The purpose of this mixed methods research study was to determine the efficacy of digital learning competencies for school administrators in a rural eastern North Carolina district. The study had four research questions that were answered through a survey and a focus group. The survey had 44 quantitative items that participants chose from a…

With research supporting that teachers have the greatest effect on student achievement, it is imperative that highly qualified teachers are retained while new teachers are recruited to the profession. The purpose of this mixed-methods inquiry was to focus on a year-long onboarding process to see the effect on the retention of first-year beginning…

College readiness has been a primary focus of U.S. secondary education for over 40 years. Despite the continued focus on college readiness at the national, state, and local levels, researchers have claimed that educational reforms have resulted in little gains in students' college readiness, warranting continued emphasis and research. To advance…

Community colleges are important settings for the development of social capital as well as institutions of higher learning. The democratic mission, geographic dispersion, and close relationship with multiple stakeholders throughout their service regions allow community colleges to be well-suited to act as liaisons and social architects…

Objective: Vertical community college transfer has become an essential pathway for many students who hope to attain bachelor's degrees. Prior literature indicates that institutional supports, like transfer articulation agreements and transfer advising, have a positive influence on transfer success. Yet, spatial inequality theory indicates that…

The purpose of this quantitative predictive correlation research is to determine if and to what extent perceived principal leadership styles predict teacher job satisfaction for K-12 educators in an education association in a northeastern rural school district in North Carolina. Herzberg's Motivation-Hygiene and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs…

Rural Appalachia encompasses a region of the United States represented by unique cultural strengths and systemic challenges. To meet their students' career and college needs, school counselors working in rural Appalachia must understand the cultural nuances of the region. Consensual qualitative research (CQR) methodology revealed five domains and…

Multilingual learners (MLs) represent a substantial, growing segment of the PreK--12 population, including in rural areas. Several forces contribute to the increase of ML students in rural schools (e.g., immigrant labor, refugee crises). As we undergo a major cultural shift from a society that was (misguidedly) viewed as monolingual to one that is…

Many Black educators and principals led the nation's schools in the early-to-mid-1900's, when American public education was racially segregated. Black male principals leading predominantly Black schools was commonplace before the United States Supreme Court's decision in "Brown v. Board of Education" that ruled that the practice of…

High teacher turnover rates and less students entering into the teacher preparation programs has increased the need to better prepare and retain beginning teachers. The purpose of this mixed methods inquiry is to focus on the effect of Culturally Responsive Teaching professional development on beginning teacher self-efficacy relative to African…

The prevalence of school-based health care has increased markedly over the past decade. We study a modern mode of school-based health care, telemedicine, that offers the potential to reach places and populations with historically low access to such care. School-based telemedicine clinics (SBTCs) provide students with access to health care during…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how rural North Carolina teachers, after completing the National Board Certification process, describe how they apply systematic thinking to their teaching practice, reflect on the experience, and learn from experience. Grounded in David Kolb's Experiential Learning Model and The…

Teacher retention in rural Title I schools has declined drastically over the past several years. As more teachers leave the profession and turnover is climbs to astounding rates in these schools, the quality of education in the United States continues to decline. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the…

The Grow Your Own Teacher (GYOT) program addresses the shortage of qualified teachers by recruiting and training community residents to become qualified teachers. These programs look and feel like community-building strategies instead of teacher pipeline strategies. The GYOT initiative is not new, but the mainstream absorption of the GYOT…

The study aimed to build the capacity of assistant principals to identify and support teachers in using equitable classroom practices. The Participatory Action Research (PAR) study in a rural North Carolina school district included a team of the principal and two assistant principals as co-practitioner researchers (CPR) to study how the principal…