Educational Leadership Commons^™

Implicit Bias: An Unconscious Barrier To Family Engagement, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This teaching case study illustrates the need to engage all parents in schools as they enhance the community’s cultural capital and cultural wealth. In order to engage parents from various races and ethnicities, educational leaders should understand the role implicit biases play in inhibiting equitable parent participation. In this case study, the author provides a framework to enhance parent engagement. The author also suggests that educational leaders use an instrument to assess their implicit biases and determine the biases held by parents as well. Finally, community cultural wealth is defined and an explanation is provided on how parent participation can …

Low-Fee Private Schools: Case Studies From Ghana, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

This article focuses on Christian low-fee private schools (LFPSs) in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. This qualitative study uses a case study approach to longitudinally examine who these schools serve, why parents chose them, and what challenges the schools face. Findings reveal that parents choose Christian LFPSs for religious reasons and the quality of the education these schools provide. Other reasons include proximity, teacher and administrator quality, small class sizes, and extracurricular offerings. Challenges for these schools were financial and related to retaining teachers. This research is significant because Christian LFPSs have a role to play in helping Ghana’s …

Learning Transfer: The Missing Linkage To Effective Professional Development, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Professional development is an important element in improving teachers and leaders’ skills and abilities that will impact student academic achievement (Koonce, Pijanowski, Bengston & Lasater, 2019; Reeves, 2010). Too often, budgets are spent on professional development that yield little results (Speck & Knipe, 2005). Each district has its own focus for professional development depending on the needs of the school communities, the latest standardized test results, and the most recent policies. Despite the millions of dollars spent on professional development nationally, student learning outcomes continue to be stagnate or dwindle, discipline issues continue to skyrocket, and teacher moral plummets. This …

Principals' Perspectives Of Mindfulness For Leadership And Equity, Corinne Brion, Gina L. Gullo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Purpose: The current study sought to explore principals’ perspectives of definitions and uses of mindfulness in their leadership and equity practices.

Design: The primary researcher observed and interviewed eleven school principals using qualitative methods during the course of this study.

Findings: Four themes developed from principals’ definitions of mindfulness: (1) awareness and attention, (2) present centeredness, (3) modeling listening and respect, and (4) decision-making processes. The principals’ actions also presented ethical mindedness in their equity pursuits and reflection in their general leadership practices, despite establishing the presence of a stigma around mindfulness.

Research limitations/implications: Beyond the limitations of qualitative …

Doctoral Candidacy Examination Scores And Time To Degree Completion, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Steven Tolman, Katherine E. Fallon

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

Aim/Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between doctoral students’ candidacy examination scores and estimated time to degree completion, measured by dissertation progression.

Background

Time to degree completion in doctoral programs continues to be an issue and reasons for high attrition rates for doctoral students are broad and include varied core components of the academic pathway such as challenges with critical thinking during coursework, stress about passing comprehensive examinations, poor academic writing, and lack of knowledge around scholarly practitioner research.

Methodology

An ex post facto, correlational research design utilized quantitative data to determine …

Aware I Am Alone: Intersections Of Solitude And Mindfulness, Richard Cleveland

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

This paper explores the relationship between solitude and mindfulness. Parallels between the two constructs exist, allowing them to complement each other in furthering the well-being of individuals and communities. Three perspectives through which mindfulness may assist in forming foundational understandings of solitude are presented; these comprise Theoretical, Practice, and Research. The Theoretical lens provides introductory understandings of both solitude and mindfulness. On this basis, integral parallels between the two constructs are outlined. Next, Practice reviews solitude that is fostered through mindfulness practices. Further, additional models for recognizing solitude as a part of mindfulness are proposed. Finally, Research …

Instructional Leadership Practices And School Leaders' Self-Efficacy, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Carter Akins, Antonio P. Gutierrez De Blume, Richard E. Cleveland, Summer Pannell

Leadership, Technology & Human Development: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate instructional leadership practices and the degree to which these practices predict the leadership self-efficacy of school leaders while controlling for years of experience as a school leader. With educational reform focused on school accountability, principals must attend to tasks that lead to school improvement. Identifying such tasks as instructional leadership practices and gaining a more comprehensive understanding of instructional leadership practices through leadership self-efficacy may contribute to school improvement. The methodology utilized a survey and the participants were 100 principals and assistant principals of public schools in the southeastern United States, …

The Leadership Stories Of Students Of Color At Predominantly White Christian Institutions, Sharia Hays

