Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Steve Stone

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify why school administrators in Appalachia North Carolina chose to stay in their current positions and to discover what factors impacted their decisions to stay. The study’s findings address what school administrators indicate as contributing factors when deciding to stay in their current school district. The results can inform district administrators in effectively retaining school principals in Appalachia North Carolina. After reviewing and studying existing data on the retention of school principal leadership, a survey was created based on principal retention and delivered to 62 principals in Appalachia North Carolina. Six participants volunteered for principal interviews in my study. My research study concludes that the Appalachia effect impacts the recruitment of school administrators. The themes from Research Question 1 that forge sustainable retention practices are diverse experiences, local love, and community aid. My research study shows that the Appalachia effect influences retention of school principals. The themes from Research Question 2 for creating Appalachian mountain school leader retention practices are acknowledging a higher calling, family togetherness, and defining the Appalachia effect. My research study explains that the Appalachia effect impresses upon the challenges of school leadership in Appalachia North Carolina through the themes of administrator ping-pong, Appalachian design, and a swamped support system. The Appalachia effect on educational success examined how location and isolation impact leader success and what practical steps can be taken to turn geographical separation into educational insulation for North Carolina mountain communities.

Comments

Mr. Jolley,

I hope you are well! Thank you for your video. That was most helpful. I had some issues not being about to get in the site with my GWU email. So I used another email but not sure if everything went through. This degree is for a Doctorate of Education. Also, Ill call the number on the flow chart but would like to get four additional copies of the bound dissertation.

Thank you again and have a blessed day!

Jeremy Cauley

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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