The No Child Left Behind education act mandates that school districts develop supplemental educational service programs for students not demonstrating mathematical proficiency on state standardized math assessments. Yet there is limited understanding of issues related to supplemental educational service math programs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate a local after school math program to offer insight on the low math achievement for economically disadvantaged students involved in the program. Constructivist theories of math reform and education for economically disadvantaged students and English language learners guided this study of 10 teachers and 15 of their students in a diverse urban elementary school in the northeastern United States. Two questions guided this research: One on the mathematical achievement of economically disadvantaged students in the local after school math program; the other on the nature of professional development for teachers of supplemental educational service programs. Data from observations and teacher interviews were analyzed using constructivist grounded theory coding procedures. Data revealed themes centered on program structures, student attributes, instructional strategies, professional collaboration, curriculum, and professional development. Findings further revealed educational communities can increase student math achievement through strategic teacher training. The final project addresses social change with the creation of a research supported action plan for teacher professional development within the local supplemental educational math program. This research is significant to school leaders in the advancement of supplemental educational service math programs for academically diverse learners.

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have shown promise as a means to meet the challenge of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. A problem that has surfaced is the inabilty of schools to sustain PLCs. This project study examined leadership characteristics of elementary school principals in selected school districts to determine how these characteristics shape organizational culture and provide support for sustaining professional learning communities. At the center of this initiative have been the school principals and their leadership skills. The theoretical underpinnings of this study were based on the work of DuFour and DuFour, which places leadership of the principal at the forefront of successful school improvement. A mixed-methods approach with a sequential-transformative strategy was used. Quantitative data were collected by administering the Leadership Capacity School Survey to 30 elementary principals. Descriptive statistics were used to determine which of Lambert's six critical constructs were most and least commonly practiced among the schools in the study. Qualitative data gathered through a focus-group discussion were analyzed through the typological process. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicated that broad-based, skillful participation in the work of leadership (Construct 1) was the most important leadership construct to the success of sustaining PLCs. The outcome of this project study was a professional-development model that will provide knowledge and understanding of the key leadership elements needed to develop an environment for sustaining PLCs. The potential social impact of this study includes improved student achievement as a result of improved leadership by principals.

The demands of national educational reforms require high school biology teachers to provide high quality instruction to students with and without special needs. The reforms, however, do not provide teachers with adequate teaching strategies to meet the needs of all students in the same context. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to understand high school biology teachers' perspectives, practices, and challenges in relation to teaching students with special needs. This approach was used to develop a substantive model for high school biology teachers who are challenged with teaching students with and without special needs. Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 15 high school teachers in a Midwestern school district. The data were analyzed using open coding, axial coding, and selective coding procedures in accordance with the grounded theory approach. Essential model components included skills and training for teachers, classroom management strategies, teaching strategies, and student skills. The emergent substantive theory indicated that that teacher preparation and acquired skills greatly influence the effectiveness of inclusion implementation. Key findings also indicated the importance of using of a variety of instructional strategies and classroom management strategies that address students' special needs and their learning styles. This study contributes to social change by providing a model for teaching students and effectively implementing inclusion in regular science classrooms. Following further study, this model may be used to support teacher professional development and improve teaching practices that in turn may improve science literacy supported by the national educational reforms.

Postconflict governments and counterparts have collaborated to provide skills training to communities as a critical postconflict development strategy. In these undertakings, the role of community members remains largely undefined. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to understand the perceptions held by rural community members regarding the role they played in influencing government's policy priority for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) as a local human development strategy in postconflict Liberia. The conceptual framework was based on human capital theory and concepts of motivation and achievement. Fourteen participants were purposefully selected for the study. Data were collected from interviews, focus group discussion, and documents and analyzed using constant comparison. Results indicated that increasing human capital, restoring self-esteem, encouraging civic participation, and building peace were among the community members' motivations for establishing a skills training institution. Leadership, advocacy, and ownership were major roles community stakeholders played in establishing their local skill training institution; voluntarism and collaboration were found to be strategies for support to the local TVET initiatives. Findings have positive social change implications for facilitating community-initiated TVET programs for youth employment as well as informing TVET policies in countries transitioning from conflict to development.

Existing problems identified in the literature on teacher retention and resilience include (a) a gap in understanding factors influencing urban teacher retention; (b) lack of clarity on multiple factors swaying teachers' decisions to remain despite challenges; (c) overlapping definitions of teacher retention, attrition, and resilience; and (d) absence of a theoretical framework for a potential relationship between retention and resilience. This embedded-case study sought to identify factors influencing effective teachers' decisions to remain in an urban setting and to examine the role of teachers' resilience, retention, and effectiveness with respect to this decision. Fourteen core-area secondary teachers, identified through criterion reference sampling by National Board Certification status and administrators' assessment of characteristics derived from studies on effective urban teaching, participated in a focus group and individual interviews and supplied archival data. Line-by-line coding and data grouping revealed that (a) passion for students, dedication to reflection, a sense of spiritual calling, and dedication to social justice influenced both retention and resilience; (b) professional development increased resilience but had little influence on the decision to remain; and (c) teacher community influenced resilience at varying levels. The findings indicate a relationship between retention and resilience, yet they are not synonymous, suggesting caution when using resilience studies to create retention models. Outcomes suggest professional development that emphasizes reflection on one's purpose and practice and the linkage of reflection, pedagogical changes, and student achievement. This study contributes to positive social change by providing insight into retention of effective urban teachers and a foundation for further research on urban teacher retention and its impact on student performance.

