<p> The purpose of this quantitative multiple regression study was to examine the relationship between per capita giving and church size, annual stewardship emphasis, stewardship training, offering envelope distribution method, time of receiving offering, frequency of distributing contribution statements, membership orientation, and electronic options of giving among churches affiliated with the Baptist Missionary Association (BMA) of America. Through a simple random sample, 600 BMA of America churches were chosen to participate in the study. Data collection involved a survey instrument validated through an expert panel and pilot study. The data was analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. The study found none of the independent variables to be statistically significant predictors of per capita giving, <i> R²</i> = .06, <i>F</i>(8, 164) = 1.33, <i> p</i> = .234. Through an exploratory measure, the researcher replaced per capita giving with total undesignated receipts. The church size variable was omitted due to high correlation with the criterion variable. The exploratory measure testing the relationship between total undesignated receipts and the seven congregational practices resulted in a valid regression model, <i> R²</i> = .34, <i>F</i>(7, 163) = 11.71, <i> p</i> &lt; .005. Individual predictors that were statistically significant included stewardship training, offering envelope distribution method, and frequency of distributing contribution statements. Three primary conclusions evolved from the study. First, per capita giving is not a good standard of measurement when comparing across churches. Second, there is a relationship between congregational stewardship practices and increased income. Third, unidentified factors beyond stewardship practices serve as a major impetus to giving among members of BMA of America churches. </p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> Baptist, determinants, giving, leadership, stewardship.</p>

<p> Across state lines, budget cuts in education are a reality, especially for those in remote and rural areas. With less financial support, some districts are looking to their state departments to be models of good practice for how to leverage and work within budgetary means, while also keeping up with the advancement in education seen around the world. The history of American schools has defined itself by keeping up globally to ensure its students can be global competitors. In order to continue on the path of educational excellence, there is a need to find innovative ways to continue to be supportive of one another through embedded, professional development and systemic thinking. This concurrent mixed-methods research study looked to one state's coaching project over the last seven years. This state utilized its own coaches as a means to grow and develop leadership capacity for system improvement, even when budget woes were at an all-time high. This study found three key findings: (a) all participants demonstrated positive levels of agreement that the coaches had the skill-set identified by the researcher, engaged in actions that align to effective professional development, and that coaches were perceived to have an impact on leadership; (b) administrators and administrative coaches had the highest levels of agreement with all survey items, and their views were consistently in agreement with no statistical difference; and (c) school staff who were further removed from formal leadership roles were less aware of the skill-set, actions, and effects of the coach, and although they had positive levels of agreement, the levels of agreement were statistically lower than that of the administrators and coaches. Essentially, staff members who served in some type of leadership capacity perceived to benefit from the administration receiving state coaching support, than those who did not. These findings will help this rural state to reexamine its structure not only to strengthen the project, but to be the model for other divisions within the department attempting to utilize state coaches throughout the state. Themes presented will also allow other state agencies to better assess their needs of implementing a statewide coaching project, especially for those from rural states.</p>

<p> Bridging the achievement gap for elementary students living in poverty can be accomplished by creating relationships with community partnerships. It is also reasonable to believe that the role of the elementary principal has the potential for building capacity with community partners, while also improving student achievement for young readers through advocating these partnerships. For the purpose of this case study, mixed-methods afforded an in-depth investigation of this role. The theoretical framework of community partnership expert, Joyce Epstein, was woven into this study to explore the three research questions guiding this study. A focus group meeting with ten community partners and parents highlighted the importance of the principal having compassion and a non-judgemental, welcoming demeanor, especially when families and partners visit the school. The information gleaned from the focus group can be used for schools desiring to start, or improve upon community partnership activities. The online, Likert scale survey distributed statewide to 169 rural elementary principals leading in high poverty populations, revealed four, primary themes of importance to the role of the principal: 1) one who advocates partnerships, 2) one who offers volunteer opportunities in the school, 3) one who effectively communicates, and 4) one who takes time to meet with partners. Analysis of reading test scores provided evidence of a strong correlation relationship between reading proficiency and rural students who are identified as economically disadvantaged (.663). A welcomed discovery in the findings revealed that the state reading literacy proficiency scores for the third graders at the target school (91%) were actually higher than the state reading proficiency for all third graders by two percentage points. This study fills the gap that exists in literature concerning the role of the rural, elementary principal and the impact this role has on community partnerships in high poverty, rural schools. Implications for educational policy can be made as a result of this study, but only if policymakers are willing to endorse school and community partnerships as a proven strategy to improve educational outcomes for students living in high poverty.</p>

