Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2024, Educational Leadership

In recent years, secondary education has experienced a significant transformation driven by the need to better prepare students for life beyond graduation. Central to this shift is the integration of Career Readiness Programs, which not only provide academic knowledge but also equip students with practical skills, vocational insights, and an understanding of professional landscapes. This study investigates whether an embedded Career Readiness Program influences the development and enhancement of partnerships between schools and businesses. Guided by Ohio's legislative framework, which emphasizes college and career readiness, this research explores how career readiness programs can foster effective collaborations between educational institutions and the business sector. The study employs a qualitative case study methodology to understand how these partnerships evolve and their impact on students' preparedness for post-secondary pathways. The data collection involved face-to-face interviews with business representatives and school personnel directly engaged with the Career Readiness Program. Thematic analysis of the interview notes revealed patterns and themes that highlighted the potential of these programs to bridge the gap between education and workforce demands. The study's findings suggest that integrating Career Readiness Programs strengthens school-business partnerships by aligning educational practices with industry needs, creating opportunities for internships, mentorships, and hands-on experiences. This collaborative approach not only enhances student readiness for professional careers but also benefits the local business community by developing a skilled workforce.

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2022, Educational Administration (Education)

In Appalachian Ohio, a grassroots group of citizens across industry sectors have convened to use community assets to create solutions impacting multiple parts of the community system, thus attempting to solve complex rural problems in innovative ways. One intermediary organization, Building Bridges to Careers (BB2C), has implemented community and career connected learning programs as a way to solve problems threatening rural community viability through engaging multiple community stakeholders including the community's youth. Using an exploratory mixed-methods approach, this study investigated the contributions of stakeholders and the impact to community systems of one community and career connected learning program: high school internships. This study conceptualizes the place-based, cross-sector, bidirectional interactions facilitated by community and career connected learning as a learning ecosystem. Further, this study uses Social Return on Investment (SROI) to quantify impact within the learning ecosystem to communicate and maximize change. This study found for every $1 invested in high school internships, between $13.07–$15.37 of value to social and economic systems is created. The ability to explore career fields through experience in order to eliminate career paths not of interest to them and then to be able to clearly define next steps in career paths that were of interest to them were outcomes valued most by students as stakeholders. Host site stakeholders reported the most valuable impacts to economic and social systems were, respectively, development of a workforce with basic skills and the personal satisfaction of being able to watch a young person in their community grow and develop through the internship period and beyond. For community supporting stakeholders, the most valuable impacts were the increased connection between schools and businesses in the community as well as the potential to reduce outmigration. Repeatedly, participants drew (open full item for complete abstract)

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2008, Education : Educational Studies

Charter schools are the fastest growing reform effort in American educational history. In 1997, during the 122nd General Assembly, Ohio charter school legislation was passed. In Ohio public charter schools are known as community schools and in 2008 there are 315 of these schools with 76, 967 students enrolled. In Cincinnati there are currently 27 community schools. This dissertation is a socio-historical case study of an urban public community school in Cincinnati. It describes and details parent, superintendent, and sponsor representative perspectives in order to determine their interests. Interview responses were used to extract the educational goals, methodologies, and desired outcomes of the three aforementioned parties concerning youth attending Urban Public Community School. They were then critically analyzed using Derrick Bell's Interest-Convergence Principle as both a lens from which to view African-American educational history in Cincinnati (1950 to present) and as an application. This involved comparing and contrasting the points of view of interviewees to determine where their interests converged and where they diverged. Analysis revealed that the primary point of interests-convergence was that parents, the superintendent, and sponsor agreed that alternative options to traditional public education were necessary. Parents and the superintendent stated that the incorporation of culture and history in students…#8482; learning processes as necessary, where as the sponsor representative does not mention them. However, the superintendent and sponsor emphasized the importance of standardized test scores whereas, several parents felt that there was an overemphasis on passing standardized tests.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

Collaboration with others is an integral part of our development as people. In the realm of education, collaboration among faculty and staff has been found to be an asset to developing shared goals and successful educational outcomes. This mixed method action research study explores the backgrounds and perceptions of educators in regard to collaborative experiences in a private high school setting. Through a combination of demographic surveys, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group, four main themes emerged. These were motivations for collaboration, external factors that affect collaboration, effective collaborative practices, and the impact of collaborative group makeup. These findings were utilized to develop an action plan to create regular effective collaborative communities in this educational setting.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

This critical participatory action research study lays the groundwork for a bottom-up evaluation framework for dropout recovery high schools, also known as Type I Alternative Education Campuses (T1AECs). By gathering qualitative data documenting the unique experiences and goals of T1AEC students, the research seeks to amplify the voices of young adults who reclaim their educational journey in alternative settings. The findings aim to construct an evaluation framework that centers on students' needs, supports meaningful engagement, and captures a broader range of outcomes than traditional accountability measures allow. The study holds potential to inform policy recommendations, improve school evaluation practices, and ensure that alternative education programs meet the diverse needs of students who are disenfranchised by traditional high schools.

