This present study utilized a phenomenological design to investigate administrators' perceptions of barriers to student attendance, current approaches to mitigating or removing those barriers, and the extent to which those approaches were effective. This study utilized interviews with area administrators where they were able to provide detailed…

Little is known about the characteristics and perspectives of school business officers, those who have the ear of superintendents and who help make key decisions about the spending of millions of dollars of public funds in school districts. Due to equity concerns and the paucity of research regarding this key group of individuals, this research…

Catholic schooling in the United States is suffering from a persistent enrollment crisis that has triggered the need for system-wide organizational reforms. However, most of the changes that the sector has experienced has taken place in individual schools making decisions about how to operationally sustain their individual school community. In…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore assistant principals' leadership readiness levels and the relationship between a district-provided administrator development program (ADP) and those levels. The study took place in Lovely Independent School District, which is in southeast Texas. Research questions focused on perceptions of…

School principals are facing an increase in demand and challenges from district, state, and federal agencies for improvements both behaviorally and academically. Each year, more school principals exit their positions for other professions. The concentrated poverty school districts have been hit the hardest by this exodus. The purpose of this basic…

Purpose: This study examines the intricate dynamics of Taiwan's Administrative Placement (AP) initiative, a headship preparation policy requiring aspiring principals to undertake placements within Local Education Bureaus (LEBs). Methods: Drawing on Foucault's concepts of governmentality and post-panoptic surveillance, this qualitative case study…

This qualitative study utilized a phenomenological approach to examine the lived experiences female educational leaders' face, which may influence their career aspirations. Phenomenology allowed the researcher to explore the commonalities across female educational leaders' experiences. Female educational leaders from two school districts were…

The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to determine the efficacy of digital learning competencies for school administrators in a rural eastern North Carolina district. The study had four research questions that were answered through a survey and a focus group. The survey had 44 quantitative items that participants chose from a…

The public education system is shaped through policy at the federal, state, and local levels with the expectation of implementation at the building level by educational leaders. Education is a right of all individuals and cannot be taken away due to a person's exceptionalities. This right is protected by federal law and enforced by district…

The Principal is arguably the most influential person on a school campus. If a unified school district employs principals, they have a centralized support system to assist them in their quest to advance the community they serve. This work uses a phenomenological approach to investigate the perception principals have towards the support systems in…

Principals are responsible for planning school improvement efforts at the school level to leverage increases in student achievement. Recent research underscores how principals engage in satisficing behaviors that result in low-quality school improvement plans (SIPs). To disrupt compliance-based planning practices and produce high-quality SIPs,…

This study delves into the relationships between strategic recruitment and retention practices implemented by rural Minnesota school districts and the recruitment and retention rates of teachers of color within these districts. The research assesses whether districts implementing strategic recruitment practices demonstrate a higher proportion of…

Authentic leadership has been a long sought goal of many leaders over the course of time. It is not without pause that we recognize the basis of whence it springs and how best to move it forward when it presents. In this qualitative research study, the notion of authenticity and hope in leadership were explored through life-stories shared in…

The dissertation examines elementary school principals' experiences of getting hired for their current position. The participating principals self-reported leadership skillsets. Next, they were asked to what degree they felt they possessed and were able to display the skillset. The results give readers, and future researchers, a glimpse of what…

The aim of this applied dissertation was to develop a better understanding of how elementary principals in a large school district in the southeastern United States perceive their self-efficacy as instructional leaders and administrators. The pressures of high accountability play an impactful role in how principals view their roles and their…