Education Commons^™

Expanding Capacity To Serve Multilingual Learners: A University-School District Partnership, Beth Clark-Gareca, Kim Fontana

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

In a time of new teacher certification requirements in New York, school districts are grappling with how to meet the regulatory expectations imposed by Commissioner’s Regulations Part 154. One way that schools are solving staffing challenges is by forging new collaborations with university partners to expand their collective capacities to serve Multilingual learners (MLLs). In this article, we document a partnership between SUNY New Paltz’s Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) program and the Pawling Central School District during the 2017-18 academic year. We describe the partners’ distinct roles in the university-district collaboration, and discuss the logistical considerations …

Perceptions Of Empowered Teacher Leaders, Michael J. Rafferty

All Theses And Dissertations

Teacher Leadership movements over the last 30 years have attempted to create leadership opportunities within and across an organization. The purpose of this mixed method case study was to evaluate the impact of a district’s teacher leadership opportunities to reduce teacher isolation and increase teacher collaboration. This study illustrated how effective teacher leadership initiatives should take Piaget’s idea (1971) of discovery learning and combine it with the concept that teaching and learning are more powerful when they involve social interaction (Bandura, 1987).

A literature review revealed a gap in understanding what systems and structures made collaboration more successful for teacher …

School Climate In The School Choice Era: A Comparative Analysis Of District-Run Public Schools And Charter Schools, Christopher Damian Duszka

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Comparative analyses of district-run public schools and charter schools are limited to performance outcomes. There is a dearth of research on how the school-types vary on factors consequential to performance such as school climate. Public-private distinctions, such as in organizational autonomy, value orientations, funding structures, and management practices, could result in school climate dissimilarities between district-run public schools and charter schools.

The aim of this dissertation is to assess the influence organizational factors have on school climate and determine if school-type affects school climate. Student and staff school climate survey data from the Miami-Dade school district were utilized for this …

A Call To Action: Indigenizing Curriculum Through Adaptive Leadership, Christie Rehmann Pettipas

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Since the release of the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015, the post-secondary sector has focused their attention on the indigenization of programming and practices with mixed results. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) presents a possible solution to embed Indigenous knowledge and culture in a program offered at a large urban college in Canada.

Both decolonization theory and Schein’s cultural assessment (2017) are used to identify current values and structures that are barriers to the effective integration of Indigenous knowledge in course curriculum and teaching. Utilizing an adaptive leadership framework (Hefeitz, 1994, Northouse, …

Enhancing Team Motivation Through A Period Of Rapid Change, Lisa Ramshaw

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This organizational improvement plan (OIP) presents possible leadership approaches and solutions to the enhance team motivation through a period of rapid change. The OIP focuses on a team within an educational training institute, strategically aligned to a large educational organization. The training institute was previously known as the professional learning and development (PLD) department and was situated within the corporate office of the organization. The Governing Board moved the PLD department into a separate business entity, a training institute, with a new commercial vision. The team therefore transitioned from an internal PLD department (cost center) with service-orientation, to an external …

Promoting Community Through Caring Leadership: An Action Research Project, Hazel Claros

M.A. in Higher Education Leadership: Action Research Projects

The overall purpose of this study was to increase collaboration across USD’s decentralized graduate admission departments through the approach of caring leadership (Uusiautti, 2013). The study was guided by the overarching question: How can I use caring leadership (Uusiautti, 2013) within academic affairs to encourage effective collaboration and understanding and foster a sense of community across departments? It was also guided by the sub-questions: Does gender impact the practices of collaboration and exchange of ideas within decentralized admission offices? If so, how does the current culture and structure of USD’s graduate admission offices aid/impede the practice of caring leadership (Uusiautti, …

Video Composition, Creative Discourse, And Facilitated Freedom: A Teacher's Journey To Reveal Student Potential, Michael A. Brinkmeyer

MSU Graduate Theses

This research project was conducted in response to students’ lack of engagement in traditional modes of instruction and composition in a high school English Language Arts course. In order to better understand students as creative composers of knowledge, this research project asked students to engage in the video production process in collaborative groups. The research was conducted over the course of eight class periods in three different sections of Junior-level English Language Arts courses. Analysis of the data from this study reveals three important findings: 1) students respond well to creative and relevant performance assessments; 2) students’ collaborative conversations, or …

