In a time in which teacher recruitment and retention play such a vital role in reducing the teacher shortage, principals need to be cognizant of their leadership style and the potential impact it can have on not only teachers, but on the school climate as well. Within this study, I explored the relationship between leadership style and school…

Schools in the United States average an annual teacher turnover of 16%, with half of all teachers who change jobs also leaving the profession. This problem is important because high teacher turnover interrupts the development of pedagogical acumen among teachers, adversely affects student achievement, and diverts budget dollars that are needed…

A changing landscape in youth sports and educational institutions has resulted in a growing number of high school student-athletes being coached by adults who do not work in the schools they attend. This study provides a foundational understanding of the relationship between in-building coaches, hereafter referred to as educator-coaches, and their…

This study examined homophobic name-calling among 2,161 middle school students in the US and found that those who had experienced homophobic name-calling fared significantly worse than those who had never experienced it, regardless of whether they were called names by rivals, strangers, or friends. While this study also found evidence that the…

Unlike many types of educational crises, the COVID-19 pandemic was a crisis leaders could not have prepared for. But research is only starting to examine how leaders' responses and organisational context have played a role. This mixed-methods study accordingly examines how leaders have mitigated challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and…

Student voice may seem like a new concept; however, it has a long history of being engrained in public schools in the United States. The trend towards incorporating and expanding student voice opportunities in high school is based on the tenets of democracy. Educators seek to provide an opportunity for students to practice democracy in their…

This is a qualitative action research study that examines teacher perceptions of behaviors that foster caring teacher-student relationships that motivate students to learn. The purpose of this research was to examine the range of teacher behaviors that either promoting caring teacher-student relationships or which behaviors are disrupting such…

The purpose of this quantitative research was to explore how secondary career and technical education (CTE) teachers' retention is affected by self-efficacy as it relates to the type of licensure they possess: traditional Professional Education License (PEL) or industry experience Educator License with Stipulations (ELS-CTE). In order to achieve…

Limited research attention has been devoted to disparate vulnerabilities to social-ecological risk factors and how these may explain group differences in bullying by race. To address this gap, the present study used data of early adolescent respondents (M[subscript age] = 11.2 years) from 36 public middle schools (N = 2701) to assess the nexus of…

The present study examined students' attitudes toward science and associated constructs, based on the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior, and explored relationships between individual and school-related variables common to the research literature. Responses from 1,291 students in Grades 5 through 10 were collected using the 30-item…

This paper has two purposes: First, we describe the components of the Student Ownership, Accountability, and Responsibility for School Safety (SOARS) framework in the context of the literature on school safety. Second, we offer outcomes from a pilot study testing the framework's impact on student perceptions of: (1) school belonging; (2) sense of…

Nearly half of the new teachers entering education leave the profession within their first five years, creating what many describe as a revolving door of educators (Ingersoll, 2003; Ingersoll et al., 2018). This qualitative research study used Delphi methodology to facilitate an anonymous panel of Illinois educators tasked with gaining consensus…

The enactment of Senate Bill 100/Public Act 099-0456 (SB100) in 2016 compelled school districts throughout Illinois to evaluate student discipline policies. This dissertation examines the impact SB100 had on middle and high schools throughout the state and within a large suburban K-12 school district. This dissertation is organized into three…

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) updates its Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Elementary and Secondary Education each year, as required by Public Act 93-1036 (the Education Reform and Accountability Act of 2004). This annual "Strategic Plan Progress Report" details actions the agency is taking to fulfill the Board's mission,…

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) develops and maintains a continuing five-year comprehensive strategic plan for elementary and secondary education in accordance with Public Act 93-1036. Agency staff members revisit the plan each year to review the agency's accomplishments and to refine the agency's strategies. The State Board amended…