Chinese Public Education And Global Social Justice: The Organizational Challenges Of Initiating An Access Scholarship In A Chinese Public School, Spencer Aaron Matthew Fowler

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This OIP aims to support ABC Academy in its efforts to enable Middle Eastern refugees and other economically and politically marginalized youth to complete their final year of high school in Beijing, China. Transformative leadership, grounded in notions of social justice and democracy, provide a guide for an institution that seeks to bridge the divide between classroom education and social context. A robust framework for implementing change within an insular organization is proposed wherein transformative leadership’s key tenets are augmented by Kotter’s eight-step change model (1996). Capacity building and empowerment provide faculty with the tools necessary to improve student learning …

Towards Intercultural Understanding And Culturally Responsive Pedagogy: Building An Internationally Minded School, Meaghan Higginson

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

As an International Baccalaureate school in a diverse Canadian city, Welton Academy’s (pseudonym) vision is to be a world-class, academic school with a focus on shaping students into globally minded, engaged citizens. The demographics of the school are changing, as the student body is becoming increasingly more ethnically diverse. Currently, one of the school’s strategic missions is focused on international mindedness. Although the school’s vision to promote international mindedness includes global engagement and multilingualism, the area of intercultural understanding is not identified. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores a Problem of Practice (PoP) that highlights the need to develop intercultural …

Increasing Support For Victims Of Sexual Assault Through The Adoption Of A Victim-Centered Approach To Police Investigations, Kara Brooks

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Police services across North America have been criticized for their lack of support for victims throughout the investigative process, especially when investigating crimes involving sexual violence. The Problem of Practice addressed in this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) focuses on the lack of victim support throughout sexual assault investigations in a large police service in Canada. Taking a victim-centered approach to sexual assault investigations pushes the police organization to consider victims’ needs and rights ahead of strictly gathering information throughout a sexual assault investigation.

A gap analysis identified two main areas of focus for this (OIP): the need for enhanced training …

Building Capacity: A Cycle Of Change For A Non-Profit Clinical Service Organization, Sarah Drexler

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Families of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) need clinical behavioural services. A lack of capacity within non-profit agencies results in children and families often waiting for long periods of time to receive services. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to address a Problem of Practice (POP), namely, a lack of capacity within a clinical service agency to provide sufficient behavioural support to the number of children with IDD in its service area. The OIP includes an examination of the organizational context, factors influencing wait times for service, and the organization’s ability to implement change. Multiple solutions to address …

Developing French Language Learning Leadership, Kimberly A. Fortin

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan analyzes the leadership shortage in a French language school board and the scarcity of qualified, skilled, and knowledgeable principals and vice principals willing to lead schools as learning organizations within minority contexts. French language principals have a unique responsibility for ensuring instructional excellence and learning, and they must lead in ways that transmit the mission and values of Francophone language and culture (Leurebourg, 2013). They must understand the cultural context of leading in minority environments and that organizational survival depends upon adaptability and the capacity to learn as an organization. Organizations should have a long-term strategic …

Student Reengagement In An Alternative High School, Chantal Gauthier

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Abstract

Alternative high schools have been an option for students who do not succeed in the regular system in the hopes that doing things differently would help these students graduate. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) examines the situation of an alternative high school in a small French school board in Ontario. Student disengagement is reflected in poor attendance and impacts credit completion and graduation rates. Many solutions to improve engagement have been put forward with mitigated success. An analysis of the organizational readiness for change reveals that the organization feels the urgency of finding a solution to the problem. To …

How Principal Supervisors Build Principal Capacity For Instructional Leadership, Kevin Godden

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The purpose of this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is to assist districts, specifically senior educators, in utilizing practices designed to improve the capacity of principals for instructional leadership related to deep learning. This OIP is built on a theory of action that recognizes that principals play a critical role in creating the conditions for teachers and students to learn in meaningful ways. Under certain conditions, central office staff have a positive mediating role in enhancing principal instructional leadership and ultimately student learning. It is the premise of this OIP that when principal supervisors establish learning focused partnerships with principals, they …

Pd In International Schools: Getting The Right Message Out, Niall Johnson

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organisational Improvement Plan aims to outline how to improve the organisation and delivery of professional development at a for-profit international school in the Middle East. It examines the organisational context of the school, and the structure of the greater system of which it is part. The role of its regional context is discussed, with the effect on the operation of the school made plain. As a vision for change must rest on solid theoretical foundations, the conceptual lens through which the problem of practice is explored, as are appropriate issues that arise in relevant literature. It then examines the …

