Education Commons^™

Transformational Leadership Behaviors Of Department Leaders As A Predictor Of Collective Teacher Efficacy, Jason Stanton

Selected Full Text Dissertations, 2011-

Researchers generally credit Albert Bandura for providing the theoretical framework for studying collective teacher efficacy. Research shows that principals using transformational leadership behaviors significantly impact collective teacher efficacy. Policies, such as Every Student Succeeds Act, increasingly put pressure on school districts to improve student achievement or lose funding. Supporting literature and research shows that improving collective teacher efficacy improves student performance regardless of student socioeconomic status. Therefore, a department leader’s ability to increase collective teacher efficacy amongst staff directly influences the student achievement within their school district. This researcher investigated the relationship between transformational leader behaviors of department leaders and …

Transformational Leadership Approach For Encouraging Historically Marginalized Communities To Access Admission To Naturopathic Medicine, Baljit Khamba

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Many healthcare training institutions lack cultural diversity, including naturopathic medicine. One potential reason is a lack of historically marginalized individuals applying to these medical schools. Attracting communities of colour to healthcare professions, like naturopathic medicine is important for improving healthcare access and delivery across all individuals within North America. This OIP explores the lack of diversity in applicants to the naturopathic medical program at a large multi-centre institution. The role that education and mentorship of faculty members can play to improve implicit biases and eventually encourage historically marginalized individuals to apply to the program is explored. Moreover, the OIP presents …

Enhancing Academic Preparedness Of International Students Coming To X University For Post-Secondary Education, Gurneet Singh Anand

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

International students comprise an increasing demographic on Canadian campuses and represent increasing diversity in the higher education sector. Student transitions to higher education relate to concepts of equity and inclusivity with respect to these institutions providing the best chances for all students to succeed. Similar to other higher education institutions in Canada, X University is in the unique and somewhat difficult position of navigating the effects of globalization. As X University has seen steady influxes of international students, the faculty, staff and domestic students are realizing that the international students themselves have been facing integration difficulties within the university and …

The Role Of Supervisory Officers In Building School Administrator Leadership Capacity, Drew Mcnaughton

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) is based on a problem of practice (PoP) in Red Maple District School Board (RMDSB), a mid-sized Ontario school board that identifies cultivating leadership in staff as a priority. The limited leadership development opportunities for school administrators has become a challenge for RMDSB and many Ontario school districts. Limited opportunities are provided for RMDSB school administrators to authentically collaborate and engage in professional learning. Supervisory officers, who are responsible for establishing supportive system practices and providing district-level leadership, play a critical role in building school administrator leadership capacity. As a result, the OIP explores the …

Bridging Cultures: Preparing Non-Indigenous Teachers To Teach Indigenous Epistemology In A Rural Public School, Simonjay Moreton

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan looks to lay the framework to help non-Indigenous teachers challenge negative Indigenous stereotypes, overcome their fear of unintentionally culturally appropriating an Indigenous culture, and be able to effectively integrate Indigenous content into course curriculum to fulfill the First Nations, Metis and Inuit requirement of the Alberta Teacher Quality Standards. This framework leverages the Anishinaabe Medicine Wheel in conjunction with the ADKAR change model to facilitate a cultural change at Ranchlands Public School, a small rural school situated in Southern Alberta. As the Principal, I intend to implement a transformational change that will institute a shift in …

A Multiple Case Study Examining Collaborative Nature Of Bahamian Pastoral Teams Considering Contextual And Biblical Transformational Leadership, Kevin Andrew Hall

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to examine the nature of pastoral leadership teams in Bahamian churches. Three Bahamian pastoral leadership teams served as the sample frame for this research, with four research questions narrowing its scope to identifying collaborative and transformational behaviors and attributes. The study collected qualitative data regarding leaders’ character formation and the role of the Christian doctrine in shaping (pastoral) team dynamics, along with data regarding pastoral (team) leadership development and the usage of spiritual gifts. The data was then analyzed to determine if the leaders’ behaviors aligned with Cooper’s (2005) contextual and …

Leadership Styles In Ncaa Division I Athletic Administration And Their Relationships To Job Satisfaction, Valerie Gomez

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

As an industry, college athletics has become a focal point of much attention and scrutiny as a result of increasing moral and ethical scandals, as well as lucrative media and personnel contracts. Scandals such as admissions fraud, academic cheating, and financial crimes are a cause for concern regarding the leadership within Division I athletic departments. Organizational and individual outcomes have been associated with leadership. While extant research has focused on the leadership of coaches and the athletic director, the leadership of the senior-level leadership team has been largely neglected. Given the structure of many Division I athletic departments, the senior-level …

