<p> This study's purpose was to investigate new site administrators' perceptions of the term <i>community involvement,</i> of their role to engage the local community members as partners in their school, their preparation and support to work with their communities, and their challenges on-the-job with community engagement. This study also examined new site administrators' perceptions and needs to better understand what tools are necessary to help them create thriving community partnerships. </p><p> Thirty new site administrators across 4 counties of Southern California participated in a semi-structured 45-minute interview. All were employed less than 4 years and represented the gender, age and ethnic diversity of these counties. These individuals initially responded that parents were the community, not noting businesses, churches, health and the many other entities that surround and should be involved in school life. Each stated in some fashion that the role of the site administrator was to interface with the community beyond the site faculty and staff. All perceived that their academic preparation lacked any knowledge and skills to work with parents and the community although that is 1 of 6 required components for an administrative license in California. In addition, none indicated formal on-the-job professional development opportunities; 2 in the same district mentioned superintendent support of community involvement. </p><p> The first year administrators shared their sense of feeling overwhelmed in their new leadership position for a school staff and the myriad of policies/procedures. New site administrators in their second&ndash;fourth years commented on the struggle to find time to deal with community partnerships, the lack of district support, and limitations created by policies/procedures. </p><p> The respondents expressed interest in working with community groups, noting the many benefits to the school. All suggested ways that school districts, counties, colleges, department of education, professional associations, accrediting agencies, and policymakers could provide required training in the knowledge and skills to develop sustaining community partnerships.</p>

<p> Abstract of Dissertation Principal Socialization in One Virginia School District: A Phenomenological Investigation This phenomenological investigation examines the lived experiences of school principals to discover how principals hired from within their school division perceive and make meaning of their organizational socialization experiences&mdash;their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, values, and assumptive worlds. Nineteen public school principals participated in the study. All of the principals worked within the same school district, a school district that historically hires 99% of its school principals from within the division. Principals in the study not only served as assistant principals within the division, but they also served in other roles such as teacher, specialist, and coordinator, thus experiencing spiral socialization.</p><p> The researcher conducted semi-structured interviews lasting 90 minutes over a 3-month period. Moustakas' (1994) phenomenological research model was used to analyze data, allowing the researcher to examine what and how the phenomenon was experienced by each participant. Additionally, it allowed the researcher to uncover essential themes and describe the total essence of the phenomenon.</p><p> Results revealed two themes that emerged from the analysis about how principals who were hired from within their school division perceive and make meaning of their organizational socialization experience: (a) A Sense of Family and Familiarity and (b) A Sense of Preparation and Continuous Training. The essence of the experience presented a summary of the participants' stories. Being hired to the principalship within their school division presented feelings of being connected, groomed, and supported. For the 19 principals in this study, principal socialization begins with leaders who are ready, willing, and able to build relationships and pour into those who desire to lead and those in whom they recognize leadership potential.</p><p> While most socialization research seeks to offer recommendations, this study provides possibilities for awareness regarding the organizational socialization of school principals. This awareness may prove beneficial to organizations that prepare school administrators and school divisions as they consider recruiting, hiring, retaining, and training school principals for an ever changing, demanding role.</p>

<p> This dissertation is an analytic Autoethnography that investigates Self-Leadership through the lens of Action Research for the purpose of introducing a new approach, <i>Self-Action Leadership</i> (SAL) through <i> Self-Action Research</i> (SAR). Self-Action Research is a form of Action Research focused on building one's own personal and professional effectiveness and wellbeing, and Self-Action Leadership refers to an original, comprehensive theory and model of Self-Leadership that utilizes Self-Action Research, and that could potentially be utilized by any self-leader. In this study, personal stories and artifacts are presented as an autoethnographic case study of my journey in developing Self-Leadership, and connections are made to the primary, extant model of Self-Leadership (<i>A Comprehensive Self-Leadership Framework </i>) developed by leading Self-Leadership scholars Neck and Manz (2010). The SAL Theory and Model are presented as nomological constructs derived from an analysis of presented, qualitative data synthesized with relevant literature in multiple fields of inquiry including Self-Leadership and Action Research, and are intended to be applicable to other individuals seeking greater control of their personal development. The accompanying Pedagogy of Personal Leadership represents a basic curriculum template and toolbox that may benefit leaders and educators seeking to practice and teach Self-Leadership theory in nations, states, communities, schools, organizations, neighborhoods, homes, and individual lives.</p><p> <b>KEY WORDS AND PHRASES</b>: Self-Leadership (S-L), Autoethnography, Action Research (AR), Self-Leadership Efficacy (SLE), Self-Action Research (SAR), Self-Action Leadership (SAL), SAL Theory, SAL Model, Natural Laws of Acquisition (NLA), Self-Leadership Gravity (SLG), Self-Oneness, and Pedagogy of Personal Leadership. For the sake of clarity, key words and phrases will be capitalized throughout this dissertation--an APA style deviation.</p>

