced learners. A school district experienced a decrease in improvement percentiles on annual state reading achievement tests for advanced middle school students between 2012 and 2015. Guided by the theory of differentiated instruction, this quantitative study evaluated the effectiveness of Achieve 3000, a technology-enhanced program for differentiating reading instruction in a middle school that has a large percentage of advanced learners. The program was fully implemented for advanced 6th through 8th grade students beginning in the 2017-18 school year. Using a causal-comparative design, the archived reading scores of 120 advanced 6th …

Middle School Teachers' Perceptions Of Instructional Coaching, Dean Rochelle Bryant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Instructional coaching, a multifaceted form of job-embedded professional development in education, is widely spreading across the United States as a means of improving staff performance and student learning. The problem was that there was a decrease in 8th grade student achievement in mathematics in this school district. The purpose of the intrinsic qualitative case study was to examine the perceptions and experiences of middle school math teachers about the role of instructional coaches in supporting math instruction. Maslow's hierarchy of needs and Knowles' andragogy adult learning theories formed the conceptual framework that guided this study. The research questions focused on …

Academically-Redshirted Males' Behavior And Academic Performance At The Middle School Level, Cassandra Ricciardi Capadona

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Male students appear not ready for middle school by exhibiting lower grades, learner disengagement, and/or behavior problems. The age in which male students initially enter school has not been fully investigated as a possible systemic issue of a lack of male student longitudinal success and learner engagement. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the differences between how academically redshirted male students performed academically and behaviorally compared to their non-academically redshirted grade mates at Grades 6-8. This study drew from the theories of early childhood constructivists: Piaget, Vygotsky, and Montessori. The research questions addressed the academic and behavioral …

Teacher Clarity Strategies Of Highly Effective Teachers, Megan Olivia Hall

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Teacher clarity supports both cognitive and affective learning for all learners. The scholarly literature lacks research related to teacher clarity in nonlecture learning environments. The purpose of this qualitative study was to discover teacher clarity strategies that effectively promote student learning, particularly in nonlecture learning environments. The conceptual framework involved cognitive load theory and constructivism. The research questions explored how highly effective teachers experience clarity to promote student learning in nonlecture learning environments and what innovative strategies highly effective teachers practice to ensure clarity in nonlecture learning environments. For this in-depth qualitative interview study, data were collected through virtual synchronous …

Influence Of Two Instructional Models On Reading Achievement Of Esl Middle School Students, Thomasine Campbell Hassell

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

English as second language (ESL) students are not meeting reading proficiency standards

compared to their native English-speaking middle school peers. To address the low achievement

scores among ESL students, the study site implemented an instructional hub in which trained

ESL resource teachers used the sheltered instruction observation protocol (SIOP) model. The

purpose of this quasi-experimental study was to examine the difference in reading achievement

scores between ESL students who participated in the instructional hub and those who

participated in traditional instruction. Krashen's second language acquisition theory and Terrell's

natural approach theory provided the framework for the study. Archival data from …

Wright's Competency Model And Quality And Safety Competencies, Staci Shanks

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Competent nurses are instrumental in assuring that a patient receives safe patient care of the highest quality. Patient care that lacks quality places patients at risk of poor health outcomes and results in negative financial impacts for the organization. The purpose of this staff education project was to develop nurse competency education for a facility's competency program, which merged the Wright competency model with quality and safety education for nurses' competencies. The nurse competency staff education program was evaluated by the organization's stakeholders for inclusion in the competency program. The whole-part-whole model, Knowles's adult learning theory, and Lewin's change theory …

Exploring Perceptions Of The Transition From Health Science Practitioner To Academic, Maryanne J. Stewart

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Transitioning from a clinical practitioner to an educator in the health sciences is a difficult task for many professionals. Although, clinically, these individuals have achieved a level of expertise, they are not necessarily trained to teach in a classroom setting and may find it difficult to transition into their role as novice. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine faculty members' preparedness during their transition to academia and their perceptions of the need for more support during the first 5 years of teaching. Vygotsky's and Dewey's theories of social constructivism and Knowles's assumptions of adult learning provided …

The Effects Of Expressive Writing On Emotional Intelligence In College Undergraduates, Elizabeth Harrington Walker

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Attending college is often so stressful that as many as 40% of students leave without earning a degree. Many students desert during their first and second years of study. Emotional intelligence has been associated with effective coping skills, student achievement, and psychological well-being. The act of expressing emotions through writing has been shown to engage many capabilities associated with emotional intelligence. Few studies have examined the effects of expressive writing on emotional intelligence. The theory of emotion regulation provided theoretical framework. The purpose of this quantitative experimental study was to examine the effects of expressive writing on emotional intelligence and …

Distributed Leadership And The Development Of A Collaborative School Culture, John Barnes Stubblefield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Demands for increased school accountability created by No Child Left Behind and Every Student Succeeds legislation has resulted in the implementation of professional development programs in which educators are observers rather than collaborative participants. The problem at a secondary independent charter school in Central Ohio was the lack of a collaborative culture in which teachers and administrators were committed to professional development and accepted collective responsibility for the achievement of all learners. The purpose of the study was to investigate the perceptions and experiences of teachers and administrators about the practice of distributed leadership and how it contributed to the …