Barriers surround top-tier leadership in K-12 education. The superintendent position continues to be occupied by male leaders despite the overwhelming number of female educators. This qualitative study explored the disparity between male and female leaders through the perspectives of female superintendents in a southern state. This study relied on…

The lack of representation of Latina community college presidents in California is an equity and social justice issue because the majority of students enrolled in community colleges are female and Latina but White men continue to dominate the office of the president. This issue is timely given the number of baby boomers who will be retiring in the…

The purpose of this Delphi study was to explore the potential for district leaders to leverage Liberatory Design to interrupt systemic inequities and redress bias in K-12 school systems. A purposeful, heterogeneous sampling of twelve experts, who were identified as effective practitioners of transformative leadership or as academic scholars…

Vocational educational opportunities have influenced the focus of CTE and made the needs of secondary classrooms change course. One of America's most significant problems is that it can no longer say it has the most educated and technologically savvy workforce globally. Students come from other countries, enroll in American schools, and return to…

This study explored the concept of phygital within enrollment management, examining its transformative impact on the student journey. Phygital, a blend of physical and digital experiences, serves as a focal point of this research in addressing a notable gap in existing literature. This research involved a two-phase exploratory qualitative study…

This dissertation studies the effect of higher education costs on students' outcomes in the labor market, particularly when credit constraints are absent. It utilizes the UK's institutional setting to identify such an effect. The key findings are as follows. (i) Increasing tuition fees does not have adverse effects on students as long as credit…

Open educational resources (OER) are digital and non-digital resources for teaching, learning, and research that are available for no cost and licensed with various open licenses, permitting their widespread modification and use. While these resources afford benefits to post-secondary students in terms of reduced cost, ease of access, and…

Out-of-school time (OST) initiatives, defined as programs that operate in and out of school settings, serve young people, their families, and the communities around them. These initiatives are often created to close opportunity gaps that can exist for at-risk students and to meet the needs of previously assessed concerns for communities. For the…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand how Christian higher education institutions within the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) empower women into executive levels of leadership. More research has been done on women and breaking barriers to leadership, however, less research has been done on the…

For decades, universities, colleges, researchers, policymakers, foundations, and think tanks have been trying to solve the issue of getting more students to persist to graduation. Research shows that the problem of increasing the number of students who graduate in four years with a college degree still exists. Black female students continue to…

This qualitative multi-case study explored the experiences of nine women serving as presidents of community and technical colleges in seven different Midwestern states to understand how they serve students with an increasingly diverse background and ultimately work to close the education opportunity gap. The data collection process consisted of…

The lack of female representation and gender imbalance in the superintendent position nationwide has been a focus of scholars for many years. Researchers have demonstrated that females have the experiences, preparations, and expertise necessary but are not securing the superintendent position at the same rate as their male counterparts, causing a…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the perceptions of practicing nature-based educators and to find how classroom educators can become skilled in providing students with opportunities to learn in nature. In the study, there were 13 participants who represented a variety of individuals, with impressive educational…

In the state of Connecticut rubrics were formulated at the state level to guide the evaluations of classroom teachers and service providers (CSDE, 2017a, b). Educators have perceived the evaluation system as punitive and failing to provide them with feedback that is pertinent to their roles. Speech-Language Pathology, which is a shortage area in…

The U.S. college presidency remains predominantly white and male. However, trend data over the past several decades have documented increased diversity by race, gender, and race and gender (Green, 1988; Melidona et al., 2023). Still, LGBTQ+ college leadership has not been included in instrumentation resulting in a paucity of literature, with only…