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Steam Powered: Perceptions of School Principals Regarding Arts Integration as a Form of School Improvement
No full textAt its least ambitious, arts integration is interested in connecting arts instruction with various school subjects to make learning more meaningful to students. At its most ambitious, arts integration offers democratic schooling via student choice, self-reflection, active inquiry, and a promotion of a democratic society, via the investigation of social problems and their solutions (Parsons, 2004). “The arts are no longer considered a distraction from the core curriculum. On the contrary, two-way arts integration provides opportunities for students to encounter the central ideas of the curriculum more frequently and more diversely, increasing the chance for all students to master content at a deeper level” (Nelson, 2001, p. 5). However, current systems of accountability from standardized state assessments have encouraged implementation of core content-focused educational practices, given that such strategies are proven to produce gains in standardized test scores (Gullatt, 2007). Without arts integration supports for instructional leaders dedicated to implementation, the benefits of fine arts and core curriculum integration are abandoned in favor of more proven, siloed, content-centered interventions. Given the crucial role of principals in making arts integration feasible and sustainable, it is essential that we better understand the perspectives of principals on the feasibility of such programs. Without principal support to implement arts integration on campuses as a viable form of school improvement, a culture of arts integration with core content cannot take hold and thrive in public schools.
This phenomenological, qualitative study examines the perceptions of elementary and secondary principals of campuses that implement arts integration as a form of school improvement. These perceptions include principals’ viewpoints on arts integration as a form of school improvement, the support systems, structures, and processes principals see as necessary to implement the integration of arts and core content curriculum, and the barriers principals identify to arts integration for school improvement. Theoretical foundations for this study are anchored in constructivism (Barrouillet, 2015) and the vision and inspiration processes of transformational leadership (Burns, 1978).
This study builds on the existing literature and research that indicates there is academic value in arts integration, including the historical background of arts integration in elementary and secondary instruction, public school campuses implementing arts integration as a form of school improvement, research findings and demographics of school communities implementing arts integration initiatives, systems and structures of arts integration implementation, student social development and academic performance outcomes with arts integration implementation, and teacher perception of professional development and practice.
Through forty-five to sixty-minute semi-structured interviews with 2 elementary principals and 1 secondary principal of schools implementing arts integration data collection for this study provides research regarding the perception of principals on prioritizing the need for core content teachers and fine arts teachers to integrate educational practices that connect both contents. The study addresses a current gap in the literature addressing school leadership and arts integration including the qualities of school leaders that support and implement arts integration as a form of school improvement.
Beyond the “why” of arts integration as a form of school improvement, this study defines the “how” of integration from principals who share the necessary systems and structures school leaders must master to support arts integration as an effective school improvement methodology. These systems and structures include understanding of arts integration as a strategy of school improvement and integrated instruction and learning, branding of arts integrated teaching and learning, fiscal investment, communication and collaboration strategies, systems for recruiting, coaching, and retaining high quality teaching artists, arts partners, teachers, administrators, an adaptability mindset and drive for continuous improvement, and a system of time management that prioritizes planning, support, and autonomy for arts integration educators to successfully deliver improved student learning outcomes.Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education, and School Psycholog
The Ripple Effect of Explosive Outbursts: Experiences and Perceptions of Educators Navigating Traumatic Student Behaviors in Elementary Schools
No full textElementary schools in the U.S. are experiencing an epidemic of disruptive behavior issues, with the biggest problem being explosive outbursts (EO). Bostic et.al, (2021) define EO as being far beyond a typical temper tantrum and involving aggression, destruction of property, and often verbal assault. Explosive student outbursts derived from unmet needs have a ripple effect on the entire system of a school, but they especially impact those standing on the frontlines: teachers, classmates, and administrators. Habermas’ theory of communicative action is used as a framework to help us understand the complexity of the situation facing these educators. This hermeneutic phenomenological study consisted of semi-structured interviews, follow-up interviews, and artifact collection from 12 participants. Participants were all educators in elementary schools from five different states in the U.S. A key finding was that assistant principals appear to play an outsized role in dealing with explosive outbursts on their campuses, as well as other discipline matters. Additional findings indicated that educators are routinely being injured, encountering barriers to action, and leaving the profession due to traumatic student behaviors. There are also clear implications for policy and practice. It was plain that none of the educators felt there was policy that supported or guided them while dealing with explosive outbursts and most found their direct supervisors to be disconnected from the problem or unsupportive. This dissertation therefore addresses a gap in the literature surrounding the elementary educator experience of explosive outbursts.Counseling, Leadership, Adult Education, and School Psycholog
Private Credit Financing: A Quantitative Analysis of Business Development Companies Role in Shaping Direct Lending
No full textNo abstract prepared.Business Administratio
Expanding Safety Options: Understanding the Expectations for Non-Law Enforcement Security in Texas Schools
No full textResearch Questions:
