Educational Leadership Commons^™

Book Review - Teaching African American Learners To Read, Tiffany A. Flowers

Journal of Research Initiatives

No abstract provided.

Educators Voices From Integrated Writing And Problem Solving Common Core Workshop, Karen T. Jackson, Penny Wallin, Anna K. Lee

Journal of Research Initiatives

This article provides an opportunity to discuss and examine information gathered during a focus group of K-12 educators involved in an integrated writing and problem solving workshop. Findings demonstrate that some educators are frustrated by the culture of testing versus the culture of learning that exist as a result of the Common Core Standards implementation. Educators are eager to learn and implement new ways of learning in order to promote deeper learning and critical thinking skills. Strategies and recommendations for providing support and resources for educators to meet the expectations to prepare students to be college and career ready are …

Passion And Purpose In Advocacy: Portraits Of Educational Leaders, Maureen D. Brown

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

As the public education system becomes more diverse, voices of advocates who positively support students and optimize student outcomes are essential. This qualitative multicase case study focused on the perspectives of five educational leaders who advocated in a public school district in Texas. A brief overview of historic voices in education advocacy gave way to the advocacy-based voices heard from educators, school counselors, and principals. Answering the central research question of how educational leaders maintain their passion for advocacy while overcoming obstacles related to change, each participant shared the personal experiences that paved the way for a passion in advocacy. …

The Relationship Between Reading Fluency And Lexile Measures, Joshua Purvis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With increasing emphasis being placed on teachers to show an improvement in student achievement, schools are relying on indicators such as reading fluency and reading comprehension to gauge student progress throughout the year. Since the growth on these assessments are used in calculating teachers and administrators’ yearly job evaluations, the significance of these measures has never been higher. Teachers and administrators want to know if the time spent on measures such as reading fluency is worth the sacrifice in the instructional day, when this time could be spent on teaching state mandated standards. The purpose of this quantitative non-experimental correlational …

From The Co-Editors..., Todd Pagano

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

No abstract provided.

A Universal Design For Robotics Education, Mustafa Şahin Bülbül

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

In this century technological and educational needs increase drastically. Out of local language, educators need to teach robotic language and use necessary technologies to design robots like Arduino set. This set let users to know less code/computer language and knowledge about electronics. Users may develop their own robots with this set. It also improves design and implementation skills. However, it is not a suitable design for blinds. Universal design approach suggests educators to design courses in a way to meet the needs of all participants. By this approach, learning environments are helpful and useful for participants with special needs. With …

Alternative To Exclusionary Discipline: Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports (Pbis)—A Delphi Study Of Riverside County School Districts’ Directors Of Student Services, James D. Pike

Dissertations

Purpose: The first purpose of this Delphi study was to identify the degree to which Riverside County directors of student services or administrators who oversee student discipline perceive that positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS) components reduce exclusionary discipline and promote a positive school culture. The second purpose of this study was to identify key facilitators and barriers to PBIS implementation within the school districts of the experts who participated in this study.

Methodology: Using the Delphi method, the first questionnaire allowed participants to give broad-based responses from which themes were derived to be coded, stratified, and then presented through …

Problem-Solving Tips For School Business Officials, David Alan Dolph

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

School business officials must be able to analyze problems and develop effective solutions. Arriving at solutions involves identifying the relative importance of the problem, what is known additional information is required, who is involved, what’s at risk, and the ultimate goal.

Most problems are easily resolved based on policy, experience, and knowledge of school business. However, some problems are more complex. School business officials don’t always have all the information they need, aren’t familiar with the personnel involved, or are faced with conflicting priorities.

A handbook on data-based decision making (Kowalski 2009) offers a basic format involving three steps:

1. …

Emotional Intelligence And Organizational Context In Educational Leadership, Matthew R. Horne

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This qualitative, multiple case study investigated how educational leaders used and manifested Emotional Intelligence (EI) skills and abilities in unique organizational contexts. The study was conducted with five principals in a large, urban school district. The principals were selected to participate based on the organizational context of their schools. Each site was profiled and subsequently categorized based on the unique dynamics of the school including, but not limited to cultural, social, political, environmental, economic, and temporal factors. The principals were interviewed using a common, open-ended interview protocol. The interviews contained questions about the school’s organizational context, the principal’s relationships with …

Update On Student Vaccinations, Charles J. Russo

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

State inoculation laws—which are designed to reduce or eliminate the risk of infection from the most common communicable diseases—typically grant students with medical concerns exemptions from having to receive vaccines or vaccine components. Moreover, as reflected in the cases discussed below, most states allow nonmedical exemptions for religious reasons and philosophical beliefs (National Vaccine Information Center 2016).

