The purpose of this participatory action research (PAR) study was to examine the extent to which elementary school leaders enacted culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) practices with the ultimate goal of serving students who have been marginalized (Khalifa et al., 2016). As a district assistant superintendent, I supported four school…

Student transition from one school to another is considered a major life event. Transition to middle school is further complicated by the onset of puberty at this developmental stage. The problem is middle school students are not prepared socially and emotionally for the transition to middle school. A gap exists in identifying the perceptions of…

To make up for pandemic-related learning losses, many U.S. public school districts have increased enrollment in their summer school programs. We assess summer school as a strategy for COVID-19 learning recovery by tracking the academic progress of students who attended summer school in 2022 across eight districts serving 400,000 students. Based on…

Early literacy intervention is critical to students who are struggling to progress in reading. One intervention aimed at supporting students in the first-grade is Reading Recovery (RR). The purpose of this study was to explore the sustainability of gains achieved by first-grade students, on the STAR reading assessment, who exited the Reading…

In this dissertation, I present the findings from the implementation of an informational text reading comprehension intervention. Using a single-case multiple baselines across participants' experimental design, I examined results from three small heterogeneous groups of three to four students during the literacy block in a suburban fourth-grade…

This longitudinal collective case study is about the transformational experiences of three novice elementary teachers, Tammy, Katie, and Michelle, as they moved from an elementary teacher preparation program, at a large research university in the southeast United States, through their first two years of teaching in different elementary school…

Women have historically demonstrated more anxiety related to mathematics than men (Van der Sandt & O'Brien, 2017). The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to explore and describe how female elementary mathematics teachers' lived experiences influenced their beliefs and attitudes toward their self-efficacy in…

The purpose of the study was to identify characteristics of teachers who were receptive or resistant to coaching. The study investigated how teachers' perceptions of their literacy coaches' support compared to coaches' perceptions of the support they provided to teachers. Teachers' reasons for resisting literacy coaching were examined as well as…

The primary goal of this research is to examine New York State's humane education mandate, Section 809 of the Education Law; specifically, its history, barriers, and possible implementation solutions to achieve statewide elementary school compliance. It explores the educational system and its role in school compliance with the mandate. In…

The pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study examined the effects of small group instruction in number sense on intermediate elementary students. When a student does not have number sense as a strong foundation, it can cause detrimental deficits as the students' mathematical knowledge increases. The gap will continue to grow if effective…

The subject of this study is to investigate if, and to what extent the performance of third-grade students' multiplication fact proficiency differs in a hybrid learning setting as compared to in-person instruction. These differences were questioned by researching if there was a change in student proficiency due to the instructional modality, if…

The COVID-19 pandemic had massive implications and ramifications on the nation's public schools, students, and educators alike. Elementary principals transformed into crisis leaders overnight and were greatly challenged. The ability for principals to lead through crises was worth exploring to ascertain the necessary attributes for effective…

This dissertation encompasses a mostly quantitative cross-sectional survey design with some qualitative elements and delves into educational self-determination, particularly at the elementary level. When reviewing available research regarding self-determination, the researcher noticed that a gap exists. The main focus of studies investigating…

This quantitative research was conducted to analyze three questions about self-efficacy related to elementary school teachers. First, research was analyzed to determine what effect years of experience have on teachers' self-efficacy related to teaching, if any, at three Title 1 schools in the southeastern United States receiving mandated LETRS…

The traditional education system is designed around time rather than learning, with a one-size-fits-all curriculum and students moving on after a set amount of time regardless of what or how much they have learned. Educators must rethink how time plays a role in education and instead put attention on student mastery, ensuring each student gets the…