<p> Reform is a common tool used by policymakers to increase student achievement. Unfortunately, reform efforts are not always successful. However, researchers have demonstrated that school culture and climate both impact student achievement (Cavanaugh &amp; Dellar, 1997; Cohen, Fege, &amp; Pickeral, 2009; D&rsquo; Alessandro &amp; Sadh, 1998; MacNeil, Prater, &amp; Busch, 2009; National School Climate Council, 2007; Peterson &amp; Deal, 2009; Stolp, 1994; University-Community Partnerships, Michigan State University, 2004). The overarching question explores the relationships among school culture, school climate, teacher efficacy, and collective efficacy and their impact on reform movements. Secondary questions are: what is similar and contrasting among the constructs; how are the constructs interrelated; and in what ways can these constructs impact school reform efforts? For the purposes of this study, school climate is viewed as a manifestation of school culture, with teacher and collective efficacy as part of the cycle that impacts reform efforts.</p>

<p> Researchers have studied blended learning environments, but few focused-on student satisfaction in these environments. This mixed methods study addresses this gap in literature by focusing on how student satisfaction is viewed in blended learning environments. The conceptual framework is based upon research that discusses both face-to-face and online environments, which make a key argument for blended learning. This framework is community and inquiry. In conjunction with this, the study relied on the multimodal model that examines different learning environments. A mixed methods study design was conducted using surveys. A sample of 20-25 students from blended undergraduate courses were used. Data was analyzed using open and axial coding in order to identify emergent themes. The main findings indicated that students were satisfied with blended learning environments because they are flexible and convenient. Some of the areas that participants indicated there was dissatisfaction were: nothing, disconnection, and technology.</p>

<p> The number of female superintendents in Wisconsin public schools remains disproportionately low compared to males. With research supporting a connection between female leaders and transformational leadership, the question as to why more females do not enter the realm of leadership and how they see themselves as leaders remains unanswered. This quantitative research sought to find whether or not there was a statistically significant difference between female and male superintendents&rsquo; self-perceived transformational leadership behaviors in Wisconsin public school districts. Using the survey tool, Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), the finding was that female respondents self- assessed their transformational and transactional leadership behaviors and outcomes with greater statistical significance more often than males. While more research into the leadership of the superintendency needs to be done, these findings may be used to encourage school boards to consider leadership behaviors when hiring and to encourage current superintendent leaders to reflect on their own leadership styles.</p>

<p> African American students continued to underachieve in STEM academics and remained underrepresented among college students majoring in STEM fields and the STEM workforce. This underperformance had negative consequences in that these students likely did not have adequate STEM subject knowledge and skills, especially in mathematics, to compete in the 21st-century workforce. Hence, African American parents and teachers may need to collaborate more frequently to facilitate African America students&rsquo; engagement and learning in mathematics. The collaboration between parents and teachers had been documented as a strong predictor of African American student academic achievement, including African American achievement in STEM subject areas. The purpose of this qualitative, case study was to explore and to describe why African American parents and high school teachers did not frequently collaborate to facilitate student engagement to learn mathematics. Two semi-structured interview guides designed for parents and teachers were used to ensure that the interviews were focused and covered the same questions for each participant. The participants for this case study were two math supervisors, six ninth-grade mathematics teachers, and three parents of African American students in a large northern New Jersey school district. It was found that ninth-grade math teacher participants (100%) perceived that they fostered parent-teacher collaboration to facilitate African American students&rsquo; engagement to learn mathematics. African American parent participants (100%) perceived that they involved in their children education at home, but the conflict between their work schedule and the district scheduled parent-teacher conferences prevented them from collaborating frequently with teachers. African American parent participants (100%) believed that caring teachers contributed to develop their willingness to collaborate with teachers to motivate their children to be engaged to learn mathematics. Recommendations for future research include investigating how caring teachers contributed to develop the willingness of African American parents to collaborate with teachers.</p>

<p> School improvement plans and major reform initiatives most often target core academic competencies. They might include strategies to improve the physical safety of school campuses, but they rarely include discussions about creating psychologically safe environments. School safety has garnered national attention in the aftermath of violent high profile shootings on K through12 campuses across the country. The Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Education have offices dedicated to providing schools with funding, training and resources to improve security and develop strategic crisis plans. There are a variety of resources available about lessening physical vulnerabilities as related to school safety. There is however, far more to establishing a safe school culture than physical safety and secure facilities. It is equally imperative to ensure that schools are psychologically safe spaces for children. Very little work has been done to provide resources on practices for creating a culture of school safety related to student resiliency and well-being. This research examines best practices of K through 12 school leaders in establishing a culture of school safety - specifically targeting student resiliency and well-being.</p>

<p> The central focus of this quantitative, correlational study is to examine the relationship between happiness found in the work place and employees&rsquo; engagement that leads to organizational success. Employee engagement has been touted as the next frontier that will help organizations to achieve success. This is because passionate employees will ensure that they are productive in the work place. Happiness has been argued to be one of the factors that enhance employee engagement. The collected data shows a positive correlation between happiness and engagement of the employee. This is an important finding as it can be used by organizations to fast track their development by ensuring that employees are happy. The establishment of a positive correlation between these two aspects ensures that an organization can benefit greatly when it enhances employee happiness. In addition, measures can be put in place to ensure that employee happiness is enhanced, a move that would lead to a more productive organization and faster growth. Although the concept of employee engagement and its relationship to happiness has been around, this study goes further to confirm that happy employees are more engaged and this leads to organizational success. Organizational culture and environment affects the performance and approach of employees. Leadership in the organization is a vital aspect as it ensures that employees are provided with the right environment to carry out tasks and be content with the work. With this new knowledge, leaders can take measures to improve employee happiness, which will lead to employee engagement and, consequently, improve the prospects of organizational success.</p>