1. What roles do guardians serve in TexasK-12public schools?
2. What type of training do guardians/armed employees attend?
3. How do armed school personnel policies in Texas (Guardian Plans) compare to other states with similar policies?Texas School Safety Cente
County-Level Correlates of Sex Trafficking: The Role of Military Installations
No full textSex trafficking remains a prevalent issue across the world and despite the growing research, there is a lack of spatial analysis on this crime, which can hinder responses to target and combat human sex trafficking. The current study seeks to determine if the presence of military installations is associated with an increase in sex trafficking incidents at the county level. The analyses are based on data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) as it relates to incidents of human trafficking commercial sex acts and assisting or promoting prostitution in Texas during 2021-2023. A negative binomial regression model showed there is a positive significant relationship between military installations and sex trafficking incidents, after controlling for other spatial covariates relating to crime pattern, routine activity, and social disorganization theories. Of those, the only other significant relationships with sex trafficking found were those with major bus stations and international ports.
The study enhances our spatial understanding of sex trafficking and offers critical new avenues to explore deeper connections in the future. The findings can inform policymakers, law enforcement agencies, and Texas residents, equipping them with data that can support intervention and prevention efforts. Given the relationship between military installations and sex trafficking, the study highlights the need to educate or inform military personnel to recognize critical signs of sex trafficking. Stakeholders can ultimately use the information to develop policies and programs to combat and help victims of sex trafficking effectively.Criminal Justice and Criminolog
Graduate shop talk webinar series
No full textAs we discuss researcher profiles today we have four main goals:
1) To provide you with a definition of a researcher profile
2) To increase your understanding of researcher profiles and why they are important
3) To examine four prominent tools you can use to create a profile
4) And to help you identify which tool might align with your work and goalsUniversity Librarie
Determination and Comparison of Dietary Sources of the Endangered Houston Toad (Bufo houstonensis), with the Sympatric Gulf Coast Toad (Bufo nebulifer) in Lost Pines Ecoregion
No full textNo abstract prepared.Biolog
Behind the Guns: U.S. Military Aid to Israel During the Johnson Administration
No full textNo abstract prepared.Histor
Between Sympathy and Strategy: American Responses to Hungarian and Prague Spring Refugees
No full textThe way Americans think today about refugee policy is influenced by the Cold War period (c. 1945-1991), when domestic politics became increasingly connected to international events and actors. Amidst the geopolitical tension dividing the United States, Soviet Union, and their allies, the movement of refugees from communist to democratic territories represented a key opportunity for boosting American foreign policy interests and its image as a protector of liberal democracy— however, this logic did not always translate neatly at the local level, even amidst the stringent anti-communist American solidary of the 1950s. American citizens were often more concerned with personal and domestic matters than foreign policy, though their varied perspectives became less represented in refugee policy decisions as its primary responsibility shifted from congress to the executive branch, and prominent societal changes in the mid-sixties fostered an individualist interpretation of citizenship less compatible with early Cold War propaganda. By the time of the Prague Spring (1968), the American government’s response to the Czech refugees maintained presidential control over refugee policy, but avoided propagating a collective anti-communist response, a shift that reflects both changing diplomatic policy aims in the Cold War, as well as clarifies the growing distance between local sympathy and federal strategy toward international humanitarian concerns.International Studie