Education Policy Commons^™

The Evolving Identities Of Hsi And Differentiated Funding, Amanda K. Burbage, Chris Glass

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

To achieve Higher Education Act Title V funding goals, policymakers must reconsider approaches, respond to Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) diversity, and prioritize servingness. This study investigated HSI heterogeneity across traditional performance metrics and student-engagement indicators using data sources previously only examined independently. A multi-step TwoStep cluster analysis revealed six clusters of HSIs. The two most important predictors of cluster membership were years with an HSI designation (transitioning and established) and institution type (associate, bachelor, and special focus). Key quantitative metrics may be useful for policy actors seeking an equity-minded Title V award strategy that considers HSI heterogeneity and prioritizes HEA Title …

Developing Shared Leadership And Trust Within School-Community Partnerships Serving Concentrated Poverty Communities, Tatiana Wells

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School-community partnerships are critical for children and families in concentrated poverty neighborhoods. This basic qualitative study aimed to understand the dual leadership roles that are inclusive of the school and community leaders’ collective voice for building trustworthy relationships and equitable leadership to support families and children from communities with high poverty concentrations. The conceptual framework included elements from transformative leadership theory, the family interagency collaboration model, and the Ubuntu philosophy of humanism. Four community-based leaders and four school leaders with at least 5 years of experience in an eastern U.S. state addressed the research questions by describing how they foster …

Educators’ Perspectives On The Use Of Restorative Practices In Urban High Schools, Janora Michelle Holmes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African American youth are suspended and expelled at a higher rate than their nonminority (White) counterparts. Punitive processes such as zero-tolerance policies result in suspensions and expulsions, removing African American youth out of the classroom, and increasing the risk of dropping out and diminishing opportunities for academic success. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of restorative practices in urban high schools through the perspectives of urban educators. For the purpose of this study, the term urban was defined as predominantly African American. The theoretical foundation of this basic qualitative research was Canter and Canter’s assertive behavior …

Experiences Of Women Of Color In Leadership Paths At Predominately White Institutions, Philomena Marie Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractResearch shows that the experiences of women of color in leadership paths at predominately White institutions (PWIs) have impacted their advancements and route to the presidency. However, there is limited research on the positive aspects of their leadership contributions or on the intersection of race and gender and mentoring in their leadership roles. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the experiences of women of color in leadership paths at PWIs. Black feminist thought and intersectionality were the conceptual framework used to understand those experiences. Thirteen women of color in leadership roles at PWIs in the United States …

The Axis Of Access: A Quantitative Ethnography Of Presidential Discourse On The Construct Of College Access In The United States, Pamela M. Donnelly

Theses and Dissertations

Federal discourse pertaining to college access requires clarified definition. Use of the college access construct has become commonplace, yet no unified refinement of meaning exists. This study, which covered U.S. presidential communications from January 2009 to October 2021, addressed the abstraction of language as leaders presented ideas, policies, and opinions. Observable trends impacting social mobility for students from underserved populations were of central interest. The research methodology, Quantitative Ethnography (QE), used the tool of Epistemic Network Analysis (ENA). Eight codes were identified through grounded analysis: Affordability, Pathway Program, Underserved Populations, Class Systems, Upward Mobility, Career Readiness, Trajectory, and Career Technical …

Organizational Barriers To Effective University Student Mental Health Services, Felicia Evans-Edwards

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study was focused on organizational barriers to effective university student mental health services access in the department of student resources (DSR) at a for-profit university in the northeastern United States. Once such barriers are addressed, faculty may be more successful in reaching out to students needing mental health services who are not self-identifying as needing these services. The Baldrige excellence framework guided this descriptive case study to examine the organizational barriers that prevent university leadership from creating clear policies and procedures for faculty to refer students to mental health services. Data sources included interviews with the behavioral health leader …

Facultas Marginem: Assessing Disability Data And Public Aau Universities’ Affirmative Action Plans For Systemic Barriers Facing Faculty With Disabilities, Joseph Carlton Barry

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This dissertation contributes to education equity scholarship produced by academics seeking to develop understandings of disability, Persons with Disabilities (PWD), and how both are situated amongst faculty in institutions of higher education. As such, this dissertation centers on a study of public US universities belonging to the Association of American Universities (AAU). This study looks for institutional level associations between respective rates by which college and university faculty with disabilities (FWD) are employed, certain aspects of disability policy drawn from each institution’s 2020 Affirmative Action Plans (AAP), and various other instances of empirical disability data (EDD).

