Educational Leadership Commons^™

Perceptions Of Secondary Administrators: Looking At Their Experiences And Practices Supporting Science Instruction, Venicia Ferrell

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Secondary school administrators play a vital role as instructional leaders, specifically those that are aimed at improving students’ learning of science content (Hill & Grossman, 2013). Unfortunately, administrators rarely have a background in science (Halverson et al., 2011). Little is known about an administrator's knowledge of science practices and their ability to support science instruction at the secondary level. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to explore the relationship between the structure and focus of an administrator’s instructional roles and their capacity to foster quality science support and instruction for teachers and students. Administrators' perceptions of effective support actions …

2021 Ijbe V1 Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Communication In A Virtual World - Best Staff Practices For Generating The Greatest Student Engagement In Virtual Learning, Chris Loiselle, Kristi Teall

Andrews University Teaching and Learning Conference

Research and experience show that for students to learn, they must be engaged, and the need to be engaged in learning has been underscored this past year as many schools have shifted to virtual or remote learning. Join leaders from Berrien Springs Public Schools for an interactive discussion that shares research, tools, and best practices that are proven to be effective in engaging students, helping them to thrive in virtual learning environments.

Myth, Power, And Justice: The Danger Of A Single Story, Christen H. Clougherty

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

If we hear only a single story about a group, we risk a critical misunderstanding. In this session, learn to critically analyze assumptions of single stories and dominant narratives about community partners. Engage in hands-on activities to explore this issue as it relates to race, poverty, and social justice. Leave with classroom activities to take back to your classroom.

A Qualitative Case Study Of A Transitional Program For Students In Middle School As They Transition To High School, Patrick Tremayne Moore

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Every school year, many U.S. students prepare to make the transition from being a middle school student to becoming a high school student. School transitions happen regularly and can be considered predictable. As students transition to high school, there are more challenges such as school work and peer influence. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions of students who participate in a transition program as they transition from middle school to high school. Also, this study explored the perceptions of teachers who participated in the transition programs. The population of this study consisted of students …

The Relationship Between Career And Technical Education Enrollment And College And Career Readiness Outcomes, Daniel Soliz Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

College and career readiness for K-12 students has become a priority of legislatures and educational leaders in the United States. In recent years, Texas public school leaders have emphasized the importance of maximizing the percentage of College, Career and Military Ready (CCMR) graduates. The specific problem studied was that a low percentage of students in Texas, in comparison to the state’s graduation rate, graduate with a CCMR distinction. Career and Technical Education (CTE), a component of K-12 education, can assist school leaders in maximizing college and career readiness for students. However, it was not clear how within schools, CTE enrollment …

Teacher Retention In High-Poverty, Urban Schools, Jill Love

Graduate Teacher Education

Abstract

Teaching has always been about the success of the students. Students who have effective, qualified teachers show the most success. Throughout the years, schools in urban areas have struggled to keep quality teachers within their buildings. Due to teacher turnover in the neediest schools, the students are greatly affected. The students in high-poverty urban schools are some of the lowest performing students across the country. When you pair low performance with significant teacher turnover, the outcome is grim. Research shows that districts and schools need to do more than just recruit qualified teachers, they must also retain them for …

Exploring Actions Toward Supporting English Language Learners In A Rural Remote Secondary Setting, Annamarie Valdez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ESL students make a small population in rural, remote secondary schools. One ESL student can have a profound impact on the academic measures taken on state accountability tests. The gap between an ESL student’s achievement and that of native English-speaking peers is disproportionate. The actions of principals and campus leaders directly impact the teacher’s ability to support English language learners’ (ELL) ESL needs. A problem exists on what principals and campus leaders can do to help ESL students’ needs in a rural, remote secondary setting. The purpose of this exploratory single case study was to identify the actions campus leaders …

Ecologies Of Hope: Understanding Educational Success Among Black Males In An Urban Midwestern City, Willie C. Harmon, Marlon C. James, Rasheedah Farooq

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

The American Psychological Association's Task Force on Resilience and Strength in Black Children and Adolescents (2008) called for resilience frameworks particularly designed to understand African American development. Thus, the present study explores the lives of seven academically successful Black males in an urban midwestern city. Using a Critical Race Theory framework, the researchers center the counterstories of men of color who matriculated through college from a "failing" high school in a challenging urban community. Using constant comparative analysis, two critical themes emerged: extended family and extended kinship support networks. A synthesis of these themes resulted in an emergent framework entitled …