As reviewed in the next section, disputes over vaccinations generated a fair amount of litigation. In these cases, parents challenged vaccination laws as violating their constitutional rights to be free from government interference or to freedom of religion.

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 …

The Administrator Effect: How El Education Principals Influence Teachers’ Ability To Overcome Challenge, Natalie E. Osborne Smith

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

Teacher attrition and movement are difficulties facing school systems today. A variety of concerns contribute to teacher attrition and movement including dissatisfaction, school staffing actions, classroom factors, lack of administrative support, lack of resources, and student performance factors. As a result, educators are prone to burnout due to the stresses of teaching, which in turn leads to attrition and movement. School principals can stem the tide of teacher dissatisfaction and attrition by providing technical and adaptive scaffolds for teachers. Leaders can begin to provide these supports by examining their own beliefs and actions around mindset, grittiness, and resistance to change. …

“Science Is Not My Thing”: Exploring Deaf Non-Science Majors’ Science Identities, Cara L. Gormally, Amber Marchut

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing are underrepresented in science majors, yet we know little about why. Students from other underrepresented groups in science—women and people of color—tend to highly value altruistic or communal career goals, while perceiving science as uncommunal. Research suggests that holding stereotypical conceptions about scientists and perceptions of science as uncommunal may strongly hinder recruitment into science majors. This study sought to explore the science identities of students who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, and hearing signers. The study focused on non-science majors in bilingual (American Sign Language and written English) biology laboratory courses. This study is the …

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 …

School Administrators As Instructional Coaches: Teachers’ Trust And Perceptions Of Administrators’ Capacity, Yanira Oliveras Ortiz

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

Dr. Yanira Oliveras-Ortiz examines the role of school administrators as instructional coaches. In this quantitative study, which is part of larger study, she analyzed the perceptions of 198 teachers about their administrators’ capacity to be instructional coaches as well as the level of trust teachers have on their administrators to serve as evaluators and instructional coaches.

Teacher Affective Attitudes Inventory: Development And Validation Of A Teacher Self-Assessment Instrument, Holly M. King

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study developed a teacher self-assessment instrument in the form of six factors across two overarching constructs, resulting in one Positive Relationships scale with three factors; and three related, but separate, scales measuring elements of the Classroom Environment. Many teacher skills and qualities are known to contribute to effectiveness in the classroom, such as teacher self-efficacy, content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, and instructional knowledge. The inclusion of affective dimensions of teacher effectiveness can complement the prevailing focus on other measures of teacher effectiveness, through the consideration of critically important, but relatively ignored, aspects of effective teaching. This study examined teacher attitudes …

Leading Ladies: A Mixed-Method Study Of The Influence Of Gender Bias On Leadership Styles For Women Who Lead Secondary Schools, Angela S. Coaxum-Young

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed method study is to determine if women who lead secondary schools have gender bias experiences that might influence their leadership styles. The study focused on the accounts of five women who lead secondary schools, their gender bias experiences, their perceived leadership style and whether or not they believed the experience influences how they lead. Through in-depth interviews and survey completion, the data from both sources revealed the common leadership styles and gender bias experiences among the research participants. When examining the shared experiences three salient themes emerged: (a) A belief that gender bias still exists …

Relationship Between School Climate And Student Achievement, Gail H. Greenway

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Increasingly public schools in the United States are finding that factors beyond curriculum and instruction impact student achievement. Much research has been conducted on the relationship between school climate and student achievement (Cohen, McCabe, Michelli, & Pickeral, 2009; Guo & Higgins-D’Alessandro, 2011). This study set out to determine if there was a correlation between school climate and student achievement in middle schools in the Central Savannah River Area Regional Educational Service Agency region in the state of Georgia. Findings from this quantitative study indicated that there is a statistically significant, positive relationship between school climate and student achievement in middle …

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.

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Exemplary National Blue Ribbon Elementary School Principals In Improving Student Learning Through Effective Coaching Conversations With Their Teachers: A Phenomenological Study, Colleen Flavin

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to discover and describe how exemplary National Blue Ribbon elementary school principals improve student learning through effective coaching conversations with their teachers. A second purpose was to explore the barriers they encountered to holding these conversations and the actions to overcome these barriers.