While this study contributes …

The Perceived Influence Of Value-Added Metrics On Urban Middle School Teachers’ Job Satisfaction And Motivation, Angela Jones

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Value-added metrics or models (VAMs) are an important component of the teacher evaluation process that evaluators use to determine the value teachers add to their students’ academic achievement. VAMs are used to arrive at a score that is derived from the number of the teachers’ students who pass and/or fail a standardized assessment. While prior research has focused on VAMs with respect to impact on student success and performance, little is known about how teachers experience the implementation of these metrics and how those experiences may influence teachers’ job satisfaction and motivation. The purpose of this interpretive qualitative study was …

Experiences Of Teachers Using Student-Centered Approaches In China, Raven Roytblat

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Schoolteachers in China are required by the government to transition from teacher-centered to student-centered instruction. Researchers have shown the challenges of and successes in implementing the instructional changes; however, a gap exists surrounding the challenges and successes of reforms from the perspective of teachers. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to better understand the experiences of Chinese schoolteachers as the system of education in China transitions from teacher-centered to student-centered classroom instruction. The conceptual framework for this study included Schön’s concept of the reflective practitioner and Liu and Hallinger and Knapp et al.’s work on the role of …

Administrative Support In Student Violence Directed Toward Teachers In K–12, Urban, Southern Louisiana Schools, Paula Taylor Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of teachers working in urban educational settings who have experienced student violence has increased yearly. Despite reporting these violent incidents, many teachers leave the profession between their first 5 years of teaching, identifying the limited support from school administrators as a major reason for their departure. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of administrative support in student violence directed toward teachers in K–12, urban, southern school districts in Louisiana. Great man theory, trait theory, contingency theory, transformational leadership theory, transactional leadership theory, and laissez-faire leadership theory constituted the conceptual framework of this …

Opportunities For Autism Information Shared Through Professional Conferences, Amelia Anderson, Selena Layden, Crystal Stang (Ed.), Jennifer L. Branch-Mueller (Ed.)

STEMPS Faculty Publications

With prevalence most recently reported at 1 in 44 (Maenner et al., 2021) children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States, school librarians can and should expect to see these children in their schools and in their libraries. However, previous work indicates that school librarians are not being provided with an adequate education about this in their graduate coursework (Layden, Anderson, & Hayden, 2021). This study expands upon previous work to explore the preparation of school librarians about autism by examining the previous five years of state library conference programs.

Intra-Regional Mobility Of Phd Students In The European Union: The Outcomes Of Region-Making Policy?, Charles Mathies, Brendan Cantwell

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Faculty Publications

This paper examines the flow of intra-European Union (EU) students for doctoral (PhD) studies to identify reasons for differences in international student mobility and migration (ISM) among member states. Rather than conceptualising intra-EU PhD student ISM only through push–pull forces, we theorise the intra-EU PhD ISM is associated with relative levels of national resources or levels of capital. We investigate the intra-EU PhD ISM through dyadic country pairings allowing the use of Gravity models to estimate the effect of variables associated with stocks of capital ascribed to a country to the change in the number of PhD students. The findings …

Charter School Administrators' Perceptions Of Local Policies Regarding Transgender Student Access To School Facilities, Derrick Armstead

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have focused on the viewpoints of conventional public-school leaders regarding school policies and implementation that influence transgender pupil access to school facilities; the perceptions of charter school administrators are less known regarding this phenomenon. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of charter school administrators regarding their school policies and implementation that influence transgender student access to school facilities that correspond to their gender identity. Raffo and Gunter's combination of leadership for inclusiveness and use of local setting knowledge when implementing policies provided the conceptual framework for this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews …

The Program To Reduce Implicit Bias In Carroll Hospital Center Using The Implicit Association Test, Katherine E. Traynor

Capstone Showcase

Natural brain processes make all individuals susceptible to unconscious bias; however, stressful, fearful, or anger-evoking situations as well as the negative influence of media and social surroundings increase the risk of holding obstructive bias, and there is a greater risk of being negatively impacted by this phenomenon when belonging to a minority population (Rose & Flores, 2020). As a result, high rates of infant mortality (10.2 deaths per 1,000 live births for the Non-Hispanic Black population compared to 4.1 in the White population) and cardiovascular related diseases (190.0 cases per 1,000 in the Non-Hispanic Black population compared to 161.3 in …

Faculty Perceptions Of Safety And The Impact Of Online Classroom Modalities During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mary E. Ogidigben, Ernesto R. Rivera, Robert S. Keyser

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has affected a number of institutions – one of which is Kennesaw State University (KSU). In the fall 2020 semester, KSU implemented safety protocols following the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as the University System of Georgia (USG) guidelines. A cross-sectional survey was sent out for faculty to complete at their own will regarding their thoughts on how the new guidelines are affecting their work as well as their safety while on campus. The survey consisted of 18 Likert-scale questions and eight free response questions. The survey results showed that 60.42% of …

