Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons^™

“In A Position I See Myself In:” (Re)Positioning Identities And Culturally-Responsive Pedagogies, Noah Asher Golden

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Culturally-responsive pedagogies require moving beyond blanket assumptions about learners to focus deeply on local meaning-makings. This narrative analysis case study examines the ways a 20-year-old African American man challenges the negative educational identity with which he is forced to contend as he navigates a large and complex urban public school system. The ways in which Jamahl, a seeker of a High School Equivalency, refuses interpellation as an uneducated learner destined to be “nothin'” provides insight as to how formal education might be more responsive to learners' negotiation of deficiency discourses. Embracing agency, specifically through awareness of the ways Jamahl employs …

Examining School Leadership In New York City Community Schools, Stacey Campo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The community school model is rooted in John Dewey’s (1902) conceptualization of the public school as a hub for the community. The model has recently been identified as part of New York City’s school turnaround strategy and continues to gain prominence nationally, because of this, it is essential to identify the key components of an excelling leadership partnership. This dissertation describes findings and recommendations from interviews with principals and community school directors in ten New York City community schools. These interviews were triangulated with analysis of the New York City school environment survey utilizing both faculty and parent responses. This …

“They Write Me Off And Don't Give Me A Chance To Learn Anything”: Positioning, Discipline, And Black Masculinities In School, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines the schooling of black male students in a U.S. high school. Drawing upon positioning theory and student resistance literature, I describe how the students make meaning of the pathologizing positioning practices of the school, including how they resist and internalize dominant discourses about black masculinity and how their performances of particular masculinities within the school are met with surveillance, regulation, and discipline. I argue that schools are locations where dominant ideologies of black masculinities are imposed, contested, and sometimes reproduced.

School Principals’ Views On Administration Work, Their “Frequent Turnover” And Its Effects On Their Work, Aydin Balyer

The Qualitative Report

School administrators’ “frequent turnover” has been discussed intensively in the Turkish Educational System recently. Currently, principals are selected for 4 years after an interview conducted by a committee of directors of national education. After that period, they either go back to their classes or are chosen for another 4 years for the last time. This frequent turnover can be disruptive for schools. This study was conducted to determine school principals’ views on administration work and this frequent turnover. The study employed a qualitative research design. The participants were 20 principals chosen with maximum sampling method. The data were analyzed with …

Time Travel, Labour History, And The Null Curriculum: New Design Knowledge For Mobile Augmented Reality History Games, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This paper presents a case study drawn from design-based research (DBR) on a mobile, place-based augmented reality history game. Using DBR methods, the game was developed by the author as a history learning intervention for fifth to seventh graders. The game is built upon historical narratives of disenfranchised populations that are seldom taught, those typically relegated to the 'null curriculum'. These narratives include the stories of women immigrant labour leaders in the early twentieth century, more than a decade before suffrage. The project understands the purpose of history education as the preparation of informed citizens. In paying particular attention to …

Instructional Teacher Job Resources And Student Achievement In Mathematics., Amy Stokes-Levine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research shows that teachers who are supported with job resources are more engaged regardless of the level of demands (Klusmann et al., 2008). Additionally, teachers who are engaged with their work are less likely to report their intention to leave the teaching profession (Klassen et al., 2012), which is particularly important for mathematics teachers who are in high demand (Sutcher, Darling-Hammond, & Carver-Thomas, 2016). Supporting employees with job resources is a commonly accepted practice in many professional fields (e.g., Christian, Garza, & Slaughter, 2011), yet is not a common practice in education (e.g., Bidwell, 2013; Gewertz, 2014; Layton, 2015; Rentner …

The Missouri Student Transfer Program, Howard E. Fields Iii

Dissertations

In 1993, the state of Missouri passed the Outstanding Schools Act. This law was created as a means to ensure that “all children will have quality educational opportunities, regardless of where in Missouri they live.” Section 167.131 of this law states that an unaccredited district must pay the tuition and transportation cost for students who attend an accredited school in the same or adjoining district. This portion of the law became known as the Student Transfer Program.

