Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration Commons^™

“… You Don’T Come To This School... To Show Off Your Hoodies”: Latinas, Community Cultural Wealth, And An Early College High School, Leslie A. Locke, Gerri Maxwell, Maria Tello

The Qualitative Report

Early College High Schools (ECHS), recent school reforms in the U.S., were designed as social justice, equity-oriented interventions to increase educational opportunity for students from traditionally marginalized and underserved groups. The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to understand and examine the perceptions and experiences of eight Latina students, regarding their motivation and persistence in an ECHS. Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framed the analyses. Findings demonstrated the students relied on several forms of CCW to support their motivation and persistence. However, observations and prolonged engagement in the ECHS setting revealed deficit perspectives held by some teachers and ...

Examining School Leadership In New York City Community Schools, Stacey Campo

All Graduate Works by Year: Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The community school model is rooted in John Dewey’s (1902) conceptualization of the public school as a hub for the community. The model has recently been identified as part of New York City’s school turnaround strategy and continues to gain prominence nationally, because of this, it is essential to identify the key components of an excelling leadership partnership. This dissertation describes findings and recommendations from interviews with principals and community school directors in ten New York City community schools. These interviews were triangulated with analysis of the New York City school environment survey utilizing both faculty and parent ...

How Do Beginning Administrators Navigate Through Their First Year Of The Middle School Principalship?, James D. Cryer

J. D. Cryer

In an effort to understand the positive and negative experiences that principals encounter as they navigate through their first year of administrative duties at the middle school level, this research study examined what events happened during their first year that encouraged the individual to stay in the position or discouraged the individual to leave the position. This study focused on problems and difficulties that arose, specifically associated with the middle school setting. To accomplish this study, three first year middle school principals were interviewed multiple times throughout the year. By collaboratively working with these participants in a phenomenological study, the ...

Leadership That Transforms Schools And School Systems, Brian Caldwell

2009 - 2017 ACER Research Conferences

This paper will report on the findings of four international research projects on leadership in high-performing school systems around the world. The paper will focus on building the capacity of school leaders to exercise professional autonomy and how different levels of government achieve strategic alignment among policies in their efforts to lift performance. The paper will summarise findings reported in The Autonomy Premium published in 2016 by ACER Press, along with the findings of a national survey of principals in Australia. The major part of this presentation is devoted to comparing Australia on 15 benchmarks derived from international studies in ...

Leading Empowered Evaluations To Develop Trust And Improve Learning: Insights From Qualitative Research, Peter Mcclenaghan, Kerrie Ikin

2009 - 2017 ACER Research Conferences

What does ‘empowering teachers-as-evaluators’ mean in whole-school strategic planning and evaluation? Our work seeks to develop and empower teachers as whole-of-school evaluators to embrace ownership of the school’s plan and directions, build communities of practice, create transparency, openness and trust, and ultimately improve student learning outcomes. Our previous research in whole-school qualitative empowerment evaluation showed that principals who were fully engaged in their schools’ evaluations were more likely to be influenced by the evaluation process, use the evaluation results and build evaluation capacity than those who merely participated as a guest. They engaged in double-loop learning. We further found ...

“They Write Me Off And Don't Give Me A Chance To Learn Anything”: Positioning, Discipline, And Black Masculinities In School, Quaylan Allen

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This study examines the schooling of black male students in a U.S. high school. Drawing upon positioning theory and student resistance literature, I describe how the students make meaning of the pathologizing positioning practices of the school, including how they resist and internalize dominant discourses about black masculinity and how their performances of particular masculinities within the school are met with surveillance, regulation, and discipline. I argue that schools are locations where dominant ideologies of black masculinities are imposed, contested, and sometimes reproduced.

