Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2025, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

This research study examines the influence of teacher involvement in extracurricular activities (ECA) on educators' job satisfaction, organizational commitment, classroom management, and perceived rapport with students. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, the study surveyed high school teachers across southwest Ohio, focusing on whether teachers who engage in ECA report higher levels of job satisfaction compared to their non-ECA-engaged peers. The research draws on Social Identity Theory (SIT) and Organizational Commitment Theory (OCC) to explore how teacher engagement in ECA may enhance their job satisfaction and foster a positive relationship with their institution. The findings highlight that teachers who participate in ECA often experience increased job satisfaction, enhanced rapport with students, and a stronger perception of classroom management. Furthering that point, the research shows increased levels of job satisfaction when teachers are engaged in a moderate amount of ECAs compared to too many or none at all. In addition, evidence suggests benefits for teachers' perception of student engagement in ECA. In conjunction with the findings, the research explores how involvement in ECA can counter burnout factors and contribute to teacher retention, as well as broader benefits for school communities, such as fostering a supportive school culture and improving academic performance. The study's results can serve as a basis for school districts to make informed decisions about budgeting for ECA and addressing teacher attrition, job satisfaction, and the overall health of the community.

Committee: Karen Larwin PhD (Committee Chair); Caitlin Reash EdD (Committee Member); JP Moran EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Teaching

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

This investigation examined the relationships between teacher self-efficacy, teacher job satisfaction, and intent to leave. The 156 participants in the study were K-12 public-school teachers in the state of Ohio. A mixed-methods study consisting of questions relating to teacher self-efficacy, job satisfaction, and intent to leave was distributed to participants via snowball sampling. Results indicate that Job Satisfaction is significantly correlated with the teacher self-efficacy factors, while intent to leave is not. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted. Results of the MANOVA indicate that there is a statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction and the multivariate factor of self-efficacy, F(3,152) = 7.58, p < .001. The relationship that exists is an inverse relationship between teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction—as self-efficacy increases, job satisfaction decreases. Inductive coding was used in the qualitative analysis to examine factors that cause teachers stress in their job and impact job satisfaction. The results of the study contradict previous research, the theoretical framework of Bandura's theory of self-efficacy, and the theory of self-determination. To recruit and retain high-quality teachers who provide the best educational outcomes for students, all stakeholders must closely examine the development and evaluation of teacher self-efficacy, the factors contributing to teacher job satisfaction, and then identify the connections between the two.

Committee: Karen Larwin Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Melanie Brock Ed.D. (Committee Member); Jennifer Hollinger Ed.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Teaching

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

Public school education faces a critical challenge as a growing number of teachers are choosing to leave the profession every year, leaving school districts struggling to recruit and retain qualified teachers. Existing literature reveals that negative school culture is a significant contributor to teachers' job dissatisfaction, which is among the primary reasons behind teachers' decisions to leave and dissuades others from joining the profession. The role of principals in shaping and maintaining a healthy school culture is explored, with transformational leadership identified as a key factor in their effectiveness. This study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the factors influencing teacher attrition. Using a mixed-methods design through Q-methodology, the researcher examined the perspectives of 22 former K–12 public school teachers on their reasons for leaving the teaching profession. The participants had taught in K–12 public schools located in rural, suburban, and urban school districts. Data was collected using Q-Method Software. Results indicate that despite having positive relationships with colleagues and reasonable organizational arrangements and opportunities for learning, most participants had negative perceptions of their leadership, citing a lack of positive interactions, feeling undervalued, and a perceived absence of support from their principals. For school districts looking to foster a stable and resilient education system, the results of this research hold the potential to inform policy decisions and educational practices aimed at creating a more conducive and supportive environment for teachers.

Committee: Karen Larwin PhD (Advisor); Traci Hostetler EdD (Committee Member); Kenneth Miller PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; School Administration

Doctor of Education, University of Toledo, 2023, Educational Administration and Supervision

In March 2020, the educational system changed. The COVID-19 virus impacted the entire world. Teaching students looked very different. Teachers were required to teach remotely to continue to educate students. Parents had to assist their children with learning while they were at home. The COVID-19 pandemic changed some students and staff. Some staff members were afraid to be around others in fear of the COVID-19 virus. The stress of COVID-19 caused levels of trauma in many people. Teachers' social-emotional competence and well-being strongly influence academic outcomes and the teaching of social-emotional learning in classrooms and schools (Schonert-Reichl 2017; Jones, Bouffard, & Weissbourd 2013). The social-emotional well-being of teachers thus, affects teacher morale. “As schools reopen, schools must be prepared to ensure the learning environments are emotionally and physically safe to minimize potential long-term negative reactions to the pandemic” (Minkos & Gelbar, 2020, p. 5). The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how elementary teachers perceive (a) morale in their school during COVID-19 protocols, (b) factors elementary teachers attribute to positive morale, and (c) how principal impacted teacher morale in their school during this time frame. Ten teachers from grades PreK-8 from one school in the Mid-West were selected and interviewed to learn their perspectives on COVID-19, identify factors that influenced the school climate, and how leadership influenced the school climate before, during, and after COVID-19. Overall, teacher morale decreased during COVID-19.

