Annotated Bibliography

Running head: TEN STRATEGIC POINTS 1

TEN STRATEGIC POINTS 10

Ten Strategic Points for Dissertation

Youting Zhang

Grand Canyon University

June 13, 2019

Ten Strategic Points for a Quantitative Correlational Study

1. Topic- Topic plays a critical role in offering a wide research issue in the area of: Influence of Cross-cultural experience on Student Leadership Development and Academic Achievement.

2. Literature review - Lists primary points for four sections in the Literature Review: a. Background of the problem/gap; b. Theoretical foundations (models and theories to be foundation for study); c. Review of literature topics with key theme for each one; d. Summary

a. Background of the Problem:

i. During the colonial and post-colonial times, ethnic minority groups were openly discriminated to the extent that there was segregation in education so that students from ethnic minority communities were not allowed to attend high quality schools that were only for Caucasian whites. For instance, in 1840s, the American Supreme Court upheld the doctrine of segregation so that it was an offence for ethnic minority students to study in high quality schools that Caucasian whites attended (Verkuyten, 2018). By allowing segregation to be permissible in schools and using the constitution to reinforce it, the American Supreme Court established discrimination against the minority that has been difficult to eradicate even at the present time. This is because it created a culture in which people from ethnic majority believed that they had superior abilities to and had more rights than people from ethnic minority cultures.

ii. The study problem for the research stems from the gap in which cultural issues affecting minority students and student leaders have not been sufficiently addressed in most researches that have examined the challenges faced by minority students in multiverse school settings. Consequently, there has been a trend in which stakeholders in the education sector ignore cultural sensitivities of minority students when developing educational curricula and policies. This goes to the extent that only the cultures of majority ethnic groups are considered, which often disadvantage students from minority races to the extent that their academic, leadership, and social competencies can be affected. Educational discrepancies with regard to cultural and ethnic issues that affect students and student leaders from originate from historical injustices such as racial discrimination in America.

II. There are different viewpoints that can be used to explain the cultural discrepancies that are deeply rooted in the education system. One such concept is segregation, which took an official turn in the education when Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in 1875 to ban racial discrimination in public utilities. Federal agents countered the Act by separating Native American and other children from minority groups from their caregivers and put them in boarding schools (Verkuyten, 2018). As a result, students and educators from ethnic majority developed a biased mindset towards people from minority races so that the education system, which includes curriculum, leadership development, and talent nurturing, developed in ways that favored Caucasian whites and disadvantaged students from ethnic minority groups. Segregation was later reinforced by the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine, popularly known as Jim Crow Law. The Law ensured that Whites and Blacks did not share the same accommodation whether in public or private establishments. The law had several effects in the education sector. For instance, policy-makers and curriculum development officers could confidently disregard cultural aspects of minority students since they were guided by discriminatory laws (Winnick & Porretta, 2018). Although segregation and separate but equal Laws were supported by the constitution many decades ago, they can be used to explain the current cultural biases with regard to minority students’ academic, social, and leadership integrity in American schools. This is because stakeholders in the education sector have not made appropriate changes to the curriculum development and student empowerment models to suit the modern multicultural learning institutions with emphasis on ethnic minority groups.

III. There are many conditions that have been proposed as prerequisites for improved academic performance. These often range from provision of learning resources to development of conducive learning climate.

IV. However, there is a paucity of knowledge on the impacts that leadership has on promoting learning behaviors in schools. In particular, not many studies have been conducted to investigate the effects of cross-cultural experience on academic performance.

b. Theoretical foundations (models and theories to be foundation for study);

i. Boundary-Breaking Leadership Development Model can be used to demonstrate the operation ability of cross-cultural students in leadership development programs (Robertson & Webber, 2000).

ii. The Educational Administration theory states that particular principles should be followed in cross-cultural leadership development of students (Evers, 2000). Therefore, the approach will support the research topic by showing the link between administration and leadership development in cross-cultural students.

