Education Commons^™

Native Knowledge 360° (Nk360°) Essential Understandings Framework: Reflections Using The Five Level Evaluation Model, Ashlyn Lafleur, Sarah Straub

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This paper explores participant takeaways regarding the Native Knowledge 360° workshop on artists and activism. The researcher utilized a five-step evaluation model (Kartal et al., 2019) to reflect upon belief, learning, reaction, transfer, and results. This professional development tool focuses on teacher level understanding and the transferability of lessons learned to the student results. The paper includes an example of transfer and a reflection on student results.

Not 'Fit In More,' I Would Say 'Stand Out Less': Dialogical Learning With A Filipino-American High School Student In A Predominantly White High School: A Case Study, Cristofer G. Slotoroff Ed.D.

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This piece seeks to amplify the voice of Jamie: a Filipino-American student in a predominantly White high school. Through a series of dialogues, the researcher seeks to take an intentional, purposeful step toward uncovering how Jamie's understanding of her school's cultural makeup influences her education, her self-conception, and her identity.

Through a series of qualitative interviews, the researcher seeks to value the singularity of Jamie's experience while, alternatively, taking note of how a better knowledge of her circumstances lends insight into the nuanced educational experiences of minority students in predominantly White schools. Using Shields's (2004) dialogical leadership for social justice …

Trauma-Informed Supports For Rebuilding School Communities, Nancy S. Stockall, William H. Blackwell

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

This manuscript describes four principles of trauma-informed supports that can guide school leaders in rebuilding school communities that have been fractured by the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the work of Hobfoll et al. (2007), these principles are: a) promoting a sense of safety, b) addressing safety within behavior support practices, c) building relationships, and d) promoting self-efficacy and instilling hope. As schools slowly reopen, there is a risk that the re-opening will signify that the crisis has ended and schools can return to their previous policies and systems of support. However, the lingering and long-term effects of the isolation and …

Using Relational Frame Theory To Teach Nutritional Values, Summer Koltonski Ph.D., Ginger L. Kelso Ph.D., Glen Mcculler Ph.D.

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Obesity is a significant health concern people of all ages on a global level. There have many studies that addressed nutrition concepts, however, those results are inadequate to lead to long term improved health because the improvements were too weak, too short lived, or did not generalize to other environments. There is a need to enhance the educational component and one solution is to design the instructional component using a theory of language and cognition, Relational Frame Theory (RFT). This method not only has potential to help the student learn information about foods, but also learn how to make comparisons …

Understanding Practice: A Pilot To Compare Mathematics Educators’ And Special Educators’ Use Of Purposeful Questions, Mary E. Sheppard, Robert Wieman

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Despite calls for alignment, descriptions of best practices from special education and math education researchers continues to diverge. However, there has been little discussion of how special education teacher educators and mathematics teacher educators compare in practice. This paper describes a study in which a range of teacher educators (N=51) were asked to evaluate a series of questions asked in response to a struggling student with a learning disability. The results indicate that teachers from both groups ranked initial assessment questions highly, and questions that lowered the cognitive demand of the task much lower. Differences between math education and …

Exposing Preservice Teachers To Emergent Bilinguals, Deborah J. Williams Ed.D., Jim Ewing

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This study followed a case study design and employed qualitative methods to explore monolingual preservice teachers’ (PSTs) attitudes toward learning to teach emergent bilinguals (EBs) in a dual language school. We sought to support and observe PSTs as they applied strategies learned in methodology courses to students in the field. Three overarching themes emerged from PSTs’ videotaped focus group interviews, weekly reflections, and field notes. Responses that supported Theme 1 suggested PSTs desired to teach EBs for a variety of reasons and Theme 2 supporting responses showed that PSTs confidence levels increased as they interacted with EBs. Responses that supported …

Interaction Effects Of Socioeconomic Status On Emerging Literacy And Literacy Skills Among Pre-Kindergarten And Kindergarten Children: A Comparison Study, Kasey Thompson, Lydia P. Richardson, Heather Newman, Kathleen George

Journal of Human Services: Training, Research, and Practice

Socioeconomic differences in children’s reading and educational outcomes have been thoroughly documented throughout literature. Bobalik, Scarber, and Toon (2017) examined the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and classroom instruction on emerging literacy skills in pre-kindergarten children. The results supported the theory that children identified as belonging to a low socioeconomic status enter school with lower emerging literacy skills and benefit most from academic instruction; these children’s literacy skills substantially increased throughout the academic year, growing closer to those of their peers who were identified with a high socioeconomic status. The aim of the present study was to expand our understanding …

Caring Culture And Leadership Revealed: Narrative Non-Fiction Story Method And The Crystallization Process, Anita L. Johnston

School Leadership Review

No abstract provided.

