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Returning to School After a Pandemic: Secondary Teacher Perspectives on Students Returning to School in Regard to Academic Achievement, Behavior, Mindset, and Social Connections
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to determine secondary educators’ perceptions of the impact on special education students returning to school after the trauma of a pandemic for 2 years with regard to behavior, academic achievement, mindset, and social connections.
Methodology: This qualitative study interviewed 12 secondary teachers who taught before, during, and after the pandemic in Kerman, CA. Semi-structured open ended interview questions was the main source of data collection with other sources including observations, and artifacts. Data was coded and the researcher analyzed the data for themes and patterns.
Findings: This study revealed that secondary students returned to in-person learning with lowered self-efficacy skills after spending their time at home due to COVID-19. Secondary educators noticed that students had difficulty with completed assignments by their due dates, a decline in the students’ soft skills, and reduced engagement with their academics.
Conclusions: This study supported the literature of Bandura confirming that self-efficacy is a vital role in accomplishment and self-motivation. When students are placed in situations that they believe they can, they are much more likely to achieve the learning outcomes and meet the learning objectives. If students have a low sense of self-efficacy, it can have a negative impact on their mindset, behavior, academic achievement, and social connections.
Recommendations: The researcher recommends that educators continue to establish welcoming classroom, and school, environments that allow the students to feel comfortable in their settings. The learning objectives and learning opportunities need to be meaningful to the student and have real-life connections
Phenomenological Study of Personality-Driven Leadership in Social Justice Nonprofits of the Pioneer Valley
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine how executive directors of nonprofit organizations leading social justice initiatives implement leadership styles shaped by their unique personality traits, and how these styles influence employee attitudes, team functioning, and organizational performance.Methodology: Guided by Hogan and Kaiser’s (2005) leadership model, which asserts that “who we are determines how we lead,” this qualitative study used semistructured interviews with 10 executive directors of social justice-focused nonprofits in the Pioneer Valley. Participants reflected on their leadership development, the role of personality in decision-making, and its influence on organizational life. Data were collected through virtual interviews and analyzed using thematic coding to identify patterns in leadership behaviors.
Findings: Leadership styles were shaped through experience, mentorship, and organizational demands rather than being determined solely by fixed personality traits. Executive Directors influenced employee attitudes by fostering trust, psychological safety, and shared leadership; strengthened team functioning by cultivating accountability, collaboration, and adaptability; and impacted organizational performance by integrating accountability, adaptability, and governance structures aligned with social justice goals.
Conclusions: These findings underscore that nonprofit leadership is dynamic and relational, requiring adaptability and responsiveness over rigid reliance on personality traits. Executive Directors shaped attitudes, strengthened team functioning, and enhanced organizational performance through practices that reflected both flexibility and alignment with mission-driven work.
Recommendations: Future research should compare nonprofit and corporate leadership styles, expand studies across regions, and examine the role of governance boards in leadership effectiveness. Additional studies could explore employee perspectives, the use of strategic planning tools, and the impact of virtual leadership on nonprofit performance
A Phenomenological Study: Implicit Bias in the Hiring Practices of Health Care Organizations (Perception, Impact on Workforce Diversity, Mitigation Methods, and Implementation Assessment)
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how implicit bias influences hiring practices within health care organizations. Specifically, it investigated the perceptions of hiring professionals regarding implicit bias, its impact on workforce diversity, the strategies used to mitigate it, and the effectiveness of those strategies in real-world implementation.
Methodology: This qualitative study employed a phenomenological approach to capture the lived experiences of hiring professionals in Southern California health care organizations. A random sampling method was used to select participants across various health care facilities. Data collection was conducted through semistructured interviews, using a validated interview protocol as the primary instrument to ensure consistency and depth of insight.
Findings: The study revealed that implicit bias operates across all stages of the hiring process in private health care organizations, including resume screening, interviews, evaluations, and compensation decisions. Five significant findings emerged: bias pervades hiring stages; mitigation strategies are inconsistently applied; bias undermines workforce diversity; bias discourages applicants and fuels attrition; and inequities in evaluation and pay reinforce disparities over time.
Conclusions: The findings support the conclusion that implicit bias is embedded in organizational structures and practices, not merely in individual decision making. Diversity initiatives such as training or structured interviews are insufficient when not consistently enforced or culturally embedded. Bias diminishes workforce diversity, restricts advancement opportunities, and undermines equity, while threatening an organization’s reputation and patient outcomes. Addressing implicit bias requires cultural transformation, leadership accountability, and systemic reforms that integrate equity into every stage of hiring, evaluation, and retention for sustainable and meaningful change.
