Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine police officer perceptions about persons with intellectual disabilities. Design/methodology/approach – In this study, 188 officers from three police districts in the Southeast USA were surveyed using a modified Social Distance Questionnaire. Findings – Results indicate that the majority of police officers surveyed had little or no training with regard to disabilities and that most are willing to interact socially with individuals with intellectual disabilities. Further, this study found that female officers had significantly greater positive attitudes toward individuals with intellectual disabilities than male respondents and that white respondents were more knowledgeable about these individuals than those from minority backgrounds. Research limitations/implications – While these results are significant, it should be noted that the number of female and minority participants was relatively low. Practical implications – The paper includes recommendations for professional development for police officer and criminal justice training programs. Social implications – As individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities are increasingly integrated into society, their vulnerability to mishandling by the criminal justice system and police officers intensifies. This paper allows police officers and those within the field of criminal justice an opportunity to examine perceptions as they seek to understand how police and general societal perceptions impact the way that people interact with persons with intellectual disabilities. Originality/value – This paper fulfills a need to examine attitudes of police officers toward citizens with intellectual disabilities in the communities in which they live. These attitudes often affect the way that police officers interact with citizens and identify additional training needs to better prepare officers for diverse individuals they may will encounter.

This empirical study contributes to the dialogue about quality leadership and national trends involving standards-based program review. It is the first to utilize the 2016 Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) Standards for graduate programs and separately from accreditation and sponsorship. The literature on quality leadership is reviewed, and results from an original instrument are described. Survey influences included leadership literature, the CAEP Standards, and the University Council for Educational Administration’s artifacts. Students and completers’ feedback was on program effectiveness, satisfaction, impact, and ethics. Variance was found in perceptions of quality, relevance, and learning. Contradictory beliefs of program effectiveness can stimulate discussion and strengthen programming.

The study examines teacher perspectives on preparedness to implement the transition of over 50 million K-12 students to online and virtual teaching formats. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, students were instructed to remain at home and to avoid the potential dangers of virus spread in schools. Once this transition began, and then continued on as the pandemic ignited, attention and scrutiny was aimed at how well teachers had been prepared for this shift. Relationships between these perceptions in terms of years of teaching, grade level, content area, school type, and school level were examined in this study. Over 140 teachers, ranging from kindergarten to senior English teachers completed the survey. The researchers analyzed emerged patterns and sentiment scores for the most prevalent themes. The study sought teacher perceptions of preparation as provided by schools, districts, and universities as well as perceptions on how engaged parents and students felt during this dramatic and sudden shift. Findings demonstrate that significant differences exist between how teachers perceive their levels of preparedness for teaching remotely depending on their teaching experience. It was evident that the pandemic affected K-12 school systems in one state harsher than in higher education. Conclusions from this study better inform future decisions of this nature and that could ensure higher levels of teacher preparation.

This case traces the involvement of a principal of an Early College High School (ECHS) and her understanding of performance of Latina students attending the school. Latina students are the lowest academic performers in the ECHS, despite the school obtaining high accolades in terms of accountability. To best understand the phenomena of underperformance of Latina students, the principal hires a consultant. The consultant discovers aspects of the ECHS and aspects of schooling as experienced by the Latina students that contribute to underperformance. The case raises important issues for aspiring leaders, making it an excellent example of the complexities embedded in student achievement.

Effective school districts maintain superintendent and school board collegiality which can foster success and connectedness among members. Delagardelle and Alsbury (2008) found that superintendents and board members are not consistent in their perceptions about the work the board does, and Glass (2007) found that states do not require boards to undergo evaluation for effectiveness. In the current study, 115 board meetings were observed using the School Board Video Project (SBVP) survey, which was created in 2012 by researchers to uncover school board meetings’ effectiveness. MANOVA, Univariate ANOVA, and Pearson Chi-Square test results revealed significant differences between low-, medium-, and high-performing districts’ school board meetings. Evidence indicated that low-performing districts’ board meetings were: less orderly; had less time spent on student achievement; lacked respectful and attentive engagement across speakers; had board meeting members who seemed to advance their own agenda; had less effective working relationships among the governance team; had fewer board members who relied on the superintendent for advice and input; had one member, other than the board president, stand out for taking excessive time during meetings; and did not focus on policy items as much as high- and medium-performing school districts. The research concluded that more school board members from low-performing districts needed training to improve their effectiveness. Furthermore, highly refined and target-enhanced school board training programs might lead to lasting governance success and more effective teaming that could improve district, and ultimately, student achievement.