Ecological Systems, Complexity, And Student Achievement: Towards An Alternative Model Of Accountability In Education, Eileen S. Johnson

School Leadership Review

Within the field of education, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of context in understanding various aspects of education (Phillips & Burbules, 2000), and systems approaches to understanding change have become increasingly common. Yet, the simple linear algorithm implicit in current policy such as the Adequate Yearly Progress provision of No Child Left Behind (U.S. Department of Education, 2002) fails to take into account the complex and dynamic nature of education and represents an inappropriate oversimplification of educational outcomes and their measurement. This article postulates that the ecological systems model of Urie Bronfenbrenner represents a useful theoretical …

Professional Learning Communities: Are Schools Ready To Collaborate To Educate?, Rachel Hawkins, Jason Mixon

School Leadership Review

Every school in Texas has a common goal: students must pass the state-mandated test called the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). With pressure from the state and federal government to raise achievement scores, schools are frantically searching for a program that will guarantee student success. Unfortunately, no program will be found because it is people, not programs, who make a difference in education.

An Lnvestigation Of Princapals' Use Of Data In Data-Driven Decision-Making And The Impact On Student Achievement, Jimmy K. Byrd, Colleen Eddy

School Leadership Review

The passage and implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB, 2001) ushered in a new era of educational accountability and school improvement. Schools are held accountable to meet adequate yearly progress that requires educators to closely monitor student performance on high-stake assessments. Further, NCLB significantly increases the pressure on states, districts and schools to collect, analyze and report data. Accountability demands are increasingly forcing school leaders to explore student-level data and to complete more sophisticated analyses. Data-driven decision-making (DDDM) has become an emerging field of practice for school leadership (Streifer, 2002) and a central focus of education policy …

International Partnerships: A Model For Educational Organizations, Wesley D. Hickey, Janice M. Achtem, Joyce Nuner

School Leadership Review

Opportunities exist for faculty and students within educational leadership preparation programs to participate in international initiatives within developing countries. One way to do this is through collaboration with organizations that already have an established presence in the country. Working within these organizations provides opportunities for learning and research for the educational leadership program. If done well, such work also helps host organizations meet their mission and goals. An understanding of effective behaviors in international partnerships may benefit educational leadership programs that develop these types of service opportunities. The behaviors mirror the scholar-practitioner philosophy, of which some prominent educational leadership programs …

Maintaining The Human Touch In Educational Leadership, Sandra Harris

School Leadership Review

It is a pleasure to be invited to contribute to this special edition of the TCPEA School Leadership Review. TCPEA has been a valuable organization for me as the relationships that have been fostered through it have enabled me to grow personally and professionally. This has led me to consider some of the issues that educational leaders are facing today and will continue to face in the years to come which are focused on the notion of how to effectively maintain human relationships. While few leaders agree on everything, there is no doubt that we all agree this is a …

Democracy And Education: The Philosophy Of Theorist Carl D. Glickman, Dina L. Rowe

School Leadership Review

Dr. Carl D. Glickman started in education as a Teacher Corps intern in the south. He went on to become a principal and university professor. Over his career, Glickman has won many awards including the faculty career award from the University of Georgia. He has served in a leadership capacity on many university, state, and national organizations focused on improving education. He founded The Georgia League of Professional Schools and has served on the National Commission on Service Learning. Among his accomplishments he has authored numerous books and articles on educational renewal and school leadership (Glickman, 1993). Glickman’s life and …

Connecting Response To Intervention And Grade Retention: Implications For School Leaders, Bret G. Range, Dorothy Jean Yocom

School Leadership Review

Within all classrooms of public schools, teachers greet general education students acknowledging broad differences in their learning readiness and social skills (Fuchs, Fuchs, & Compton, 2010; Martin, 2010). The needs of some students may be so diverse that educators find implementing differentiated instructional strategies with integrity extremely difficult. Many individually research-based strategies have been implemented to provide helpful instruction to all learners. This paper presents the concept of a merger between two of these strategies: Response to Intervention (RTI) and grade retention. As a result, the conceptual framework for this manuscript is anchored within the RTI and grade retention literatures, …

A Case For An Online Educational Administrator Practicum Experience, Texas Council Of Professors Of Educational Administration Compiled By Lloyd Goldsmith

School Leadership Review

The principal and superintendent practicum experiences have traditionally been entirely face-to-face (f2f) between university professors, interns and site mentors – typically a campus or district administrator (Figure 1). Advancements in technology combined with the exponential growth of online graduate programs give rise to additional incorporation of technology into the practicum experience.

