Carol A. Mullen

Virginia Tech (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) | VT · School of Education

The authors examined middle level teachers' perceptions and experiences of leadership support during the sudden transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this qualitative case study, the research questions were: How did middle school teachers perceive their leaders' support for teaching online? What were teache...

Teacher attrition, a startling problem worldwide, can be counteracted with comprehensive mentoring and induction. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to describe a divisionwide, job-embedded mentoring/induction program in three US elementary schools that determined key features/components influencing experience during a crisis. Research...

The purpose of this paper is to examine principals’ instructional actions in high-poverty schools and the perceived impact on student achievement. For this qualitative case study, research questions were: What principals’ instructional leadership practices are being demonstrated in rural, high-poverty schools based on the literature and findings? H...

Controversy is intensifying with the rapid spread of charter schools and their domination of the education reform agenda. As charter enrolment increases in the USA, inequities in education worsen. This article contributes to the debate on contemporary education policy by critically examining charter issues from the US literature and stakeholder dat...

This interview study with special education teachers in rural and urban school divisions within Virginia, USA, reports instructional strategies that support outcomes for students with social emotional mental health (SEMH) needs. Evidence-based strategies from the interviews are delineated for teachers who work with this highly vulnerable population...

The Risky Business of Education Policy focuses commentary and analysis on some of the most pressing policy challenges facing public school educators and those invested in a healthy, vibrant public-school system. The book shares insights and makes recommendations from leading scholar-practitioners, namely from educational leadership and science educ...

This pedagogical case focuses on the online mentoring of educational leadership doctoral candidates in a protracted crisis. Relevant theories and problems of practice in doctoral education are reviewed. The COVID-19 Dyadic Online Mentoring Intervention was a faculty mentor’s dyadic mentoring initiative for guiding 19 mentees’ social justice-oriente...

A settler colonial educator of European descent, I write as an uninvited guest on Indigenous land. Truths of the past are determining the future of humanity, a contribution that allyship can make. In this essay, I share vital information and critical ideas that underscore the importance of allyship in the contexts of settler colonialism and educati...

Debate is intensifying in the United States with the rapid spread of charter schools and their domination of the education reform agenda. Controversy surrounds the very existence of public charter schools—an incendiary if not polarizing topic of political discourse—while the sector expands. This chapter’s distinctiveness is that it illuminates crit...

This essay reflects the spirit of our times, at least in North America. Reentering a generative world in lockdown is juxtaposed with the gains and losses in our communities. “For All Eternity,” my poem, is about the generative cycle of rebirth and death and the forces that move us from decay to regeneration. As the coronavirus pandemic paradoxicall...

This article describes a research-enriched, action-oriented plan for supporting educators in PreK–12 district-wide mentoring through online professional development inspired by Kram’s model.

This article describes a research-enriched, action-oriented plan for supporting educators in PreK–12 district-wide mentoring through online professional development inspired by Kram’s model.

Before COVID-19, universal demand for distance education was increasing. During the pandemic, the virtual delivery of public education surged. In turbulent times, citizenship, teaching and learning can present a creative opportunity for fostering online development, high-quality interaction and academic progress. The purpose of this conceptual arti...

The Handbook of Social Justice Interventions in Education features interventions in social justice within education and leadership, from early years to higher education and in mainstream and alternative, formal and informal settings. Researchers from across academic disciplines and different countries describe implementable social justice work unde...

Education in today's global Canadian Indigenous context is the subject of this review essay. Issues of educational injustice and systemic racism--taken up in the Indigenous literature--are presented. The analysis of critical sources led to binaries, such as miseducation-education, and associated theme From Miseducation to Education animated by the...

Purpose The author's purpose is to identify and analyze the progress of proposals and dissertations after mentor–mentee relationships rapidly transitioned to intensive online doctoral mentoring as a result of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Design/methodology/approach An exploratory pedagogic research design was implemented in 2020 to examine the COV...

Before COVID-19, universal demand for distance education was increasing. During the pandemic, the virtual delivery of public education surged. In turbulent times, citizenship, teaching and learning can present a creative opportunity for fostering online development, high-quality interaction and academic progress. The purpose of this conceptual arti...

In my capacity as guest editor, I am pleased to introduce the second issue of volume 10 of the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education (IJMCE). This guest-edited special issue’s timely focus is mentoring and coaching in a time of crisis, pandemic and social distancing. Proactively dealing with current realities seems vitally im...

This study addresses the knowledge gap on instructional practices that enable K–12 students with disabilities (SWD) to access STEM environments and develop 21st-century skills. A related purpose is to examine teachers’ planning for inclusion in elementary, middle, and high schools. STEM curriculum integrates two or more of the disciplines for appro...