Balancing The Dialectic In Non-Profit Leadership: Exploring The Use Of Critical Andragogy To Achieve Uniform Service Delivery In A Harm Reduction Team, While Maintaining Their Activist Ethos., Evan Wick

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The social service sector provides services to the communities they are a part of. In an environment where resources are scarce and the needs of the community are high, the sector is in a constant struggle to do more with less. This is especially true within youth and harm reduction services. The social service agencies also grapple internally, as neoliberal discourses permeate the management of community services. The social service agency within this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) houses a program that provides harm reduction services to youth over a large geographical urban and suburban landscape. The program is experiencing …

How To Enhance Communication Among Healthcare Providers And Improve Patient Safety, Heather Gordon

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

In 2010, the Provincial Health Funder (PHF) mandated the reporting of unintentional adverse events that occur in the process of healthcare delivery, which result in disability, death, or prolong treatments. The results of reporting are available to the public on the Health Quality website, providing transparency for the public and accountability for Advanced Healthcare System (AHS)[1], which has made patient safety its organizational strategic priority (AHS, 2018).

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) seeks to improve communication and positive change among healthcare providers by maximizing the use of error prevention tools to improve patient safety. The principles of distributive …

Strategies For Improving The Organizational Value Of Training In A Corporate Setting, Anthony Meloche

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Training departments and the products and services they provide are often viewed by organizational leaders as expenses rather than investments. As organizations struggle to remain competitive and viable, the money and effort spent on training comes under increased critical examination. This Organization Improvement Plan (OIP) focuses on a training department, Corporate University (CU), operating within a specific organizational context at the Insurance Institute (II). The OIP examines the organization through various critical lenses including structural, human resource, technological, and symbolic perspectives to assess and propose practical actions the CU can take to demonstrate how the products and services they provide …

Maladaptive Coping Habits Amongst Student Leaders In Peer Support Roles: Reframing Exposure To Vicarious Trauma, Richard Caccamo

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Undergraduate orientation programs at post-secondary institutions are important platforms for new students to adjust to a new social and academic climate. Student leaders play a critical role in helping new students find belonging on campus. However, being in a peer support role can heighten student leaders’ exposure to vicarious trauma (VT) if they have not yet mastered how to regulate their own emotions or withstand the social and academic pressures associated with university. Many student leaders experience exacerbated symptoms of VT because of their maladaptive coping habits. Institution X does not have a viable framework to monitor or regulate student …

Developing Better Partnerships In A Family Health Team, Jennifer Fillingham

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This organizational improvement plan (OIP) considers the experience of an Ontario family health team whose growing portfolio of partnerships requires evidence-based structure. A brief review of the literature suggests that partnerships are best understood as social constructs, shared spaces that are co-created through the multiple perspectives of their contributors. Synthesis of competing perspectives, integration, is a recurring theme throughout the OIP. Two well-known organizational change models are integrated to create a system change model (SCM) more applicable to the system-level change inherent to healthcare partnerships and this OIP. SCM is supported by an integrated approach to leadership, the incorporation of …

Promoting Student Action In A Primary School, Kyle Hawkins

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This organizational improvement plan addresses a problem of practice in the primary division of an international school. This improvement plan focuses on increasing the quantity and quality of student action as an outcome of learning as evidenced in the school’s curriculum mapping database. Proposed changes are based on the belief that the overarching purpose of schooling is to prepare individuals for full engagement and participation in democratic society. Full participation requires that students develop a sense of agency and empowerment to act upon the knowledge they gain through their schooling. Schooling provides students with the ability and disposition to challenge …

Learning To Succeed: Supporting, Tracking And Engaging Education In The Workplace, John Mbakulo

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) identifies a need to support, track, and engage employees pursuing post-secondary education in a large-sized police service. The organization’s current investment in post-secondary education support is relatively small compared to the costs that learners face, and this figure has not increased in over a decade. Moreover, though education is tracked upon entering the workforce, due to technological changes these records are not easily obtainable, and any additional educational achievements are not recorded once an employee has started working. Expanding this focus on supporting education will reinforce the recognition of the value that additional education brings …

Implementing Authentic Formative Assessment To Improve Student Learning, Ola Elshurafa

