James MacGregor Burns (1978) stated that leadership was one of the least understood phenomena in the world even though it was one of the most studied. This lack of understanding was even more prevalent when high school leadership development was examined. At present, a knowledge deficit exists between research and practice, as individuals…

Public education has evolved throughout the years, whereas traditional school settings focused on students sitting quietly in the classroom waiting for instructions from their teachers who orchestrated the lessons and procedures for running the classroom. Although student voice always existed, it was often overlooked. For the most part, emphasis…

In 2014, the national average for students identified as gifted was 6.8%, but in Pennsylvania, the average number of students identified as gifted was only 3.4%. Despite already being behind in average identification, a suburban district outside of Philadelphia continued to see numbers of gifted students decline (almost by 50% since 2015). Since…

The study examined the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and individual objective performance. While the LMX literature suggests a positive correlation between LMX and performance, a closer look at the research examined showed that the performance measurements were based on subjective measurements rather than objective…

The study sought to determine effects of leadership activity on emotional intelligence in preadolescents. Ninety-two Central California Valley sixth grade students in two schools and four classes were assessed on emotional intelligence. Treatment and comparison groups were identified. A Two-Way Repeated Measures ANOVA examined change over time…

Minority status stress, which is the stress Black college students experience at predominantly White institutions (PWIs) as a result of their racial minority status, has been found to negatively impact their persistence in college. Two manuscripts were developed for this dissertation. The first is a critical literature review which establishes the…

Almost every institution of higher education advertises its ability to "produce" or "train" leaders for the community and world. Indeed, most institutions, if asked, would freely report that leadership development is a large part of their overall mission of educating students. The purpose of this research is to determine…

This study explored the influence of strengths-based development on leadership practices among undergraduate college students while controlling for gender, years of leadership experience, and number of completed leadership courses using a quasi-experimental approach with a randomized control-group pretest-posttest research design. The sample…