The Riverview Gardens School District (RGSD) was one of three unaccredited school districts in the state of Missouri in 2013. With close to …

Educating Incarcerated Youth In Illinois: A Blended Learning Model, John Sonnenberg

Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to better understand the reasons behind the apparent continued success of a blended learning educational model in place since 2012 in the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ). Using a mixed methods approach, data were gathered and analyzed from a variety of records, reports, and other documentation that included: diplomas awarded, courses taken, course completion, enrollment trends, student mobility rates, GED testing information, and special education student enrollment and performance. Data were also gathered through classroom observations and individual and group interviews with the IDJJ district superintendent, principals, and teachers at six different …

Teaching Moral Literacy Through Critical Pedagogical Bricolage: A Co-Constructed Auto-Ethnography Of An Educational Leadership Program, Chetanath Gautam, Charles L. Lowery

The Qualitative Report

In this collaborative auto-ethnographical inquiry, two developing scholar–practitioner educational leaders explore the notion of moral literacy through a lens of critical pedagogical bricolage. This study aims to reveal certain experiences of two doctoral candidates engaged in an educational doctorate, contemplating their identities as emergent leaders from diverse backgrounds. By approaching this inquiry from a qualitative and strictly post-positivist understanding of research, we aim to present critical components of our program and the literature presented in that program that led to our understanding of moral literacy’s role in theoretical and pragmatic provinces of educational leadership. Our analysis is presented in three …

Law-Based Arguments And Messages To Advocate For Later School Start Time Policies In The United States, Clark J. Lee, Dennis M. Nolan, Steven W. Lockley, Brent Pattison

Homeland Security Publications

The increasing scientific evidence that early school start times are harmful to the health and safety of teenagers has generated much recent debate about changing school start times policies for adolescent students. Although efforts to promote and implement such changes have proliferated in the United States in recent years, they have rarely been supported by law-based arguments and messages that leverage the existing legal infrastructure regulating public education and child welfare in the United States. Furthermore, the legal bases to support or resist such changes have not been explored in detail to date. This article provides an overview of how …

The Experiences Of Teachers At Southern California Continuation High Schools: Exposing The Barriers Within Alternative Education, Gabriela R. Ornelas

Pitzer Senior Theses

My project explores the role of teachers at Southern California continuation high schools as it relates to serving low-income students of color in the face of the institutional barriers within alternative education. My study focuses on the teachers’ career, interactions with students, and opinions on accessibility to resources and funding. I have examined their experiences through twenty in-depth, semi-structured interviews with teachers from three districts. My findings indicate that district members’ misconceptions of Latinx students as inherently deviant and academically unengaged drive institutional issues creating financial burden for which teachers are forced to compensate. My study highlights that continuation high …

The District's Stepchild: The Total Erasure Of Low-Income Latinx Students' Needs At Continuation High Schools, Gabriela R. Ornelas

Pitzer Senior Theses

My study explores the underlying factors that allow systemic structural issues to exist within continuation high schools which result in the low educational performance of low-income Latinx continuation students. My study focuses on educators’ experiences, as I conducted 20 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Southern California continuation high school teachers. I focused on the following areas of study: the teacher’s career, the teacher’s interactions with students, and the teacher’s opinions regarding their accessibility to funding and resources. My findings indicate that teachers, the outer community, and school-board administrators utilize cultural deficit thinking and stigmatization as tools of total erasure to exchange …

Relationship Between Eighth Grade Social Science Students, Teacher Diversity And Academic Success, Rachel Elaine Murphy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Dynamics between student teacher ethnicity and the practices of culturally plural curricula seeks to improve student performance and strives to minimize the achievement gap. This quantitative study explored whether there was a significant difference in the North Carolina Final Exam history-social science test performance between (a) African American and Hispanic students taught by a teacher from a different ethnic makeup and (b) African American and Hispanic students taught by a teacher from a similar ethnic makeup in 8th grade of social science classes. Student's performance is a key factor in evaluating the credibility of a school which is crucial to …

Oversight And Quality Assurance Of Academic Programs Under F-1 Visas, Faye Janine Pleso

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An F-1 academic visa is required for foreign students studying at academic institutions in the United States. While requirements for acquiring the F-1 visa are a matter of federal policy, some of the principles regulating orientations, host families, and home-stays do not align with best practices found at the university level, which include quality student orientations and thorough trainings with a vetting process for host families and home-stays. This lack of regulation may place visiting students at risk in terms of personal safety and wellbeing and have negative impacts for program credibility and lost revenue. Using Stone's regime theory as …

Living And Leading In A Digital Age: A Narrative Study Of The Attitudes And Perceptions Of School Leaders About Media Literacy, Kerrigan R. Mahoney, Tehmina Khwaja

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Students graduating from K-12 education need media literacy skills to engage, participate, and learn in a world in which literacy must keep pace with rapidly changing technologies. Given the significant roles school administrators play in providing leadership and vision to their schools, this narrative study addresses the research question: What are school administrators’ perceptions of, and attitudes about, media literacy? Through the stories of six K-12 school administrators, we highlight the connections of their experiences and attitudes to the actions they take to support media literacy learning, and their visions for technology, instruction, and learning in their schools.

