The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to understand how teachers who remained in the profession during the COVID-19 pandemic describe what it was about their self-perceived leadership qualities that influenced their decision to remain. Although literature regarding teacher retention exist, teacher description about their…

This work was designed to provide insight into how a disaster of historical proportions, in this case the COVID pandemic, influenced the work foreign language (L2) teachers in an English as a foreign language (EFL) setting. The research was situated within the framework of positive psychology (Seligman, 2011), with the investigation of the…

The U.S. service industry has struggled significantly with retaining workers following the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic resulted in hundreds of thousands of job losses due to closures in accommodations and food service businesses, followed by a record high percentage of voluntary resignations among service industry workers. This explanatory…

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the persistence strategies of executive African American female administrators in higher education in the pre- and post-COVID-19 landscape. Further, the study provides suggestions for how academies of leadership may provide strategic supports to address the barriers confronted by African American…

New-to-profession elementary teachers in a large school district may not have the support they need to help them feel proficient and successful in their role. This narrative inquiry qualitative study involved exploring the perceptions of new-to-profession elementary teachers and their mentors of the mentoring program in place in a large school…

Disasters can cause school closures for an extended duration, causing equity and engagement gaps for students. Children and adolescents also suffer social, emotional and health problems associated with remote schooling and lack of physical and interpersonal activities. School leaders and teachers are well-practiced in traditional emergency…

This Dissertation in Practice (DiP) on Human Resource Development was conducted to investigate the establishment and implementation of a new position within a postsecondary workforce innovation department. This position was developed during the COVID-19 epidemic to cater to lower socioeconomic communities with lower post-secondary education…

One in ten teachers who begin a public education career will not finish one academic year before leaving the profession. As many as five out of ten educators do not stay in a school district long enough to reach tenure. Millennial educators, who reflect the Gen Z and Alpha student population in diversity and technology capabilities, are the…

The problem explored in this study was principals' low self-efficacy, which negatively affected school outcomes and could lead principals to set weaker goals and be less resilient. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to identify strategies that principals believed would foster better self-efficacy. The theoretical framework…

Novice teachers must gain significant knowledge and skills on the job (Baumgarter et al., 2018), but the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic created an environment for education's newest teachers that no one could have predicted (Dvir & Schatz-Oppenheimer, 2020; Kaden, 2020; Mecham et al., 2021). A review of the literature identified a…

The purpose of this study was to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Southern California K-12 school districts and understand what district and site administrators have learned from their experiences and their decision-making responsibilities in managing the crisis. This study has brought to light the impact of the pandemic on students,…

Youth in the United States have been significantly impacted by COVID-19. Their education was disrupted at the onset with many going into virtual school for extended periods of time. This resulted in a loss of connection to peers, teachers, school counselors, and other educational support staff. Extra-curricular activities ceased and many…

COVID-19 disrupted schools across the country. Students and teachers were asked to work together virtually. During this virtual experience the students at Frederick County Middle School struggled to complete learning activities independently. An improvement science approach was used to investigate this problem. Through the improvement science…

This dissertation studies several key issues related to teacher turnover, mentorship, and discrimination. The first chapter examines the impact of misbehaving students on the likelihood of novice teachers leaving their positions within the first five years. Utilizing data from North Carolina between 2007 and 2015, the study employs quasi-random…

In this study, I applied Bem's (1981) gender schema theory, Eccles and Wigfield's (1995) expectancy-value theory, and Bandura's (1986) social cognitive theory to examine the underrepresentation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) leadership. Additionally, I used Clark and Estes's (2008) gap analysis to identify the…