Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Educational Leadership Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 12 of 12

Full-Text Articles in Educational Leadership

The Application Of Adult Learning And Development Theory In The Undergraduate Classroom, Jennifer Flewelling Apr 2021

The Application Of Adult Learning And Development Theory In The Undergraduate Classroom, Jennifer Flewelling

Educational Studies Dissertations

Instructors in higher education may have a limited knowledge of ways adults learn and develop. That lack of theoretical understanding may have inhibited the pedagogical practice of faculty in the undergraduate classroom. The purpose of this study was to explore how university instructors described their understanding of adult learning and development in undergraduate settings, and to identify factors that influenced the design and implementation of instructional practice as reported by undergraduate faculty. The study employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design. An online survey collected quantitative and qualitative data from 95 university instructors in Northeastern Massachusetts. Follow-up interviews were …


Unlocking The Potential For Every Teacher To Lead: A Phenomenological Study Of Informal Teacher Leadership, Jennifer M. Martin Nov 2018

Unlocking The Potential For Every Teacher To Lead: A Phenomenological Study Of Informal Teacher Leadership, Jennifer M. Martin

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study of informal teacher leaders used a phenomenological method of research to investigate the lived experiences of teachers who have led in schools without a formal title or position of leadership. The study used a mixed methods approach to gathering data including a survey of 111 secondary educators in Eastern Massachusetts and 10 interviews with informal teacher leaders at the high school and middle school levels. The study inquired about how informal teacher leaders understand the concept of teacher leadership, what motivates and prepares them for leadership, the factors and conditions that encourage or discourage engagement in informal …


The Leadership Of Principals And Their Influence On Student Learning In Public And Private Schools In Tripura, India, Pinto Paul Apr 2018

The Leadership Of Principals And Their Influence On Student Learning In Public And Private Schools In Tripura, India, Pinto Paul

Educational Studies Dissertations

Previous studies of leadership have shown that principal leadership is the single most influential factor in student learning, next to classroom teaching. They provided information that can be used for creating, supporting, and sustaining principal leadership practices to increase student learning. This study identified the factors and conditions that influence the leadership practices of principals, the various ways principals say that they influence student learning, and the challenges they face in helping others to improve student learning in Tripura. Northeast India. These data were drawn from open-ended questions used in in-depth face-to-face interviews with six public school principals and a …


Practitioner Research In Schools: Revealing The Efficacy Agency Cycle, Edward Resnick Apr 2018

Practitioner Research In Schools: Revealing The Efficacy Agency Cycle, Edward Resnick

Educational Studies Dissertations

Years of high stakes testing and managerial directives to improve student test scores created a trend of teachers’ declining sense of efficacy and agency. Researchers have yet to examine the perceptions of teachers following requirements to improve student engagement and school climate in an effort to improve academic performance following the authorization of local and national educational accountability reforms. The purpose of this study is to examine how teachers perceive their efficacy and agency in response to the addition of nonacademic measures and the requirement of documented input from teachers and other stakeholders into educational policy planning procedures. Veteran K-12 …


Discovering The Leader Within: An Autoethnophenomenographic Study Of Mindfulness In Educational Leadership, Alyssa Fraser Aug 2017

Discovering The Leader Within: An Autoethnophenomenographic Study Of Mindfulness In Educational Leadership, Alyssa Fraser

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative study combined autoethnographic and phenomenological methods to examine a researcher-leader’s attempt to cultivate cognitive, relational, and emotional capacities through regular mindfulness practice, and how the cultivation of such capacities aligns with the enactment of leadership. The interrogation of lived experience and self-analysis was entered with the intention to better understand the promise of mindfulness as a resource for the development of educational leaders. This study explored the perceived connections between mindfulness practice and the enactment of educational leadership by examining internal and external perspectives of an individual leader’s practice. Methods of self-observation, including both interval and occurrence recording …


Understanding How Principals Shape Collaborative School Culture, Kerri-Lyn Sankey Jan 2017

Understanding How Principals Shape Collaborative School Culture, Kerri-Lyn Sankey

Educational Studies Dissertations

The issue of school improvement is complex, and although reform initiatives have emanated from positive intentions for schools, many have been detrimental to school culture. Collaborative school culture has been cited as an essential element of school improvement; thus, a need exists to better understand how principals perceive and shape collaborative school cultures. This study examined leadership approaches and workplace conditions critical to the development of collaborative school cultures. The importance of the principal’s role in shaping collaborative culture is often noted in the literature. Using a sequential mixed methods explanatory research approach, the study consisted of two phases that …


