The path to becoming a school principal is characterized by a variety of trajectories that reflect the diverse experiences and backgrounds of aspiring leaders. While ideally the road to the principalship would result in a proportional and representative body of principals, research has shown this is rarely the case. To gain a better understanding…

This research aims to examine current practices in gifted and talented educator professional learning, as well as teacher attitudes, beliefs, and experiences towards gifted education in order to explore opportunities to further develop and improve professional learning structures. Through a qualitative methodology following the…

Schools are dynamic environments surrounded by static brick and mortar. Schools are a complex entanglement of systems clinging to normalcy led and composed of individuals seeking growth and progress. There is constant turnover as students move through the systems, gaining mastery, seeking support, and receiving guidance. Employees similarly move…

Career-connected learning is an educational strategy that combines high-quality academic instruction, skill-based learning, and real-world experiences to prepare students with the knowledge and skills that they need to pursue their career goals. Career-connected learning is especially important for an often-overlooked group of students including…

Teacher shortages increase yearly while interest in the teaching profession seems to be at an all-time low. Policymakers are again seeing value in high school "grow your own" (GYO) teacher programs as a source of future teacher talent. Against the backdrop of career development models for teaching, we developed an instrument based on…

Roles such as principal and superintendent are politically positioned to affect policy and are seen as a steppingstone to the school district administration. In the United States of America, Black women are few in leadership positions. In the 2019-2020 school year there were approximately 1,662 public high school principals in the State of Texas…

Career-connected learning is an educational strategy that combines high-quality academic instruction, skill-based learning, and real-world experiences to prepare students with the knowledge and skills that they need to pursue their career goals. Career-connected learning can be delivered in a variety of ways, including in core content classes,…

Developing new scales to measure aspects of mentoring, including guidance in scientific communication (SciComm), is important to enhance success among trainees pursuing research careers in science and medicine. This study examined the psychometric properties of three new measures, based on social cognitive career theory (SCCT), as mentors address…

In this report, AIR shares an exploratory analysis of how the past and present experiences of adult learners of color shape their perceptions of college and decisions they make. Existing research highlights some common motivations, strengths, and barriers for adult learners (see, e.g., Patterson, 2018); however, it does not deeply explore the full…

Community colleges play a key role in driving talent development in the United States, producing workers with the kinds of training that employers need while enhancing economic mobility for students. There has been a push among policymakers at the federal and state levels to hold community colleges accountable for the employment outcomes of their…

This narrative inquiry captures the stories of three newly-hired professors struggling to assimilate into Metro Community College's social environment. My work first presents Samantha's metaphor: a sandbox campus wherein employees work in isolation, building individual sandcastles. This metaphor evokes an imaginative way to interpret and…

This phenomenological study explored the effects of five constructs of learning on student employability as perceived by secondary CTE teachers at a career center in Southeast Texas. Interviews of 11 career center instructors were coded and analyzed using thematic analysis to reveal themes for interpretation. The learning and employability model…

The report provides a landscape analysis of the workforce development environment in Texas. Many organizations are performing valuable roles in ensuring that the labor markets in Texas operate efficiently, supplying employers with skilled workers and providing workers with opportunities to continue their career advancement through reskilling. The…

There have been several dissertations published regarding the lack of women superintendents (Reed & Patterson, 2007). However, when trying to explore African-American women superintendents, there is very little research to examine, especially on Texas African-American women superintendents. The purpose of this qualitative, narrative study was…

In comparison to men, the high school principal role in Texas is a position that few women obtain in their educational leadership journey. Even though women are statistically more prominently employed as teachers in K-12 public education in Texas, women are not equally represented in the superintendency. This disparity of representation starts at…