An Evaluation Of The Elements Needed In A New Teacher Induction Program To Prepare And Retain Second Career Educators, Bianka Newkirk

Dissertations

According to García and Weiss (2019), the United States faces a critical teacher shortage. There are not enough students majoring in or graduating with degrees in education. A solution to the teacher shortage is to fill the vacancies by recruiting and training secondcareer educators. If teachers are trained and mentored during the early stages of their careers, students will reap the benefits. Teachers who participate in a comprehensive new teacher induction program remain in the teaching profession longer and have tremendous success in terms of student achievement. Through my study, I aimed to research the elements needed in a new …

An Evaluation Of The Factors That Lead To The Development Of Deferential Interactions Between Teachers And Students, Shondra Browne-Bolton

Dissertations

Schools have historically maintained a hierarchy with an expectation that students show deference. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors that caused students to treat teachers disrespectfully. This mixed-methods inquiry included K-12 teachers and administrators who responded to a social media post and participated in surveys and interviews. Based on my findings, the factors that led to the development of deferential interactions between teachers and students included establishing trusting relationships, reciprocated respect, clear schoolwide behavior expectations, positive communication with parents, and teachers' professional dress. My recommendations were for establishing clear schoolwide behavior expectations, for school districts to …

The Causes Of Teacher Burnout And Its Impact On The Personal Lives Of Teachers, Neisha Williams

Dissertations

Abstract

This qualitative study focused on the experiences of high school teachers in the state of Georgia, United States. The purpose of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the reasons why high school teachers experience burnout and how the occupational burnout impacts their personal life. This study was also conducted to fill the gap in the literature and gain insight on the burnout teacher perspective on what causes burnout and what actions need to be made at various (local, district, and state) levels to help manage or eliminate burnout entirely. The theoretical framework used for this study …

The Organizational Socialization Of K–12 Classified Employees, Steven Dunlap

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify to what extent newly employed classified staff in K–12 school districts in Southern California experienced organizational tactics (content, context, and social) to support their socialization process during the 1st year of employment (G. R. Jones, 1986). In addition, it was the purpose of this study to identify and describe the degree to which newly employed classified staff saw these tactics as effective in supporting their socialization to their new role (role clarity, social acceptance, and task mastery).

Methodology: This study used a sequential explanatory mixed methods design to engage …

Adaptive Leadership During Times Of Great Change And Opportunity: Building Adaptive Capacity As Perceived By Community Emergency Response Team Program Managers, Ramona Gresham

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and describe the strategies used by Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program managers to build an adaptive capacity based on the five key characteristics of adaptive leadership identified by Heifetz et al. (2009).

Methodology: This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of 1` to build an adaptive capacity. The purposeful, convenience sampling frame was used to identify 10 participants who met the study’s criteria. The semistructured, open-ended interview protocol was developed by a thematic research team of nine peers and three faculty advisors. The data collected from interviews and artifacts …

The Effect Of Teacher Identity On The Level Of Cultural Inclusion In The Classroom, Jennifer Jones

Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenographical study was to investigate high school teachers’ perceptions of cultural inclusion and the impact of teacher identity on the level of cultural inclusion in the classroom. This research study utilized semi-structured one-on-one interviews as the primary source of data and participant surveys and researcher notes taken during the interviews as the secondary sources. This study sought to address two research questions: (1) What can we learn from teachers' experiences at a southeastern suburban high school regarding the post-COVID perceptions of cultural inclusion in the classroom? (2) How does teacher identity affect cultural inclusion in …

A Delphi Study To Explore Successful Implementation Of The International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme From A Principal's Perspective, Hilary Reynolds

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify the essential elements needed to implement the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (IB PYP) standards and practices from the perspective of elementary school principals who have successfully implemented the programme.

Methodology: This research study examined the essential elements needed for elementary schools as they transition to an IB PYP. This study illustrated the framework for the implementation of the study. Additionally, a description of the population, target population, and the sample used for the study was explored. The instrumentation, data collection procedures, and description of data analysis were then explained. …

Student–Faculty Engagement Solutions For Retention Of Racially Minoritized Students, Rayza Rolon Nieves, Kevin M. Wathen, Jordan M. Watson, Shanee E. Haynes

Dissertations

This qualitative study examined the importance of student–faculty interactions for racially minoritized students. Persistent challenges in low retention rates for racially minoritized students have been a focal point of scholarly investigation for decades (Carey, 2004; Kinzie et al., 2008). Despite research indicating that engagement between students and faculty is crucial for improving student retention, these interactions are constrained (Cox et al., 2010). The presence of effective student–faculty engagement can foster students’ persistence, while the absence of engagement can create a negative academic experience, especially for racially minoritized students.

