Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Leadership Dissertations
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Dissertations submitted from the School of Education in fulfillment of the Doctorate of Education.
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- ItemTHE IMPACT OF PERCEIVED FIDELITY OF POSITIVE BEHAVIOR INTERVENTIONS AND SUPPORTS (PBIS) IMPLEMENTATION ON STUDENT BEHAVIOR AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT(2023-05) Cantrell, KimberlyPBIS was designed as a framework to promote a culture that establishes positive behaviors and practices to support staff behavior, student behavior, social competence, and academic achievement through data, systems, and practices. This study examines what factors impact the implementation of PBIS over time. Research has been conducted on related topics, mainly how implementing PBIS benefits student achievement and behavior modification. However, teacher intervention and perception variables still need to be researched, mainly when considering the fidelity and sustainability of PBIS. Incorporating evidence from teacher and site administrator surveys, interviews, and student academic and behavioral data, this study illustrates that findings largely support that behavior directly correlates with academic achievement. It also supports that teacher perceptions regarding behavior, and academic achievement are linked to fidelity. Implementing PBIS, when done with fidelity, would be expected to be reflected in increased academic assessments such as district benchmarks. Additionally, it was expected that the implementation of PBIS, when done with fidelity, would be reflected in a decrease in behavioral issues monitored through referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. This study can be used to develop sustainable and continuous professional development for teachers and site administrators in implementing PBIS.
- ItemINTERNATIONALIZATION IN COMMUNITY COLLEGES: THE IMPACT OF A LEADER’S VISION, CHARACTERISTICS, ACTIONS, AND SUPPORT(2022-12) Ishikawa, JunkoInternationalization has increased at community colleges, but only 4% of community colleges have hosted 57% of international students over the past decade. Most of the research on higher education leadership in respect to internationalization deals with 4-year colleges, and there is a gap in how community colleges are leading in internationalization. This study examined the impact of the community college Chief International Officer’s vision and characteristics upon the institution’s internationalization actions and support. Furthermore, it asked if any of these factors are related to the population size of the international student body. In this study, the researcher surveyed 100 international educators and interviewed four international managers at community colleges. The survey results revealed that a leader’s vision, characteristics, actions, and support are statistically significantly related. The interview results revealed that international student enrollment was impacted by the institutions’ commitment to recruitment and retention. In conclusion, they demonstrated that it is essential for international leaders to possess global leadership abilities and to develop a strong International Student Program on campus that provides international student services and leads internationalization initiatives. Without institutional support and effort, increasing the number of international students and retaining them is challenging. This study shows that internationalizing community colleges can help attract more international students and increase representation in the international education market, which benefits the local and global community.
- ItemCOMMUNITY-BASED APPROACH TO READING TO LEARN ACROSS CONTENT AREAS(2022-05) Hunt, MarianneThe purpose of this mixed-method case study is to determine the effect that a grade-wide literacy intervention program implemented through a professional learning community (PLC) has on the motivation, literacy identity, and performance of a cohort of sixth-grade students at a middle school in Norwalk, California. In this study, team of sixth-grade teachers who had adopted the principles of DuFour and Fullan (2013) as well as Fullan and Quinn (2015) sought to create a PLC that could lead to positive change in school culture and literacy rates across the curriculum. The study was guided by the following questions: What does a grade-wide literacy focused PLC intervention to support sixth-grade students’ literacy look like at the systemic level? What is the impact of a literacy-focused PLC project on grade-wide reading comprehension, students’ literacy practices, and students’ confidence as readers? How does this PLC effort change the school system and its leaders’ and students’ buy-in? The researcher analyzed pre and post student and staff surveys as well as meeting agendas, notes, and correspondences to describe the process of implementing a cohesive grade-level PLC and determine the impact that it had on literacy practices and the culture of the school. Ethnographic notes revealed that the teachers made a collective decision to focus on literacy across the curriculum. They collaborated regularly and used data to inform their decisions and the course of their intervention. The researcher compared pre and post i-Ready scores to measure growth in reading comprehension. At the beginning of the year, 103 students were reading below the fourth-grade level (based on i-Ready scores). At the end of the year, there was a significant decrease of 18.4% to 84 students. Surveys and reflections revealed that the project had a positive impact on relationships between teachers and students as students reported feeling supported and cared for by their teachers. There was an increase in the students’ positive literacy practices and their confidence as readers. The effort had an effect on the wider school culture as other grade-level teams agreed to adopt some of the practices of the sixth-grade team.
- ItemTEACHER PERCEPTIONS AND BELIEFS ABOUT THE CHARACTERISTICS AND ACADEMIC IMPACT OF A DUAL LANGUAGE IMMERSION PROGRAM(2022-12) Quezada, AlvaroMany children of immigrants replace the minority language with English (Anderson, 2012). This results in loss of opportunity to become bilingual impacting educational access and employment negatively (Tran, 2010). Attending a dual language program is one way of maintaining their home language, but is there an impact on their academic achievement when learning two languages simultaneously? A mixed-methods phenomenology study was used to explore this question. A survey and a 30-minute interview with six K-2 dual-language teachers and one administrator were used to learn about their professional characteristics and beliefs of school personnel in a Dual Language program. Comparing achievement scores (MAP reading) between two Southern California schools; one implementing a dual-language Spanish-English program and one with an English-only program across five data points during 2018-2020 we learned about the academic achievement between the two programs. Classroom observations and teacher and administrator interviews were used to learn how their perceptions contribute to the dual-language program implementation. Findings demonstrated that teachers in the dual language program are bilingual, biliterate, and value bilingualism. They believe that teacher preparation and effectiveness, resources and professional development, positive beliefs about dual language programs, parental support, and teacher and parent collaboration contribute to the effectiveness of the program. Students in dual language scored statistically higher on 2 out of 15 data points in grades 3 and 4. Previous research does not find evidence of academic advantage until the fifth grade or beyond. Evidence of teachers practicing the strategies that promote language maintenance and academic instruction was found through the walkthroughs.
- ItemEQ & OC: THE IMPACT OF K-12 ADMINISTRATORS EMOTIONIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON SUSTAINABLE ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE(2022-12) Bell, Amanda LeeThe purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the key factors of K-12 administrators’ emotional intelligence as they lead their staff through creating sustainable systems as they navigate organizational change. The theoretical framework used was Daniel Goleman’s theory on Emotional Intelligence and how EQ impacts administrators as they systematically approach organizational change. The lens used to look at navigating change was John Kotter’s eight step model of creating sustainable organizational change. The study included 80 participants, who are K-12 administrators in the Southern California area. The expectation for the research is to provide insight for administrators and districts in determining what professional learning might be needed to support administrators in leveraging their EQ to approach change in a systematic and sustainable manner. The findings revealed that self-awareness was one of the most critical factors of EQ when it comes to leading change. Results also showed that administrators can create a sense of urgency, build a guiding coalition, co-create a vision, but then they struggle in communicating the vision, empowering the employees, consolidating gains, and anchoring the change initiative in the organization. Supporting administrators in explicitly developing their EQ and how they tap into each construct as they navigate the steps of organizational change would increase the likelihood of sustainable organizational change.