<p> This mixed-methods case study determined the factors and examined the issues associated with student retention at a faith-based independent day school in southwestern United States of America. The data included online surveys, personal interviews, collection of archival information, and the researcher's extensive field notes. Surveys (530) were distributed to the board of trustees, administration, faculty, parents, and other stakeholders. Current parents responded to the survey at 71.5%, faculty responded at 47.8%, and board members responded, at 27%. Therefore, parents comprised the largest percentage of respondents by constituency to the survey. To gather more in-depth perceptions, 21 personal interviewees were purposely identified to equally represent the school's 5 groups of stakeholders. These semi-structured long interviews were conducted by the researcher and a trained assistant. The researchers' extensive notes across the year, and archival data portraying the school since its inception secured significant information to support valid results.</p><p> The first research question focused on factors stakeholders perceived were important to retention. Based upon the results of this study, a model noting the 5 factors that affect retention at faith-based independent schools was developed. These 5 factors were identified: positive relationships, affordability, clear communication, action plan for retention, and living the school mission. Positive relationships among the stakeholders were an overarching theme. The mission of the school--the focus on a balance of high quality general studies, faith-based curriculum, values and culture--was an essential factor in student retention Stakeholders perceived a need for better marketing and recruiting throughout fifth grade. Stakeholders were also concerned about affordability xiv and perceive a need for financial aid as an issue in retention. The school administration needs focus on improving positive communication. </p><p> The second research question asked stakeholders to list perceived issues that relate to retention. Based on the results of this study the predominant issues are: relationship building by administration, fine tuning communication from administration to the school community, finding the right balance between faith based and academic curriculum, exclusivity versus inclusivity of non-Jewish students, tuition support, recruiting throughout the grade levels, and improving the school's marketing strategy.</p>

<p> Principals in rural schools lead with an awareness of multiple contingent factors that influence their decisions every day regarding programming for students. The purpose of this research is to examine how rural elementary school principals conceptualize programs in their schools, the processes used to connect students to these programs, and their leadership role in doing so. Through the lens of contingency theory, this qualitative research study informs the research regarding contextual variables that influence principals' decisions as they program for students.</p><p> Three research questions provided the frame through which to examine the ways that principals conceptualize the benefit of programs in their school buildings, as well as the ways that they negotiate the environment and obligate resources based on student needs and outside influences. A purposeful sample of 11 principals working at rural elementary schools in a mid-Atlantic state participated in this study. A basic qualitative design provided the framework for interpreting the interview data collected. </p><p> Major findings of this study indicated that principals were more apt to introduce a new program to their building if it was one they had had experience with before. If they did not consider the program beneficial, they were less apt to support it in their building. In addition, principals and school teams used formal and informal assessment data to make decisions regarding student programming. Principals obligated human resources in multiple ways in order to meet the programming needs of their students, but funding, regulations, and curricular and testing demands influenced their programming decisions. In addition, teacher "burn-out" and limited time in the school day were all areas of concern.</p><p> Nationally, public schools receive billions of dollars in federal, state, and local funding for the purpose of student programming. Policy makers write policy from an urban-centric viewpoint. This viewpoint forces rural principals to interpret the policy in creative ways to ensure it meets the needs of their students. This study provides insight as to how rural principals interpret policy in order to utilize resources to program for students. This study also examines the contexts that influence their programming decisions.</p>

<p> School districts face enormous challenges with recent reductions in fiscal resources due to cuts in California's state budget and an average tenure for a school superintendent of only 3 years. School boards are challenged to find a leader who can address the needs of the school district during these difficult times. As numerous school superintendents are retiring, and a new generation of educators is applying for key positions in educational leadership, it is important to better understand the perceptions of school board presidents who have experience in selecting a school superintendent.</p><p> This study explored the perceptions of the superintendent selection process of five participating school board presidents. The participants in this study shared their perceptions of the superintendent search process and selection criteria, perceptions on the most important leadership characteristics desired in a superintendent, and perceptions in the standards used to measure leadership in the candidates selected as superintendent.</p><p> The findings revealed several components of the selection process that will serve school boards in evaluating the best strategy for them in conducting the superintendent search. When school boards embark on the process of selecting a superintendent, their actions become very public and ultimately reflect on how they view community involvement and input into on-going district leadership. As a result, a well-defined plan of action will reflect well on the school board, build community trust, and set the stage for a positive transition to new leadership at the superintendent level. The assertion that selecting a superintendent may very well be the school board's most important duty of action, it is imperative that such a process be articulated and integrated within the scope of district need and community involvement.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of six state-wide policies and procedures used in the family assessment process within early intervention services. This study looked at the administrative understanding of the family assessment federal regulations, state policies and procedures, and local implementation from the perspective of the Part C coordinator in his or her state. </p><p> This qualitative study utilized methodologies associated with a grounded theory approach through in-depth interviews. The participants in this study included six state Part C coordinators. Based on the findings of this study, two broad conclusions are offered: 1. There was a lack of specific policies and procedures regarding family assessment, which made family assessment difficult to implement with fidelity across a state system. 2. There was a lack of specific training around performance competencies of family assessment, which lead to a reliance on a state's family-centered philosophy and the IFSP process. </p><p> Recommendations were made for early interventionists, Part C coordinators, and researchers in the area of family assessment.</p>

