Education Commons^™

More Than Just Checking A Box: Teachers' Experiences Of Transformation In Equity-Focused Professional Learning, Melissa E. Moxley

Education Doctorate Dissertations

Pennsylvania has the largest disparity between student and faculty demographics. In fact, over half of Pennsylvania schools employ zero teachers of color. As student demographics change and teacher demographics remain the same, there is an ever-increasing need to train in-service teachers on diversity, equity, and inclusion tenets. Training teachers to be culturally competent requires them to alter their understandings in a transformational way. Often, cash-strapped districts attempt to produce training sessions in-house, developed by administrators who may have little training in the area themselves. This leads to professional learning that is left in the conference room once teachers leave. Research …

Literacy Across The Disciplines: A Way To Re-Engage Secondary Students, Jenelle Williams

Michigan Reading Journal

In this article, the author describes the opportunities present with leveraging disciplinary literacy approaches, in terms of re-engaging teens with learning. The author also provides several cautions for literacy leaders to keep in mind.

Behind The Scenes: Instructional Coaches’ Perceptions Of Curriculum Leadership Development, Cora C. Garner

Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations

Since the 20th century, instructional coaching has influenced curricular and pedagogical practices that impact student achievement in K-12 schools; however, the existing literature provides minimal evidence of their experiences in curriculum leadership development. To fill the research gap, this study explores instructional coaches’ perceptions of their professional learning related to curriculum development and leadership. The research questions included (1) How do ICs perceive professional learning opportunities for curriculum leadership? and (2) How do instructional coaches describe the development of their curriculum coaching knowledge and practices? Upon applying the conceptual framework, which included the Saylor et al. (1981) curriculum development model …

Leveraging Leadership To Retain Early Career Teachers In Stafford County Public Schools, Christopher Gannon, Caroline Canning, Andrew Hoyt, Lauren Johnson, Thomas Mcauley

Doctor of Education Capstones

Stafford County Public Schools requested an evaluation of their current support of Early Career Teachers (ECTs) with one to three years experience, and its potential impact on retention efforts. They stamped this request with urgency, noting the COVID-19 pandemic and teacher pay as two driving factors, specifically, impacting retention of teachers within their first three years. Our Capstone team sought a deeper understanding of the following issues in three research questions: 1) types of support across their division and within their school buildings, 2) the impact of current practices of support, and 3) division-wide considerations for enhancing current systems of …

The Missing Link: Applying Embodied Cognition To Professional Learning, Jon William

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Post-secondaries have been implementing a hyflex delivery model, which is a far more complex pedagogical setting than more traditional modes of face to face or online delivery. This has fundamentally changed the way faculty experience the learning environment, with some faculty noting an increase in stress and a decrease in performance. Drawing on Organization A’s implementation of hyflex, this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) observes professional learning (PL) for the hyflex environment focuses solely on technology and cognitive knowledge, with consideration to wellness and performance scantly discussed. This OIP proposes the missing link to address wellness and performance is the inclusion …

Pursuing Professional Learning By Using Social Media: How Do Instructional Designers Apply Self-Regulated Learning?, Pauline Salim Muljana, Tian Luo

Educational Leadership & Technology Faculty Publications

The instructional design and technology field are dynamic, requiring instructional designers to stay abreast through timely professional learning. Social media offers characteristics to collapse the time, geographical, and financial limitations of informal professional learning, but challenges exist. Continuous professional learning requires proactive actions, wherein self-regulated learning (SRL) plays an important role. However, not all professionals know the effective strategies to promote SRL skills. This study examines instructional designers’ (N = 17) experiences of professional learning on social media through an SRL lens. Data collected through semi-structured interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings include SRL strategies conducted by instructional designers …

Regenerating Professional Learning: The Influence Of Relationships On Teacher Identity, Agency, And Advocacy, Todd W. Mckinley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Professional development for teachers gained more attention with the passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 2001. However, reform efforts spurred by this act focused mainly on training for specific programs and curriculum materials, resulting in little attention to instruction. In the last thirty or more years, new approaches to professional development have emerged, with teacher leadership, in particular, gaining more attention in studies as an important mechanism for reforming classroom practice to raise student achievement. Research has mainly examined collaborative frameworks to sustain teacher growth through professional learning communities situated within the context of schools and …

Centering Community In Disciplinary Literacy Implementation: One District’S Story, Jenelle Williams, Stacie Angel, Jennifer Wilcox, Angela Church

Michigan Reading Journal

In this article, the authors describe the various ways they have centered community while implementing disciplinary literacy in their district. They outline how the work began, the role of professional learning, and the systemic approaches that are effectively moving the work forward. This story offers an alternate approach to implementation--one that honors educators' expertise, differentiates approaches, and develops collective efficacy.

