Educational Leadership Commons^™

Compassion With Action: A Glimpse Into Institutional Influences Cultivating Long-Term Philanthropic And Volunteer Morale Within Undergraduate Student Leaders, Novien Yarber

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

This action research explores the extent of social responsibility—by means of philanthropic learning and volunteerism—that develops within the University of San Diego’s undergraduate student government leaders (Associated Students). The study further explores how the organization’s culture may influence service leadership development, and will identify opportunities within the advising methodology that may encourage students’ service to the larger community. The objective of this research is to: 1) observe whether involvement with undergraduate leadership positions (i.e. student government) can have a substantial impact on students’ conceptualization and commitment to their social responsibility to surrounding communities, 2) explore ways in which the Student …

Interrupting The Patterns: A Phenomenological Study Of African American Women Re-Purposing Leadership Via The Intersectionality Of Plato And Critical Race Theory, Roslyn R. Hartman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological qualitative research explored the effects of race and gender on the capacity of five African American women leaders. Although women are occupying more top posts in the American workforce, leadership opportunities for African American women remain elusive despite record post-secondary degree attainment. The purpose of the study was to examine how each woman navigated leadership and derived meaning from the journey through the metaphorical lens of Plato’s “The Allegory of the Cave,” and the intersectionality of Critical Race Theory. The researcher collected data via questionnaires and interviews. Results of the analysis revealed four themes: leadership etiquette, leadership preeminence, …

Balances Of Power Between Ip Creators: Ethical Issues In Scholarly Communication, Kristin Laughtin-Dunker

Library Presentations, Posters, and Audiovisual Materials

Scholarly communications often values free access above all else, but what happens when that drive for openness conflicts with ethical issues of consent and ownership? In this CARL IG Showcase panel, members of SCORE (Scholarly Communication and Open Resources for Education) will discuss some of the thorny issues of ethics and scholarly communication, including: consent (particularly among diverse communities outside of the institution) and digital collections, students as information creators / library as publisher, and decolonizing who we consider scholars and what we consider scholarship. This panel will feature speakers who will share current discussions and personal stories on issues …

The Predictors Of Juvenile Recidivism: Testimonies Of Adult Students 18 Years And Older Exiting From Alternative Education, La Toshia Palmer

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this descriptive, qualitative study was to identify and describe the importance of the predictors of juvenile recidivism and the effectiveness of efforts to prevent/avoid juvenile recidivism as perceived by previously detained, arrested, convicted, and/or incarcerated adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education in Northern California. A second purpose was to explore the types of support provided by alternative schools and the perceived importance of the support to avoid recidivism according to adult students 18 years of age and older exiting from alternative education.

Methodology: This qualitative, descriptive research design identified …

Exemplary Middle School Principals Leading Through Conversation, John Ashby

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the behaviors that exemplary middle school principals practice to lead their organization through conversations using Groysberg and Slind’s (2012) four elements of conversational leadership: intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality.

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative study described the lived experiences of exemplary middle school principals in Orange County, California. The researcher was part of a thematic research team of 12 peer researchers and 4 faculty advisors. Through purposeful sampling, the researcher selected 10 exemplary middle school principals who met at least 4 of 6 criteria identifying someone as exemplary. Data collection …

The Perceptions And Lived Experiences Of African American Male Presidents In California Community Colleges, Tyree L. Robinson

Doctoral Dissertations

Current research has shown racial disparities and inequities among African American men who desire to be community college presidents in California, or already hold the position. This study explored why California has only 7 African American community college presidents on 115 campuses; how to overcome obstacles to attain the presidency position; what life/work experiences assists current presidents in their leadership positions in higher education, as well as each president’s trajectory that ultimately led them to the presidency. The study explored factors that have kept African Americans out of higher education leadership roles such as the presidency.

An Instrumental Case Study On Testing An Integrated Framework For Tutoring Sessions, Alicia L. Holland, Chris Grant, Reshma Donthamsetty

The Qualitative Report

The objective for the current qualitative case study was to examine participants’ perceptions on the tutor coaching and session review frameworks. The location of the study was at the tutor coach’s place of business. At the beginning of the study, both tutor coach and tutors were trained on how to implement the specific frameworks associated with their roles in the tutoring process. Tutors who participated in the study kept weekly reflection journals regarding their tutoring experiences. After 6 weeks, the tutor coach participated in 30-minute open-ended phone interviews related to the tutor-coaching framework. All interviews were recorded and transcribed. Tutors …

Epistemological Ruptures: Flashback On Fieldwork Dilemmas While Doing Research On Friends At Home, Israel Aguilar

