Schools are faced with increasing pressures from declining test scores and outcry from the public to improve the educational system. Efforts to reform the system have varied widely and produced inconsistent results. One school took a different approach by embracing the reform efforts through a systematic change process, led by a transformational…

The purpose of this study was to examine the efforts of school districts in developing and sustaining their capacity to improve student achievement in response to increased accountability. The study sought to confirm what the research says regarding the role of the school district in influencing school improvement. While there is a significant…

This paper is a research dissertation based on a qualitative case study conducted on Teachers' Experiences within a Data-Driven Decision Making (DDDM) process. The study site was a Title I elementary school in a large school district in Central Florida. Background information is given in relation to the need for research that was conducted on the…

The standardized math test scores of approximately 48 African American and Hispanic students from 4 different classes at a rural Title I elementary school located in the southern United States decreased by 10 points on the Palmetto Assessment of State Standards Test. For this qualitative case study, purposive sampling was used to recruit four…

Meaningful community involvement has been linked to enhancements in student achievement and quality of educational experiences. Assistant principals are positioned to build effective partnerships yet remain understudied in the leadership preparation field. This qualitative study investigated how assistant principals (N = 9) serving historically…

The amount of research on successful Title One Schools is woefully inadequate. Because so much money has been allocated for this program, more in depth research is imperative. A qualitative exploratory case study of one school and eight participants, including a principal, an assistant principal, a math coach and four teachers, focuses on the…

This study examined the demographic shifts in a medium-sized school district in West Michigan and the responses developed as a result of these changes during the last two decades. Findings indicated that the district's school demographics changed from being European American to minority dominant. As a result of these changes in student population…

In education, professional development (PD) is the continuing education of teachers and administrators. Many studies have described PD as a conventional, top-down type of training that teachers experience in schools. Commonly known as the "institutional model," this type of PD is isolated from classroom practice and occurs as mandatory…

Since "A Nation At Risk" (1954), a series of laws and key reform initiatives were passed to hold schools accountable for improving the quality of public education (e.g. "IASA," "Title 1," "NCLB," "RTTT"). These reform initiatives require that public schools undergo continuous change but simply…

Teacher burnout contributes to poor psychological and physical health, absenteeism, early retirement, and leads to inadequate teacher performance with adverse outcomes in student learning and achievement. Effective coping skills have been proposed as possible protectors from the effects of burnout; therefore, examining teachers' coping resources…

The demands and expectations placed on all schools in the United States to meet the needs of a growing and diverse population continue to raise the questions, what needs to be done in order for all students to achieve success, and how can this success be measured? This study, researched and reported in the form of a dissertation, was performed on…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) established guidelines pertaining to student achievement and included requirements regarding parental involvement and communication between the school and home. Various issues stand in the way of realizing the level of parental engagement desired by educators and ordered by NCLB. Parental participation…

This was a multi-faceted mixed methods study that investigated several aspects associated to class size and the perceived effects on student achievement in Title I elementary schools. The data collection in this study was conducted through two separate phases. The first qualitative phase was a case study that was comprised of teacher interviews…

Decades of research show that quality pre-kindergarten programs can make a critical difference in children's school readiness and their future educational success. Investments in early learning are proven to yield important short- and long-term benefits for students and school districts. Driven by this strong evidence, the movement to expand…

The authors discuss two "weighted" grant formulas intended to better target funding to districts with the highest concentrations of poverty, contending that under weighted grants, undesirable effects can occur, including: (1) Per pupil funding for a Title I student in a large school district is greater than that for a Title I student in…