The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe the lived leadership experiences of Black women principals in Title I schools in North Carolina. The theories guiding this study are Black feminist thought and Intersectionality which amplify and center the voices of Black women. The central research question for this study was "What…

The study delves into the utilization of ESSER III funds, revealing three central themes: top-down decision-making in fund application, varied experiences among educators and administrators in fund usage, and distinct roles of educators and administrators in the process. It emphasizes strategic resource allocation, collaborative decision-making,…

Despite acknowledgement in the data-informed decision making (DIDM) literature that data use is not a purely rational process, there has been little attention paid to the role of values and normative factors that underpin school improvement planning (SIP) processes and little consideration of the inherent evaluative nature of associated activities…

This dissertation discussed the impact of the North Carolina Tort Claims Act and the history of governmental immunity that has protected school districts and school employees in North Carolina. The research question addressed was: how have North Carolina state courts interpreted the North Carolina Tort Claims Act in litigation against North…

The term engagement appears in teacher effectiveness models as well as state and federal legislation, including the most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act of 1965 (ESEA), known as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), enacted in 2015. Legislators and administrators have charged teachers with engaging all students…

Alternative preparation programs, which "provide alternatives to the traditional undergraduate program path to teacher certification" (Darling-Hammond et al., 2002, p. 287) existed in 40 states by 1993 (Wilson et al., 2001). Today, approximately one quarter of new teachers each year enter the profession through an alternative teacher…

This qualitative, exploratory, comparative case study examined plant-based innovations in Title I PK12 public-school nutrition programs (PSNPs) in the context of the School Health Index (SHI) and Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) objectives. The study explored the perceptions of PK12 superintendents, school board members, nutrition…

This qualitative study investigates the perceptions of alternative school administrators in North Carolina about the impact of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) on them and their campuses. The study interviewed four alternative high school administrators with schools labeled as Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) during the 2018-2019…

School principals often contend that having the ability to be the instructional leaders that they were trained to be hinges in part upon maximizing their decision making latitude. These leaders assert that policy flexibility allows schools to make necessary changes without the bureaucracy that they believe stifles reform, improvement strategies,…

This study explored the impact of military education benefits on influencing how service members, while enlisted, navigated their higher education journeys. Iloh's model of college-going decisions was an integral theoretical framework in the implementation of this qualitative case study. The case study aimed to capture the narratives of the…

One of the important things experts consider when reintegrating veterans back into society is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The illness mainly affects this population due to their different experiences in their line of duty as soldiers. The enactment of the Post-9/11 Veterans' Educational Assistance Act of 2008 enabled student veterans to…

The public school systems in the United States are facing a major teacher shortage in the near future due to the fact that teachers are leaving the profession by the thousands each year. It is imperative that this trend is stopped and reversed to ensure that quality teachers remain in schools. The current study employed a causal-comparative design…

In 2013, North Carolina's political power balances shifted with the election of a Republican governor, Pat McCrory, and a Republican super-majority in the General Assembly. This shift in political power allowed for more conservative legislation to be introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly. Some of the newly proposed legislation,…

This mixed method sequential explanatory study provided analysis of North Carolina (NC) school leaders' dispositions in eliminating opportunity gaps, outlined in NC's strategic plan. The study's quantitative phase used descriptive and correlation analysis of eight Likert subscales around four tenets of transformative leadership (Shields, 2011) and…

This dissertation examines how teachers respond to state-wide labor reforms. In 2013 and 2014, the state of North Carolina drastically altered compensation for teachers. Policymakers affected labor by attempting to revoke tenure for all teachers (and succeeded in eliminating it for new teachers), discontinuing supplemental pay for advanced…