Recommendations: Based on the findings, several recommendations emerge. Health care organizations should institutionalize structured hiring processes, including the use of standardized rubrics and blind resume reviews, to minimize subjectivity. Bias training must be continuous and paired with accountability mechanisms, rather than being limited to one-time sessions. Pay transparency and equity audits should be conducted regularly, alongside reforms in evaluation systems to ensure fairness. Ultimately, organizations must invest in mentorship, leadership development pipelines, and inclusion initiatives to strengthen retention and break the cycle of discouragement
A Phenomenological Study Exploring Servant Leadership Characteristics for Developing High-Performing Teams as Perceived by Public School District Early Childhood Leaders
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe how exemplary public school district early childhood leaders apply four key characteristics of servant leadership (listening, stewardship, building community, and commitment to people’s growth), as defined by Spears (2010), to develop high-performing to support early learning programs.
Methodology: A qualitative, phenomenological approach was selected to explore participants’ experiences and perceptions of how they use four servant leadership characteristics to develop and sustain high-performing teams within early childhood programs on public school elementary and secondary school campuses. Participants were purposefully chosen based on specific criteria and recommendations from an expert panel. Ten exemplary public school district early childhood leaders from San Diego County were interviewed, providing insights into the key strategies they consider most important for applying these four characteristics to build high-performing teams.
Findings: Examination of qualitative data from the 10 public school district early childhood leaders participating in this study revealed five findings related to how they use servant leadership to develop high performing teams. The findings included active and intentional listening, shared leadership, fostering family engagement, community partnerships, and collaborative networks, prioritizing continual professional growth, and being highly adaptable.
Conclusions: Early childhood leaders who practiced active listening, shared leadership, community engagement, continual professional growth, and strategic adaptability strengthened team effectiveness, achieved sustained organizational success and improved outcomes for educators and students. These findings highlight the critical role of intentional leadership strategies in creating a collaborative, resilient, and thriving early learning environment.
Recommendations: The researcher recommends that early childhood organizations build high-performing teams, organizations must provide targeted training, coaching, and leadership development. They must establish statewide leadership initiatives, professional learning grants, mentorship programs, and decision-making frameworks. Expanding professional learning opportunities through networking hubs, leadership toolkits, digital resources, and mentorship programs is essential. Early childhood leaders must also establish shared leadership structures, staff feedback forums, professional development plans, and community engagement strategies to create resilient, adaptable, and collaborative early learning environments
Leveraging Cultural Agility in K-12 Public Educational Organizations: A Phenomenological Study of How Superintendents Coach Other Leaders
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this phenomenological analysis was to identify and describe how California K-12 public school superintendents use culturally agile task management competencies while coaching other leaders in their organization.Methodology: This phenomenological study identified and described the culturally agile task-management competencies that 12 California Central Coast Superintendents employ to navigate the complex and ever-evolving public educational landscape. Participants were purposively selected based on specific criteria. The researcher served as the primary instrument of data collection, conducting semi-structured interviews with participants. The data was analyzed and coded to identify themes and subsequent findings. Findings: This study identified eight key findings related to K-12 superintendents’ use of culturally agile task management competencies. Superintendents consistently prioritize building rapport, relationships, and trust, responding to the evolving needs of underserved student populations, and intentionally empowering and developing employees. They also utilize courageous conversations and transparent communication, leveraging data to drive strategic alignment. Findings suggest that both cultural adaptation and integration are pivotal; however, systemic bureaucracy, external crises, and the political climate undermine change. Importantly, formal administrative credentialing programs fall short in preparing leaders for effective cross-cultural coaching.
