Supporting Educator Professional Growth In Times Of Change, Amanda M. Doyle

All Theses And Dissertations

This action research cross-case comparison study is set at an independent school in Maine which serves approximately 1,600 students in grades 6-12. Recently, the administrative team of the school articulated an academic strategic plan focused on increasing student achievement as measured by standardized test scores. The changes created a challenge because administrators raised expectations and accountability of staff members with respect to professional performance. The current climate in the institution presents an opportunity to provide a sense of direction and support for faculty through thoughtful leadership and professional development (PD) programming to support their progress on meeting the goals set …

The Sotl Scaffold: Supporting Evidence-Based Teaching Practice In Educational Development, Laura Cruz, Kathryn Cunningham, Brian Smentkowski, Hillary Steiner

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

This article presents a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) scaffold, a conceptual model designed for educational developers (and others) who support the values, practices, and production of the SoTL, both on their campuses and beyond. The SoTL scaffold explicates distinct support levels, ranging from spark to lead, each of which call for differentiated strategies and programs to be used by Centers for Teaching and Learning (CTLs) and similar units.

Finding A Fulcrum: Positioning Ourselves To Leverage Change, Laurie L. Grupp, Deandra Little

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

Educational developers are called to serve as thought leaders, change agents, and advocates while also working to fulfill the teaching and learning mission of their centers. Research on change leadership informs our understanding of the work, yet may not go far enough to describe the complex roles, responsibilities, and positions of educational developers. In this study, we analyze survey and interview data to explore the meta-competencies that guide the work of developers as they navigate a shifting landscape and serve as “levers” for change.

Complexity Leadership: The Role Of Teaching And Learning Center Leaders In Online Learning At Small, Private Colleges, Tyler D. Watts

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

As online learning continues to grow and became an integral component of many higher education institutions (Allen & Seaman, 2017), the role of leadership in guiding those online learning initiatives differs from institution to institution. At small, private colleges and universities, where online learning is seeing greater enrollment and growth (Clinefelter & Magda, 2013), teaching and learning centers (TLC) often have involvement in guiding and shaping online learning initiatives. This study investigated the role of TLC leaders in leading online learning initiatives. The value of this study is an examination of leadership during a period of transformation and change that …

Examining Organizational Learning Culture (Olc) In Schools Adopting Trauma-Informed Practices, Constance Grimm-Grason

All Capstone Projects

Trauma-informed practices represent a departure from the status-quo disciplinary practices originating from zero-tolerance approaches. This departure from the status-quo represents a transformative change in schools. Teachers are often the initial responders to student struggles or misbehaviors, and the teacher’s response is conditioned by their belief system, their self-efficacy, and the norms of the school where they teach. The shift to supportive school discipline approaches, such as trauma-informed practices, may alter the formal discipline norms of the school, but the shift may not transfer to the teacher’s belief systems, their sense of self-efficacy with trauma, or the informal norms of the …

Improving School Culture To Enhance Academic Achievement At Samad Islamic School: A Change Leadership Plan, Hanan Matari, Ruqia Ali

Dissertations

The purpose of this leadership change plan was to understand the influence of Samad School’s culture on students’ academic achievement. The goal was to help Samad Islamic School to develop and follow an action plan to improve school culture. Wagner et al.’s (2006) 4C’s change leadership model was used to analyze four dimensions of the school: context, conditions, competencies, and culture. An adapted version of the School Culture Triage Survey was used to collect data. Survey results were presented to and discussed among teachers in both large and small group settings followed by written individual teacher reflections on the process. …

The Impact Of University Writing Curriculum On Preservice Teachers' Praxis I Scores, Virginia Ann Braithwaite

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Until 2014, admission requirements for the educator preparation program at a university in the north central United States included a minimum competency level on the Praxis I basic skills writing test and completion of one general education writing course. However, evidence from the university's ETS reports showed that less than 60% of students as first-time test-takers met the required score. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the required writing course in assisting students to meet the Praxis I writing competencies. In 2014, the ETS Core Academic Skills for Educators test replaced the Praxis I. Because …

Employee Resistance To Disruptive Technological Change In Higher Education, Barbara Ann Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employees can be resistant to work-based change, specifically when the change is due to disruptive or new technology. The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of 20 Swiss-based educational employees adapting to online technologies introduced in their workplaces. Disruptive innovation theory provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected using semistructured interviews with 20 purposely selected participants from 3 Swiss-based higher education campuses. The modified Van Kaam method was used to organize and analyze the data. Four themes from participants' responses were identified: educational employees are not resistant to technology-based change, educational …

Professional Learning Through Professional Learning Communities, Mentorship, And Shared Leadership, Stephen Juracka

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This Policy Advocacy paper focuses on expanding the District ABC Staff Development policy to include Drago-Severson’s (2009) pillars of adult learning. Research indicates the inclusion of a mentorship program, professional learning communities, and teacher leadership opportunities, will increase teacher collaboration, engagement, and professional capacities. There are significant educational, economic, political, social, legal and moral implications associated with the proposed staff development policy. Additionally, the staff development policy requires careful planning, implementation, and assessment, as will be addressed in this Policy Advocacy paper.