The Qualitative Report

While doing fieldwork at home and/or with people who are familiar can yield new knowledge, researchers using ethnographic techniques ought to first assume the role of apprentice and enact vulnerability before they can represent findings that represent what really happened. Doing otherwise can tarnish relationships or jeopardize a study. The history of narrative within ethnographic research is discussed as an introduction to the author’s own personal narrative, which is in the form of a flashback that illustrates the journey he embarked on in 2010 when he initiated dissertation research in his hometown of south Texas. It is here where he …

“If Our English Isn’T A Language, What Is It?” Indonesian Efl Student Teachers’ Challenges Speaking English, Mukhlash Abrar, Amirul Mukminin, Akhmad Habibi, Fadhil Asyrafi, Makmur Makmur, Lenny Marzulina

The Qualitative Report

Research on students’ skill speaking English in a non-English speaking country such as Indonesia is limited. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to document Indonesian EFL student teachers’ experiences in speaking English at one public university in Jambi, Indonesia. Data came from demographic questionnaires and semi-structured interviews obtained from eight participants. We organized our analysis and discussion around Indonesian EFL student teachers’ perspectives and the contexts in which experiences they encountered emerge. Our analysis of the text revealed overarching themes and sub-themes including (1) language barriers (vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, and fluency); (2) psychological factors (anxiety, attitude, and lack of …

Incivility In The Workplace: The Experiences Of Female Sport Management Faculty In Higher Education, Elizabeth A. Taylor, Robin Hardin, Natalie Welch, Allison B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Access to higher education for women has dramatically increased in the United States during the past 50 years. Female college graduates have reversed the figures and gone from being outnumbered by their male counterparts 3 to 2 in the 1970s, to now outnumbering male college graduates 3 to 2. Women also graduate from masters and doctoral programs at a higher rate than men.

However, increases in the number of women obtaining college and advanced degrees has not translated to comparable representation in faculty positions or leadership roles in higher education. This lack of women in leadership positions, as well as …

Fostering Accountability And Repairing Harm: A Program Evaluation Of Restorative Justice At The University Of Denver, Ryan Smith

Higher Education: Doctoral Research Projects

Restorative Justice is a practice that incorporates harmed parties and the greater community in resolving harm or conflict, the ultimate goal of restorative justice being to make things right. This practice has been used increasingly in student conduct processes on college campuses across the United States. This doctoral research paper serves to evaluate the restorative justice program housed at the University of Denver, which has been using this process since 2012. Utilizing a responsive evaluation framework, the evaluation process consisted of interviews with program stakeholders, university staff and faculty members with a long term interest in the success of the …

Training In The Digital Age: A Practitioner's Reflections On Incorporating Traditional Classroom Strategies Into Remote Training, Mary Duggan

Capstone Collection

As internet usage increasingly dominates workplace culture, remote training has become more commonplace, particularly for wide-spread organizations looking to reduce training costs. Webinars are frequently being utilized to eliminate travel and materials costs associated with in person training. This Course-Linked Capstone in Training seeks to explore the application of training and leadership theory in remote training sessions. The central research question was: How can a trainer co-create an effective learning environment and incorporate engaged pedagogy and adult learning theory into a remote training setting? This paper analyzes the relationship between trainer and participant through an exploration of philosophies of leadership …

African-Centered Pedagogy: Exploring Black Male Identity And Achievement Through An African-Centered Lens, Kenneth Turner Jr.

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This mixed method study researched African-centered pedagogy and examined if it made a difference for Black males in middle school. The study examined what it meant to be Black for the participants through administering the Multidimensional Model of Black Identity (MMBI) which measures Black males' connections to their own cultural group. Students were asked three semi-structured questions about their experiences in school. In addition, MCA test scores and GPA were compared. Twenty-four middle school students participated for two different middle school types in Minnesota: one traditional school and one African-Centered school. Findings revealed that there were substantially different scores on …

My Truth, My Telling: Experiences Of Black Women Principals In A Poetry-Themed Workshop On Race And Gender, Antonia Felix

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Teaching gaps reveal that students of color, who make up the majority of public school enrollees in the United States, do not receive instruction that provides them with the tools to achieve. Evidence of a link between principals and student achievement in the literature has cultivated an interest in improving principal leadership as a means of reversing persistent teaching gaps (National Association of Secondary School Principals & National Association of Elementary School Principals, 2013). This study provides evidence of the systemic racism permeating public education as experienced by black women principals who are engaged in equity work to close teaching …

