Increased accountability measures over the past two decades caused schools to seek new ways to increase student achievement. As principals play a crucial role in implementing reforms to improve instructional practices and student achievement, understanding the competencies that make principals successful is essential. Research indicated that…

Alabama standards for Early Learning and Development have shifted to a more academic-based learning approach that moves away from play-based learning. The problem is Alabama early childhood educators are expected to implement a more teacher-directed approach in the classroom. The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory case study was to explore…

Loneliness was declared a national epidemic in May 2023 and an international global threat in November 2023. Sense of belonging, or lack thereof, can greatly contribute to loneliness. Students who feel a sense of belonging at their institution tend to be more engaged and experience higher success rates, which can lead to increased persistence and…

The overarching goal of this dissertation is to examine institutional change initiatives in STEM and to understand the impact of engaging with a specific change strategy on a biochemistry educator's instructional practice. Institutional change initiatives involve executing an intentional strategy to influence teaching practices within a specific…

This dissertation study explores how teachers perceive and use data to inform their instructional practices and ultimately impact student achievement. The research focuses on whether or not data availability impacted how often teachers used data for instructional purposes and if leadership and coaching practices impacted teachers' perception of…

Critics have observed that modern culinary education still adheres to the traditions that emerged during the feudal era as well as the modernist values of power, hierarchy, reductionism, and dualist worldviews. More recently, a critical postmodern view of modern culinary education and the corresponding culinary industry reveals the industry is…

Capacity building for globally competent educators is a 21st Century imperative to address contemporary complex and constantly changing challenges. This action research project is grounded in positive psychology, positive organizational scholarship, relational cultural theory, and relational leadership practices. It sought to identify adaptive…

If the potential of higher education to foster transformative, emancipatory learning is to be realized, it is necessary to consider the historical forces and social formations by which postsecondary education is (re)shaped. White supremacy operates in and on educational contexts. The classroom, steeped in power dynamics and characterized by the…

Demand is high for graduates entering the professional aviation and aerospace workforce with resilience competencies like adversity persistence, contextual awareness, being self-directed and autonomous, handling change, and ability to establish peer relationships. Research shows resilience competencies are particularly emphasized as essential…

The challenge of implementing effective online distance education courses for academics and institutions is a centuries-old task. We can look across early developments in the 18th century with the creation and delivery of correspondence courses; into the 20th century with teaching and learning across analog methods such as audio and video; and now…

Social studies teachers in the United States are often unprepared or hesitant to teach about race and racism. This is especially true among White teachers. If teachers are to teach American history, they must be prepared to teach about race and racism, starting with the construction of race in Colonial America and continuing to emphasize the…

The study investigates how school leaders can build the capacity of teachers to effectively teach literacy. The current reliance and obsession with student performance on standardized test scores has resulted in a fast paced search for packaged reading programs that will lead to increased reading achievement for all students. The reliance on…

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…

The role of a school principal has become increasingly complex in today's schools. Principals are required not only to manage a school building but to focus their efforts on instruction and curriculum. The most important contribution principals can have on their schools is to strengthen their instructional leadership, which is strongly correlated…

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher reports and use of differentiation and to examine the use of technology in differentiated lessons. The researcher posed two questions: (a) What is the association between teacher reports of differentiation use and observed differentiation strategies used; and (b) How are teachers using the…