Connecting School Finance Policy With Practice: A Site-Based Expenditure Report Study, Julia Chapdelaine Pontarelli

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examines the policy requirement of site-based expenditure reporting which is a requirement of the newest reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Every Student Succeeds Act. For the first time, the federal government has required school districts to report site-level expenditure data publicly. In Illinois, the tool used to meet this federal reporting requirement is Site-Based Expenditure Reporting. In this study, I focus on how school finance leaders understand, process, and implement the site-based expenditure reporting requirement while considering concepts of equity and adequacy. Sensemaking theory offers a helpful conceptual lens for understanding how …

Learning Recovery And Addressing The Learning Crisis In The Asia Pacific: Policy Brief, Pina Tarricone, Kemran Mestan, Ian Teo, Yung Nietschke

Global education monitoring

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted education for approximately 1.2 billion students across the Asia-Pacific, and forced the closure of many schools, precipitating a transition towards remote learning, albeit with uneven access and quality (UNESCO, 2021; Global Education Evidence Advisory Panel, 2022), and threatening to deepen the ‘learning crisis’ that already existed, particularly for the most vulnerable learners. As education systems in the Asia-Pacific seek to recover the learning loss due to the pandemic and address the broader learning crisis, it is incumbent on governments to identify appropriate recovery strategies in the short term. Also, governments need to support education system …

Policymaker Discourse In Colorado Public Higher Education Appropriations, Nathan Willers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

State funding for higher education is one of the most pressing issues facing both institutions and policymakers in 2022. Colorado has seen significant declines in the amount of state funding per student over the past two decades, resulting in increases in student burdens for tuition. Policy discourse analysis through a poststructural and neoliberal lens provided insight towards the legislative process and the discursive themes utilized by Colorado policymakers during the 2021-22 legislative budgeting cycle. Twelve artifacts were analyzed, including a mix of policy briefs, hearings, and budget and appropriations reports, for discursive data related to the state’s appropriations for public …

Juntos Luchamos: A Postcritical Ethnographic And Photovoice Study On Latinx Student Civic Engagement Practices At A Hispanic-Serving Institution, Liliana Diaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Situated at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), this postcritical ethnographic and photovoice study sought to explore how Latinx students define and practice civic engagement. Theoretically framed by Latino Cultural Citizenship (LCC), the study explored how current Latinx student civic engagement practices inform a Hispanic-Serving Institutions’ civic engagement efforts. Data collection took place over the 2021-2022 academic year and an exhibition of the study’s findings was made publicly available at the culmination of the study. Findings from the study indicate that Latinx postsecondary students define civic engagement as knowledge and resource sharing (KRS) and achieving success. Findings for how Latinx postsecondary students …

International Teachers’ Perceptions Of Mandated Curriculum And Instructional Practices, Jasmine Audrey Matterson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractInternational teachers who arrive in the United States from developing countries often experience challenges adjusting to the U.S. classroom environment. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of international middle and high school teachers at a rural school district in the southern United States on the challenges that they face with adjusting to mandated curriculum and instructional practices that may influence classroom management and effective instruction for student achievement. The conceptual framework for the study was self-determination theory which indicates that when individuals have autonomy, relatedness, and competence, they will perform at their highest level …

Investigating Why Alternatively Prepared Special Educators Frequently Depart The Classroom, Lorraine Renee Philyaw

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractA quarter of special education teachers who have been trained through an alternative teacher preparation program have left assigned classrooms throughout the United States after 1 year, and almost half have left within 5 years. However, little is known regarding why special educators, alternatively prepared for the classroom, leave the classroom after 2-5 years of classroom experience. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand why special education teachers enter school districts through alternative teacher certification programs but exit the classroom. The conceptual framework for this study was in the societal theory attributed to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. …

Urban School Board Members’ Perceptions Of Their Roles In Improving Student Achievement, Jacinto Arturo Ramos

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem explored in this study was that the state education agency recommended school board members of low-performing school districts participate in a governance training called student outcomes governance to address student achievement, yet no data suggested the training changed school board members’ understanding of how to create policies advancing student achievement. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand how urban school board members perceive their roles in improving student achievement using the new model. General board theory and the theory of adaptive leadership informed this study. Six school board members who had completed the student outcomes …

Completion Predictors For Students Who Transfer-In To A Community College, Erin Kristina Reeder

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed through this study is that the credential completion rate for transfer-in students (TIS) is lower than for first-time, full-time students (FTFT) at Peninsula Community College (PCC, a pseudonym). The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if the completion input (gender, race/ethnicity, age) and environment (number of transfer credits accepted) variables predict credential completion for credential-seeking TIS at PCC. Astin’s input-environment-outcome model served as the framework, in which a student’s success is a function of the student’s background before enrolling and the experiences while attending college. Deidentified archival data for TIS enrolled in fall …

