The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to "understand" how secondary teachers describe the curriculum change processes of unfreezing, change, and refreezing in the southwestern school districts of the United States. The research questions were as follows: RQ1: How do secondary teachers describe the curriculum change…

Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, the Kansas State Department of Education implemented the Kansans Can School Redesign project (Redesign, hereafter) with the aim of fundamentally changing teaching and learning. The project was borne out of the feedback Kansans from across the state provided about what they believed education should be for…

With the constant strive for higher standards in education, New York State has joined with other states in the nation to develop a new strategy to teach science and 21st-century learning skills to ensure that our children are ready to compete in the global economy. This study sought to determine the current knowledge and perceptions of in-service…

The lack of job-embedded professional learning for instructional leaders is detrimental to the efforts to transform teaching and learning to be student-centered. The purpose of this Action Research study was to investigate and improve the job-embedded professional learning for instructional leaders to support the transformation of teaching and…

National statistics show increasing turnover in the superintendency. Additionally, neither practicing nor former superintendents record experiences within that public role. Given a two-century historical gap in the literature of few accounts from superintendents' perspectives, my study described my journey through three superintendencies from 1993…

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) demand that science educators shift from traditional to NGSS teaching and learning. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the change process of shifting from traditional one-dimensional teaching to NGSS three-dimensional teaching and learning. A survey was sent to all science…

A common educational assumption is that coherence is a pre-requisite for a "good" curriculum. Indeed, in mathematics education this perspective has persisted both nationally and internationally as a foundational principle for curriculum design, reform, and evaluation. While curricular coherence is often unquestioningly accepted as…

School psychologists are equipped with a dynamic skill set and an ethical and moral responsibility to support the diverse needs of all youth. While juvenile justice-involved youth may not be a primary subpopulation served by all school psychologists, they are a high-needs group that requires special consideration and attention. As a professional…

Many countries around the world are implementing changes to their systems of teacher education in an effort to improve the way teachers teach and how much children learn in school. This dissertation uses the case of Ghana to examine how a suite of ambitious reforms--including the upgrading of teacher education to university education, a new…

Students in higher education require the skills and knowledge to creatively solve some of the pressing social, economic, and environmental issues confronting humanity. In 2015, the United Nations and its member states developed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to address complex global issues and systemic barriers to achieving sustainable…

The purpose of this study was to understand faculty perspectives of institutional change. The context for the institutional change was a shift from a largely traditional student population with a focus on the liberal arts to a range of adult and non-traditional students seeking professional degrees. The three research questions which guided the…

In the education system, the integration of student perspectives into effective pedagogical strategies is gaining momentum. This dissertation delves into the concept of 'Student Voice' and its role in shaping educational frameworks. Recognizing the growing gap in soft skill proficiency among newly recruited employees, contrasted with the emphasis…

There is a gap in educational research regarding teachers' narratives of teaching in diverse classrooms, especially in East Africa. It is essential to investigate teachers' beliefs and perspectives because these are strong indicators of their planning, instructional decisions, and classroom practices and can also frame their perception of…

Systemic changes to curriculum are an inevitable part of education; however, understanding how teachers and administrators perceive their responsibilities in implementing district-mandated changes to curriculum is unclear. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine teachers' and administrators' perceptions related to their…

Virtual schools have gained popularity by providing students with the flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere. The appeal of virtual education lies in its capacity to enhance student choices and improve the efficiency of public education (Molnar et al., 2019). Online learning, with its adaptable and personalized approach, proves more effective than…