Employee Engagement Through The Instructional Leadership Team, Stephen Juracka

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The Instructional Leadership Team (ILT) is an organizational structure designed to improve employee engagement, which for this project is defined as employee collaboration, autonomy, ownership and shared purpose, in the curriculum development process (Farris-Berg, 2013). This program evaluation, grounded in organizational theory, self-determination theory, and social exchange theory; it is aimed at validating the importance of creating an organizational structure designed to shape a cultural environment that supports employee ownership and autonomy while creating a social exchange economy that supports employee motivation. The Instructional Leadership Team created and initiated the ILT Engagement Survey to K-5 grade level teachers in …

Improving Professional Learning Community Structures For Enhanced Professional Practice, Stephen Juracka

Dissertations

ABSTRACT

This Change Plan gauges the historical reality of the District ABC professional learning communities (PLC) to gain a better understanding of their past effectiveness and secure recommendations for the future. This Change Plan included a qualitative study conducted with the members of the Instructional Leadership Team (ILT). The ten members of the ILT provided feedback to the PLC Survey. The PLC survey was then coded for general themes and common language. The PLC Survey found that in past practice PLCs were absent within District ABC and collaboration among teachers was inconsistent and ineffective. Based upon the findings of the …

Alignment Of School Improvement Plans With District Professional Learning Plan: A Policy Advocacy Document, Scott Carlson

Dissertations

This paper advocates for a local policy connecting a standards-based district professional learning plan to individual school improvement plans for the purpose of improving targeted instructional behaviors and student learning outcomes. Currently, my district’s school improvement plans follow a general template focused on student subgroup deficits and standardized test scores with little emphasis on professional learning aligned to educator and student outcomes. A local policy that aligns school improvement plans with a district professional learning plan would be consistent with recommendations from the Illinois P-20 Council (2017) and help the local school board understand how a district professional learning plan …

Building Capacity For Quality Leadership With English Language Learners, John Leonard, Betty Alford, Neill Armstrong

School Leadership Review

Waxman, Téllez, and Walberg (2004) advocated that school leaders must assist staff developers in providing English language learner (ELLs)-related professional development that includes “demonstration of theories of language, sustained coaching, and evaluation programs measuring teacher implementation and impact” (p 2-3). These professional development goals are central to the leader’s purposeful expansion of teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions concerning the unique needs of ELLs and communicating the importance of the effective curricular integration of well-planned and embedded strategies designed to meet the needs of the often marginalized ELL population. School leaders must be willing to provide a systematic program of professional …

Preparing Educational Leaders For Social Justice: Reimagining One Educational Leadership Program From The Ground Up, Holly M. Manaseri, Christopher B. Manaseri

School Leadership Review

Thirty years after the report that started the latest round of educational reform, A Nation at Risk (National Commission on Education Excellence, 1983), the Wallace Foundation began funding a series of studies examining the preparation of school and district leaders. Bringing together findings from four reports, one each by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), The School Superintendents Association (AASA), the American Institutes for Research (AIR), and the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), the Wallace Foundation issued five key recommendations for university preparation of school leaders. This call to action was sounded at a time when …

Sustaining Change Through Individualized Coaching, Jody Worth

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership Dissertations

This study reveals educators’ journey through a change process as an innovation was being infused throughout their instructional practices. Traditional professional learning is not fashioned to address the ongoing concerns teachers have and the structure to sustain change. There is evidence to suggest that teachers are resistance to change due to the lack of attention placed on individualized change. This research investigates the topics of organizational change, individual change, evolution of professional development, teacher resistance, and individual coaching to lead to a deep understanding of the structural components of teacher support in order for change to transpire. This research is …

