Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons^™

An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Covid Policies And Student Growth In The Nine Largest Arkansas Public School Districts During The 2020-2021 Academic Year, Jack Switzer

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

My honors thesis is a comprehensive overview of the relationship between the COVID19 response of Arkansas’ nine largest school districts on high school students’ Value-Added Growth Scores (VAS). I wrote my thesis on the intersection between districts’ COVID-19 response and the academic success of their students because the COVID-19 pandemic caused a historically significant change in education. The effects of switching from in-person, mask-free learning to virtual, semi-virtual and socially distanced learning certainly affected students’ ability to learn from the educational environment pre-COVID. I chose to utilize the VAS as the metric for student success because it measures how students …

Community Schools: Effectiveness Of Addressing Barriers To Education In Suburban Communities, Tiffany Patterson

Honors Theses

Over the years, the once thought of as stable suburban community has seen a significant increase in poverty and homelessness which has impacted students in similar ways as it has students in urban area schools and has resulted in the implementation of community school programs. According to Pew Research Center in 2020, there were 37.2 million people living in poverty, 16.2 million live in the suburbs, 15.1 million reside in urban communities – and collectively 11.6 million are minors. Community school programs have grown in popularity as an intervention in urban communities to address challenges that students have encountered which …

High School Career Guidance: From The View Of A Street-Level Bureaucrat, George Clair Thomas

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

High school counselors struggle to complete the tasks assigned to them. Often serving more than 500 students, counselors must address requirements specified by the American School Counselor Associationâ??s national model. They must also perform duties required by state and local policy, as well as campus-designated priorities. Empirical studies of school counselors have focused on identifying the duties that counselors perform, the effectiveness of training that counselors have received, and issues that occur from the standpoint of local control of counselor duties. I found no study that identified how counselors prioritize what they do or the level of discretion that counselors …

How Exemplary Female Superintendents In Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, And San Diego Counties In Southern California Lead From The Heart, Jeanine Wulfenstein

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe how exemplary female superintendents in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties in Southern California lead from the heart using the four principles of Mark C. Crowley’s work, by demonstrating how they build a highly engaged team, connect on a personal level, maximize employee potential, and value and honor achievement within their organizations.

Methodology: This phenomenological study explored and identified the lived experience of eight California public school superintendents in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties in Southern California. Study participants were selected for interview participation based …

School Climate And Teacher Self- Efficacy: Teacher's Perspectives, Jennifer Prado

ATU Theses and Dissertations 2021 - Present

Teacher self-efficacy is used to describe how a teacher feels about their ability to perform the tasks related to teaching. This qualitative study focused on how teachers’ perceptions of their school climate affect teacher self-efficacy in eight middle school teachers in Arkansas. Participants were Arkansas middle school teachers with three or more years of experience. The typical participant was a 43-year-old female with an undergraduate degree in education, a master’s degree, and 16 years of classroom experience. A request for participants was sent to the superintendent of every district in Arkansas that had at least one middle school with the …

Teaching During A Pandemic: Novice K-12 Teachers Tackle Existing And Unprecedented Challenges, Sarah French, Caitlin Stewart, Derek Meyers

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

This survey-based study explores the ways Covid19 has added to the existing challenges faced by novice teachers by introducing brand new stressors and exacerbating previously identified challenges during the 2020-2021 school year. We have sought to identify what kinds of support were in place for new teachers during Covid-19 and how these were received by beginning educators. What did they find comforting and useful? In what work contexts did teachers feel supported? By whom? What were teachers’ preferences for intervention and support?

Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) 2022 Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL from February 11-16, 2022

Shattering Your Own Glass Ceiling: The Self-Sabotaging Behaviors Of Secondary Female Principals And Strategies Used To Overcome Them, Ashley Sandor

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this explanatory mixed methods study was to identify and describe self-sabotaging behaviors experienced by female secondary principals and to explore the impact these behaviors have on their career development. A secondary purpose of this study was to identify strategies used to overcome self-sabotaging behaviors.

