This qualitative case study investigated the perspectives of higher education leaders and business executive on the funding gap between liberal arts programs and STEM education in a public research level 2 institution in Florida. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and explain participants’ perspectives and finding ways to narrow the funding gap. Historically, Congress has been open in its allocation of funds to higher education research and, recently, allotted 97% to STEM and Science related disciplines and 3% to non-science fields. At the state level, funding to these two programmatic areas showed a comparable pattern to that of the U.S. Congress with 93% of funds allocated to Engineering and Science, and 7% to non-science disciplines and fields. There were four central research questions to help understand participants’ perspectives of the values of these fields. This study included seven participants who met the following criteria: deans, associate deans, provosts, with at least 10 years of work experience in the position; dean, associate deans, or provosts who retired within the last five years; and a business executive, director or a Chief Operation Officer, with working relations to the university and with similar work experiences. Data were collected primarily from semi-structured interviews, which lasted for 45 minutes per session. Additionally, documents were collected from interview sites. Data were codded and analyzed in two cycles. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (PhD)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

abstract: The purpose of this mixed-methods action research study was to discover the hindrances and apply new innovative ideas to the problematic stages of student acclimatization and acculturation to an American education and Taiwanese host culture. The goal was to improve academic success during the initial first year, improve the acclimatization process, and stimulate the acculturation process. The study applied a mixed-methods approach. Four new foreign students participated in a 12-week innovation. This innovation consisted of establishing a protocol for school staff, creating and implementing a student-led Welcoming Committee, training at the beginning of the school year, establishing guidelines and expectations for participating Welcoming Committee members, assigning peer mentors to new students, and providing opportunities for socializing and meeting people. The participants took pre and post cultural self-efficacy tests. In addition, qualitative data was collected from the interviews of the four participants. The new foreign students showed an increase in cultural self-efficacy from the beginning of the innovation to the conclusion of it. Findings of this study found that students used past experiences in creating initial perceptions, these perceptions changed after interactions with the Welcoming Committee, ample assistance was given to the new foreign students throughout the innovation, and Welcoming Committee members were relied on to make initial contact with others due to initial difficulties in this area. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2019

abstract: In this dissertation I design, implement and conduct a mixed methods action research project to develop intercultural competence in domestic university staff members. My research took place at my place of employment, a research one university in the American southwest. As the director of an international student service center, I had direct observations of the interactions between domestic staff members and our international students with lower English proficiency. With the observations came the realization that this communication could be both more effective and more efficient. To address this problem, I developed three workshops to provide participants with the skills to have more productive communication with their students. I used a mixed methods approach to investigate how this innovation influenced the three constructs associated with intercultural competence: cultural awareness, cultural empathy and language modification. Quantitative data consisted of both pre- and post-intervention surveys. Results relating to all three constructs showed significant gain between the pre-intervention and post-intervention surveys. Analysis of the qualitative data engendered four assertions. 1. As staff members learned more about a student’s culture, they become more cognizant of the communication strategies they used and become confident they could reduce conflict, ill-communication and miscommunication between students and staff member. 2. Staff members were not aware of the complexities of the English language. 3. Only after understanding the difficulties non-native English speakers face do the staff members truly understand the student experience and become willing to make sincere efforts to communicate more effectively. 4. It is incumbent on the staff member to everything possible to facilitate a successful interaction with the student. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2020

M.Sc.(Nursing), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 2009

Leaders in U.S. faith-based schools are tasked with meeting a variety of expectations concerning student growth, including academic achievement, religious identity, and more general character formation. This qualitative study examines the perspectives of administrative leaders in several independent Islamic schools across the United States in pursuit of these goals and the strategies they use to address the challenges of balancing academic excellence, a nurturing Islamic environment that cultivates Muslim identity in students, and preparation for navigating American society and culture. As Islamic schools face increasing skepticism and scrutiny amid domestic and global tensions in a context of rising religious extremism, the roles of these school leaders have never been more layered and essential to the success of their schools and to our understanding of school leadership more broadly. The purpose of this study is to provide a more precise understanding of the challenges, successes, and strategies these leaders face and implement. This study’s findings confirm that, while the academic and social tensions are complex, intentional and thoughtful leadership can help create a culture of clear expectations that permeates the school community. By embracing the community that surrounds them, including students, alumni, families, staff, and outside organizations, U.S. Islamic school leaders foster cultural alignment and coherence that greatly assist in meeting their multifaceted school missions.

I develop and test a theoretical model to examine how and why transformational leadership affects employees’ appraisals of challenge and hindrance stressors. I draw on the transactional theory of stress to argue that transformational leaders motivate their employees to believe that they can successfully cope with workplace stressors, which in turn encourages them to appraise challenge stressors more positively and hindrance stressors as less threatening. Presenting a parallel mediation model, I test three mediators that operationalize my underlying theory: psychological empowerment; psychological safety; and stress mindsets. I conduct a time-separated online survey study of 255 employed adults. I test my theory through two sets of analyses, considering two sets of dependent variables: (1) appraisals of stressors in general and (2) appraisals of stressors in the context of hypothetical workplace vignettes. My results suggest that (1) transformational leadership was positively associated with challenge appraisals in the context of challenge and hindrance stressors, and negatively associated with hindrance appraisals in the context of challenge and hindrance stressors. Psychological empowerment, but not psychological safety nor stress mindset, was a significant mediator in all cases. (2) Results of the vignette analysis found that transformational leadership was positively associated with challenge appraisals and negatively associated with hindrance appraisals of both challenge and stressor vignettes. However, none of the mediators were significant. I conclude that transformational leaders can help employees appraise stressors more optimistically by empowering them to view themselves as competent and in control in relation to their work. The applications of my research to theory and practice are discussed.

