Education Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 …

A Qualitative Study To Identify, Evaluate, And Analyze University Policies, Procedures, And Programs To Determine The Degree Of Correspondence To The Council Of Adult And Experiential Learning Principles For Adult Learners, Yonna S. Pasch

Doctoral Dissertations

More adults are looking to higher education to re-enforce job security, potentially increase future income, and enhance skill sets and credentials (Ritt, 2008; Business Education Forum, 2013; Stevens, 2014; Harrison, 2017). The traditional structure of higher education institutions, however, continues to pose challenges for adult learner access (Tobolowsky & Cox, 2012; Dachner & Polin, 2016; Croix, 2018). The purpose of this study, utilizing a Distributed Leadership framework, was to identify, evaluate, and analyze university policies and procedures that utilize the Council of Adult and Experiential Learning Principles (CAEL). The study identified the level of CAEL Principle implementation found from policy …

Polytechnic Instructors As Scholars: Developing A Culture That Embraces Scholarly Activity, Ian M. Cowley

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) proposes a leadership solution to develop a culture that embraces faculty scholarly activity at a large Canadian polytechnic institution. The recent advent of two baccalaureate degrees at this diploma-offering institute brought with it the provincial government stipulation that faculty teaching in degree programs must be continually engaged in scholarly activity. A previous unsuccessful implementation of this requirement addressed the functional, managerial aspects of conducting research, however faculty were unprepared for the cultural shift necessary to transform them from polytechnic instructors to scholarly polytechnic instructors. Though the requirement to research remains, early attempts at support have …

Learning From Cultural Diversity For Intercultural Competency And Global Stewardship Development In A Boarding School, Alan Hesketh

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) explores opportunities to prioritize, teach, and assess intercultural competency in students at a large independent boarding school. The school currently assumes that the presence of a diverse population will result in intercultural learning, a strategy shown to be ineffective. Considering culture as the combined beliefs and behaviours of individuals due to the groups they have been a part of, and intercultural competency as the ability to interact appropriately with individuals who are different from oneself, the range of countries of origin and backgrounds of students, including boarders, provides diversity that could be leveraged to create …

Elementary School Leaders' Practices To Provide Equitable Discipline: Disproportionality On The Rise, Beverly L. Ford

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-methods study was conducted to explore practices Elementary School Leaders report using to address discipline. The study target population was school administrators in the Northeast Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA). The participants were principals and assistant principals located within 13 school districts and are comprised of 64 elementary schools. In order to gain a deeper understanding of practices reportedly used, the research asked the following questions:

1. What practices do Elementary School Leaders report are most effective in providing equitable application of discipline across the student population?
2. What practices do Elementary School Leaders report are used most frequently to provide …