Homegrown: Pastor Advocacy For Victims Of Sex Trafficking, Julie Heifner

Dissertations

Human trafficking consists of both sex trafficking (ST) and labor trafficking (LT) and is a growing problem for the United States. The Federal Human Trafficking Report (2019), states that Missouri is ranked ninth in the country for active criminal human trafficking cases. This issue is particularly prevalent in our churches because churches serve vulnerable populations and predators may be drawn to churches. Religious academic literature about pastor advocacy for victims of ST is lacking, while popular news sources reference case after case where pastors are the predators. This study consisted of nine Christian pastors who currently served in a pastoral …

Validating Middle School Principals' Opinions About The Impact Of Investments, David Adler

Doctoral Dissertations

Accountability for American public education systems, which spend more than $750 billion annually as of 2019, has been a topic of longstanding controversy. The test-based accountability movement has led to conditions that penalize schools that educate traditionally underserved students (low socioeconomic status, English language learners and students with disabilities are examined in this paper). Further, leaders of these schools lack evidence-based guidance to help make high-impact improvements, as schools serving high proportions of these students are rarely cited as exemplars of high-quality education. In three phases, this study demonstrates the feasibility of using a demographically normed, test-based status metric to …

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

Journal of Global Education and Research

Given that school leadership styles are linked to educational outcomes, this study attempted to identify perceived leadership styles of school leaders in two types of schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE): (a) international special education schools, which serve exclusively students with disabilities and (b) international general education schools, which serve primarily typically developing students. By utilizing primarily quantitative methods with supplementary qualitative analysis, this study also explored the influence of teacher demographic variables on perceptions of leadership styles. Results indicated a difference in perceptions of transformational and transactional leadership by school type based on teacher education level, as well …

Leading The Initial Implementation Phase Of Tandemed In Relationship With The Pittsburgh Public Schools, Brian C B Barnes

Journal of Research Initiatives

TandemEd facilitates Black communities to create campaigns that highlight their positive racial identity and self-defined educational purpose. This article examines leadership of the initial implementation phase of the TandemEd community initiative in relationship with the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS) focusing primarily on the interactions with the superintendent and executive director of the superintendent’s office. The results included ongoing support from PPS as TandemEd formed a citywide steering committee of highly community legitimated persons, executed a leadership and campaign academy for thirty-five Pittsburgh youth, and facilitated design and delivery of various cable television commercials on identity and purpose in the Greater …

Professional Development In Indigenous Education: By Teachers, For Teachers, Devin Green

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Many school boards have been developing Indigenous frameworks and funding Indigenous programming as a response to the 94 “Calls to Action” published by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015). The actions of these school boards are a form of reconciliation. Within the Southern Alberta School Board (SASB, a pseudonym), there are strong policies in place that support Indigenous students; these policies ensure the students never have to experience the unfair treatment that past generations did through the residential school system. Teachers in this school board are also supported through professional development programs to improve their practice. However, these …

A Brighter Future For Sms: Cultivating School Coherence Through A Shared Vision, Nicole K. Herndon, Heather Holcomb, Audra Krupp

Doctor of Education Capstones

Staunton City Public Schools submitted an RFA (Request for Assistance) to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) to address concerns at Shelburne Middle School related to teacher satisfaction, student discipline, and student achievement. Document and data analysis, a site visit, and partner interviews surfaced issues of organizational fragmentation; the capstone team identified the need for a collaboratively constructed and implemented vision to better cohere the school. Through document analysis and stakeholder surveys, our mixed methods study aimed to understand stakeholder views on three aspects to support the work of the leadership team at SMS. First, the capstone team identified the needs in …

Educator Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy And Preparedness To Work In High Poverty Schools, Kristen Carroll

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

The school leader and teacher have the greatest impact on student success. The level of self-efficacy and level of preparedness is of the utmost importance for educators and students alike. This study investigated the perceptions of educators in the belief of whether they were adequately prepared to teach in a high poverty school. The participants, educators from four school districts, completed a survey based on their perceptions of their own level of self-efficacy and preparedness to work in high poverty schools. The results of this study are aimed at impacting educator preparedness to better understand how to best support …

Improving The Professional Capacity Of Campus Administrators At A Multi-Campus College, Jennifer E. Strickland

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The institutional knowledge gap for campus administrators (CAs) across a multi-campus college is the Problem of Practice (PoP) to be addressed in this Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP). A multi-campus college has initiated a new professional development review (PDR) for CAs to improve professional excellence across the organization. The PDR launched to identify professional development needs for college managers, to improve operational efficiency, and to help the college achieve its strategic goals. CAs shoulder the responsibility for the campus-level implementation of college policies and procedures which necessitates a firm understanding of college operations and effective leadership and management skills. When there …

Dismantling Institutional Whiteness: Emerging Forms Of Leadership In Higher Education, M. Cristina Alcalde, Mangala Subramaniam

Navigating Careers in Higher Education Series

Dismantling Institutional Whiteness: Emerging Forms of Leadership in Higher Education focuses on the experiences of women of color in leadership roles in higher education. Top roles historically have gone to white men, and leadership has not reflected the range of identities and people who make up higher education. Why? And why does this problem continue to this day? Most importantly, what can be done to bring about meaningful change?