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PurposeAs young people are seeking degrees that will help them with employment and as universities seek ways to increase enrollment and retention, the emphasis of the value of higher education has emerged as an important aspect in achieving these goals. The focus of this particular study, where a paucity currently exists, was to examine the concepts of value in relation to undergraduate business education. A main aim of this study was to identify values (beyond economic), based on time since graduation, and the motivating factors that help to define those values. One of the key trends this study revealed was a cross-generational assessment of value.Design/methodology/approachThe driving research question was regarding business undergraduate alumni's perceptions of value: Is there a relationship (based on time since graduation) in the value of an undergraduate degree? The Final Revised Survey was sent to 945 business college alumni, randomly selected from a list of 15,012 names. Quantitative data were disaggregated by groups: 0 = 3 years post-graduation (recent graduates), >3 = 6 years post-graduation (advanced graduates), >6 = 9 years post-graduation (experienced graduates) and >9 years (senior graduates) for analyses using Independent Samples T-Test, Simple Linear Regressions and Pearson's r Correlations tests.FindingsResults of the Pearson's r Correlation tests showed significant findings in terms of strength of relationship between variables involved the following: (1) gender and average motivation (0.004) (2) time since graduation and average commitment (0.047), (3) gender and average value (0.045) and (4) age and average value (0.036). This suggests that gender has the strongest relationship between variables. Also, age and time since graduation seem to be correlated to how alumni value their undergraduate education and are willing to commit to continuing to support an organization. The averages of three types of groups of continuous data (value, motivation and commitment) were analyzed as the results related to ethnicity and time since graduation. When comparing ethnic outcomes based on two categories, non-Caucasian and Caucasian, although there were fewer respondents in the non-Caucasian category, those individuals' perception of value, motivation and commitment rated higher (8.87, 7.71 and 5.83 respectively) than their Caucasian counterparts (8.41, 6.58 and 4.96 respectively). Additionally, it is interesting to note that for both groups, the average commitment score was the lowest out of the three for both groups. Finally, for Caucasians, time since graduation seemed to increase their perception of value of their undergraduate business degree. Whereas, for non-Caucasians, the perception of value was less. This specific result could be since in the age group for non-Caucasians seven of the eight respondents were in the = 47 age group.Research limitations/implicationsResults rested limited to opinions of undergraduate business alumni. Because the rate of return for the data results was limited, it is unlikely that a firm argument can be made solely on the results from the Pearson's r Correlation in terms of a conclusion for the research question for this study. However, based on the results of this study the responses can be generalized to the respondents, not the overall population. Therefore, the Null Hypothesis was rejected as preliminary findings, with the understanding that additional data could change this decision.Practical implicationsPractitioners (instructors and professional staff) in higher education can utilize the results of this study to align their decision making and engagement actions. For example, as the work of Starrett (2018) shows, in and out of classroom engagement, approachability and the ability to determine what their clients, (future students) are ways that practitioners can help to increase retention rates. For practitioners and policymakers alike, it is important that they work together to understand what today's potential students are looking for in their educational experience. In the past, extrinsic values such as fancy dorms and athletic facilities may have been key considerations. However, as this study has shown, today's potential students are seeking more intrinsic values from their college experiences such as a deeper connection with faculty and staff, a feeling of inclusion and belonging and commitment, on the part of a university, to their long-term success. Additionally, it is vitally important that both groups work together because everyone who works in higher education has a level of responsibility for enrollment and retention rates. This study provides information that will enable both groups to begin to meet those goals.Social implicationsSocial implications from this study surround better understanding of current and potential college students determine the value of higher educational degrees. Practitioners (instructors and professional staff) in higher education can utilize the results of this study to align their decision making and engagement actions. For example, as the work of Starrett (2018) shows, in and out of classroom engagement, approachability and the ability to determine what their clients, (future students) are ways that practitioners can help to increase retention rates. It is important that all work together to understand what today's potential students are looking for in their educational experience. In the past, extrinsic values such as fancy dorms and athletic facilities may have been key considerations. However, as this study has shown, today's potential students are seeking more intrinsic values from their college experiences such as a deeper connection with faculty and staff, a feeling of inclusion and belonging and commitment, on the part of a university, to their long-term success. Additionally, it is vitally important that both groups work together because everyone who works in higher education has a level of responsibility for enrollment and retention rates. This study provides information that will enable both groups to begin to meet those goals.Originality/valueThis information is important to universities because the results can act as a guide to aid them in revising their current individual recruitment and retention models for accuracy and relevancy. While a review of the current literature showed an abundance of theoretical information about economic value, it also showed a deficit in connecting alternative meanings of value as it relates to the university selection and commitment process. This study called attention to the need to examine this area to clarify higher education's other values to society.

As the complexity of school and district contexts continue to evolve, there is a need to prepare leaders at various points along the leadership continuum. Through this survey research, we analyzed student perceptions of program effectiveness ( N = 408) from 2013 to 2020 in one educational leadership program through the lens of student professional roles (e.g., teachers, instructional coaches, central office personnel). Results varied with instructional coaches demonstrating higher perceptions of effectiveness and central office personnel lower perceptions. Findings from this study could serve as the impetus for further research as educational leadership programs serve diverse educational leadership roles.