Purpose Statement and Research

Student Reply 1: 

Purpose Statement

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand the interpretation of how ecology within enlisted and officer families shapes the educational experiences and academic performance of school-age children from enlisted and officer military families stationed in Japan. In this research, ecology will be generally defined as the interconnected systems and environments that influence the educational experiences of the research subjects. The theory guiding this study is ecological systems theory.

Research Questions

CRQ

How do enlisted and officer families interpret the influence of ecological systems in shaping the educational experiences and academic performance of school-age children from enlisted and officer military families stationed in Japan?

Sub-CRQ one

What are the specific family dynamics within enlisted and officer families that impact military-dependent children’s educational experiences?

Sub-CRQ two

How do community support systems, including schools and military support programs, influence the academic achievement and socio-emotional well-being of military-dependent children?

Sub-CRQ three

What role does military culture play in shaping military-dependent children’s attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions toward education?

Student 2:

Purpose

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study is to explore the perceptions of Mississippi K-12 teachers on implementing social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies in the classroom. At this stage in the research, K-12 leaders will be defined as classroom teachers.  This transcendental phenomenological study will narrow a gap in educational research literature by examining the perceptions of Mississippi K- 12 teachers’ implementation of SEL competencies in the classroom. Specifically, it will focus on Mississippi K-12 teachers training, beliefs, and the challenges while implementing SEL competencies in the classroom. SEL is essential to every K-12 school (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021). Nevertheless, teachers need enough training and assistance to effectively execute SEL competencies in the classroom (Frederick & Jenkins, 2023). Although high-stakes testing has received significant attention, there is a lack of research on teachers’ perceptions regarding implementation of SEL competencies in the classroom setting. The theory guiding this study is the SEL conceptual framework created by CASEL in 2023, a model that is becoming more and more backed by evidence and having a big impact on SEL policy.

Research Questions

According to the literature, developing social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies positively affects students’ academic achievement (Frederick & Jenkins, 2023). A consensus among studies indicates that implementing social and emotional learning (SEL) on a school-wide level is necessary to enhance student outcomes in terms of conduct and other developmental concerns (Frederick & Jenkins, 2023; Yu et al., 2022). Nevertheless, it is imperative to weigh in on teacher’s capacity to effectively include social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies in the classroom, particularly regarding their beliefs, challenges, and training (Todd et al., 2022). The study examined the perceptions of K-12 teachers in Mississippi regarding implementing social-emotional learning (SEL) competencies in the classroom. 

The following questions will guide this study:

Central Question

What are teachers’ perceptions about social-emotional learning (SEL)? 

Sub Question One

How do teachers describe their use of SEL competencies in the classroom?

Sub Question Two

In which specific areas do teachers believe they should have received further training on the incorporation of SEL competencies into the classroom?

Sub Question Three

What are the typical obstacles that teachers encounter while integrating SEL in the classroom?

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Children’s mental health report.  mental-health-report.html.

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2023). Fundamentals of SEL? Center for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). http://www. casel.org/fundamental-of-sel 

Fredrick, S. S., & Jenkins, L. N. (2023). Social Emotional Learning and Peer Victimization Among Secondary School Students. International Journal of Bullying Prevention, 5(1), 68-78. 

Todd, C., Smothers, M., & Colson, T. (2022). Implementing SEL in the classroom: A practitioner perspective. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues, and Ideas, 95(1), 18-25.

Yu, J., Huang, C., He, T., Wang, X., & Zhang, L. (2022). Investigating students’ emotional self efficacy profiles and their relations to self-regulation, motivation, and academic performance in online learning contexts: A person-centered approach. Education and Information Technologies, 27(8), 11715-11740. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-022- 11099-0

Student 3:

Yesterday

May 29 at 5:29pm

Purpose Statement

    The purpose of this case study is to understand techniques of teacher-leader development for civilian teachers in a professional military education (PME) environment that can be applied to other learning environments, such as civilian higher education institutions, to cultivate increased post-graduate success for students (Yin, 2018). At this stage in the research, teacher-leader development will be generally defined as an organization’s commitment to enable teacher preparation, authority, and willingness to serve as leaders within their respective learning environments to enhance collective learning (Lapshun & Fusch, 2021).  The theory guiding this study is transformational leadership theory, with an emphasis on the leader-follower relationship, (Bass, 1985; Burns, 1978).  

