Education Commons^™

Building An Adaptive Culture Where Collaborative Teaching Teams Leverage Data To Improve Student Achievement And Wellbeing, Anand Mahadevan

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) seeks to open up the black box of classroom teaching to data informed collaborative inquiry by teachers for teachers using formative feedback as the model for instructional improvement. Teacher collective efficacy is developed through ongoing professional learning in collaborative teaching teams that use multiple measures of data to limit bias and improve equity of outcomes for students. Such a process is iterative, and the OIP envisions the combined use of adaptive leadership and distributed leadership approaches to support Kotter’s 8-step model for change implementation. The desired outcome is an adaptive and agile school culture where …

The Relationship Between Shared Decision-Making And School Climate, Sara Bardwell

Dissertations

The focus of this study was to determine the extent of the relationship between shared decision-making and school climate. In order to explore these constructs, a quantitative survey included SEDS-R, OCI, and demographic items. The 109-item survey questionnaire was made available to K-6 elementary teachers in Mississippi.

Two hundred twenty-nine teachers responded to the questionnaire using Qualtrics. Survey results from SEDS-R and OCI were downloaded into Excel and cleaned of incomplete data sets and participants who did not meet the specifications set by the researcher. SPSS was then used to average the results from SEDS-R and OCI. Demographic information gathered …

Creating A Unified School Culture In A Rural School Serving Families In Multiple Communities, Elliott Roellchen-Pfohl

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) addresses the fractured culture of School X resulting from an influx of staff and students from neighbouring communities following rural school closures. The problem of practice (PoP) presented explores ways that a unified school identity can be developed in a receiving school with a student population coming from three separate communities. Through the utilization of both distributed and authentic leadership, the methods that principals of rural schools can use to address this problem are explored. The focus of the problem when viewed through the social capital theory is that all stakeholders of the school have …

Principal Retention: Why Leaders Stay, Carrie Parker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study addressed the problem of principal retention. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influenced elementary principals to remain in the position and the factors that influenced incumbent principals to leave the elementary principalship. This qualitative case study used data from one-on-one interviews, focus group discussions, and student demographic data from the campuses represented to determine the factors that best influence retention. The sample population was 10 principals from 3 districts in Central Texas; 6 elementary school principals that continued to serve for 5 or more years and 4 incumbent principals that left the elementary …

A Principal Striving For Effective Instructional Leadership In An Era Of Accountability, Matthew J. Mazzoni

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this case study was to explore a principal's experiences and how they aligned to Hallinger and Murphy's (1985) effective instructional leadership practices in an era of accountability. This study of effective principal leadership is timely and relevant due to the recent implementation of national and state mandates for principals to be instructional leaders through the adoption of a distributed leadership model. This seventh year principal, also the researcher-participant in this study, had the responsibility of overseeing approximately 100 professional and support staff members and approximately 750 students ranging from pre-kindergarten to the eighth grade. The pre-k to …

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

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 responses. This …

Teacher Leaders’ Perceptions Of Their Influence On The Distributed Leadership Process At A Middle School, Katherine Susan Garand

All Theses And Dissertations

This interpretive, qualitative study explores the perspectives of teacher leaders within the middle school setting as to how they perceive their role influences the distributed leadership process. Five significant themes, with subthemes emerged from the data as a result of the analysis process. These themes were identified as Leadership style, Empowerment, Social Influence, Commitment and Job Role Confusion. This data allowed the researcher to develop several conclusions, including the need to clarify the specific responsibilities associated with the team leader role and the importance of developing more appropriate professional development opportunities for team leaders, specifically in the areas of …

Exploring Principal Leadership In Improving Elementary Schools, Brian A. Porter Phd

All Student Scholarship

As schools in Maine, and across the nation, are increasingly held to greater standards of accountability in terms of insuring higher levels of student academic growth and achievement, some schools are improving and some are not. Even beyond the constraints of tightening financial impositions and increasing accountability mandates, some are "defying the odds" and producing positive results. This research study sought to explore and understand the characteristics of principal leadership in improving elementary schools in Maine.

Narratives Of The Development Of Urban Teacher Leaders, Susan K. Newsom

Doctoral Dissertations

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the development of urban elementary teacher leaders as captured in narrative data and analyzed through the theoretical lenses of role identity, distributed leadership, teacher leadership and urban teacher leadership. The narratives of five teacher leaders provided rich descriptions that made it possible to: (a) examine possible mechanisms for encouraging leadership assertion choices; (b) identify support practices for encouraging leadership within future teachers in the urban context; and (c) provide insight for building leadership roles in the school environment for those who coordinate professional development activities.

Data were collected via semi-structured …