Improving Equity Through Master Scheduling, Allison Degregory, Craig Sommer

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

A real and measurable gap exists in our country, and our educational system has served to increase this gap. Our system has failed to provide equitable access to advanced coursework for Black and Hispanic students. Implementing a deliberate and strategic system for scheduling high school students will provide historically underrepresented student groups equitable access to college credit and college-level courses. Quantitative research will determine how such an approach impacts high school students at an urban district in the southeastern United States when principals, and principal supervisors, create systems to schedule students equitably.

Clear and present gaps exist in the rate …

Examining The Learning Communities Of Two High Schools In An Urban School District, Matel Hanna Hassan, Ed.D.

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to examine the impact of teacher collaboration in an early college high school (ECHS) and a traditional high school as it relates to student

achievement among high school students and on other factors that distinguish an ECHS

from a traditional high school. The ECHS refers to a specific high school model created

to serve traditionally underrepresented students in higher education. Students enroll in

dual credit courses, most often beginning sophomore year. A traditional high school

setting refers to courses that offer students the high school credits and prepare them for

the basic state …

Parental Involvement To Support School Choice For Children Transitioning From Middle School To High School And Beyond, Jacqueline W. Boswell

Theses and Dissertations

It is a belief that when parents participate in the transition process of school choice for their children’s secondary schooling, parental involvement increases the likelihood of their youngsters graduating from high school, having opportunities for selecting the best colleges, and a trajectory for greater success in the career opportunities of their children. This study examined transition-focused parents to understand what factors affect their satisfaction with the college and career transitions in grades 9 through 12.

The 66,202 parent participants in this study were from the northeast region of the United States. The children are enrolled in public schools, and they …

School Climate For Lgbtq Youth: Principals’ Perceptions And Experiences, Jessica L. George

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

This study explored the practices that can mitigate a hostile school climate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth and the barriers that negatively affect implementation of those practices. LGBTQ youth are at higher risk for bullying, harassment, and other characteristics of a harsh learning environment, which can result in negative outcomes, both short- and long-term. Principals of West Virginia public high schools were surveyed to collect data on the frequency at which LGBTQ-supportive practices are implemented in their schools and the barriers, if any, they faced. A total of n = 29 (x̄ = 27.6%) participants completed …

Supporting Ambitious Mathematics Practices In The Face Of School Reform: A Case Study Of High School Leadership, Jacklyn Van Ooyik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School leaders—both administrators and mathematics leaders—play a critical role in the instructional improvement of teachers in schools. However, current research in mathematics education has not provided a complete picture of the network of administrators, mathematics leaders, and teachers and their roles in supporting ambitious mathematics practices. The purpose of this case study is to examine how ambitious mathematics practices are developed, supported, and sustained within a high school facing pressures for test score improvement and graduation competencies and the roles and responsibilities of school leaders that contribute to that support. In order to address this issue, my primary research question …

Math Achievement Of Low-Socioeconomic Status Students: A Comparative Study Of Public-School Settings, Alexander Ohene Ansah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, falling standards in the American public-school system have elicited public concern and criticism, leading to several public-school reforms. One such reform is the charter-school movement. Charter schools provide a public option for parents in search of an alternative to traditional public schools. At the same time, the achievement gap continues to widen, with students of low socioeconomic status on the losing end. Since the beginning of the charter school movement, research has focused on comparisons in achievement between students in charters and traditional public schools. Results have been mixed.

Focusing on low-SES student populations in Colorado, this …

Analyzing Advanced Placement (Ap): Making The Nation's Most Prominent College Preparatory Program More Equitable, David Naff, Mitchell Parry, Tomika Ferguson, Virginia Palencia, Jenna Lenhardt, Elisa Tedona, Antionette Stroter, Theodore Stripling, Zoey Lu, Elizabeth Baber

MERC Publications

This report from the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium (MERC) explores research related to Advanced Placement (AP) courses through an equity lens. It answers five questions: 1) What are AP classes? 2) Who enrolls and succeeds in AP classes? 3) Why do disparities in AP matter? 4) What factors contribute to disparities in AP participation and performance? 5) What policies and practices help to address disparities in AP access, enrollment, and performance? The report comes from the MERC Equitable Access and Support for Advanced Coursework study.

