The need for superintendents to respond correctly to the myriad of legally charged situations is vital to the success of a school district. In small rural school districts, without the benefit of extensive financial resources or large administrative bureaucracies, many of the day-to-day legal challenges are handled solely by the superintendent of…

The statistics on Latinas who hold positions as professors and leaders in higher education are grim. Although there are more Latinas going to college, only 1% of professors in the U.S. are Latina. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of 4 Latina professors to learn about their journeys to secure positions…

This study addressed the gaps in the research about how schools are made safe for children. It brings students' perspectives forward to describe how they are experiencing school policies and procedures, programs, and practices regarding their safety. The incidence of criminal activity in school has been on the increase and there have been major…

The learner-centered instructional design model redefines the standard linear instructional design model to form a circular model where the learner's needs are the first item considered in the development of instruction. The purpose of this modified Delphi study was to have a panel of experts in the instructional design field review the…

The purpose of this study was to identify the impact intensive reading instruction had for 28 students with learning disabilities at the middle school level on standardized tests. National Assessment of Education Progress testing indicates that across the United States, learning disabled students literacy skills are decreasing annually, and these…

Antisocial behavior has a direct impact on the public elementary school setting. While considerable research has been conducted on collegiality in postsecondary schools, this study addressed the gap in practice concerning the lack of attention in regard to the impact of antisocial behavior on collegial relationships in the elementary school…

In recent years there has been a greater emphasis on support, guidance and orientation programs for early career teachers, referred to as induction programs. Though on a smaller scale, similar induction programs have been implemented for early career principals as well. This study provides information on whether such programs have a positive…

The purpose of the quantitative quasi-experimental equivalent time series study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a work based shared leadership training program in a less than 200 bed hospital in rural, south-central United States. Nursing shortages and the current emphasis on quality are factors that make recruitment and retention of nurses…

This dissertation concerns kindergarteners' and second graders' invented representations of motion, their interactions with conventional representations of motion built from the child's movement in front of a motion detector and using real-time graphing tools, and any changes in the invented representations that this interaction brings about. We…

A baccalaureate education was once limited to an elite population of high school graduates in pursuit of guaranteed career success. Today, more than 70% of high school graduates opt to attend college to earn a baccalaureate degree, due to economic, global, and technological changes. While this percent has significantly risen, employers are…

Sustained achievement remains out of reach for most Title I schools. While there are many programs and examples of schools touting improved performance, there are precious few that are able to maintain that improved performance over time. This case study examined the characteristics of changes made at one Colorado Title I elementary school that…

This study examined whether the ACE fellows' mentorship experiences facilitated leadership development, the achievement of contract goals, and career benefits. The objective of the present study was to determine how former ACE fellows viewed the effectiveness of their mentorship experiences during their fellowship year in preparing them for future…

This study analyzed the effect of school/grade configuration for regular and special education students in K-8 schools and middle schools. The analysis looked at the effect of grade configuration on two outcomes: student achievement and student attendance. The study followed a cohort of fifth graders (regular and special education) through sixth,…

The National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) has launched a process to transform how teachers are prepared to meet the "urgent needs" of America's public schools. NCATE's Blue Ribbon Panel on clinical preparation is developing both principles and actions needed to ensure that the next generation of teachers embodies…

The institutional web site is ubiquitous and has emerged as nearly universal in its utilization as a recruiting and informational tool for the twenty-first century community college. Community colleges have embraced utilization of the Internet through the establishment of institutional web sites containing volumes of information, forms, and links.…