Teachers are leaving their profession at alarming rates. As a result, retaining novice teachers has become a major concern for policy makers, school districts, administrators, and teaching staff throughout the United States. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of novice teacher induction support structures in a southwestern US state. The conceptual framework is based on research examining teacher attrition; this study extends the research by examining school-based and university-based programs. Research questions focused on the perception of novice teachers regarding mentoring experiences at their certifying universities and employing school districts. Three research questions examined school district comprehensive induction support, certifying university support induction programs, and other support services that supported novice teachers' decisions to remain in the profession. This study used a sequential exploratory mixed methods design to gather data. Quantitative research analyzed survey responses through descriptive statistics. Qualitative research utilized semi-structured interviews. Data analysis involved coding and theme analysis. Results revealed strong school support can compensate for the lack of university support, but strong university support did not compensate for a lack of school support. Implications for social change indicate the need for stronger school supports in induction programs for new teachers. First-year teachers should be followed for a longer period of time to understand difficulties they face as they grow into experienced teachers. This study provided valuable data to identify types of school and university-based support that may aid in the reduction of teacher attrition rates.

A recent law in a New England state allowed public schools to operate with increased flexibility and autonomy through the authorization of the creation of Innovation Schools. This project study, a program evaluation using a convergent parallel mixed methods research design, allowed for a comprehensive evaluation of the first Innovation School (IS). Activity theory, which conceptualizes change in systems involving human interaction, was the theoretical foundation of this study. The research questions focused on the efficacy of the autonomous school redesign model in involving stakeholders in participatory decision making, improving teacher collaboration, expanding teacher empowerment, and increasing student achievement on a state standardized assessment. Descriptive and statistical analyses of a preestablished survey on teacher empowerment were used to collect data, and student achievement was examined via parametric statistical analyses of standardized state achievement assessments of 3 rd, 4th and 5th grade students. Independent and paired t-test analyses documented significant increases in teacher empowerment and student achievement test scores associated with the IS model. Qualitative data, focus group and individual interviews, were analyzed through open coding and deriving summative themes of stakeholder perceptions to extend the quantitative results. The combined findings demonstrated that the IS model significantly impacted teacher empowerment and student achievement. The implications for social change lies in giving stakeholders a voice and decision making authority. As a result, schools can become organizations where stakeholders, regardless of race, color, national origin, or educational attainment, become responsible for issues related to the teaching and learning of the entire school community.

This study addressed the problem of poor attendance adversely affecting grades and learning. Current school policies do not address problematic attendance for all school-aged children, perpetuating trends of academic failure. The research objective was to determine if unexcused absences had a greater negative impact on a high-stakes test compared to excused absences and then develop a manual of best attendance policies to better serve all school-aged children. This study sampled 10,403 students in a southern United States county. Bivariate regression and ANOVA analyses examined the scores students earned on their first attempt at the Social Studies Georgia High School Graduation Test (SSGHSGT) in relation to these students' excused and unexcused absences for grades 9 through 11. Unexcused absences had a significantly greater impact than excused absences on SSGHSGT scores. Scores decreased an average of 1.33 points for every unexcused absence, whereas each excused absence resulted in a score reduction of only 0.47 points. Given the need demonstrated by these results, a manual of best practices was developed from initiatives that had been empirically proven successful in preventing absences. The initiatives, drawn from the theoretical foundation of family systems, employ schools, parents, neighborhoods, peers, government agencies, and teachers to cumulatively influence student decisions about attendance. By preventing students from developing problematic attendance, positively impacting student grades, raising graduation rates, and reducing delinquency-related crimes these improvements can create a positive social change for students, parents, and particularly school personnel who are held responsible for academic achievement.

Mandates on reading and math achievement in elementary education in rural Georgia have led to a decline in writing proficiency as the subject becomes increasingly neglected. At the same time, schools strive to increase parental involvement programs. Consequently, there is a need for more research on the impact of parental involvement on student writing proficiency. Accordingly, this qualitative case study examined the impact of Family Message Journals (FMJ) and parent participation on teaching writing across the curriculum. Participants included 6 third-graders and their parents. Students wrote in journals 4 days per week across the 4 months of the study, and parents provided parallel responses each night. Student entries were examined and coded by academic subject and the 4 domains of the Georgia Writing Assessment Rubric to document students' growth in specific writing skills; parental responses were coded according to the type of response. Inductive analysis was used to analyze and interpret structured interview data to document emergent themes and search for patterns of meaning. All FMJ data were triangulated in a data source matrix with interviews of parents and students to explore linkages across sources. Findings revealed that (a) using FMJ increased students' writing ability, (b) teaching writing across the curriculum provided time for writing instruction, (c) comprehension was enhanced in subject content areas, and (d) parents felt more informed and appreciated. This study will prove beneficial for educators desiring to include writing without compromising time in currently mandated content areas, and also for parents who want to be informed, involved, and empowered. Teachers using FMJ can initiate social change by preparing more proficient students with a positive attitude for writing. Ideally, these attributes will build and follow these students into the workforce.

The effect of emotional intelligence (EI) among students in education settings could prove essential to determining the needs of student satisfaction leading to retention and graduation. However, lack of research has yet to determine whether EI is an important factor of student satisfaction. The purpose of this quantitative survey study was to determine whether a relationship exists between EI in graduate students and satisfaction with their overall academic experience at their online institution of higher education. Participants included graduate students enrolled in a masters' or doctoral program at an online institution of higher education. They were surveyed to measure their level of EI by Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test v. 2 and satisfaction of overall academic experience measured by the Priorities Survey for Online Learners. Research questions were focused on satisfaction of graduate students and elements of EI including overall EI and the 4 branches of the EI model. Statistical regression analyses revealed no significant relationships between EI, branches of EI, and overall satisfaction. Nevertheless, the results have implications for positive social change. No significant relationship demonstrated between EI and satisfaction may help accentuate other factors such as motivation and expectations that affect student satisfaction. These results can contribute to social change by supporting focus and improvement of the quality of factors that do affect overall satisfaction of students.