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Principal Leadership In High-Performing, High-Poverty Elementary Schools, Marc J. Cohen

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The focus of this mixed methods study was on Maryland Title I elementary principals who led schools to achieving adequate yearly progress during the 2011-2012 school year. At the time of the study, slightly more than one third of the Title I elementary schools in Maryland and throughout the U.S., achieved this status (U.S. Department of Education, 2013).

In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty-five principals from Title elementary schools in Maryland. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) Leader Form was administered to the participants as well.

This study findings indicated,

1. Principals of high-performing, high-poverty elementary schools were more transformational in …

Teachers' Perceptions Of The Reading Achievement Gap Between High-Achieving Students And Below-Basic Students, Helen Anne Iaconelli

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Atlantic Avenue Elementary School (AAES) experienced reading achievement gaps between high-performing students and below-basic students within the school reading curriculum and balanced literacy framework. Vygotsky's theories of scaffolding and zone of proximal development served as the framework guiding this project, which used a qualitative case study design to explore reading teachers' perceptions of the ways in which they were addressing this reading achievement gap. Individual interviews, classroom observations, and lesson plans were the sources of the qualitative data collected from 6 reading teachers. The data were coded manually using emerging and constant-comparative strategies to identify common themes. The themes that …

Increasing School Commitment By Listening To Veteran Teachers' Needs And Concerns, Carrie Mcatee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The role that support systems play in new teachers' levels of school commitment has been widely documented. However, veteran teachers' levels of commitment have not been as closely studied. According to the department of education in a Southeastern state, the veteran teacher attrition rate at a Title I school in an urban school district was in the double digits for several years. High veteran teacher attrition rates and low levels of commitment can cause problems such as loss of continuity of instruction for students. The purpose of this study was to identify veteran teachers' perceptions of their levels of school …