<p> Continued wars and conflicts around the world have forced many people to migrate in search of safety and protection through resettlement programs. These people are considered refugees. Unfortunately, these refugees initially resettle in countries that are not able to provide them with necessary human services. Therefore, the United Nations Higher Commissioner for Refugees works with other countries who are willing to take and provide permanent resettlement opportunities to these refugees. </p><p> The purpose of this research was to gather and analyze refugees&rsquo; stories of their resettlement experiences in Illinois. I used qualitative methods, with a focus on narrative inquiry. I conducted in-depth interviews with four male refugee participants who had at least seven years of resettlement experiences in the U.S. Two participants were from DRC Congo, Africa, one from Iraq, and one from Vietnam. Based on these interviews, the study&rsquo;s findings were: (a) government and non-governmental agencies provided participants with civic education, language acquisition, and technical training that enabled them to gain access to education and employment opportunities; (b) the lack of English language oral communication and writing skills slowed down agency services acquisition; and (c) negative political rhetoric, migration policies, religious and ethnic discrimination, and prejudice created fear among participants that threatened to overshadow their aspirations to integrate and acculturate. To conclude, I recommend involving former refugees in resettlement programs, especially in acquiring government services, because deeper knowledge based on their experiences would improve resettlement policy and practice.</p><p>

<p> This study found that current selective admission practices continue to reflect traditional norms of leadership in which title and prestige of organization are most valued, in part driven by increasing external pressure for quantification which emphasizes higher positions in prestigious or familiar organizations because they are easier to enumerate and are perceived as having higher status. </p><p> Professionals in this study were asked a series of questions to identify how leadership could be better defined and measured in their current practices. Eighteen constructs across the three categories of Personal Traits, Interpersonal Skills, and Capacities for Socially Conscious Behaviors were identified as preferred characteristics demonstrating good leadership. </p><p> Forms of cultural capital shared by admission officers in this study include having college-educated parents, being raised in a home where college was an expectation, and who had earned at least a bachelor's degree. Further, most had worked as an undergraduate in admission, residence life, orientation, or as a tour guide. </p><p> Several of those interviewed questioned if and in what ways their own biases impacted their evaluation of an application. There was a genuine desire to be objective but also to understand the student in her or his own context. This contrasts with Bourdieu, but does agree with Swartz (1997) who posits that habitus can be raised to a conscious level and therefore can be adaptive. </p><p> A final emergent finding addressed a gender dynamic in which female staff expressed concern that female students are less likely to explicate their accomplishments compared to male students. Another aspect of this unexpected finding about perceptions of leadership in the office revealed some staff felt adherence to traditional forms of hierarchical leadership minimized or even excluded opportunities for younger staff, particularly female, to share their insights and participate in decision-making.</p><p>

<p> The representation of women in the superintendency has fallen short of prevailing values of gender equality (Ess-Korlander, 2010). This study examined the experiences of female superintendents as they compete for, obtain, and retain the superintendent position in a sampling of public school districts. Three research questions guided the study: (1) What are the experiences that influence the hiring and retention of female superintendents? (2) How do female superintendents navigate board politics? (3) How does mentoring support the hiring and retention of female superintendents? </p><p> Twelve participants were selected through purposive sampling from 90 women among 354 urban and suburban school superintendents in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. To participate, the women had to have served in the role for at least 2 years. Data were collected through one-on-one semistructured interviews, as well as document review, and were analyzed using the software program NVivo. To ensure trustworthiness, the researcher employed member checks, clarification of personal bias, peer debriefing, and an external audit. </p><p> Results showed that 11 of the 12 participants perceived that they faced gender bias, and four participants perceived that they encountered both racism and gender bias. All had followed the traditional career trajectory from classroom teacher to principal and a central office position before becoming superintendent. Once in the position, all met with board members regularly and kept them informed and involved in committees. Among the major challenges they faced in their position were dealing with budget constraints and decreasing the achievement gap. Mentoring had a significant impact on the participants&rsquo; well-being and all 12 had some form of mentoring in their lives from other superintendents, organizations, their district&rsquo;s cabinets, or their family. </p><p> The challenges faced by female superintendents call for a more effective and inclusive process for succession planning. Specific recommendations are offered for practice and research based on the implications of this study. School districts must invest in our future by giving the women who have studied and prepared for the role of superintendent a chance to lead.</p><p>

<p> The following research highlights the impact of building a strong school culture in one successful urban Turnaround school. From changes to the environment to increased professional development, from the impact on student and parent engagement to the changes in professional expectations for staff, it seems there was no area of the school that wasn&rsquo;t positively impacted by focusing on improving the school&rsquo;s culture. It highlights a school that moved from being arguably the lowest performing elementary school in the state to a school that had measurable and steady improvements in student achievement over a four year span. This research presents a success story told through the lens of the culture-building that the seasoned leader prioritized and insisted was most critical to their Turnaround efforts. Despite massive reform and the pressures of accountability, the leader&rsquo;s insistence on shaping the culture in every aspect of the school paid off. The staff too experienced this improved culture as critical to their Turnaround and sustained success. Given the fact that this school generated steady success in one of the poorest neighborhoods in the state, this local story has much to teach like and unlike settings. Additionally, this Principal&rsquo;s ability to strengthen her school culture through the implementation of massive reform provides district and school-based leaders ways to couple culture-building and reform in effective ways. This research identifies and extrapolates the key findings that are replicable and urgently relevant to public schools everywhere that are struggling to find a balance between answering the call of heavy reform while creating school cultures that meet the needs of students and staff, and create lasting and sustainable school-wide improvement. Finally, this research provides an example of a successful leader who invested in the culture, despite pressures to focus on other urgent matters perceived to be more directly related to student achievement. This research provides an invitation to leaders who wish to build school cultures that will prove foundational to substantial and lasting success.</p>

