Digital Commons Network^™

The Status Quo Of Change Leadership Of Secondary Schools In Jordan From The Perspective Of Their Principals And Teachers, Nadia F. Kharbat, راتب سلامة السعود

Jordanian Educational Journal

This study aimed at exploring the status quo of change leadership in Jordanian secondary schools from the perspective of school principals and their teachers. To achieve the research objectives, the descriptive survey approach was adopted. The randomly selected study sample consisted of (205) male/female principals and (377) male/female teachers, from public and private schools in Amman, the capital of Jordan. The two researchers developed a 38-item questionnaire on change leadership divided into five dimensions: awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement. The results of the study indicated that the total degree of the status quo of change leadership in secondary schools …

A Comparative Study Of Leadership And Management In Rural Schools Achieving Above Predicted Graduation Outcomes, Brian David Rhode

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

School systems are expected to demonstrate outcomes that are equitable for all students. Despite an abundance of educational legislation aimed at raising all students’ achievement, gaps persist, especially among critical populations such as economically disadvantaged, English language learners, African-American and Hispanic/Latino students. This study is a comparative study of leadership and management in positive outlier schools and typically performing high schools, the first type has demonstrated a trend of above-predicted graduation outcomes for rural youth.

Urban High School Principals' Leadership Practices And Academic Progress For At-Risk Students, Mary Delouise Duhart-Toppen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Researchers have shown that principals are vital to improving student academic achievement. Urban principals often face significant challenges in their environments and have large populations of at-risk students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore and describe the perceptions of urban high school principals regarding the type of leadership practices needed to support the academic progress of at-risk students. Elements from transformational leadership, transformative leadership, and effective leadership practices informed the conceptual framework. Research questions addressed how principals described and perceived the practices, processes, and procedures used to create environments that support students in urban high schools …

The Development Of A New Instrument Comparing Teacher And Principal Perceptions Of School Technology Leadership, Garrick Grace

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Use of technology in education is rapidly growing in terms of dollars spent annually. With such enormous expenditures for schools, stewardship of human and capital resources via leadership feels vital. School technology leadership is a specialty area of educational leadership with a focus on how leaders address technology issues within their schools and guide others through successful implementation. As the body of research continues to grow, measurement instruments can assist researchers and practitioners in understanding the implementation and adoption of new technologies, and their relationship to leadership.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the current literature on school …

A Comparative Study Of Leadership Styles In International Special And General Education Schools In The United Arab Emirates, Kaitlin M. Jackson

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

This study attempted to identify leadership styles of school leaders in international special and general education schools in the United Arab Emirates. Additionally, this study sought to explore the influence of various demographic factors on perceived leadership styles. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (Avolio & Bass, 2004) was given to teachers across eight schools for the purpose of obtaining their perceived rating for leadership behaviors of school leaders at equivalent levels. Descriptive statistics were examined to identify prevalent leadership styles and trends in the demographics of survey respondents. Hierarchical linear models were conducted to determine the statistical significance of leadership style …

Faculty Adaptation To Emerging Instructional Technologies In Higher Education, Marilyn Murrillo

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how and why faculty adopt podcasting as an instructional technology tool in their teaching. Podcasting is an instructional technology tool being used for teaching and learning in higher education. Faculty may record lectures with audio, video, and/or PowerPoint slides to instruct students on class material. Students may access podcasts at their convenience through various devices, including mobile devices and computers. Research has shown that students who use podcasts to study for tests tend to perform more successfully on tests. This study was a qualitative multiple case study of seven California community college faculty using podcasting as an …

An Exploration Into Teachers' Perceptions Of School Leaders' Emotional Intelligence, Lindsey E. Caillouet

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Although the benefits of school leader emotional intelligence are well-known, leadership preparation programs lack training in emotional intelligence, thus calling for reform (Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, Meyerson, Orr, & Cohen, 2007; Johnson, Aiken, & Steggerada, 2005; Guerra & Pazet, 2016; Mills, 2009; Wallace, 2010). Emotional intelligence competencies, such as empathy, self-awareness and motivation, are closely aligned with components of transformational leadership theory, including idealized influence, individualized consideration, and inspirational motivation (Kumar, 2014). Highlighting these connections can provide guidance in identifying significant components of emotional intelligence. This study examined teachers’ perceptions of school leaders’ emotional intelligence in order to identify critical components of …

