Dissertation Defense Announcement

College of Education announces the Final Dissertation Defense of

Vicki Burton

for the Degree of Doctor of Education

June 21, 2019 at 12:00 PM Lambuth Campus VJ Room-318

Advisor: Mary Keller Boudreaux

A Content Analysis of Human Resources Management: An Examination of Human Capital Leaders in Select Rural School Districts in Southwest Tennessee.

ABSTRACT: To begin this process of setting a premise for school officials and other stakeholders on the need to address issues within the field of human capital management systems (HCMS), formerly human resources, this study aims to fill a gap in the literature on one area within the study of educational leadership that is often overlooked, the role of the human capital leader. The purpose of this quantitative study was to illuminate the area of human capital management systems (HCMS) by conducting a position description analysis of the human capital leader within a sample of small rural school districts in southwest Tennessee. The study sought to answer two questions to determine whether 16 identified professional functions had been included in current human capital leader school district job descriptions. The professional functions in this study were based on a layout from the Human Capital Leaders in Educational Professional Standards (AASPA, 2017) designed specifically for school districts. The outcome from the content analysis concluded that 11 (69%) of the functions from the Human Capital Leaders in Educational Professional Standards (2017) were listed in the human capital leaders current job descriptions. The results of the study indicated that there was a significant difference in the total number of independent variables (functions) for each human capital leader current job description based on the human capital management system model. The findings support the confounding need to enlist the human capital leader as a strategic educational partner in school districts. Doing so, sets forth the pathway to transform school districts from human resources to a human capital management system that maximizes the role of the human capital leader in transforming the educational system and reforming educational efforts to improve teaching and learning.