Department chairs in higher education are leaders charged with the daily administrative functions, visioning, and managing academic units and programs. The purpose of this study was to assess the moderating role of transformational leadership in predicting the relationship between department chairs' personal and positional power on faculty job…

STEM leaders, deans and chairs who oversee three or more academic disciplines, tend to leave their posts at a fast pace. This can cause disruptions within an academic unit for both students and faculty. The purpose of this action research study was to investigate the rate of attrition among community college Science, Technology, Engineering and…

Navigating departmental and organizational conflict is an essential function and responsibility of an academic unit leader (dean, associate dean, director, or chair) in higher education institutions (HEIs). During periods of organizational change, conflict tends to increase in complexity and difficulty--in part due to resistance to change--making…

This study was an exploration of how the Katy Independent School District (ISD) Purchasing Department can effectively communicate its processes to district staff to improve efficiency. In recent years, the number of requisition rejections and order cancellations indicated a breakdown in communication-related to communication of procurement…

The purpose of this mixed method study was to examine the relationships between teachers' academic department, years of experience, tenure status, and their knowledge of chronically absent students and the existing programs and interventions to support absent students in their schools. The study utilized a district of five junior-senior high…

This study investigated the relationship between principal self-efficacy and campus accountability rating and whether there were any differences in self-efficacy and outcome expectancy based on campus rating. 29 public school principals in Texas elected to participate in the study which included demographic questions, a question related to outcome…

A conflict exists because all South Carolinian students are held to the same college- and career-readiness expectations, yet upstate school districts have opted to implement different grading policies. While the three Research Districts featured in this study employed varied forms of 50 as a minimum grade, other districts have no such mathematical…

While university department heads are integral to the operation and culture of higher education institutions, they often experience little training or support to fulfill their complex and multifaceted role. At the same time, there is limited research on how heads come to understand their work or how such understandings shape their behavior. In…

This study applies Clark and Estes's (2008) gap analysis model to understand how a state education agency's decision making, during reform policy implementation, impacts the success of the initiative. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to assess the effect of the Texas Education Agency's (TEA) decision making, during the policy design and…

This qualitative case study explored how grading can be used to support learning by analyzing the implementation of a skills-based grading system in a high school English department. Black and Wiliam's (2018) model for assessment in relation to pedagogy was used as a lens through which to examine the relationship between the grading system and…

This secondary research study used quantitative research methods to gather and analyze statistical data on specific factors that have been demonstrated to impact teacher retention and assessed their relative importance in impacting teacher turnover. The data utilized for this study were peer-reviewed, publicly available, government data collected…

Higher levels of student achievement are required to meet the needs of a changing workforce. The effect increases in education spending have on student learning gains among algebra students in Florida was unknown. Most research on per-pupil funding and student achievement is qualitative and measures opinions on the long-term effects of increased…

The implementation of edTPA, a portfolio assessment that preservice teachers must pass in order to gain certification in 41 states, has added standardization to the certification process. Those who go through the process develop very specific skills in the three focus areas of planning, instructing and assessing. The way that teachers are hired,…

The purpose of this research is to showcase the process of a local Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) with possible policy implications by analyzing teacher attrition patterns over many years. The RPP is a collaboration between a principal, the practitioner, and statistic students, the researchers. All groups were graduate-level students at the…

According to the "2016-2017 Rural Schools Spotlight Report," Texas is home to more than 1,240 school districts with almost 665 serving less than 1,000 students. One focus for the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has been serving the needs of small and rural sites as they comprise more than 50% of the state's districts. In South Texas, a…