    This study will examine the culture within a military PME program to enhance the understanding of how and why leadership opportunities for teachers are cultivated by organizational and individual factors (Fr??il?, 2022). Most scholars agree that teachers, as the key to shaping the learning environment, must be both competent and willing to develop as leaders, and a further examination of the education institution’s role in cultivating those attributes will advance the transferability of characteristics from the military PME environment to the civilian higher education environment (Gao & Yang, 2022). This study will also distinguish educational attributes of teacher leaders that can be cultivated by educational institutions from those which must be a consideration during the hiring process (Friesen & Brown, 2022). To optimize teacher empowerment as leaders, a perceived sense of individual and collective efficacy must be cultivated through communication, procedures, and inclusion in decision making inside and out of the classroom, and this study will identify organizational aspects of the military PME program that can be tailored to perform the same empowerment function within civilian higher education institutions (Chen, 2022; Friesen & Brown, 2022). While maintaining a focus on graduate success, this study will identify techniques utilized within the military PME environment to establish connections between teacher leader empowerment and success in the post graduate environment. These identified connections will highlight the shared leadership contributions from administrator, teacher, and student regarding the effectiveness of teacher leader empowerment that can serve as a starting point for integration within different higher education institutions (Van Zyl & Hoffmeyr, 2021).

To identify key themes related to teacher empowerment as leaders, the following research questions will serve as a foundation of data collection efforts. 

Central Research Question

What are the leadership experiences of civilian teachers in a PME program? 

Sub-Question One

How can an educational organization best cultivate a teacher’s role as a leader and their ability to influence high-character, critical thought in their respective organizations (Reid et al., 2022)?

Sub-Question Two

How does a PME institution cultivate teacher efficacy regarding their impact on the education delivered to students (Karvelis, 2020)?

Sub-Question Three

How can an educational institution enhance a teacher’s perception of empowerment to foster transformational leadership in a higher education environment (Bass, 1985; Mbindyo et al., 2021)? 

References

Bass, B.M. (1985). Leadership and performance beyond expectations. Free Press.

Burns, J.M. (1978). Leadership. Harper & Row.

Chen, J. (2022). Understanding teacher leaders’ behaviours: Development and validation of the teacher leadership inventory. Educational Management, Administration & Leadership, 50(4), 630-648. 

Fr??il?, C. (2022). On types and paradigms of military leadership. International Conference KBO, 28(2), 166-170. 

Friesen, S., & Brown, B. (2022). Teacher leaders: Developing collective responsibility through design-based professional learning. Teaching Education (Columbia, S.C.), 33(3), 254-271. 

Gao, L. X., & Yang, J. J. (2022). From a novice teacher to a teacher leader: An english-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) Teacher’s cognitions about her professional development. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 921238-921238. 

Karvelis, N. (2020). Towards a theory of teacher agency: Conceptualizing the political positions and possibilities of teacher movements. Berkeley Review of Education, 9(1) 

Lapshun, A. L., & Fusch, G. E. (2021). Trust and safety as fundamental conditions for a High?Performance team. Performance Improvement (International Society for Performance Improvement), 60(3), 15-19. 

Mbindyo, M., O’Connor, R. J., & Nandedkar, A. (2021). Linking transformational leadership theory to the practice of academic advising – A conceptual paper. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 21(12), 172-182. 

Reid, J. W., Hardee, A. B., Criswell, B. A., Elrod, M., Berryhill, S. B., & Rushton, G. T. (2022). Empowering teacher leaders: The role of research in changing teacher leaders’ sense of themselves as professionals. International Journal of Leadership in Education, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), 1-44. 

Van Zyl, J., & Hofmeyr, K. (2021). Leadership behaviour that facilitates shared leadership emergence in internationally dispersed non-formal teams. South African Journal of Business Management, 52(1), e1-e13. 

Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and applications?: design and methods (Sixth edition.).  SAGE Publications, Inc.