iii. Another theory that can explain multiracial weaknesses that the current educational system presents to ethnic minority students is the critical race theory (CRT). The theory is based on five doctrines that include: questioning abilities based on racial identity; racism perpetuity; racial dominance; consideration of interests and priorities based on racial principles; and dismissal of liberalism (Hiraldo, 2010). According to CRT, cultural discrepancies in learning institutions that destructively affect social, academic, and leadership competencies of students in ethnic minority communities can be perceived to originate from the notion that some cultures are superior to and more important than others (Allen, 2017). Critical race theory is closely related to the interest convergence theory that expresses the concern that the education and other sectors only focus on fulfilling the interest of majority cultural groups while trashing those of minority cultures. Further afield, the doctrine of intersectionality can also be used to explain cultural challenges in multicultural learning environment under the premise that students from ethnic minority cultures are subjugated due to sociocultural issues such as class and religion.

c. Review of literature topics with key theme for each one;

i. The Educational Administration theory states that particular principles should be followed in cross-cultural leadership development of students (Evers, 2000). Therefore, the approach will support the research topic by showing the link between administration and leadership development in cross-cultural students.

ii. Integrated Transformational Leadership and School Performance- Boerberg (2016) argues that schools that refine transformational leadership behaviors to incorporate instructional management can effectively improve the leaders’ impacts on achievements. In addition, Boerberg highlights the importance of teacher-student relationships in school improvements. Although collective efficacy mediates all of the impacts of leadership on a achievements, students’ emotional engagement also contributes to mathematics achievements\

iii. The CRT fits the study in that it can be used to explain racial discrimination in learning institutions. This is because it reveals assumptions that cultures perceived as inferior are being ignored or perpetually done away with. It also exposes the assumption that cultural inequality is permanent so that students from communities perceived to have inferior cultures should be discriminated. The doctrine of equal but separate, and intersectionality express cultural biases in the community, which exposes the possibility that development of curricula and education policies can be biased with regard to multicultural sensitivities.

iv. Methodology- The study will utilize the quasi-experimental quantitative research design to establish causes, effects, and connection between cultural biases in the education curricula and students’ performance in multicultural learning institutions. There will be a control group to be studied with varying conditions of cultural biases in educational institutions. The results for both groups will be collected and compared to determine the differences and their implications.

v. Quasi-experimental is ideal for this study since it seeks to compare two or more variables. This will be attained by understanding and assessing the statistical relationships between them with no influences from any extraneous variable.

d. Synthesis/Summary

a. Background: There is need to close the existent literature gaps on relationship between cross-cultural experience and student performance in schools and leadership development.

b. Gap/Problem: cultural issues affecting minority students and student leaders have not been sufficiently addressed in most researches that have examined the challenges faced by minority students in multiverse school settings.

c. Final thoughts

3. Problem statement - Explain the phenomena to study (qualitative) or variables/groups (quantitative) to study, in one sentence: The current educational models and curriculum lack aspects of minority cultures, which have led to multicultural issues that have affected racial minority students’ social and academic.

4. Sample and location – Identify sample, needed sample size, and location (study phenomena with small numbers and variables/groups with large numbers): A total of 20 schools with heads who utilize transformational leadership models to manage their schools and students. Students will be from both high school and elementary levels. Both girls and boys across different school-going ages will be selected as participants of the study.

5. Research questions- Provide research questions to collect data to answer the problem statement: What is the effect of cross-cultural experience on performance of students in schools? Does cross-cultural experience increase student development in leadership? Does cross-cultural experience leadership improve students’ academic performance?

a. Hypothesis/variables or Phenomena - Develop Hypotheses with variables for each research question (quantitative) or describe the phenomena to be better understood (qualitative): The absence of cultural elements of different racial/ethnic communities in student leadership structures reduces social and leadership competencies of students from such communities. Stereotypes and attitudes that some cultures are inferior to others with regard to academic competencies and social and emotional integrity negatively affect the performance of students from the presumed inferior cultures. Cultural inclusivity and neutrality in multicultural academic institutions enhances students’ academic performance, social integrity, and student leadership qualities.