A Study Of The Perceptions Of Racial Equity In One Early Childhood Education Program, Dawn M. Meskil

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although public education in the United States has had remarkable growth and improvement since its beginning, significant inadequacies concerning racial equity continue to cast a shadow on the system. Despite desegregation efforts and specific attention to providing integrated school settings there has been little progress in establishing educational justice. The purpose of this case study was to uncover perceptions about racial inequity within Asheville City Schools as well as potential facilitators of equity. A qualitative case study using 10 guiding research questions was conducted to evaluate the perceptions of parents as well as educators at Asheville City Schools Preschool regarding …

Increasing Superintendent Longevity In Kansas, Cory Lee Gibson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study aims to illuminate the factors that may impact a superintendent’s longevity in the same district. Specifically, this study is motivated by four research questions: (1) What factors do superintendents in Kansas attribute to remaining in the same position greater than six years? (2) What factors do superintendents in Kansas attribute as the causes for leaving a district? (3) What is the current level of satisfaction of Kansas school superintendents within their current roles? and (4) What are some changes in policy or practice that may increase superintendent longevity in Kansas?

According to Dale Dennis, Kansas Deputy Commissioner of …

Examining Exemplary P-20 Partnerships Using A Mixed Methods Approach, Elizabeth Erin Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Historically, P-12 schools and institutions of higher education have operated independently of each other, creating a gap that acts as a barrier between high school and postsecondary institutions. This gap is blamed for many societal issues including high college remediation rates, low college-going rates among minority groups, and low six-year college graduation rates. P-20 partnerships, agreements between P-12 schools and institutions of higher education with the purpose of improving the P-20 education system, have emerged as a way to address these problems.

From laboratory schools in the 19th century to modern-day professional development schools, P-20 partnerships in teacher education have …

A Collaborative Approach To Address Student Behavior And Academic Achievement Across Systems, Beverly Ngozi Okereke

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Academic achievement and in-classroom behaviors are two significant child outcomes that affect student success in school. According to Systems Theory, in order to truly understand the factors that affect these outcomes for children, one must look to the major systems that encapsulate the child (including their school and home environments). This project is a meta-analytic review that examined the effectiveness of measures representing each system in predicting child achievement and behavior: School-Wide Positive Behavior Supports (SWPBS) for the school as a system, level of parent involvement (high versus low) for the home system, and student motivation (intrinsic versus extrinsic) for …

The School Library Workforce In Australia, Pru Mitchell, Paul R. Weldon

School and system improvement

A literature review by Lonsdale in 2003 observed that ‘a lack of systematically aggregated national data makes it difficult to gain an accurate picture of national trends in Australia in relation to the staffing of school libraries’ and noted ‘an apparent decline in the numbers of qualified teacher librarians employed in school libraries in public schools in Australia.’ This absence of data was also acknowledged in the 2011 report from the Inquiry of the House of Representatives Education and Employment Committee, which recommended a thorough workforce gap analysis of teacher librarians across Australian schools. New analysis of the Staff in …

Perceptions Of Hmong Parents In A Hmong American Charter School: A Qualitative Descriptive Case Study On Hmong Parent Involvement, Kirk T. Lee

Dissertations and Theses

Parental involvement plays an essential role in the United States (U.S.) educational system. However, parental involvement poses many challenges for Hmong parents in American schools. Many assumptions are made on the parts of teachers, staff, and Hmong parents about parents' roles pertaining to their involvement in their children's education. Hmong parents struggle to reconcile beliefs, attitudes, and values that they bring with them from Laos with the expectations found in the U.S. due to their unfamiliarity with the U.S. educational system.

This study employed the used a qualitative, descriptive case study approach to examine the perceptions of Hmong parents involvement …

Examining Teachers' Perceptions Of The United States Social Class System, Tracy M. Stevenson-Olson

Dissertations

As the number of school aged children living in poverty increases, the inherent inequities within the United States class system continue to grow. Teacher perceptions regarding the United States social class system are examined through focus group interviews with four teachers in an urban high school. A critical qualitative methodology was used to explore how the participants make sense of the complex social class system and how they perceive the impact of social class within the school context. The findings include two overarching themes that influenced these teachers’ perceptions and interpretations of social class; their own personal narrative /identity construction …

K-12 And The Active Shooter: Principals’ Perceptions Of Armed Personnel In New Jersey District Factor Group Gh Public Schools, Brian P. Kelly

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study was to explore the predicament school principals face when formulating the best methodology to provide a safe environment for their students and faculty, while simultaneously creating an atmosphere that is conducive to education.