<p> The purpose of this exploratory case study is to focus a lens on lead teachers of California Partnership Academies (CPAs), who are responsible for overseeing the operation and coordinating the components of a complex, contra-normative secondary reform model. This study examines the stresses experienced by four CPA lead teachers at two different sites in a district committed to placing the <i>Linked Learning</i> model in the center of its secondary school reform strategy. Previous research has identified stressors inherent in the lead teacher role, and in the career academy reform studied here. This research assess the impact of those stressors, strategies lead teachers employ and conditions that facilitate lead teachers' work by looking at the dynamics of their role, the context in which they work, and patterns of leadership distribution through three key relationships, each focused on a particular routine.</p><p> This study found that the primary role-related stressor these CPA lead teachers experienced was overload, which may have implications for the sustainability of the model, particularly as it is scaled up. The contra-normative nature of this reform was evident in the conflicts that arose for lead teachers in each of the three relationships examined. In their relationships with administrators focused on the master schedule, traditional patterns of student placement into AP and non-AP tracks conflicted with the effort to create pathways for all students to access both college and career. Teachers struggled to create strategies for addressing this issue. In lead teachers' work with their peers on interdisciplinary curriculum, the collaborative and interdisciplinary nature of the reform conflicted with the autonomous, individualistic and subject-oriented nature of teacher culture. Where collective co-performance defined school-wide patterns of leadership distribution, lead teachers were better able to influence collaborative teacher norms. Lead teachers' relationships to community and industry partners facilitated integration of work-based learning into the CPA instructional program, accessed new resources and challenged the traditional segregation of academic and vocational education. This work was greatly facilitated by district support but limited by the capacity of site administrators who were often unaware of these partnerships, and were not developing systemic ways to include them in the school's vision or program.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study is to address the gap between the available wealth of resources and the dearth of character education currently in practice at the high school level by investigating if secondary teachers' knowledge of character education information, their beliefs toward character education preparation and their perceived role as an educator relates to their use of character education practices on the school campus and in their own classrooms. The participants consisted of 103 secondary teachers employed in six comprehensive high schools in an urban Southern California city. The researcher developed The Character Education Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices survey instrument to collect data for this non-experimental correlational study.</p><p> Descriptive statistics and frequency scores found that teachers are not familiar with existing character education information, strongly believe in their role as character educators, strongly believe that preparation would enhance their practice, and do not frequently practice character education school wide strategies but frequently practice character education in their classrooms. Multiple regression analyses found teachers' school wide practice of character education to be significantly associated with their knowledge of character education information. Two-way analysis of variance tests found no differences exist between gender groups and years of teaching experience for any of the variables except in the case of classroom practices which found a significant interaction effect between males teaching eight to 15 years and males teaching 16 years or more.</p><p> The implications of this study highlight the importance of recognizing teachers' strong beliefs in their role to educate for character and their perspectives toward the value of preparation to enhance the practice of character education. The results not only clarity the gap that exists between theory and practice of character education but also suggest that more prevalent opportunities to educate teachers and future teachers in character education may be the next step to move toward a more comprehensive approach to character education. </p>

<p> There is a need to address behavior discipline problems in special and general education setting classrooms. Disruptive behaviors are a major concern as they create excessive stress and demands for classroom teachers and school administrators to address them. Effective interventions are needed to properly address them. Moreover, classroom disruptions affect the instructional process and learning outcomes. Disruptive behaviors do not just occur in regular school classroom settings, but in After School Program (ASP) classrooms as well. After school program classrooms that operate on regular school sites are important to students, school staff, and parents. Educational researchers found that there is a lack of evidence based interventions for ASP staff to address the behavior issues that impact the quality of the service that they provide students. The purpose of this study was to assess an evidence base intervention (EBI) called the Daily Behavior Report Card (DBRC) in an ASP classroom to address disruptive behaviors and academic disengagement. A single-subject multiple baseline methodology design was used to conduct a four week intervention study of the DBRC. Three students in a third grade after school program class were observed at different times during the intervention and the ASP instructor provided behavior ratings on a report card of the student's behavior. Analysis of the study consisted of a visual inspection of direct behavior observations and DBRC rating graphs to determine if the DBRC intervention changed behavior. Study results revealed that the DBRC intervention had some impact on the participants' behavior overall but did not result in decreasing disruptive behaviors of students in the third grade after school classroom. Interviews were also conducted after the study with the participants and the ASP teacher. However, results of the qualitative data showed positive attitudes towards the DBRC as a tool for communication and collaboration among parents and school staff in the ASP setting in the future.</p>

