Educational Leadership Commons^™

An Exodus Of Black Excellence: Black School Leaders And Their Search For Home, Nickolas H. B. Dawkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the racialized experiences of Black public-school principals who have served in and prematurely exited the school principal position. By implementing a phenomenological and qualitative approach this study seeks to understand the lived experiences of Black school principals that have resigned from an educational organization and/or principal position in American public schools. The study examines historical factors that contribute to Black school principals leaving educational spaces and utilizes online surveys, multiple rounds of one-on-one interviews, and coding to analyze and identify forces at play in the racialized experiences of Black school principals who exit their positions. Findings suggest …

The Impact Of Covid-19 On Secondary Teachers’ Health And Wellbeing, James Jonathan Ray Thornton

Theses and Dissertations

Secondary teachers across the United States have had various experiences due to the COVID-19 global pandemic during the 2020-2021 school year. These experiences may have influenced teacher exhaustion and their ability to cope with numerous stressors related to COVID-19. This applied dissertation was designed to provide additional clarity to districts related to secondary teachers’ daily work experiences and attitudes while teaching during the COVID-19 global pandemic.

Secondary teachers were surveyed on how they perceived their occupational demands related specifically to emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishments, and depersonalization utilizing the Maslach Burnout Inventory- Educators (MBI-ES). The study also examined how secondary teachers’ …

Understanding Holistic Development And Wellness: Experiences And Perspectives Of Filipino Student Leaders, Leandro Loyola

Journal of Research Initiatives

This study focuses on how student leaders coming from different Philippine higher education institutions (HEIs) understand Holistic Development and Wellness based on their experiences and perspectives. Literature underscores the clear role of HEIs in ensuring the holistic development and wellness of the students, whose responsibility includes creating programs and policies that promote the development of students in different aspects. This responsibility is being shared with the members of the community like the administrators, teachers, and even with the students. Student leaders, especially the active student ones, are believed to play an active role in leading the implementation of programs and …

The Three Dimensions Of Inclusive Education In The Attempt For Educational Change: Cultures, Policies And Practices, Niki Alexaki, Xanthippi Foulidi, Evangelos C. Papakitsos

Journal of Research Initiatives

Inclusive education is approached from three dimensions: the creation of inclusive cultures, the production of inclusive policies, and the development of inclusive practices. In this paper, the relationship between these three dimensions is discussed and it is explained how their combination can lead to educational change and evolution in the development of inclusive schools.

Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions And Knowledge Of Response To Intervention/Multitiered Systems Of Support, Alexandra J. Taylor, Tommy Wells, Amy E. Lein

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

There has been considerable research that establishes the need to improve teachers’ knowledge of and ability to effectively implement response to intervention (RtI)/multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS), and there is a scarcity of research examining interventions addressing these concerns. In a mixed methods study, we examined the perceptions and knowledge of the RtI/MTSS frameworks of undergraduate preservice teaching candidates enrolled in a dual certification program at a small, private Catholic university in Kentucky, before and after participating in a semester-long, experiential learning project. The project involved monitoring both the reading and mathematics progress of struggling elementary or middle school-aged students …

Higher Education Futures: The Transformative Potential Of Using Critical Foresights Practices & Arts Based Research In Our Brittle, Anxious, Non-Linear, And Incomprehensible (Bani) World, Sheila Christine Mullooly

Dissertations and Theses

Our institutional approaches to problems in the changing global landscape of internationalized higher education are being challenged, and many scholars call for new approaches for understanding and addressing the complex problems we face (e.g., la paperson). The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up the need to make changes in how we approach our evolving problems and possibilities for human-centric transformation. This multi-paper dissertation is a call to action and proposes the use of new approaches to research and educational practice--specifically, critical futures studies and arts-based research. Design justice principles and participatory action approaches frame and motivate these possibilities. First, "A Public …

Perspectives Of Students With Intellectual And/Or Developmental Disability In College Inclusion Programs On Their Preparation For Working In Competitive Integrated Employment, Eva R. Blixseth

Dissertations and Theses

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities have a history of being isolated, marginalized, and excluded from employment that is competitive and integrated. Policy makers, disability advocates, and self-advocates have made efforts to center inclusive education and employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual disability. Employment is a valuable outcome for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities exiting college inclusion programs (Lee & Colleagues, 2022). However, from 2017 through 2021, not all students with intellectual and/or intellectual disability exiting college inclusion programs were employed. This is concerning as O'Brien et al. (2019) pointed out students' primary goal for completing college inclusion programs …