How Do Educational Leaders In Small, Fragile, And Developing Countries Translate Their Understandings Of Student Learning And Achievement Into Leadership Practices? A Case-Study About Leadership In Haïtian Urban Schools, Carolyne Pierre Marie Verret

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Haïti is unique in many respects; full of contradictions and paradoxes. While beautiful in many regards, it is fraught with issues: political, economic, societal, environmental, cultural, health-related, and educational. The latter stands out, however, as education affects the quality of the country’s human capital, determining the quality of life of its citizens. Therefore, having competent people in leadership positions is critical especially within schools where they can impact students’ learning, development, and achievement (SL/A).

Aiming to describe the state of educational leadership in Haïtian schools to inform policy-makers of the lived-experiences of educational leaders (ELs), the objectives of ...

You Are Now Entering The School Zone, Proceed With Caution: Educators, Arbitration, & Children’S Rights, Raquel Muniz

Arbitration Law Review

No abstract provided.

Middle School Engagement Benefits Of Offering Extracurricular Activities During The School Day, Angela Coffman Ringley

All Theses And Dissertations

Extracurricular activities are a significant part of the school experience for many students, but there are concerns about the demands placed on students and the overscheduling of their after-school time. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine longitudinal middle school student outcomes based on one school’s efforts to provide the benefits of extracurricular activities by offering those activities during the regular school day. This study explored the nature of the relationship between middle school, school-based extracurricular participation and subsequent student views of school connection. The study was conducted in an independent, private, Pre-K through 12th grade ...

Public Education Fuels The Debate: Academic Outcomes Of Students Socially Promoted From Eighth Grade To High School, Lisa Janosik

All Theses And Dissertations

Using archival data, this cross-sectional, descriptive study investigated the path of core course enrollment and completion of middle school students socially promoted from eighth grade to high school in a small, urban school district during 2008 to 2012. Supported by research surrounding the development of public education, the debate of retention versus social promotion, and adolescent development, this study delved into social promotion and whether it was an equitable and socially-just educational practice. Though this study quantitatively portrayed a positive outcome for students socially promoted from middle school, the data also showed that a majority of these students continued to ...

A Qualitative Study Of The Positive Transformation Of Public High School Cultures As Perceived By Administrators, Teachers, And Classified Staff Members, Amy L. Besler

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to discover the factors which contribute to the positive transformation of a comprehensive public high school’s culture as perceived by the school’s administrators, teachers, and classified staff. An additional purpose of the study is to determine what similarities and differences exist between the perceptions of administrators, teachers, and classified staff.

Methodology: The researcher identified comprehensive public high schools within the state of California where measurable growth in positive perceptions of school culture had been achieved within the preceding two to four years. Of this target population, six schools were ...

What Complicates Or Enables Teachers’ Enactment Of Leadership, Jill Bradley-Levine 8881892

The Qualitative Report

This article presents findings from a case study that describes the ways that four teachers pursuing their master’s degree in teacher leadership engaged in leadership activities in their schools. In order to explore this purpose, this study examines two research questions: (1) How do teachers enact leadership in their schools and (2) What complicates or enables teachers’ leadership activity? Findings indicate that the norms of the teaching profession including equality and privacy affect teachers’ enactment of leadership in their schools. Teacher leaders limit their work based on their knowledge of these norms, their past experiences engaging in leadership, and ...

Through The Lens Of Novice Teachers: A Lack Of Administrative Support And Its Influence On Self-Efficacy And Teacher Retention Issues, Pamela Talley

Dissertations

Novice teachers are leaving the profession at an alarming rate. The purpose of this research is to understand the organizational sources that novice teachers perceive as being a lack of administrative support. This phenomenological study explored the perceptions of ten, novice, middle school, and high school teachers, based on their lived experiences, toward the phenomenon of administrative support and how it influenced their career making decisions.

Guided by the theoretical framework of Dr. Victor Vroom’s (1964), expectancy theory, Robert M. House’s, (1971) path-goal leadership theory, Bandura’s (1977) social cognitive and self-efficacy theories, this study set out to ...

