This qualitative dissertation explores how the principal's leadership roles build capacity for change and how chaos theory contributes to this understanding. The roles studied include distributive leadership, moral leadership, social justice leadership, democratic leadership, and instructional leadership. The tenets of chaos theory examined…

Chronic absenteeism is often referred to as a problem hidden in plain sight (Chang & Romero, 2008). In recent years, more communities around the United States have been intentional on improving student attendance and limiting the impact of chronic absenteeism. Using qualitative interviews, we sought to understand how one community was…

Attrition among new teachers with fewer than 5 years of experience was high in an urban high school in Texas. The high attrition rate is a problem for students, because high teacher turnover can result in teachers with low expertise. In this study, the conceptual framework used was Hord's professional learning community (PLC) model, which…

The college education gap between Latinas/os and whites has grown to 29 percentage points (Kolodner, 2017). I am a product of this gap. As a high school principal, I believe the solution to this problem lies within the creative minds of school principals/leaders. When a resource was not available to address the college readiness gap at my campus,…

The purpose of this study was to examine cyberbullying policies and procedures in middle schools in a large urban school district located in a metropolitan area of Texas. The researcher obtained the perceptions of middle school principals regarding how they implement policies and procedures for dealing with incidents occurring on their campus.…

This article examines how a dual language program can be developed within the framework of social justice leadership. The authors analyzed principal, teacher, and parent interview transcripts as well as field notes and key documents to understand the role of school leadership in creating inclusive dual language programs to close the Latina/o-White…

Over the last two decades, our nation has seen an array of reform initiatives that support lofty goals for student achievement. An underexplored issue in the literature is how this school reform set against the backdrop of high-stakes testing has impacted the students it is designed to assist. Now armed with years of student data, critics of…

Despite good career prospects in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, persistence of students in STEM fields of study at the community college and transfer to universities to pursue STEM majors is often quite low. Theories of persistence emphasize the importance of engagement, integration, validation, and financial…

Dual language bilingual education (DLBE) programs are framed to reflect pluralist discourses (de Jong, E. [2013]. "Policy Discourses and U.S. Language in Education Policies." "Peabody Journal of Education" 88 (1): 98-111) and affiliated language ideologies. The continued expansion of DLBE programs not surprisingly brings to…

Pre-service teachers need support in developing their teacher identities as they navigate the uncertain and complex terrain of student teaching and face the pressures of high-stakes accountability. This support is particularly important for bilingual pre-service teachers as they negotiate the many complexities of the bilingual classroom, and as…

In this study, we discussed the participating teachers' implementation and understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) project based learning (PBL). A research team at a STEM center systematically offered professional development activities to 92 teachers in an urban school district in the southern U.S. To investigate…

The purpose of this qualitative, phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of assistant principals in what they deem to be the needed managerial skills for promotion to campus principal. The sample for the study included 20 assistant principals in an urban school district located in Texas. The process of phenomenological enquiry…

The purpose of this case study was to examine the perspectives and disciplinary practices of teachers and administrators in one school that demonstrated the least disproportionality of disciplinary referrals between African American students and other student groups. The researcher determined that a qualitative action research case study conducted…

In response to the low passing rate of its students with disabilities, administrators at a small urban elementary school in south Texas implemented coteaching. Guided by Nonaka and Takeuchi's collaborative learning framework, this qualitative instrumental case study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of collaborative teaching in the…

Although much of the current educational research literature on achievement gaps has focused on core curricular areas in public schools, few have focused on racially identifiable gaps in non-core areas such as high school foreign languages. These achievement, and thus advancement, gaps often result in the under-representation of students of color…