Contextualizing Lgbtq Faculty Experiences: An Account Of Sexual Minority Perceptions, Travis Dimitri David

All Theses And Dissertations

The well-being of faculty is susceptible to influence from intrinsic and extrinsic occupational characteristics. Heterosexism or hostile environments can be associated with decreased satisfaction amongst sexual minorities. As such, this transcendental phenomenology examined perceptions from tenured lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) faculty of their workplace conditions. Eight participants reflected on experiences from within higher education, academic settings. This study purposefully probed how sexual orientation and sexual minority status impacted their overall job satisfaction. Through providing context for social interactions in a traditionally heteronormative environment, cultural and attributional behaviors associated with affecting LGBTQ faculty in higher education was analyzed. …

A Study Of State College Faculty Trust In Immediate Supervisors, Anna Byrd

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study investigated faculty trust in their immediate supervisors (academic deans and faculty chairs) in a state college setting. A survey instrument created for this study was based on existing research on trust in schools by Bryk and Schneider (2002) and Tschannen-Moran and Hoy (1998), as well as research on trust in corporate setting. The study’s purpose was to determine the types and frequencies of interactions between community college faculty and deans/faculty chairs – i.e., faculty immediate supervisors – that are related to higher levels of faculty trust. Also investigated were the relationships between faculty trust and demographic characteristics …

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

Education Faculty Articles and Research

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

Race, Resilience, And Resistance: A Culturally Relevant Examination Of How Black Women School Leaders Advance Racial Equity And Social Justice In U.S. Schools, Tonya Evette Walls

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This culturally relevant qualitative examination of the leadership of Black women educational leaders (BWEL) committed to advancing a social justice leadership agenda within the contested spaces (Stovall, 2004) comprising United States (U.S.) P-12 schools, employs an African centered emancipatory methodology (Kershaw, 1990, 1992; Tillman, 2002), situated in a conceptual framework grounded in the research on applied critical leadership (Santamaria, 2013). It examines, highlights, celebrates, and makes transparent, the unique leadership of BWEL. Engaged to rebuke the silencing and marginalization of women educational leaders of color in the educational leadership discourse, this study bridges engages a multiple case study approach, phenomenological …

Technology, Power, And Leadership: Recommendations For Preserving Faculty Autonomy In The 21st Century, Leslie Pourreau

The Siegel Institute Journal of Applied Ethics

Today’s institutions of higher education dedicate significant time and effort to outfitting facilities with the latest technology equipment and packages and to providing faculty with training and support. Conversely, literature on technology implementation in higher educational settings typically focuses on procedures and timelines and makes little mention of how faculty perceive technology as a challenge or threat to their autonomy and professional identity. This literature review uses the terms “power”, “empowerment” and “technology” according to Foucault, Kanter, Rowlands, and others as the lens to examine connections between technology and faculty’s real or perceived loss of identity and autonomy. Instructional technology …

Cultivating Leaders Of Indiana: Global Collaborations And Local Impacts, Jennifer Sdunzik, Annagul Yaryyeva

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

“Cultivating Leaders of Indiana” was developed to establish connections between the Purdue student body and the Frankfort, Indiana, community. By engaging high school students in workshops that focused on local, national, and global identities, the goal of the project was to encourage students to appreciate their individuality and to motivate them to translate their skills into a global perspective. Moreover, workshops centering on themes such as culture, citizenship, media, and education were designed to empower project participants to embrace their sense of social value and responsibility, not only in their immediate communities, but also globally.

Principal’S Coalition Building And Personal Traits Brings Success To A Struggling School In Malaysia, Mohammad Noman, Rosna Awang Hashim, Sarimah Shaik-Abdullah

The Qualitative Report

This paper presents findings from a single site case study of a school in a rural part of Malaysia. Based on data collected through semi-structured interviews of the principal, teachers, students and parents, and observations, document scanning and field notes, the study attempts to identify the context under which the school operates, the core practices of the school principal and the enactment of these core practices. The data analysis was carried out through data reduction resulting in initial themes which were further refined several times until consensus was achieved. The themes were then discussed under the light of theories resulting …

The Perception Of Chinese Higher Educators Toward Leadership Effectiveness In Regard To Gender, Kanglei Meng

Dissertations

This study examines Chinese educators’ perceptions of effective leadership behaviors in order to determine how teachers in Chinese higher education define effectiveness and whether there is a correlation between this perception and leaders’ gender. Factors considered included conscious and unconscious gender bias, Chinese culture, historical background, and identity. As a male-dominated country, China has been deeply influenced by Confucianism; hence, limited attention has been drawn to female leadership. The author identified and reviewed three women’s revolutions and their positive and negative effects in the past century in order to predict the status of female leadership. The researcher modified the Chinese …

Catalogs, 2017-2018, Anderson University - South Carolina

Catalogs

The 2017-2018 graduate & undergraduate academic catalog and introduction to the university.