<p> Although many studies have shown good effectiveness of student-centered instruction in a variety of educational settings, relatively few have focused on alternative learning environment (ALE) programs. This research study compared the learning outcomes of ALE students in a one rural Arkansas delta school sequentially utilizing a teacher-centered and a student-centered learning environment. Additionally, this research addressed how each environment nurtured independence skills, leadership, and social growth. Significant differences were observed in academic achievement, and student views about the classroom environment were well documented. A Mixed-Methods design was incorporated for quantitative and qualitative measures to compare learning outcomes in both student-centered and teacher-centered classroom environments. Quantitative measures included a student survey designed to measure student views and perceptions of both environments and that of academic grades. Qualitative measures included classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, student-focus groups, and journal entries. Research participants&rsquo; were alternative learning environment students and one primary investigator. The primary investigator was the teacher of the ALE classroom where implementation of student-centered and teacher-centered learning that included 25 student participants took place. Student-centered methods were based on democratic (Dewey, 1938), and constructivist (Vygotsky, 1978) principles. Teacher-centered methods were based on (Skinner, 1953) and (Lynch, 2010) ideologies and their incorporation of student lecture as the means for effective instruction. Data findings of this study indicate ALE teachers can incorporate a student-centered classroom environment that engage students, promote independence and leadership skills and promote higher academic achievement.</p>

<p> Previous research illustrated how principals effectively facilitate the development of teachers&rsquo; instructional practice through actions such as differentiating professional development, providing continuous professional development, establishing learning communities and using supervision/evaluations to help modify instruction; however, what is missing from that research is how personal/professional experiences influence specific principal behavior and actions in regards to facilitating the development of teachers&rsquo; instructional practice. </p><p> The idea of school principal as teacher-educator is supported within the requirements to become a principal (ISSLC Standards, 2015) as well as within daily necessities of school leaders (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Fullan, 2012, 2014; Hargreaves &amp; Fullan, 2013). Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, believes the best way to get strong teachers is to adopt a &ldquo;fundamentally different way of looking at teachers, how we recruit, <i>train and support them and give them the latitude and tools and conditions to do their jobs&rdquo;</i> [emphasis added] (Layton, 2015). The question that remains is how specific experiences influence the actions of principals to focus on the development of teaches&rsquo; instructional practice. </p><p> Potential influential personal or professional practices might include: principals&rsquo; teacher and administrative training and experiences, mandates from central administration vs. local needs, the context and community of school and/or the personal life experiences of the principals. Hence, it is imperative to take a closer look into what experiences influence principal actions to facilitate the development of teachers&rsquo; instructional practices. </p><p> This study employed narrative inquiry methodology and analysis to examine personal and professional experiences of three selected principals who have been identified as outstanding in their field. Findings provide detailed insight into how personal and/or professional experiences influence their actions in regards to the development of teachers&rsquo; instructional practice. The results of this study unpack the journey these individuals took in becoming learning leaders of their school community. Additionally, the results are informative to the field of educational leadership.</p>

<p> The main purpose of this study was to gain insight into the recruitment and retention strategies popularized due to the need to meet high-quality teacher demands. Additionally, recruitment and retention strategies identified by administrators and tenured teachers working in rural public schools of Missouri as effective were collected through a survey. Administrators, as well as tenured teachers currently on staff in rural public school districts of Missouri, were the population of this study. Among 286 administrators, 95 administrative participants and 33 tenured teachers completed the survey. The survey responses were compared to determine if the administrative point-of-view was similar to that of the teachers involved in the study. The results of the survey indicated commonalities between the strategies administrators and tenured teachers found effective. The top-three mentioned strategies by both administrators and tenured teachers were school culture/climate, administrative support, and small class size. Teachers also indicated the community, skilled coworkers, access to technology, and adequate facilities were important factors in the determination of where they work; all of these factors were deemed of marginal importance or not mentioned by administrators. Those involved in the hiring process should be aware of the factors most important to teachers and shift focus if possible. The community near schools could also be used as a strategy to attract quality teachers and retain them long-term. </p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which dual enrollment programs directly or indirectly influenced persistence behavior at a small, public liberal arts university in the Midwest. Dual enrollment in this study broadly refers to high school students who take college courses for college credit. The second purpose was to explore the underlying processes whereby dual enrollment programs serve as a transition bridge for matriculating students.</p><p> This study employed a longitudinal case study using two survey questionnaires, four focus groups, and institutional data collected by the college. The subjects that participated in the study were first-year freshman. The survey questionnaires were administered to 172 students (37% of the total freshman class). Five indices were created: dual enrollment, degree aspiration, institutional commitment, social integration, and academic integration.</p><p> The results of this study add to the emerging literature on dual enrollment programs and how they influence persistence behavior. In the study, there was a weak yet positive association between mother&rsquo;s and father&rsquo;s education and social integration. The study also found a weak yet positive association between the degree of dual enrollment experiences and academic integration. With social integration as a predictor variable, there was a modest contribution to the dependent variable of persistence. Finally, the study found that academic integration provided a weak contribution to the likelihood that a student would persist.</p>