b. Sampling Procedure- The main sampling procedure that will be sued for this study is stratified random sampling. This sampling procedure offers a convenient method of selecting representative samples from subpopulations. This sampling process is undertaken in the same way as simple random sampling. As soon as each of the strata has been clearly defined, subpopulation listing or frame is constructed of the people who are the prospective participants (Mulcahy & Gregory, 2009). Stratified random sampling deals with some of the concerns within the error introduced by random sampling. In stratified random sampling, the population is subcategorized into subgroups and subpopulations and the samples drawn from such groups or strata. This method is useful when there is need to make comparisons among the subpopulations, where the subgroups have extremely different characteristics or in situations in which there are concerns that a subgroup may be underrepresented in the sample. This sampling process also plays a crucial role in reducing possible biases and sampling errors.

6. Methodology and design - Describe the selected methodology and specific research design to address problem statement and research questions: The study will utilize the quasi-experimental quantitative research design to establish causes, effects, and connection between cultural biases in the education curricula and students’ performance in multicultural learning institutions. There will be a control group to be studied with varying conditions of cultural biases in educational institutions. The results for both groups will be collected and compared to determine the differences and their implications. There are various reasons why this method will be utilized for research. For instance, quantitative design is more reliable and objective. In addition, it can utilize statistics to support generalization of findings. Moreover, this methodology can be helpful in reducing and restructuring complex problems to a limited number of variables.

7. Purpose Statement – Provide one sentence statement of purpose including problem statement, sample, methodology, and design: The purpose of this correlational study is to explore the strength of relationship between transformational leadership and student performance and engagement. This purpose is driven by the desire to determine if leadership strategies can be used to improve the performance of students within the American environment since concerns have been raised that American students record lower or average performance in relation to their counterparts in other developed countries.

8. Data collection – Describe primary instruments and sources of data to answer research questions: The main data gathering tools that will be utilized for this study are questionnaires. Questionnaires are not only important in examining quantitative significance of relationships between variables, but they can also act as important tools for understanding the attitudes and perceptions of students and teachers towards transformational leadership model.

9. Data analysis – Describe the specific data analysis approaches to be used to address research questions: The data gathered will be analyzed and interpreted through the utilization of Quasi-Experimental Design (often referred to as Causal-Comparative) seeks to establish a cause-effect relationship between two or more variables. (Moutinho & Hutcheson, 2011). 

References

Boberg, J. E., & Bourgeois, S. J. (2016). The effects of integrated transformational

leadership on achievement. Journal of Educational Administration, 54(3), 35 374.

Allen, M. (2017). The relevance of critical race theory: impact on students of color. Urban Education Research & Policy Annuals, 5(1), 1-12.

Chen, S. S. (2014). The effects of transformational leadership of principals on student

academic achievement (Doctoral dissertation).

Gkolia, A., Koustelios, A., & Belias, D. (2018). Exploring the association between

transformational leadership and teacher’s self-efficacy in Greek education system:

a multilevel SEM model. International Journal of Leadership in

Education, 21(2), 176-196.

Moutinho, L., & Hutcheson, G. D. (2011). The SAGE dictionary of quantitative

management research. Sage Publications.

Mulcahy, J. W., & Gregory, J. L. (2009). A Handbook of Statistics and Quantitative

Analysis for Educational Leadership. University Press of America.

Norton, L. F. (2012). Teacher leadership style and student engagement in the middle

school classroom. Dallas: Dallas Baptist University.

Verkuyten, M. (2018). The social psychology of ethnic identity. New York: Routledge.

Winnick, J., & Porretta, D. L. (2018). Adapted physical education and sport (6th ed.). New York: Human Kinetics.

Evers, C. W. (2000). Doing educational administration: A theory of administrative practice.

Robertson, J. M., & Webber, C. F. (2000). Cross-cultural leadership development. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 3(4), 315-330.