Music Educators Who Take The Lead: A Phenomenological Study Of School Leaders With Formal Backgrounds In Music And Experience As Music Educators, Jeanne M. Porcino Dolamore

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

This dissertation contributes to the scholarly conversation on the effects that leaders and leadership models have on educational organizations and how to cultivate a diverse pool of educational leaders within a complex educational landscape. The researcher developed a three-tiered conceptual framework related to: (a) the components of effective school leadership, (b) musicians and their capacity to lead, and (c) the developmental stages of teacher-to-leader transitions. Using an approach rooted in hermeneutic-interpretive phenomenology, the researcher led seven participants—each music educators who became educational administrators—through a series of semistructured interviews to reflect upon their lived experiences during their pathway to leadership, connecting …

Principal And Teacher Beliefs About The Impact Of Cbas On School Performance: Five High Performing High Schools In Oregon, Kevin Jon Ricker

Dissertations and Theses

This qualitative study examined how school leaders work within the structure of individual district collective bargaining agreements to improve student achievement. The study examines real or perceived barriers to improving student achievement within educational organizations from the perspective of the principals and teacher-leaders.

This study included two qualitative instruments, one for building principals and one for the building teachers, administered in five Oregon high schools recognized as successful by the Oregon Department of Education in 2014-2015. This dissertation determined the impact collective bargaining agreements had on the ability of high school principals to reduce educational disparities and close the achievement …

The Role Of Conversation In How Educational Services Assistant Superintendents Lead Change, Lisa Paisley

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the behaviors that exemplary educational services assistant superintendents practice to lead their organizations through conversation as depicted by Groysberg and Slind’s (2012b) 4 elements of conversational leadership: intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality. Methodology: A qualitative, phenomenological approach was used in this study in order to describe the lived experiences and behaviors of exemplary leaders. The target population was educational services assistant superintendents in Southern California. Participants were selected using a purposeful, nonprobability, convenience sampling. Data gathering took the form of semistructured, in-depth interviews, observations, and artifact collection. Interviews were …

Catholic Educational Leadership As A Spiritual Practice, Johnny C. Go

Landas

This paper argues for new educational leadership in which spirituality plays an essential role. To navigate the rough seas of the contemporary world with all its complexities andhazards, leaders need inner strength and clarity of vision that are nourished by religious faith, a conviction that impels them to fulfill their mission and commitment toward their community. “This attentiveness to the community’s purpose and members,” the author explains, “enables leaders to transcend themselves in order to carry out the task of leadership.”

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Leadership Style In Educational Leaders, Diana Fannon

Theses and Dissertations

Current research suggests that emotional intelligence continues to grow in importance and is a critical component of effective leadership. Although not usually listed as a specific job requirement, high emotional intelligence allows one to make more informed decisions and to solve problems more easily. A gap persists in research on emotional intelligence and leadership in the K–12 setting and determining whether educational leaders possess the skills to lead effectively, or if they need additional support in developing additional facility in emotional intelligence to support students. This quantitative correlational study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and leadership style of educational …

An Examination Of Leadership Styles Among Virtual School Administrators, Stephanie Young

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In this study, the researcher examined self-perceived school leadership styles of school administrators within the virtual school setting. Through this study, the researcher identified virtual school leaders and the leadership styles associated with their work. Participants in this study were employed at K12, Inc. representing virtual schools that were operating with a full-time state sponsored staff at that time. The 26 participants in this study represented a 35% response rate, which was the main limitation in this study. The research instrument used in the study was the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) with an added demographic survey. The dependent variable was …

Thriving In Complexity: A Framework For Leadership Education, Daryl Watkins, Matthew Earnhardt, Linda Pittenger, Robin Roberts, Kees Rietsema, Janet Cosman-Ross

Publications

Technological advances, globalization, network complexity, and social complexity complicate almost every aspect of our organizations and environments. Leadership educators are challenged with developing leaders who can sense environmental cues, adapt to rapidly changing contexts, and thrive in uncertainty while adhering to their values systems. In a complex leadership context, inadequate leader responses can result in devastating organizational impacts akin to the butterfly effect from chaos theory. This paper advances a simple model for leadership education based on a program we designed to develop leaders who understand the nature of complex systems, reliably use their ethical value systems, are emotionally intelligent …

Thriving In Complexity: A Framework For Leadership Education, Daryl Watkins, Matthew Earnhardt, Linda Pittenger, Robin Roberts, Kees Rietsema, Janet Cosman-Ross

