<p> The purpose of this study was to an investigate school administrator perceptions of their authority to intervene in disciplinary issues that arise from students&rsquo; use of social media. The overarching question for this proposal was: <i>How do educational leaders view their role in protecting students and the learning environment from student misconduct that occurs off campus?</i></p><p> The exponential use of personal technology allows students to continuously interact with each other, even off school campus. Some of this interaction represents a continually unwanted harassment between students. In Louisiana, there have been at least three documented cases of students committing suicide following negative exchanges online with their peers. Such negative communications between students may also disturb the learning environment of the school. School districts may also vary in their approach to addressing issues originating either off campus or on social media.</p><p>

<p> Students are coming to school with myriad issues that teachers and schools cannot address alone. ecological systems theory posits that the environments with which a child comes into contact, either directly or indirectly, can impact her or his development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). With the support of community partner organizations in the local community, community schools can effectively respond to students&rsquo; needs and help them navigate the interconnected web of environments. Through interviews, focus groups, and a document review, this cross-site case study explored the practices that are employed by community school leaders (school staff and employees of community partner organizations) at two pilot high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), to implement six guiding principles of community schools. </p><p> The study also captured impacts of these practices through participants&rsquo; perceptions, documents, and the application of transformative leadership theory. The findings revealed that the pilot school model is a natural avenue for the community schools strategy, and that intentional practices and a shared vision by all stakeholders can result in transformative impacts on students and the school as a whole. District and school leaders could consider developing processes and systems for implementing a community schools strategy district-wide by providing funding for community school coordinators for school sites, working with school leaders to develop their shared decision-making skills, and leveraging the assets and resources of community partners.</p><p>

<p> The purpose of this quantitative, descriptive, and comparative study was achieved by investigating and comparing general and special education kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade teacher beliefs on inclusion, as well as their perceptions of accommodations, preparation, and barriers to inclusion. More specifically, three categories or variables of general education and special education teachers&rsquo; beliefs were explored: (a) core perspectives, (b) expected outcomes, and (c) classroom practices for student inclusion. The researcher utilized the My Thinking About Inclusion (MTAI) survey developed by Stoiber, Gettinger, and Goetz (1998). </p><p> The following research questions guided this study: (a) What relationships, if any, exist between general and special education teachers&rsquo; beliefs about inclusion in an urban school district in southern California as measured by the MTAI survey? and (b) To what extent, if at all, are general and special education teachers&rsquo; beliefs about inclusion in one urban school district in southern California, as measured by the MTAI survey, related to their demographic characteristics? The MTAI survey was administered to 91 teacher participants who supported students with disabilities in inclusive education in kindergarten through 2nd grade during the 2016&ndash;17 school year. Fifty-four participants (59%) completed the MTAI survey. Out of the 54 participants, 24 were general education teachers and 30 were special education teachers. </p><p> The findings of this study shared that a key factor promoting positive attitudes toward inclusion depended on the teacher attending professional development that supported their work with SWD. For all three belief subscales, Core Perspectives, Expected Outcomes, and Classroom Practices; coteaching was found to be the most favorable training for general education teachers. General education teachers also noted that trainings on working with behaviors, individualized coaching-support and networking with colleagues were supportive for them. Special education teachers&rsquo; data also showed that trainings on individualized coaching-support were significant for them. However, for the special education teachers&rsquo; trainings on accommodations and networking with colleagues were most favorable. Classroom supports such as teacher collaboration, instructional aide(s), and special education teacher(s) support were shown to influence teacher attitude and self-efficacy toward inclusion.</p><p>