Committee: Nancy Staub (Committee Co-Chair); Treva Jeffries (Committee Member); Edward Janak (Committee Co-Chair); Randall Vesely (Committee Member) Subjects: Elementary Education

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2018, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

Teacher leadership may affect job satisfaction in positive ways, helping to retain teachers in the field of public education. Providing and facilitating these positions may enable school districts to improve upon the growing teacher retention crisis. Thus, this study explores the ways teacher leadership relates to job satisfaction. Semi-structured interviews, direct observations, and document reviews are utilized to understand how teacher leadership roles relate to job satisfaction. This qualitative case study explores how four teacher leaders in one school district perceive their roles, responsibilities, and experiences. Each of the teacher leaders completed a formal Teacher Leadership Endorsement Program (TLEP) through an accredited university and are classroom teachers in addition to their leadership duties. The gathered data indicate that the teacher leadership role does not stand alone in improving job satisfaction and retention. Instead, it is the interplay between the teacher leader role and the TLEP that improved job satisfaction and retention in the four teacher leaders studied. Additionally, teacher leaders showed increased levels of empowerment, confidence, self-efficacy, decision making, and autonomy by having a teacher leadership role in addition to TLEP training. The results of this study should encourage policymakers and educational leaders to not only support teacher leaders practices but also teacher leadership training through formal TLEP's.

Committee: Jane Beese Ed.D. (Committee Chair); Charles Vergon J.D. (Committee Member); Patrick Spearman Ph.D. (Committee Member); Liang Xin Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2018, Educational Studies

Teacher turnover is widely understood to be one of the most pressing challenges facing the American elementary and secondary education system. Studies indicate mid-career teacher attrition is a growing phenomenon in the United States. The purpose of this study is to explore the experiences of mid-career teachers with an aim toward understanding the factors that encourage them to stay in the profession and those that repel them from it. Using a qualitative research design, I employed a life history approach from a naturalistic inquiry and constructivist paradigm. I interviewed eight mid-career teachers, four who currently teach and four who left teaching at mid-career. Findings indicate there is a range of factors that influence teacher's career decisions. Some of these factors are particular to the individual and some are particular to the profession. While experience mitigates some of the challenges of being a beginning teacher, adverse working conditions present ongoing barriers to satisfaction. The mid-career teachers in this study who continued in the profession developed strategies to confront these barriers. Relationships are the key sustaining force for the participants in this study. For some, a sustaining force is their faith. Policies could better support teachers, so they could rely less on themselves, their families, their colleagues and their faith, and more on institutional and organizational structures. Further, education policy to stem mid-career teacher attrition needs to respond to the objective professional aspects of the job and not the personal ones. We will never be able to eliminate an individual's preference to stay or leave teaching, nor would we want to, but we can make schools and the profession more desirable places to work for teachers in the system and those considering becoming a part of it.

Committee: Belinda Gimbert (Advisor); Antoinette Errante (Advisor); Ann Allen (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Leadership

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), University of Findlay, 2016, Education

Education reformers are calling for increased accountability for the nation's public schools. Teacher evaluation has experienced a shift in focus from what teachers do to accomplish the task of teaching to student growth as a result of what teachers do in the classroom (Achieve, Inc., 2007). Additionally, a connection between teacher job satisfaction and quality of education in the classroom has been identified (Hall, Zinko, Perryman, & Ferris, 2009). The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if increased accountability measures found in the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) impacted teacher job satisfaction. The research was conducted through a three-part survey which included a demographic section, questions from the Teacher Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, and questions specifically related to the OTES. The survey was sent to Ohio K-12 public education superintendents and principals to be forwarded to teachers. Survey participation was voluntary and all participants were anonymous. A total of 290 completed responses were submitted. Pearson Product-Moment Correlations were performed on the data. The data suggested the OTES did not significantly impact teacher job satisfaction. Additionally, the findings indicated components of the OTES did not significantly impact teacher job satisfaction. A disparity was found between the data and open-ended comments made by the participants. Recommendations for future research include accessing a statewide database to increase the size of the sample and conduct the study again in the future to determine if the results were due to the design of the OTES or to change in general.

