Kylene Beers, well-known for her books "Notice and Note" with co-author Bob Probst, has taken time to detail in this essay that our times are changing, our language is challenged more than it is accepted, and sometimes we need to take a moment of reflection to think about how we can all make our world a better, more understanding place.…

The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to examine the co-teaching experiences of secondary choir teachers in associate director positions in the state of Texas. We interviewed 12 participants, who had held an associate director position for at least 3 years, two times across a 4-month period. Three themes emerged from the data:…

School shootings challenge educational safety, demanding effective leadership strategies. The Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, which claimed the lives of 19 children and 2 teachers, heightened concerns about campus vulnerabilities, urging administrators to prioritize student protection. I performed a qualitative study interviewing…

Principals matter a great deal in establishing a culture of excellence in schools. It has been known that an "ineffective" principal can create significant problems that impede teachers from carrying out their tasks and poor leadership may eventually affect academic excellence in students. A leader who does not have the skill sets to…

Youth in foster care experience disproportionate rates of abusive relationships, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Extant research points to the need for interventions at multiple levels of the social ecology, however, there is a lack of evidence to guide the development of coordinated interventions for youth, foster…

This qualitative case study explored assistant principals' practices in instructional leadership. This study was conducted in two small school districts in the South Texas Region 1 area. Research questions included (a) What instructional leadership behaviors are assistant principals in Region 1 engaged in? (b) What support is needed for assistant…

While most teachers in America are women, women are underrepresented in administrative leadership roles, such as the superintendency. This underrepresentation is even worse for women of color. Given the importance of on-the-job mentorship for new and aspiring superintendence, the lack of female superintendents of color means those who do reach the…

This study explored the impact of secondary administrator perceptions on implementing restorative discipline practices in Texas middle school campuses. Ten secondary middle school administrators from diverse Texas school districts that utilized restorative practices for non-expellable offenses participated in open-ended, semi-structured…

Community colleges play an essential role in providing student-athletes with the opportunity to continue to pursue athletics and go to college. Community college student-athletes' experiences, specifically those of female student-athletes, are critical to examine. Female student-athletes have unique academic and social experiences that can…

This study explored the lived experiences of Black male mentees mentored by female staff in high school school-based mentoring (SBM) programs. Specifically, it identified how their relationship achieved the four components of relational-cultural theory to improve academic achievement and support graduation. According to TEA (2022b), Black students…

This study examined how secondary educators across Region 4 Texas school districts describe how they address student behaviors in the classroom using a self-defined trauma informed approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 9 educators across Region 4 in Texas who have received some training in trauma, student behavior, and trauma…

Community college presidents play a critical role in making decisions that shape the organizational cultures and policies of their institutions. This study explored the perceptions of 15 public community college presidents in Texas. Using focus groups and grounded theory methods, this research applied analytical frameworks focused on human…

Utilizing interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), this study describes how the phenomenon of hope is experienced by six first-generation college students at South Texas Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), how student affairs contributed to that hope, and how these students understood the spaces on a college campus relative to their…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive design study was to explore the perceptions of faculty, staff, and students regarding how academic and social integration affected student retention. The theoretical framework used for this study was Tinto's theory of student integration. The two research questions focused on how faculty, staff, and…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to elicit salient information from K-5 teachers regarding their perceptions of in-school play. Play is not goal-focused and can be structured or unstructured, includes high or low physical activity, or utilizes gross or fine motor skills, and children participate in play for enjoyment. Method: K-5 teachers (n…