<p>Although all of the schools in the target school system adhere to a school improvement process, achievement scores remain mediocre or stagnant within the overseas school in Italy that serves children of United States armed service members. To address this problem, this study explored the target school&rsquo;s improvement process to discover how different stakeholder groups viewed that process. The aim of these investigations was to determine if different stakeholder groups&rsquo; competing values hindered the school&rsquo;s improvement efforts. The conceptual framework of this study was Schein&rsquo;s organizational culture theory along with recent findings by Creemers and Kyriakides that show that school culture must be addressed in order for a school to improve. The research design was a single case study. Four different stakeholder groups were interviewed, two school improvement committee meetings were observed, and seven school-improvement related documents were examined. <i>ATLASti</i> qualitative analysis software was used following Hatch&rsquo;s typological analysis method. Two major themes, <i>Teachers versus Technocrats</i> and <i>Pre-Fourth Way</i>, revealed the importance of school culture. The recommended project, a Networked Learning Community (NLC), was designed to build a positive culture by promoting collective responsibility, empowering innovation, and building capacity. This study will promote positive social change by demonstrating how school improvement occurs and by providing a research-based plan for a NLC that can help shift the trajectory of the static moderate achievement levels in the case study school and the target school system. </p>

<p> This research investigates science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) high school opportunity structures, including student experiences with math and science course sequences and progress, college guidance and counseling, and STEM extracurricular activities (Weis and Eisenhart, 2009), specifically related to STEM fields and career and college choice, for top-performing math and science students. Differences in these structures and processes as they play out in two representative high schools that vary by social class and racial/ethnic makeup are examined. This comparative ethnography includes 36 school and classroom observations, 56 semi-structured individual interviews, and a review of relevant documents, all gathered during the focal students' junior year of high school. </p><p> Three data chapters are presented, discussing three distinct, yet interconnected themes. In the first, I examine the ways in which chronic attendance problems and classroom distractions negatively impact math and science instruction time and lead to an instruction (time) deficit. In the second, I compare the math and science course and extra-curricular offerings at each school, and discuss the significant differences between sites regarding available STEM exposure and experience, also known as "STEM educational dose" (Wai, et al., 2010). In the third, I investigate available guidance counseling services and STEM and college-linking at each site. Perceived failures in the counseling services available are discussed. </p><p> This dissertation is grounded in the literature on differences in academic achievement based on school setting, the nature/distribution of knowledge based on social class, and STEM opportunity structures. The concepts of "social capital" and "STEM capital" are engaged throughout. </p><p> Ultimately, I argue through this dissertation that segregation by race, and most importantly social class, both between and within districts, damages the STEM pipeline for high-performing math and science students located in high-poverty, low-performing schools. I further argue that both federal and state accountability-based school reform efforts are failing to improve outcomes for students with proficiency and interest in STEM learning and STEM fields, and in fact, these reforms are harming top performing students and high school STEM opportunity structures. Recommendations for changes in policy and practice, and for further research, are provided.</p>

<p> The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)'s emphasis of reading, language arts, and mathematics (RLA&amp;M) and its de-emphasis of science has been a source of great concern among educators. Through an objectivist and constructionist framework, this study explored the unforeseen effects of the NCLB on public science education among Title I (TI) and non-Title I (NTI) students. The research questions focused on the effects of NCLB on Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) scores in the high-stakes subjects of reading, language arts, mathematics and the low stakes subject of science among TI and NTI 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students in a north Georgia County during the 2010/2011 school year. This study also compared instructional time TI and NTI teachers dedicated to science. A causal-comparative quantitative methodology was used to analyze Georgia's public domain CRCT scores. Three independent-samples t tests showed that TI schools exhibited significantly lower Science CRCT scores than did NTI students at all grade levels (p &lt; 0.0001). The data also showed CRCT scores in high-stakes subjects between TI and NTI students converging but science CRCT scores between TI and NTI students diverging. The self-report survey indicated no significant differences between TI and NTI teachers' instructional science time (t (107) = 1.49, p = 0.137). A teacher development project was designed to focus on improving teacher science content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge through a formal introduction to the nature of science. With increasing global science competition, science is more relevant than ever, and communities need students with strong science foundations. Further study is recommended to analyze the factors associated with this science gap between TI and NTI students.</p>