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1961, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1962, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1950, Graduate School

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 1962, Graduate School

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

This dissertation examines parents and teachers' perceptions of effective parental involvement in education, situated within Epstein et al.'s (2009) framework of six typologies of parental participation. The study, through a comprehensive comparative analysis, reveals critical insights into the disparities and commonalities in how parents and teachers perceive effective parental involvement and its impact on student achievement. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, incorporating quantitative measures of parental and teacher perceptions alongside qualitative insights gained from the Turkleton Community Schools (TCS) environment.

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2024, Counseling Psychology

Health service psychology (HSP) students are at a high risk of burnout and physical and mental health problems (El-Ghoroury et al., 2011; Rummell, 2015). Research has begun to explore environmental factors within training programs that cause or prevent burnout (e.g., Kovach Clark et al., 2009; Swords & Ellis, 2017). Using the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model of burnout (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017; Demerouti et al., 2001), the present study assessed the relationships between demands, resources, and burnout symptoms in a sample of HSP doctoral students. Structural equation modeling was used to test the JD-R model and compare the relative contributions of perceived workload, weekly work hours, sense of community, work environment, and relationships with academic advisors and clinical supervisors to students' symptoms of exhaustion and disengagement. Analyses of variance were used to explore demographic group differences to better understand the experiences of diverse students, especially those with minoritized identities. Participants reported high levels of burnout symptoms, especially exhaustion. The hypothesized JD-R model, which contains unique and separate pathways representing the processes by which job demands sap energy and job resources promote engagement, did not yield interpretable parameters and thus was not a good fit to the data. However, an alternative model containing additional pathways between job demands and resources and burnout symptoms fit the data well and collectively predicted about half (50.8%) the variance in exhaustion and about a third (31.8%) of the variance in disengagement. The results demonstrated HSP doctoral students' experiences of burnout are highly linked to environmental factors. High demands impair students' health and create exhaustion, while lacking resources impair motivation and create disengagement. Perceived workload, sense of community, and the work environment had the largest effects on burnout sym (open full item for complete abstract)

MFA, Kent State University, 2024, College of the Arts / School of Art

As an artist and writer, I create work to explore my own complicated identification and disidentification with queer aesthetics, experiences, and environments through conceptual and physical processes. My thesis, entitled Someone's Sun, is a meditation on gay loneliness in the current age of gay-male sociality made material in a series of handwoven tapestries. I aim to embody a sense of self-inflicted ennui, a self-defeating act of seeking for connection while simultaneously hiding oneself behind banal / insipid landscapes. Through the remediation of photographs of sunrises and sunsets posted by gay men as placeholders for their own portraits on social media apps, I abstract and amplify saturation and composition in photoshop to create a digital painting of an otherworldly environment akin to those of Science Fiction films and television. I use my digital paintings as references, glancing up at them as I dye-paint warps with a variety of color using painterly brushstrokes, once again filtering each image through a further filter of abstraction. Through these digital and analog painting processes I explore color and scale, culminating in a final remediation by weaving with single toning color of wool and a metallic lurex weft yarn on traditional floor looms to create shimmering watercolor tapestries. I weave queer tapestries, that whisper seductively hushed desires while screaming “look at how I shine.”

Bachelor of Science of Journalism (BSJ), Ohio University, 2024, Journalism

Football is a fickle game. Men throw pads on and hit each other, for hours at a time. However, when you take the game away from the communities in Southeast Ohio, you see that football means much more than just a "game". When you strip away the game, you get stories of a man who rose from the 740 to national prominence, a story of a legacy forged on skulls, and coaching greatness passed down from father to son. That is the tale of Friday Night Legacies.

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

Students today have various feelings of distrust among many of their teachers and administrators regarding the handling of violent episodes. As such, an examination of existing educational research to assess strategies that promote school safety and how to access community partnerships within this study is warranted. The efficacy of nonviolent and restorative disciplinary practices, with characteristics of social/emotional wellness programs supported by community partnership school resource officer (SRO) initiatives, are examined. Demonstrations of how positive school culture, features of emotional wellness programs, and an SRO's community-based role can promote school safety rather than exacerbate the school-to-prison pipeline are shared. This study further builds on the current pool of knowledge through an investigation of the viewpoints of 18 participants including school personnel and recent graduates in rural, suburban, and urban school districts across three counties in Northeast Ohio. Specifically, the researcher examined the perspectives of four key stakeholder groups to study their ideas regarding school safety, SROs performing law enforcement duties at the school and the associated impacts on learning, recommendations for ensuring building-wide safety, existing school climate and safety strategies, and SROs implementing the triad model (i.e., law enforcement, teacher/mentor, counselor). The investigation utilized Q-methodology and follow-up questions. Seventeen of the 18 Q-sorts loaded significantly on one of the three factors (summarized as Factor 1: We Are In This Together, Factor 2: Keep Us Safe, and Factor 3: Teachers Teach), which together explained 67% of the study variance. Follow-up questions provided additional support and context for the researcher's operationalization of the participants' collective viewpoints across these three main lines. Implications of this research will provide districts and educational professionals a blueprint for restor (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2024, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

