Date of Award

Fall 10-10-2023

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Dr. Bradley Smith

Second Advisor

Dr. Cherie Gaines

Third Advisor

Dr. Melissa Brown

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences negatively affected the mental and physical health of adults and children and were linked to cognitive difficulties and decreased academic outcomes at all levels of education. Resilience, the ability for one to bounce back from adversity, was widely accepted to mitigate the negative effects of adversities and resilience intervention programs were becoming more common in schools. The purpose of this qualitative interpretive study was to examine northeast Tennessee educators’ perceptions of the academic outcomes of high school students who completed a community-based, resilience-informed course presented at school. After conducting semi-structured interviews with 11 participants, I discovered the program had a favorable impact on academic outcomes and resilience as the program provided students with a multi-level system of support, taught techniques to build protective factors, and positively framed adversities to help students set and meet goals.

Keywords

Adverse Childhood Experiences, resilience, trauma, academic outcomes, resilience-informed intervention, ACEs

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