An Examination Of Motivational Influences On Professional Choice, Perceived Preparedness, And Retention Of Alternatively Certified Teachers Of Career, Technical, And Agriculture Education In Northeast Georgia, Jonathan Stribling

Ed.D. Dissertations

Alternative routes to teacher certification have been utilized as a way to address the Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education teacher shortage, and this abbreviated path to a teaching career has attracted current educators from the industries for which they are trained. Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education teachers who have entered the teaching profession after prior industry experience intentionally chose, and continue to choose, to teach. There is a gap in the extant literature as to why. In this qualitative interpretive study, I examined the motivational influences on professional choice, perceived level of preparedness, and retention of alternatively certified teachers …

Stakeholder Perceptions Of Student Opportunity In Consolidated Rural High Schools, Bradley Smith

Ed.D. Dissertations

Since the early 1900s, educational leaders and policymakers looked to consolidation as a way for rural schools and school systems to overcome financial challenges and improve the educational experiences for students. Stakeholders were met with conflicting claims about the effects of school and system consolidation. Proponents of consolidation claimed a consolidation would provide students with more curricular and extracurricular options by way of financial savings experienced from economies of scale, while opponents of consolidation claimed the consolidation would not relieve financial stress but would risk more behavioral problems and a loss of community identity. In this case study of a …

Georgia Agricultural Education Teachers’ Perceived Barriers Of Delivering Instruction Through Internet-Based Distance Learning, Cecily Gunter

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

In the late fall of 2019 and early spring 2020 educators across the world were abruptly faced with the issue of teaching curriculum through distance learning platforms. This challenge was even greater for agricultural education teachers to accomplish due to the goal of providing students opportunities for leadership development, personal growth, and career success through hands-on learning opportunities. The researcher conducted a study to examine the perceived barriers of internet –based distance learning by agricultural education teachers in Georgia and to explore the relationship between their perceived barriers and the perception of their level of computer and internet access, their …

A Relationship Built To Impact Instruction: Developing And Sustaining Productive Partnerships Between Mathematics Specialists And Principals, Nathan D. Potter, Hannah Adera Rooney, Melody Locher, Debra Kinsey

Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations

How does the mathematics specialist provide a profound and lasting impact on instruction? We believe that a productive partnership between the principal and specialist, which we will call the principal-specialist relationship, is at the crux of the matter. When the principal-specialist relationship is built upon a foundation of a shared vision, clear roles, communication, and trust, both the teachers and students in the school benefit. We will explore the impact of the principal-specialist relationship on teacher success during the era of distance learning as necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to explore how these ideas come alive in the …

Learning From Failures: Lessons From Unsuccessful Grading Reform Initiatives, Thomas R. Guskey

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

This article describes accounts of grading reform initiatives that while well-intentioned, met with staunch opposition and eventually were abandoned. The implementation strategies employed by the leaders of these reform initiative are explored, along with reasons these strategies failed to result in meaningful and enduring change. Alternative grading reform strategies with supporting evidence are offered, justification for their use explained, and new directions for grading reform initiatives recommended.

Secondary Principal Perceptions Of Preparatory Experiences, Renita Griffinjordan

Doctor of Education Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to gain insight from current principals regarding principal preparatory experiences and to reveal which assistant principal experiences contributed to principal readiness. Through this study, 17 current secondary principals in an urban school district completed a 21-item survey using a 5-point Likert scale; 10 principals also participated in a follow-up interview. The survey instrument was constructed based on practices within seven primary standards of the North Carolina Standards for School Executives. The content validation index was utilized to measure the validity of the survey tool. The theoretical framework chosen to explore these relationships was …

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 …

Global Competence And Deeper Learning: Secondary Principals’ Perceptions In An Intermountain District, Lorren Amanda Siebert

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Education has become increasingly global in recent years. Student and teacher global competence have been studied at length. School administrators’ application of global competencies in their administrative practice has not been explored until recently. Secondary school administrators’ global competencies were investigated under seven tenets. The aim of this study was to examine how secondary principals in one Intermountain school district perceived and implemented global competencies in their current professional practice. Further, this study explored how those global competencies translated into deeper learning educational leadership practices.

