The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to examine if and to what extent there was a statistically significant difference in the dimensions of Entrepreneurial Orientation (Innovativeness, Proactiveness, Risk-taking, Competitiveness, and Autonomy), individually, between Charter School Principals (CSP)s versus Traditional School…

The purpose of this quantitative correlational study was to determine if, and to what extent, the multidimensions of adult personal resilience were related to the turnover intentions of K-12 Arizona charter school teachers. The theoretical foundations used included the Adult Personal Resilience Theory, Turnover Intent Model, and Role Theory. A…

Teachers have lasting influence on their students, and they are invaluable assets to their schools. However, they are leaving their schools and the profession too frequently. The problem addressed by this study was the shortage of teachers in Arizona charter elementary schools, resulting from low and declining retention rates of early career…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine the relationship between school leaders and teachers and how these relationships impact school climate. The study also examined essential traits of effective school leaders using the lens of servant and transformative theories. The focus on research included secondary schools under the…

The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory multi-case study was to explore how leadership practices of principals, in relation to the ethical values of value-based leadership (VBL), influenced outcomes of decision-making and team learning of leadership teams in Arizona K-5 public charter schools. The problem was, it was not known how leadership…

Funding for special education is done collectively, with inputs received from the federal, state, and local level. Each state is responsible for determining the mechanism by which they will fund their programs. Arizona funds their special education population's services through a foundational approach. Eligibility areas are used to determine the…

This quantitative correlation study attempted to determine what relationships exited between the disproportionate enrollment of students with disabilities, the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) assessment scores, and exclusionary enrollment practices towards students with disabilities in Arizona Charter Schools. The problem was the…

The following study examined the question of student achievement in online charter schools and how the achievement scores of students at online charter schools compare to achievement scores of students at traditional schools. Arizona has seen explosive growth in charter schools and online charter schools. A study comparing how these two types of…

Adolescent readers require a broad range of reading skills to deal with the challenges of reading complex text. Some researchers argue for a discipline-specific focus to address the low reading proficiency rates among secondary students. Disciplinary literacy attends to the different ways disciplines, such as science, generate and communicate…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how utilizing the Core Knowledge Sequence and aligned curricular resources influenced teachers' perceived self-efficacy for a sample of Arizona elementary charter school teachers. The sample for this study was a convenience sample of 15 elementary teachers, who were currently…

Online education is unique in part for the relatively high degrees of autonomy afforded learners. Self-direction and self-regulation, along with support, are essential for students to succeed. The site of this action research project was a new, small online public charter school for middle and high school students, Foothills Academy Connected…

Data and the use of data to make educational decisions have attained new-found prominence in K-12 education following the inception of high-stakes testing and subsequent linking of teacher evaluations and teacher-performance pay to students' outcomes on standardized assessments. Although the research literature suggested students' academic…

The focus of this descriptive research study was to compare charter and traditional public schools on the academic knowledge of fifth grade students as measured by Arizona's Instrument to Measure Standards (AIMS) in a suburb of a large southwestern city. This analysis also compared charter and traditional public schools on AYP status. It was…