Tinto’s theory of student departure (1975, 1987, 1993) is one of the …

Cultural Agility Competency Of Relationship Management As A Leadership Imperative: A Study Of Charter School Administrators, Monica Christensen

Dissertations

As the United States has become more diverse, research on Culturally Responsive School Leadership strategies and practices and research on Culturally Agility competencies has expanded. While interest has continued to grow in both of these areas of focus, little was known in the intersectionality of these two areas as it relates to cultural competency within K-12 charter schools. More specifically, little was known about how charter school administrators are culturally agile when managing relationships in their organization. Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and describe how charter school administrators are culturally agile when managing relationships in …

Barriers That Exemplary Principals Have Overcome To Increase Parent Participation At The School Site, Sandra Quintanilla

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the barriers exemplary principals have overcome to increase parent involvement at their school sites. This study explored how principals develop strategies to overcome barriers impeding parent involvement. Using those strategies, principals enhance parent involvement at their school sites.

Methodology: A phenomenological qualitative study was conducted, consisting of interviews to collect data from elementary school principals who have successful parent involvement at their school sites. First, the principals were interviewed in 60 min sessions. The data collected were analyzed to understand individuals’ beliefs and motivation.

Findings: Data analysis revealed that …

Phenomenological Study On Adaptive Leadership During Times Of Great Change And Opportunity As Perceived By California Public School Superintendents In Los Angeles County School Districts, Darrin Deknikker

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and describe strategies used by superintendents of California public school districts in Los Angeles County to build an adaptive capacity based on the five key characteristics of adaptive leadership by Heifetz et al. (2009).

Methodology: This phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of superintendents serving in public school districts in Los Angeles County. Purposeful, convenience sampling was used to identify 10 participants who met the study’s criteria. The semi-structured, open-ended interview protocol was developed by a thematic research team of nine peer researchers and three faculty advisors. Data collected from …

Personal Disruption Strategies Used By Latina Superintendents For Career Advancement, Dina Hernandez

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this explanatory mixed methods study was to identify and describe the perceived impact of Johnson and Mohr’s (2013) five disruptive career skills on Latina superintendents’ advancement to an executive leadership position.

Methodology: Using an explanatory mixed methods approach, this research studied the experiences of eight Latina superintendents in California. Data was gathered through a combination of quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews. Quantitative data involved collecting responses and calculating mean scores, while qualitative data was gathered through semi structured interviews. Combining quantitative and qualitative data allowed for an in-depth evaluation and the development of themes from survey …

Personal Power Tactics African American Female Superintendents Employ To Overcome Four Identified Self-Sabotaging Behaviors, Angela Brantley

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed-method study was to identify and describe personal power tactics that African American female superintendents employ to overcome the four identified self-sabotaging behaviors from the Self Sabotaging Framework adapted from Lerner (2012), Ryder and Briles (2003).

Methodology: This study identified and described the lived experiences of seven female African American superintendents across the United States. This research design encompassed a sequential data collection method using an electronic survey instrument, followed by one-on-one interviews. Based on the quantitative and qualitative data, the researcher was able to triangulate data using the trends, categories, and patterns …

Twenty First Century Principal Leadership, Shannon R. Goodacre

Dissertations

With the shifts and newly evolving complexities of the 21st century, the significance of what is needed from a successful school principal has reached a critical point. Today, one of the most vital roles of an effective principal is to, "Create a climate hospitable to education so that safety, a cooperative spirit, and other foundations of fruitful interactions prevail" (Foundation, 2013, p. 6). Therefore, the present study, using a constructivist research approach to conduct a phenomenological study, strove to understand a phenomenon, in this case, the phenomenon of leadership as it is practiced by high school principals (Adom, 2016). This …

Up For The Challenge? A Phenomenology Of Secondary English Teachers' Text Selection Experiences, Selene S. Mcalister

Dissertations

This study sought to describe secondary English teachers’ experiences with text selection. Its first aim was to determine how secondary English teachers perceive the use of young adult literature (YAL) with adolescent students. The study also details factors that influenced teachers’ text selections. Finally, the study describes how teachers’ perceptions of administrative support influenced their self-efficacy.

