<p> This study examines how personal characteristics of a team facilitator (transformational leadership, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability) impact team members' stress level, trust in leadership, and team climate. Participants comprised assessment teams in the student affairs of higher education, providing a unique perspective on a leadership role in which hierarchical positioning between the leader (facilitator) and follower was minimized.</p><p> Hypothesis 1 examined transformational leadership and three of the subscales of the Five-Factor Model (FFM)&mdash;agreeableness, conscientiousness, and emotional stability&mdash;as predictors of team stress. It was hypothesized that team facilitators who achieved higher scores would elicit lower team stress. This hypothesis was not supported.</p><p> Hypothesis 2 examined emotional stability and conscientiousness as predictors of team climate. It was hypothesized that higher-scoring facilitators would elicit a more positive team climate. This hypothesis had partial support on two of the independent variables. The higher the facilitator scored on conscientiousness, the higher the members rated Team Climate Inventory (TCI) subscale of Vision. The higher the facilitator scored on emotional stability, the lower the members rated the TCI subscale of Participant Safety.</p><p> Hypothesis 3 examined emotional stability as a predictor of trust: the higher the score elicited on emotional stable qualities, the higher the trust level. This hypothesis was not supported by the data.</p><p> Hypothesis 4 examined transformational leadership as a predictor of trust: the higher the score, the more trust gained. This hypothesis had full support, with transformational leadership being a reliable predictor of trust.</p><p> Hypothesis 5 examined agreeableness in predicting stress: those scoring moderately would alleviate stress. This hypothesis was not supported by the data.</p><p> Analyses were also conducted on team satisfaction and team performance. Trust, team climate, and stress were examined to predict team satisfaction and performance. For both satisfaction and performance, only one of the three predictors, the TCI, contributed significantly. As the team climate became more positive, team satisfaction and team performance also increased.</p>

<p> Organizational leaders need to establish policies and programs to retain quality employees. Mentorship and work life balance positively impact organizational commitment and reduce turnover intention. The purpose of this phenomenological, qualitative study was to explore the role that mentors play in helping women achieve work life balance. </p><p> Two major theoretical frameworks were used as a basis of this study. Giele (2008) identified 4 life course dimensions that contribute to an individual's behavioral system: identity, relational style, drive and motivation, and adaptive style. Elder and Giele (2009) built on this work and combined elements of their paradigms to link dimensions of an individual's behavioral system and the setting where that individual functions. Kram (1988) documented 2 major categories of mentorship functions. The first set of functions, career functions, focuses on those aspects of the mentoring relationship that enhance career advancement. The second set of functions, psychosocial functions, focuses on interpersonal aspects of the relationship. The research questions focused on how the presence of a mentor in the workplace impacted women's experiences and enabled them to meet the challenges of work life balance. </p><p> The research questions explored how having a mentor while dealing with the challenges of work life balance impacted the 17 participants' perceptions of organizational commitment and turnover intention. The researcher also investigated how mentorship functions differed based on the characteristics of the mentor relationship. </p><p> This researcher gathered the data by sending an online survey to 80 women who had previously participated in the Digital Women's Project (Weber, 2011). Data were coded based on a priori lists that were developed from the theoretical frameworks and the literature. Themes were established and utilized to develop findings for each research question. </p><p> Nine out of 17 participants had a mentor who aided her with work life balance. Women who had a mentor experienced all 4 life course dimensions. Both mentoring and work life balance positively impacted the participants' organizational commitment and reduced their turnover intention. The participants experienced almost exclusively positive mentorship outcomes. In light of these findings, organizational leaders can develop policies and programs to encourage mentorship and aid employees with work life balance, thus increasing retention. </p>

<p> Both nationally and at the state level, educational reform is focusing on the improvement of classroom instruction. Recently, Washington State enacted the Teacher/Principal Evaluation Pilot (TPEP) to define evaluation criteria intended to measure effective professional practices, including classroom instruction. This exploratory survey study sought to describe the perceptions of Washington State elementary principals regarding their professional development needs for implementation of the new evaluation criteria. The survey consisted of 5 parts totaling 25 questions and was disseminated to 1,897 elementary principals with a return rate of 354. While the state effectively disseminated initial information about the evaluation criteria through local Educational Service Districts (ESDs), some policy inconsistency appears to have developed between the school district and building level in terms of implementation support for principal leadership activities, learning behaviors, and preferred learning topics. Responses indicated that principals rarely engage in social learning activities that would prepare them as a group to consistently and reliably interpret the criteria on the evaluation. Also, few principals identified a strong desire to learn about collaborative structures within their school, which increases concerns about the sustainability of the TPEP policy, because of the need to develop shared understandings of the language and the expectations. Fostering such an understanding may comprise the next phase of development.</p>