<p> This research involved examination of the causes of school violence, attitudes concerning violence, and preventative measures used by schools in the United States in relation to problems and solutions found in southwest Missouri schools. The goal of this dissertation was to study perceptions of school violence in the United States to form a better understanding of what schools are doing to combat violence and why these actions are seen as necessary for the safety of students, staff, and faculty within schools. To gather relevant information for the study, a literature review was conducted, followed by a written questionnaire administered to school superintendents of southwest Missouri. This research revealed two significant findings. First, school superintendents in southwest Missouri generally consider their communities to be safe and the likelihood of school violence to be low. Second, the main influences for school violence are perceived to be factors outside of the school over which administrators have little control. These findings reveal the need for more involvement of families and communities in order to combat violence before it reaches the schools.</p>

<p> Research showed a correlation between highly effective teachers and student achievement. Studies also indicated school administrators play a vital role in overall student achievement by hiring quality teachers. The purpose of this study was to examine the hiring process used by a Suburban Midwest Public School from 2011 through 2016. During this time, the research site used a systematic approach using various screening tools, JobFit, TeacherFit, and Morgan &amp; Associates Video Interviews, as a way to reduce the time spent on reviewing application materials while hiring highly effective teachers. JobFit, TeacherFit, and Morgan &amp; Associates Video Interview Screener all claim to provide school districts with data, which is predictive of highly qualified and effective teacher candidates. However, there is little evidence to support the claim. This study analyzed the possible relationship of the screeners used in combination of each other; the study also looked at each screener independent from the others to measure the possible relationship of each screener to teacher evaluation scores. The study also used survey data from local administrators to analyze the use of the tools to identify high quality applicants. By completing a quantitative analysis of approximately 350 applicants hired during the five-year period using the pre-interview screener tools, the researcher determined JobFit, TeacherFit, and Morgan &amp; Associates Video Interview scores are not strong predictors of teacher quality when used in isolation. Instead, the researcher suggests using these tools as part of a hiring system, which goes beyond screening. The interview process must also include a building level interview, teaching demonstration, a collaborative activity, and reference checks from a previous supervisor as a way to increase the probability of hiring a highly effective teacher.</p><p>

No description available.

Elementary school age children engage in levels of physical activity that are well below recommended guidelines. It has been suggested that classroom teachers can assist in remedying the problem by providing physical activity breaks and physical activity embedded in instruction. This study utilized the instrument, Physical Activity in the Classroom, to investigate the level of physical activity used in classrooms and to discover whether teachers differed in the amount of activity based on grade level and their own perceived level of personal fitness. It explored academic and behavioral benefits related to incorporating physical activity in the classroom and discovered what supports teachers report they need to incorporate more physical activity during the school day.;The 31-item instrument was tested on a random cluster sample of 393 K-5 elementary school teachers Findings revealed that teachers incorporated low levels of physical activity during their lessons. Math was identified as the subject area where they are most likely to incorporate a physical activity component. The K-5 teachers endorsed academic and behavioral benefits of including physical activity throughout the school day.;They maintained willingness to accept responsibility for including more physical activity but need support from administration and professional development to accomplish the goal. A factor analysis of the study instrument indicated that further refinement is needed to improve construct validity.

The number of students taking American Sign Language (ASL) at the post-secondary level continues to increase as more Deaf-related graduate programs and employment settings require fluent ASL skills. Western Oregon University (WOU) is one of the few existing programs in the United States that offers four years of ASL instruction; however, as a rural university it has limited access to a Deaf community. The problem of practice is that students often have little exposure to rich language models who are fluent in ASL, which impacts their legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) in the local Deaf communities of practice (CoPs) and reduces apprenticeship opportunities that might be beneficial for their language acquisition experiences. While research suggests that direct engagement with language models has a significant impact on language acquisition and fluency in general, there is scant literature in the field of ASL that addresses this connection. My dissertation research addressed this gap in the literature. To address my problem of practice, I used a qualitative research design with both descriptive and comparative research questions to complete three case studies. Using semi-structured interviews, this study explored participants' attitudes and beliefs about their experience in local Deaf CoPs. The three participants in my study were Western Oregon University students enrolled in ASL 8 course. Data analyses included inductive analysis of qualitative data, a within case analysis, and a cross-case analysis. Findings showed that participants were interested in moving past LPP in local Deaf CoPs, and were interested in identifying apprenticeship opportunities because they realized the importance of engaging with native language models.

The problem of this study is to determine, so far as possible, the conditions, reasons, and underlying motives which have led to the dismissal, demotion, or non-issuance of contracts to teachers in the state of Utah during a recent five-year period, 1943-1947, and also what methods have been used in terminating the tenure of those teachers who have been considered undesriable by their employers. The study will seek to reveal the extent to which the professional education associations are influential in determining policies for the dismissal of teachers. It is hoped that from this study some suggestions may emerge which will aid in establishing principles for the orderly dismissal of teachers. More specifically, these are the problems for which answers will be attempted: 1. What existing conditions contributed to the demotion or dismissal of teachers; and what conditions seemed to permit, encourage, or cause employers to act adversely toward teachers? 2. What reasons were advanced as for grounds or action taken to demote or dismiss teachers? 3. What were the underlying motives given by those responsible for the demoting or removing of teachers from their positions? 4. To what extent and in what ways have professional education associations exerted influence where teachers have been dismissed or demoted? 5. Is there an evident trend indicating an increase in the influence professional organizations are having on the tenure of their members? 6. What are some principles and procedures based on the data collected which may be incorporated in a plan for the orderly demotion and/or dismissal of incompetent and unsatisfactory teachers?