This phenomenological, action research study engaged a sample of teachers from a large middle school in northern South Carolina in developing a protocol and recommendations for the use of peer observations that would provide meaningful professional development for teachers at this school. Data collection methods consisted of interviews, focus…

A single case design was employed to explore the implementation of the new teacher induction and mentoring program (NTIMP) from the perspective of new teachers who participated in the program. The district the researcher studied for this single case study had been experiencing a high teacher turnover. To reduce this problem, an NTIMP was…

Kinder Tools was developed as a Response to Intervention approach (RTI) to help students in kindergarten improve and develop their fine motor and visual motor perceptual skills within the first three months of entering kindergarten. Some students enter kindergarten ready to learn, while other students struggle with skill development and learning…

Technology is progressing at an explosive rate, and schools, which are already behind the times, are struggling to keep pace with the world in which the students will be entering. The problem addressed in this study is that teachers struggle to integrate mobile devices in classroom lessons in ways that are purposeful and not superficial, because…

The captured literature on African American women in leadership positions in collegiate athletic administration is limited simply because the number of women in this demographic is also limited. There is extensive research on women, in general, but African American women specifically have been sparse as have their presence in this industry. The…

A large career-centered university in the state of Florida has received a grant to fund what is known as a multidisciplinary center (MDC), which will utilize innovative information communication technologies (ICT), such as video conferencing, to support educators of students with disabilities in eight primarily rural school districts in…

As a result of the changing educational expectations and regulatory environment, there is a need for elementary school teachers to consider carefully curriculum development. The purpose of this research is to identify key transformational leadership strategies for curriculum development in elementary schools. Other than the requirements of…

The purpose of this research study was to identify and prioritize the professional development needs for teachers of CTAE subjects within metropolitan Atlanta school systems. The methodology was primarily relational with descriptive components that relied on quantitative data. The administered survey called for participants to self-report…

Heteronormative public schools have created barriers to lesbian educational leaders. This qualitative study examined: How do lesbian educational leaders navigate their professional and private lives? How has their sexual identity affected their career trajectories? Additional questions guiding this study follow: How do gender policies and politics…

Professional learning communities have been labeled as effective and capable of producing continuous school improvement. Despite the merits and popularity of professional learning communities, they have been shown to be an elusive concept to implement. The problem this study addressed was the inconsistent quality of professional learning…

Though a primary purpose of K-12 education in the United States is to prepare students to meet the economic demands of the country, there is currently a major shortage of workers to fill the open positions in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). This shortage is only expected to grow in the coming decade unless a…

This dissertation focuses on the everyday life information practices of teens in the Nerdfighter online fan community known as Nerdfighteria. Nerdfighteria is the community of fans of vloggers John and Hank Green. This study examines aspects of everyday life information seeking (ELIS) by (1) focusing on an understudied demographic, teens between…

Workforces in U.S. organizations, agencies, corporations, companies, and educational institutions are becoming increasingly multicultural and leaders in organizations are having to respond to changing workforce demographics and manage workforces that are more ethnically and culturally diverse. Organizations invest billions of dollars annually in…

In the early days of public education, the main goal was to teach students how to read. Massachusetts took a leading role during colonial times, and later as part of the United States continued to support education (American public education, 2013, p. 2). During the 1600's, residents there sought to write and enact legislation to provide an…

This problem based learning project investigated Missouri elementary administrator preparedness in leading literacy instruction. The most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress Report (NAEP), known as the "Nation's Report Card," showed in 2015 only 36 percent of fourth graders read at or above a proficient level (The National…