<p> Using an online survey methodology and descriptive statistics, 92 self-identified outdoor leaders, representing a spectrum of wilderness experience programs in the United States and Canada, were surveyed to ascertain their knowledge of select psychological theories and concepts relevant to outdoor leadership. This study explores personal leadership philosophies, attitudes, and practices and knowledge regarding the facilitation of trip participants' relational development with self, others, and the natural world. General findings indicate that leaders possess a range of knowledge and skills to facilitate participants' relational development. Therapeutic outdoor leadership is tripartite relational theory emerging from outdoor programming literature. This study finds that leaders are actively nurturing participant well-being through a relational framework, indicated by the 34% of respondents who agree with the author's definition of outdoor leadership, addressing relational development of intra, inter, and transpersonal domains. However, findings indicate that leaders do not necessarily have, or are being educated in content and skills to maximize their abilities to develop outdoor program participants' relational abilities. Less than 13% of outdoor leaders are familiar with the concepts of therapeutic alliance, transference, and countertransference. Nearly all outdoor leaders claim to facilitate participant-nature relationships, approximately 80% use nature based metaphors, 72% use ceremonies or rituals, and most of the benefits attributed to contact with nature were identified. Most participants are unfamiliar with conservation psychology, the biophilia hypothesis, or ecopsychology. Almost half of outdoor leaders understand what self-efficacy describes and 55% of respondents were familiar with locus of control. Additionally, this survey explores leaders' perceptions about trust factors, how they define emotional safety, relevant professional boundaries, and feedback giving strategies. </p>

<p> The present study evaluated the effectiveness of two instructional approaches for remedial reading courses at a community college. The instructional approaches were strategic reading and traditional, textbook-based instruction. The two research questions that guided the quantitative, quasi-experimental study were: (a) what is the effect of strategic-reading instruction on the reading performance of community college students in a developmental reading course and (b) what is the effect of traditional, textbook-based instruction on the reading performance of community college students in a developmental reading course? The sample consisted of 64 participants. Two groups of students participated in the study: (a) the experimental group (<i>n</i> = 32), who received the strategic-reading instruction, and (b) the control group (<i>n</i> = 32), who received the traditional, textbook-based instruction. Students took the Nelson-Denny Reading test as a pretest and posttest to determine the effectiveness. The null hypotheses for H1 and H2 were rejected because the results of the paired <i>t</i>-test indicated strategic-reading instruction and traditional, textbook-based instruction have a statistically significant positive effect on students&rsquo; performance on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test Form G. Further, the one-way ANOVA test showed there is not a statistically significant difference between the difference scores of the students who received strategic-reading instruction and the students who received traditional, textbook-based instruction. The findings show that both methods of instruction are equally appropriate for the remedial reading course.</p>

<p> This study seeks to address the question <i>"How do school and district leaders and teachers become aware of, take steps to comprehend, and form opinions about state policies?"</i> These "first impression processes" represent significant parts of the processes by which district administrators, school administrators, and teachers make sense of state policies in the course of implementation. In some settings, educators, particularly school administrators and teachers, may be less likely to be aware of and fully understand important policies by virtue of their distance from state-to-district policy messages. They also may be more likely to be subject to outside influence in forming opinions. The "first impression processes" are examined within the specific context of implementing Achieve NJ, a policy which sets forth rigorous new guidelines for teacher evaluation in New Jersey and "lands" in districts in the course of the research. It uses as a theoretical framework Weick's (1995) model of sense-making applied to a schools context. A total of 293 surveys and 71 interviews were conducted with policy pilot and non-pilot district and school administrators and teachers.</p><p> Findings indicate that district administrators best and teachers least understood policies. Awareness typically depended on position in district hierarchy. Comprehension depended on individual research and collaborative, collegial processing opportunities. These efforts were particularly effective when paired with NJDOE personnel. Opinion formation occurred in conjunction with collaborative comprehension processes and was less dependent on existing perceptions or media influence. Pilot and non-pilot educators were most similar in opinion formation, and differed most in comprehension. District officials were more aware of and better comprehended policy specifics and policy contexts. School officials were less aware and comprehending, and teachers were comparatively the least in these areas. </p><p> The following recommendations emerge from this work. State departments of education may benefit from engaging teachers more directly through diverse policy communication efforts. Departments might also work to become collaborative collegial partners with schools as educators in school settings make sense of new policies. Implementation liaisons or more-permanent support structures such as the NJDOE Regional Achievement Centers may provide opportunities for state departments of education to partner with schools in collaborative processing of significant new policies and, in turn, bring about more effective implementation and policy outcomes.</p>

<p> An ever increasing number of school districts realize the potential for online classes to allow students equal access to a high quality education. This study used quantitative methods to contribute to the body of literature pertaining to K-12 online learning and also the gender gap in mathematics, science, and English/language arts education. Research for this study focused on the extent to which the gender gap in mathematics, science, and English/language arts performance is the result of differences in the level of teacher-student interaction through analyzing students' final course grades from a school district's 6^th-12^th grade traditional courses and online courses where there is no teacher-student interaction. Student achievement was further analyzed by controlling for prior achievement, socio-economic status (S.E.S.) and ethnicity. This study intends to contribute to the body of research on the gender gap and the benefits of online education at the K-12 level.</p>

