This dissertation examined the leadership strategies used by rural, public-school superintendents in the Central Appalachian region of Eastern Kentucky during and following the flood of 2022 that was considered a natural disaster. The context of this study was framed by a 1 in 1000-year flooding event that devastated school districts and…

This study makes use of a data set detailing instances of public school superintendent turnover in the commonwealth of Kentucky between 2014 and 2023. A quantitative research design was used to analyze descriptive statistics and salary changes based on a set of demographic and descriptive variables in the sample of 205 superintendent turnovers…

Purpose: In recent years, a new wave of teacher-led political action has erupted resulting in work stoppages in several states across the United States. This study examines how superintendents navigated this Red for Ed movement in two representative states. Methods: Framed as a multisite, embedded case study, we drew from public documents and…

According to a national poll of high school students that the Data Quality Campaign (DQC) and the Kentucky Student Voice Team developed in 2022, students are not getting the information they need. State, district, and local education leaders must take actions to help students, their communities, and schools by sharing information about context,…

Purpose: If PK12 administrators aspire to interrupt bias-based bullying, they need to understand their role in perpetuating structural and social inequality. The purpose of this study was to examine administrators': 1) awareness of gender-based bullying, 2) initial intentions to address bullying, and 3) actions that interrupted or perpetuated…

This study makes use of a data set detailing instances of public school superintendent turnover in Kentucky between 2014 and 2023. A quantitative research design was used to analyze salary changes based on a set of demographic and descriptive variables in the sample of 205 superintendent turnovers occurring during the identified decade. The…

Since its inception, agricultural education has been instrumental in equipping secondary graduates with the necessary skills to be successful in their future career endeavors. While this has remained a priority over time, many employers claim that secondary graduates do not possess the necessary skills to be successful in the workforce. This study…

Over time, education has become increasingly more legalistic and litigious. The danger of litigation is an imminent threat for agricultural educators due to the potential financial and professional ramifications. In many cases, agricultural educators may be at higher risk for a lawsuit than teachers of other subjects due to the increased liability…

This qualitative study measures the perceptions of gender equity in educational leadership among female superintendents in Kentucky. Education is dominated by females; however, superintendent positions are held by men in much greater numbers than women. Research questions are as follows: 1) What common experiences and traits do female…

The study described in this paper elevates the role of community and educational stakeholders in building purposeful and meaningful relations with school district superintendents in the state of Kentucky. The purpose of this survey-based research is to explore superintendents' experiences with various educational stakeholders including school…

A legacy of leadership is more than a bench, as demonstrated by six Kentucky school superintendents who share a common commitment to providing a resource for continuous professional learning for district superintendents. The six leaders met at the end of their doctorate of education program at Northern Kentucky University in May 2015 to contribute…

Spending more time teaching science and social studies in K-3 can have at least four potential benefits: (1) Increased learning in these subjects is likely to improve students' reading comprehension in later grades; (2) Introducing students to science and social studies in the early grades is likely to better prepare them for learning those…

Though scholars agree that professional development (PD) is a key mechanism for implementing education policies that call for teacher change, and that PD generally needs to be content-focused, active, collaborative, coherent, and sustained, the application of this framework has yielded mixed results. In this qualitative study, we employed…

The salaries and compensation packages of women in the United States fall short of those to men holding similar employment positions. This study will look specifically at the salaries and compensation packages of current Kentucky school superintendents and investigate whether or not there exists discrepencies among them along gender lines. The…

The shortage of African American teachers can be traced back to the historic "Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court" decision in 1954. While recruitment initiatives have been somewhat productive, studies nonetheless reveal a "revolving door" whereby scores of teachers abandon their jobs before retirement. Attrition is the…