Education Commons^™

Understanding Instructional Leadership: Perceptions Of Elementary Principals, Georgia M. Powell

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

With a proverbial finger pointing to principals as the school leaders responsible for overall student success, there is some increase in the accountability measures leadership provides. There is then more emphasis placed on principals’ capacity to take charge of the teaching and learning processes at the school level. The practices associated with the planning and guiding of the learning within schools is classified as instructional leadership. As part of their work. Principals are expected to be instructional leaders. This study explores how elementary principals in Ontario schools approach instructional leadership work especially since there is much ambiguity that exists about …

Supporting A Growth Mindset In High School Classroom Teachers, Peter Abboud

Dissertations

Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify and describe the strategies that California public high school principals utilized to develop a growth mindset in classroom teachers.

Methodology. This qualitative case study used interviews from 12 high school principals to gain an understanding for how they supported a growth mindset in their classroom teachers. The population for the case study was northern California high school principals, and the sample included high school principals from Napa, Sonoma, Solano, Marin, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties. To participate in the study, principals needed to be serving in at …

Work-Related Stress And Burnout Factors Of Principals In Regional Greece: A Historical Perspective, Christos Leventis, Evangelos C. Papakitsos, Konstantinos Karakiozis, Argyrios Argyriou

Journal of Research Initiatives

Work-related stress and burnout is a reality in modern society, because the lack of time and the high work demands seem increasingly intensified. Thus, the study of working conditions and the factors that affect the physical and mental health becomes even more imperative. Professions that are particularly stressful are those where there is daily contact with people, for example, doctors, nurses, social workers, or school leaders. Besides administrative and official duties, modern principals perform additional functions such as the organization and management of schools, the coordination of people who are involved in the teaching and operational process and they intervene …

Developing A Professional Certification System For School Principals: The Principals Australia Institute Certification Project, Lawrence Ingvarson

Dr Lawrence Ingvarson (Consultant)

In 2014, the Principals Australia Institute (PAI) decided to develop a national system for providing professional certification to accomplished school principals, based on the AITSL Australian Professional Standard for Principals (the Standard). ACER has been assisting the PAI in the development of valid and reliable methods whereby principals can demonstrate how they meet the Standard. This work has included conceptualising the system, developing an assessment and evaluation framework for certification, and developing guidelines for three portfolio initiatives linked to the Australian Professional Standard for Principals. The portfolio initiatives were field-tested in 2015 and a group of principals was trained to …

Leadership That Transforms Schools And School Systems, Brian Caldwell

2009 - 2019 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 - 2019 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 that …

Developing A Professional Certification System For School Principals: The Principals Australia Institute Certification Project, Lawrence Ingvarson

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

In 2014, the Principals Australia Institute (PAI) decided to develop a national system for providing professional certification to accomplished school principals, based on the AITSL Australian Professional Standard for Principals (the Standard). ACER has been assisting the PAI in the development of valid and reliable methods whereby principals can demonstrate how they meet the Standard. This work has included conceptualising the system, developing an assessment and evaluation framework for certification, and developing guidelines for three portfolio initiatives linked to the Australian Professional Standard for Principals. The portfolio initiatives were field-tested in 2015 and a group of principals was trained to …

Principals As Literacy Leaders: A Strategy For Improving Reading Engagement And Achievement In Australian Schools, Tony Townsend

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

By the end of 2017, approximately 1500 school leaders from all states and territories in Australia will have undertaken the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) program. This program was first funded in 2010 for 60 primary principals of disadvantaged schools by a Commonwealth Government grant under the Closing the Gap strategy. Since that time, additional cohorts of school leaders have been funded by state departments of education, professional associations and individual schools. Many of the programs were associated with research looking at various outcomes of the learning gained from the PALL program. To date, there have been six published studies, …

Courageous And Coherent Leadership Required For Excellent And Equitable Outcomes, Linda Bendikson

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

The paper illustrates the complexity of leadership work, using data on the varying perspectives of middle and senior leaders about their own goals; the seriousness of the problems that they face in reaching those goals; and the perceived effectiveness of the senior leadership team. The findings from these studies indicate that the basic leadership skills of problem analysis, focused goalsetting and close monitoring of progress towards goals are lacking in many leadership teams in secondary schools. These findings highlight the importance of a team of middle and senior leaders being aligned in their goal pursuit, being active problem-solvers and being …

Nourishing Teachers’ Leadership For Learning: Insights From Practitioner Research, Simon Clarke

2009 - 2019 ACER Research Conferences

This session contends that leadership and learning are mutually supporting and reinforcing. It is only recently that attempts have been made to describe in practice the complex connections existing between the two activities by drawing on empirical evidence. To this end, this session will depict ways in which leadership and learning are indispensable to each other in day-to-day teachers’ work, and the implications this symbiosis has for practice. Firstly, the session will consider the key foundations and principles of leadership for learning, especially as they relate to the Carpe Vitam international leadership for learning research project. Secondly, we will discuss …

Priorities Vs. Reality: A Task Analysis Of Secondary School Principals In The State Of Minnesota, David O. Lund

Culminating Projects in Education Administration and Leadership

Abstract

“The principal’s role in delivering quality education has long been recognized as an important organizational characteristic of schools. How principals should perform their roles, however, has been the subject of debate” (Smith & Andrews, 1989, p. 21). Since the inception of the principalship, the role of the principal has encompassed all operations of their school. During the early 1900s principals were primarily managers of facilities. Principals were predominately male teachers who performed clerical administrative duties such as the school schedule, length of year, facility management etc. (Kafka, 2009). As the role of education in our society has grown, so …

Elementary Teachers' And Principals' Concerns In The Implementation Of Inclusion In A South Texas School District, Lauren Y. Arce

Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed the in depth concerns that elementary regular education teachers, elementary special education teachers, and campus administrators in one South Texas school district have for the use or non-use of inclusionary practices as a means of educating students with special needs. These concerns that teachers and campus administrators have can influence the practice of inclusion. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to: (a) identify the levels of concern of elementary regular and special education teachers in one South Texas school district concerning the implementation of inclusion; (b) identify the levels of concern of campus administrators in …

The Impacts Of Principals' Knowledge And Advocacy On Gifted Programming In Site-Based Districts, Colleen E. Urlik

Teaching and Learning Sciences: Doctoral Research Projects

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of elementary principals’ knowledge-base and advocacy on gifted and talented (GT) programming within their school in a site-based district. This study sought to understand principals’ knowledge-base, acquisition of knowledge, and advocacy behaviors in an effort to support principals in the future to better understand and support GT programming within their schools. The research questions which guided this study were: How does the knowledge-base of a principal impact gifted and talented programming within his or her school? How does the advocacy behaviors of a principal impact gifted and talented programming within …

An Interactionist View Of African American Males In Educational Leadership, Samuel D. Dasher Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the segregation era, African American males held positions of leadership in schools in African American communities. When schools were integrated as a result of Brown v. The Board of Education, the number of African American males in positions of educational leadership began a rapid decline. Even as the demographics of the United States have become much more diverse, the gap between African American male educational leaders and their white male counterparts remains significant. This study examines the perceptions of African American male K-12 educational leaders about their positions, why they chose to become educational leaders, and the paths they …