Education Commons^™

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 …

Analysis Of School Counselor Leadership Practices Through The Lens Of Bolman And Deal’S Four-Framework Model, Patrice Suzette Banks-Rogers

Education Dissertations and Projects

School counselors play an integral role in school reform. School counselor leadership is key to academic, personal/social, and career readiness of all students in a school. This nonexperimental, quantitative study explored the following research questions: (1) What is the relationship between school counselors’ primary leadership orientation and specific demographic factors (current grade level served, total number of years as a counselor, and prior teaching experience); (2) What is the relationship between school counselors’ primary leadership orientation and actual and perceived job responsibilities; and (3) What is the relationship between school counselors’ primary leadership orientation and school counselors’ professional development preferences? …

Instructional Coaches' Perceptions Of The Extent To Which Varied Professional Learning Experiences Impact Their Efficacy, Magdalena Steytler

Education Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the limited body of research on the factors that impact the ability of instructional coaches to be highly effective in their multi-faceted roles. Specifically, the study examined the perceptions of instructional coaches regarding the effectiveness of varied professional learning experiences in addressing their own professional development needs and how instructional coaches interpreted their role and function as well as the knowledge and skills they deemed essential in performing their duties.

This mixed- methods study was conducted in the Piedmont area of North Carolina, it involved three data collection instruments: a survey …

An Examination Of The Perceptions Leading To The Sustainability Of Professional Learning Communities In A Rural School District, Mildred T. Bankhead-Smith

Education Dissertations and Projects

Principals and teacher leaders are expected to provide many learning opportunities for the colleagues with which they work and for the students they teach. The model employed to empower teachers to grow in the education profession and improve collaboration among colleagues and facilitate collegial conversation is the Professional Learning Community (PLC). The PLC model is exercised in many schools throughout the United States. As schools employee the PLC model, levels of leadership change, and teachers may or may not grow professionally. Though schools attempt to implement positive change, the sustainability of professional development can be in jeopardy.

This non-experimental, quantitative …