The Mediating Role Of Spiritual Intelligence In Enhancing The Effect Of Leadership Competencies On Quality Of Working Life In Saudi Universities: An Empirical Study From Academic Leaders’ Viewpoints, Tawfeeq Zayed Alregeb Phd

International Journal for Research in Education

The aim of the study was to identify the impact of leadership competencies on the quality of working Life in Saudi Universities. A related purpose was to examine how the impact of leadership competencies fluctuates based on spiritual intelligence. A suggested model for the impact of Leadership competencies on both quality of working life and spiritual intelligence was built in public Saudi universities in Riyadh. The study used the descriptive analytical method. The study sample consisted of a total pf 228 academic leaders in the official Saudi universities located within the borders of the Saudi capital Riyadh. The results of …

Latina Superintendents And The Role Cultural Intelligence Plays In Their Leadership: El Líderazgo Inteligente De Superintendente Latinas, Cristina Cortes

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to describe the culturally intelligent leadership practices used by Latina superintendents based on Earley and Ang’s (2003) cultural intelligence scale. The four dimensions of cultural intelligence (CQ) are metacognition, cognition, motivation, and behavior.

Methodology: This phenomenological multicase study was conducted through interviews of four Latina superintendents of California public schools. The researcher selected a qualitative method because it would describe the culturally intelligent leadership practices based on Earley and Ang’s (2003) dimensions of CQ.

Findings: Close examination of data from interviews and artifacts yielded 221 frequencies for the four domains of …

Building A World-Class Learning System, Geoff N. Masters

School and system improvement

This study sought to understand how five jurisdictions – British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea, which have all performed unusually well in international achievement surveys over the past two decades – are approaching school education and its transformation. Geoff Masters describes key aspects of the learning systems these jurisdictions have established, comments on how they are now redesigning their learning systems for the future, and discusses insights into what may be required for any jurisdiction to perform well on measures of the kind currently used in international surveys.

Changes In Teachers’ Mobility And Attrition In Arkansas During The First Two Years Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Andrew Camp, Gema Zamarro, Josh B. Mcgee

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a trying period for teachers. Teachers had to adapt to unexpected conditions, teaching in unprecedented ways. As a result, teachers' levels of stress and burnout have been high throughout the pandemic, raising concerns about a potential increase in teacher turnover and future teacher shortages. We use administrative data for the state of Arkansas to document the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers’ mobility and attrition during the years 2018-19 to 2021-2022. We find stable turnover rates during the first year of the pandemic (2020-2021) but an increase in teacher mobility and attrition in the …

Understanding Leadership For Adaptive Change In Catholic Schools: A Complexity Perspective, Andrew F. Miller, Anna Noble, Patrick Mcquillan

Journal of Catholic Education

In an era of decline and crisis, Catholic school leaders have been encouraged to find innovative ways to enhance a school’s operational vitality. Yet to this point, most research on educational change in Catholic schools has focused on the technical tasks school principals can take to “save” individual schools. In this article, we apply a complexity perspective to educational change leadership in Catholic education: leadership for adaptive change. Based on a new empirical analysis of the professional experiences of two Catholic school principals working at four different parish schools, we demonstrate in this article how leadership for adaptive change can …

A Program Evaluation Of The Support Facilitation Model In One K-8 School, Marvin Pitts

Dissertations

The goal of my evaluation was to determine if the support facilitation model for providing Exceptional Student Education (ESE) was effective for the students' academic success in the school under study. The school under study was a charter school located in the southeastern United States and served students from kindergarten to eighth grade. The school’s community was considered low-socioeconomic based on the number of students receiving free and reduced meals. The two main questions that guided my research were: (1) What are the perceptions of general education classroom teachers and ESE teachers of support facilitation in the school under study? …

Aligning Development With Adjunct Faculty Motivations, Liz Cummins, Angela Atwell

Publications

Presentation from the International Consortium for Educational Development Conference, Aarhus, Denmark.

Professional Stem Identity, Achievement Goal Orientation, And Selfauthorship In Underrepresented Minority Undergraduate Stem Students, Christopher King

Theses and Dissertations

Post-secondary education is meant to build the cognitive and professional growth of the students studying all subjects. Yet, little is known about the development of how students think of themselves as members of the field, nor how they develop from a young novice to a person eligible for employment. A lens of self-authorship was used to compliment and interpret data collected regarding how students think of themselves as member of the STEM community (STEM Identity) and how they perceive their achievement STEM Identity. There was a significant link between student-mentor experiences and a higher professional identity and more progress along …

June 2022 Bulldog Alumni & Friends News, Kari Jones, Garrett King

Bulldog Alumni & Friends News

SWOSU will be on the road this summer! Join us for a complimentary happy hour. We kick off in Oklahoma City June 23 and Tulsa on July 21. We can’t wait to see you!