Assessing The Fidelity Of School-Level Professional Learning Community Implementation, William W. Thigpen Ii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

As schools face increasing accountability, many have turned to professional learning communities (PLCs) as a possible solution. The challenge is that many schools are not implementing PLCs with fidelity. It is imperative that school leaders assess PLC practices to ensure that critical components are being implemented effectively. This research provides a framework for school leaders to assess school leader, teacher, and support staff perceptions of various PLC dimensions. Descriptive statistics were used to determine levels of agreement with statements related to six PLC dimensions. A one-way univariate analysis of variance tests (ANOVA) was used to analyze differences in mean …

School Leadership Assessment Of Teachers’ Work-Life Balance: Perceptions And Professional Learning Needs During A Global Health Pandemic, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Summer Pannell, Alissa Sasser, Katherine Fallon, Katarina Evans

School Leadership Review

The purpose of this study was to better understand the work-life balance of educators teaching students during the Covid-19 health pandemic. Teachers face a multitude of challenges during this unprecedented time with a rapid shift from traditional face-to-face class to online learning resulting in a cyclical phenomenon for many teachers as schools have shifted back and forth between virtual and in-person settings in response to constantly changing coronavirus messaging. The findings identified three overarching themes related to teachers’ needs including Boundaries with Time and Commitments, Mentally Processing Daily Stressors, and Healthy Lifestyle. Implications for practice denote that …

Model Classrooms: One Approach To Teacher Shortages, Ashlee Boothe

The Journal of Advancing Education Practice

Due to a nationwide teacher shortage, instructional leaders are utilizing more alternatively certified teachers than in the past, creating a problem for principals (Darling-Hammond & Berry, 2006; Birinci and Amburgey, 2022). Teachers in alternatively certified programs often lack pedagogy due to an absence of educational training, and as a result, principals hire teachers who are inadequately trained for the classroom. Therefore, there is a need to improve the way instructional leaders prepare alternatively certified teachers. The solution to this dilemma is creating professional learning through model classrooms, a term coined by the author. Model classrooms serve as exemplars to other …

The Impact Of Blended Professional Development On Teacher Efficacy And Practice, Sonia Hood

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the impact of blended professional development on teacher efficacy. The variables hours of blended learning, subjects taught, and years of experience were investigated. Additionally, teacher efficacy was analyzed across domains of student engagement, instructional practices, and classroom management. Multiple regression analyses were conducted, and the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale was administered to 112 teachers to investigate the following research questions: (a) What is the relationship between teachers’ self-efficacy and blended professional learning? (b) Is teacher efficacy influenced by the amount of time spent receiving blended professional learning, by the years …

Principal Professional Learning: Exploring Personal And Contextual Barriers And Facilitators Of Change, Jennifer M. Shepard

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Principals are regularly expected to navigate and lead in contexts of complex change. While professional learning is often seen as a key lever for change, there is minimal research regarding principal professional learning in change contexts and even fewer studies making explicit connections between professional learning and change. This qualitative multi-case study of four principals actively engaged in a district designed and facilitated yearlong professional learning program explores the experiences of principals within the program and identifies critical connection points between professional learning and change. Through a series of semi-structured interviews and document analyses, findings emerged indicating that principals had …

Building School Leader Capacity For Impact, Catherine L. Meyer-Looze, Rick Vandermolen

School Leadership Review

Effective school leaders focus on identifying the changes needed to improve student learning. However, school improvement is often reduced to a checklist of compliance activities, and, consequently, achievement gaps continue to stay the status quo, or even widen. This paper reports on a qualitative case study analyzing how professional learning was implemented by 17 school leaders within a northern Michigan intermediate school district. From 2016-2020, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews, administered a participant needs survey, and analyzed artifacts from a professional learning series for principals. The series, Building Leadership Capacity, was framed using Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, as well as …

The Conundrum Of Collaboration: Examining Collaboration As A Continuum Towards Professional Learning, Scott Harold Tavares Burnside

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Stories are a collaborative effort between teller and listener; utilizing the First Nations Métis Inuit (FNMI) tradition of Storytelling, this organizational improvement plan recounts the story of teacher collaboration at Ginkendan Secondary School (GSS, a pseudonym). A systems theory lens will be employed to frame a problem of contrived collegiality, a state of perfunctory collaboration resulting from dictated professional development that does not lead to professional learning. A feedback loop of teacher-derived professional learning will be investigated to propel teachers forward on a conceptual framework of a collaboration continuum. Comfortable collaboration, a stage where teachers are empowered to address their …

