Education Dissertations

This qualitative study was designed to explore how experienced teachers who love their work, find value in it, and contribute positively to the work environment sustain their positive mindset in the face of challenge and change in America’s public schools. Since the advent of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and subsequent educational reform measures, schools have turned increasingly to accountability measures around student testing, teacher evaluations, and other perceived metrics of performance. Since the implementation of NCLB, there has been an increase in teachers leaving the classroom due in part to these stressors. This phenomenon has been well documented in the research. Less understood is how and why some teachers not only stay, but thrive in challenging circumstances. This study applies grounded theory methodology to probe how thriving veteran teachers avoid pitfalls such as burnout and demoralization, and instead evolve and grow. All data were collected prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States. In-depth interviews with a nominated sample of ten thriving public school teachers in two states in the Northeast were conducted. Two-cycle coding and analytic memos provided a platform for data analysis, which ultimately led to three assertions. These assertions are that job fit plays a pivotal role in teachers’ ability to thrive over time. Teachers apply intrinsic motivation and signature strengths to self-actualize on the job. In this dynamic, challenge and change are essential for growth toward the highest level of human potentiality, transcendence.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of a treatment package consisting of video and reflection, video feedback, and coaching on pre-service teachers’ use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors as they delivered lessons to student avatars in mixed reality simulations. Pre-service teachers delivered lessons at three points of time over the course of a semester within a teacher preparation course. Following each simulation, participants received three components of a treatment package targeted at improving nonverbal immediacy behaviors of teachers. A mixed methods embedded research design provided for the collection of quantitative data, nonverbal immediacy scores, collected via the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale – Observer Report. Qualitative data were collected via researcher observations of simulations and participant exit interviews. Statistical analysis resulted in a significant difference in pre-service teachers’ nonverbal immediacy when Time 2 and Time 3 were compared. No additional significant differences resulted. An analysis of qualitative data resulted in two findings. Finding one was: Video and reflection, video feedback, and coaching fostered pre-service teachers’ reflections on the simulated environment as they delivered lessons within the simulations. Finding two was: Video and reflection, video feedback and coaching within a mixed reality simulation environment improved pre-service teachers’ use of nonverbal immediacy behaviors in student interactions. Connections to literature and implications are made.

The purpose of this study was to explore the social construction of female leadership identities from the perspectives of women serving at the highest level of positional authority within the hierarchy of their organizations across different professions. Specifically, the researcher explored the perceptions of five females through their self-reported lived experiences of the factors that have supported and challenged them in forging leadership identities consistent with their core values and beliefs. The five female participants were from these diverse professional contexts in the private and public sectors: (a) University President of a co-educational, four-year, higher education institution, (b) College President of a co-educational, two-year, higher education institution, (c) CEO of a hospital or healthcare organization, (d) Superintendent of a K-12 public school district, and (e) Chief of Police of a municipal law enforcement agency. This study differs from others that explore the intersection between gender and leadership because of this broadened sample that included a variety of professions. Purposeful and convenience sampling procedures were utilized, together with pre-defined selection criteria, to assist in identifying participants who had experienced the phenomena being studied. Data collection tools included semi-structured interviews, field observations, and document review protocols. Data were analyzed and resulted in two findings and four themes. Finding 1 emerged as follows: Participants described their leadership identities in terms of their successes or challenges in enacting a communal orientation through which they build and maintain relationships that they perceive as critical to their ability to fulfill their purpose or calling, move the organization or community forward, navigate difficult circumstances, evaluate their effectiveness as leaders, and improve leadership capacity of themselves or others. Finding 2 developed as follows: Participants described their leadership identity as a complex blend of agency and communion which moderates their approach in making decisions, holding staff accountable, confronting barriers, expressing directives and hard truths, maintaining appropriate distance or boundaries, exercising power, and sharing credit with others in a manner which enables leaders to accomplish the greater good that is linked to mission, purpose, and objectives.