An analysis of misinformation, disinformation, perverse rhetorical devices, and the origin of the Critical Race Theory (CRT) controversy were presented, as well as the motivations of those most likely to share misinformation and crisis communication strategies. The purpose of this mixed method study was to explore Ohio Superintendents' levels of understanding of CRT and preparedness to respond to allegations, as well as their perceptions of the impact of CRT allegations school, family, and community partnerships and student conflicts. An exploration of the statistical correlations between the number of CRT posts and allegations in a school district and the number of student conflicts, reported conditions of partnerships, and demographics was also presented. The outcome of this study could provide educational leaders with the needed information to better prepare proactive responses to CRT allegations as well as other school targeted allegations while building positive relationships with all stakeholders.

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2023, Educational Administration

Champion Academy teachers in this mixed methods action research case study illuminate the conditions which support or hinder the process of making collective commitments with cycles for iterative improvement. The results of the study demonstrate how closely connected process is to outcome in the work of school improvement. Since the work of school revitalization hinges on change at the classroom level, it is paramount that teachers find the processes utilized favorable in order to increase the likelihood that they will want to engage and follow through. Cycles for iterative improvement are embedded in an intricate school ecosystem spanning multiple domains, from goal setting to instructional leadership, and therefore fidelity to enacting collective commitments rests on many factors. To understand the health of the professional learning community where teachers interface with cycles for iterative improvement, the Professional Learning Community Assessment-Revised was employed. Semi-structured interviews were then utilized to gain a more complete picture of the community prior to asking interview questions about cycles for iterative improvement and the process of making collective commitments. Teachers shared that working toward a shared goal, collegial, supportive relationships, and incremental capacity building are essential to the success of cycles for iterative improvement. Teachers unanimously reported that they are more likely to change practice, using new knowledge and skills in their classrooms, when their voice is included and valued in the process. According to Champion Academy teachers, choice and bounded autonomy is fundamental to the process but insufficient. During interviews, teachers repeatedly encouraged leaders to consider how to make cycles for iterative improvement more participatory in the future. The result of this study is an action plan which purposefully integrates teacher voice at the outset of the improvement p (open full item for complete abstract)

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Leadership , Franklin University, 2023, International Institute for Innovative Instruction

The proposed qualitative year-long descriptive study explored how high school teachers who participated in a Professional Learning Community had their school leadership aspirations impacted while serving in the New York City Public School System. Currently, the system has a dire need to fill school and district instructional, supervisory, and administrative leadership positions. The Servant Leadership Theory (Greenleaf, 2007) and the Distributive Leadership Theory (Spillane et al., 2001) were used to underpin the study, giving credence to a supportive and collaborative environment. The study was guided by the following research: How do public high school teachers who participate in a professional learning community describe the influence of their participation on their school leadership aspirations at a New York City public school? The participants were 12 high school teachers who work in a public high school in a school district in New York City and agreed to answer semi-structured interview questions. Zoom was employed in the transcription and MAXQDA software was the primary tool used in the analysis of the themes born out of the coding of the interviews. The study findings uncovered three main themes: administration perception in PLC influenced teaches' perception of leaders; teachers gained leadership training and skills through professional learning communities; and participation in a professional learning community encouraged teacher leadership aspirations.

Specialist in Education, Miami University, 2023, School Psychology

With the increasing prominence of the children and adolescent mental health crisis after the COVID-19 pandemic, schools have been tasked with connecting students with supports to reduce non-academic barriers to learning. Student Assistance Programs (SAPs) can assist with this by connecting students and their families with school-based and community-based supports to prevent, intervene, and treat substance use and mental health problems. The current study examined school preparedness to implement a SAP, overall level of SAP implementation over time, and level of implementation of individual SAP components of the emerging Ohio model SAP. This was examined by school typology over a period of six months. Participants included 12 Ohio school representatives who attended Miami University's School SUCCESS Conference for training on implementation of Ohio's model SAP. The results of the study did not indicate a significant difference regarding schools' perceived preparedness to implement SAP; however, the results did suggest that overall SAP implementation increased over time, regardless of school typology. Additionally, the current study discussed several individual SAP components that all typologies could benefit from guidance and/or example resources on to assist with implementation. Finally, the study highlighted future research ideas that may help further inform knowledge relating to SAP implementation.

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1960, Educational Administration and Supervision

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 1955, Educational Administration and Supervision