<p> The multiage classroom design that has its origin in the rural, single-age classroom that blanketed the United States in the 1800s is returning as a viable alternative to the single-age classroom. The author looked at the perceptions of the parents and teachers that were impacted during two rural elementary schools' transition away from the single-age classroom to a multiage classroom design. The study specifically looked at the school-wide transition to the multiage design in grades kindergarten through fifth grade by examining the overall effect the multiage design had on these two groups, the value of the components of the multiage that were thought to be appealing by the administration, and the impact the change had on student academic achievement. Overall, there was positive support of the transition to the multiage design by parents in all of the areas studied, but the teachers, even though they demonstrated support, were significantly less supportive than the parents in a few of the areas examined. It was also found that this study supported earlier research stating the academic impact of the multiage design was not significantly different either positively or negatively. This author provided information that will allow future districts to better identify what will gain the support of the parents and teachers when transitioning to the multiage classroom design. </p>

<p> The term <i>management by walking around</i> (MBWA) has been used in the business setting by chief executive officers as a method of checking in with their employees and monitoring the continuing work of the business. President Lincoln practiced this same theory by getting out of his office to see the troops. The classroom walk-through is an educational technique used to monitor instructional teaching practices and curricular decisions by teachers. This mixed-methods research project was designed to study the effectiveness of a walk-through process to improve instruction through the perceptions of building administrators and classroom teachers. The walk-through program studied was Look 2 Learning (L2L). L2L is nonevaluative and collects data from talking with students about their learning rather than through the observation of teachers. Data are collected by teachers and building administrators and cumulative data are shared through a reflection process. Perceptions of L2L were collected through a Likert-scale survey, an open-ended question, and interviews from elementary and secondary educators. The data were collected from elementary teachers, secondary teachers, elementary building administrators, and secondary building administrators from two large school districts in the western states. Generally, educators were positive about L2L. Elementary educators were generally more positive than secondary educators. All groups agreed that classrooms were visited more since the implementation of L2L, data from L2L were used to discuss instructional strategies, most teachers were open to other teachers visiting their classrooms, and professional development activities had resulted from the implementation of L2L. Elementary building administrator, secondary building administrator, and elementary teacher perceptions were positive that the implementation of L2L had increased their knowledge about instruction.</p>

<p> Students' performance on standardized tests continues to dominate the discourse in the educational arena as it reflects student growth and teacher performance. The low performance index scores of 5^th grade students at 2 elementary charter schools in urban southwestern Ohio has been a major concern of the school district. Guided by social constructivism, the purpose of this research study was to identify curricular practices that influence student academic achievement. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 4 reading teachers and 2 administrators; curriculum maps, tests scores, and lesson plan documents were also reviewed. Interview, test score, and lesson plan documents were analyzed through an open-coding process and constant comparison of data to ensure trustworthiness. The findings revealed that 5^th grade reading teachers and principals used teacher-centered instructional practices that did not connect with students' backgrounds. Based on the findings, a capstone project was developed that provided a content-specific professional development training for reading teachers that would expose them to student-centered instructional practices related to students' backgrounds. The implications for positive social change include engaged classrooms with student-centered instructional practices that could increase student achievement in urban schools. </p>