Conclusion: The study concludes that superintendents must actively foster trust, alter cultural norms to serve diverse student needs, and engage in direct, honest communication. Leveraging data transparently is crucial for strategic alignment and ethical leadership. Empowering staff through coaching and development is vital for integrating new expectations. Both cultural adaptation and cultural are essential for agile leadership and organizational progress. Superintendents require persistence and crisis leadership skills in Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous (VUCA) environments. Current administrative programs often fail to adequately prepare leaders for cross-cultural coaching, underscoring the need for more practical, on-the-job support. Recommendations: Future research should replicate this study with K-12 Principals, conduct quantitative research on task-management competencies, and compare cultural agility across districts of varying sizes. It is also recommended to explore self-management competencies and investigate the effectiveness of integrating cultural agility training into formal administrative credentialing programs, gathering pre- and post-training data
They Do Not See What I Carry: A Phenomenological Study of Black Male Educational Leaders and the Quiet Weight of Imposter Syndrome
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how Black male educational leaders experience and cope with Impostor Syndrome (IS) as defined by Zorn’s (2005) nine elements—anxiety, lack of self-confidence, depression, perfectionism, procrastination, self-presentation, emotional exhaustion, fear of failure, and fear of success, within their organizational, social, and cultural contexts. Methodology: Guided by Moustakas’s (1994) phenomenological approach, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and reflective journals from Black male leaders in K–12 educational settings in the Boston region. Purposeful sampling (Patton, 2014) ensured participants had significant leadership experience. Data were thematically coded, aligned with Zorn’s nine elements, and refined through reflexivity, member checking, and peer debriefing to enhance trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
Findings: Five interrelated findings emerged. (1) Racialized visibility required constant emotional regulation, intensifying anxiety and self-presentation pressures. (2) Internalized pressure to overperform revealed perfectionism, situational procrastination, and chronic exhaustion as rational responses to systemic inequities. (3) Emotional labor and boundary erosion underscored the toll of cultural taxation and invisible responsibilities tied to race. (4) Faith and authenticity functioned as protective factors, anchoring resilience and identity affirmation. (5) Relational accountability reframed fear of success as communal responsibility, with leaders carrying the weight of representation for future generations. A nuanced layer highlighted the distinct experiences of Afro-Caribbean participants, whose “in-between” racial and cultural positioning demanded heightened vigilance and code-switching.
Conclusions: Three central conclusions were drawn. First, the IS for Black male leaders is best understood as a structural condition rooted in institutional inequities rather than an individual deficit. Second, while coping strategies such as faith, authenticity, and community support sustained resilience, they provided only temporary relief and could not dismantle systemic conditions. Third, achievement was experienced not as personal liberation but communal stewardship, reframing Zorn’s (2005) “fear of success” as collective accountability.
Recommendations: For practice, institutions must move beyond celebrating resilience to addressing the systemic inequities that create impostor dynamics. Leadership development should integrate culturally responsive and servant leadership practices, mentorship structures tailored for Black men, and mental health supports that validate lived realities. For policy, districts and higher education institutions must confront racialized hiring, evaluation, and workload norms that reproduce cultural taxation. For research, future studies should explore intersectional dimensions of IS across diasporic identities and extend longitudinally to examine leadership sustainability
A Phenomenological Study of Southern California Charter School Leaders’ Perceptions of Creating an Inclusive School Culture
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to identify and describe the culturally responsive leadership practices that charter school leaders use to create a culture of inclusiveness. A second purpose of the study was to identify and describe the supports and barriers charter school leaders perceive affect the development of a culture of inclusiveness for students. Methodology: This study identified and described the culturally responsive leadership practices implemented by charter school leaders to create a culture of inclusiveness and identify the supports and barriers the leaders perceived to affect the development of the inclusive culture. I interviewed 10 participants through online interviews to collect qualitative data. Participants were selected to represent diverse geographic areas in the six most southern counties of California. Findings: The findings of this study revealed that charter school leaders believe that creating a culture of inclusiveness is a priority to improving educational outcomes and by extension, societal outcomes. Based on the data analysis, interviews with charter school leaders produced strong themes in agreement with the four pillars of culturally responsive leadership as defined by Khalifa (2018). Conclusions: Four conclusions were drawn from this study’s data analysis. Creating and maintaining a culture of inclusiveness is a priority and (a) requires intentional prioritization and continual collaboration with educational partners, (b) requires incorporation of the four pillars of culturally responsive school leadership as defined by Khalifa (2018), (c) requires active engagement in formal and informal settings with educational partners, and (d) requires leaders to continually self-reflect and assess their own biases, leadership practices, and decision-making processes. Recommendations: Further research is needed in the area of analysis of best practices for recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce that might include research in targeting recruitment efforts to attract diverse candidates who are underrepresented in the education field. In addition, research should explore the impact of culturally relevant curricula on student engagement, academic achievement, and social-emotional well-being. Finally, additional research is needed on how legislation influences the ability of educational institutions to prioritize and implement the best practices for inclusiveness in education, especially for students identified in multiple student groups
Leadership’s Impact on Employees’ Perception of Their Safety Culture in a Public Transportation Organization
No full textPurpose: This nonexperimental quantitative study aimed to examine the relationship between various leadership styles using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ; Bass & Avolio, 1995) and employees’ perceptions of their organization’s safety culture based on a developed Safety Perception Questionnaire (SPQ) within the context of a public transportation agency. Methodology: This study used a quantitative approach to collect data from employees in a public transportation agency. Leadership characteristics were assessed using the MLQ, which is a self-report tool designed to measure three distinct leadership styles. The employees’ MLQ scores were correlated with their results on the SPQ, which evaluates perceptions of the organization’s safety culture.