Methodology: An explanatory mixed methods design was used to uncover the perspectives of 10 female secondary principals in Northern California who have experienced career impacting self-sabotaging behaviors and to examine strategies that exemplary female secondary principals use to overcome their internal barriers. The quantitative phase included a 51-item online survey about self-sabotaging …

Dismantling The Education-Survival Complex: A Qualitative Case Study Of How High School Youth Resist Whitestream School Policies And Foster School Change Through A Youth-Development Organization, Tracie Trinidad

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study is to critically examine how youth resist whitestream school policies and foster educational change through community sociopolitical youth-development organizations. The methodology for this study is a qualitative case study (Fraenkel & Wallen, 1990; Merriam, 1988), as I am focused on participant perceptions and experiences, and how they make sense of their resistance experience through participation in sociopolitical youth development organizations like Youth for Social and Political Activism (YSPA). In total, eight participants spoke about their racial identity through their lived experiences in public school and YSPA programming.

The data and analysis are presented in the …

Role Expansion Of School Social Workers: An Educational Paradigm Shift, Sara Murrell

DSW Capstone Projects

This capstone product includes three written documents. The purpose of this work was to discover and justify the role expansion of school social workers into school leaders. The first, a systematic literature review examining the roles of school social workers. This document will review the current literature describing which school social work roles promote school social workers as school leaders, and which roles act as barriers for school social workers to become school leaders. The second document is a conceptual paper. This document identifies the need for a paradigm shift in education towards a whole child perspective. This document looks …

Moving From Harm Mitigation To Affirmative Discrimination Mitigation: The Untapped Potential Of Artificial Intelligence To Fight School Segregation And Other Forms Of Racial Discrimination, Andrew Gall

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Black Parent Advocacy And Educational Success: Lessons Learned On The Use Of Voice And Engagement, Mark Mcmillian

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

“The opportunity is there, this is what I think of when I think of role models, I think of my experience” (Anthony—a participant in this study—commenting on the effectiveness of advocating for his child). Black children encounter racism in American schools and parents need to advocate for them. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how Black parents developed and used their voice to advocate for their children in a predominantly White educational system with a history of racially disparate outcomes. Particularly, this study drew on the experiences of 15 participants, two men—one was a grandfather—and 13 women, …

Battles Of The Mind: The Reaction Against Progressive Education, 1945-1959, Ben Yturri

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis discerns the relationships between three interrelated movements of the post-war period (circa 1945-1959): the overwhelming concern among leading intellectuals regarding the relationship between the individual and society, the post-war debates over education, and rising religious observance. Following WWII, the nation’s leading scholars and social critics addressed the most important problem facing the country and, for that matter, the world: how to avoid totalitarianism. Almost naturally, such anxieties influenced new debates over education. Broadly speaking, these controversies involved two related disputes over the efficacy of progressive education and the proper relationship between church and state. After World War II, …

Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy & Support Among Secondary Early-Career Teachers And Their Principals During The Covid-19 Pandemic, James A. Martinez, Kelly Gomez Johnson, Frances E. Anderson, Frederick L. Uy

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

In response to challenges faced by middle and high school educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study was conducted in the Spring of 2021 involving 33 early-career mathematics teachers and eight supervising school principals in the State of California. These participants completed detailed surveys which provided demographic information, as well as perceptions of support, efficacy and job satisfaction. Findings show a variety of associations among teacher perceptions of support and their efficacy and job satisfaction in the face of challenging circumstances. As it related to principal support and recognition, principal participants expressed confidence in their ability to support teachers as …

A Systematic Review Of Literature: Synthesizing Bullying And Extracurricular Activity Participation Correlations Among Students With And Without Disabilities, Kaycee L. Bills

Journal of Research Initiatives

Social issues about bully victimization are a topic receiving national attention in social work literature. Therefore, social workers must establish potential predictors of bullying victimization to eliminate them among at-risk populations, such as students who have disabilities. Adolescent and teenage students with disabilities are an oppressed population at risk of experiencing higher levels of bullying victimization. In addition, this population also experiences harsher socio-emotional outcomes because of bullying.

The purpose of this study was to synthesize past literature relating to the direct relationship between extracurricular involvement and bullying victimization. Research articles were retrieved across eight databases to assess past research …

Principal-Led State Evaluation Policy: Teacher Perceptions At Four High Schools, Amanda S. Frasier

The Qualitative Report

While policy makers have attempted to standardize teacher evaluation, policy is implemented and enacted by school administrators. This study addresses the following question: Considering the legislative efforts to remove control of evaluation from local figures, do teachers perceive school principals as influencing the implementation of state-level evaluation policy and, if so, in what ways? I examined interviews from 14 teachers across four high schools within a district in North Carolina derived from a larger mixed method case study of teacher perceptions of evaluation policy and classroom practice. The results suggest a state-centralized teacher evaluation policy, such as the one utilized …

