Date of Award

Winter 12-20-2016

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Organizational Leadership

First Advisor

Philip Pendley

Second Advisor

Carlos Guzman

Third Advisor

Jalin Johnson

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Disrupting Poverty: The Impact of Academic Optimism and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors on Student Achievement in California High-Poverty Secondary Charter Schools

by Derek King

One of the byproducts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the commissioning of a study by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare to better understand the disposition of the nation’s educational system. By 1966, the most comprehensive educational study to date was completed, the Equality of Educational Opportunity (Coleman et al., 1966). The findings shocked the nation by concluding that familial poverty restricted a student’s academic achievement, rendering all school-based interventions ineffective. The researchers concluded that schools did not matter with regard to student performance for poor families. The 737-page report indicated that poor students equaled poor academic performance. From that point, educators, psychologists, social scientists, and policymakers sought prescriptions to contradict the Coleman findings. Through the lineage of social learning theory, social cognitive theory, self-efficacy theory, positive psychology, effective schools research, and organizational development, theories emerged about the constructs of academic optimism and organizational citizenship behaviors. This study examined how teacher and administrator academic optimism and organizational citizenship behaviors related to student performance in California high-poverty charter schools that served secondary students. This study was an additional attempt to identify strategies that encourage high student performance in low-socioeconomic status environments.

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