The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the impact of transformational educational leaders on improving the public school system in Saudi Arabia, in relation to the dimensions of transformational leadership that include school improvement, inspirational motivation, and empowerment. The Saudi Arabian government's Vision 2030 aims…

This quantitative correlational study investigated the relationship between principal leadership styles and teacher psychological empowerment in U.S. public schools, grounded in the Full Range Leadership Model and Psychological Empowerment Theory. Using an associative research design, the study examined the correlation between these key variables.…

School leaders, educators, and community members are keenly aware that New Mexico has consistently ranked last in the nation in education, childhood poverty rate, and access to appropriate individualized educational support for children (Bobroff, 2019; Martinez, 2021; Rodriguez, 2019; Sanchez & Martinez, 2019). Now is the time to address the…

Research shows that trauma-informed practices in schools can increase student performance and well-being. School social workers are well-suited to bring these practices to their system but are most successful when partnering with public-school superintendents. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to understand public-school…

Scholars Leonard & Woodland (2022) suggest schools and districts face a crucial challenge. Are schools and districts ensuring their personnel are prepared to engage in critical practices to affirm, include, and support all students, families, peers, and communities? Or are schools and districts just haphazardly committing to diversity, equity,…

Several acts and movements have attempted to eliminate discrimination in employment opportunities. However, despite these acts and movements, there remains a disproportionate number of males in top leadership positions in public schools. Women who hold the position of superintendent in public school districts in Oklahoma from diverse backgrounds…

In the present study, I attempted to understand how students perceive their voice in the 2900 student public high school where I serve as principal. The study is a qualitative inquiry that combines human-centered design and action research for its conceptual framework. My dual roles of researcher and principal influenced every aspect of this…

This study aimed to identify the leadership actions and behaviors that school administrators, who have recently transitioned from a teaching position, associated with empowerment. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to elicit the participants' experiences of empowerment and disempowerment and how they try to create cultures of empowerment at…

Despite the fact that American public schools are subject to First Amendment restrictions that prohibit government establishment of a national religion and interference in individuals' worship practices, there is evidence that Christianity may be privileged over other faith traditions and non-belief in some public school environments (Blumenfeld,…

This dissertation consists of two chapters at the intersection of labor and the economics of education. In Chapter 1, I examine the role of management in the public sector, focusing on school principals and how they impact student outcomes. I find that a one standard-deviation increase in principal quality raises average student achievement by…

U.S. schools have witnessed educational reforms that have shifted science curriculum and pedagogy within classrooms. Yet, all these reforms have failed to reduce the racial and gender gaps in STEM fields. In 2016, New York State implemented the New York State Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS) to address these gaps. Problems remain, however, with…

Using Kimberle Crenshaw's (1990) intersectionality theory as the theoretical framework, this intersectional narrative study focused on how a Black, female school leader in an Alabama Black Belt public school navigated structural constraints to foster Black female student agency (Berry & Cook, 2018; Crenshaw, 1990; Esposito & Evans-Winters,…

The purpose of this quantitative quasi-experimental vignette study was to examine the effects of principals' empowering (versus non-empowering) leadership styles and gender on teachers' creativity. Measurement was based on teachers' perceptions of how they would behave creatively if working for a principal described in a randomly assigned vignette…

Providing differentiated learning experiences for every student is one of the goals behind teacher collaboration (Reeves, 2003; Byrd, 2020). The problem examined in this study was that collaborative planning has been used as a solution to improve instructional quality in low-resourced schools, without assessing the effectiveness of that solution…

Theories abound on why school shootings occur. Current literature centers on shooter profiles and rarely focuses on where the shootings occur. This study investigates the relationship between impoverished schools and if those schools are more likely to experience a school shooting than non-impoverished schools. Four factors of poverty were…