Improving K-12 Education For Hispanic Students In Las Vegas And Beyond, Richard Reeves, Ember Smith

Policy Briefs and Reports

Public K-12 education serves as a launching pad for economic mobility and opportunity, preparing students for college or a good-paying job. Despite K-12 education’s influence on later-in-life outcomes, schools often underserve students of color. Hispanic students in particular constitute a significant and growing portion of the U.S. student population yet are often overlooked in education literature because they are not the lowest performing demographic. In this brief, we examine how well public K-12 education serves Hispanic students in Clark County, where nearly half of students are Hispanic. We then consider factors that may influence student performance, including both in-school factors …

An Evaluation Of Programs And Leadership Practices For Effective Dropout Prevention, Nicole C. West

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

This mixed-methods study explored a problem within dropout research which often fails to link characteristics of student subgroups with effective dropout interventions. Considering the characteristics identified in the literature of at-risk learners, the conceptual framework for this study combined the theory of self-efficacy and leadership with emphasis on servant leadership. The purpose of the study was to evaluate dropout intervention and prevention programs in two high schools by examining intervention and leadership practices for students at risk of dropping out of high school. Through causal-comparative and phenomenological approaches, this investigation focused on identifying dropout factors targeted in the intervention …

Principals’ Management Of Library Resources And Teachers’ Lesson Preparation Practices In Secondary Schools: A Predictive Evaluation, Valentine Joseph Owan, Rosemary O. Osim Ph.D., Emanghe E. Emanghe Ph.D., Eyiene Ameh Ph.D., John Asuquo Ekpenyong

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The literature is predominated by studies seeking to clarify the extent of the availability, functionality, accessibility and/or utilisation of library materials in schools at various levels. The extent of principals' management of library resources and their contribution to the lesson preparation activities of teachers seems to have been under-researched. In bridging the gap, the current study was designed to assess the extent and contribution of principals’ management of library resources to teachers’ lesson preparation practices. Six specific objectives were of interest to the researchers. The quantitative research method, following the ex-post facto research design, was adopted. The stratified proportional random …

K-12 Economically Disadvantaged Students, Poverty, And Education: Ecological Narratives Of Successful Raised-In-Poverty, Texas Educators, Rebecca N. Morris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research study aimed to understand how successful Texas educators who grew up in poverty understood and improved the educational experience of economically disadvantaged students. This study utilized a structural ecological theory and three theories of social relationships (Social Identity, Standpoint, and Cultural Capital). This phenomenological and qualitative study used a cross-sectional, descriptive, online case study design rooted in narrative nonfiction. Virtual interviews with six successful Texas educators that grew up in poverty were conducted. A narrative method of analysis was utilized to generate codes then organize them into themes, and to construct and compare the narrative findings. The results …

Increasing Bullying Awareness In Middle Schools, Crystal Rocha

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Bullying is a repetitive behavior of mistreatment towards someone less powerful than you. This includes to be verbal, physical, and social. This issue is very common in schools, but students don't get enough knowledge from this behavior to be able to change or help others.

From Barriers To Success: How Elementary School Principals Strategically Lead Schools To Become 21st Century Learning Exemplar Schools, Heather Gold

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to examine the barriers and support systems elementary principals describe, through the lens of Activity Theory, they experienced while leading their schools to achieve 21st century learning exemplar status.

Methodology: This phenomenological study examined the perceptions of 15 elementary and K-8 principals and their respective assistant principals regarding the barriers and support systems they experienced while leading their schools to achieve 21st century learning exemplar status. Participants were selected based on the criteria that they had been identified as exemplary by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21); were public, non-private, …

How Do Exemplary Public School Superintendent Lead During Turbulent Times By Relying On Their Moral Purpose, Concern For The Collective Interest, Personal Temperament, And Resilience, Jason Lea

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to the describe behaviors that exemplary superintendents practice to lead their organizations through turbulent times using the leadership attributes of moral purpose, concern for the collective interest, personal temperament, and resilience.