Dennis Littky, The Educational Activist: Can His Model Revamp The Public Educational System?, Dana Mitchell Barnes

School Leadership Review

When an individual observes a classroom of today, he will see many elements that are recognizable to anyone who attended school during the last one hundred years, students working from textbooks, repetitive worksheets, and rows of desks holding students completing tasks directed by the teacher. Even though societal and technological advancements are increasing rapidly, our school system has stayed stagnant. What this means for students is the lack of individuality, teachers’ non acceptance of personal interests, lack of personal voice, and in many cases, a non relationship between teacher and student beyond the classroom assignment (Castleman & Littky, 2007).

What Students Tell Us About School If We Ask, Nancy K. Votteler, Mary E. Robbins, Debra Price

School Leadership Review

This article examines what school climate factors students perceive as helping them be successful in school, and what school administrators can do to aid the process. Specifically, the questions that drove this inquiry were

• How does sociocultural theory impact student voice and student engagement in the classroom?
• How does caring pedagogy impact student voice and student engagement in the classroom?
• What school climate factors do students perceive as helping them to be successful in school?

A Messenger For Change, Mary Ann Whiteker

School Leadership Review

It is now time for all educators to embrace the power of a social epidemic. Schools across Texas are embracing a “New Vision for Texas Public Schools”. This vision embraces schools where all students are engaged in relevant, rigorous, meaningful activities and where classrooms reflect innovation, creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, communication and critical thinking. In this new vision, daily standardized test preparation and boring fact-memorization skills are replaced with digital learning, curriculum standards relevant to real-world challenges, multiple assessments for student performance, and accountability that’s based on a combination of measures, not just one state mandated test. It is about creating …

Partnering With Districts In Principal Preparation: Key Program Features In Strengthening Aspiring Principals’ Understanding Of Issues Of Equity And Excellence, Betty Alford, Stacy Hendricks

School Leadership Review

The need for increased numbers of students of all ethnic groups to access and succeed in postsecondary education is a 21st century reality (Swail, Cabrera, & Lee, 2004). As Swail, Cabreraet al. (2004) reported, The act of going to college and earning a degree is more important than ever to today’s youth and our society. . . . Unfortunately, access to a postsecondary education is not equal in America. Students historically underrepresented at the postsecondary level – students of color, those from low-income backgrounds, and first-generation students- are still less likely to prepare for, apply for, enroll in, and persist …

Family Involvement Strategies Of Asian Students With High Achievement In Middle School Mathematics: A Phenomenological Study, Kenneth N. Anisiobi

School Leadership Review

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires that schools maintain policies, strategies, and practices that support parental involvement in the education of all children (No Child Left Behind [NCLB], 2002). Houtenville and Conway (2008) found that by implementing strategies which promote family engagement in the educational process, schools can save up to one thousand dollars per child in education expenses per year.

A Phenomenological Narrative Study: Elementary Charter Principals' Role As An Instructional Leader, Ahmet F. Cetinkaya

School Leadership Review

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) (2013) defined charter schools on the company website as "independent public schools allowed freedom to be more innovative, while being held accountable for improved student achievement" (p. l ). Although there might be differences in their structures depending on state charter school laws and agreement between their authorizers, charter schools have been shown to have more flexibility in their educational programs and management styles in comparison with traditional public schools.

