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

Black and African American students are disproportionately represented in discipline data in American Schools. In order to address issues of inequality, it is necessary to first examine racism and the harms that have been woven into the structures of American society. Discussing these topics is challenging and requires a deep level of institutional trust. Participants completed two surveys pertaining to willingness to discuss racism and trust levels in the organization, and participants had the option to be interviewed. This dissertation examined whether the school at the center of the study has the necessary institutional trust to engage in the race related conversations that will eliminate disproportionality in the organization.

Committee: Davin Carr-Chellman (Committee Chair); Cornelius Minor (Committee Member); Pamela Cross Young (Committee Member) Subjects: Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2008, ED Policy and Leadership

The goal of this research was to examine individual teachers' beliefs about their experiences, abilities, students, and academic tasks through two concepts evolving out of positive psychology - flow and academic optimism. Researchers have theorized and found correlational support for the idea that flow is an optimal psychological state underlying peak performance. This study examined two competing models of flow. Jackson (1998) defined flow as a holistic, subjective experience encompassing all nine of Csikszentmihalyi's original elements. Quinn (2006) conceived of flow as a causal model, with antecedents and consequences defining flow as the merging of awareness and application. The results from CFA and SEM of 260 elementary school teachers, demonstrated that Jackson's model provided a better explanation of flow for teachers. For teachers, flow is a holistic and integrated concept with nine aspects. Hoy and colleagues (2006) theorized that collective teacher efficacy, faculty-trust in students and parents, and academic emphasis are dimensions of a single latent trait of schools called academic optimism. The (Hoy, et. al., 2007) model of individual academic optimism was well supported. Teacher academic optimism is a second-order factor comprised of three first order factors: sense of teacher efficacy, teacher trust in parents and students and individual teacher academic emphasis. In this analysis, the measures of individual academic optimism were refined. The construct of general life optimism describes an individual's positive expectation about the future. Enabling structure describes the extent to which the structure of a school supports teachers' work. The correlational results yielded that a teacher sense of flow and academic optimism were positively related. General life optimism was positively correlated with academic optimism. Enabling school structure was positively correlated with academic optimism but the relation with flow was not supported. Fi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Wayne K. Hoy PhD (Advisor); Anita Woolfolk Hoy PhD (Committee Member); Richard G. Lomax PhD (Committee Member); Ann M. Allen PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Psychology; Educational Theory; Elementary Education; Organization Theory; Organizational Behavior; Psychology; School Administration; Secondary Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Education, University of Akron, 2011, Educational Leadership

This study sought to determine if teachers' perceptions of trust and self-efficacy were related to school academic performance based on Ohio Achievement Assessment results for the 2009-10 school year in eight Midwestern public schools. Additionally, the study sought to determine if teacher trust and self-efficacy were related to one another. Two multiple regression analyses were conducted, and the results indicated that both trust and self-efficacy were significantly related to school academic performance. Results also showed that the trust subscales of trust in colleagues and trust in clients, and the self-efficacy subscales of instructional strategies and classroom management were significantly related to school academic performance. A canonical correlation was conducted, and the results showed a significant relationship between trust and self-efficacy. A univariate regression analysis was also used to assess if there were relationships between the subscales. Results showed that the self-efficacy subscale of student engagement was related to both trust in the principal and trust in colleagues. It also showed that the self-efficacy subscale of instructional strategies was related to trust in clients (students and parents). This study was unique because it provided results by looking at relationships between school academic performance, trust and self-efficacy using the percentage of academic indicators passed on the Ohio Achievement Tests. It was unique because it demonstrated that specific subscales contributed separately to school academic performance, and that some of these subscales were related to one another. This study provided more in depth results when looking at relationships between trust, self-efficacy and school academic performance, and at relationships between the subscales. There are implications for further research to identify the different variables and their degree of influence on each of the subscales that affects the strength of the relationsh (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sharon D. Kruse Dr. (Advisor); Susan D. Olson Dr. (Committee Member); Xin Liang Dr. (Committee Member); Renee Mudrey-Camino Dr. (Committee Member); Richard Glotzer Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership