For over 100 years, youth mentoring has grown to be an evidenced based prevention strategy for youth, demonstrating positive youth outcomes through strong relationships with caring adults. While trusting relationships are the mainstay of the positive impacts achieved through mentoring, the difficulty in recruiting volunteer adults has not met the…

Women continue to be underrepresented in the superintendent role in public school systems in the United States. The path to the superintendency requires candidates to pass through a series of gates controlled by school board members. Qualified women seek superintendent jobs and are not passing through the gates at the same rate as men. This…

The purpose of this qualitative study is to expound upon the research conducted by R.L Brown (2004), W. Dygert (2000), J.T. James (2009), M. Daniels (2013) and B. Regan (2015). Their focus was to look carefully at the President-Principal Model (PPM) in order to better understand the efficacy of introducing this administrative team structure to…

In this three-study dissertation, I present an in-depth examination of patterns in the paraeducator workforce across two states: Indiana and Washington. In each study, I leverage longitudinal administrative data to answer questions about the distribution, turnover, and impact of paraeducators in the workforce using both descriptive and causal…

The present study measured factors that influence the representation of LGBTQ+ materials in New York State (NYS) school library collections. The existing body of literature has shown the importance of providing inclusive curricula for LGBTQ+ youth in schools to help decrease negative outcomes. This study surveyed school librarians to assess the…

This qualitative meta-synthesis studied what makes first-generation college students stronger for success in the United States. The study adopted Tinto (1975) as the theoretical framework in the synthesis of research findings from seventeen peer-reviewed empirical qualitative studies. The research is centered around three research questions: (1)…

This study provided a detailed analysis of why newly elected school board members ran for school board in New York from 2017-2022 and the governance challenges they expected to face. Secondary survey data of 1,064 school board members collected by the New York State School Boards Association were examined to explore how personal and professional…

Empathic design involves two social practices -- one is collaboration with users to elicit and make a meaning of user experiences, and another is intrateam collaboration to develop a mutually understood, agreed-upon interpretation of user experiences among team members. This study is focused on the latter phenomenon, conceptualizing this social…

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of four Black women frontline supervisors deemed essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study highlighted the effects COVID-19 had on Black women who were mandated to report to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: This…

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the educational approaches utilized to professionalize undergraduate/post-secondary digital media students into their preferred industries. A secondary aim of this research was to highlight the process of professional identity exploration undertaken by digital media students as they progress…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to compare male and female leadership styles and characteristics in higher education: measuring the effects of those leadership styles on student perceptions. The participants were full and part-time undergraduate and graduate students currently enrolled in a higher education institution. A closed…

Autistic people have issues with social skills, behavior, and communication (American Psychological Association, 2013) and have significant hurdles to sustained, paid employment (Hendricks & Wehman, 2009). Autistic people are often unemployed or underemployed; they work fewer hours and earn less money than neurotypical people and peers with…

Educational leaders across the United States face changes affecting the educational system related to federal and state mandates, in which educational leaders are expected to respond to and overcome in a timely and productive manner. The purpose of this quantitative correlational research study was to identify if a relationship exists between…

Autism spectrum disorder is diagnosed more in males than females, this difference is even more prevalent if the female is of at least average intelligence. The problem addressed by this qualitative exploratory case study was the under-identification of females with autism due to their masking behavior. This problem directly impacts females who…

Small Bible colleges have limited resources to recruit students. They must find strategies to recruit and retain college-ready students who fit with their mission. With limited or no endowments or reserves, these colleges rely primarily on enrollment tuition revenue. The purpose of this study, conducted at a small Bible college in the southeastern…