Committee: Kathy Crates Dr. (Committee Chair); Jon Brasfield Dr. (Committee Member); Rahman Dyer Dr. (Committee Member); Williams Nicole V. Dr. (Committee Member); John Gillham Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2015, College of Education

This mixed methods study explored the factors that lead to job satisfaction in a changing educational environment. The study was completed in a rural school district in the central Ohio area. The data were collected through the administration of Hackman and Oldham's Job Diagnostic Survey along with conducting individual interviews and focus groups. Multiple sources of data were collected from participants at varied times. Themes from both quantitative and qualitative approaches were cross-checked, while findings were compared to the literature review. The data analysis led to the following themes: importance of instructional support from administration and colleagues, commitment to student success, teacher self-efficacy, and a belief in job significance. Data also revealed that educational changes have resulted in the participants' break in psychological contract, which has triggered feelings of fear and loss of confidence.

Committee: Constance Savage PhD (Committee Chair); James Olive PhD (Committee Member); Harold Wilson PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2015, Educational Leadership

Skillful teachers are key to developing good schools. Because of this, understanding the school as a workplace is necessary to investigate why teachers leave and what encourages them to stay. The relationship between the principal, as the boss, and the teacher, as the employee, is one under-researched component of the school workplace which is important for developing a broad understanding of teacher turnover. This cross-sectional study uses a definition of principal mistreatment behaviors from the literature in the development of an original mixed method survey and a random sample of teachers from public schools in the State of Ohio to investigate how often principal mistreatment behaviors are experienced by a random sample of teachers in K-12 public schools. Mistreatment behaviors were paired with an opposite principal support behavior using Likert-style response options and were specifically focused on the 2012-2013 school year. Open-ended questions were included which asked for more general experience with principal mistreatment behaviors, effects on the teachers health, opinions about school culture and student bullying, and the effects of principal treatment behaviors on the teachers sense of efficacy and job satisfaction. The result of the study suggests that principal mistreatment and lack of support behaviors are widely experienced by teachers in the sample; however, these behaviors occur at a low frequency. Almost half of the teacher experienced severe level principal mistreatment behaviors, as defined by past research, during the school year. Mistreatment behaviors experienced by teachers resulted in a variety of teacher's health concerns. A majority of teachers considered the principal-teacher relationship as an important factor in their sense of efficacy and job satisfaction. It is recommended that the education of future teachers and principals include a model of administration leadership which is developed by actual teacher experience. Further researc (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Thomas Poetter (Committee Chair); William Boone (Committee Member); Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Committee Member); Andrew Saultz (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; School Administration

EdD, University of Cincinnati, 2012, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: Curriculum and Instruction

The purpose of this study was to investigate administrative influence on teacher job satisfaction based on the perspectives of teachers using Frederick Herzberg, Bernard Mausner, and Barbara Snyderman's Two-Factor Theory on job satisfaction as the theoretical framework. This study also explored the administrative actions and behaviors that teachers felt contributed to teacher job satisfaction and dissatisfaction. This qualitative study used open-ended interviews to gather all data. Through these interviews, the administrative qualities that emerged as important were: integrity, leadership, professionalism, support, and communication. Integrity included trust, honesty, and being ethical. Leadership involved making decisions, administrator knowledge, consistency, ownership and responsibility, and ability. Professionalism pertained to teachers being treated as knowledgeable, with respect, and as team members. Administrative support included classroom, parent, personal, and professional support. Communication involved open communication between the members of the school. Findings of this study showed that administrators do effect teacher job satisfaction. These participants also felt that administrative influence was the most influential variable effecting teacher job satisfaction. They also believed that teacher job satisfaction effected the students, which indirectly connected administrators to student success.

Committee: Scott Dewitt PhD (Committee Chair); Lionel Brown EdD (Committee Member); James Koschoreck PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: School Administration

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2009, College of Education

Although some school improvement literature has suggested that schools will improve when unions are removed from the school system, unions have rarely been isolated in the research. This study involved a mixed method case study approach to explore whether support of the local teacher union affected perceptions of school climate, as measured by the Organizational Health Inventory. The study found that teachers who supported the union had more positive perceptions on several of the organizational climate dimensions than teachers who were not supportive of the union.

Committee: Carla Edlefson PhD (Committee Chair); Judy Alston PhD (Committee Member); Howard Walters EdD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Evaluation; Labor Relations