Publications

Technological advances, globalization, network complexity, and social complexity complicate almost every aspect of our organizations and environments. Leadership educators are challenged with developing leaders who can sense environmental cues, adapt to rapidly changing contexts, and thrive in uncertainty while adhering to their values systems. In a complex leadership context, inadequate leader responses can result in devastating organizational impacts akin to the butterfly effect from chaos theory. This paper advances a simple model for leadership education based on a program we designed to develop leaders who understand the nature of complex systems, reliably use their ethical value systems, are emotionally intelligent …

Gendered Ambition: Career Advancement In Public Schools, Robert Maranto, Manuel P. Teodoro, Albert Cheng, Kristen Carroll

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

We explore the relationships between gender, career ambition, and the emergence of executive leadership. In Bureaucratic Ambition, Teodoro (2011) shows that public administration career systems shape bureaucrats’ ambitions, political behavior, and management strategies. But career systems are not neutral conduits of talent: administrators are more likely to pursue advancement when career systems favor them. This research proposes that women and men respond to gendered public career systems. Using national and state-level data on public school managers, we find marked gender disparities in the career paths that lead educators from the classroom to the superintendent post. Specifically, we find that female …

Professional Learning Community (Plc): Technology Integration At A Title I Elementary School, Pamela Lan Cheng

Dissertations

Calls for educational technology integration over more than thirty years have taken on

new urgency in an era of computerized assessments for accountability. As Internet Communication Technology (ICT) becomes more widely available, the digital divide is evolving into a digital use divide, characterized by differences between students’ productive uses of technology to create and communicate compared with passive uses for entertainment or skills practice. A growing body of research points to the important interplay among teachers’ frames of reference, school-level context, and alignment of supports in creating conditions for technology innovation. Meanwhile Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) hold potential as leverage …

The Relationship Between Building Teacher Leadership Capacity And Campus Culture, Dawn R. Harris, Kriss Kemp-Graham

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this explanatory sequential mixed methods research study was to explore the relationship between building teacher leadership capacity and campus culture in a suburban East Texas school district. Developing teacher leaders by building leadership capacity depends on administrators’ abilities to develop leaders from within the existing staff and to shape campus culture. Results of this mixed methods study yielded findings that identified a statistically significant relationship between teacher leadership capacity and campus culture. Leaders play a role in the culture of corporate and academic organizations, and culture is at the forefront of exemplary performance of both entities. Therefore, …

Exploring A School Culture And Climate Where Students Can Flourish: Using Focus Group Methodology To Capture Key Stakeholder Perceptions About School Culture And Climate In An Alternative Education High School., Michael Lee Paynter

Dissertations

This study was a qualitative action research project that involved focus groups of key stakeholders at an alternative education high school including: students, teaching staff, classified staff, supervisors, families, and collaborative partners. A semi-structured interview guide was used to discover their perceptions of a school culture and climate where students FLOURISH. The word FLOURISH is used in this research to describe the optimal experience of thriving and growing as well as an acronym that contains the elements that a literature review found to be important for such environments serving the most vulnerable student populations. This type of research is especially …

Avid Leadership: A Skills Approach To Transformational Change, Shannon Mcandrews

Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study investigated a cross population of active Elementary Leaders (Kindergarten-8th grade) of AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) Center, a non-profit international educational organization. This dissertation's primary purpose was to explore the phenomenon of AVID Leadership as it related to individual's perspectives of their leadership traits. After attending skills-based sessions designed to enhance transformational leadership mindsets and transformational change skillsets, participants were invited to engage in an online survey. This survey contained both the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and researcher developed demographic questions. The study explored the similarities, differences, and impact of exposure to AVID Professional Learning, the relationship …

Examining Practices Of Elementary School Principals: Selection Of Co-Teaching Teams, Jeannette Tejeda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of urban elementary school principals in relation to co-teaching and their co-teacher selection process. Three elementary school principals who exemplify characteristics of shared, ethical, and transformational leadership from a large urban school district in the southern United States were interviewed. The findings from the interviews were utilized to create a Likert-type survey to be administered to select co-teachers and select teachers not co-teaching at each of the three schools. The interview data were examined using Hycner's guidelines for phenomenological analysis. The Likert-type surveys administered to co-teachers and teachers not …

Sustainability Of A Comprehensive School Reform Model From The Perspectives Of Three Participating Principals, Bethann S. Browning

