School districts, faced with increasing shortages in the education profession, are leveraging internal district strategies to recruit and grow their educators. In addition to preparing and credentialing new educators, districts are turning inward to cultivate their leadership pipeline. This case study explores a post-credential inner-district…

Utilizing a phenomenological approach, this dissertation explores how principals perceive and use their roles in developing and maintaining inclusive special education programs. Specifically, this study has examined principals' beliefs and ideals in decision-making to support inclusion in classrooms. Its goal is to provide insight into principals'…

Principal Preparation Programs are a one-year intensive program to develop aspiring school Principals with at least three years of Assistant Principal experience (Solodev, 2022). The purpose of these programs is to prepare aspiring leaders for the role of school Principal adequately. This qualitative phenomenological study aimed to explore the…

Teachers have endured work-related stressors daily to provide the best educational experience to students. This applied research study addressed teacher stress levels to implement a teacher centered social emotional learning (SEL) program. This study was collaborative and involved teachers, administrators, and district staff who worked together to…

This study was designed to investigate the decision-making processes involved with deciding the funding and framing of music programs in three suburban school districts in the New York metropolitan area. School leaders were interviewed to understand the factors associated with the decision-making process. The findings helped to understand…

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is the administrative law that governs special education services and how students with disabilities should be educated. When students are found eligible for special education and related services, the law states that the general education classroom should be the first placement considered where…

Character education has the potential to increase student academic performance as well as social and emotional skills regardless of socio-economic level, race, gender, or grade level. Yet prior theory and research suggests there is a lack of preparation for educational leaders in developing and implementing aspects of character education. Most…

School communities are looking for new and innovative ways to educate children. One effective reform strategy that schools are using to better prepare teachers to meet these needs is the development of professional learning communities. Much of the literature presented in this area focuses on teachers and their growth as collaborative working…

This capstone details the process of developing a qualitative principal appraisal system for the Houston Independent School District (HISD). I employed observational research, in-person interviews, and historical data analysis to inform the envisioning, development, and implementation process. Using Semler's (1997) Systematic Agreement Framework,…

The purpose of this study was to determine Pennsylvania principals' perceptions and understanding of the physical and psychosocial impact of childhood obesity, whether they believe schools should be addressing the issue, who they feel should be leading efforts within schools, what actions they believe are taking place to address the issue within…

Political initiatives in response to government reports have focused on students' preparation for higher education and their future careers, and students fall short. School districts and school programs give attention to the application of instructional practices to ensure students' college and career preparation, providing professional…

Students who struggle to read on grade level by the end of third grade are less likely to make academic progress and graduate before the age of 19. The district leaders in a suburban district in Texas were interested in determining the root cause of stagnant reading standardized test scores. After determining the root cause, a lack of a…

On average, teachers will teach at least one student with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in any given school year without receiving any instructions at all on ADHD. ADHD affects 3% to 7% of school-age students and one in every twenty children (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2010). It is classified as one of the…

This document reports the findings of a doctoral project regarding peace education in Lebanon. The emergence of Lebanon from a long civil war necessitates the existence of a peace program that will educate the new generations for a culture of peace. In this study, we tried to explore the potential of the development of a unified peace program…

As public school principals articulate policies and implement procedures for the establishment of special education programs, the same programs are not always provided in Christian schools. The question is raised as to why Christian schools do not provide these services. This phenomenological study investigated the experiences of Christian school…