2024 Doctoral Capstone Projects

With teacher attrition and retention issues causing a nation-wide crisis of instructional vacancies in our public schools, research was conducted in a large, urban, high-need middle school in Pennsylvania to determine if a peer-led classroom management support system was effective for teachers already considering resignation. A mixed-methods, embedded design model that included a quantitative survey and a qualitative structured interview was used to determine how targeted booster professional development, peer observations, and observational feedback of professional practice impacted teachers’ retention perceptions. The intervention system focused on the evidence-based practices of Restorative Practices and Positive Behavior Intervention Supports, and it was purposefully designed to meet the professional development requirements of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA): sustained, intensive, collaborative, job-embedded, data-driven, and classroom-focused. The designated master teachers who led the intervention system protocols were required to meet rigorous selection criteria. Results indicated that the intervention system had positive impacts due to its peer-led nature and perceived increase in skillset, support, and connectedness. The results also indicated that the classroom management support system was effective in changing most of the study participants’ retention perceptions, particularly for those who identified as female and within their first three years of teaching.

School buses are responsible for transporting millions of children to and from school each year. The drivers of these buses have accepted a huge responsibility and must ensure the safety of all students on the bus; however, this is not always an easy task, especially when students exhibit negative or unsafe behaviors on the bus and create distractions for the driver. To address this concern, the researcher developed a mixed-methods action research project that would utilize the perceptions of school transportation personnel, elementary school parents, and school transportation administrators on student bus behaviors to create professional development opportunities for school transportation personnel. The goal of these trainings was to provide additional support and knowledge for school transportation personnel and decrease negative behaviors on their buses and vans, which would then decrease the number of bus misconduct referrals submitted to the elementary school. Qualitative data was collected in the form of survey responses and analyzed to guide the two days of professional development trainings for school transportation personnel. Quantitative data, in the form of bus misconduct referrals, was then collected from the 2022 – 2023 school year and compared to the number referrals from the 2023 – 2024 school year. When compared, the researcher found that the desired affect was achieved and there was a decrease in bus misconduct referrals from one year to the next.