Growth: The Journal of the Association for Christians in Student Development

Leadership has been identified as an important component of higher education and the college student experience (Dugan, 2006; Komives, Dugan, & Owen, 2011; Shertzer & Schuh, 2004; St. John, Rowley, & Hu, 2009). Although there has been an in-crease in leadership initiatives across higher education, many institutions, specifically dominantly White Christian institutions have struggled to find ways to involve students of color in leadership. Utilizing a phenomenological approach, this study explored the leadership experiences of 11 students of color from 3 dominantly White Christian institutions (DWI). This article will provide a broad overview of the study while focusing on how …

Effective Charter Schools: An Examination Of Operational, Financial, And Governance Practices As It Relates To The Renewal Of North Carolina Charter Schools, Shaunda Cooper

Doctor of Education Dissertations

North Carolina public charter schools are schools of choice authorized by the State Board of Education. North Carolina has nearly 200 charter schools, which are evaluated for effectiveness annually by a tool called the Performance Framework. However, to date, the evidence collected through the Performance Framework has not been offered to scholars and school leaders as a resource for achieving effective charter schools. Furthermore, research has not been conducted to evaluate a school’s performance in relation to its ability to complete a successful charter agreement renewal, which is the vein of a charter school’s existence. the study examined operational, governance, …

Influences On Doctor Of Education Students Who Have Completed All Program Requirements But Dissertation, Christopher Page

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the influences on Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) students who have completed all required coursework for their degree, but have not finished their dissertation, in an effort to identify factors influencing degree completion. Past research documents an increased time-to-degree (TTD) for Ed.D. students, which has a negative impact on K-12 and higher education, as well as on business, government, and society. This study examined Ed.D. students enrolled at a private teaching college in northern California by use of a survey built upon the framework of Bean’s nine themes of college student retention. It analyzed demographic indicators as well …

Journal Of Communication Pedagogy, Complete Volume, 2020

Journal of Communication Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Administrative Support For Special Education Teachers, Shari E. Lujan

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

Since the inception of special education laws in the 1970’s, special education teachers have been given the responsibility of educating children with exceptional needs. Those needs range from children with mild to moderate disabilities to children with moderate to severe disabilities. There are 13 categories that a child can qualify for special education services through an Individual Education Program (IEP). The majority of children with exceptional needs are educated on general education campuses. With high stakes testing and the push for academic excellence, one may wonder how a child with exceptional needs fits into a general education campus. The Education …

Cultural Diversity Professional Development In Schools Survey, Krystal R. Thomas, Hillary Parkhouse, Jesse Senechal, Zoey Lu, Laura Faulcon, Julie Gorlewski, David B. Naff

MERC Publications

This report presents findings from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) Cultural Diversity Within Schools Survey. This survey was designed for school- based professionals (i.e., teachers, instructional staff, administrators) within the MERC region. Administered in the fall of 2018, the survey collected information about experiences of professional development related to cultural diversity, attitudes toward cultural diversity within schools, perceptions of barriers and opportunities, and perspectives on the need for professional development. Section 1 of the report discusses the context for this survey effort: increased cultural diversity in our schools, increased cultural mismatch between students and teachers, and multicultural education as …

Unpacking "Giftedness": Research And Strategies For Promoting Racial And Socioeconomic Equity, David B. Naff, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, Amy Jefferson, Michael Schad, Morgan Saxby, Kathryn Haines, Zoey Lu

MERC Publications

Giftedness as a construct continues to be contested in academia, in the classroom and around kitchen tables. It means different things to different communities and, as a result, acquiring the "gifted" label looks different around the country. Once labeled, student giftedness produces different responses depending on state and district guidelines. A constant among the patchwork of defining, identifying and responding to student giftedness, though, is a serious racial and economic disparity in who is considered gifted and who is not. This report provides key takeaways from research literature on gifted and talented (GT) programs. It is organized according to five …

Principals’ Legal Literacy About Tenured-Teacher Evaluation In Illinois, Elizabeth Pohlmann

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the legal literacy of principals related to the evaluation of tenured teachers. The quality of teachers, while varied, is important. The evaluation of tenured teachers provides a significant opportunity to impact the quality of teachers and the teacher workforce. This study explores principals’ knowledge of the legal framework in Illinois to identify gaps in knowledge regarding the tenured teacher evaluation process and the associated legal constraints (what do they have to do) and opportunities (what can they do).

