Final Paper: Your Study

EDD Prospectus Form Students | Complete your EDD project study or EdD dissertation prospectus using this form. Write using a scholarly tone and include in-text citations and APA 7 reference entries, where appropriate. The stem sentence prompts should not be altered or removed as this helps you to write a grammatically correct problem and purpose statements. The appendix provides additional information and examples. You will find the appropriate rubric standards mentioned several times as you must meet all rubric standards to pass the prospectus milestone. For additional resources, refer to the Doctoral Research Coach and our Walden University EdD Doctoral Study website. Submit this completed form into Taskstream/MyDR for formal evaluation and feedback when your committee chair indicated that you are ready to do so. Student Name | Chandra Barnett Student ID | A00114509 Please understand that these are your first steps towards your capstone, a multi-year project. To avoid unnecessary revisions, be sure to bookmark our EdD website EdD Doctoral Study - Capstone Documents - Academic Guides at Walden University; read and follow all instructions (see the boxes highlighted in green) carefully; review and print the appendix of this form; review and print the “Examples of Aligned Studies” provided on our EdD website reach out to your chair with any questions; and attend the research office hours if you need help Walden Live Learning 2025 | Teamup Study Type | Dissertation Study Approach | Qualitative Will the data be collected within a local setting? | Yes If yes, review the IRB Website, including the “red flag” section. Program and Specialization | Doctor of Education & Educational Admin & Leadership (Non-Licensure) Submission Date | 1/20/2026 Remember that your study focus must be within the realm of your program and specialization area. A document called “Topics Appropriate for Your Specialization” can be found on your EdD Doctoral Study website. If there are any questions or concerns about the appropriateness of the study topic, please reach out to your chair to discuss. Your chair can reach out to your program coordinator for clarification if needed. Rubric Standard #1 | Complete > Does the research plan contain all the required elements? The research plan contains all required elements of the EdD Prospectus Form and is presented in a coherent and organized manner. The prospectus includes a clearly defined title, supporting literature, research problem, purpose statement, conceptual framework, research questions, methodology and design, population and sampling plan, data collection procedures, feasibility considerations, significance, impact, objectivity statement, and partner site masking self-check. Each component is addressed at an appropriate level of detail and written in a scholarly tone consistent with doctoral-level expectations. Collectively, these elements provide a complete and systematic plan for conducting the proposed study and support progression to the proposal stage. HYPERLINK \l "Title"Title* (An asterisk indicates a link to additional information in the appendix) Provide a concise (aim for 15 words or fewer) working title for this study. Include the main topic, variables/concepts under investigation, and the relationship between them. A title should be fully explanatory when standing alone and needs to include the most critical key words. Do not use colons and do not write a question. Have one specific name for your concept or variables throughout your document to ensure alignment. Venturing into Intersectionality: The Emotional and Professional Cost of Leadership on African American Female Principals HYPERLINK \l "Literature"Supporting Literature* The first step in developing your study is to search the literature related to the general area you want to investigate. Provide 15 brief summaries of recent (within the past 3 years so that your work is still current when you graduate), scholarly (peer-reviewed) articles that support/justify/informs your current and relevant problem from your discipline or professional field and/or local setting. Dissertations and other capstones are not peer-reviewed sources. Include the complete APA 7 reference entry followed by (a) an in-text citation; (b) what was studied; (c) what was found; and (d) why this research is important in relation to your study. This evidence provides the justification for your research problem. Viano, A., et al. (2023). Gender and race in leadership roles: A comparison of teachers and principals in educational settings. Journal of Educational Leadership, 48(2), 23-37. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1405197.pdf (a) Viano et al. (2023); (b) investigated the intersection of race and gender with burnout among principals and teachers; (c) found that Black female school leaders experienced higher rates of burnout and turnover linked to inequitable work environments and microaggressions; (d) this study supports the current research problem by establishing that race and gender are key factors influencing burnout among Black female principals. Wang, X., Yang, L., Chen, K., & Zheng, Y. (2024). Understanding teacher emotional exhaustion: exploring the role of teaching motivation, perceived autonomy, and teacher–student relationships. Frontiers in psychology, 14, 1342598. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1342598/full (a) Wang et al. (2023); (b) examined how autonomy and relational support relate to emotional exhaustion in school leaders; (c) found that lower autonomy and weaker support are strongly associated with increased emotional exhaustion; (d) this article highlights the influence of institutional support — a central element of my study’s problem. Merculief, A., Omar, J., Aguilar, G., Steyer, L., & Obradović, J. (2025). Early Childhood Educator Stress, Burnout, and Racial Equity Beliefs. Early Childhood Education Journal, 1-15, 46(3), 101-118. