Successful and high achieving schools have leaders that establish clarity within the school and know they "have a hand in shaping events" and results they want to achieve (Bandura, 2012, p. 11). Successful and high achieving schools not only implement specific research-based practices that help all students succeed, but they also…

This dissertation describes a qualitative research study that grows our understanding of the career development experiences, supports, and barriers of social entrepreneurs who are gifted adults (SEGA) so that we may nurture the career development of future SEGA. Research questions for this study probed the career development experiences, supports,…

The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to better understand the lived experiences of students enrolled in the Boyker-Anoroc Bridge Program. The Bridge Program was designed to increase the persistence of underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students in STEM doctoral programs. The participants in the study recounted their…

The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to better understand the lived experiences of students enrolled in the Boyker-Anoroc Bridge Program. The Bridge Program was designed to increase the persistence of underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students in STEM doctoral programs. The participants in the study recounted their…

Awareness of congruence and discrepancies within an individual's pathway from career interest to occupational choice offers significant insight into the process of conciliation and foreclosure (i.e., psychological disposition toward a circumscription of career options). Given the significant role of careers, understanding the career developmental…

This concurrent multi-phase mixed methods study investigated whether indicators of Social Cognitive Theory could be observed in Grades 3-5 classrooms and if these indicators could be used to describe teacher effectiveness in high poverty schools. The conceptual framework drew upon Bandura's (1997) measurement of the individual self-efficacy of…

Organizations spend millions of dollars training employees in ways to improve their skills--recently through mandatory professional development delivered virtually or through online asynchronous platforms. This research investigated how social exchange theory and self-efficacy theory inform faculty participants' motivation to transfer such…

This quantitative, correlational study examined if there was a statistically significant relationship between the variables of self-efficacy and academic locus of control and the variable of academic success in the introductory course of a masters nursing program. Bandura's social cognitive theory and Rotter's social learning theory provided the…

Community college faculty have experienced a shift in focus from access to access and student success. Given this shift in responsibility for student learning, community college faculty should be sufficiently prepared to teach a diverse student body and subsequently uphold beliefs regarding their ability to bring about desired outcomes of student…

The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to examine the effect that Career and Technical Education (CTE) concentrators, non-CTE concentrators and academic concentrators have on the on-time graduation of 1035 high school students in 7 high schools in Arizona for the 2015--2016 school year. There were three research questions…

While the concept of reflection is not new to education, researchers suggest that students be given more space to engage in meaning-making activities (Sambrook & Willmott, 2014). In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis placed in education on self-reflection. In part, because of Donald Schon's (1983, 1987) work on…

The purpose of this action research study was to explore the impact instructional choices had on student participation in the classroom learning environment, growth of knowledge in social studies, and self-efficacy in the learning process. The instructional choices implemented through a flipped learning instructional approach were designed to…

The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes, practices, and behaviors of principals who foster teacher collective efficacy. The research questions were developed based upon Bandura's social cognitive theory to include (a) what are the "attitudes" held by principals that influence TCE; (b) what are the "behaviors"…

Teacher mindset and self-efficacy are a topic of much research. However, specific research is needed in areas pertaining to teacher self-efficacy, mindset and their comprehensive understandings of specific skill sets and concepts. In this study, the researcher has investigated how the associations between a teacher's self-efficacy (high or low)…

The overall aim of this quantitative non-experimental study was to investigate the degree to which content-focused professional development, active based-learning professional development and teacher self-efficacy predict student performance in reading, within persistently low-performing schools. The need to investigate professional development in…