Fostering Organizational Change Through A Solutions-Driven Culture Of Collaboration: A Case Study Of A Teachers’ Union In The Mid-Atlantic Region, Terence Che Ngwa

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

This case study explored how the teachers’ union in a mid-Atlantic urban school district used collaboration with the school district to foster a change in its organizational culture that was previously characterized by adversarial relationships. The change in the union culture presented a unique opportunity that led both sides to believe that there was value to short-term and long-term collaborative partnerships. The study was framed on an open systems theory of organizations and an evolutionary change theory. Evidence for the study was collected from published and unpublished data, field observations, a focus group discussion, and participant interviews. Overall, the researcher …

Change In The Middle: Implementing Professional Learning Communities For Sustained Instructional Change, Johnna L. Bryd-King

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to explore the influence of school leaders and teachers on surface level vs. sustained change through the implementation of professional learning communities, furthering the understanding of why some schools increase student achievement and others do not. Two predominant psychological theories, Kruglanski’s lay epistemic theory and Schwartz’s value theory, were used to explore the influence of cognition formation and values on the phenomenon within a complex environment. This research studied three Southeastern Virginia suburban middle schools. Case study methodologies were utilized, including school leader and PLC teacher member interviews, and an online survey that included …

Bull's Eye - Hitting The Target For Every Student!, Dianne M. Connolly Mrs., Sara Hastings Mrs.

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Hitting the reading target for every student requires precision, skill and practice. Learn how a dedicated Professional Learning Community of teachers, support staff, administration, and specialist created a targeted Tiered Reading System for all students. Shared mission + shared responsibility = shared success. Pentucket Lake school was recognized by the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education for their extensive turnaround work and closing the achievement gap. Participants will leave this session with the tools, videos, and training to implement this targeted instruction.

The Year One Book: Gemnasium (A Transdisciplinary Test Lab For Social Change), Brian Laduca, Adrienne Ausdenmoore, Anne R. Crecelius, Kevin P. Hallinan, Connie L. Bowman, Jackie M. Arnold, Philip Appiah-Kubi, Jana M. Bennett, Rebecca P. Blust, Michelle Hayford, Jerome Yorke, Mike Puckett, Castel Sweet

IACT Reports, Publications and Resources

Through an experimental process that is mutually beneficial to community partners, more opportunities for undergraduate research and experiential learning are cultivated. The GEMnasium accomplished this through active efforts of teaching, researching and partnering with the core ethos of the University in mind:

Learn: Teaching - Prepare servant-leaders through comprehensive academic and residential curricula and extraordinary experiential learning opportunities.

Lead: Researching - Perform research that leads to deeper understanding, addresses critical issues, and supports economic growth.

Serve: Partnering - Engage in mutually beneficial partnerships to strengthen our communities in Dayton and around the world.

In doing so, faculty and staff prototyped …

Making Headway: Developing Principals’ Leadership Skills Through Innovative Postgraduate Programs, Susan Simon, Michael Christie, Deborah Heck, Wayne Graham, Kairen Call

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Effective school leadership preparation has been regarded as desirable if not mandatory in Australia and globally for decades. Schools and school systems, higher education institutions and education jurisdictions have attempted with varying degrees of success to encourage teachers aspiring to become principals to prepare well for the complex role ahead. Research involving postgraduate education students identified that peer support, collaboration and collegial professional learning contributed towards self-development, strengthening the required Personal qualities, social and interpersonal skills of contemporary school leaders.

Collaboratively - Led Living Learning Programs: An Exploration For How Collaboration Is Facilitated Between Student Affairs Units And Academic Affairs In Llps, Trisha Clement-Montgomery

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

According to Inkelas et al. (2008), Living Learning Programs (LLPs) that are collaboratively led by academic affairs and student affairs units tend to have a significant impact on student learning, when compared to students who participate in LLPs that are operated by one unit (Inkelas et al., 2008). Despite evidence that co-authored LLPs are beneficial to enhancing the LLP student experience, there is little to no research that explores how administrators facilitate collaboration between the units used to co-author the LLP student experience. For this reason, the focus of this study was to explore how administrators facilitate collaboration between academic …