Nontraditional Student Risk Factors And Gender As Predictors For Enrollment In College Distance Education, Tammy Crews Pao Mar 2016

Nontraditional Student Risk Factors And Gender As Predictors For Enrollment In College Distance Education, Tammy Crews Pao

Educational Studies Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine whether nontraditional student age, female gender, and the possession of nontraditional student risk factors predict enrollment in distance education college courses. This dissertation used data from the most recent National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:12), which consisted of approximately 95,000 undergraduate students who were enrolled in higher education in 2011-2012. The results of a logistic regression analysis indicated that both nontraditional student age and female gender were strong predictors of enrollment in distance education, whereas the number of nontraditional student risk indicators was a partial predictor. As leaders in higher education are …


Masculinities, Gendered Expression, And The Social, Emotional, And Academic Well-Being Of High School Boys, Cynthia Bazinet Apr 2015

Masculinities, Gendered Expression, And The Social, Emotional, And Academic Well-Being Of High School Boys, Cynthia Bazinet

Educational Studies Dissertations

There has been longstanding concern over the seemingly intractable problem of boys’ academic achievement. Despite extensive research, there is little consensus among researchers and educators regarding best practices and approaches in mitigating and remediating the problem. This mixed-methods study sought to illuminate the issue further by focusing on the meaningful lived experiences of six young men aged 18 to 24 who attended and graduated from a central Massachusetts public high school. The study asked participants to reflect through prompted writing upon the stresses and pressures as well as the factors and conditions that affected their abilities to manage their performativities …


The Social Intelligence Of Principals: Links To Teachers' Continuous Improvement, Joan Mcquade Jan 2013

The Social Intelligence Of Principals: Links To Teachers' Continuous Improvement, Joan Mcquade

Educational Studies Dissertations

Despite multiple efforts to reform 21st education to better meet the needs of all students, school improvement successes have been sporadic and debatable. Research suggests that significant improvement lies within the purview of teachers and principals, and this current research provided the underpinnings for the study. Based on neuroscience research and the continuous improvement concept, I examined linkages between principals' social intelligence and teachers' continuous improvement. Using a mixed method sequential explanatory research approach, the study consisted of four phases that employed both quantitative and qualitative measures. Massachusetts' principals (127) and teachers (331) were contacted by email to participate in …


The Perceptions Of Urban School Principles Regarding The Education Of Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Jean-Dominique Herve Anoh Jan 2013

The Perceptions Of Urban School Principles Regarding The Education Of Students With Emotional And Behavioral Disorders, Jean-Dominique Herve Anoh

Educational Studies Dissertations

This research investigated the perceptions and attitudes of principals and headmasters about the inclusion of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), the factors supporting or inhibiting school leaders in their effort to implement inclusive practices, and the approaches they use to initiate, facilitate, support and sustain the inclusion of students with EBD. Grounded in a mixed-method research, this investigator surveyed 71 school leaders and interviewed five of them. Descriptive and correlational findings supported by qualitative results reveal that principals and headmasters exhibit positive attitudes toward the inclusion of students with EBD. Overwhelmingly, attitudinal predictive variables such as school characteristics …


The Right Of Way: Ethical Decision Making Of Selected Elementary School Principals: A Dissertation, Jennifer Dechiara Jan 2007

The Right Of Way: Ethical Decision Making Of Selected Elementary School Principals: A Dissertation, Jennifer Dechiara

Educational Studies Dissertations

One of the central goals of current education reform in this country has been to equalize learning opportunities and outcomes for all groups of children, including and especially those groups previously marginalized. With federal education reform mandates of the early twenty-first century, the work of schools is rigidly evaluated on evidence of achievement - not simply evidence of good processes and intentions. This high-stakes demand for universal achievement has brought several ethical aspects of school leadership, including distribution of resources and equality of educational opportunity, sharply into focus. The subject of ethics in school administration has only recently been attended …


Sustainable Results In Urban Middle Schools: How Principals Use Systems Thinking To Lead Effective Change, Peggy H. Burke Jan 2002

Sustainable Results In Urban Middle Schools: How Principals Use Systems Thinking To Lead Effective Change, Peggy H. Burke

Educational Studies Dissertations

This study presents the stories of four urban middle school principals engaged in reform that is grounded on the core principle that every early adolescent has the capacity for high-level intellectual development. Data collected over two years through formal interviews and informal conversations with principals and teachers, school and district surveys and reports, student test data, and personal observations were analyzed from a systems thinking theoretical framework to assess each principal's ability to implement reform that produced sustainable results. A systems thinking framework articulates the importance of a leader's ability to: 1) conceptualize the whole and recognize patterns; 2) aspire …