Activities Negatively Influencing Retention Of African American College Students And Leadership Strategies To Increase Retention, Melvaughn Thompson

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to recognize the decrease in retention of African American college students. What are some of the reasons for a decrease in retention and what do the leaders do about it? Leadership can develop and implement to recruit and increase retention of some of these African American academic students. The college dropout rates on college campuses overall are 40%, with 30% of these students being freshman and sophomores. The theoretical framework for this study is based on the expectancy theory of motivation which is a process theory of motivation (Vroom, 1964). An individual's motivation (Valence) …

An Evaluation Of Factors Influencing Teacher Retention In Title I Elementary Schools, Marica Stewart

Dissertations

The goal of my study was to evaluate what factors support the decisions of teachers in Title I schools to remain at the same Title I school for multiple years. More specifically, my desired outcome for this study was to determine the factors which can be managed at a school-based level to positively affect teacher retention, thereby ensuring that students have access to fully qualified teachers on an ongoing basis. The study addressed the following research questions: 1) What factors motivated the teachers to accept employment at a Title I school? 2) What factors were instrumental in teachers remaining in …

Does The Timing Of Money Matter? A Case Study Of The Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship, Jessica Goldstein, Jonathan N. Mills, Albert Cheng, Collin E. Hitt

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

This paper examines the effect of a state-financed merit-aid scholarship—the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship (ACS)—on post-secondary outcomes at a large university in Arkansas. Exploiting scholarship eligibility requirements, we implement a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to identify the scholarship’s causal impacts on college outcomes. The analysis focuses on currently enrolled sophomores, juniors, and seniors who receive the scholarship to investigate the broad impacts of receiving money at nontraditional points in an individual’s college trajectory. Findings indicate small, negative impacts of scholarship receipt on short-run outcomes such as GPA and credit accumulation, but large statistically significant declines in the likelihood of graduating …

Student Characteristics, Institutional Factors, And Outcomes In Higher Education And Beyond: An Analysis Of Standardized Test Scores And Other Factors At The Institutional Level With School Rankings And Salary, Jonathan Wai, Bich Tran

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

When seeking to explain the eventual outcomes of a higher education experience, do the personal attributes and background factors students bring to college matter more than what the college is able to contribute to the development of the student through education or other institutional factors? Most education studies tend to simply ignore cognitive aptitudes and other student characteristics-in particular the long history of research on this topic-since the focus is on trying to assess the impact of education. Thus, the role of student characteristics has in many ways been underappreciated in even highly sophisticated quantitative education research. Conversely, educational and …

The Elementary School Principal's Influence On Teacher Hiring Practice & Decision Making, Courtney Goodman

Dissertations

In the role of a building principal, the hiring process is among the most critical components of the job, particularly hiring the right people for the right positions. Yet, hiring approaches vary from principal to principal, building to building, district to district. This study surveyed and interviewed principals and administrators about their hiring processes to determine the most effective and evidence-based approaches to hiring. It identifies several strategies to streamline the hiring process, including using a common set of tools for hiring, adhering to a set timeline for the hiring process, and focusing on criteria for hiring decision-making. This research …

A Qualitative Phenomenological Study Of Public School Teachers’ Experiences While Teaching During A Pandemic, Andrew M. Bard

All Theses And Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of K-12 public school teachers related to stress and burnout while teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Three research questions guided this study: (1) How do K-12 public school teachers describe their lived experiences while teaching during a pandemic?, (2) How do K-12 public school teachers describe their perceptions of stressors related to teaching during a pandemic?, and (3) How do K-12 public school teachers describe their experience as learners while adapting to teaching during a pandemic? Constructivism and social constructivism were applied as the conceptual and theoretical …

The Grit To Not Quit - An Examination Of The Relationship Between Grit And Teacher Retention, Alexia W. Bultman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the level of grit that best predict years in teaching. The study sought to answer the research question, How accurately can years of teaching experience be predicted from the linear combination of grit score (meaning the consistency of interest and perseverance of effort), age, gender, level of education, grade level taught, and subjects taught? Teachers (N = 468) of preschool-12th grade in a large suburban Atlanta school district responded to survey questions from the Grit-S Scale questionnaire along with demographic questions. Multiple linear regression was conducted to analyze the data. The …

