The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of teamwork factors to perceived success of interagency collaboration.;Administrators (n = 375) of eight governmental service agencies, state and local, serving handicapped children, ages birth through twenty-one (21), in Virginia responded to the researcher's mailed survey. The survey instrument was validated with 20 graduate students and 4 national experts in interagency collaboration. A telephone follow-up on certain items in the survey with 26 randomly selected respondees resulted in a significant reliability coefficient (Spearman Correlation Coefficient of .9307). The survey collected, in addition to certain demographic data, information on the perceptions of agency personnel regarding successful interagency collaboration and the perceived existence of teamwork factors. Multiple correlation and regression was used to produce a linear combination of independent variables (perceived existence of teamwork factors) which correlated (p < .05) with the dependent variable (perceived level of success in interagency collaboration).;The major findings of this study were: (1) administrators perceived that teamwork factors make a significant contribution toward success in interagency collaboration, yet, it is their perception that these teamwork factors are not as evident in their interagency contacts with other agency personnel. (2) A relationship did exist between the perceptions of agency personnel as to the level of success in interagency collaboration and their corresponding perception as to the level of existence of teamwork factors; (3) Top and low level personnel within agencies did agree on the perceived level of success in interagency collaboration; (4) There was substantial agreement between the agencies on the perceived level of contribution each teamwork factor makes toward successful interagency collaboration; (5) Problem-solving ability and communication appear to be the two teamwork factors which best predicted the level of perceived success of interagency collaboration; (6) Trust appeared as a factor which differentiated between certain agencies as well as between state and local agency personnel. Local agency personnel did not identify trust as being as important as the other four factors, while three agencies did not view it as important; (7) Local level agency personnel did not identify leadership as being as important as the other four factors.

The purpose of this study was to examine new managers' experiences as they transitioned from an individual contributor and coachee to a manager and coach at Blue Sun Corporation (pseudonym). Understanding these experiences was essential to providing appropriate support to help new manager coaches acquire the coaching skills needed to consistently coach and develop their employees. This study's results will guide the design of future new manager training and organizational support initiatives by providing a deeper understanding of new manager coaches' experiences. A phenomenological research design was used for this study because it focused on understanding new manager coaches' experiences as they transitioned into the role. Six new manager coaches from Blue Sun Corporation took part in this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data, using an interview protocol explicitly developed for this study. The researcher transcribed and analyzed the interview data using a seven-step method proposed by Colaizzi (1978). From the data analysis, five themes emerged from the study participants' experiences: Anxiety, Challenges, Successes, Influences, and Beliefs. While five overarching themes were identified during the analysis, the researcher found variance in how each participant experienced some of the themes. Several additional findings also emerged from the analysis of these themes. From these findings and existing research, recommendations for practice were offered. These implications included setting proper role expectations, providing basic and personalized management skill training, hiring right-fit candidates, developing a structured onboarding plan, setting realistic performance expectations, and focusing on coaching beliefs.

In the United States of America, various manmade constructs such race, ethnicity, and social-economic status have been used to categorize members of society; however, there have been gaps in social conditions between subgroups. Critical race theory posits that public policy has played a role in these disparities (Chapman, 2011). Conditions in the United States of America matter as social cognitive theorist, Bandura (1989), posited that learning is socially constructed by triadic reciprocal determinism involving the person, environment, and behavior. Self-efficacy, a judgment of one's ability, and outcome expectancy or the judgment of whether engaging in an action will produced the desired effect are belief categories that have been reported to precede and predict behavior (Bandura, 1982). This study explored associations between 57 Voluntary Prekindergarten teachers' culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs located in urbanized Florida areas. An association between culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs and teacher demographics (i.e., age range, range of teaching experience in years, and degree level) were also explored. A Spearman's rho yielded a statistically significant, strong positive correlation between Voluntary Prekindergarten teachers' culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs. Results yielded no statistically significant associations between Voluntary Prekindergarten teachers' culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy or outcome expectancy and teacher demographics.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between school leaders' emotional intelligence (EI) and student achievement in Reading and Mathematics. The study aimed to build upon the existing literature on school leaders' EI and their influence on creating conditions for increased student achievement. EI data were collected from school-level administrators, instructional coaches, and school administration managers (SAM) in a large urban school district using the Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Abilities Survey, which comprised of the Schutte Self-Reported Emotional Intelligence Test©(SSREIT) and the Educational Leadership Improvement Tool© (ELIT). Data from the Florida Standards Assessment (FSA) for Grades 3-8 Language Arts and Mathematics in 2017, 2018, and 2020 were collected and analyzed. Descriptive statistics and Quantitative analyses, including correlation analyses like Pearson r coefficient and Kendall tau-b, ANOVA, independent t-tests, and simple linear regression, were conducted to examine the association between the variables. Findings from the study indicated a significant relationship between the EI of school leaders and leadership criterions. Similarly, a statistically significant relationship was found between middle school leaders' self-reported EI and changes in mathematics achievement for Grades 6 through 8. The study's findings are expected to support school district leadership, university and college-level programs promote professional development focused on EI and its impact on developing relationships that affect student achievement, specifically in mathematics.