This multiple-case study is a replication of a dissertation published in 2014 which explored a unique phenomenon containing multiple variables within an urban public school district. Conversely, this research study examined suburban public school districts within communities that possessed a median household salary ranging between $86,000 and $105,000, where the socioeconomic status of these schools is identified and delineated by New Jersey …

The Use Of Anti-Bullying Policies To Protect Lgbt Youth: Teacher And Administrator Perspectives On Policy Implementation, Michelle Lauren Holliday

Dissertations and Theses

Although in recent years there has been increased attention on bullying prevention and bullying legislation in the United States, there is limited research on the implementation of anti-bullying policies. Moreover, few studies have addressed the use of anti-bullying policies to protect LGBT youth from bullying. The present study seeks to examine the role of anti-bullying policies as a means to protect against bullying based on perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. Qualitative interviews with high school teachers, administrators, and staff members within an urban school district in the United States were conducted to gain insight into how those charged with …

The Achievement Gap And Students Living In Poverty: The Role Of Core Self-Evaluation And Transformational Leadership In Teachers, India Harris

Dissertations, 2014-2019

Research has shown that the combination of locus of control, self-efficacy, self-confidence, and emotional stability is a good predictor of life success. Until now, this second order factor, called core self-evaluations (CSE) has only been studied in adults. Findings from this study, showed levels of CSE were significantly and positively connected with academic achievement for middle and elementary aged students. CSE appears to play to a similar role between students and academic achievement as it plays with adults and job performance. In this study, the dimensions of transformational leadership were applied to teacher behaviors and students were grouped based on …

Social Media As A Tool To Effectively Communicate With Stakeholders: School Administrators And Superintendents' Perceptions, Steven Coleman Hampton

Dissertations

This quantitative research study analyzed the perceptions of school administrators on the effectiveness of using social media outlets to communicate with stakeholders. School administrators throughout the State of Mississippi completed an online survey developed by the researcher identifying the social media outlets they use to communicate with their stakeholders and the effectiveness of using social media outlets. Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Principals, Assistant Principals, and Public Relations Directors with various years of experience completed the survey. The study revealed there was a statistical significant difference between age groups of the school administrators with the concerns of using social media outlets as …

The Nature Of Teacher Learning In Collaborative Data Teams, Robert Michaud

The Qualitative Report

As data teams have grown in popularity in recent years, they have been increasingly looked to by educational researchers because of the tantalizing prospect of combining teachers’ on the job professional development with increased and effective data use to drive instruction. Data teams have been increasingly implemented within schools by educational leaders attempting to take advantage of what teachers learn from each other in the context of a data team. Many conceptual models of data team function have been proposed, but few empirical studies have examined how teachers learn from collaborating with each other in a data team. This paper …

Washington State School District Superintendent Use Of Social Media For Public Relations And Communication, Jonathan R. Tienhaara

Education Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine usage and perception of superintendent participation in social media for the purposes of public relations and communication in the State of Washington. Tenets of Social-Customer Relationship Management (Social-CRM) were used as the theory to support how social media can be used to establish and enhance public relations with school district stakeholders. Washington’s (N = 295) school district superintendents were electronically surveyed to collect data on their use and perception of social media utilization for public relations and communication. The data were analyzed to determine how Washington superintendents use social media for …

Equitable Compensation: Quantifying The Salary Differences Of Comparison Communities, Margaret A. Murray

New England Journal of Public Policy

Teacher salary scales from a target district are compared with those from six groups of comparable districts to provide a quantitative basis from which to assess self-serving bias in the selection of comparison districts. Comparison districts are used to gauge salary equity during contract negotiations. Salary data were extracted for three salary columns (bachelor’s, master’s, and master’s plus 30 credits) from the 2014–15 Massachusetts teacher contracts from forty-eight districts. Comparison district groups were formed using six methods: three single-criterion and three multiple-criteria. Implications for selecting methods are also discussed.

Social Disorganization And Florida Public High School Academic Performance, David Kanaan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Failing public high schools are a perpetual limitation to community sustainability. Conversely, economically disadvantaged communities more often produce schools with reduced academic performance. Unfortunately, comprehensive community-based remedies are generally outside the scope of a school district's control. Social disorganization theory attributes variations in crime and delinquency to a breakdown in communal structure and relationships. Applied in a similar manner, social disorganization has also been associated with lower student achievement. This research examined how social disorganization is associated with Florida public high school academic performance in a two phase analysis at the community and school district levels. In addition, the research …