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) capstone addresses the Problem of Practice (POP) pertaining to the lack of a robust system of authentic formative assessment at the Department of Business Administration (DBA) in an Arabian Gulf University. A synthesis on the literature around formative assessment has informed a conceptual model for the POP which highlighted the importance of formative assessment and its positive influence on student learning. This OIP designs a comprehensive and systematic plan which guides change towards the improvement of the POP, targeting stronger system performance and enhanced outcomes for student learning. Using an organizational culture lens, this OIP …

Aligning International Curriculum Standards And Practices With National Quality Assurance Frameworks, Tina Annette Stephenson

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan proposal will consider how the directors of our group of international schools can begin the work of aligning values, standards and practices to meet the needs of both the individual international schools and the nationalized quality assurance frameworks -- working with individual school principals in our home nation. The international school system provides alternatives to local and expatriate parents in an ever-increasing number of schools across the globe. As this number of international school increases, so too does the number of those schools which are required to align their international curriculum standards and practices with nationalized …

Improving The Learning Experiences Of English Language Learners In International Schools, Lana Al-Aghbar

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to improve the learning experiences of English Language Learners (ELLs) in international schools. It is framed around a Problem of Practice (PoP), which is based on concerns pertaining to ELLs’ English language acquisition difficulties and the limited incorporation of ELLs’ linguistic and cultural diversity. Central to this OIP is developing a desired state, which is proposed to improve ELLs’ inclusiveness. This OIP has been viewed through the lens of critical theory, relative to educational equity, and it is informed by sociocultural theory in relation to language learning within social contexts. An Internationally Minded Leadership …

Communicating Effectively With Vaccine Hesitant Patients, Erin Courtney

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Vaccine hesitancy is a multifaceted and complex public health issue, and a plethora of research has been conducted on patients’ vaccine knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs that contribute to decreased public confidence in vaccines which then decreases vaccine uptake, which ultimately has resulted in an increase of vaccine preventable disease outbreaks (for example, measles). Research also illustrates that health care providers (HCP) are patients’ primary source of vaccination information and that HCPs who can communicate effectively with these patients are more likely to encourage adherence to medical advice and the adoption of preventative health behaviours, such as vaccination. Unfortunately, the communication …

Integrating A Trauma-Informed Approach Throughout The School Board, Emily Burns

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The organization at the centre of this Improvement Plan is a school board in Ontario. The problem of practice (POP) being addressed is the inadequate integration of trauma-sensitive practices in educator pedagogies and in school policies and procedures. Currently, there is a lack of awareness and understanding of the potential impacts of trauma and toxic stress on student learning and development among educators and decision-makers throughout the school board. Without a thorough understanding of these potential impacts, it is challenging for educators to know how to best support trauma-affected students and help them experience success in their academics. Within her …

Supporting Youth Aging Out Of Government Care With Their Transition To College, Allison Schubert

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

For youth in and aging out of government care in British Columbia, accessing and completing college programs is a challenge that is gaining awareness in educational settings and the larger community. The research is clear; youth in and aging out of care are not as prepared as their peers to transition to college and have much less support to access them (Nichols et al. 2017, Shaffer et al. 2015). This paper identifies some of the main reasons for the discrepancy in educational outcomes, from an institutional perspective and as a broader wicked social problem. This Organizational Improvement Plan addresses this …

Global Competency And International Context At Aspiring Public Charter School, Joshua Symonds

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Teaching and assessing global competencies are areas of research that have become the focus of many educational organizations. This organizational improvement plan (OIP) examined the problem of a lack of global competencies taught, and international context provided, in an urban Canadian public school. The internal and external contextual landscape of the organization were considered, and available data analyzed to establish the need and readiness for change. Four primary solutions are proposed to solve this problem of practice: status quo and communication, international programs, strategic partnerships, and global competency education. Relying on contextual knowledge that connects the theories of servant, authentic, …

Student Persistence And Success, Kerry Lynn Durnford

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Organizations of higher education are under increasing pressure to provide and validate student attrition data, particularly for funding sources and accreditation bodies. Simplistic attrition formulas comparing the number of students admitted to a program to the number of students graduating in the traditional program length problematizes both students and the organization. Approaches to student retention in higher education have evolved to focus on increasing student enrolment numbers, and subsequent funding often depends on this information. However, in taking this strategic, neoliberal approach, organizations fail to address the multifactorial nature of student attrition and the supports needed to maximize student success. …

