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A Study Of The Relationship Between Transformational Leadership And Teacher Attitudes, Scott Palczewski

Dissertations

One hundred Michigan public high schools were randomly selected to participate in a study of the relationship between transformational leadership and teacher attitudes. Forty-eight high schools with enrollments ranging from 237 students to 1,730 students responded, a response rate of 48%. The study required that each building principal complete the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Designed by Bass and Avolio (1990), the instrument uses 45 questions to identify the relative level of transformational leadership exhibited by the building principal.

Five dependent variables including teacher motivation, teacher satisfaction with administration, follower identification with work, teacher willingness to disagree with administration and teacher attitudes …

Intuitive Understanding Of Time And Space At The Age Of Four, Josephine Barry-Davis

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to test the central hypothesis that “children by the age of four years construct accurate and lasting conceptions o f time (past, present, future) and space (near and far away).” In order to test this hypothesis the researcher relied on qualitative research guidelines developed and published in recent years to address social science and educational research issues. The research design is especially applicable to young children where the researcher assumes the role of participant observer. In order to control for the context of the research, the children were observed for time and space cognitive …

The Relationship Between Principals' Leadership Characteristics And Characteristics Of Public Middle Schools, Linda S. Schneider-Rediske

Dissertations

Principals’ perceptions of the relationship between middle school leadership characteristics and the relevance and use of middle school characteristics were examined in this study. A systematic random sampling procedure was used to select principals from public middle schools in the State of Michigan. A survey instrument was developed to measure the variables. These variables were determined based on a review of the literature. The reliability of the instrument was obtained using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Spearman rank-ordered correlations were used to determine the strength and direction of the relationships of each hypothesis.

The findings from this study suggest that there …

Devolution Of Power Through Shared Decision Making, Jean Deboer Schmeichel

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the devolution of power as it is expressed by the extent of teacher involvement in shared decision making. Extent of both actual and desired involvement and the differences between them were investigated. Teachers were considered adequately empowered when there was no difference between the actual and desired results. The survey Teacher DecisionMaking Instrument {TDI), developed and validated by Dr. Donna L. Ferrara, was administered to K-12 teachers in a public school district in southeast Michigan.

The larger context of this study is the reform initiative called site-based management (SBM). Seen as an …

Effective Middle School Teachers : Becoming "Real", Rhoda C. Sommers

Dissertations

Problem. This study looks at four effective middle school teachers' stories in order to understand the experiences and beliefs which impact their choice to use developmentally responsive classroom practices. There is general agreement in the literature concerning characteristics of effective middle school teachers, but little has been done to understand what influences these teachers to teach the way they do.

Method. A qualitative case study design was used for this study. Two male and two female middle school teachers were observed and interviewed during the course of 1 school year. Each teacher's life experiences, classroom practices, and beliefs are …

A Descriptive Case Study Of Teaching Teams At Lakeside Middle School, Dion Harrigan

Dissertations

Problem. Much of current educational reform calls for teacher collaboration and teaming. These practices, however, are lacking in most middle schools. How do teams develop? Is there a prescribed pattern they must follow? What contributes to team growth? What are teachers' experiences as they collaborate? The answers to these questions are needed to facilitate effective teaming in schools.

Purpose. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine and describe the experiences of five middle school teams. I focus on the perceptions of the teams in terms of their development and relations with each other. The study describes how teachers' …