The Impact Of Culture On Learning Transfer In Burkina Faso And Ghana, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Culture is a predominant force in people’s lives that impacts learning and thus culture influences learning transfer. Because working across nations has become the norm and every year billions of dollars are spent on professional learning around the world, it is crucial for organisations to understand the role culture plays in the learning transfer process. Using a multidimensional model of learning transfer and the six dimensions of national culture model as conceptual frameworks, this qualitative study used a case study approach to examine the impact of culture on learning transfer in Burkina Faso and Ghana, West Africa. Interviews were conducted …

Creating Conditions For Collaboration: A Case Study On Design-Based Professional Learning, Leslie A. Lehner

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Design thinking is a process for solving complex problems through creative actions. There are three primary ways design thinking is being used in education today: (a) as a teaching tool, (b) as a strategy for teachers to redesign their students’ learning experiences, and (c) as a tool for school leaders to design school change (Gallagher & Thordarson, 2018). Design thinking includes a strong emphasis on team-based learning regarding the problem and possible solutions (Lindberg et al., 2010). This case study describes one school’s approach to navigating complex challenges, inspiring school change, and developing conditions for meaningful collaboration using a design …

Instructional Leadership Practices And School Leaders' Self-Efficacy, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer 4785659, Carter Akins, Antonio Gutierrez De Blume, Richard Cleveland, Summer Pannell

School Leadership Review

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate instructional leadership practices and the degree to which these practices predict the leadership self-efficacy of school leaders while controlling for years of experience as a school leader. With educational reform focused on school accountability, principals must attend to tasks that lead to school improvement. Identifying such tasks as instructional leadership practices and gaining a more comprehensive understanding of instructional leadership practices through leadership self-efficacy may contribute to school improvement. The methodology utilized a survey and the participants were 100 principals and assistant principals of public schools in the southeastern United States, …

Developing The Personal Leadership Resources Of The Ontario Leadership Framework For Principals And Vice Principals, Deborah R. Thompson

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In the Lakeside School District, the overall goal of the strategic plan is student achievement. Despite efforts to meet this goal through initiatives, resources, and pedagogical practice in classrooms, student achievement in Lakeside is stagnant. Given that effective school leadership can have a significant impact on student learning, this Organizational Improvement Plan suggests changing professional learning to support leadership development for school principals and vice principals, as a way of improving student achievement.

Effective school leadership is predicated on the ability to enact leadership practices that support learning. To enact these practices, school leaders must first have foundational leadership skills, …

Exploring The Professional Learning Experiences Of Adjunct Faculty In An Educational Leadership Preparation Program, Karen M. Swann

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The aim of this study was to explore the lived experiences of adjunct faculty to understand their roles and means for professional collaboration. The study examined how adjuncts engage and collaborate, professionally and informally, and what vehicles influence their growth. Finally, the study addressed how educational leadership preparation programs might be enhanced for relevant, continuous learning in order to improve instructional practices and the experiences of aspiring school leaders.

Using a phenomenological methodology, 27 adjuncts were interviewed from a university-based educational leadership preparation program in the southeast region of the United States. These in-depth interviews were transcribed and analyzed, using …

Perceptions On Teacher And Collective Efficacy While Platooning Over An Academic Year: A Case Study Of Three Elementary Educators, Alison Kay Ducharm

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Due to increased accountability requirements under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and, most recently, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), educators and administrators face intensified pressure to increase students’ achievement in their schools. Changing how classrooms are organized for instruction has been one response to this pressure. Platooning at the elementary level is one example of such an organizational change; however, very little research specifically addresses platooning at the elementary-level. Therefore, many interested school districts are faced with making an uninformed decision about platooning, particularly at the elementary level.

