Public education depends on the collaboration of adults to promote the success of the students who are served. Principal-teacher relationships are a necessary part of the overall learning environment established for students to grow and thrive. In an urban educational setting these relationships can be tested, especially in the transitional grades…

Transitions to a new principal are common, especially within urban public schools, and potentially highly disruptive to a school's culture and operations. We use longitudinal data from New York City to investigate if the effect of principal transitions differs by whether the incoming principal was hired externally or promoted from within the…

A number of kindergarten through Grade 12 (K-12) administrators face challenges promoting culturally responsive learning environments. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to explore K-12 administrators' perceptions of the challenges faced in using leadership practices and strategies that promote culturally responsive learning…

The study examined the impact of school building conditions on school climate, student attendance, and teacher job satisfaction in an urban school district in northern New Jersey. The following research questions were analyzed using a t-test and regression analysis: (a) To what extent do school building conditions affect the school climate in an…

Teacher retention has been a challenge for most schools for several years. High-needs schools have been known to have twice the trouble with teacher retention as schools not considered high-needs. The purpose of this study was to identify effective practices school principals can implement to retain teachers at high-needs, urban secondary schools.…

Leveraging the education system for Black and Brown students has been an ongoing occurrence in the United States. This dissertation explores how Black women principals use leadership practices to create a safe learning environment that promotes learning in a caring and nourishing manner. The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to…

This study tested the relationship between Principal Support of Teacher Psychological Needs (PSTPN) and a need-supportive instructional climate. Evidence on social contagion was used to advance three hypotheses: "PSTP is associated with school differences in student reported autonomy-support, competence-support, and relational-support; A…

Since the formation of schools, schools have developed ways of understanding discipline and ensuring a safe and orderly environment. Governmental personnel began to influence local school policies beginning in 1989, with United States President Ronald Reagan's "War on Drugs" campaign. This led to the creation and development of…

School principals are essential to the implementation of culturally relevant practices in schools. The need for culturally relevant, responsive, and competent leadership is significant given the increase in the number of children representing a diversity of racial, ethnic, and linguistic populations (Horsford et al, 2011). Schools are becoming…

Rural, urban, and suburban school principals faced distinct challenges in engaging families and fostering positive school climates. Recognizing the need for tailored leadership strategies, it was essential for principal preparation programs to provide context-specific training. The purpose of basic interpretive qualitative study was to explore the…

Limited culturally responsive knowledge, skills, and engagement among school leaders contributes to significant racial disparities seen in diverse student outcomes (school pushout, rates in school discipline, and opportunity gap) and remains a pernicious problem for public schools in the United States. Also, school leaders and teachers often lack…

The problem addressed in this study is that the number of historically marginalized and diverse students in U.S. classrooms is rapidly increasing and schools are not prepared to address the need for culturally responsive curriculum and instruction. This study is important because K-12 principals are challenged to address equity, inclusion, and…

Culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students who are English learners (ELs) represent over 10% of the overall student population in U.S. public schools. Nevertheless, this population is highly underserved in schools and has some of the lowest graduation rates. This phenomenological research interviewed eight principals to examine how they…

Zero tolerance practices have been a mainstay in the U.S. educational system for decades. Yet, the American Psychological Association (2008) and Skiba and Losen (2015-2016) declared that zero tolerance has had no positive impact on school climate. Further, Skiba (2014) stated that it does not improve student behavior. Restorative practices, on the…

This research examines teachers' perceptions of cultural diversity training in a suburban school district. While there is an impressive amount of research on how large urban school districts deal with culture and equity in their schools, there is room for more research on how the smaller suburban school districts handle it. This study will add to…