Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Schoolar Education'

This study examined the relationship between school leaders’ self-reported levels of emotional intelligence and teacher perceptions of school climate in K–12 Catholic schools in Indiana. This study built upon the findings of a mixed-method study by Juma (2013) that was limited in scope and generalizability, and examined the relationship between a principal’s perceived emotional intelligence and teacher perceptions of school climate. The current study used a quantitative methodological approach and a larger sample size to enhance understanding of the relationship between school leaders’ perceptions of emotional intelligence and teacher perceptions of school climate. The Emotional Intelligence Quotient 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0) and the Organizational Climate Questionnaire (OCQ) were completed by 200 teachers and 30 school leaders in 30 K–12 Catholic schools in Indiana. This study did not find a significant relationship between a school leader’s perceived level of emotional intelligence and teacher’s perceived school climate. Prior research on these variables has been inconclusive. This study adds to the body of research examining the possible connection between a school leader’s emotional intelligence and school climate.

Inclusive STEM-focused high schools (ISHSs) are a relatively new phenomenon in the landscape of public education. This study of four exemplar ISHSs (identified by experts in STEM education as highly successfully in preparing students underrepresented in STEM for STEM majors in college and future STEM careers) provides a rich description of the approach to ISHS school leadership by identifying various internal and external leadership factors influencing school leadership. This study examined an existing data set that included site visits to four ISHSs along with pre- and post-visit data, and a cross-case analysis focused on the leadership contributions of ISHS leaders and their larger community.

This study found that the ISHSs expanded the concept of school leadership to include leadership both within and outside the school. In addition, school leaders needed autonomy to innovate and respond to their schools’ needs. This included autonomy in hiring new teachers, autonomy from school district influence, and autonomy from restrictive teachers’ union regulation and policies. Finally, ISHSs needed to continually invest in increasing their schools’ capacities. This included investing in teacher professionalization, providing pathways for school leadership, collaborating with business and industry, and identifying the best student supports. A product of this study was a proposition for characterizing school leadership in an ISHS. This proposition may offer valuable insight, implications, and information for states and schools districts that may be planning or improving STEM education programs.

Modern suburban school districts have experienced a significant shift in demographics over the last decade making them more diverse in race, ethnicity, income and ability level. The income diversity in suburban districts can hide pockets of significant need in the community. Due to the formulas associated with federal programs, suburban districts are less likely to receive supplemental funds to support vulnerable students. This study utilizes a case study approach and offers a unique view into the phenomenon by examining the work of a suburban school which has narrowed the achievement gap between economically disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers without the assistance of federal funds. Data includes interviews with 18 previous and current administrators, teachers and other staff, meeting observations, and a review of school documents and artifacts. Findings note the school maximizes its limited resources, empowers teachers to be instructional leaders through trusting relationships, has a robust support system for students and builds a welcoming school culture. Shield’s (2001) transformative leadership framework was used as a theoretical lens to explore the school’s practices.

The results of this study enhance the understanding of suburban schools with diverse populations by (a) identifying the multi-tiered support system that increases achievement of all students; (b) recognizes the school climate and culture among staff and students that create an environment that reinforces learning; and (c) illustrates how relationships between administrators and teachers can reinforce the instructional practices of the school.

The academic achievement gap between African American and Caucasian students continues to be a major concern for policymakers and educators. This gap started to shrink in the 1970s and 1980s with integration, but the 1990s showed the achievement gap was on the rise again. The characteristics of the neighborhoods where children live and attend school have a great impact on their academic performances. This research study examined the relationship between poverty, community violence and the academic performance of elementary school age children, especially African American students. Seventy-eight public elementary schools were randomly chosen in Los Angeles County that had at least 10% African American students who completed the reading achievement test in each primary grade level (2-5 grade levels) in April 2012. The results showed that poverty and community violence had a significant negative impact on reading achievement test scores for African American students. Furthermore, the impact of community violence was twice that of poverty on academic performance. On the other hand, Caucasian students’ test scores were significantly impacted by poverty and not community violence. One explanation for this difference was that African American students experienced twice as much community violence in their neighborhoods as compared to Caucasian students. Since educators cannot change neighborhood characteristics, they need to focus on developing educational models that mitigate the impact of community violence and trauma on African American students.