This qualitative study studied the perception of platooning on teacher and …

Professional Learning In Trauma Informed Positive Education: Moving School Communities From Trauma Affected To Trauma Aware, Helen Stokes, Tom Brunzell

School Leadership Review

In order to assess and then to identify promising approaches for school leadership within rural communities, it can be helpful to reframe struggling schools as trauma-affected schools. Acknowledging the impacts of childhood trauma on students and their learning allows school leaders to undertake professional learning both with and for their schools to become trauma-aware. Embedded within a rural community located in a region contending with intergenerational disadvantage, the findings reported in this study suggest that when school leaders deliberately implemented trauma-aware practice as a whole-school approach for all staff members, there was growth in student academic outcomes. In addition to …

Teacher Evaluation Practices And Policy Implications: Effective Strategies For Changing Instruction, Scott Grens

Dissertations

This study is a program evaluation of the effectiveness of teacher evaluation practices in a small suburban elementary school district in Illinois from 2017-2019. The primary research question explored in this program evaluation is whether and to what extent the teacher evaluation process is changing teacher practices in Washington School District 25. Employing a qualitative research methodology, with data gathered from teacher interviews, school administrator interviews, and document analysis, this study identified several key components to the improvement of instructional practices for teachers. Policy implications and recommendations highlight the importance of the following: a common instructional framework, staff involvement in …

Contextual Factors In Early Career Teaching: A Systematic Review Of International Research On Teacher Induction And Mentoring Programs, Benjamin Kutsyuruba, Keith D. Walker, Lorraine Godden

Journal of Global Education and Research

Early career teachers (ECTs) are situated in a dynamic contextual landscape that both influences their development and practice and dictates professional expectations for instruction and professional learning. This systematic review of international research literature sought to establish the understanding of teacher induction and mentoring program support of ECTs through the following research questions: 1) which nations and regions are represented in research literature that details formal or programmatic support of ECTs? 2) what international research evidence is there to describe various contextual factors that affect experiences of ECTs? and, 3) how do teacher induction and mentorship programs respond to the …

Brookings, South Dakota: Learning Lab, Doriane Paso

Empowering Research for Educators

The following paper explores the possibilities of education in one local setting using both an insider and outsider perspective. Education is a part of society, and as society changes, why should education not change with it?

Impact Of Lesson Study On Teachers’ Beliefs, Professional Knowledge, Collaboration, And Instructional Planning, Megan Houtchens

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies: Doctoral Research Projects

The purpose of this qualitative action research study was to create a lesson study framework that content and grade level teams of teachers can use to develop and implement their own professional learning connected to student learning goals over the course of a school year. The knowledge claim (McNiff, 2017) for this study is lesson study will result in changes in teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about their content, pedagogy and student learning, in teachers’ collaborative capacity, and in the teaching and learning resources that are used to support student thinking (Lewis et al., 2009). Three teams of content specific teachers …

Educating Our Educators: How Teachers Understand Themselves As Adult Learners And Perceive Their Professional Learning Experiences, Desirae` Khampanya

Education Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated how teachers understand themselves as adult learners and perceive their professional learning experiences within a rural school district in North Carolina. This study was a replication of Fitzgerald’s (2014) dissertation and sought to extend the generalizability of the original study. An explanatory mixed-methods design was used, and the two sources of data collected included an online survey and virtual interviews. The results from this study indicated that almost all participating teachers learned best when the core adult learning principles (Knowles, Holton, & Swanson, 2015) were applied to their professional learning experiences, but less than half of those …

Assistant Principals And The Phenomenon Of Leadership Coaching, Thomas Flugum

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

This study sought to define and explore executive leadership coaching as a form of professional learning for educational leaders. This was a qualitative phenomenological inquiry into the ways, if any, that leadership coaching impacts the skills and abilities of first-year assistant principals. Research was conducted with a cohort of newly appointed assistant principals from a suburban school district outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Participants were part of a district leadership academy which provided professional learning and support for new administrators. The participants received leadership coaching from coaches endorsed by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) as one form of professional learning.

A Program Evaluation Of District Professional Learning Practices Using The Standards Assessment Inventory, Scott Carlson

Dissertations

This paper details an evaluation of a school district's professional learning program for the purpose of understanding major patterns and important nuances that give shape to staff development. The perceptions of teaching staff were compared to Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning (2011) using the Standards Assessment Inventory-2. The research design followed a single-case study approach with a combination of survey and focus group methodologies. The goal was to determine to what extent the teaching staff perceive the impact of district professional development on their professional learning community. Teachers were also asked how we might strengthen our current learning designs. …

A Change Plan For District Professional Learning And Teacher Collaboration In The Area Of Elementary English Language Arts Instruction, Scott Carlson

Dissertations

This change plan used Wagner et al.’s (2006) framework to assess the arenas of culture, context, conditions, and competencies of a small suburban school district to create a plan for professional learning and teacher collaboration in the area of English Language Arts instruction. However, a backmapping approach could be used to plan professional learning in any subject area. Building on the judgments and recommendations from my program evaluation, I hope to move the school district toward a more comprehensive model of transformational learning. A secondary goal of this change plan is to build the capacity of the district’s staff development …