<p> Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have become a hot topic in higher education and have undergone rapid growth. More than 800 MOOCs have been offered to the public from more than 200 of the most well known universities in the world, with millions of learners taking them. While many elite universities have developed MOOCs, their motivations have not been entirely clear. This qualitative case study research explores what three early adopter universities, Columbia University, Duke University, and Harvard University, hope to achieve by becoming involved and investing in MOOCs, how they are assessing progress toward goals, and what value proposition they seek as a return on their investment. The findings of this research suggest that the studied universities have several goals in common and a few that differ, and importantly, that several of their goals do not directly align with the public narrative around MOOCs in the press. In particular, while the goals of the studied universities do include expanded access to education, their goals may have even more to do with promoting teaching innovation and providing benefits for their residential education. None of the studied universities were focused on improvements to higher education completion challenges through pursuit of MOOC credit, or the use of MOOCs as a way to control higher education costs&mdash;both of which are major elements of the public dialogue on MOOCs. Other goals of the early adopters studied included providing more visibility for some of their educational programs and their faculty, and enabling more evidence-based education research. This study concludes that the value proposition for early adopter universities is the ability to simultaneously pursue the goal of improving on-campus teaching and learning while also promoting the university and its faculty and connecting through educational outreach with the public&mdash;all while showing leadership in an emerging higher education learning technology.</p>

<p> School administrators struggle with an emerging threat to school safety-cyberbullying. When does a school administrator have authority to punish a student for off-campus, online speech? When does a student cross the line from protected speech to punishable act? The Supreme Court of the United States has yet to decide such a case that would provide school administrators with a standard to utilize when faced with cyberbullying on campus. This dissertation will examine current research, case law, state statutes, and current cyberbullying frameworks put forth by Williams (2008), and King (2010), and Willard (2011) to provide guidance to school administrators on how to approach cyberbullying incidences. In addition, an interview with Assistant United States Attorney Luke Walker will be employed in an effort to bring to light how timely research, such as this dissertation, is needed for school administrators. A repeated concept stemming from this research study is the idea that while no Supreme Court standard currently exists, school administrators should not punish students for merely content alone, but make a strong connection to the student speech causing a substantial disruption to the learning environment. School administrators should also work to promote, not stifle, student speech as they create a safe learning environment.</p>

<p> The focus of this research mainly centers on a quantitative descriptive overview of corporal punishment practices in the state of Mississippi, but this study also includes a legal document analysis component. This study forms the Mississippi portion of a comprehensive analysis of the demographics of corporal punishment in the public schools of the South and follows in the path of dissertation research completed at the University of North Texas on the demographics of corporal punishment in Florida and Texas.</p><p> The research approach adopted in this analysis of corporal punishment in Mississippi includes the use of online literature, print literature, legal database, and research database sites. The findings from this research identify patterns of corporal punishment practiced in the public schools in the state of Mississippi, the state that has historically reported the highest rates of school-based corporal punishment in the United States. One of the main assumptions surrounding this study is that Mississippi's corporal punishment is a rural and small district phenomenon, most commonly practiced in Mississippi's smaller school towns. The data reveals that some districts administer excessive amounts of corporal punishment, with some districts paddling three times as many as the total state average percent or more of their students on an annual basis. Finally, the study found some Mississippi school districts have actually increased the amount of corporal punishment being administered in recent years, a pattern contrary to the national trend, which has been to reduce the amount of corporal punishment being administered in the public schools.</p>

<p> Most populous school districts operate using a bureaucratic hierarchical organizational structure developed primarily for industry, a system structure that has remained intact for a century despite evolving from a manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy. Although strong for efficiency, this system structure is resistant to change and promotes worker isolation, not ideal for a collective educational approach desired in the 21st century. The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to investigate the relationship among a bureaucratic hierarchical school system structure, principal leadership, and school culture to determine if and how the three variables relate through the collective lens provided by the integral leadership theory (K&uuml;pers &amp; Weibler, 2008) and the Full-Range Leadership Theory, or FRLT (Bass &amp; Avolio, 2004). Thirty principals from three urban districts in North Carolina responded to items on the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, Form 5X (MLQ Form 5X) and the School Culture Survey (SCS) and four demographic questions. The study&rsquo;s results revealed that the administrators appear to combine aspects of both transformational and transactional leadership in the urban schools. Each of the six culture factors on the SCS was significant with transformational leadership, and three of the six culture factors, learning partnership, collaborative leadership, and teacher collaboration, were also significant with transactional leadership. A holistic analysis shows that the principals are demonstrating effective leadership with corresponding positive school cultures despite the constraints a bureaucratic hierarchical school district structure presents. The results suggest that the principals are successfully integrating structural context, cultural elements, and leadership in an organizational form not necessarily designed to promote teamwork and collaboration essential for educational success. </p>