This dissertation in practice investigated the factors that contribute to or hinder the successful completion of college-level mathematics courses by Black students by utilizing a strengths-based approach. The purpose of this study was two-fold: to investigate the effects of variables, both individual and course-related, to the successful completion of college-level mathematics courses by first-time-in-college (FTIC) Black students and to explore inherent forms of cultural capital (Yosso, 2005) reported by mathematically successful students. The theoretical framework draws upon Critical Race Theory (Crenshaw et al., 1995), Cultural Capital (Bourdieu, 1986), and Community Cultural Wealth (Yosso, 2005) to inform the research. This study used a convergent parallel mixed methods research design (Creswell & Clark, 2017). The quantitative and qualitative portions of this study occurred simultaneously. Upon completion of the research, the results were then compared to identify any similarities or differences that existed within the findings. The quantitative data were collected through Barcelona's archival course completion data and then analyzed using binomial logistic regression (Peng et al., 2002). The qualitative data were collected through individual student interviews and analyzed using Colaizzi's (1978) seven-step process as outlined by Sanders (2003). This study provides data and results to inform researchers, practitioners, and policymakers related to inequities in student educational experiences, cultural responsiveness and inclusivity, and approaches to address opportunity and experience gaps. This study continues to build upon the research and scholarship by other scholars to interrupt the ideology surrounding achievement gaps.

This study was designed to address the issue of low retention in online K–12 courses. The goal of this research was to explore educator and student perceptions of factors impacting retention. This qualitative exploratory case study design collected and analyzed data at Southeastern Virtual School (SVS/pseudonym), a state-wide online public high school in the southeastern United States. The phenomenon analyzed for this study was factors impacting retention in English 1 at SVS. Data collection tools included a focus group interview (n=7) and student surveys (n=774). Thematic analysis was conducted on both data sets. The research results of this study provided Southeastern Virtual School with recommendations that the organization could implement to increase student retention and offer early intervention for those the study found to be most at risk for withdrawal. The study demonstrated that major factors impacting retention in K–12 online courses included the following: (a) student-teacher interactions, (b) student support, (c) instructional design, (d) course policies, (e) parental involvement, (f) external complications, (g) previous academic performance, and (h) student age. Implications for practice and future research were discussed. Recommendations for improvement of student retention determined by the study findings included: (a) teacher professional development, (b) continued support for online students, (c) professional learning communities focused on student retention, and (d) continued opportunities for student surveys. The study's findings offered implications for teachers and educational leadership to inform their pedogeological and organizational practices and policies on retention. The findings of this study also provided strategies for K–12 leaders and policy makers to address retention.

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the literature and to policy and practice in the educational field on how individual student diagnostic scores was affected in the area of reading. This study specifically examined full or partial fidelity of implementation of the iReady reading instructional and computerized program was applied in seven middle schools in a school district in Central Florida for all students in intensive reading courses. Additionally, this study contributed to how individual student diagnostic scores was affected in the area of reading for students on free or reduced lunch. Data were analyzed from the second and third diagnostic assessments from i-Ready. The second diagnostic assessment was administered in January of 2021 after students returned from Winter Break and 1,774 students completed that assessment. The third diagnostic assessment was administered in March of 2021 after students returned from Spring Break and 1,687 students completed that assessment. Overall, 3,461 students completed the assessments. Analyses showed that students in schools who used the i-Ready reading program to full fidelity had slightly higher scores than students in schools that used the i-Ready reading program only to partial fidelity, yet the data was not statistically significant. Further analyses found that students who were on free or reduced lunch performed far worse than students who were not considered on free or reduced lunch, there was a statistically significant difference, and that implementing the i-Ready reading program to complete fidelity actually had a significant negative effect for students on free or reduced lunch.

The study investigated the impact that children experienced after the inclusion of educational devices and non-contact virtual learning during the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. An investigation was needed see how the primary use of educational devices and how the effects of non-contact virtual learning impacted the social-emotional development of children during this time. Five educators and five parents participated in this study including their observations and perspectives. Open-ended interviews and a survey had been conducted to gather the qualitative data. I examined the data in a thematic analysis using evaluation and emotion coding to quantify the results. 37% of the parents felt their child had been negatively impacted by the use of educational devices and non-contact virtual learning by the virtual modifications created for children who were originally in brick-and-mortar schools during the pandemic. The majority of the educators (64%) believed the use of educational devices and non-contact learning methods negatively impacted their students' social-emotional development. Educators disclosed the difficulty to incorporate group activities on the educational devices, as the time only allotted for individual module work. When non-contact virtual learning was incorporated, the educators discussed the regulation control skills students lacked. There were concerns by the participants of the limited exposure to social experiences children need for development. It was important to see if this study showed any areas of concern if educational devices and virtual learning practices had impacted children during COVID-19. Results could be used to inform educational practices toward social-emotional development for future distance education needs.

This study compares achievement of students with borderline intellectual functioning by investigating differences in Florida Standards Assessment results for those who received special education services and those who did not receive services. A review of the literature finds research focused on this population is limited with few effective strategies identified to help these students keep pace with the increasing demand of today's classrooms. This post-hoc causal-comparative study uses an analysis of variance to determine if there are statistically significant achievement differences in Florida Standards Assessment results in English Language Arts and Mathematics for students when examining the effect of the independent variables of IQ scores and whether students received exceptional student education services. The results of this study indicated there were no significant differences in reading or mathematics achievement for students with borderline intellectual functioning who received ESE services when compared with those who did not receive services. There was, however, a statistically significant difference was found in mathematics achievement between students with borderline intellectual functioning at the lower end of the IQ range and those at the higher end of the IQ range. This study adds to the limited research on students with borderline intellectual functioning and demonstrates the continued need to dive deeper into what supports best meet the learning needs of this unique population of students.

Single subject studies analyze individual behavior identifying how interventions change behavior. Critical to this analysis are repeated baseline measures to identify behavior function and evaluate intervention effects. 40 studies treating child behavior problems between 1997 and 2015 were analyzed. Average student age was 8 years. Most studies used simple frequency counts (47%) of behavior. Baseline observation averaged 42 minutes and 7.4 observations. Most studies (81%) reported no systematic analysis of baseline stability, making it difficult to establish evidence-based effective interventions