Nefdc Exchange, Volume 31, Fall 2018, New England Faculty Development Consortium

New England Faculty Development Consortium Exchange

Contents

President's message: Faculty development in the 21st century, Marc Ebenfield

NEFDC publication schedule change

“I will forever be changed”: Encouraging meaning-making in service-learning, Isabelle Jenkins, MDiv, Virginia Ryan, Ph.D., and Michelle Sterk Barrett, Ph.D. - College of the Holy Cross

Call for proposals for the spring 2019 conference

Lessons from the mat: 17 things being a new yoga student taught me about effective, student-centered teaching, Jen Girgen, J.D., Ph.D. - Salem State University

Connected: Building meaningful relationships for online learning, Sara Donaldson, Ed.D., Karen Caldwell, Ed.D., and Carey Borkoski, Ph.D., Ed.D. - Johns Hopkins University

Defamiliarizing the familiar: Challenging …

The Integration Of Reading, Writing, Speaking, And Listening Skills In The Middle School Social Studies Classroom, Marianne Bristow Evans

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this feasibility study is to provide evidence of how integrating reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills into eighth-grade social studies instruction facilitates student understanding of content material and ability to write about social studies content. In this within-subjects paired-samples research study, 197 eighth-grade participants received instruction in a social studies content area and in argumentative writing. Data from a criterion-referenced social studies pre and posttest and data from pre and post instruction writing samples were analyzed to evaluate the influence of the integration of literacy tasks in middle school social studies classrooms on content area knowledge acquisition …

Leadership And Spirituality: Conceptualization, Definition And Future Directions In Higher Education, Simone Elias, Brian Cole, Linda Wilson-Jones

Journal of Research Initiatives

This conceptual paper addresses the increased need to better conceptualize and define leadership and spirituality in higher education. Over the past decade, empirical research related to spirituality and leadership has gained momentum and has attracted interest from scholars, worldwide. With the increasing diversity of cultures and beliefs, particularly in western societies, the academia's acknowledgment of spirituality and leadership's importance not only present potentialities but also to reveal challenges; since some researchers support a religion-based perspective of the concept, while others indicate that the concept goes beyond religiosity. Therefore, this systematic literature attempts to reconcile diverse viewpoints into a more cohesive …

District-Wide Instructional Initiative Framework, Jessica Charles, Tracy Fray Oliver, Doug Knecht, Emily Sharrock

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

Describes the Bank Street Education Center's District-wide Instructional Initiative Framework, a tool that guides the Center's partnership work with school districts who are engaged in a process of instructional improvement. The Framework was developed out of research on district improvement, organizational development, school leadership, and professional learning, as well as the Center's own experience implementing large-scale district reform in the largest school district in the nation: New York City.

Cognitively Guided Instruction In Elementary Mathematics: Understanding Factors That Influence Classroom Implementation, Teresa A. Conowal

Doctor of Education in Teacher Leadership Dissertations

This study focused on the teaching technique known as cognitively guided instruction (CGI), through which teachers explore the individual learning styles of their students and use the information they gather to teach more complex concepts more effectively. The focus of this study was on 10 elementary mathematics teachers, with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of the reasons they are making limited use of CGI techniques in their classrooms. The study used interviews and classroom observations of the 10 participants to identify the factors influencing their willingness or reluctance to apply CGI techniques to their instructional practices. The study …

Developing An Internal Leadership Pipeline In Urban Districts: A Pathway To Capacity Building, Marnie G. Mckoy

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand how an urban school district designs and implements leadership development programs for internal candidates. The challenge of continuously developing a cadre of committed and qualified leaders is not new (Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, Meyerson, Orr, & Cohen, 2007). To maintain the high standards of instructional leadership and to continue sound practices in teaching and learning, school districts must think and move strategically to protect their investments in professional development and coaching, and to secure the future growth of its students and staff. The literature is clear and consistent on the elements of effective …

The Human Dynamics Needed In The Change Process For Transformational Implementation Of Educational Reform: Common Core State Standards, Daisy Morales

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the changes made in mindset, behaviors, culture, and systems as perceived by K-12 school district directors and principals in California in the implementation of the California Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

Methods: This study was descriptive and qualitative, conducted by interviewing 8 principals and 8 directors who have been in their positions for 3 or more years, had first-hand experience with the implementation of the California Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and were familiar with the shifts needed in CCSS. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed for …

Teacher And Administrator Perspectives From Experiences In The Teacher Leadership Initiative, Leslie Lynne Sharp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Teacher leadership, has been defined by many researchers as the answer to school improvement through the use of teacher leaders leading the effort in schools and districts. This qualitative dissertation takes a deep look into the experiences of teachers and administrators that participated in a nation-wide teacher leadership pilot, the Teacher Leadership Initiative (TLI), and the effects that this year-long event had on leadership, school improvement and teacher and administrator professional practices. Unifying outcomes from the participants as a result of their involvement in this initiative included changes in thinking about leadership that directly improved professional efficacy, collaborative and leadership …