Exploring Student Loan Borrower’S Financial Decisions After Florida Enacted Statute 1009.45, Vijantie Michelle Boodoo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Florida implemented Statute 1009.45 as of July 1, 2017, to require colleges and universities to provide annual student loan debt notifications to students to inform them about their student loan obligations. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine how college students in the State of Florida make financial decisions about their education, focusing on the influence of the notifications and what additional supports would help them improve their decision-making. There was a gap in the literature in identifying what information students were using from the notification. Rational choice and human capital theories were used for the conceptual …

Power In A Pandemic: Teachers’ Unions And Their Responses To School Reopening, Bradley D. Marianno, Annie A. Hemphill, Ana Paula S. Loures-Elias, Libna Garcia, Deanna Cooper, Emily Coombes

Educational Psychology, Leadership, and Higher Education Faculty Research

Drawing on Bachrach and Baratz’s first and second faces of interest group power, we explore the relationship between teachers’ union power and reopening decisions during the fall 2020 semester in 250 large districts around the United States. We leverage a self-collected panel data set of reopening decisions coupled with measures of teachers’ union first face power (drawn from social media postings on teachers’ unions’ Facebook pages) and second face power (operationalized as district size, whether the school district negotiates a collective bargaining agreement with the teachers’ union, the length of the collective bargaining agreement, and the amount of revenue raised …

How Principals Influence, Facilitate, And Support Instructional Coaching Programs, Nadine Y. Norris

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative, multicase study examined how principals perceived the role of instructional coaches and how they facilitated, influenced, and supported teachers’ professional learning through the instructional coaching program. Including the researcher as a participant, 16 participants from three suburban school districts—including district-level administrators, principals, instructional coaches, and teachers—engaged in semistructured interviews. This study was framed by Desimone’s core conceptual framework for professional development and Spillane’s distributed leadership model. Data analysis revealed principals viewed instructional coaches as their partners in instructional leadership and professional learning facilitators. Principals facilitated and influenced the instructional coaching program by empowering teachers, promoting collaboration, and establishing …

Educating The Policy-Makers: Analyzing The Effectiveness Of State-Level Discipline Policy In K-12, Alexandria Valkner

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

School discipline practices are an often debated topic in the field of education. In recent years, zero-tolerance policies and the use of consequences such as out-of-school suspensions have been routinely criticized. It is argued that those practices limit in-school instructional time and, therefore, directly affect student performance and achievement. Moreover, such discipline policies have also been known to disproportionately affect students from racial and/or ethnic backgrounds, students with disabilities, and students from low-income families compared to their peers. As a result, other disciplinary practices that focus more on restorative communication have been pursued. But little work has been done to …

Do They Make A Difference? Twin Cities Magnet Schools In The Heart Of Metropolitan Inequity And Segregation, Scott A. Thomas

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Magnet schools have served as one of the most important and widely-used desegregation tools throughout the United States. Each district, region, and state have varying degrees of implementation, policies, and goals for such schools; however, robust evidence of their effectiveness is needed. This study examines a single school district in Minnesota that uses magnet schools to meet a state desegregation order where five elementary magnet schools and five control schools were identified to understand the impact the magnet “treatment” has on achievement for students of color, English learners, and students receiving special education services. This multivariate comparative study uses the …

Perceptions Of School Counselors And Teachers Regarding The Communities In Schools Model, Amy M. Gates

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Lower graduation rates among Black, Latino, and low-income students negatively impact individuals, families, and communities. The Communities in Schools (CIS) model was widely used in urban school districts due to suggested positive outcomes butwas underrepresented in current independent research. Using Benet’s polarities of democracy as the theoretical framework, this qualitative case study allowed for the collection and analysis of perceptions of educators within the Atlanta Public Schools (APS). The results of this study suggested social change implications related to increasing manpower in urban high schools and the development and use of comprehensive student support services to reach more at-risk students. …

High School Completion Categories And Post-High School Plans As Predictors Of Ged Certificate Attainment In A Virginia Alternative Education Program, Joseph Knight

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractA state-wide Individual Student Alternative Education Plan (ISAEP) seeks to assist high school (HS) students at risk of not graduating in completing HS credentials. The problem was that there was no formal state-wide process for monitoring the program to understand its impact. The purpose of this quantitative exploratory study was to determine whether the graduation variables that were published by the state could be used to predict ISAEP GED attainment. The Theory of Action proposed by McPartland and Jordan guided two main research questions to see if ISAEP GED attainment could be predicted by categories of HS completion, and if …