The Impact Of High Stakes Testing On School Leadership, Yanira Oliveras-Ortiz

School Leadership Review

As I observed and recorded a classroom teacher at the beginning of the spring semester, I remembered how much I enjoyed working with teachers to help them grow and become master teachers. While reflecting on this master teacher's lesson, I pondered how drastically things have changed since I became a school administrator in 2001. I was amazed when the advanced academics teacher mentioned the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) need a source for ST AAR on a number of occasions throughout her lesson. The intent of her comments was to bring awareness to these young learners about …

The Effectiveness Of An Online Credit Recovery Program On Improving The Graduation Rates Of Students At Risk Of School Failure, Carrie Eddy, Julia Ballenger

School Leadership Review

Students are dropping out of high school at alarming rates. Reports suggest that between 6,300 and 7,000 high school students drop out daily (Dessoff, 2009; Stanley & Plucker, 2008), and more than 1.3 million students drop out each year (Long-Coleman, 2009; Zehr, 2010). In the United States, nearly one in five individuals has not earned a high school diploma or General Equivalency Degree (GED) (Kaufman, Alt, & Chapman, 2004). Every member of society feels the impact of high school dropouts, given the enormous economic and social costs (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], 2009). For example, over the course …

Selection Process For Educational Leaders Does Make A Difference, Virginia Leiker, Theresa M. Campos

School Leadership Review

Traditional principal preparation programs, those bound by a university degree, are sometimes viewed as theory-based and have little to do with the real world in which school leaders work. Even the licensing exam in some states, such as in Texas, asks the candidates to view each scenario as the ideal situation when selecting responses. Traditional preparation programs frequently meet the standards for national accreditation that indicates that the curriculum and assessments in these programs are subjected to rigorous scrutiny for quality control. The question remains, what should universities do to improve their programs or change the perception that the graduates …

Supporting New School Leaders Through Mentoring, Lisa A. Bertrand, David Stader, Sherry Copeland

School Leadership Review

Mentoring may best be defined as “a process where one person provides individual support and challenge to another professional (Bush, 2009, p.379). The importance of mentoring new teachers and administrators has long been recognized. For example, since 2000 more than half of the states have passed laws requiring mentoring of new principals (Daresh, 2004; Spiro, Mattis, & Mitgang 2007). Most of these laws have required mentoring in the first two years of practice. Grissom & Harrington (2010) found under the mentorship model, a more experienced principal mentor provides the support, guidance, advice and sounding board as the new principal becomes …

Perceptions Of Beginning Teachers And Mentor Teachers: Case Study Of A Campus Mentor Program, Deborah F. Spoon, Ray Thompson, Paul Tapper

School Leadership Review

Attrition of teachers is a concern for leaders in education; teacher turnover is higher in education compared to many other occupations and professions, especially in the first years on the job (Ingersoll 2003; Ingersoll & Perda, 2010). Nearly half a million teachers leave the education field every year (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2014) while the recruitment and training of teachers is costing the United States about $2 billion each year (Rizga, 2015). The high turnover places a financial burden on districts resulting in decreased resources for books, materials, and staff development of teachers; additionally, replacing teachers can disrupt the instructional …

School Administrators As Instructional Coaches: Teachers' Trust And Perceptions Of Administrators' Capacity, Yanira Oliveras-Ortiz

School Leadership Review

As the Texas Education Agency (TEA) rolls out the state-wide implementation of the new teacher evaluation system, thousands of Texas school administrators have completed the required training and have become certified appraisers under the new Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS). During the state training, participants are challenged to serve as change agents in leading the shift in thinking about teacher evaluations to embrace a teacher growth model with an instructional supervision platform. Studies have indeed found that school principals who are involved in instructional supervision have a positive impact on test scores, including a constant improvement in scores …

Educational Leadership Coaching As Professional Development, Beth Ray

School Leadership Review

As the burden of school leadership continues to increase in complexity, the need for reflective, collaborative leadership surges in tandem. The collaborative approach of educational leadership coaching develops school leaders and teacher leaders into meta-cognitive, reflective practitioners. Shoho, Barnett, and Martinez (2012) posited, "Many school systems are embracing coaching as a way to influence and enhance leaders' skill development, cognitive abilities, and emotional intelligence" (p. 165). These skilled educational leaders can then seek solutions that allow for the complexity of the school systems while generating positive student outcomes, relational trust, and increased teacher efficacy.

Preparing Educational Leaders For Social Justice: Reimagining One Educational Leadership Program From The Ground Up, Holly M. Manaseri, Christopher B. Manaseri

School Leadership Review

Thirty years after the report that started the latest round of educational reform, A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Education Excellence, 1983), the Wallace Foundation began funding a series of studies examining the preparation of school and district leaders. Bringing together findings from four reports, one each by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), The School Superintendents Association (AASA), the American Institutes for Research (AIR), and the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), the Wallace Foundation issued five key recommendations for university preparation of school leaders. This call to action was sounded at a time when …