The study was conducted using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), a qualitative research method that employs in-depth, semi-structured interviews to develop descriptions of participants’ experiences. Participants included six secondary English teachers from a school district in the southeast United States. Teachers completed a survey about …

Charting New Paths: Exploring The Influence Of Followership Perspectives On Millennial Career Behaviors In The Changing University Workplace, Kimberly M. Stapleton

Dissertations

This dissertation will explore the attributes and application of the Reversing the Lens Approach (Shamir, 2007) to followership and its influence on career advancement strategies for millennials working at universities. The research will assess millennials as being born between 1980 and 1995 and currently working at universities in the southeast United States. This is a phenomenological study with an exploratory qualitative research design that seeks to uncover and understand to what extent millennials' roles as followers and their interactions with their leaders influence their career advancement strategies and what, if any, are the implications for their current institutions and higher …

Examining Systemic And Dispositional Factors Impacting Historically Disenfranchised Schools Across North Carolina, Raketa Ouedraogo-Thomas

Dissertations

This mixed method sequential explanatory study provided analysis of North Carolina (NC) school leaders’ dispositions in eliminating opportunity gaps, outlined in NC’s strategic plan. The study’s quantitative phase used descriptive and correlation analysis of eight Likert subscales around four tenets of transformative leadership (Shields, 2011) and aspects of critical race theory (Bell, 1992; Ladson-Billings, 1998; Ladson-Billings & Tate, 2006) to understand systemic inequities and leadership attitudes.

The qualitative phase comprised three analyses of education leadership dispositions and systemic factors in NC schools. The first analysis of State Board of Education meeting minutes from 2018–2023 quantified and analyzed utterances of racism …

The Phenomenology Of Success: Women Who Made It To The C-Suite Despite Barriers, Bettye H. Smith

Dissertations

Multiple researchers have explored avenues to achieve gender diversity in leadership, primarily by studying the barriers to success for aspiring women leaders. Despite barriers, a small group of women have risen to the top positions of US corporations, demonstrating that there is a path to success and highlighting an opportunity to address leadership diversity differently. Whereas most research on gender diversity in leadership focuses on the barriers women encounter, this qualitative phenomenological study focused on how women can succeed. By leveraging Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to explore systems that enabled a phenomenal group of women to advance to the C-suite, …

Perception Of The Elementary Education Profession And Levels Of Job Satisfaction: Is There A Correlation?, Alexis H. Redman

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to introduce the context and purpose of the research study. The study’s focus was on the perception of the elementary education profession and the prestige ascribed to classroom teachers working in public education by individuals outside the education system. The research questions were as follows: (1) What level of prestige is afforded to the elementary public school classroom teacher from the noneducator perspective? (2) To what extent do noneducators’ perceptions affect the level of job satisfaction among elementary public school classroom teachers? Themes found in literature supporting the research questions included the perceived devaluation …

Lived Experiences Of Cooperating Teachers And Student Teachers In Their Clinical Year, Ashley Nolette

Dissertations

Many aspects of a student teacher’s clinical year help determine their success in the future. Understanding the lived experiences of both cooperating teachers and student teachers is essential to understanding the dynamics of that relationship and how district-university partnerships foster an environment of mentoring and support. This study aims to understand and evaluate the lived experiences of cooperating teachers and their student teachers during the clinical year. This study focuses on understanding the cooperating teacher-student-teacher relationship and how mentoring does or does not happen in that relationship. For this study, the problem is selecting cooperating teachers and the lack of …

Exploring The Leadership Competence Strategies And Assessment Procedures In Southern Baptist Churches In A Small County In The Southeastern United States: A Qualitative Research Case Study, Coleman F. Smoak Jr.

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the strategies of Southern Baptist churches which contribute to the competence of their lay leadership. It examines the procedures for evaluating lay leaders’ knowledge of church doctrine and goals, as well as their motivation for pursuit of successful ministry. The research assessed Southern Baptist churches in a small county in the Southeastern United States through a qualitative case study with the primary research instrument being one-on-one, semi-structured interviews of church staff. The researcher sought an understanding of these churches’ practices to ensure that lay leaders are equipped for their ministry positions with regard to their leadership approaches, …

Diminished Aspirations Or Something More? A Phenomenological Study To Examine How Educational Leadership Experiences Influence Career Aspirations, Chevy A. Benson

Dissertations

This qualitative study utilized a phenomenological approach to examine the lived experiences female educational leaders’ face, which may influence their career aspirations. Phenomenology allowed the researcher to explore the commonalities across female educational leaders’ experiences. Female educational leaders from two school districts were invited to participate in the study, provided they had a minimum of one year of experience as school administrators. Participants were purposefully selected. The researcher utilized an electronic invitation inviting female educational leaders to participate in the study. The researcher then scheduled individual, semi-structured interviews with the participants to obtain data pertaining to the participants’ experiences. The …

Connectedness To Others Through Virtual Social Music Improvisation, Jody Webb

Dissertations

This mixed methods action research intervention study analyzed the influence of social music improvisation (SMI) on students' behaviors and perceptions of their connectedness to others in a virtual middle school classroom setting. Nine 10-minute SMI sessions allowed for the accumulation of data, with two additional pre-sessions being informative and exploratory to describe the SMI intervention and practice its aspects with participants in the intervention group. This study acquired pretest and posttest data from the Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness (Karcher, 2005) and observational information through process coding and field notes. Results showed how the presence or absence of SMI influenced …

