Educational Leadership Commons^™

Stop The Burnout: Enhancing Support Practices For Principals, Jennifer M. Mcmullen

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Principals are essential for ensuring student success. Effective principals have a significant positive impact on student achievement, teacher effectiveness, a positive school culture and inclusive school climate. Increased demands of the role which include mounting managerial tasks and a lack of systems and centralized support for principals, is decreasing the focus on effective school improvement. Current research reveals an alarming trend regarding the absence of positive principal well-being and support structures. The River District School Board (RDSB; a pseudonym) requires a detailed change process and plan to improve this issue. This Problem of Practice (PoP) and Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) …

Building Capacity For Deep Learning, Seonaid J. Davis

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

Post COVID-19, gives school leaders the opportunity to build back a better school system focusing on the needs of students, preparing students to thrive in the 21^st century by shifting from teacher-centred to learner-centred pedagogy. Changing teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and skills to make this shift requires new learning through creating an effective professional learning environment. This organizational improvement plan explores how to build teacher capacity for 21^st century learning at the Family of Independent Schools (a pseudonym) in Ontario through the creation of collaborative inquiry teams where teachers develop an individual and collective understanding of deep learning. Deep …

Building An Adaptive Culture Where Collaborative Teaching Teams Leverage Data To Improve Student Achievement And Wellbeing, Anand Mahadevan

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) seeks to open up the black box of classroom teaching to data informed collaborative inquiry by teachers for teachers using formative feedback as the model for instructional improvement. Teacher collective efficacy is developed through ongoing professional learning in collaborative teaching teams that use multiple measures of data to limit bias and improve equity of outcomes for students. Such a process is iterative, and the OIP envisions the combined use of adaptive leadership and distributed leadership approaches to support Kotter’s 8-step model for change implementation. The desired outcome is an adaptive and agile school culture where …

Creating A Unified School Culture In A Rural School Serving Families In Multiple Communities, Elliott Roellchen-Pfohl

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) addresses the fractured culture of School X resulting from an influx of staff and students from neighbouring communities following rural school closures. The problem of practice (PoP) presented explores ways that a unified school identity can be developed in a receiving school with a student population coming from three separate communities. Through the utilization of both distributed and authentic leadership, the methods that principals of rural schools can use to address this problem are explored. The focus of the problem when viewed through the social capital theory is that all stakeholders of the school have …

How Do Educational Leaders In Small, Fragile, And Developing Countries Translate Their Understandings Of Student Learning And Achievement Into Leadership Practices? A Case-Study About Leadership In Haïtian Urban Schools, Carolyne Pierre Marie Verret

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Haïti is unique in many respects; full of contradictions and paradoxes. While beautiful in many regards, it is fraught with issues: political, economic, societal, environmental, cultural, health-related, and educational. The latter stands out, however, as education affects the quality of the country’s human capital, determining the quality of life of its citizens. Therefore, having competent people in leadership positions is critical especially within schools where they can impact students’ learning, development, and achievement (SL/A).

Aiming to describe the state of educational leadership in Haïtian schools to inform policy-makers of the lived-experiences of educational leaders (ELs), the objectives of this study …

South African Principalship, Agency & Intersectionality Theory, Michèle Schmidt, Raj Mestry

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

Gender bias towards South African female principals remains a problem and compelling issue for research. The Constitution policy addresses gender equality, yet women still do not experience equal rights in practice. This study uses a theory of intersectionality to examine two Black South African women’s leadership experiences in their roles as principals in two South African schools. The goal of the paper is to examine how these women negotiate obstacles in their work that may constrain their agency as leaders in South African schools. The project involves semi-structured interviews and the results provide a significant contribution to the small body …

Indigenous Urban School Leadership: A Critical Cross-Cultural Comparative Analysis Of Educational Leaders In New Zealand And The United States, Lorri J. Santamaría, Andrés P. Santamaría, Melinda Webber, Hoana Pearson

Comparative and International Education / Éducation Comparée et Internationale

This qualitative inquiry compares the practice of one Māori primary school leader of urban education for indigenous multicultural multilingual learners in New Zealand (NZ), to research on the practices of nine educational leaders of colour in the United States (US). This study identifies and compares leadership practices for leaders struggling with ways to positively impact learner outcomes in similar settings (e.g., UK, Canada). From a critical comparative perspective, this school principal shares her leadership practice and lessons learned to inform leadership practice in similarly multifaceted urban settings. This research is undertaken by a collaborative cross-cultural team of educational leaders and …