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental study was to investigate principals’ and assistant principals’ knowledge of special education law and procedures in Federal Military Connected Pacific Schools as it relates to Knowles theory of andragogy and how adults learn. This study investigated grade level and school size, individual knowledge base of special education law and procedures, initial in-service provided to principals and assistant principals, and principals and assistant principals ability to provide educational services to students with disabilities within their schools across the Pacific region. The following characteristics of gender, age, years of experience as a teacher, years of experience as a principal and assistant principal, degree level, area of concentration in graduate work, and number of courses taken in special education were also considered. A total of 21 surveys were completed out of 70 emailed to participants. Six of the surveys were rendered invalid as a result of being incomplete. The completed samples of the 21 received were evenly distributed into thirds for grade level of school. About 62% of the samples worked in schools with 500 to 999 students and two-thirds of the samples were female. About 76% of the samples were between the ages of 36 and 59. Almost 50% of the samples had 16 years or more of teaching experience and 38% of the samples had served as an administrator for 5 or less years, but nearly 30% had served as an administrator for 11 to 15 years. The conclusion obtained from this study support the findings in the literature regarding principals’ and assistant principals’ knowledge of special education law and procedures. Implications and recommendations were made from this study in Chapter 5. Research studies conducted in Federal Military-Connected Pacific Schools were not found and this research study will provide a foundation for future studies worldwide.

Small City School Districts across New York State are becoming increasingly fearful of losing newly hired, highly talented teachers. In the United States, 8% of teachers leave the profession annually and greater than 50% quit teaching before reaching retirement age (Sutcher, 2016). A study done on teacher retention decisions in New York City revealed lack of administrative support as one of the top five reasons for teacher attrition (Boyd, Grossman, Ing, Lankford, Loeb & Wyckoff, 2011). The importance of a teacher’s effect on student achievement cannot be overstated. Teachers have more influence on student achievement than any other factor (Carver-Thomas & Darling-Hammond, 2017).

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the effect that high school principals have on the retention of high school teachers in Small City School Districts in New York State. This research examined the responsibilities of high school principals who are important to teachers’ decision to remain in their current role; determine which responsibilities exist in their schools; and analyze the correlation between the two. The leadership practices and principles that are defined in The 21 Responsibilities of the School Leader, as outlined by Marzano, Waters and McNulty’s book (Marzano, McNulty, & Waters, 2005) School Leadership that Works, are the conceptual frame for this study.

This study utilized anonymous survey results from 295 respondents currently employed in 13 Small City School Districts located within the Northeastern Regional Information Center of New York State. The findings from the research indicate that while all of the 21 Responsibilities used in this research are existent, respondents were neutral in their perception of whether any of them were important to supporting teacher retention.

However, when separating the results by demographics, there were significant differences by gender and years of teaching experience. Responses by females and teachers with less than 10 years’ experience demonstrated statistically significant differences, whereas they perceive a vast majority of the 21 Responsibilities used in this study to be more important than their male and veteran teacher counterparts.

Also, the Responsibility of Involvement with Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment ranked last amongst survey results as important to supporting teacher retention and perceived existence by the building principal.

Finally, all leadership behaviors used in this study demonstrated a moderately positive correlation between what was perceived as important to supporting teacher retention and perceived existence of the behavior by the principal.

In 1983, the A Nation at Risk report stated that our educational institutions in the United States and especially in urban areas were not meeting the educational needs of our students. Since A Nation at Risk, elected school boards in urban areas were under fire from the media, parents, other civic and community leaders, and voters due to fiscal irresponsibility and poor student achievement. In selected urban cities across the nation, elected school boards were replaced in favor of mayoral control (e.g., Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington DC) and appointed school boards (Wong et al., 2007). In 1999, the Detroit Public Schools (DPS) was taken over by the state of Michigan in an effort to reform the district. In 1998 prior to the state takeover, DPS had 261 schools, 167,000 students enrolled in the district, and a $93 million budget surplus. In 2014 after several years of state control, DPS had 97 schools (−62%), 47,000 students enrolled (−71%) in the district, and a $232 million budget deficit (−349%). During this same time period, DPS had eight different district leaders under three different school governance models. This qualitative historical case study developed an understanding of the overall impact of school governance reform on the institutional progress in DPS from 1999–2014. Institutional Progress examines the overall functioning of a school district in the areas of: leadership, educational programs, finances, personnel, community support and political support. This study also described the external and internal barriers preventing DPS from making institutional progress. This qualitative study utilized four data sources: interviews of current and former Detroit Public School personnel (i.e., school board members, central and building administrators, teachers, parents and community activists), Detroit Board of Education meeting minutes reports, daily newspaper coverage of DPS from the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News, and city of Detroit archives on the annual State of the City Address given by Detroit mayors to determine whether or not institutional progress was achieved in DPS from 1999–2014. The findings of this study were the following: 1.) there was a lack of institutional progress in Detroit Public Schools; 2.) school governance reforms in DPS did not have a positive impact; and 3.) internal and external barriers prevented DPS from making institutional progress.