Methodology: This study utilized a phenomenological design. The primary source of data collection was a standardized open-ended interviews. Using inductive analysis, the data were coded and themes were identified that aligned to the research questions.

Findings: Data analysis revealed that exemplary National Blue Ribbon elementary school principals used coaching conversations …

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Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Call For Manuscripts!

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities (JSESD)

The Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed journal with an international focus on providing information on science education for students with varying types and levels of disabilities. We aspire to publish the best of theoretical research and practical application and we review articles by both special and general educators. Interesting topics have included innovative curricular ideas, instructional adaptations, research-based modifications, best practices, and management issues in science education.

Copyright Statement

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Publication rights to works is granted to Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities, however, full copyright for works published in this journal is retained by the author(s). The author(s) may post their works online in an institutional repository, on their University departmental website, or on their own personal websites

School Crisis Plans: Are You Prepared?, David Alan Dolph

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The majority of states have statutes requiring school districts to develop school safety plans focused on preventing and responding to crisis situations. Plans may include protocols for disseminating school safety plans to appropriate personnel; mandatory fire, tornado, or active drills; and community involvement.

Although the degree of comprehensiveness of those plans depends on state legislation, all should include the basic elements offered here, focused on creating secure school environments.

Perceptions Of The Effects Of Homework On Student Achievement At A Suburban Middle School: A Program Evaluation, Cody Huisman

Dissertations

The purpose of this program evaluation was to gain a clear understanding of how homework supports or deters the achievement of students, specifically the overall grade a student attains. This document details how students and teachers at a suburban Middle School perceive homework and its effect on student learning. The findings were that many students received failing grades in classes, primarily due to missing homework. The program evaluation used mixed methodology. Using survey and focus group results in conjunction with current literature, the conclusion revealed a need for homework policies that would support student learning without punishing students’ grades. Students …

Dr. Thelma Moore-Steward, 1948-2016, John M. Winslade

Journal of Critical Issues in Educational Practice

This is an obituary for Dr. Thelma Moore-Steward, professor of education at California State University San Bernardino who died in March 2016.

Implementing Standards-Based Grading In A Suburban Middle School: A Change Leadership Plan, Cody Huisman

Dissertations

The purpose of the Change Leadership Plan was to describe a current issue facing a school district, creating a vision of change to end that obstacle. In the case of this particular change plan, the problem is the traditional grading system at a suburban middle school. The plan advocates for a change to a standards-based grading system. Several steps describing change are examined: describing the current situation, conducting research to support change, and designing a vision of what success will look like after standards-based grading is established. The research conducted was done through both surveys and group interviews. Research participants …

The Impact Of Moving From Two-Person To Four-Person Teams On Seventh-Grade Students’ Attitudes And Beliefs Towards School, Zachary B. Sedgwick

All NMU Master's Theses

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the impact moving seventh-grade students from two-person to four-person teams had on students’ attitudes and beliefs towards school. The review of literature provided the reader a brief analysis of the history of the middle school philosophy and teaming, recommendations for schools to address the unique needs of early adolescents, a review of key literature regarding middle level programing and structure, and a discussion highlighting the importance and impact of smaller learning communities. Two main theories makeup the framework for this report: Social Cognitive Theory and Human Relations Theory. The …

The Perceptions Of Northeast Tennessee Educators Regarding Arts Integration, Philip A. Wright

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the perceptions of Northeast Tennessee Educators regarding arts integration. Specifically this study was an examination of the perceptions of district and K-8 school level administrators, K-8 general classroom teachers of math, science, social studies, or literacy, and K-8 arts specialists of dance, drama, music, or visual arts. Nine school districts in Northeast Tennessee agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected through an online survey system, SurveyMonkey.com. Data from 179 participants were used in the study. Seventeen items from the survey were measured on a 5-point Likert scale. Those items …

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 …

Managing One-To-One Initiatives: Implementation Analysis Through Expert Elicitation, Jordan R. Selvidge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A qualitative phenomenological study was conducted to identify and analyze issues in the implementation of one-to-one computing initiatives and provide solutions for improvement. An understanding of the implementation process was developed through the analysis of data collected through 27 interviews with teacher experts in the field who have worked with the implementation of one-to-one programs. Teachers were purposely selected from the following groups: those who were completing their first year of teaching, those who had between two and ten years of teaching experience, and those who had eleven plus years of total teaching experience. This study distinctly addresses one-to-one initiatives …