Transparency is a fundamental trait that teachers must exhibit in their district and on their campus in order to understand the mission and goals of the district and campus. Educators need proper training and guidance from district and campus leaders to establish a collective efficacy for the benefit of student success. As school districts find…

This qualitative case study focused on one public school district that has successfully sustained innovative educational initiatives over several years. The purpose of the study was to explore the factors that contribute to sustaining innovative initiatives in a public school district through the perspectives and experiences of administrators,…

This capstone project provides an examination of educational and organizational change within the Clark County Public School district in Winchester, Kentucky. A review of literature was conducted surrounding organizational change management and how to best utilize organizational and educational change models to establish a sustainable avenue for…

This research study, using institutional theory as a framework, examines the role of superintendents in promoting and impacting innovation in Virginia's public schools. The study engaged fourteen current Virginia superintendents in semi-structured interviews, exploring their perspectives on fostering an innovative culture within their school…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have become common in many educational settings. A collaborative team (CT) is one component of a PLC. The purpose of this action research study was to examine the impact of a professional development innovation, Project Collaboration, which included a set of on-demand support modules for CTs to support…

Career and Technical Education (CTE) exists for those students who want to enter the world of work sooner rather than later; who wish to learn from teachers who are experts in their field, whether in class settings and internships and/or apprenticeships. CTE practitioners in suburban settings, whether they are teachers or administrators, have not…

Most school districts lack a coherent, actionable strategy for improving teaching and learning across the system. Current instructional improvement strategies enacted in many districts could best be described as hire and hope, where districts focus on hiring great teachers and then hope those teachers will develop themselves. During the 2021-22…

The COVID-19 pandemic, along with historical inequities, resulted in a widening of the achievement gap between underserved populations and more advantaged students. In response to this issue, California took action by allocating additional funds to public school districts for out-of-school-time services through the Expanded Learning Opportunities…

Adaptive tutoring systems often model student knowledge in ways that break away from a "one size fits all" approach to learning. Nonetheless, the strengths of these systems can often be limited, as knowledge representations are not easily interpreted by teachers, which make these systems difficult to integrate into pedagogical practices.…

Advances in educational technology have led to unprecedented accumulation of student information, but there is limited research to inform school practices in protecting student data. At a minimum, school districts must remain in compliance with increasingly complex state and federal laws on student privacy. Moreover, increased cyberattacks on K-12…

Public schools in the 21st century face many challenges, from recruiting and retaining high-quality staff in an era high teacher attrition, meeting the needs of students in a rapidly changing world, and adapting to ever changing demands from local, state and federal stakeholders. School are challenged to be more nimble and innovative, but they are…

Large achievement gaps exist between students educated in schools in high-poverty areas and those educated in low-poverty areas. Research indicates this issue is due to many barriers that hinder student achievement in high-poverty schools (Borg, Borg, & Stranahan, 2012; Hersi, 2010; Walsh et al., 2014). Despite this normal occurrence, there…

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to gain an understanding of what school innovation looks like as well as how school and district leaders address the concept. Technology has forever changed society. We must be careful not to confuse school innovation as the implementation of technology in the classroom. Educational leaders face the…

World language (WL) teachers are often at the forefront of using cutting edge technology for language teaching and learning purposes. However, as technology is ever changing, WL educators often lack adequate professional development (PD) opportunities to ensure effective technology integration while maintaining their technological, pedagogical,…

The researcher explored empowerment, sustainability, and leadership pertaining to Texas' District of Innovation designations. House Bill 1842, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2015, allowed qualifying districts to exempt certain sections of the Texas Education Code. The aim of these exemptions was to decentralize governance in order to…