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

School reform is a deliberate process that requires a strong commitment at all levels. The school leader plays a crucial role in establishing a vision and nurturing an environment that facilitates reform efforts. School reform efforts have witnessed a change in the role of the elementary principal from manager to instructional leader. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the role of the elementary principal in sustaining school reform, in the form of Literacy Collaborative. The study was guided by one research question: how did elementary principals sustain a comprehensive school reform effort in the form of Literacy …

Identification Of School Physical Activity Leader Competencies Using Concept Mapping, Kiel M. Illg

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background/Purpose: Various public health and educational organizations have called for the implementation of comprehensive approaches at the state, district, and school levels to promote physical education and physical activity among children and adolescents. Proponents have argued that physical education teachers are positioned to assume the role of director of physical activity in the school setting; however many physical educators do not see directing comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAP) as their responsibility, nor have they been formally trained to provide this measure of leadership. Furthermore, there is limited research on CSPAPs and the associated leadership roles integral to planning, implementing, …

District Mandated Changes In Technology And Inquiry-Based Instruction, Mulonge Musa Kalumbula

Dissertations

Federal and state mandates aimed at improving the American K-12 school system abound (Spillane, 2004). Federal legislation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB, 2002), and state-mandated curriculum are aimed at improving teaching and learning thus ultimately improving student achievement. The purpose of this phenomenology study was to examine the experiences of 7 middle and high school social studies teachers through district-mandated changes in inquiry-based instruction and technology-integrated lessons. By capturing how individual teachers experience mandated changes, this research aimed to discover the existence of policy coherence within a district as it translated federal and state policy …

Administrators As Change Agents In Implementing Mtss: Beliefs, Skills, And Challenges, Tasha Frigmanski

Dissertations

Response to Intervention (RTI) is traditionally known as an alternative to the IQ-discrepancy model used for the identification of students suspected of having a specific learning disability. The focus of the study is to examine the challenges of RTI implementation, finding the perceptions and beliefs of administrators regarding RTI and determining if they are equipped with the skills necessary to serve as a change agent in implementing successful practices in RTI. This study uses survey research in a mixed-method design to collect information from administrators in the state of Michigan. Findings from this study indicate that (1) administrators believe RTI …

Introduction To Rural Educational Leadership, Jeanne L. Surface

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Without going too deep into theoretical perspectives regarding social and organizational change (as with, say, Hegel’s dialectic), it can fairly be argued that change occurs when the center doesn’t hold, or said another way, when the status quo no longer serves most people. It is at that point that different ideas take root and begin to direct the process of change. And where do the different ideas come from? Wendell Berry (1987) argued that they come from the periphery, which in the context of the 21^st century, is the countryside.

Leadership Characteristics And Practices Of American Association Of School Administrators (Aasa) Superintendents Of The Year And Finalists, Doris Lynette Crawford

Online Theses and Dissertations

Houston (2007) concluded, "To preserve the possibilities for our children requires leadership, and that leadership is also a critical condition for success. While the educational journey takes place in the classroom and school, the trip is planned, the fuel is acquired, and the steering is done in the superintendent's office" (p. 432). The purpose of this study was to determine the key characteristics and practices needed by school district superintendents to meet the demands of this position in the twenty-first century. The key characteristics were identified by exemplary superintendents who had been recognized for their effectiveness. 55% of the population …

How Do District Level And Building Level Leaders Collaborate To Implement Mandated Change?, Gwendolyn Zimmermann

Dissertations

This research study examined how school leaders, in particular the associate superintendent of curriculum and a junior high school principal, in the same district collaborated to plan for and implement mandated change. In this research study, the mandated change was that of the State's adoption of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.

This study utilized a case study methodology. The case study included one case of an associate superintendent of curriculum for the district and a junior high school principal located in suburban Cook County bounded within the timeframe of August 2012 to October 2013. The district identified had …

An Exploratory Case Study Examining Transformational Leadership And Organizational Change Within The Presidency Of A Small, Four-Year University, Daniel Matthew Filer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

As both internal and external threats continue to arise and challenge the traditional mold of higher education, the role of the university president is becoming more and more important. The position is being required to serve in an ever-growing number of capacities in addition to steering the direction of the institution. The purpose of the research study was to examine how presidents at a small, public four-year institution of higher education respond to organizational change. More specifically, my study attempted to discover if transformational leadership is present within the presidency during this era of great change that is affecting colleges …

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 …