PhD students face a number of challenges that undermine their ability to make progress on their degrees and jeopardize their health. Increasing numbers of studies have explored the factors contributing to doctoral student ill-being, while few studies have explored what enables doctoral student well-being and have rigorously tested interventions…

Providing students access to effective teachers is a challenge that school districts all over the nation face. Students from high poverty environments and rural settings have less access than their counterparts to effective teachers at disproportionate rates. This disproportionality may present as an insurmountable barrier for some youth in…

The purpose of this study was to explore how instructional coaches used research-based strategies to personalize their support for teachers. It also examined the larger implementation factors that helped or hindered their facilitation of such professional learning in a single district context. This included the adaptation of instructional coaching…

"When a group of people come together to share a vision for an organization, each person brings a unique visualization of an amazing running institution and each shares a responsibility for the establishment to run effectively" Senge (2006). This dissertation in practice (DiP) was aimed at addressing a performance gap of low engagement…

This study uses the path-goal theory of leadership and the model of organizational performance and change as theoretical lenses to understand the impact of strategic job identification, competence training, and leadership development practices on higher education institution's organizational performance and high-performing employee's intention to…

The purpose of this study was to explore and evaluate the necessary adaptations to the Family Behavior Support application (FBSApp) paired with collaborative coaching for Spanish-speaking families of young children with disabilities and co-occurring challenging behaviors (CB) in home contexts. We utilized a multi-phase mixed methods research…

Collective bargaining agreements are documents used by unionized workers to outline the scope of their job role and in many educational settings are perceived as a hindrance to improving teacher quality and thus student performance. The problem addressed by this study was that the restrictions of the collective bargaining agreement impede the time…

As large expenditures are made every year to support the professional learning of teachers, it is critical to know if these endeavors are effective. Mathematics coaching has become an avenue that is believed to be an effective form of professional development in supporting mathematics teachers in their own improvement of teaching mathematics.…

Teacher retention continues to be a concern in public education. The concerns related to this negative trend were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and schools and school districts are finding themselves in a precarious position. Many states and local school districts are creatively utilizing alternative certification methods to increase the…

Community college adjunct faculty, who teach a majority of first-year courses at community colleges, face varied challenges related to limited access to ongoing support. This qualitative study examined the effects of an instructional coaching program on community college adjunct faculty's self-efficacy and ability to enhance instructor presence in…

This systematic literature review aimed to identify the most effective practices for implementing new programs or techniques to help improve elementary teachers' behavior support skills and self-efficacy. A total of 95, mostly peer-reviewed, studies were included in this review. Findings largely supported the provision of professional development…

This multiple case study explored the relationship between school district and school site environments and the character of instructional coaching. Across the US billions of dollars are spent every year on professional development for teachers, and over the last few decades, coaching, as a form of professional development, has grown in…

As the rates of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) increase, so does the need to provide high-quality and empirically validated supports across the lifespan. Despite most of an individual's life taking place in adulthood, it is well-documented that the supports and services for adults with ASD are severely lacking. This is evidenced by outcomes…

This qualitative descriptive study explored the lived experiences of Black women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) management positions and investigates the challenges within their career advancement and the influence of social support. Through qualitative analysis, participants highlighted the pivotal role of social…

This study examined the practices of a mathematics coach by analyzing coaching moves over multiple coaching cycles with two teachers. The coach, guided initially by a content-focused model of coaching (West & Staub, 2013), engaged teachers in cycles that consisted of co-planning, teaching, and debriefing conversations to help teachers reflect…