This dissertation argues that bullying is a fundamental response to bullies’ feelings of insecurity. Past research has found factors associated with bullying to include socioeconomic status and propensities towards violent behavior. Contextual factors posited here that produce the feelings of insecurity, which lead to bullying, include peer group dynamics, school climates, and teaching.

In relationship to peer groups, the theoretical framework of this dissertation draws primarily from the theories of Robert E. Crosnoe and Dorte M. Sondergaard. The assumption is that students are socially embedded in peer groups in which they struggle for social status (Crosnoe 2011) and in many cases experience the threat of social marginalization (Sondergaard 2012). Sondergaard, in particular, theorizes that the more insecure students feel about their social status in peer groups, the more likely they are to resort to bullying behavior.

All multivariate analyses in this dissertation are limited to white, black, and Latino boys. The resulting sample comprises N=6,491 student observations nested within 153 schools. The nested sampling structure requires multi-level modeling (MLM) for the calculation of unbiased estimates.

I find that individual-level student background characteristics are stronger predictors of bully identification than the school context, as measured by student body composition and teaching style factors. In addition, social status insecurity is a mediating factor for many of the student- and school-level predictors of bullying.

The dissertation distinguishes four types of schools, each of which is above or below average on two major dimensions. The first dimension is academic support (i.e., how caring and responsive teachers are), while the other is academic press (i.e., how strict and demanding they are).

I find that black male students are more likely to self-identify as bullies in schools that are below average on both academic support and academic press, compared to those that are above average on both. The pattern for Latino boys is different. For them, self-reported bullying is higher when the school rates high on academic support, but low on academic press.

I find no statistically significant role for teaching styles in predicting the amount of bully identification among white males.

This case study examines the effect of a yearlong place-based educational project on a single class of middle school students aged 11-14 at a public charter school in Santa Rosa, California. Of particular interest in this case study was the development of the concepts of belonging and place through the perceptual lens of the middle school student and through the vehicle of place-based education. This study utilizes qualitative methods including participant observation, interviews and pre and post surveys. The findings of this study suggest that the outdoor environment was very engaging for learning. Students reported that the development of a sense of place spurred from repeated visits to the nature preserve over long periods of time. These students indicated that a sense of belonging emerged to the preserve because of the stewardship aspect of the place-based educational project. Students felt a sense of stewardship toward the land after the project, and that sense of stewardship characterized a feeling of belonging. Cosmology was also a factor in understanding how these young adults came to define what it means to feel a sense of belonging to their local natural place.

Keywords: place-based education, sense of belonging, sense of place, stewardship, cosmology or new cosmology, community action, alienation or isolation, ecopsychology, biophilia hypothesis, placelessness, and constructivist curriculum-culture model.

Urban attrition is a paramount problem facing K–12 education. With a noted 50% of beginning teachers exiting education or transferring to suburban school environments, attrition negatively impacts a school’s ability to maintain an effective and stable teaching staff. This qualitative study set to examine how leadership and the community affected veteran teachers’ decisions to remain working in urban elementary schools. Utilizing the professional capital as accountability framework developed by Michael Fullan, Santiago Rincon-Callardo, and Andy Hargreaves, this study examined the extent to which perceived leadership and community members affected 13 veteran teachers’ decisions to remain working in urban elementary schools. Utilizing interviews of teachers and principals along with artifact collections, some emerging themes included making a difference, reciprocal trust, mutual respect, and love. Policy and practice recommendations were for beginning teachers to continue support programs that foster community–teacher relations and involvement in parent-based organizations such as the Parent– Teacher Association.