Trust Formation When Youth And Adults Partner To Lead School Reform: A Case Study Of Supportive Structures And Challenges, Catharine Biddle

Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership

This study examines the beliefs and practices that support and undermine trust formation in school leadership efforts that invite students into discussions of continuous improvement. Through a case study of a youth-adult partnership initiative, the study finds that trust between youth and adults was supported by having a shared, accessible language for discussing teaching and learning, opportunities for strengths-based dialogue around school practices, and regular opportunities to meet. However, there was also a perception gap between youth and adults around how well group members fulfilled their roles in the actual data collection process, causing conflict and undermining the long-term stability ...

Predicting Teacher Value-Added Results In Non-Tested Subjects Based On Confounding Variables: A Multinomial Logistic Regression, Nathan Street

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Teacher value-added measures (VAM) are designed to provide information regarding teachers’ causal impact on the academic growth of students while controlling for exogenous variables. While some researchers contend VAMs successfully and authentically measure teacher causality on learning, others suggest VAMs cannot adequately control for exogenous influences on the classroom. Furthermore, because VAMs are primarily connected to student performance on standardized, high-stakes exams and those exams are resoundingly considered to be inadequate measures of true student learning, educators and educational leaders assert VAM results are moot. The purpose of this study was to consider the potential for student background, teacher preparation ...

Teachers' Perceptions Of School Climate In High Performing Schools And Low Performing Schools, Briget Ethier

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, causal comparative research study was to determine if there was a significant difference in teachers’ perceptions of school climate between high performing schools and low performing schools. The study investigated teachers’ perceptions of overall school climate, collaboration, decision-making, instructional innovation, student relations, and school resources. Data was collected from 75 teachers in three high performing schools and 75 teachers in three low performing schools from one school district. The Revised School Level Environment Questionnaire (Revised SLEQ) was the instrument utilized in the study to measure teachers’ perceptions of overall school climate in addition to the ...

Culture Change In A Rural High School, Kristen Levesque

All Theses And Dissertations

Rural high schools are most impacted by a negative organizational culture. Toxic behaviors prevail over the positive ones. Perspectives about what is possible to attain become jaded when school outcomes do not match individual expectations. If leadership does not treat sustaining a positive school culture as a priority, then the successful transition to the new demands of education is unlikely. The qualitative research was founded in the conceptual framework about change and culture in schools. A grounded theory approach was used in the methodology to examine the role collaboration and leadership play in establishing culture. Research questions addressed the role ...

Review Of The Literature: Impact Of Music On Children With Special Needs

Scholarship and Engagement in Education

Music helps children with special needs improve their socialization skills.

School Principals’ Views On Administration Work, Their “Frequent Turnover” And Its Effects On Their Work, Aydin Balyer

The Qualitative Report

School administrators’ “frequent turnover” has been discussed intensively in the Turkish Educational System recently. Currently, principals are selected for 4 years after an interview conducted by a committee of directors of national education. After that period, they either go back to their classes or are chosen for another 4 years for the last time. This frequent turnover can be disruptive for schools. This study was conducted to determine school principals’ views on administration work and this frequent turnover. The study employed a qualitative research design. The participants were 20 principals chosen with maximum sampling method. The data were analyzed with ...

College And Career Readiness—Starting At The Beginning: Implications For An Urban School District On The Impacts Of Pre-Kindergarten, Dranita Lynette Morrow

Electronic Theses & Dissertations Collection for Atlanta University & Clark Atlanta University

This quantitative study focused on the impacts of the pre-kindergarten experience in a large urban district in Georgia. With the ongoing pursuit across the nation to be globally competitive with the education of our youth, this study analyzed multiple factors that can impact student achievement, with an emphasis on the kindergarten readiness variable. The research was conducted within two schools in the same urban district with third graders (who were continually enrolled in the school since kindergarten) and their parents, along with kindergarten and first grade teachers in the same schools. The data collected was analyzed using Pearson correlation, ANOVA ...