<p> Sexual harassment and sexual violence are complex social issues and a prevalent problem on college and university campuses. College students are an &ldquo;at risk&rdquo; population because of their age, developmental stage, proximity to one another, and their access to social activities influenced by peer pressure, alcohol, and other drugs. In this study, the researcher examined the phenomenon of sexual harassment and sexual violence on college and university campuses in relation to Title IX legislation and guidance through the U. S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights finding letters and the college and university voluntary resolution agreements from 21 cases. Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits the discrimination by gender to any educational program or activity. Sexual harassment and sexual violence are considered to be forms of sex discrimination. Applying a pragmatic worldview and interpretive lens, the researcher completed a qualitative document analysis of the case documents, using a framework modeled after Coffey&rsquo;s (2014) work. The researcher completed an inductive coding analysis of the documents to identify patterns related to the nature of sexual harassment and sexual violence, Title IX legislation and OCR guidance, and the complaints, finding of violations, and the resolution strategies outlined in the voluntary agreements. As one of the first qualitative studies of the OCR investigation and resolution documents, the results provide a broad introduction to the existence of sexual harassment and sexual violence in the studied cases, the role of Title IX and its influence and impact on college campuses, and the strategies identified to respond to the identified violations and initiatives put in place to prevent and respond to future occurrences.</p><p>

<p> English learners (EL) account for approximately 10 percent of American public school students and a quarter of all public school students in the state of California. This student group, while already a sizable minority, is also the fastest growing group of students across the state and nation. Therefore, ways that public school systems meet, or fail to meet, the educational needs of EL students will have an increasingly significant impact on outcomes for public school students generally. However, English learners have traditionally experienced public education in very different ways from native English speaking students, ways that frequently restrict access to educational opportunities and further systemic forms of advantage for some student groups and disadvantage for others.</p><p> The purpose of this research was to better understand the relationship between the philosophies, beliefs, and practices of educational leaders, and the experiences of English learners. A conceptual framework was developed that combined the theories of Applied Critical Leadership and Moral Leadership. This framework guided the development of an interview instrument to collect qualitative data in the form of participant beliefs and practices. These qualitative data were then compared to quantitative institutional data representing EL student placement in both higher-track and lower-track educational pathways in order to understand whether a relationship between the two sets of data existed. The sample included 11 participants who were educational leaders who worked directly with EL students. Quantitative data represented course placement data for approximately 8,000 students across three high school campuses within the same district.</p><p> Findings from this research indicated that the beliefs and practices of educational leaders were consistent between schools serving demographically different communities, and that levels of equity or inequity, for English learners remained consistent on these disparate campuses. Furthermore, while all three schools had made recent progress in moving toward more equitable representation of EL students in various educational pathways, this progress may have been hindered by the lack of two leadership components, 1) the ability of educational leaders to engage site staff in critical conversations regarding race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and language proficiency, and 2) the ability of educational leaders to extend collaborative decision-making processes beyond certificated staff members in order to include the diverse perspectives of classified staff, students, parents, and community members.</p><p> Based on the findings, recommendations are made for the establishment of systemic opportunities for educational leaders to employ specific leadership practices that may achieve greater levels of equity for traditionally underserved student groups, including English learners.</p><p>

<p> This is a qualitative phenomenological study that examines teacher perceptions of the Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA). The purpose of this research was to analyze how educators&rsquo; perceptions of PERA influenced their workplace satisfaction and willingness to grow and improve. The study explores PERA in the context of neoliberal reform ideology and also through the lens of self-determination theory. Fourteen teachers from Central and Southern Illinois were interviewed and PERA, like other neoliberal education reforms, was shown to have a demotivating influence on the profession.</p>

<p> Transitional kindergarten (TK) is the 1st year of a 2-year kindergarten program. It follows the requirements of California Senate Bill 1381 in providing a modified kindergarten curriculum that is both age and developmentally appropriate. The Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 changed the required entry age for admittance to kindergarten and first grade and developed a TK program to implement throughout districts. The criterion to enter a TK program is that students must turn 5 between the months of September 2 and December 2. The TK program is designed to place emphasis on developing cognitive, socioemotional, and physical skills. TK implements the same core curriculum and materials as the kindergarten program, with curricular modifications and developmentally appropriate practices that will allow TK students to ultimately meet the Kindergarten Common Core and State Content Standards at the end of their 2-year program. </p><p> This study aimed to explore teachers&rsquo; perceptions about the extent to which the new TK program contributes to students&rsquo; social, emotional, and cognitive development to ultimately yield better learning outcomes for students once they enter kindergarten. Further, this qualitative study aimed to give a voice to TK and kindergarten teachers who are at the heart of the TK program implementation. It explores not only how the implementation of the Kindergarten Readiness Act of 2010 affects teachers professionally but also how it affects the learning outcomes of students under their tutelage. </p><p> Overall, these findings of this study revealed teachers&rsquo; beliefs that the TK students needed extra time to develop the cognitive, socioemotional, and physical skills necessary to improve learning outcomes in kindergarten. Teachers viewed the TK program as developmentally appro- priate to meet the needs of all students; however, they believed that the TK curriculum did not integrate the developmental domains into teaching and learning of subject matter. In fact, the participants held diverse perspectives regarding the TK curriculum on preparing students for kindergarten. Although teachers held various perspectives on the TK curriculum, they expressed strong, unifying views on their passion for practice and the importance of their instructional practices.</p>