Research has established that one of the most important functions assistant principals can learn is how to be an instructional leader. Some school districts have incorporated problem-based learning (PBL) in their building-level principal preparation programs for assistant principals. This study examined one approach to PBL, the Problem of Practice (PoP) project embedded in the new Level II Certification Program of a central Florida school district through a case study of six assistant principals’ experiences and perspectives based on interview, meeting observations and artifact data. The study revealed major challenges associated with implementation of the PoP projects and found that collaboration with the Level II committee was critical for their completion. The study also identified that the integration of the PoP project into the School Improvement Plan seems to be key to the success of the PoP projects. The recommendations based on these findings are made to district leaders as they continue to improve the PoP project as a central feature of the Level II Certification Program. Keywords: problem-based learning; assistant principal training / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education. / 2019 / November 6, 2019. / assistant principal training, problem-based learning / Includes bibliographical references. / Motoko Akiba, Professor Directing Dissertation; Sandra Lewis, University Representative; Stacey Rutledge, Committee Member; Courtney Preston, Committee Member.

Student engagement is an essential component to student learning. Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) has focused on providing schools with a unified approach to delivering quality classroom instruction. Despite the alignment and commonalities present, underlying issues still need further investigation. Discrepancies within student proficiency and learning gains exist across schools throughout the district. The purpose of the study was to investigate what patterns exist among fourth- and fifth-grade teachers across four schools within the district concerning the use of instructional practices and how these practices relate to levels of student engagement. This study investigated the relationship between student engagement, instructional delivery, and student achievement through a mixed-methods, comparative case analysis. Data were collected through classroom observations of sixteen teachers working in four MDCPS schools. A convergent mixed methods design facilitated a single-phase approach for simultaneously collecting qualitative and quantitative data. Observations provided correlations between High-Order Learning Tasks and Authentic Learning as well as Explicit Instruction with Connecting to Prior Knowledge and Providing Feedback. The primary instructional strategy used was teacher questioning. Furthermore, Student Engagement yielded varied degrees of correlation in association to the Instructional Delivery while compared to the Student Engagement indicators which generated weak correlations. Additional research is needed to identify which instructional strategies may predict higher levels of student engagement in the classroom as well as other observational tools that corroborate various forms of engagement. Professional development in the areas of Explicit Instruction, Use of Questioning, Providing Feedback, and Use of Technology is critical to building teacher capacity.

Student engagement is an essential component to student learning. Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) has focused on providing schools with a unified approach to delivering quality classroom instruction. Despite the alignment and commonalities present, underlying issues still need further investigation. Discrepancies within student proficiency and learning gains exist across schools throughout the district. The purpose of the study was to investigate what patterns exist among fourth- and fifth-grade teachers across four schools within the district concerning the use of instructional practices and how these practices relate to levels of student engagement. This study investigated the relationship between student engagement, instructional delivery, and student achievement through a mixed-methods, comparative case analysis. Data were collected through classroom observations of sixteen teachers working in four MDCPS schools. A convergent mixed methods design facilitated a single-phase approach for simultaneously collecting qualitative and quantitative data. Observations provided correlations between High-Order Learning Tasks and Authentic Learning as well as Explicit Instruction with Connecting to Prior Knowledge and Providing Feedback. The primary instructional strategy used was teacher questioning. Furthermore, Student Engagement yielded varied degrees of correlation in association to the Instructional Delivery while compared to the Student Engagement indicators which generated weak correlations. Additional research is needed to identify which instructional strategies may predict higher levels of student engagement in the classroom as well as other observational tools that corroborate various forms of engagement. Professional development in the areas of Explicit Instruction, Use of Questioning, Providing Feedback, and Use of Technology is critical to building teacher capacity.

This graduate project was part of a group project completed by five school and district administrators in Hillsborough County, Florida. The project began because of our passion for teachers who are able to establish a culture of care in their classrooms that support students academically but transform their learning through experiences that enable them to be more highly engaged and productive students, regardless of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, perceived academic abilities, and backgrounds. My project component looked at research on teacher expectations and their effects on student success. Why does the color of a child's skin tone trigger lower expectations by some teachers? Why does this occur? How can school leaders and teachers confront preconceived notions that create barriers for high expectations for marginalized students? Selected literature was reviewed that concentrated on perspectives on teacher attitudes, systemic biases, and teacher expectations. I applied what I learned to exploring gaps in district emphasis on diversity and equity and potential approaches to engaging teachers and school leaders in collaborative and challenging conversation. In an examination of four major district documents, the terms ‘diversity of students’, ‘cultural diversity’, ‘high expectations for all students’, ‘multicultural awareness and equity’ each appeared only once. Professional development for teachers and school leaders was needed to focus on inquiry, self-reflection, curriculum development, and instructional approaches to surface and address implicit biases that contribute to low expectations for marginalized students.