Educational Leadership Commons^™

Leveraging University Partnerships To Build Capacity In Rural Schools: A Case Study, Wesley D. Hickey, Ross Sherman, Cody Mize, Michael Donley

School Leadership Review

University partnerships provide an avenue to increase capacity within K-12 schools. This case study reviews and successful partnership and the steps taken to make it work.

Using Equity Audits To Create A Support System For Marginalized Students, Dusty L. Palmer, Irma L. Almager, Fernando Valle, Cathy Gabro, Vanessa Deleon

School Leadership Review

This qualitative content analysis study examined the framing of equity audits and the Texas Accountability Intervention System (TAIS) plans implemented by aspiring principal fellows to develop a support system for marginalized students. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how a principal preparation program leverages equity-driven data to support the learning and engagement of all students, with an emphasis on supporting English Language Learners (ELL)s and Special Education (SPED) students. The findings revealed that using equity-driven data and progress monitoring quarterly goals did impact student learning, specifically with the ELL and SPED population

A Qualitative Study Exploring The Influence Of Low-Income Parental Engagement On Academic Achievement, Deborah Cardin

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand and describe the strategies that low-income parents use to support their high school students’ high academic achievement.

Methodology: In this qualitative case study, interviews, artifacts, and researcher notes were used to understand and describe the parental engagement behaviors and strategies of low-income parents that contributed to the academic achievement of students from the participant’s perspective. Several themes were derived from the shared experiences of the participants through analysis of data.

Findings: Key findings included parental use of: verbal communication and their presence in the lives of their student, traditionally …

Exemplary Human Resources Administrators Leading Through Storytelling, Colleen Slattery

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe how exemplary human resources administrators use storytelling to lead organizations using Denning’s (2011) model. In addition, it was the purpose to understand how they use storytelling to create transformational change. Denning’s The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling highlights eight storytelling narrative patterns: to ignite action and implement new ideas, build trust, build your organizations’ brand, transmit organizational values, foster collaboration, share knowledge, neutralize rumor, and create and share vision.

Methodology: This phenomenological qualitative study described the lived experiences of exemplary human resources administrators in Northern California. The researcher was …

Strategies Exemplary High School District Superintendents Use To Work With The Political Styles Of School Board Members, Jeffrey Tooker

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this mixed methods study was to understand the political styles of high school district superintendents and school board members as perceived by superintendents. In addition, it was the purpose of this study to identify the political strategies high school district superintendents use to work with the different political styles of board members. Methodology: Through an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study design, an electronic survey was utilized to collect quantitative data. Following quantitative data collection, in-depth qualitative data was collected through one-on-one interviews with exemplary high school district superintendents in California. The results of the quantitative survey data …

Book Review: Our Towns: A 100,000 Mile Journey Into The Heart Of America, Keith Morton

eJournal of Public Affairs

Book review of James and Deborah Fallows, Our towns: a 100,000 mile journey into the heart of America

Utilizing The College-Level Community Engagement Assessment Rubric To Identify Strengths, Weaknesses And Opportunities For Growth In Drexel University’S College Of Arts And Sciences, Cyndi R. Rickards, Jennifer Kebea, Brian Daley, Lawrence Souder

eJournal of Public Affairs

The College of Arts and Sciences (CoAS), one of Drexel’s largest colleges, has intentionally aimed to grow and deepen its commitment to civic engagement across the last decade. CoAS has significantly demonstrated a commitment to community engagement by making it a funding priority and creating a leadership position to support engagement. Because of the varying levels and formats of the college’s efforts towards civic engagement, a process of assessment was needed. To channel our assessment efforts we adopted Saltmarsh and Middleton’s pilot assessment rubric. A group of seven engaged faculty from across the college and the Executive Director of the …

Student Voice: A Qualitative Study Investigating Students' Experiences And Teachers’ Perceptions Of Instructional Practice Across Learning Levels, Lisa A. Moore