The transition process from elementary school to middle school has created numerous obstacles for all stakeholders. Early adolescents encounter emotional and physiological challenges as their bodies mature (Lester, Waters, & Cross, 2013). These challenges have a major impact on the academic achievement of the students (Musoleno & White, 2010). There is a direct connection between a student’s successes in middle school and how well the student will do in high school, making the transition process even more important (Andrews & Bishop, 2012). The purpose of this study was to identify predictors which could aid in easing the transition into middle school in order to improve student achievement. Data from the study were examined to evaluate if variance in curriculum, grading practices, and academic programs from Elementary School A, Elementary School B, and Middle School C had an effect on MAP Grade-Level Assessment performance and middle school readiness. The project also involved analysis of what impact other predictors such as student poverty, teacher-assigned grades, and student attendance had on student achievement during the transition process. This causal-comparative study was conducted to analyze the amount of discrepancy between variables of the study and MAP scores. The qualitative results of this study revealed some extreme differences in the percentages of students who raised MAP achievement levels when entering Middle School C from different elementary schools. This could be caused by the differences in curriculum and educational practices among the three schools. The statistical data revealed the other predictors in the study had an impact on student achievement.

Students are coming to school with myriad issues that teachers and schools cannot address alone. ecological systems theory posits that the environments with which a child comes into contact, either directly or indirectly, can impact her or his development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). With the support of community partner organizations in the local community, community schools can effectively respond to students’ needs and help them navigate the interconnected web of environments. Through interviews, focus groups, and a document review, this cross-site case study explored the practices that are employed by community school leaders (school staff and employees of community partner organizations) at two pilot high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), to implement six guiding principles of community schools.

The study also captured impacts of these practices through participants’ perceptions, documents, and the application of transformative leadership theory. The findings revealed that the pilot school model is a natural avenue for the community schools strategy, and that intentional practices and a shared vision by all stakeholders can result in transformative impacts on students and the school as a whole. District and school leaders could consider developing processes and systems for implementing a community schools strategy district-wide by providing funding for community school coordinators for school sites, working with school leaders to develop their shared decision-making skills, and leveraging the assets and resources of community partners.

Noticeably absent from prior research on the selection of high school principals is empirical evidence about the factors that teachers consider in recommending candidates for high school principalships. This study gave teachers a voice about factors that should be considered in selecting high school principals. A discrete choice experiment was conducted with 219 tenured (or previously tenured), public school teachers in Grades 9-12 in New York State. Teachers were asked to choose a single hypothetical candidate from 10 sets of 3, where each candidate was described by 6 candidate-specific characteristics: teaching experience, administrative experience, education level, instructional skills, managerial skills, and interpersonal skills. Case-specific variables (i.e., teacher-participant characteristics) in the analysis included teaching experience, education level, and school needs level. A single-class, alternative-specific conditional logistic regression (asclogit) found 4 statistically significant candidate-specific factors: previous administrative experience, instructional leadership, managerial experience, and interpersonal leadership ability. Teaching experience and holding a doctorate were not statistically significant factors in the asclogit model. The asclogit found 2 statistically significant case-specific factors (i.e., having an advanced certificate or doctorate, and being in a high-needs school), both of which affected teachers’ views about candidates’ instructional leadership. Latent class conditional logistic regression (lclogit) found that all 6 candidate-specific variables except holding a doctorate were statistically significant across 3 distinct latent classes and that holding a doctorate had a statistically significant negative effect only in Latent Class 3. No statistically significant case-specific factors were found by lclogit. The study concluded that greater attention needs to be given to the views of teachers in principal-selection processes.

This mixed methods, multisite case study examined the relational ecology of two urban middle schools that had adopted school-wide restorative practices (SWRPs) and the changes that occurred as a result of the reform initiative. The study was conducted in two Title I middle schools in the Oakland Unified School District in California. A positive relational ecology existed in these two urban middle schools which was built on the interacting and interrelated themes of relational trust, being heard, a relational-based, student-centered culture, and a commitment to the principles of social justice. The positive relational ecology created a strong foundation upon which change could occur at the organizational, individual, and pedagogical levels. Various structures within the schools, including circles, instructional leadership teams, student councils, and peer mediation, created space for teachers and students to be heard and empowered, which subsequently facilitated change and growth for many administrators, teachers, and students. High turnover, lack of initial and ongoing training, and the development of quasi- or non-restorative processes jeopardized program fidelity. Findings revealed that in these restorative schools, relational ecology and change were inseparable, and that they moved and influenced each other. A positive relational ecology created an environment that enabled leaders and staff to feel safe as they embarked on the journey of change. Changes in the ways that members of the school communities related to each other on a daily basis provided additional motivation to continue the change effort, and these changes then in turn strengthened the relational ecologies. Findings of this study are significant and have implications for schools and school districts, policy makers, and teacher and leader education. Future research should include longitudinal, mixed methods studies that assess the school culture before and after implementing SWRPs, as well as experimental or quasi-experimental designs that compare restorative and non-restorative schools. Such studies may provide more empirical evidence that links healthy relational ecologies to student achievement, less teacher turnover, decreased conflict, and healthier communities, thereby strengthening the case for rejecting punitive and discriminatory zero tolerance school discipline policies and adopting restorative justice in education instead.