<p> In 2004, Alabama abolished its previous teacher tenure law that allowed for teachers to appeal adverse board decisions to a seven member Alabama State Tenure Commission. In its place, the Alabama legislature provided a process for teachers to appeal terminations, transfers, and major/minor suspensions to a hearing officer. The hearing officer was either selected from a panel of arbitrators through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services&rsquo; Office of Arbitration Services (FMCS) or could be mutually agreed upon by the parties. Unlike the previous tenure law, the hearing officer was not required to given any deference or consideration to the board&rsquo;s decision below. Not long after its adoption and implementation, the 2004 Alabama Teacher Tenure Act came under fire for not fulfilling its intended goals of providing for an expedited and less-costly method of review for adverse employment actions. By 2011, Alabama&rsquo;s (as well as most other states&rsquo;) political landscape had changed significantly and the 2004 Alabama Teacher Tenure Act was repealed and replaced with the Students First Act. This qualitative research project analyzes the issues and application of arbitration-type hearings in 106 Alabama K-12 tenured certified personnel adverse employment actions. Specifically, the research addresses the issues regarding Alabama&rsquo;s 2004 Teacher Tenure Act, including how hearing officers trained as employment law arbitrators decided for or against board decisions in adverse employment actions, what trends emerged from their decisions, and what legal principles remain applicable for school administrators.</p><p>

Currently, there is a large body of research examining Out-of-School Time (OST) programs, the goals of these programs, and their reported impact on the youth they serve. However, there is little evidence of research on how organizations determine which goals best fit the needs of the communities they serve. Concurrently, studies of how organizations put these goals into action are virtually non-existent in the literature. This study examines how organizations in Massachusetts receiving Federal 21st Century Community Learning Center funding make decisions about Out-of-School-Time programming. Although the federal grant requirements and the Massachusetts Department of Education impose some uniformity on these programs, they still vary considerably in their design and the target audiences they serve. Through an online survey, document review and semi-structured interviews, the research identified several themes about the decision making used in these organizations. Cohen, March & Olson's Garbage Can Model of Organizational Choice was used as a framework to better understand the data and to organize the discussion. A stakeholder analysis was also used to evaluate the influence of participants on the decision making within the Out-of-School-Time programs. The research identified a loose connection between the decisions made about the types of activities selected and the prescriptive goals of the 21st Century Community Learning Centers programs. There were several factors that contributed to this loose connection, including the influence of stakeholders, the learning outcomes identified by the assessment tools, and the evaluation of programs by the State. The research also leads to several recommendations about the evaluation of these programs in Massachusetts, including a review of the assessment tools designed by the State and a study of whether the mission shift evidenced in these communities is a tacit decision made by the Department of Education and grant recipients. Further research on the alignment of Federal and State programming goals is also recommended.

<p> University instructors experience continual technological change that affects their classroom teaching and their relationships with students. Few studies have been conducted regarding instructor views about student off-task multitasking during class. This study used a qualitative design with a phenomenological approach to discover meaning that instructors attribute to the challenges they encounter in dealing with student information and communications device use in the university classroom. Bronfenbenner&rsquo;s (1990) ecological systems theory was used as a lens to organize and bring understanding to data collected from participant interviews, classroom observation, and syllabus inspection. The design of the study was different than any studies found to date as it triangulated instructor interviews with syllabi and observational data. Twelve participants who teach freshman-and sophomore-level core curriculum classes from a western university were included in the study. Information accumulated in this study supported some of the current research, but was in direct opposition to other research. The findings provide practical recommendations and many new opportunities for future research.</p>