Methodology: This phenomenological study examined 12 exemplary superintendents in California who have led districts with a student population with at least 1,500 students, who have been in the position for a minimum of 2 years in the same district during a crisis period that occurred within the past 5 years, led their districts during turbulent times. Participants were interviewed on an …

Promoting Equity In Education: Fostering Positive School Climates Where All Students Learn, Rebecca Bakkedahl, Jessica Bernier, Karen Hernandez, Samantha Koktan

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Students of color and students with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by exclusionary discipline in our schools. Suspensions, removals, and expulsions do not work. There is strong evidence to suggest that such punitive practices do not deter misbehavior. They are a pathway to students dropping out of school and a gateway to involvement with the criminal justice system. Minnesota must end exclusionary disciplinary practices and replace these punitive approaches with practices that create opportunity and foster a positive, supportive, affirming school climate where all students can learn, grow, and thrive.

Perceptions Of Rural School Principals’ Experiences, Practices, And Understandings Of Conflict And Conflict Management, Tacy Kay Gamel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rural school principalship provides unique challenges and great opportunities for conflict and conflict management. However, minimal research exists about the rural principalship or about rural principals’ conflict and conflict management. The purpose of this holistic, multiple case study was to examine rural principals’ perceptions and experiences with conflict and conflict management. Cases had to meet the criteria of the formal rural definition, and participants had to be the sole leader of their campuses. Each of the participants completed a questionnaire, an initial interview, and a follow-up interview. Data collection and analysis revealed the discord experienced by these principals based …

Ua64/4 College Of Education & Behavioral Sciences Human Relations Center, Wku Archives

WKU Archives Collection Inventories

Records created by and about the Human Relations Center.

Raw And Pure Education In The Society, Iwasan D. Kejawa

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

What does education mean to individuals in the world today? Education is a way one can attain or improve his or her ability to lead and survive in the society of ours. Without educational training of the mind, it may be impossible to realize the importance of adaptability of living in the environment. Without education, It may also be difficult to embellish the use of both the mental and physical attributes possessed by individual beings.

What really is education? Education is the training of the mind to perform desire functions or to perpetuate the modality of obtaining an end or …

Qualitative Study Of Collaboration Between Independent Reading Specialists And Elementary Classroom Teachers, Lindsay Lee Hawbaker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

The failure of educators to meet the needs of elementary students who require separated, differentiated, and intensive reading interventions (Tier 3) has been attributed to the scarcity of administrative resources and a lack of effective collaboration between reading specialists and classroom teachers. Experts opine that common barriers to effective collegial collaboration between institutional reading specialists, who are employed by the school, and classroom teachers include: an unsupportive school culture, the classroom teachers’ fear of losing pedagogical autonomy, the absence of mutual trust and interdependence between the reading specialists and their students’ classroom teachers, and the inability of reading specialists …

When Knowing Is Not Enough: A Narrative Exploration Of How K-12 Teachers Make Decisions About The Transfer Of Critical Competencies From Professional Learning To Daily Practice, Nell E. Ballard-Jones

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

School districts spend millions of dollars each year to provide training and learning to staff working in direct and indirect service to students (National Council on Teacher Quality, 2021). This financial commitment says nothing about what is even more important: the need for school employees and the systems in which we work to serve students more effectively. Despite vast allocations of time and money and presumably best intentions for better social and academic outcomes for students, very little data exist that reflect regular transfer and application of training/learning into professional practice (Nittler et al., 2015). By and large, schools and …

The Examination Of Attendance Support Teams In Urban Middle Schools, John Christopher Young

Online Theses and Dissertations

The research study was conducted to analyze effect of an attendance support team in urban middle schools. The study utilized a six-month time window using students in three middle schools that accumulated five unexcused absences. The attendance support team was comprised of a school social worker, a family resource student support coordinator, a district-level director of pupil personnel, and a court-designated worker from family court. The function of this team was to share attendance policies, requirements, and mitigate barriers through system support to increase regular attendance for students. The research was analyzed to measure the effect on gender, grade level, …

Kindergarten Entry Assessment Practices In Pennsylvania, Anne Katona Linn Ed.D.

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, there is significant variation in kindergarten programs and the entry assessment systems used in school districts. There are no reliable data on the kindergarten entry assessment (KEA) systems used in public kindergarten programs across the Commonwealth. It is well-established that comprehensive KEAs should be part of a broader preschool through third grade (P-3) continuum of early childhood education to assess whole-child skills, include families and community partners, be culturally and linguistically responsive, and developmentally appropriate. This study aimed to understand the KEA practices of kindergarten teachers in Pennsylvania. An online survey was distributed to kindergarten …