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

Using a 360-degree approach, this qualitative case study compared the experiences of students and the perceptions of teachers concerning instructional practice across learning levels in a northwest Georgia high school. The purpose was to use student voice to inform administrators of teachers’ and students’ classroom engagement. Using nine math classes across three learning levels (foundations algebra, on-level algebra, and advanced algebra), the study used open-ended surveys to collect self-reported data from students and teachers to identify common themes of learning and teaching practices. The common themes identified agreements and collaborative strategies between students and teachers at three different learning levels …

Designing Our Principal Pipeline From A Job-Embedded Residency, Dusty L. Palmer, Irma L. Almager, Fernando Valle

School Leadership Review

This qualitative case study explores the impact of job-embedded principal preparation residency programs through the lens of a school district’s administrator.  The school-university partnership provided an innovative way to prepare aspiring school leaders.  The job-embedded structure provided an authentic, contextual base experience where aspiring principals served as interns over a 15-month period in their current school district.  The praxis of the study positions principal interns to impact teacher growth and improve student achievement during their job-embedded placement.  Overall, the school district invested in its own teachers and are now leading their campuses in a principalship  role.

Perceptions Of Rural Superintendents On Factors Influencing Employment Decisions, Heather P. Williams, Kathleen Shoup, Lisa Colon Durham, Ben A. Johnson, Shannon Dunstan, Brittany A. Brady, Carl F. Siebert

School Leadership Review

School districts struggle to attract and maintain a sufficient supply of highly capable superintendents. High-needs within rural districts, in particular, often are not able to attract and retain effective leaders. The issue of short superintendent tenure has drawn speculation and concern that revolving leadership may have negative consequences for schools and student achievement. A variety of factors contribute to superintendent turnover including: school board relations, job satisfaction, school district characteristics, and the personal characteristics of superintendents (Grissom & Anderson, 2012; Kamrath & Brunner, 2014; Wood, Finch & Mirecki, 2013). This study provides insight into perceptions of rural superintendents (n=10) and …

Professional Learning In Trauma Informed Positive Education: Moving School Communities From Trauma Affected To Trauma Aware, Helen Stokes, Tom Brunzell

School Leadership Review

In order to assess and then to identify promising approaches for school leadership within rural communities, it can be helpful to reframe struggling schools as trauma-affected schools. Acknowledging the impacts of childhood trauma on students and their learning allows school leaders to undertake professional learning both with and for their schools to become trauma-aware. Embedded within a rural community located in a region contending with intergenerational disadvantage, the findings reported in this study suggest that when school leaders deliberately implemented trauma-aware practice as a whole-school approach for all staff members, there was growth in student academic outcomes. In addition to …

Practice-Based Coaching And Early Childhood Professional Standards In A Diverse Field, Julie Betthauser

Graduate Teacher Education

Abstract

The field of early childhood education has long relied on professional development strategies to support teachers with varying degrees of education who enter the field from a variety of disciplines. Research indicated educators needed intensive and individualized professional development efforts that were integrated into daily practice (Rodgers, Kennedy, VanUitert, & Myers, 2019). Practice-based coaching has been used as a professional development strategy in early childhood classrooms to develop educators’ knowledge and skills in best practices for young children. Thirty-two empirical studies conducted since 2011 on the process, effectiveness, and assessment of practice-based coaching were reviewed to identify coaching components, …

Coaching Nurse Leaders In Conflict Management And Team Building To Improve Retention, Jeanette Black

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Abstract

Problem: Retention of assistant nurse managers (ANMs) was identified as a concern from interviews with executive leadership and ANMs employed at a large hospital within a Northern California integrated health system. The nurse leader orientation training was reviewed, with gaps identified in conflict management and team building.

Context: The attrition rate of U.S. nurse managers in 2010 was 8.3%, higher than executive nurse leaders, with replacement costs equal to 75% - 125% of a nurse manager’s salary (Loveridge, 2017). Employee turnover and dissatisfaction due to conflict can have detrimental effects on retention, productivity, morale, and quality of patient care. …

Strengthening The Advanced Practice Clinician Workforce Pipeline Through Preceptor Education And Support, Tarina Levitt-Trujillo

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Problem: The Advanced Practice Clinician (APC) workforce pipeline is dependent on clinical training opportunities. Clinician providers are encouraged to precept students but rarely are offered support tools to ensure a successful process. Lack of adequate support can result in a suboptimal outcome for the APC students.