Findings: The study confirmed existing research by demonstrating that leadership characteristics significantly influence an organization’s perception of its safety culture. Transformational leadership had a strong impact on safety culture, and transactional leadership exerted a moderate yet significant influence. Conversely, passive-avoidant leadership was also strongly associated with safety perception, but in a negative manner.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that organizations aiming to enhance their safety culture should emphasize transformational leadership behaviors while recognizing transactional leadership’s supportive role. Conversely, passive-avoidant leadership should be minimized because it does not foster a positive safety culture.
Recommendations: Senior management should consider the influence leadership has on their organization’s safety culture when hiring and training management personnel for key roles. Behavioral-based interview questions may be helpful in assessing candidates’ ability to inspire, motivate, and engage employees. In addition, training and development programs should be continual, proactive, data-driven, and aligned with the organization’s safety objectives to cultivate a safety-conscious workforce
A Phenomenological Study Exploring Servant Leadership Characteristics for Developing High-Performing Teams as Perceived by Public School District Early Childhood Leaders
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe how exemplary public school district early childhood leaders apply four key characteristics of servant leadership (listening, stewardship, building community, and commitment to people’s growth), as defined by Spears (2010), to develop high-performing to support early learning programs.
Methodology: A qualitative, phenomenological approach was selected to explore participants’ experiences and perceptions of how they use four servant leadership characteristics to develop and sustain high-performing teams within early childhood programs on public school elementary and secondary school campuses. Participants were purposefully chosen based on specific criteria and recommendations from an expert panel. Ten exemplary public school district early childhood leaders from San Diego County were interviewed, providing insights into the key strategies they consider most important for applying these four characteristics to build high-performing teams.
Findings: Examination of qualitative data from the 10 public school district early childhood leaders participating in this study revealed five findings related to how they use servant leadership to develop high performing teams. The findings included active and intentional listening, shared leadership, fostering family engagement, community partnerships, and collaborative networks, prioritizing continual professional growth, and being highly adaptable.
Conclusions: Early childhood leaders who practiced active listening, shared leadership, community engagement, continual professional growth, and strategic adaptability strengthened team effectiveness, achieved sustained organizational success and improved outcomes for educators and students. These findings highlight the critical role of intentional leadership strategies in creating a collaborative, resilient, and thriving early learning environment.
Recommendations: The researcher recommends that early childhood organizations build high-performing teams, organizations must provide targeted training, coaching, and leadership development. They must establish statewide leadership initiatives, professional learning grants, mentorship programs, and decision-making frameworks. Expanding professional learning opportunities through networking hubs, leadership toolkits, digital resources, and mentorship programs is essential. Early childhood leaders must also establish shared leadership structures, staff feedback forums, professional development plans, and community engagement strategies to create resilient, adaptable, and collaborative early learning environments
Personal Disruption in the Career Advancement of Female Executives in Medical Education
No full textPurpose: The purpose of this explanatory mixed methods study was to identify and describe the perceived impact of Johnson and Mohr’s (2013) five disruptive career skills on female medical education executives on their advancement to executive leadership positions.
Methodology: This study employed a sequential explanatory mixed methods approach to explore the career advancement strategies of female leaders in academic medicine. First, a quantitative survey using Likert scales assessed the use and impact of personal disruption strategies among female executives; next, semistructured interviews provided deeper insights into their experiences. The sample focused on senior female leaders in California medical schools who were purposively chosen, and many were recommended by experts.
Findings: The examination of mixed methods data revealed that leaders demonstrate sophisticated organizational awareness through strategic attribution while maintaining influence. They leverage crisis situations as career accelerators, challenging traditional glass cliff assumptions. Data-driven decision making was found to be as crucial for establishing credibility, particularly for nonphysician leaders. Self-promotion remained the most challenging skill, and only 4% reported confident use. Strategic relationship building and calibration between direct and indirect approaches to authority proved essential, and influence strategies (77%) showed higher impact than direct challenges (36%).
Conclusions: This study demonstrates how women leaders advance in medical education through sophisticated integration of data-driven leadership and strategic influence. They achieve success by transforming traditional barriers into advantages, leveraging crisis moments as career accelerators, using strategic attribution to maintain influence, and calibrating between direct and indirect approaches to authority. Their ability to combine thorough preparation with strategic improvisation enables sustainable career advancement in medical education’s complex environment.
Recommendations: Female executives should prioritize data analytics expertise alongside emotional intelligence and strategic influence capabilities. Leaders should master strategic attribution and self-promotion while seeking crisis management opportunities. Nonclinical leaders should leverage their unique perspectives, using data to establish credibility. Mentorship remains crucial for decoding organizational dynamics and developing sophisticated approaches to authority