<p> Digital textbooks continue to hold the potential to revolutionize the dissemination of knowledge to anyone, anywhere. The understanding needed to reach a new digital paradigm includes tools that are consistent with the needs of a new generation of educators and students. This qualitative modified Delphi study provides a foundation that defines the function, structure, and role of the textbook in education. The textbook is defined as a basic educational resource that provides definitive knowledge, defines and bounds the scope of discussion and learning, and helps assure that the stated learning goals are met. A textbook is an educational resource and may contain other resources. As such, the textbook functions as an educational workspace; digital textbooks need to function as the principal resource in an online or interactive educational workspace that supports a mix of materials, including and regardless of multiple media formats. As is the role of the best technology, a fully functional digital textbook seamlessly encapsulates the educational materials and resources needed by the specific course. The consideration of linear and nonlinear study functions in terms of existing devices and interfaces played a critical role in understanding textbooks. Current PDF-based digital textbooks do not meet students&rsquo; needs. A list of functional considerations, that need to be part of the next generation of digital textbooks, is included in this study. Students need to be able to tailor the interface to best suit their individual preferences. The importance of reducing costs in the marketplace will ultimately decide which technologies will succeed.</p>

<p> Problem and Purpose</p><p> The American K-12 school principal is responsible for providing a learning environment that is physically and emotionally safe. An abrasive teacher who displays bullying behaviors towards students is a threat to that environment, impeding student academic progress and decreasing student perceptions of safety. Principals intervene, with risk to themselves. </p><p> This study sought to understand principal intervention by: (a) estimating the prevalence of abrasive teachers, (b) asking how principals identify abrasive teachers, (c) classifying situational elements that enhance or inhibit the principal's motivation to intervene, (d) exploring the interventions principals used, (e) examining the effects those interventions had on the schools, and (f) searching for patterns in interventions that might be helpful to theorists and practitioners. </p><p> Method</p><p> A fully integrated, mixed-methods design was used in collecting and interpreting data from 515 surveys and 21 semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The volunteer sample was composed of K-12 principals from California public and private schools. Findings were based on the perceptions of the principals. Principal perception was used due to the principal's legal and moral responsibility for the school, its students, and its teachers, and due to his/her access to all school stakeholders. </p><p> Results </p><p> The study found that four out of five (80.1%) of the schools represented in the study currently have&mdash;or in the past 3 years have had&mdash;an average of 2.9 abrasive teachers. The teachers were disproportionately distributed across grade levels, subject areas, sex of the teachers, years of teaching experience, and race. </p><p> The study identified five types of teacher maltreatment of students: verbal, professional, physical, non-verbal, and social. The study found that student symptoms could be grouped under the headings of emotional states, psychosomatic manifestations, fight responses, flight responses, and asking for help. The study also categorized the various theories principals hold to explain why a teacher would use abrasive behaviors. </p><p> Nearly half of the reported interventions resulted in improved teacher performance as perceived by the principal. Nearly a quarter resulted in the teacher leaving the classroom, and a little more than a quarter resulted in no change or in the worsening of the situation. Local teacher unions sometimes worked cooperatively with the principal who was striving for the professional improvement or removal of a teacher. More often, unions impeded the principal's role of safeguarding the learning environment for each student. Due to the exploratory nature of this study, additional textual analyses were conducted, and 14 additional hypotheses and 18 sub-hypotheses were tested. </p><p> Conclusions and Recommendations</p><p> From the findings it was concluded: (a) abrasive teachers were present in a large majority of schools, (b) anxious principals were less likely to use interventions that required action with tangible outcomes, (c) schools need a systemic approach to dealing with aggression on all levels within the school community, and (d) principals and unions should develop ways to maintain teacher protections without sabotaging student learning. </p><p> Implications for practice include six recommendations for school stakeholders, three themes that should be included in professional development for principals, and 12 pieces of advice that veteran principals wished to give to rookie principals. The study ends with six specific recommendations for further research.</p>

<p> Six charter schools in California have aligned their fiscal management and special education services to create a power base that protects their diverse approaches to schooling. This qualitative case study offers an insider's perspective on how these schools came to working together and how neighboring districts have been affected. Using the lens of special education services and analyzing data gathered through interviews and documentation, this study demonstrates the effectiveness of a model that can transform the school district landscape.</p>