This literature review explores the K–12 teacher–student relationship (TSR) by conceptualizing areas of importance and identifying instructional strategies for influencing students with emotional disability (ED) socially, academically, and behaviorally. Research questions for this analysis of sources were as follows: (1) What role does the TSR have...

Educational issues of Indigenous peoples cannot be said to revolve around a single concept, but indigeneity is a provocative lens for calling attention to European origins of sovereignty. Colonization, a pivotal concept, permeates educational studies and, in recent times, educational leadership. Decolonization and other Indigenous concepts like sel...

Teacher resilience in a pandemic is a timely topic for America’s superintendents. This literature review focuses on teacher resilience and retention, with relevance for building resilient school cultures. The question guiding analysis of studies was, “What factors and processes contribute to teacher resilience and the ability to overcome adversity?...

This chapter of Problem-Based Learning in Elementary Schools offers a review of the literature addressing problem-based learning (PBL) in elementary classrooms and other educational contexts. Definitions provided generally uphold PBL as a teaching method in which students gain knowledge and skills by working collaboratively to both investigate and...

This chapter of Problem-Based Learning in Elementary School details elementary educators’ responses to interview questions about their experiences of, and views about, PBL instruction. Teachers/staff describe what PBL is or means to them, and which PBL instructional strategies specifically contributed to 21st-century learning and how. A safe enviro...

Initiating this study were general questions of pedagogic interest: What is PBL, and what PBL instructional strategies contribute to elementary students’ 21st-century learning? The methodology used for this exploratory qualitative study for which interviews served as the main data collection source is the focus of this chapter of Problem-Based Lear...

In this last chapter, overarching outcomes, implications for practice and research, and conclusions are covered. In a discussion of overarching outcomes, a summary of seven findings is provided about PBL instruction and 21st-century skills in elementary education. Each finding is separately addressed, and insights are articulated, illuminating stra...

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a popular trend in public education. This chapter brings PBL to elementary schools to benefit children’s readiness for a global world. The purpose of this literature review is to introduce an area of educational research that is not sufficiently mapped or investigated—PBL in elementary schools and strategies that hel...

This book addresses Problem-based Learning (PBL) in elementary schools and reveals how this can promote elementary students’ development in critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and citizenship, also known as the 5 Cs. Through teachers’ interviews, the book explores which PBL strategies promote skills and knowledge gains when...

The Handbook of Social Justice Interventions in Education features interventions in social justice within education and leadership, from early years to higher education and in mainstream and alternative, formal and informal settings. Researchers from across academic disciplines and different countries describe implementable social justice work unde...

This literature review identifies access and barriers to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for K–12 students with disabilities (SWD). The research question shaping this analysis was, what does the literature report about access and barriers to STEM education and lessons for K–12 SWD populations? STEM education is an...

The Handbook of Social Justice Interventions in Education is a Springer inter-national handbook containing many chapters edited by Carol A. Mullen. The book’s thesis is that intervention is a critical component of social justice that transcends general ethical precepts. From around the globe, the contributors present contemporary social justice int...

Each year the University Council for Educational Leadership (UCEA) honors a deserving educational leadership professor with the Jay D. Scribner Mentoring Award for making ‘substantive contribution[s] to the field’ and mentoring students into their future roles. The award is named after Dr. Jay D. Scribner, Professor Emeritus of the University of Te...

This chapter of Veteran Teacher Resilience offers a review of the literature addressing teachers’ development of resilience. The review explains individual and contextual factors that impact teacher resilience. The database search process and criteria used for locating relevant contemporary literature are covered. A synthesis of sources, based on f...

This chapter of Veteran Teacher Resilience crystallizes findings from the veteran teacher interviews in relation to supporting data and literature. Individual and contextual factors from the study overlapped with results from published research. Factors of veteran teacher resilience are mapped onto resilience dimensions from a published teacher res...

This chapter of Veteran Teacher Resilience describes the interview methodology used for this exploratory qualitative study for which interviews served as the main data collection source. The interview context gave participants the opportunity to share their experiences of adversity and resilience, and motivations for decision and actions. The resea...

This expansive chapter of Veteran Teacher Resilience analyzes the data from a demographics survey and veteran teacher interviews. The survey results are presented as veteran teacher profiles with excerpts from the interviews capturing teacher voice and substantiating our research outcomes. Findings (thematic outcomes) from the interviews address th...

This review article focuses on perspectives from Canadian Indigenous literature about decolonizing education on behalf of Aboriginal populations. The research informs accountability, education, and policy in Canada and globally. Components of colonization parsed in sources are tribal injustice, dispossession, discrimination, conflict, and miseducat...

This chapter presents a methodological translation of the Four C Model of Creativity and adaptation for exploratory study in three urban glocal cultures. Of interest are postsecondary educators’ perspectives on creativity in relation to accountability within different contexts. Stimulating the creative intervention in universities, the central rese...

