M. Arch.

Ed. D.

School divisions have spent billions of dollars on school safety upgrades since the events at Columbine (Cox and Rich, 2018). However, the research on the effectiveness of policies and safety upgrades has been inconsistent. Further, research dedicated to teacher perceptions of school is limited. An in-depth examination of how teachers perceive safety policies and practices could assist school leaders in the creation of safe working spaces for their teachers. The purpose of the study was to identify factors that influence teacher perceptions of safety within the school environment. This study was an extension of Leonard's (2016) study entitled What School Factors Influence Teachers' Perceptions of Safety in Their Classrooms and Schools? This mixed-methods study surveyed 559 teachers in a medium-sized Virginia school division and had 353 participants. The survey tool consisted of qualitative and quantitative elements designed to measure teacher perceptions of safety regarding physical characteristics of school facilities, collegial relationships, school administrator practices, and the principal's adherence to school division safety policies. Descriptive tables for each survey question were created. The tables highlighted statistical trends gathered from the quantitative portion of the study and lists of common perceptions observed from the thematic analysis process. Potential relationships between perceptions of safety, school facilities, gender, years of experience, and teaching assignments were highlighted. The study indicated that physical and visible security measured impacted teacher perceptions of safety. Teachers identified that locked exterior doors, the presence of school resource officers, and security cameras positively impacted their perceptions of safety. The school environment had an impact on perceptions of teacher safety. Teachers determined that colleague support impacted perceptions of safety positively. In addition, school administrators' practices influenced teacher perceptions of safety. Teachers conveyed that principal visibility, administration support, and open communication enhanced their perception of safety. Further, teachers highlighted the importance of their awareness of school and district safety policies, and the existence of crisis plans at the school and division level. Moreover, the majority of teachers' perceptions of safety were not negatively impacted by student behavior or the potential of outside intruder threats. Thus, the researcher determined that, overall, teachers perceived that they felt safe at school. / Doctor of Education / School divisions have spent billions of dollars on school safety upgrades since the events at Columbine (Cox and Rich, 2018). However, the research on the effectiveness of policies and safety upgrades has varied. Further, research dedicated to teacher perceptions of school is limited. An in-depth examination of how teachers perceive safety policies and practices could assist school leaders in the creation of safe working spaces for their teachers. The purpose of the study was to identify factors that influence teacher perceptions of safety within the school environment. This study was an extension of Leonard's (2016) study entitled What School Factors Influence Teachers' Perceptions of Safety in Their Classrooms and Schools? The researcher surveyed 559 teachers in a medium-sized Virginia school division and had 353 participants. The survey consisted of qualitative and quantitative elements designed to measure teacher perceptions of safety regarding physical characteristics of school facilities, collegial relationships, school administrator practices, and the principal's adherence to school division safety policies. A summary table for each survey question was created. The tables highlighted statistical trends gathered from the quantitative portion of the study and lists of common perceptions observed within the qualitative questions responses. Potential relationships between perceptions of safety, school facilities, gender, years of experience, and teaching assignments were highlighted. The researcher determined that physical and visible security measured impacted teacher perceptions of safety. Teachers identified that locked exterior doors, the presence of school resource officers, and security cameras positively impacted their perceptions of safety. The school environment had an impact on perceptions of teacher safety. Teachers determined that colleague support positively impacted perceptions of safety. In addition, school administrators' practices influenced teacher perceptions of safety. Teachers conveyed that principal visibility, administration support, and open communication enhanced their perception of safety. Further, teachers highlighted the importance of their awareness of school and district safety policies, and the existence of crisis plans at the school and division level. Moreover, the majority of teachers' perceptions of safety were not negatively impacted by student behavior or the potential of outside intruder threats. Thus, the researcher determined that, overall, teachers felt safe at school.

The purpose of this study was to determine if the instructional and organizational needs of educators were fully met in school buildings constructed through the provision of a public/private partnership and the degree of satisfaction in the completed facility. This study examined the implementation of the Public/Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (PPEA) in the Commonwealth of Virginia to construct public school facilities. School divisions that entered into a school construction project using the provisions of a public/private partnership between 2002 and 2013 were identified by the Virginia Department of Education. An electronic survey was created to solicit feedback from participants regarding their level of input and engagement during the planning and design stages of development and teacher and principal satisfaction with the completed school facility. The survey instrument had 33 items. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The frequency and percentage from each category, mean, and mode were also reported for each quantitative survey item. Qualitative data were examined by response categories according to the experiences teachers and principals. The Public/Private Partnership Survey was sent to the administrators and teachers of 14 public schools throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. There were 131 participants from 14 schools that completed and returned the survey. The findings indicated that while some participants had an ideal experience throughout the construction project, the majority of the participants did not feel that they had significant engagement or input during the planning stages prior to the public/private partnership school construction project. Additionally, while thankful for an improved school facility, teachers and principals consistently responded that if their feedback had been valued, they would be working in a completed school facility better suited to meet the needs of all stakeholders. Principals and teachers who were the most satisfied with their school facility had high levels of engagement during the planning stages, the input they provided was valued, and translated into the educational specification documents and into the completed school facility. / Ed. D.