This applied dissertation responded to two public problems: digital divides and unequal access to educational opportunities via the growth of virtual schooling in kindergarten through Grade 12 (K-12) in the United States. A qualitative instrumental case study approach was used to explore the relative advantages and disadvantages of public K-12 virtual schools in Florida through the experiences and perspectives of 5 virtual school leaders. This research also evaluated the virtual school leaders’ level of innovativeness in relation to the innovativeness/needs paradox (INP) in Rogers’s theory of diffusion of innovations (DOI). The INP suggests that innovativeness plays a role in social stratification issues between the higher and lower socioeconomic individuals in a system.

A demographic survey and interviews were used to gather descriptive details for the case analysis. The Innovativeness Scale collected empirical evidence on virtual school leaders’ level of innovativeness. Results participants were in the early majority category of DOI. Demographics suggested upward social mobility, high educational attainment, and tendencies toward innovativeness. Six themes emerged from the interviews: educational optimism, proinnovation bias, strategies of least resistance, fidelity to old-school norms, virtual schools are a public but private schooling niche, and the counterintuitive gauntlet of innovativeness: the legitimacy of virtual schools and stakeholder divides.

Findings suggested innovativeness in relation to the INP does have the potential to fuel underlying divides between advantaged and disadvantaged students in public K-12 virtual schools in Florida. The interviews suggested additional factors may play a role in divides in association with innovativeness, specifically, individualistic and systemic epistemologies and cultural relativism.

School facilities issues in rural America and the resources to remedy them are made more complex by rural population trends, building deterioration and inadequacies, financial constraints, and education policy. The challenge for rural districts is to generate the revenues required to build or renovate school facilities. The resulting long-term underfunding of school facilities has left a pattern of crumbling school buildings across rural communities. Rural school districts, particularly those with older structures, need to improve energy efficiency of buildings and upgrade building infrastructure to support new technology

This case study was conducted to ascertain and gain an understanding of the decision-making process of a rural school board as it related to policy and funding for construction, renovation, and maintenance of school facilities. A review of the literature, to understand why rural schools are often in deteriorating condition, revealed a limited scope of research addressing rural education. Kingdon’s (1984) Agenda-Setting Theory provided the conceptual framework for the analysis of the board of education’s complex decisions made, both collectively and individually. Applied was Kingdon’s The Three Streams Model to understand what factors influenced board members when making financial and policy decisions for school facilities.

This single case study utilized field research methods to collect interview data and documents for archival analysis. Interviews were conducted with the school board members who made the decisions for the capital building project investigated in this study.

A key finding in this study was how changes in district leadership and the shifting mood of the school board precipitated the initiation of a policy and reinforced the chances for survival. This finding was particularly true in respect of financial feasibility, which did, in fact, result in enabling the policy to become a building project. This case study serves as a foundation for continued analysis. To connect the larger themes of rural school facility issues with decision making, policy development, and the effects of changing social-economic dynamics shaping the rural school agenda locally, statewide, and nationally.

Negative public school perception is a problem for all stakeholders. Negative public school perception leads to lack of support, which leads to lack of funding. Research shows that people outside of the school community are the most critical. Mass media, political leaders, and education reformist have perpetuated the problem. School leaders are not doing enough to combat the negative stereotype of the failing school. This exploratory mixed methods study on the impact of school websites on perception of public schools was an exploration of how websites design can affect perception and addresses one way that the negative perception can be changed. Three school websites were chosen based on their level of information communication technology (ICT) integration. The principals and webmasters of each school were interviewed and the data were coded and analyzed to create a survey instrument which was distributed to a purposive sample of 58 parents of school-aged children. The results of the analysis and comparison of the data collected from the principals, webmasters, and parents revealed that school websites have an effect on the perception that parents form about the school. The data also show that information or lack of information on the website was the number one reason for the ratings given to each statement on the parents’ survey. In addition, the signals sent through the website, whether intentional or not, had an effect on the parents’ perception.