Purpose: Principals play a pivotal role in teachers' professional growth, which impacts student outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to understand the perceptions principals have about effective elements of professional development (PD) and the role they play in facilitating the growth of teachers, and how this affects student learning.…

High school dropouts are an ongoing concern in North Carolina. Although improvements have been made in recent years, 13,488 North Carolina students did not complete high school in 2011-2012 (Public Schools of North Carolina Consolidated Report, 2011-2012). This research study seeks to identify common, specific characteristics, strategies, and…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine principals' perceptions with respect to teacher leadership and the opportunities or barriers to leadership roles that teachers encounter within a school. Understanding the perspectives of principals with respect to teacher leadership and the opportunities or barriers to leadership could…

This qualitative multiple case study examines how principals contribute to the success of exemplar elementary PBIS schools in North Carolina and how their thoughts about PBIS informed their actions. Guided by the literature on principals and change efforts and sensemaking, this study used individual interviews, focus group interviews, field notes,…

In rural eastern North Carolina, the rapid growth of English Learners (ELs) unintentionally makes mainstream classrooms sheltered instruction classrooms. Sheltered instruction is content-based instruction (CBI) where ELs acquire language while learning content. In addition to ELs, this region has a high number of Standard English Learners (SELs).…

What does it take to improve a school? What kinds of programs, systems, and people need to be in place for educational outcomes to improve overall? These and other questions continue to vex policymakers who--along with researchers, reformers, and advocates--pour over data and case studies looking for tools to transform schools into places where…

The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to describe current instructional policies and practices in a one-day treatment center in North Carolina for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The following research questions guided the study: (1) What are the curriculum policies, practices, and philosophies of day…

This research was designed as a qualitative study as it sought to address Puerto Rican bilingual professional parents' perceptions of their children's school experiences based in North Carolina. In this study, 6 Puerto Rican bilingual professional parents who live in the North Carolina Research Triangle Park (RTP) area were interviewed about their…

According to recent data, the pool of principal candidates is shrinking. How is the role perceived and what can school districts do to make it more attractive in recruiting and retaining highly qualified administrators? This open-ended, qualitative study sought to uncover the underlying reasons leadership-skilled women teachers choose to remain in…