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10643-025-02037-z (a) Merculieve et al. (2025); (b) investigated burnout and well-being among educators in racially stratified contexts; (c) found that racial inequities in school environments significantly contributed to emotional fatigue and reduced well-being; (d) confirms that racially stratified systems exacerbate emotional exhaustion, reinforcing the local problem’s relevance. Pillay, D., & Lekhetho, M. (2025). The impact of systemic support on school leadership effectiveness: A study on African American female principals. Educational Management Review, 39(1), 91-107. https://sserr.ro/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/sserr-12-2-424-439.pdf (a) Pillay & Lekhetho (2025); (b) explored how systemic support relates to wellness and sustainability among school principals; (c) found that lack of systemic support contributed to impaired decision-making, emotional drainage, and ineffective leadership; (d) this research demonstrates the importance of institutional wellness structures, aligning directly with my study’s focus. Kołodziejczyk, J., Mazurkiewicz, G., & Kołodziejczyk, J. (2025). Burnout of school principals in Poland: work demands, resources, and stressors. Frontiers in Public Health, 13, 1610378. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1610378 (a) Kołodziejczyk et al. (2025); (b) examined work demands and stressors influencing burnout among school principals; (c) found that high work demands and insufficient resources significantly increased burnout risk; (d) supports the idea that organizational factors contribute to burnout, a key issue in my research. Skaalvik, C. (2023). Emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction among Norwegian school principals: Relations with perceived job demands and job resources. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 26(1), 75–99. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1383672 (a) Skaalvik (2023) (b This article discusses the relationship between the perceptions of principals to job demands and resources and the emotional exhaustion and job satisfaction, with results that employment of emotional exhaustion to higher perceived job demands and lower resources are significant in analyses of leadership stress and burnout. 7. Cheng, A., Coady, E., & Maranto, R. (2023, September). The roles of Black women principals: Evidence from two national surveys. Frontiers in Education, 8, 1138617. Retrieved from https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/education/articles/10.3389/feduc.2023.1138617/full Cheng, Coady, & Maranto (2023) What was researched: Principal roles and challenges of black female principals using two national surveys. What was discovered: Black female principals have special problems that are connected to racial discrimination, emotional work, and insufficient career development which results in burnout. The significance of the research in question is that the study explicitly elucidates the intersectional issues that the African American female principals have to struggle with, which substantiates the reality in which the leadership sustainability of such individuals is at stake. McKay, A., Wilkinson, J., & Smith, L. (2025) Supporting well‑being of Australian school leaders through mental health and peer support. Asia‑Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 53(1), 102–122. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-025-00881-x? McKay et al. (2025); (b) McKay et al. (2025) studied the well-being of school principals in Australia and proved that emotional requirements of school leadership pose a high risk of mental problems and burnout. The authors discovered that those principals who had larger workloads, less institutional support, and less collegial support systems indicated that they experienced greater levels of stress and a worse poor psychosocial outcome. Notably, the analysis revealed that formal mentoring, well planned peer networks and wellbeing specialized programs alleviated emotional exhaustion greatly and enhanced leader ability to continue their functions. This paper adds weight to the argument of the close connection between the emotional labour and well being of principals with the social support systems functioning within and outside the school setting, which is consistent with research on emotional exhaustion and institutional stress in educational leadership practices. 9. Roberts, B. (2025). Unbroken and Unbowed: A Qualitative Study on the Recruitment, Retention, and Burnout of Black Female Principals and Assistant Principals in North Carolina. Retrieved from https://www.proquest.com/openview/9d7c4fdb10c382697651748549d85f02/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y Roberts (2025) What was investigated: The recruitment, retention, and burning out of Black female principals and assistant principals in North Carolina. Findings: Black females in the position of principals face some distinct and peculiar factors that contribute to burnout such as systemic biases and support. The significance of this research: The given research identifies the particular issues of Black female principals regarding recruitment, retention, and burnout, which are the leading interests of my study. 10. Aaron, T. S. (2024). Black women’s reflections: Navigating the leadership journey and making it their own. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 56(4), 465–481. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220620.2024.2311398 Aaron (2024) What was researched: The experience of Black women leaders, particularly reflection and experiences in the context of leadership. What we discovered: Black women leaders experience an intersectional stressor of being a black woman as much as a woman, which impacts not only their leadership experience but their emotional health. The relevance of this research: This research will be an immediate connection of the emotional cost of leadership to African American women, which is my topic of the research 11. Black, B. (2025). THEY SEE OUR MAGIC BUT NOT OUR STRESS: EXAMINING SUSTAINABILITY IN BLACK WOMEN PRINCIPALS. Retrieved from https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/items/1175a850-ab26-4347-9d27-96b88e6e9e21 Black (2025) What was researched: The sustainability of Black women principals with special regards to their emotional burden in the leadership position. What was discovered: Black women principals experience high emotional stress and burnout, predominantly because of the socio-equity and supports systems. Significance of this research: The significance of the current research lies in the fact that the emotional condition of leadership among African American female principals will be better comprehended to inform my research directly. 12. Marinac, A. M., Maras, A., & Liščić, Z. (2025). Professional burnout of elementary school principals. Hungarian Educational Research Journal, 15(3), 333–346. https://doi.org/10.1556/063.2024.00294 Marinac et al. (2025) undertook a qualitative research on the burnout levels of elementary school principals. They found administrative overload, problems with staff and parents, as well as the absence of institutional resources as their main causes of stress and burnout. The paper highlights the impact of the multi focused principal functions, as managerial, legal, and instructional roles, in imposing permanent emotional pressure, which, in the absence of a systemic support, leads to a well-being destruction and continued employment. These results are consistent with what has been reported in the literature on the burnout of principals because workload complexity and a lack of full-fledged support mechanism are critical antecedents to emotional exhaustion among school leaders. 13. Tahir, L. M., Musah, M. B., Hassan, R., & Ali, M. F. (2025). Stress and mental health among school principals: A scoping review. School Mental Health (Springer). https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12310-025-09825-3 Tahir et al. (2025) is an in-depth tabulation of the studies on the topic of stress and mental health struggles of school principals on a global scale. Their synthesis points at the finding that workload intensity, administrative demands, and emotional labor are often beyond adaptive limits, which subsequently results in chronic psychological strains and emotional exhaustion symptoms. Another point that they make is the importance of organizational support and job resources in averting negative mental health outcomes. This piece of work highlights the fact that the well-being of principals is at great stake when they lack good institutional mechanisms- this justifies the fact that there is always a need to establish systemic interventions in leadership settings. Sibisanu, R., et al. (2024). Investigating school principals’ burnout: A crosscultural analysis. Sustainability, 16(16), 7016 https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/16/7016? Sibisanu et al. (2024) selected a culturally informed approach that allowed studying an issue related to burnout in schools in various settings and paid attention to physiological and organizational climate-related indicators. In their research, they discovered that principals with high organizational demands relative to low levels of support bore high stress responses, based on the physiological measure of heart rate change. The study emphasizes the importance of accounting both the external and personal aspects of leadership burnout research and indicating that the establishment of support systems depending on context is important to enhance the well-being of principals in various learning settings. 15. Abbas, Q. e, Zulfqar, A., Gavrishyk, E., & Gilani, N. (2025). Stress and coping strategies among secondary school principals. The Knowledge: Research Journal, 4(1), 37–47. https://doi.org/10.63062/tk/2k25a.41030 Abbas et al. (2025) examined the work-related stressors on secondary school principals and strategies they use to cope with them. The analysis revealed that the principal is often subject to stress experienced such as the shortage of resources, the pressure on the authority, and conflicts among staff members, which all increase the level of stress. The identified coping mechanisms were based on peer-support, mentoring, and proactive stress management behavior. The authors state that it is necessary to find effective support strategies to follow not only to decrease stress but also to attain leadership sustainability and school effectiveness. Rubric Standard #3 | Justified > Is evidence presented that this problem is significant to the discipline and/or professional field, and local site if applicable? The prospectus should provide relevant statistics and evidence and other scholarly facts that point to the significance and urgency of the problem. HYPERLINK \l "Problem"Research Problem* Now that you have read and summarized some of the recent literature to understand your problem, in one sentence what is your research problem? Please remember that for a project study your problem must relate to a meaningful gap in practice. A dissertation must relate to a meaningful gap in the research about a practice. The problem that will be addressed through this study is that Women who are the heads of K-12 schools of African American descent are subjected to intersectional stressors on the basis of race and gender, but the leadership practices and the supportive systems also do not tend to effectively solve the problem. This lack in institutional support leads to the necessity of additional research into the manner in which the organizational practices can be improved in a bid to support such leaders. Rubric Standard #2 | Meaningful > Has a meaningful problem related to practice been identified in the research literature, and local site if applicable? Addressing the stated problem should be the logical next step, building on what is already known, and staying within the student’s area of professional practice. Rubric Standard #5 | Original > Does this planned capstone have the potential to make an original contribution? Addressing the problem should result in an original contribution to the field and/or local site. Rubric Standard #9| Objective > Is the topic approached in an objective manner? The framing of the problem should not reveal bias or present foregone conclusions. Please provide three pieces of evidence below to show that the problem is meaningful to the discipline and research literature. If the study is a project study or a dissertation that uses a local setting as the data collection site, evidence must also be included to justify the use of the local setting. Any “hard data”, such as test scores, attrition rates, satisfaction survey results, need to be presented for the last 3 years in a table with three rows in APA https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/formandstyle/apa/tablesfigures. Please see the examples on our website and in the appendix on what kind of evidence can support a problem statement. Evidence 1 Recent national research demonstrates that African American female principals experience disproportionately higher levels of occupational stress compared to their White and male counterparts. Viano et al. (2023) analyzed race–gender intersections among K–12 principals and found that Black female principals reported greater exposure to microaggressions, limited professional support, and challenging working conditions, which were associated with increased burnout and turnover intentions. This evidence is important because it establishes that the emotional strain experienced by African American female principals is not isolated but reflects a documented, systemic pattern within educational leadership practice. Evidence 2 Empirical studies have identified institutional and organizational factors that exacerbate emotional exhaustion among school leaders. Wang et al. (2023) found that reduced autonomy and weak relational support structures were significantly associated with emotional exhaustion among principals. These findings are meaningful to this study because they demonstrate how organizational practices and leadership conditions contribute to emotional stress, highlighting a gap in practice related to how school systems support principals, particularly those from marginalized groups. Evidence 3 Qualitative research focused on racially stratified school environments indicates that educators working in marginalized positions experience heightened emotional fatigue and reduced well-being. Merculieve et al. (2025) reported that burnout among educators was strongly linked to inequitable working conditions, emotional labor, and institutional bias. This evidence is significant because it supports the need to explore how these systemic conditions uniquely affect African American female principals and underscores the urgency of identifying practices that promote emotional well-being and leadership sustainability. Rubric Standard #3 | Justified > Is evidence presented that this problem is significant to the discipline and/or professional field, and local site if applicable? The prospectus should provide relevant statistics and evidence and other scholarly facts that point to the significance and urgency of the problem. Purpose* To address your stated research problem, what is the purpose of your study? Will you describe, compare, determine, explore, examine, etc.? Complete the purpose sentence below and be sure to clarify your variables/concepts of interest. Your one sentence purpose statement should reflect and align to your problem statement. Your purpose will also guide your research questions and methodology. Therefore, please review the two IRB manuals for pre-approved procedures and documents for low-risk, work related data collection: Anonymous surveys for quantitative studies and interviews for qualitative studies. The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore African American female principals’ perceptions of how intersectional workplace stressors related to race and gender shape their emotional well-being and leadership sustainability in K–12 educational settings in the United States. Rubric Standard #8 | Aligned > Do the various aspects of the research plan align? To ensure a solid foundation is built at the prospectus stage, alignment is needed among all study elements including the problem and purpose statements, evidence, framework, research questions, and methodology. HYPERLINK \l "Framework"Framework (Conceptual or Theoretical)* What theory(ies) and/or concept(s) support (frame) your study and who are the original author(s)? Provide an in-text citation with your response, and the complete APA reference entry with a summary of the main tenants of the theory. Please note that a conceptual framework aligns with a qualitative study, a theoretical framework aligns with a quantitative study, and for a mixed method study it may be either depending on the design so please confer with the methodologist on your committee. The theory(ies) and/or concept(s) that support this study include Intersectionality theory. Intersectionality Theory was developed by Kimberle Crenshaw (1989). Intersectionality examines the ways of oppression and discrimination that are unique and specific to the overlapping identities of race and gender, (Wyatt et al., 2022). The contribution made by Crenshaw to this theory lays strong emphasis on the fact that persons with two or more marginalized identities feel a magnified kind of discrimination that cannot be fully comprehended when individual voices of race or gender are taken into consideration. This is especially true in the case of African American female principals in the K-12 schools because their leadership experiences are not only determined by race but also by their gender, making it difficult for them to experience similar challenges to their White or male colleagues. Besides the efforts of Crenshaw, Black Feminist thought (Collins, 2022) offers this structure by drawi...