The purpose of this qualitative, descriptive study is to explore how assistant principals describe their choices regarding survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun regarding whether to seek promotion to principal in southern Arizona. A principal shortage exists in the United States in part because assistant principals qualified to be…

The problem that was addressed in this study is the high rate of teacher attrition at a K--8 Title I school in Arizona. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of the teachers who have chosen to remain at this school rather than leave. The theoretical framework of the study was based on Herzog's motivational…

We report findings of this replication study, examining the internalizing subscale (SRSS-I4) of the revised version of the Student Risk Screening Scale for Internalizing and Externalizing behavior (SRSS-IE 9) and the internalizing subscale of the Teacher Report Form (TRF). Using the sample from 13 elementary schools across three U.S. states with…

The purpose of this study is to explore how students' prior knowledge, skills, experiences, and networks (including family and community) influence major choice decisions among low-income and working-class students at Arizona's three state universities. Using a funds of knowledge framework, a survey was distributed to students at the three…

Background: Patients rarely dispose of left-over opioids after surgery. Disposal serves as a primary prevention against misuse, overdose, and diversion. However, current interventions promoting disposal have mixed efficacy. Increasing disposal in rural communities could prevent or reduce the harms caused by prescription opioids. Aims: Identify…

We report the results of a convergent validity study examining the externalizing subscale (SRSS-E5, five items) of the adapted Student Risk Screening Scale for Internalizing and Externalizing (SRSS-IE 9) with the externalizing subscale of the Teacher Report Form (TRF) with two samples of K-12 students. Results of logistic regression and receiver…

This mixed-methods action research study delves into the decision-making processes of students, with a specific focus on Arizona State University Housing as a case study. It also explores the potential role that Arizona State University Housing professionals can play in facilitating the flow of essential information to aid in these decision-making…

In the U.S., state guidance to schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was politicized. We used state-level political affiliation to explore whether access to curricular resources differed pre-pandemic or during pandemic remote teaching and teachers' reported control over curricular resources during pandemic teaching. We found that…

Use of education finance data is ubiquitous. Yet, because the academic calendar circumscribes two calendar years, researchers have linked the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to three different dates: fall, spring, and academic fiscal years. We demonstrate that linking the CPI to these different academic years results in identifying different trends in…

This qualitative case study uses comparative case study methodology with discourse analysis to compare Arizona and New Jersey regulations, policies, procedures, and practices influencing high school graduation rates for Hispanic and Native American youth. National and state reports (NCES, 2019) indicated a gap between high school graduation rates…

Purpose: In Arizona's mature, market-based school system, we know little about how school leaders make meaning of school choice policies and programs on the ground. Using ethnographic methods, the author asked: How do school leaders in one Arizona district public school and in its surrounding community, which includes a growing number of…

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore how 15 elementary teachers' lived experiences contributed to their self-efficacy when making instructional decisions to support gifted students in inclusive classrooms in central Arizona. The theoretical framework was Bandura's self-efficacy theory. The central research question…

This study presents an exemplar for psychometric evaluation and modification of established measures when applied to new populations. Specifically, we describe the use of two subscales (Career Decision-Making Self-Efficacy Scale and Math/Science Self-Efficacy Scale) from the Middle School Self-Efficacy Scale (MSSES) as outcome measures in an…

Informed by interviews with campus administrators and Northern Arizona University (NAU) students, the "Student Success is the DNA of NAU" case study outlines strategies this public, four-year, Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) is employing to build NAU into an engine of opportunity for students and the communities they represent. The…

The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory multi-case study was to explore how leadership practices of principals, in relation to the ethical values of value-based leadership (VBL), influenced outcomes of decision-making and team learning of leadership teams in Arizona K-5 public charter schools. The problem was, it was not known how leadership…