In this study, a survey aligned with the legal requirements for tenured teacher evaluation is used to measure principal …

Designing Leadership: Using Design Thinking To Create, Practices, And Implement A Formal Leadership Development Program, Jon Samuel Wedding

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine what happens when design thinking is used to create a leadership development program, increase leadership competencies, and participants perceptions of design thinking. This study uses action research to examine the experiences and design thinking to create a leadership program in a formal hierarchical. This study collected data during a two-cycle action research process. The findings from this study revealed that design thinking can be used to create a formal leadership development program. The ability to use design thinking’s human centered design can also help increase the leadership competencies of trust and collaborations. …

A Correlation Study Of Parental Involvement And Student Outcomes In A Georgia School District, Courtney T. Flournoy

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if a statistically significant association existed between the responses of parents of middle school students in a Georgia public school district on a parental involvement survey and three variables: eligibility of students to receive free or reduced-price lunch parental marital status, and parental education level.

This study was initiated because of a persistent problem of low academic achievement of the middle school students. There is extensive research related to the importance of parental involvement and the effect of this involvement on student achievement. However, prior to the implementation of this study little …

The Impact Of Retention Efforts On The Collegiate Experience Of Students Of Color At A Predominantly White Institution (Pwi), Jeffrie Mallory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored perceptions of thirteen stakeholders who participated in the Minority Orientation Program, a pre-entry initiative focused on retaining students of color at a private, four-year university located in the northeast region of the United States. Situated in Vincent Tinto’s Theory of Student Integration and Critical Race Theory, the author qualitatively assessed the Minority Orientation Program’s impact on participating students of color and the program’s influence on their enrollment through the completion of their Freshman year. The study’s findings confirmed that the Minority Orientation Program affects the collegiate experience for students of color in several ways. Positive influences in …

Females In Stem: Self-Efficacy Within Women Who Pursue Stem Majors, Lori Grata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While many efforts have been made within the United States, women are still underrepresented within STEM. Research within this document shows that women and men score similarly on STEM-related standardized tests. The question remains, why are there still large quantities of men outnumbering women in college majors and career fields of STEM? Looking at female STEM self-efficacy and gender role in culture could provide insight to the problem at hand. A survey was given to investigate self-efficacy and students’ STEM backgrounds of undergraduate female students who are currently in a 4-year STEM-related major within one university.

Stories We Don’T Tell: Research’S Limited Accounting Of Rural Schools, Michael Thier, Paul Beach

School Leadership Review

To help build capacity among PK-12 school leaders and policymakers whose decisions can impact rural settings, often without full understanding of the nuances most salient to rural places, this study asked (1) To what extent do education researchers account for geographic locale in their reporting? (2) Do highly ranked journals account for geographic locale in their reporting more readily than education research in general? Hybridizing three systematic approaches to literature review—rapid, mapping, and scoping—the study examined a population-level dataset of nearly 109,000 school-focused, peer-reviewed articles in ERIC during a 10-year period and dove deeper into 4,001 articles from highly ranked …

Exploratory Advising Impact Report: Spring 2016 To Spring 2019, Amanda M. Hagman, Mykel Beorchia, Stephanie Hamblin, Mitchell Colver

Publications

Academic advising performs a pivotal contribution to student success by providing information about univeristy expectations and avenues towards graduation. Exploratory student advising has the additional task of supporting students in major selection. This analysis investigated the relationship between academic advising and student persistence for exploratory students to better understand the impact of current advising practices. METHODS: Exploratory academic advisors met with an average 53% of exporatory students each semester. Students with a record of meeting with an academic advisor were compared to similar exploratory students who did not. Students were compared using prediction-based propensity score matching. Students who met with …

Peer-Assisted Learning In Calculus Ii: Examining Gender Differences, Xiaoqing Wu

Publications and Research

Mathematics is a topic in which undergraduate students find challenging, particularly for females. By providing a peer-assisted workshop during the semester, undergraduates are offered academic support throughout the course. New York City College of Technology, though a Department of Education Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (DOE MSEIP) grant, has adopted the Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) instructional model in a few Calculus II sections. Peer Leaders engage the students one-hour a week in working on selected problems sets in a collaborative setting. This project examines if there are gender differences in Calculus II class in 1) PLTL workshop attendance, 2) …

Teachers’ Perspectives Of The Observation Process Within The Evaluation, Christine E. Lenhart

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

One of the largest challenges for administrators is to create and implement teacher evaluation systems that help improve teaching and student learning. As policymakers and administrators have worked throughout the United States to develop and implement new teacher evaluation systems, teacher involvement in developing those teacher evaluation systems has been limited. Specifically, the evaluation process and the tools used in a state in the southwestern part of the United States to evaluate teachers do not incorporate teachers’ perspectives, yet they directly impact teacher standing, ability to receive tenure status, and, in some cases, their salary.

