Chief fundraising officers at technical colleges within the Technical College System of Georgia face complex challenges, including scarce resources, small staff sizes, and a lack of formal training. The purpose of the study was to understand how chief fundraising officers use self-directed learning experiences and learning projects to build…

Educational policy in the United States in the past decade has focused on eliminating the achievement gap by establishing legislation orienting educators toward research-based evidence and increased accountability at all levels of the system (Daly, Liou et al., 2014). Educational leaders play an important role in initiating and maintaining change,…

The intent of this study was to examine how school leadership influences teachers' instructional capacity using action research cycles. Understanding leadership roles and how best to meet the needs of teachers through school-level support and professional development can assist in building teacher capacity. In an adequate leadership capacity,…

This multi-case study analyzed the formal and informal development of adaptive capacity in fire service leaders within the context of increasingly complex situations driven by urbanization and climate change. Triangulating interviews, observations, and documentation review, this study included two urban fire service cases impacted by past complex…

Title 1 principals face many day-to-day challenges due to the complexity and demands of their jobs. Research has found (Levin et al., 2019) that principals valued professional development (PD) more if it allowed them to address their school's specific needs and circumstances and increase their leadership capacity. This research aims to explore the…

This study, a process evaluation, examined the inaugural, year-long leadership development program, Developing Collective Change Agents (DCCA), in a rural district in the southeastern United States. The evaluation described the program's organizational design within the context of a review of related literature for education leadership…

To broaden participation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education and continue building research capacity, this dissertation focuses on STEM professionals: those who take up education research later in their career and those who facilitate engagement in physics learning outside the formal classroom. Using agency,…

This qualitative case study investigated the processes by which an elementary school principal uses Distributed Leadership to accomplish leadership tasks and progress toward organizational goals. It aimed to provide a thick description of the practices, behaviors, perspectives, and experiences of the participants of Distributed Leadership. The…

In 2014, California voters passed the Safe Neighborhoods and Schools Act, which was designed to shift the focus from housing and holding criminals towards prevention and support programs for K-12 schools. The California State Legislature established the Learning Communities for School Success Program (LCSSP) grant for the purpose of allocating…

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of school leaders as they develop their capacity to lead and manage change. The central research question that guided this study is: What are the experiences of school leaders in Virginia as they develop their capacity to lead and manage change? The…

This study aimed to examine the effects of several factors (professional role, perceived level of assessment training, and perceived level of assessment competence) on student affairs staff members' views of what constitutes effective assessment and what they value in an assessment culture, measured through seven survey constructs. Adapted from…

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to describe how exemplary superintendents build leadership capacity with their executive teams using Kirtman's (2014) Seven Competencies for School Leadership. This multiple case study used purposeful criterion sampling and recommendations from a panel of experts to identify seven…

This applied research study seeks to improve principal capacity as instructional leaders. The need for principals to increase their instructional leadership capacity became evident with the ever-changing requirements of state accountability and student achievement. Using four elements in this study, cohort-based professional development for…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to research and report how highly accomplished elementary school principals in a large school district interpreted and enacted a district's instructional focus statement. The critical incident technique was used to interview four highly accomplished principals five times in semi-structured interviews…

This study utilized Clark and Estes' gap analysis framework to investigate barriers to building an academically and/or professionally trained Qatari student affairs workforce at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. Data collection combined a survey of 32 respondents with nine in-depth interviews drawn from the same sample. The respondents' experience in…