Integration Of Non-Traditional Students: Comparing Traditional And Non-Traditional Students' Sense Of Belong, Michelle Leeann Walbeck

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

With an ever-increasing number of non-traditional students enrolling each year, the importance of ensuring their academic success falls primarily on the higher education institutions (HEIs). Each institution has its recipe for success and mostly consists of a student success office to assist when non-traditional students begin to show signs of markers for being at-risk. The reactive approach of waiting for students to show signs of struggle is missing the larger picture. The researcher utilized quantitative correlative and predictive correlative studies to determine if a direct correlation existed between non-traditional students’ perceived sense of belonging, which is at the core of …

Actions Of The Principal: Influences On Teacher Self-Efficacy And Motivation, Amanda Maslen Conner

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Classroom teachers are a significant influence on student achievement. Numerous studies indicate that teacher motivation and self-efficacy influence their effectiveness in the classroom. Furthermore, studies indicate that the leadership behaviors of the principal can influence the school culture and have a direct impact on teacher motivation and self-efficacy. This study sought to determine if a relationship exists between certain behaviors of administrators and a teacher's self-efficacy and motivation. The study used a correlational design using The Teacher Motivation & Job Satisfaction Survey (TMJSS), The Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES), and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI). There were 72 high …

A Phenomenological Study Of Experiences Of Veteran High School Special Education Teachers Who Remain In The Profession, Harold Alexander Russell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This transcendental phenomenological study aimed to understand the experiences influencing veteran high school special education teachers in an urban setting to remain in the teaching profession. The central phenomenon under investigation was defined as the events and incidents that influence the decision-making process of special education high school teachers who remain in the special education profession for more than 4 years. The study’s central research question asked, How do high school special education teachers with more than 4 years of service describe their teaching experiences that influence their decision to remain in special education? The study used a qualitative phenomenological …

Relationship Between Course Placement Criteria And Mathematics Achievement In An All-Boys Catholic School, Daniel J. Mccue

Journal of Catholic Education

This study explored the mathematics course placement process for incoming students in an all-boys Catholic high school. The sequential nature of mathematics significantly impacts students’ opportunity to learn; moreover, the mathematics course taken by a student during ninth grade can have far-reaching effects. Previous studies have found that ninth-grade students enrolled in Geometry, rather than Algebra 1, have a greater chance of completing advanced mathematics courses and experiencing increased mathematics success. Thus, adequately prepared students should be placed in Geometry whenever possible. To aid this effort, this study investigated whether a relationship exists between course placement criteria and future mathematics …

Creating Safe Schools: An Exploratory Study Of Educator Perspective On Student Behavior And Restorative Practices In Schools Implementation, Rachel Danielle Vargas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Restorative practices in schools (RPS) is an Integrated Student Support process that many U.S. K-12 schools utilize to combat student behavior and racial disparities against students. Initial research suggests that RPS is a successful tool to drop suspension rates, create safe school environments, and help students stay engaged in school. However, there is not sufficient empirical evidence to support a successful implementation model, leading to mixed results and opinions about the effectiveness of RPS. The purpose of this study was to explore the program processes of RPS and determine effective implementation strategies that lead to successful student outcomes. Data were …

Cultivating Crsl Capacity For Marginalized Students And Student Groups, Dusty L. Palmer, Irma L. Almager, Fernando Valle

School Leadership Review

The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to explore the impact of the instructional coaching model that was conducted over three years during a job-embedded principal preparation residency program.  This study revealed how instructional coaching relationships used culturally responsive leadership to improve teaching practices and advance student outcomes for marginalized students and student groups, specifically addressing English Language Learners and Special Education students.

Interpreting Social-Emotional Learning: How School Leaders Make Sense Of Sel Skills For Themselves And Others, James Bailey, Randy Weiner

School Leadership Review

The need for social-emotional learning for adults has emerged due to accountability stressors and the Covid-19 pandemic. While many school leaders believe in SEL for adults, major disconnects exist between their understanding and belief in SEL and their plans to implement it. The main problem this research sought to address integrated two ideas in the affective world of school leaders: First, research literature today does not describe what competencies from the most commonly used framework for SEL, CASEL, mean concerning school leadership. Second, research literature today does not describe how school leaders explicitly develop SEL skills and operationalize these competencies …