Date of Conferral

2022

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Education

Advisor

Felicia Blacher-Wilson

Abstract

The number of teachers working in urban educational settings who have experienced student violence has increased yearly. Despite reporting these violent incidents, many teachers leave the profession between their first 5 years of teaching, identifying the limited support from school administrators as a major reason for their departure. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to examine the perceptions of administrative support in student violence directed toward teachers in K–12, urban, southern school districts in Louisiana. Great man theory, trait theory, contingency theory, transformational leadership theory, transactional leadership theory, and laissez-faire leadership theory constituted the conceptual framework of this study. Data were collected from interviews with eight elementary, middle, and high school teachers and administrators from two separate K–12, urban, southern Louisiana school districts who have observed student violence directed toward teachers or have provided support to teachers who have experienced violence from students. The organization of the data through NVivo identified four themes: teachers receiving school-based counseling support, school district regulations hindering the administrative support to teachers, administrative leadership style determining the type of support teachers receive, and type of violence determining the level of support received. The results recognized the need to establish policies that would guide school administrators when dealing with student violence directed toward teachers. The study findings may lead to positive social change by providing school administrators and district policymakers with guidance on the teachers’ perceptions of support, which could improve the school’s culture and decrease the number of teachers leaving the educational profession.

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