Improving Students' Interpersonal Communications, Leadership, and Decision-Making Skills through Integration of Cockpit Resource Management: A Grounded Theory Study of K-8 Educators' Perspective

The dissertation in education administration represents innovative and relative research that provides administrators with a process that students may use to enhance their academic, social, and emotional development. This study gathered the perspective and experiences of recruited educators from a K-8 school who had recently engaged and interacted with kindergarten through second-grade students. The primary goal of this study was to generate theory based on the participating educators' perspectives on expanding an aviation training model, Cockpit Resource Management (CRM), into education to improve students' interpersonal communication, leadership, and decision-making skills. This study is a contribution to the study of education in that it provides a method for students to avoid, catch, and mitigate errors that students face on a daily basis. Results of the study show that interpersonal communication has an impact on student development through establishing a classroom community, receiving feedback efficiently, and engaging in event reporting or self-evaluation. Leadership skills also impact student development by providing students with leadership opportunities and effectively engaging in teamwork. Decision-making skills further impact student development by building decision-planning and situational awareness skills. The theory that emerged in this grounded theory study is entitled Classroom-Community Resource Management (CCSS).