This qualitative case study explored instructional decisions exemplary primary teachers (kindergarten-third grade) made in order to engage students in mathematics. The phenomenon of teachers altering, supplementing, or utilizing district-given materials to support student engagement and understanding was studied. Specifically, this involved…

Teacher decision-making has been widely studied; however, teacher decision-making specifically with students who have been identified as aggressive has not. This qualitative case study investigated teacher decision-making with three traditional public-school K-12 teachers through case study methodology. Data were gathered through a semi-structured…

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore the utilization of music to teach phonics in kindergarten at four elementary schools in northwest Ohio. The theory guiding this study was the schema theory as it explains how individuals are able to recognize patterns previously learned, organize those patterns, and then use those…

This three-article dissertation explores educational innovation in charter schools. A common frame of reference for each article is the consideration of the influence of Dr. Benjamin Bloom's 2 sigma problem--the observation that one-on-one tutoring, though often cost prohibitively expensive, produces outcomes two standard deviations higher than…

This study explores the ways that acts of writing occur and become recognized as "writing" in a kindergarten classroom. Symbolic representations often aligning with the dominance of conventions come to be seen and named as writing as soon as children enter school, therefore influencing how one is seen and named in the classroom space as…

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively capture and examine the leadership experiences of six superintendents who have navigated, and continue to lead their school districts during the COVID-19 pandemic as aligned to the lens of the Boin et al. (2017) Five Critical Tasks of Strategic Crisis Leadership framework. This phenomenological case…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether district funding influences the leadership work of school principals. This study explored the role of the elementary principal in four school districts. Two districts were located in communities with an affluent population and the schools had an abundance of fiscal resources; the other two districts…

This case study investigates the intricate landscape of K-8 education in Connecticut, particularly focusing on Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT). Drawing inspiration from theories of cultural intelligence and collaborative learning, the research sought to understand the experiences, perceptions, and practices of K-8 educators concerning CRT,…

The worldwide school closures due to the Coronavirus (COVID)-19 pandemic that began in the spring of 2020 caused a disruption to educational systems (Bao et al., 2020; Engzell et al., 2021; Masonbrink & Hurley, 2020; Munir, 2021; United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, 2020). The pandemic created a dilemma in which school…

To foster proper educational growth and to ensure equal scholastic opportunities for students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade (K-12) in the United States of America, the state governors and chief school officers established the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Teachers being at the forefront in realizing the goals of these standards,…

Online learning continues to grow at unprecedented rates. K-12 had more than 275,000 students enrolled in full-time virtual schools in 2011--2012 and over 2 million participating in at least one online course. Despite this growth, there is little research on model formation and model validation for online learning. Two research-based models were…

For the past two decades, there has been a shift in education to include students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in inclusion classrooms. The problem addressed in this study was that the number of pupils with ASD attending mainstream schools is increasing; however, there is a lack of evidence to support whether their needs are being met in…

K-12 standards and curricula are beginning to include engineering design as a key practice within Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. However, there is little research on how the youngest students engage in engineering design within the elementary classroom. This dissertation focuses on iteration as an essential aspect…

Teachers in Nevada have faced the problem of providing consistent, effective literacy instruction to elementary students, which impacts overall student achievement; only 48.3% of students in Clark County, Nevada were proficient in English Language Arts (ELA) in the 2018-2019 school year. This problem was explored from a case study perspective…

This descriptive qualitative case study examined how rural superintendents implement the eight turnaround principles to foster and sustain improvement in the school district organization. The eight turnaround principles are as follows: school leadership, school climate and culture, effective instruction, curriculum, assessment and intervention…