This chapter describes creativity and accountability in Australia, probes how they align or conflict with accountability-based conceptions of creativity, and explains how education stakeholders at a culturally diverse public university in Sydney conceive creativity and accountability. Framing the creative intervention was the pedagogic research que...

Creativity and culture within educational settings constitute changing domains of knowledge reflected in new terminology and creative constructs. The context-setting question for this chapter is, What definitions and theories advance knowledge, practice, and action that potentially allow creativity under constraint to be recovered and fostered with...

This last chapter of Revealing Creativity presents takeaways from the exploration of dynamic creativity in postsecondary education wherein a creativity framework was adapted to uncover perspectives in accountability-bound world cultures. A chief precept is that existing models of creativity—like the Four C Model of Creativity—can be utilized to hel...

Creativity advances human development and societies through creative risk-taking, problem-solving, expression, innovation, novelty, usefulness, collaboration, and effectiveness. Dynamic creativity changes situations and is changed by them—it enables transformation even in accountability-bound cultures and repressive policy climates. As evidenced by...

This chapter describes educators’ thoughts about creativity and accountability in Canada and probes how these align or conflict with accountability-based conceptions of creativity. This qualitative case study focused on how inhabitants at an urban Canadian university conceive creativity and accountability within the high-stakes testing era, giving...

This case study focuses on creativity and collaboration in preparing Chinese preservice teachers for school careers. Framing the creative intervention was the pedagogic research question, Can preservice students within a course in China discover creativity when encouraged under educational constraint? The purpose was to find out whether, with expli...

This chapter advances a synthesis of outcomes for the three glocal case studies and their commonalities and variations. Developments common to the transnational cases are that (1) the Four C (4-C) Model of Creativity fostered creative engagement and dynamic creativity and (2) Hidden-c, the belief in one’s creative capacity, nurtured (inter)personal...

Group mentoring, an alternative to traditional mentoring, is dynamic, collaborative, and inclusive, yet it is underexplored in the literature. The peer mentoring group (PMG) phenomenon was researched through three educational leadership and administration polyads: (1) the Spirals, consisting of award-winning faculty mentors and novice scholars; (2)...

This article offers systematic review of literature on the educational colonization of Indigenous populations within global Canadian contexts. Questions guiding this study were, 'What colonizing dynamics exist in education for Canadian aboriginal populations, and what decolonizing dynamics suggest progress or advancement?' Across disciplines, sourc...

Authentic and effective family engagement requires intense commitment from school principals in economically distressed areas. This chapter focuses on what principals do to form strong school–family relationships that potentially improve the overall success of students living in impoverished rural communities. Interview data pertaining to six princ...

After nearly two decades of efforts to adhere to legal expectations for K–12 public education in the United States, poverty still impacts student achievement. The purpose of this study was to discern the effects of practitioner-designed professional development (PD) on teacher beliefs/ attitudes about students living in poverty. A mixed-methods app...

Creative and cooperative mentoring that unfolded within an overseas college environment is the subject of this book chapter. Pedagogic ideas and results are conveyed narratively and visually. Graphics of the storied phases depict the most relevant aspects of this narrative. Takeaways for readers, who will encounter a story arch of internationally e...

This chapter is about creative and cooperative mentoring that unfolded within an overseas college environment. Pedagogic ideas and results are conveyed narratively and visually. Graphics of the storied phases depict the most relevant aspects of this narrative. Takeaways for readers, who will encounter a story arch of internationally embedded educat...

This empirical case study features practices of cognitive apprenticeship and peer mentoring in a cross-global STEM lab. The demonstration is of a dynamic, successful, and inspiring team of developing millennial scientists. Observations and interviews were analyzed, conveying the insights of apprentices (university students) and their professor, all...

This “Dynamic Mentoring Groups, Programs, and Structures: Legacy Special Issue” of the Mentoring & Tutoring journal was created to bring greater visibility to Jay D. Scribner recipients’ important work in mentoring within research and pedagogical contexts. The authors are University Council for Educational Leadership awardees and researchers who sh...

Commitment to mentorship, while necessary to benefit mentoring parties, is insufficient to work with the complexities of contemporary educational settings, especially in pursuit of engagement and learning for all. Mentoring that makes a profound difference for all participants, worldwide, is oriented at the outset to call into question such organiz...

Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activities are instigated and sustained. We do not directly observe motivation but rather its outcomes: selection of activities, effort, persistence, and achievement. Because motivation always involves goals, it is necessary to characterize one's level of motivation relative to those goals.

Study skills are strategies used to learn information. Strategies are applied to learning and remembering new knowledge and skills. Not only essential for obtaining good grades, these skills are also useful for lifelong learning. There are different types of study skills.