A sequential explanatory approach was utilized for this two-phase mixed method study. Quantitative survey data …

Transcendent Formation For Agents Of Grace: Non-Catholic Teachers For Mission In Catholic Secondary Schools, Michael Asuncion Pascual

LMU Theses and Dissertations

As non-Catholic teachers are being hired into Catholic high schools, they are inducted into the school mission that participates in the Catholic Church’s mission for evangelization. The research on the non-Catholic teachers’ perspectives and experiences of this mission formation is underdeveloped.

This study explores the process of Catholic school mission formation conducted by school leaders for non-Catholic teachers in the region of Southern California. Specifically, it examined the perception of non-Catholic teachers’ experience about their mission formation at the Catholic high schools. Simultaneously, it investigated the perception of school leaders in their practice of mission formation for non-Catholic teachers.

Drawing …

Disconnected Youth: The Journey To Educational Re-Engagement: The Alternative Education Experiences Of Black, Indigenous, People Of Color (Bipoc) Youth, Latoya L. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Over 2.5 million youth remain disconnected from education or the workforce well into their adult lives. Nearly one-third of youth who remain disconnected are Black, Indigenous Persons of Color (BIPOC) from low-income communities. The purpose of this research study was to gain an understanding of what systems and processes support re-engagement for formerly disconnected, and subsequently re-engaged, BIPOC students from alternative high school programs in the State of California. The following research questions guided this qualitative narrative study: How do former disconnected youth ages 19-26 years of age describe their experience in traditional public schools compared to that of alternative …

After The Protests: A Campus Racial Climate Case Study Of The Perception And Curricular Responses For Institutional Reforms, Following The Black Students’ Demands For Interventions At The University Of Missouri-Columbia, Bruce E. Mitchell Ii

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This qualitative method single case study explores the phenomenon of a racially tense campus climate at the University of Missouri Columbia, a Predominantly White Midwestern Institution. At the forefront of the media regarding student and athlete protests, leading to the resignation of senior level administrators, African American students put forth eight demands to their administrators. Included, was the creation and implementation of a required racial awareness and inclusion curriculum. The study explores the perceptions of the institutional response to an exceptional campus racial climate issue and the process of formulating and participating in a diversity training course and a semester …

The School Principal And Teacher Retention, Jonathan D. Becker, Lauren Grob

MERC Publications

This report comes from the MERC Teacher Retention study. This study was designed to identify patterns of teacher retention in the MERC region and to determine the school and system-level factors driving them. The study also provides an overview of state and regional policies and programs relevant to teacher retention, and includes evaluations of existing policies and initiatives to determine efficacy and cost benefit. This policy brief examines the role of leadership, and specifically the school principal, in retaining teachers. The brief includes a review of studies that used survey scales to measure leadership and then disaggregate and re-aggregate the …

Will They Stay Or Will They Go? Analysis Of The 2019 Doe Working Conditions Survey, Jonathan D. Becker, Valerie Robnolt, Kasey Dye, Erica Ross

MERC Publications

This report is part of the MERC Teacher Retention study. This study was designed to identify patterns of teacher retention in the MERC region and to determine the school and system-level factors driving them. The study also provides an overview of state and regional policies and programs relevant to teacher retention, and includes evaluations of existing policies and initiatives to determine efficacy and cost benefit. Teacher shortages continue to be a problem in the United States. While a range of policy solutions have attempted to stem the loss of teachers, at the base of many of these efforts is the …

Perceptions, Attitudes, And Experiences Of A High-Performing High School Successful In Increasing Graduation Rates, Nikita Michelle Mccaskill

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation study was designed to assess a high-performing high school’s dropout prevention program that increased graduation rates and decreased dropout rates among high school students. The high-performing high school was chosen because the target site achieved a 90% or higher graduation rate over 5 school years. Four of 19 high schools within the target school district achieved less than a 90% graduation rate. The purpose of this case study was to describe the attitudes, perceptions, and experiences of teachers, guidance counselors, and school-based administrators at a high-performing high school within the target school district—inclusive of a time frame …