The Role Of The Formal Observation In Promoting Reflective Practice, Merryl B. Brownlow

Dissertations

Acheson and Gall (2011) wrote about the tension between teacher evaluation and clinical supervision. In their research they discuss the intent of clinical supervision to be a model for coaching and supporting professional growth as compared to more traditional models of teacher evaluation that were often associated with fear as a motivator. This program evaluation examines the nature of the formal observation in the teacher evaluation process and seeks to explore its role in developing reflective practitioners and promoting professional growth. This study involved researching the perspectives of teachers and administrators regarding their perceptions of the value of the formal …

Teacher Evaluation: The Change We Wish To See; Improving The Formal Observation Process To Improve Student Learning, Merryl B. Brownlow

Dissertations

Teacher evaluation is a formal construct for improving instruction and student learning. Formal observations are a central component of that process. This change model explores the option of a videotaped observation model as an alternative to the current Illinois state-mandated in-person formal observation to increase teacher ownership, promote reflective practice and improve instructional practices. The evaluation process is a vehicle that promotes collaboration among building leaders and staff. The Illinois shift to a professional practice model provides a construct for a culture and climate that encourages reflection and promotes professional growth (Danielson, 2011; Darling-Hammond, 2013; Jay, 2003; Stuhlman, Hamre, Downer, …

23 Illinois Administrative Code 50: Redefining The Formal Observation In Teacher Evaluation; A Policy Advocacy Document, Merryl B. Brownlow

Dissertations

This document explores how a change in the definition of the formal observation may improve the teacher evaluation system in the state of Illinois. Currently, the formal observation must be conducted in person as defined by administrative code. In an effort to increase the value and impact of the formal observation as a tool for reflection and professional growth, this paper advocates for a videotaped alternative as an option in addition to the current in-person model. The intent of including a videotaped option is to empower the teacher in the process and increase ownership for building skills as a reflective …

Increasing School Social Worker Supports For Schools In Illinois: Policy Recommendations For Supporting Student Learning And Growth., Kizawanda A. Olowe

Dissertations

Administrators and board members at the Illinois State Board of Education recommended that schools with certain demographics hire one social worker for every 350 students. The policy has yet to be implemented despite high rates of student poverty, lagging test scores, school bullying, suspensions, and an increased number of school shootings. The Illinois State Board of Education’s social and emotional learning standards guide educators and policy makers to interact and educate each student. School social workers equipped with the necessary skill set provide services, implement district-wide social and emotional learning programs, and work with various stakeholders to monitor progress. A …

Examining Steam Implementation Through The Lens Of Organizational Learning, William Louis Grillo

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined STEAM implementation from the qualitative perspective of New Jersey K-12 school leaders and through the quantitative lens of organizational learning. Using a convergent parallel mixed methods design, sixteen school leaders were interviewed regarding their process of implementing the integrated learning framework known as STEAM. Simultaneously, an Organizational Learning Mechanism Questionnaire was distributed to the teaching faculty of participating districts. This study found that current K-12 school leaders were implementing STEAM with top down administrative support, emergent processes, standards focused curricula, and innovative means of marketing their programs. Significant differences were also found between K-8 and high school …

Perceptions Of Teachers Who Engage In Social Media Networking: A Multiple Case Study, Celese Nolan

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine how and why teachers engage in social media networks. Using a case study approach, data was gathered through semi-structured interviews, online observations, direct observations, artifacts, and documents to gain understanding to how and why teachers are using online networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter for professional learning. The underpinnings of constructivism and social constructivism theories served to provide a framework for understanding how teachers perceive their professional use of social media. Moreover, this study sought to gain insight into how this practice may or may not influence teacher practice at …

Understanding Students' Perceptions Of Cultural Diversity, Catherine Moss

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Diversity is a positive aspect of a student's educational experience. Current literature supports the value of diversity, confirming that skills are developed within a diverse learning environment that prepares students to thrive in a competitive global economy. The leadership at University X (UX) had implemented various initiatives to improve diversity, yet the problem addressed in this study was that students perceived differently, citing that diversity growth lacked progress. The goal of this single case study was to bring forth change with a specific intervention created to elevate diversity and a positive campus climate. Maslow's hierarchy of needs was used to …