Overcoming Resistance When Adopting A Strengths-Based Case Management Service Delivery Model, Sheri-Lynn Mayhew

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

In 2016, Rapp & Goscha’s (2012) Strengths-based Case Management (SBCM) Service Delivery Model was adopted as an agency wide, best practice within Organization X. However, the clinicians within Service N, who support persons with developmental disabilities and mental illness known as a dual diagnosis, resisted this service delivery model implementation. Outcome measures following implementation for those with a dual diagnosis were poor. Specifically, goal attainment and fidelity scores were consistently lower since Rapp & Goscha’s (2012) SBCM Service Delivery Model implementation. This Organizational Improvement plan (OIP) examines which leadership theories and frameworks could address the resistance in adopting Rapp & …

Disrupting Schools For Boys: Interrogating Program, Policy, And Culture, Michael Paluch

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This inquiry draws upon a variety of philosophical and theoretical perspectives, including post-structuralism, feminist theory and Marxist philosophy for the purposes of identifying an appropriate leadership framework for educators at schools for boys. It is proposed that a disruptive approach to leadership might serve to stimulate the conscientization of stakeholders within boys’ schools with respect to how essentialist notions of masculinity may be limiting student achievement and personal growth. This conscientization may engender a deep interrogation of those programs, policies, and cultural aspects that might be serving to promote unhealthy and/or toxic performances of masculinity. The application of a constructivist …

Cultural Awareness: Organizational Improvement Plan For Improved Student Accommodation, Katheryn Pender

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Canadian colleges have the responsibility to be inclusive and diverse. The College is uniquely positioned to cater to a variety of students with varied learning needs. Concurrently, policy must accommodate students to encourage capacity to learn. The development of a campus environment that is culturally aware that supports a comprehensive student accommodation policy is the focus of this organizational improvement plan. Through the theoretical guidance of cultural organizational and evolutionary theory, a multi-year plan is developed. Capacity for the plan is through stakeholder representation and engagement. Further influence is garnered from an adaptive leadership approach that is communicated and organized …

Designing A New Resourcing Model For Rural Schools In Labrador, April Blake

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The motivation of this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is rooted in attaining more equity and social justice for marginalized groups in rural, geographically isolated sections of Labrador. The focus of the change process within the social justice frame is the lack of resources in these rural schools. The broad base of the resourcing issue encompasses lack of rural staff, books, manipulatives, technology, games, funding, community supports, consumables and all other standard school accompaniments. Departmental funding for our schools is very limited, this is an extensive and significant issue in most rural schools in the area, and this OIP plans change …

The Relatedness Of Leadership To Infant Education And Care: A Journey With Hannah Arendt, Tina Bonnett

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

In current movements that seek to redress the early education and care sector, professionals who work with infants are gaining recognition for possessing a unique set of expertise and competencies that extend beyond custodial caregiving. In this emerging recognition however, the relatedness between leadership and infant caregiving is dearth in early years research, policy, and practice agendas. This phenomenon is evidenced in course outcomes, content, and experiential elements in an Ontario early years honours leadership degree. As such, this Organizational Improvement (OIP) plan endeavours to tangibly intersect leadership and infant caregiving by examining contextual informants relating to this problem of …

Designing A New Resourcing Model For Rural Schools In Labrador, April Blake

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The motivation of this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is rooted in attaining more equity and social justice for marginalized groups in rural, geographically isolated sections of Labrador. The focus of the change process within the social justice frame is the lack of resources in these rural schools. The broad base of the resourcing issue encompasses lack of rural staff, books, manipulatives, technology, games, funding, community supports, consumables and all other standard school accompaniments. Departmental funding for our schools is very limited, this is an extensive and significant issue in most rural schools in the area, and this OIP plans change …

Increasing Collective Teacher Efficacy Through Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit And Coaching: A Community-Based Approach, Brenda Mercer

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Abstract

Instructional coaching in one remote northern community focuses on teacher mentorship and professional learning and prioritizes the implementation of prepackaged literacy resources. This focus on the implementation of prepackaged programs and data collection, promotes neo-liberal priorities and the privatization of education, over the methods that support the inclusion of Inuit cultural knowledge. Kostogriz (2011) states that we should be cautious about accepting the neo-liberal discourse of the literacy crisis and standardized reforms, the author suggests that low levels of literacy are not a large-scale problem so much as a result of under-provision of a socially just education.

This Problem …