Context: Clinician preceptors in a large healthcare organization looking to build a robust APC pipeline to support future patient populations.

Interventions: Preceptor materials were developed and delivered to clinical preceptors to help them successfully precept advanced practice clinician students during their clinical rotations. This material consisted of 20 microlearning modules to help clinicians …

Stories We Don’T Tell: Research’S Limited Accounting Of Rural Schools, Michael Thier, Paul Beach

School Leadership Review

To help build capacity among PK-12 school leaders and policymakers whose decisions can impact rural settings, often without full understanding of the nuances most salient to rural places, this study asked (1) To what extent do education researchers account for geographic locale in their reporting? (2) Do highly ranked journals account for geographic locale in their reporting more readily than education research in general? Hybridizing three systematic approaches to literature review—rapid, mapping, and scoping—the study examined a population-level dataset of nearly 109,000 school-focused, peer-reviewed articles in ERIC during a 10-year period and dove deeper into 4,001 articles from highly ranked …

Emerging Teacher-Leaders For English Learners: A Professional Development Model In Rural Florida, Raisa Ankeny, Nidza Marichal, Maria Coady

School Leadership Review

This paper describes an ongoing Professional Development (PD) program that aimed to prepare teacher-leaders for rural English learner (EL) students. We delineate the theoretical underpinnings of the PD design and describe the two-year graduate coursework program with onsite coaching in rural schools in detail. We define rurality and the context of ELs in the rural partner school district and describe the PD coursework, which was adapted to meet the local rural educational needs of the participants. At its outset, participants reflected on the overall PD through online discussions, surveys, and focus group interviews. Data revealed that the participants found the …

Principals As Instructional Leaders: An Embedded Descriptive Case Study Of One Rural School's Effort To Improve Student Outcomes Through Reading Plus, Joshua W. Tremont, Nathan R. Templeton

School Leadership Review

The purpose of this descriptive embedded case study is to address a reading literacy problem at a rural school district through a principal’s instructional leadership and to determine whether student outcomes improved. Campus principals are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring every student receives high-quality instruction that aligns with research-driven best practices by implementing current interim assessment cycles to track classroom trends and determine appropriate interventions (Texas Administrative Code [TAC §149.2001.]). However, the manner in which the principal influences student achievement varies based on leader capacity and school setting. While leadership in rural settings is as diverse as the community …

Fostering Inclusive Culture Through Partnerships With Nonprofits, Kevin Badgett, John Decman

School Leadership Review

NELP Standards place a particular emphasis on “the leaders’ responsibility for the well-being of students and staff as well as their role in working with others to create supportive and inclusive district and school cultures” (Preparing for the National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) Program Review: A Companion Guide, 14). This concept, that of working with others to create inclusive district and school cultures, necessarily means that school leaders are required to look at organizations and leaders in the community to foster positive growth. Because of this, there is a fertile ground upon which to investigate the benefits of partnerships with …

Centering Students In The Community: Building Capacity For School Improvement Efforts Through Community Connections, Wesley Henry

School Leadership Review

This paper explores the efforts of rural administrators to link students with the local community. Previous research on the visibility of rural administrators and rural school-community connections are discussed. Findings indicate that bolstering the prominent role of students within the local community supports rural administrators’ learning improvement agendas by building capacity and buy-in for their improvement efforts, linking students with opportunities that the school alone cannot provide, and securing additional resources.

Prosocial Leadership: The Transformative Power Of Others Directed Leadership Behavior, Timothy G. Ewest

Journal of Research Initiatives

This paper seeks to provide an understanding of the prosocial leadership development process as defined by Ewest (2018), and how it acts to personal flourishing. To this end, this paper will provide an understanding of personal flourishing as discussed by Rogers (1959), positive psychology framed by Mackie, (2017) and then considers the emerging positive theories of leadership as discussed by Ewest (2018b). Finally, the paper will resolve by considering prosocial values, and specifically the prosocial leadership development process as posited by Ewest (2018), including the four steps in the process and possible benefits from becoming a prosocial leader.