Degree Name

EdD (Doctor of Education)

Program

Educational Leadership

Date of Award

8-2016

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Virginia Foley

Committee Members

Cecil Blankenship, John Boyd, Pamela Scott

Abstract

Public education in the United States has changed remarkably in the last 200 years. The buildings that house students and teachers have also gone through a dramatic evolution in that same time. The buildings in use today are far more complex in design and thus require considerable expertise to operate and maintain. Although a good deal of scholarly literature has addressed the growing demand for dedicated facilities management, very little of that research is focused on that need within public education systems or the individuals who fulfill the duties associated with that need. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the perceptions of facilities directors of public school systems. A qualitative collective case study was conducted to evaluate the perceptions of six facilities directors from public school systems in Tennessee. Analysis of transcriptions from in-depth interviews as well as document review helped identify factors those individuals perceived as facilitators or barriers to performing their duties. Findings indicated participants perceive communication, autonomy, employees, and access to resources as facilitators of their success. Participants identified communication, purchasing, funding, the age of facilities, and lack of understanding as the primary barriers to their success. This research adds to the literature related to the topic, has implications for future research and practice, and could serve as a model for research among other support service areas of public education.

Document Type

Dissertation - unrestricted

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