Purpose: The role of leadership through senior management teams (SMT) has received increasing attention over the past several decades. Such leadership requires principals to play a key role in promoting SMT effectiveness. Therefore, according to the input-mediator-outcome model (Ilgen et al., 2005), this study's purpose is to investigate the…

Significant disparities in degree attainment rates between Black and White undergraduates at a public university in the Midwest regions of the United States have prompted concern. While these disparities are well-documented, there is limited understanding of how faculty perceive their role in fostering Black student success. This study addressed…

The purpose of this dissertation is to evaluate the effectiveness of graphic organizers, specifically flowcharts, as a tool to support decision-making during spelling for students identified with learning disabilities. This dissertation is composed of five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction about how graphic organizers support students…

As many school librarians start their career they often feel comfortable taking on the job of instructional partner. Becoming an instructional leader in your school requires having a seat at the table. Building relationships with the various community stakeholders sets the tone for the author's school library and their leadership as an…

This study examined the phenomenon of the beginning elementary principals ' lived experiences during the first one to five years in their leadership roles. This dissertation is a qualitative study of the beginning elementary principals' role in optimizing and supporting a school climate. The study includes the practices and leadership styles…

Purpose: The notion of students as change agents have widely been used in the campus sustainability literature, but very little has been done to unpack what it really means in practice. This paper aims to critically investigate university students' perspectives on their role as a change agent for campus sustainability in the context of Malaysian…

This study is a hermeneutic investigation into the phenomenon of organizational role conflict as experienced by five long-term department chairpersons, four long-term department heads, and two former long-term department chairpersons working at universities and colleges located in Indiana, Illinois, and Massachusetts. Organizational role conflict…

This is a qualitative study focused on investigating building leaders' evaluations and the role they may play in teacher retention and recruitment. This qualitative study included analysis of interviews of evaluators of building level leaders and the findings from those interviews relative to teacher retention. [The dissertation citations…

Climate change decision-making happens at the intersection of knowledge, values, and experience, usually requiring action with incomplete information. Yet, climate change education prioritizes improving knowledge gaps, not communication and contextual understanding. Role-playing games highlight the interaction of evidence and values in…

Although adults are known to play an important role in young children's development, little work has focused on the enactive features of scaffolding in informal learning settings, and the embodied dynamics of intergenerational interaction. To address this gap, this paper undertakes a microinteractional analysis to examine intergenerational…

Developing academic writers must continually position themselves discursively as they negotiate institutional, programmatic, and disciplinary contexts. The inextricable relationship of writing and identities raises questions of access to social identities in schools, a particularly salient issue when considering the complexities and challenges of…

Educational professionals (e.g., special educators, general educators, administrators, related service providers) play an important role in promoting engagement with parents during the development of individualized education programs (IEPs). For this study, we conducted semi-structured interviews to evaluate parents' (n = 16) perceptions of…

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an urgent pivot to remote learning, causing many challenges for teachers and school administrators. The current study sought to better understand the extent to which the perceived negative impacts of COVID-19 on U.S. educators and their students varied as a function of staff role (teacher vs. administrator),…

Generative artificial intelligence (genAI) has undergone rapid advancements, presenting challenges to teacher education. In this study, we explore genAI acceptance among pre-service teachers, concerning both their roles as current students and aspiring professionals. Our survey engaged a sample size of 256 pre-service teachers drawn from six…

Purpose: Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a key role in facilitating increases in socio-economic growth and economic development. Sustainable development goal 4 (SDG 4): quality education is dedicated to ensuring inclusive and equitable access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities. This study aims to gain leadership…