In this dissertation, I investigated the impact of the involvement of students with disabilities in the ASPIRE intervention program and examined the relationship between student involvement in the ASPIRE program and academic performance and growth. To do so, first, I outlined how I built my perspective for this study in the areas of transition,…

The problem to be addressed is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the graduating class of 2020 in a rural South Georgia community. This qualitative study explores the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic had on student mental wellbeing, relationships, education, and post-secondary decisions. The study is framed by the rural environment where the…

Small, private, women's colleges served an important role historically and continue to do so today. The number remaining after the advent of general coeducation at private colleges and universities provide a niche in the diversity of higher education institutions. Many of the women's colleges that remain today undertook significant changes in…

After years of school improvement efforts to include Georgia's four hundred-million-dollar Race to the Top grant, Georgia's elementary, middle, and high schools have failed to significantly improve schoolwide student achievement. This qualitative portraiture study focused on three successful principals of previously chronically failing Title I…

This quantitative comparative study aimed to evaluate how undergraduate students at four-year institutions assess diversity and inclusion on their campuses and how their thoughts affect retention. Differences were assessed between White and BIPOC (Black, Hispanic and Latin, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Native American and Alaskan Native)…

During the spring of 2020, a South Georgia school implemented distance learning due to COVID-19, with little administrative support for the teachers for online instruction. This quick transition may have impacted teachers' self-efficacy beliefs about teaching online. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore middle school…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are a best practice that has been around for decades; however, due to organizational structuring in elementary schools, teachers are allowed 30 minutes of planning time. During this time little planning or collaboration with peers is achieved. Previous research has proven that professional learning by way…

Guided by the research questions, this study utilized a sequential explanatory mixed methods research design to examine senior executive leadership succession planning at four-year, predominately white, doctoral universities in the state of Georgia. Utilizing the Representative Bureaucracy theory and the Mateso SPM conceptual model, this study…

In a Georgia middle school, general and special education teachers expressed concerns about the challenges of working collaboratively in the inclusive classroom. Effective teacher collaboration is pivotal to ensure academic success of all students. The purpose of this qualitative bounded instrumental case study was to explore middle school…

The purpose of the mixed-method Delphi study is to identify the financial leadership competencies considered most important in operating public higher education institutions. The current study also determined whether differences existed in the perceptions of participants' age, level of education, years of service as a president, the number of…

This qualitative phenomenological study used a modified Groenewald's five steps method with semi-structured, recorded, and transcribed interviews to focus on the underrepresentation of females in science-related careers. The study explored the lived experiences of a purposive sample of 25 senior female college students attending a college in…

This dissertation provides historical insight into the design and implementation of one strategic plan of a public higher education system in an effort to inform future similar strategic planning processes. On July 1, 1994, the Board of Regents appointed Stephen R. Portch the ninth Chancellor of the University System of Georgia. The timing was…