<p> Noting that colonial policies worked against the integral development of Nigeria, post-colonial administrations employed different policy initiatives to redress the situation. This case study aimed to measure the effectiveness of secondary school civic education in this regard. The Federal Capital Territory Abuja was chosen as the place of study due to its rich demographic variables. Fifty-four participants, covering six different segments of stakeholders were interviewed for analysis and results. The examination results in civic education at the end of the nine years of "Universal Basic Education" (UBE) program and the crime data of secondary school age students were also examined for enhanced credibility. The latter served as indicators of students' understanding of the content of civic education and the demand for effective citizenship respectively. Since civic education was introduced into the UBE program to shore-up dwindling national objectives through education, the study used Human Capital Theory as the theoretical framework. This study was conducted between April and September, 2013. The findings showed that ingrained ethnic consciousness in the community, bad leadership, distorted value outlook, and get-rich-quick syndrome diminished the effectiveness of secondary school civic education in the quest for the actualization of national objectives. </p><p> <i>Key Terms: National Objectives, Civic Education, Universal Basic Education, Human Capital</i></p>

<p> While questions exist about the effectiveness of online education, it is a growing part of the pantheon of educational choices available to students in America today. Though online education first gained popularity for advanced learners, increasingly at-risk populations are enrolling in online learning environments. Research in K-12 full-time, online learning environments is nearly non-existent. This mixed-methods study investigates student achievement in the full-time, online learning environment and the effect parents have on student success. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's Correlation's found statistically significant relationships between the variables of grade point average and socioeconomic status, family configuration, education of the parent, student grade level, gender and previous online experience. Themes from semi-structured interviews found parents of current or former students in a full-time, online school perceive multiple facets of student success in the online environment. The school can provide support to families by communicating, being transparent with tools, and individualizing instruction. Students must be self-motivated, engaged and participating, and accountable for their own learning. Parents should be available to monitor, mentor, and motivate students.</p>

<p> Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) provide the basis for meeting the challenges and expectations in today's educational environment. Effective PLCs provide the framework for school improvement and ultimately impact student academic success. School leadership is fundamental in this process (Bennis, 2009; Buffum, Mattos, &amp; Weber, 2009; Carter, 2007; Day, Leithwood, &amp; Sammons, 2008: DuFour &amp; Eaker, 1998; Fullan, 2001; Leithwood, Harris, &amp; Hopkins, 2008; Leithwood, Mascall, Strauss, Sacks, Memon, &amp; Yashkina, 2007; Marzano &amp; Waters, 2009; Spears, 2005; Steiner, Hassel, &amp; Hassel, 2008) and the building principal is the central figure. This project explored district-wide implementation of school level PLCs and the role school administration played in implementing a PLC culture. This mixed-methods study examined how district level administrative support helped establish a PLC culture of continuous improvement through quality professional development, role modeling, and observed expectations. Faculty members and administrators from a geographically diverse Eastern Idaho district participated in this PLC research study in an effort to answer the following questions: To what extent are the foundational principles of PLCs established throughout the district? What differences between elementary and secondary schools exist in the implementation of PLCs? What differences in teacher and principal perception exist regarding the implementation of PLC in a building?</p>

<p> Throughout history, music has consistently played a large role in helping to define the social, historical, and cultural awareness in human society. For children and young adults who have actively studied music in public school music education programs, music has enhanced their self-discipline, self-esteem, and creativity. Over the past 20 years, there have been several examples of how the business world has been turning to the music world for leadership and inspiration. </p><p> There are, however, few studies that compare the effects of public school music education programs on leadership in the workplace. Researchers have primarily focused their studies on the impact of music on learning and academic achievement in the public schools. As a result of shrinking public school budgets and an increased attention to standardized testing resulting due to George W. Bush's January, 2001 <i>No Child Left Behind</i> (NCLB) Educational Reform Act, there has been a decline in student involvement in music, and a decline of music teachers in public schools.</p><p> The purpose of this study was to examine what differences, if any, exist in current-day organizational decision-making, creativity, and learning styles between organizational leaders who participated in public school music education programs and those who did not. This study used a qualitative, phenomenological research design to evaluate and elicit information on the shared experiences of 16 Universal Music Group (UMG) executives. The researcher used a purposive sampling strategy to select 8 executives who participated in public school music education programs and currently serve in a leadership role at the company, and 8 who did not participate in such programs. </p><p> Semi-structured interviews were conducted. The data for the study was derived from each participant's transcribed audio recordings along with the interview notes. The information was analyzed and grouped by themes. The data from the 8 executives who participated in public school music education programs yielded 9 themes regarding key success traits, skills, and characteristics which are important to their success in the workplace. Data from the 8 executives who did not participate in public school music programs yielded 12 themes. </p>