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.…

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,…

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…

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…

This qualitative exploratory study investigated how leaders establish trust among their faculty to reduce higher turnover and increased stress. The study was motivated by the observed leadership problem and its failure to foster trust within public elementary schools, leading to detrimental outcomes for faculty and students alike. Guided by the…

Teacher leadership reflects leadership in schools that is distributed across the organization; is collaborative in nature; and is enacted through a process of influence. Although teacher leadership is important not only in effective school leadership but also in the development, autonomy, and well-being of teachers, existing elementary school…

How government delivers public services can have broad societal effects, beyond the impact on programmatic outcomes. Such societal effects are particularly likely in the delivery of public education, as educational concerns drive residential and school choices, and public schools are the second largest public employer in the United States. My…

Teacher leaders have long been relied upon to help schools run smoothly and efficiently. Public schools have found an increase in the need for teachers to step into leadership roles to assist administrative teams in implementing policies. Many schools have turned to distributed leadership as a way to give teachers more of a voice in schools and to…

This mixed-methodology case study explored one district's attempt to provide teacher leadership training in an effort to increase feelings of empowerment. Empowerment is defined as the degree to which an individual feels capable of influencing his or her work role and context (Spreitzer, 1995) and in the field of education, empowering teachers is…

This dissertation explores the depth of the Black educator turnover problem in today's public schools. Black educators across the country have experienced higher than average turnover rates, eroding the success of recent minority teacher recruitment efforts. This epidemic has left the field of teaching consistent with the status quo, white and…

Education reform and improvement in K-12 public education continues to be a national priority. Research within the past half century has brought to the forefront the brutal truth that American public education needs improvement (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). The call for improvement includes the need for teachers to emerge from silence and isolation…

The teacher empowerment process emphasizes professional development and participation (i.e., increasing professional status, skills, knowledge and providing the opportunity to participate in decision-making); however, whether these efforts eventually lead to the realization of teacher power remains a critical concern, especially considering that…

This study focus on the question: "How do high school principals, regarded as having skills in developing the instructional capacity of teachers, exercise their leadership to promote the development of teacher's instructional capacity in three primary contexts; whole school, content department or grade level teams and individually?"…

Although public school teaching by its inherent nature presents numerous classroom challenges, the public high school teacher today is faced in addition with multiple external mandates from several outside stakeholders. Given the established track record of professional learning communities (PLCs) to provide teacher support and development, I…