This study addressed a critical gap in the literature by investigating the relationship between organizational culture and mission drift within Christian higher education. While mission drift has been widely discussed in popular press, limited academic research has explored the factors influencing it, particularly organizational culture. Utilizing…

Nonacademic staff in higher education, also known as support staff, is a necessary and under-researched workforce essential for the success of higher education institutions. The higher education needs emphasized by the COVID-19 pandemic, state budget cuts, and increasing levels of turnover from the nonacademic population highlight the need for a…

The school resource officer's primary purpose within schools is to maintain a visible presence and work to promote a safe and secure learning environment (Stern & Petrosino, 2018). The National Association of School Resource Officers (NASRO) recommends a three-pronged approach to school policing termed the SRO Triad. The Triad calls for the…

In schools, principals are responsible for many things, but one of the primary responsibilities is to create a positive school environment. School climate has a different meaning to different stakeholders, including school leaders, school staff, and students, as well as parent and community members. School climate surveys are one way to measure…

School climate is increasingly recognized by scholars and policymakers as a crucial factor associated with students' educational experiences. Hence, practitioners endeavor to equitably measure and improve school climate to promote favorable student academic and behavior outcomes. Unfortunately, school climate research is fragmented, and a…

This study explored the influence of school funding and climate on student achievement in Illinois public elementary schools, examining de-identified individual fourth-grade students and their achievement scores during the 2018-19 academic year. Data sources included the Illinois Achievement Readiness (IAR) assessments for reading and math,…

This study explored the strategic planning processes of the top schools of business located in the United States as ranked by US News and World Report in March 2018. The study also examined the greatest internal and external pressures that business schools face, their current processes for strategic planning, and the relationship between the…

This QUAL-quant study explores the school experience of nine teachers and three principals in three northern New England elementary schools, each with a strong professional learning community (PLC) model in place. The study used reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021), to collect and analyze the qualitative data. The Professional…

My dissertation studies the relationship between counseling and violence within U.S. schools. Much of the research on school security and school safety tends to lean heavily on routine activities theory and other opportunity theories, which limits the study of other factors critically relevant to this topic such as school climate. This…

The demands placed on principals to meet the wide range of needs present within the learning community continue to expand. While there is extensive research on the ideals of leadership in general, there is a lack of research on the leadership style most conducive to creating positive school environments where teacher leadership opportunities are…

School climate is a well-studied issue in educational research. However, surveys of school climate tend to be analyzed using item-centered as opposed to person-centered methods. The current study evaluated the 2018 South Carolina School Climate Survey using advanced applications of mixture modeling in an attempt to identify latent profiles at the…

Purpose: The purpose of this journal-ready dissertation was to determine the degree to which diagnostic assessments and school efforts were provided at different school levels, factors may have limited school personnel in their efforts to provide mental health services to students, and staff was provided training in regard to mental health. In the…

This study aims to describe the culture and climate of selected middle and high schools in Alabama's River Region. Teachers and administrators from nine middle and eleven high schools in the four-county region of Central Alabama completed two electronic surveys: (a) the School Culture Survey (SCS) developed by Steve Gruenert and Jerry Valentine…

The purpose of this research was to discover the level of intentionality to stimulate Christian formation in the context of fully online undergraduate baccalaureate Bible education at ABHE schools. Since ABHE affirms transformational education as part of its institutional mission, it seemed apparent that this goal should be manifested in the…

Problem: The need to address Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at university campuses is critical. The campus climate impacts college students' overall collegial relationships and academic abilities. Since 1976, there has been an increase of 19.1% marginalized students enrolled in college. For these students, a sense of belonging is believed to aid…