The purpose of this research …

Selected Performance Indicators Of University-Model Schools, David Herndon

Dissertations

University-Model® schools seek to blend attributes of homeschooling with traditional schooling by transferring a significant portion of classroom time to a satellite classroom, typically the student’s home. Proponents suggest the model lends itself to better prepared and well-balanced graduates due to the forced ownership required of students in terms of time management, the development of independent study habits, increased balance of family life, and subsequent parental guidance; however, very little research exists to validate these claims. These tenants of the model are in line with recent research and theories suggesting a more holistic approach, beyond academic metrics, to ensure college …

From Rocks To Amethysts: Combination Innovation To Increase Student Achievement In School, Jason M. Hall Mr.

Creativity and Change Leadership Graduate Student Master's Projects

My final project at the International Center for Studies in Creativity applies the Torrance Incubation Model of Learning, Creative Problem Solving, Design Thinking, creativity scholar George Land’s Transformation Theory, and skills I have gained during my work on the MSc in Creativity. My work herein provides new and useful combination innovations that catalyze creative ways of analyzing, operating more successfully within, and improving upon current state, federal and district mandates and programs in public education. This project is middle school based. The core combination innovations are designed to assist school administrators, instructional coaches, and classroom educators in their daily work …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of Reading Wonders: Is It Really A Wonder? A Program Evaluation, Myra A. Richardson

Dissertations

Reading programs are essential tools for leaders to use while building literacy. The transfer from instructional delivery to student knowledge should be easily recognizable in the end-of-year assessment data. As the principal analyzing the end-of-year data, I discovered a problem when I struggled to see this transfer in my data. The purpose of this program evaluation was to determine whether teachers perceived Reading Wonders to be an effective reading program for the school district as well as whether the assessment data aligned with teachers’ perceptions. A survey was used to collect responses from the participants and an Excel spreadsheet was …

Teacher Evaluation Practices And Policy Implications: Effective Strategies For Changing Instruction, Scott Grens

Dissertations

This study is a program evaluation of the effectiveness of teacher evaluation practices in a small suburban elementary school district in Illinois from 2017-2019. The primary research question explored in this program evaluation is whether and to what extent the teacher evaluation process is changing teacher practices in Washington School District 25. Employing a qualitative research methodology, with data gathered from teacher interviews, school administrator interviews, and document analysis, this study identified several key components to the improvement of instructional practices for teachers. Policy implications and recommendations highlight the importance of the following: a common instructional framework, staff involvement in …

Factors That Influence Student-Athlete Academic Major Selection, Priya Sen

All Theses And Dissertations

This secondary research study explored four identified factors that influence student-athlete academic major selection. The purpose of this study was to explore how each identified factor influenced student-athlete academic major selection, including athletic coaches, student-athlete identity, academic advising, and career exploration (Amran, 2013; Andrews, et al., 2017; Henrion, 2009; Kelly, 2009). There were no participants in this study and data collection was based on a content analysis of 20 peer-reviewed studies. Several themes were identified in relation to attributes directly and indirectly influencing the academic major selection for each of the four factors (Amran, 2013; Andrews et al., 2017; Henrion, …

The Relationship Between Elementary School Administrators' And Teachers' Perceptions Of The Influence Of Male Teachers And Schools' Male Student Achievement Growth In English Language Arts, Kathleen Elizabeth Kaump Truitt

Theses and Dissertations

There is a national achievement gap between male and female students in the United States. A common recommendation to reduce this achievement gap has been to hire more male teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions that elementary administrators and teachers have of male teachers’ influence on male student growth in English Language Arts. In order to measure perceptions, a five-point Likert scale survey was adapted from an existing qualitative questionnaire. A pilot study was conducted, an Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses were performed, and the survey was found valid and reliable to measure four constructs …

A Systematic Literature Review Of School Leadership Intelligences For The Development Of Neuro-Educational Leadership, Sheria Nicole Pope

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to systematically examine primary research about the integration of school leadership intelligence and effective leadership practices. Neuroscience as it relates to school leadership is an emerging topic in the field of education. The conceptual framework for this study was focused on three areas of intelligences and their relationship to applied neuroscience. The theoretical foundations were derived from Goleman’s emotional intelligence, Glasser’s conversational intelligence, Ang and Van Dyne’s cultural intelligence, and Thorndike and Stein’s social intelligence. The theoretical underpinnings for each intelligence was aligned to Rock’s SCARF Model (status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, fairness). A systematic …