Decision Domains And Teacher Participation: A Qualitative Investigation Of Decision-Making In Egyptian Schools, Waheed Hammad

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of this paper is to explore the gap between actual and desired decision domains as a potential factor affecting teacher participation in decision-making in Egyptian schools. In order to explore this gap, the study sets out to answer three questions: (1) what would a typology of school decisions look like in Egypt’s secondary schools? (2) How do Egyptian teachers perceive actual decisions made in their schools? (3) What decision domains are most desired by Egyptian teachers? The study employed a qualitative, descriptive research approach based on individual, semi-structured interviews with a sample of 85 school teachers and senior …

A Qualitative, Exploratory Case Study Of Self-Reported Influences Affecting The Decision Of Homeless Sexual-Minority Students To Leave Home, Michael P. Hill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to identify commonalities regarding influences within the decision-making process that attributed to sexual-minority students voluntarily or involuntarily becoming homeless in lieu of remaining in their respective familial home. An exploratory case-study research design was utilized to determine common themes present in the self-described events that led up to the respective decisions of three volunteer participants, who identified themselves as sexual-minority youths at the time of transition, to leave home. Results of this study discerned five commonalities among the participants’ experiences, which influenced their experiencing homelessness. The detection of these commonalities may provide school administrators and other …

Critical Autobiography As Research, Anthony Walker

The Qualitative Report

Identity is a reflection of how people view themselves within the social structure (Campbell, 2010; Hill & Thomas, 2000). Too often these identities are mirror images of normalized labels and affiliations defined by, and through, social norms and values. Introspective of social constructs and teachings of normalcy, often times one’s identity and status is never questioned (Ramsey, 2004). Juxtaposing systemic thinking with personal knowledge, this article offers insights into the uses and contributions of critical autobiographical research as a both paradigm of research and practice. This article seeks to link the application of critical autobiography with educational practice and theory …

Rural Interprofessional Health Care Education: A Study Of Student Perspectives, Curt Carlton Stilp

Dissertations and Theses

As the cost for health care delivery increases, so does the demand for access to care. However, individuals in a rural community often do not have access to the care they need. Shortages of rural health care professionals are an ever-increasing problem. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 sought to increase health care access by focusing on team-based care delivery. Thus, the need to educate health care students in the fundamentals of team-based practice has led to an increased emphasis on Interprofessional Education (IPE). While past research focused on urban IPE, a literature gap exists for the effects of a …

Letter To The President: Longitudinal Critical Discourse Analysis Of Academic And Hip Hop Genres In A Rap Narrative Program, Debangshu Roygardner

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The objective of this study was to examine an in-school rap narrative workshop through critical discourse theory (Bamberg, 2012; Daiute, 2014). Twelve youth from a public school serving youth in urban Houston, TX were recruited from an in-school and after-school Hip hop/Rap narrative program to participate in a two-year cohort research study. The primary research question guiding the study was “How do young people participating in a school-based Hip hop/Rap program use a wide range of narrative genres for literacy and psycho-social development over two years in the program?”

The data-intensive study involved assessments of literacy and psycho-social development via …

Student Censorship In The Social Work Classrooms, Lisa Kozlowski

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Through the evolution of the field of social work, a divide in its ideologies has emerged and certain political and ideological groups such as the religious and conservatives have become underrepresented. As a result, over the years the liberal philosophies have emerged as the dominant group. This has led to a decrease in diversity within the field. Recognition of biases in the field of social work is difficult. Through a qualitative analysis method, this study was meant to explore if social work students feel they are free to share openly in the classroom, and if they are accepting of all …

Towards Soulful And Sustainable Service: The Role Of Ethics In Global Service-Learning Programs Within Faith-Based Tertiary Institutions, Corrie Johnson

Capstone Collection

This research evaluates the practices of specified faith-based institutions within the field of undergraduate global service learning through the lens of each of the major themes in the Fair Trade Learning framework. These themes include equal partnership, mutual learning, cooperative and positive social change, economic equity, transparency, and sustainability. Initial survey outcomes present an overall picture of where these particular universities are at in regards to balancing student and community outcomes. Interview outcomes provide a more in-depth perspective of how mutual benefit for student participants and host communities is being considered within the global service-learning programs these programs facilitate. Some …