The research study is a review of research at Virginia Tech on the relationship between school building condition and student and teacher performance and attitudes. There have been several reviews or synthesis studies of the research in the field of school facilities over the last 65 years. One institution, Virginia Tech has produced several research studies in this area of scholarly work over the past two decades. With this large corpus of research directly related to Cash's theoretical model, first used in 1993, it becomes necessary to find out what the research has shown and also to find out what these researchers have advocated for further research. The study extracted 84 findings from the 20 studies reviewed with 67% being statistically significant. Only eight of the 20 relationships in the theoretical model had related findings. Building Condition and Faculty Attitude and Building Condition and Student Achievement had the highest number of related findings. The study states that a better Building Condition has a positive relationship on higher student achievement and attitudes. The synthesis of the findings also drew seven conclusions that should be factored into future research decisions. The study also extracted 74 recommendations for further research. The three relationships that had the greatest number of related recommendations for further research were Building Condition and Student Achievement, Building Condition and Student Attitudes, and Building Condition and Faculty Attitude. The relationships that were either not investigated or were investigated by one or two research studies are the areas that need more research. The theoretical model produced several propositions for further research. The propositions follow the logical progression of the model from the decisions of the school authorities and financial ability of the school system in determining the condition of the school building to the eventual effect the school building conditions have upon student and teacher performance and attitudes. The presented taxonomy of research needs, through the propositions, serves as a guide in determining the needs for filling the gaps in the research related to Building Condition and Student and Teacher Performance and Attitude at Virginia Tech and other institutions. / Ph. D.

High inflation rates, rising energy costs, and resulting school budget problems have forced educators to examine alternative ways to ease the disproportionate impact energy costs have on the total financial resources of school districts. Renewable energy resources offer a wide variety of possible alternative ways to provide situationally appropriate answers to this budget problem. This study described the renewable energy resource system options in such detail as to enable educational leaders to make choices in directing planners to do further feasibility studies and in applying existing technologies to current facilities and new construction. Some of the energy resource categories examined were as follows: solar (including active and passive solar heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting, photovoltaics, and solar salt ponds), wind, hydropower, biomass, and geothermal. A good deal of the task was to describe the systems, to provide examples, to review the literature, resources, and location of usage, to analyze their cost effectiveness, to determine standardization and availability of technology, to review other feasibility considerations, and to examine institutional, governmental and other inhibitors to use of available systems. All of the renewable energy resource systems have demonstrated successful competition with traditional energy resources in appropriate settings. Solar energy has been most widely utilized and priority consideration was increasingly given to passive solar applications and active solar heating, especially in hot water and district heating. Some of the resources were regarded as more appropriate to remote settings, especially wind power, hydropower, and some forms of biomass. The technology needed was available, even for geothermal energy. / Ed. D.

If the future citizens of tomorrow are to be educated, they must have, for one thing, at least, buildings in which to supply their needs adequately. This study is made with the realization that the physical plant does not make a good school, but with the idea that it does help a great deal.

The purpose of the study is to determine whether or not the housing facilities provided for the industrial arts programs in the Beaumont Public Schools meet current recommendations concerning housing facilities as stated by five selected authorities in the field of school housing.

This is a study of the standards and current practices as related to housing facilities for industrial arts programs with recommendations concerning the proposed housing facilities for industrial arts in the Arlington Heights Senior High School, Fort Worth, Texas, based upon present and future estimated scholastic enrollment and accepted standards and practices.

The problem of this study is to determine the extent to which public school buildings were used as community centers in 1939-40, and the degree to which certain citizens understood this utilization. The study is limited to the county seats in Deputy State Superintendent's District Number Seventeen of Texas, which includes the following counties: Angelina, Cherokee, Shelby, Rusk, Nacogdoches, Sabine, and San Augustine.