Indigenous agency for tribal justice through creative artistry and scholarship is the subject of this exploratory qualitative study. The perspective taken informs global trends and accountability, with relevance for social justice in education and curriculum. Guiding this inquiry was the research question, “How does Canadian Indigenous creative art...

Expectations for online distance delivery of higher education courses and programmes are increasing globally, begging the question, ‘Does modality matter?’ Pedagogic research comparing online and face-to-face learning demands more examination, particularly synchronous delivery. The purpose of this empirical study is to determine whether the quality...

Canadian Indigenous Literature and Art sheds light on Indigenous justice perspectives in Indigenous literature and art. Decolonizing education, culture, and society is the revolutionary pulse of this book aimed at educational reform and comprehensive change. Select works of published literature and exhibited art are interpreted in the critical disc...

This literature-informed conceptual essay offers pedagogies for decolonizing education in theory and practice. Interventions that foster Indigenous education in mainstream public education are described, with the goals of changing racist mindsets and preparing future educators for disarming colonial–settler oppression. Indigenous education is topic...

Revealing Creativity: Exploration in Transnational Education Cultures explores the recovery and fostering of creativity under educational constraint. This longitudinal global study of diverse education populations in China, Canada, and Australia offers application of the 4-C Creativity Model through experiential activities and exploratory interview...

This book explores why veteran teachers choose to remain in the classroom, making teaching their life’s career. The authors felt compelled to interview veteran teachers to learn about their experiences, how they make meaning of their classrooms and schools, and in particular what can be known about the adversities they face and their resilience. Fa...

What is the value of cohort mentoring for facilitating as well as structuring mentoring relationships involving students and faculty? This narrative case study is a 7-year retrospective of a doctoral mentoring cohort in which members developed as scholar-practitioner leaders. The practicing teacher who is striving to become an academician and leade...

A group of faculty and administrators narrates the early stages of development of a new faculty mentoring program at a major research university. Survey data, in addition to group-meeting data, were analyzed, generating a portrait of strengths and weaknesses. This case study features breaking new ground in a changing organizational culture through...

Abstract After witnessing creativity in China’s test-centric culture, the author calls for developing learners’ creativity as a global proficiency emanating from a belief in one’s capacity to create. Key words: Chinese learners, creativity, culture, stereotype, testing

Faculty-student support groups have the potential to promote strategies for co-mentorship in places of learning. They can also function to facilitate alternative forms of pedagogical practice in the context of lifelong learning. The purpose of this paper is to describe ideas and practices in the innovative development of faculty-student support gro...

What are the major priorities for preparing educational leaders for their work in school communities? Clues to this question are nestled within higher education curricula. The curriculum taught to educational leadership students in my Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations Department embodies the moral vision of what we want prospective sc...

The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the promise of racial equality through insights from Canadian indigenous art and literature. Research and creative artistry are connected in this discussion to policy, education, and ecosystems. Researchers of indigeneity advance perspectives on colonization and accountability to decolonizing all...

Expectations for online distance delivery of higher education courses and programmes are increasing globally, begging the question, ‘Does modality matter?’ Pedagogic research comparing online and face-to-face learningdemands more examination, particularly synchronous delivery. The purpose of this empirical study is to determine whether the quality...

Instead of lowering the bar for faculty productivity when times are tough, increase it by stretching your resources. Long gone are the days when chairs could count on the funds needed to run their units, let alone grow them. Show that your unit can deliver in good times and in bad and that it can remain strong for many years to come. Make your reso...

Is creativity occurring in China's primary and secondary schools? The thesis under-girding this article is that creativity is a paradox and possibility within this test-centric culture. Discussion is of the literature on creativity from an international perspective, with support from an original pilot study. The Chinese schools visited arose out of...

This conceptual essay introduces dynamic creativity, bridging with influential theory, public discourse, and generative possibility. The concept of dynamic creativity grows out of literature referring to dynamics of creativity—both educational and cultural. Creative rhetoric in public discourse is also taken up for its global reach and especially b...

This chapter is a literature-informed conceptual essay that introduces dynamic creativity and bridges it with influential theory and generative possibility. The dynamic creativity construct grows out of the research on dynamics of creativity—both educational and cultural. Discussion moves to select influential creativity theories—Beghetto and Kaufm...

Creativity Under Duress in Education? introduces a new framework—creativity under duress in education. Leading creativity researchers and educational scholars discuss creative theory and practice from an educational lens that is provocative. Across international contexts, this book combines insights from creativity and educational research; rich il...

Certain global leadership forces – competitiveness, tolerance, and creativity – are so pervasive they can be illustrated on the part of any country. However, nations also have unique dynamics to consider within our interconnected world. This is the overarching issue being expressed in this essay wherein I deconstruct Canada’s official narrative usi...