<p> Educational leaders across the United States face changes affecting the educational system related to federal and state mandates. The stress of those changes may be related to superintendents&rsquo; longevity. The superintendent position has a mobility rate that is quite high. Every superintendent is different and may have a different leadership style than their predecessor. The district culture, goals, and expectations may change depending on the superintendents&rsquo; leadership style. If superintendents&rsquo; leadership style affects principals&rsquo; performance, it may affect the principals&rsquo; success or failure. The purpose of this quantitative correlational research study was to identify if correlations existed linking 126 principals&rsquo; perception of superintendents&rsquo; leadership style and principals&rsquo; performance as reflected by student achievement data. The goal was to obtain principals&rsquo; perception of the superintendents&rsquo; leadership style as measured by the MLQ and principals&rsquo; performance as measured by AIMS reading and math data from the 2011- 2012 to 2012-2013 school years. The results indicated that superintendents&rsquo; transformational, passive avoidant and transactional leadership styles did not correlate positively to math difference scores. However, the results indicated that the passive avoidant leadership style was positively, correlated to reading difference scores. The results also indicated that there was a positive correlation between reading and math difference scores. Educational leaders should be aware that the analysis of data indicates that it is plausible that passive avoidant leadership may be more complex than nonleadership as labeled in previous research.</p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to explore academic leaders&rsquo; experiences with the organizational elements of their own high school&ndash;college writing center collaborations. Conjoining theories framed this study: collaborative leadership theory, Kenneth Bruffee&rsquo;s notion of social constructionism and collaborative learning theory at the heart of writing center work&mdash;the craft of human interdependence, Lave and Wenger&rsquo;s concept of communities of practice, and writing curriculum theory. Based on purposeful sampling criteria, the researcher selected 6 cases involving 22 academic leaders from 11 institutions for the study and applied a manual data analysis process to primary data involving in-depth interview transcripts, followed by secondary data involving collaboration documents and the reflective journal. Themes and patterns emerged in participants&rsquo; descriptions of their experiences with the organizational elements of the Burke-Litwin model: (a) external environment, (b) mission and strategy, (c) leadership, (d) organization culture, (e) structure, (f) management practices, (g) systems (policies and procedures), (h) climate, (i) task requirements and individual skills and abilities, (j) individual needs and values, (k) motivation, and (l) individual and organizational performance. The results of the study provided an in-depth understanding of the organizational elements in each case and a convergence of organizational elements across cases as experienced by academic leaders. This study contributes to institutional administrators, writing center directors, teachers, and professional and peer tutors in developing and leading high school&ndash;college writing center collaborations, sharing secondary&ndash;postsecondary responsibility for bringing attention to the practice and value of writing, and fostering writing skills that might ease students&rsquo; transition to college writing.</p>

<p> Firearm violence is occurring on America's higher education campuses killing not only students but faculty and employees as well (International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, 2008). Even in light of this bloodshed, there is little accurate information available about the role that firearms play in preventing or exacerbating campus violence (Miller, Hemenway, &amp; Weschsler, 2002). Wyoming community college campus security directors are specifically given the authority to allow, or not, concealed firearms on their campuses by state law (Wyoming Senate, 2011). The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to explore the perceptions, attitudes, and understandings of campus security directors concerning concealed carry firearms on their campuses. </p><p> Using qualitative research methods, the study was conducted utilizing semi - structured interviews with the seven campus security directors for each of the Wyoming community college districts. Smith's (2012) interpretative phenomenological analysis qualitative method of inquiry guided the data analysis. In accordance with an interpretative phenomenological approach, data analysis was undertaken to examine for patterns, trends, and themes that emerged from the campus security directors' responses. The analysis used personal and in - depth detail derived from individual interviews to describe the perceptions, attitudes, and understandings of participants. Analysis of the data presented four super ordinate themes supported by fifteen subthemes. </p><p> This research yielded information concerning the possession of concealed carry firearms at Wyoming community college districts. Findings indicated that the unrestricted carry of concealed firearms would likely harm the overall safety of Wyoming community colleges. However, if proper vetting and training of persons carrying concealed firearms were to occur, campuses may be safer. Wyoming community college districts were considered safe places pursuant to participant responses, and no concealed firearms had been used in any Wyoming community college district to commit a violent crime. Campus security directors stated that possession of firearms by a victim would not have prevented any violent campus crime. </p><p> Campus security directors indicated that concealed carry firearms may be irrelevant to the safety of Wyoming community college districts. Rather it was the proactive stance and involvement of campus security officers that was important to campus firearm safety. The interview data yielded information and considerations for campus security directors, college administrators and all persons interested in firearm safety at Wyoming community colleges. This information may be used to assist in the crafting of sensible firearm policies at community colleges.</p>