Public-facing statements about anti-racism and linguistic justice have become common tools for educational organizations to promote values of criticality and openness. Such statements often explicitly reject practices that equate language difference with deficit and continue to harm marginalized groups that speak languages or use pronouns that…

This study explored the prioritization of diversity within art and design schools, specifically focusing on the perceptions of chief diversity officers (CDOs) and diversity administrators. It examined how these institutions incorporated diversity into their mission statements and operational practices. The context for this research arose from…

Every school in Nebraska has a mission statement, but how principals use them in their daily practices is unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the utilization of mission statements by Nebraska public school principals to lead, manage, and improve their schools. A multicase study methodology, grounded in the cross-case analysis,…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted teaching and learning, causing schools to close and to move students to remote learning. Many principals sidestepped the guiding principle for schools, the mission statement, and were instead on a mission to salvage teaching and learning. Environmental entities became crucial to school survival. The open system…

Anchor institutions play a vital role in their local communities and economies and have increasingly been expected to become active civic participants in improving health and well-being in their surrounding neighborhoods. This multicase study was conducted to understand how an urban, faith-based university's on-campus health care clinics engage…

The purpose of this quantitative action research study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an organization-wide book study in the K-12 environment. A growing charter school network was working towards an improved organizational culture to meet its mission. This study examined whether an organization-wide book study can make a difference in…

Using Charmaz's constructivist approach to grounded theory, this study presents a substantive theory about the ways that equitable leadership practices developed in principals within charter management organizations during a time of deep social transformation. This study was designed to understand the mindsets, beliefs, and values of principals…

Campus agricultural projects (CAPs) are a growing phenomenon across the U.S. with nearly 269 CAPs at institutions of higher education. In their simplest form, they are places where students learn to grow food, having the potential to engage students through experiential and service-learning. These spaces not only have the capacity to engage…

A growing body of academic writing literature has been devoted to studying the rhetorical patterns and language use in diverse academic texts. One of the central goals of these studies is to demystify these texts to acquaint writers, particularly less experienced ones, with the genre conventions. However, Teaching Philosophy Statements (TPS) as a…

John Dewey (1916) asserted that deliberate and systematic educational systems provide capacity to all members of society in order to solve problems and is the foundation for participatory democratic education (Harbour, 2015). Learning is also a social process that allows people to live purposefully. The goal of this qualitative, narrative inquiry…

Crises are unpredictable events that affect the organization and all the stakeholders. In higher education, crises are often found in a single institution or small region, depending on the nature of the situation. The coronavirus pandemic presented an opportunity to understand the impact of crises on a larger scale. This study explored how college…

The current position statement on evidence-based practice (EBP) published by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ASHA), the national certifying organization for the profession of speech-language pathology states that it is the expectation for those who hold the Certificate of Clinical Competency (CCC) in SLP that they incorporate…

This dissertation demonstrates the interdisciplinary integration of critical appreciative inquiry (a qualitative planning process focused on inclusion in decision-making) and multi-attribute utility theory (a quantitative evaluation process focused on rationality in decision-making). Principles of positive psychology and decision-making underlay…

This descriptive multi case study will describe practices in teacher preparation programs in two urban universities to support Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP) for teachers in the training programs in one of the most diverse cities in America and the outcomes of these practices. Recent alumni, faculty, and administrators of the selected…

Student Affairs professionals report concerns of stress, burnout, work-life balance issues, overall job satisfaction, and unrealistic demands and expectations often resulting in employees exiting the field (Boehman, 2007; Evans, 1988; Lorden, 1998; Marshall et al., 2016; Mullen et al., 2018; Rosser & Javinar, 2003; Ward, 1995). The COVID-19…