Becoming Transfer Friendly: Evaluating Four-Year Higher Education Institution Strategies To Support Community College Transfer Student Success, Aarti V. Dhupelia

Dissertations

Four-year higher education institutions (HEIs) nationwide must become more transfer friendly so that more community college transfer (CCT) students persist and complete their bachelor’s degrees, as a path to more students’ economic mobility and to equity across communities. This study aims to provide learnings to support achievement of this imperative. The research question studied here is: What is the relationship between community college transfer (CCT) student support strategies at a four-year higher education institution (HEI) and the first-to-second-year retention of CCT students at their four-year HEI? Through quantitative analysis of a broad set of variables’ ability to predict student retention …

Leading From The Middle: Arts Administrators' Beliefs About The Impact Of Arts Education On High-Needs Students, Sofia Fojas

Dissertations

Research on arts education notes the positive impact of arts education on educational outcomes for students, particularly students of color, students in poverty, and students needing additional academic support. Students living in low-income communities receive different educational opportunities than those in high-wealth districts. This disparity is especially true for highly mobile and high-needs students of color. Arts education has made positive differences in student outcomes. This qualitative study examined the beliefs of county arts leads, leaders in the middle, situated between the California Department of Education and their local school districts, and how they can be empowered to be change …

"Who The Hell Am I? What Am I Bringing In Here?": A Phenomenographic Exploration Of Antiracist Mentor Development, Kelly Lynn Mack

Dissertations

Teacher attitudes toward racial diversity profoundly impact students, especially when compounded by teacher and student demographic disparities. Despite the purported goal of addressing biases and deficit thinking that limit teachers' ability to support all learners, antiracist pedagogy in teacher credentialing is poorly understood. Also included in the credentialing process, newly qualified teachers (NQTs) in California engage in a two-year induction program, collaborating closely with an induction mentor to attain their clear credential. Employing a qualitative, phenomenographic approach, this study explored how mentors within a longstanding induction program understood and implemented antiracist pedagogy. The research uncovered significant insights into (a) dimensions …

In Their Words: Voices Of High School Graduates Who Were Labeled English Learners, Yolanda K. Jimenez

Dissertations

This research captures the experiences of high school graduates who were labeled English Learners while they were enrolled in a public high school in the greater Sacramento area of California. The study examined what these bilingual high school graduates report as beneficial and detrimental experiences faced while completing the course requirements for high school graduation. This study builds on research that includes secondary classroom teachers and their perceptions of English Learners, classroom teaching and learning, and experiences of emergent bilingual students. The study expands the body of research and informs praxis pertaining to supporting emergent bilingual students as they attempt …

Rocketship Education: An Exploratory Public Policy Case Study, Vladimir Gresham Ivanovic

Dissertations

This dissertation is an exploratory case study of the finances of the Rocketship charter school chain, especially those related to real estate. Rocketship is a not-for-profit charter management organization, one of the first in Santa Clara County, California. This study seeks to determine if the financial transactions related to Rocketship charter schools yield profits for investors, despite Rocketship itself being a non-profit entity, and if they do, how and where do they do so. In order to characterize fairly and completely the profits of Rocketship Education itself and Rocketship-related entities, this study uses publicly available documents to track money flowing …

Addressing Equity Gaps In Stem: A Self-Study, Prabhjeet Kaur Brar

Dissertations

The Hispanic/Latinx population is increasing nationwide and in the state of California; however, the Hispanic/Latinx population remains underrepresented in STEM professions contributing to a lack of diversity in STEM. To increase the academic success of the Hispanic/Latinx student population in STEM majors, high leverage research-based teaching strategies through the lens of historically responsive literacy were applied and examined throughout this research. The purpose of this mixed-methods self-study was to examine the impact of research-based effective strategies/high leverage practices on Latinx students’ success rates in my introductory biology classrooms. The study focused on two biology course sections with a laboratory. Each …

Embracing Mindfulness-Based Professional Development In Early Childhood Education, Drew Giles

Dissertations

There is a growing need for school districts to identify additional strategies to support the work-related stress and emotional labor ingrained in an early educator’s career. By orienting early childhood education (ECE) staff to mindfulness practices, education leaders may identify new approaches to assist early childhood educators’ well-being, building healthy work atmospheres, and activities to shift the culture in early childhood settings. This study employs a qualitative exploratory research design, specifically video documentary methodology to better understand how early childhood educators experience a mindfulness-based professional development (MBPD) program designed for ECE staff, explore what they say education leaders should know …