The purpose of this qualitative case study on implementing the Innovative High School Models Grant was to examine administrators' and teachers' experiences integrating college and career readiness programming into Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways. Forward-thinking leadership and strategic partnerships were key to the initiative's…

Georgia established the Dual Enrollment Accelerated Career Diploma (ACD) program in 2015 to address its skilled trades workforce shortage (Dual Enrollment Act, 2015: Williams, 2015). ACD allows high school students to earn their diplomas by replacing several of their graduation-required credits with technical college credentials earned through…

The purpose of the current study was to investigate if high schools in an innovative school model in the United States adhere to the mission of the model over time or if they drift away from their mission. The innovative school model asks its school to make commitments to design aspects that help determine the power structures in the school, the…

Public school campus administrators shape and build the campus learning environment through the policies and structures that they develop. Clarity through campus expectations and alignment to a common set of standards allows faculty and staff opportunities to align efforts - trainings, modeling opportunities, support networks - and exposure to…

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted educational systems, leading to significant learning loss and credit deficiencies among high school students, particularly in California's comprehensive high schools. This research addressed these challenges by exploring innovative strategies through a social-ecological model and ecological systems theory to improve…

The study investigated how schoolteachers and administrators perceive innovative and engaging teaching practices in Southeastern U.S. high schools. Perceptual data was collected from high school teachers to determine whether they believe their professional development adequately prepares them to use innovative and engaging instructional practices…

This descriptive, qualitative case study investigated how three high school teachers in non-STEM subject areas developed integrated STEM (iSTEM) pedagogies for conventional classroom lessons in a high-technology makerspace. The school in focus adopted a STEM teaching policy that required all teachers to implement iSTEM teaching in the school's…

Students today require skills and dispositions different from those of the past. Despite ongoing efforts to initiate change in schools through reform efforts, little has changed within educational institutions. Current reform efforts do, however, create conditions for principals to lead disruptive innovation within their schools. Research is…

This qualitative, improvement science, autoethnographic case study aims to examine a unique perspective on rural research through the lens of place-conscious leadership. With an identified problem of inequity in advanced-level course offerings, which resulted in lost student opportunities and student attrition to neighboring schools, the…

The educational literature has a long history of studies focusing on relationships among a variety of variables such as leadership practices, teachers' behaviors, and students' educational outcomes. The behavior of leaders has been identified as a characteristic that directly influences an employee's creative behaviors and organizational…

Historically, traditional education systems and most scholarship have focused on the academic outcomes of schooling as well as the economic benefits of education for individuals (such as earnings) and societies (such as economic growth). While acknowledging the importance of such outcomes, this study instead focuses on the "social outcomes of…

This qualitative historical single-case study examines how a practitioner-directed approach to professional development for teachers resulted in successful technology integration in a newly unified school district in California's Central Valley. The study details the process of creating and implementing a professional development plan for newly…

This qualitative study was completed to examine students' behaviors and perceptions of an innovation lab in a private school that utilized the design thinking process. The researchers sought to understand students' perceptions of the i-lab in relation to empathy, critical thinking, and communication, which were key constructs of the design…

This qualitative study was completed to examine students' behaviors and perceptions of an innovation lab in a private school that utilized the design thinking process. The researchers sought to understand students' perceptions of the i-lab in relation to empathy, critical thinking, and communication, which were key constructs of the design…

While many education researchers have characterized the impromptu nature of classroom teaching as "improvisation," few studies of teacher education or professional development (PD) have examined the potential of improvisation workshops for equipping teachers to face unforeseen classroom moments productively. In this dissertation, I…