Dismantling Institutional Whiteness gathers a range of first-person narratives from women of color and examines the challenges they face not only at a systemic level, but also at a deeply personal …

Community Integration Through Cooperative Education (Cice): A Post-Secondary World Fit For All, Stephanie Kathleen De Franceschi

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Students with developmental disabilities are a growing and diverse population. Higher education landscapes are becoming increasingly complex. Despite academic and personal supports available to all Ontario college students through student services centers, Marshall College (a pseudonym) is experiencing a disconnect between the stated vision, mission, and values and the Community Integration Through Cooperative Education (CICE) program and its students. Diverse views have polarized senior administration, faculty, and staff on how to adapt to having students with developmental disabilities accessing post-secondary education through the CICE program. This Organizational Improvement Plan explores the organizational context of Marshall College and proposes an improvement …

Transformation Through Trust And Authenticity: Improving And Aligning Service Learning In An International Baccalaureate School, Christopher Wallace

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The International Baccalaureate’s Middle Years Programme places service learning at the core of its curriculum. Yet, challenges with implementing it successfully are omnipresent in international schools. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) aims to support teachers with the implementation of service learning projects at a private, non-profit international school in Western Europe. It is guided and framed by a Problem of Practice (POP) that addresses the current state of service learning at Mountain Range School (MRS) where curriculum and independent service projects are inconsistently designed, implemented and supported. It includes an evaluation of school policies, curriculum, teacher capacity, resources and systems. …

Devising A Strategic Approach To Increase Faculty’S Competence For Formalized Intercultural Teaching And Learning Opportunities In An International School In Africa, Kristine Greenlaw

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The international school is a unique site where a diverse community of host country nationals and expatriates come together to participate in a transnational learning experience. Within this context, the international school is challenged to deliver a culturally responsive learning program with intercultural learning opportunities to meet the needs of a diverse learning community. In addition, it is perceived that with intercultural competence, an international school graduate can gain competitiveness for post-secondary institution admissions and job market movement in an increasingly globalized economy. This organizational improvement plan problematizes a lack of strategy to improve intercultural teaching and learning at a …

Teachers’ Perceptions On The Effects Of Covid-19 On Juniors And Seniors In High School, Martha J. Meredith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the academic, social, and emotional effects of COVID-19 on 11th- and 12th-grade students. There has been little documentation regarding the specific change that the pandemic has had on these students; it is imperative that we look at the effects of COVID-19 on the students who experienced COVID-19 pandemic.

Data collection was completed through individual interviews. Analysis of data occurred in three phases: (a) categorization of data under the four organizational factors, (b) building the explanation in a phenological form, and (c) re-examination of the data. The analysis of the narrative study was …

Enduring Indigeneity: Community Consultation As A Process For Indigenizing Curriculum At A College In Ontario, Camille C. Di Iulio

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) released its report which included 94 Calls to Action to address the legacy impacts of the Indian Residential School System in Canada. With education at the forefront of reconciliation, Call to Action #62 calls on post-secondary educators to integrate First Nations, Métis and Inuit content into their curriculum, to Indigenize teaching and learning within an education system built on Eurocolonial worldviews. A post-secondary institution located in southern Ontario (referred to by the pseudonym SCAAT) is making decolonization an institutional priority, especially as it is aligned with their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) …

Cultural Awareness And Change Management: Embracing The Benefits Of Merging A Community College With A University In Atlantic Canada, Paul M. Brett

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

The organizational merger of two post-secondary organizations is fraught with synergies and complications that lend themselves to positive and negative outcomes of the joining. The need for a consolidated credential pathway model that defined the academic and administrative authorities of the merged organization was required. The organizational improvement plan (OIP) reviews the historical context of Ocean Institute of Eastern University (OIEU) to uncover the cultural underpinnings of resistance that exhibited themselves. While blind resistance exists within almost every organization, including true ideological resistance, within the context of OIEU, most of the resistance is rooted in political resistance, where some feel …

Partners In Education: Leveraging School Social Workers To Support Transformative Equity And Well-Being Work In An Ontario K-12 Public School Board, Stefani F. Burosch

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

School social workers (SSWs) have been an integral part of Ontario’s K-12 public education system for over one hundred years. Their unique training, skill set, and practice perspectives enables provision of comprehensive services benefitting the whole school community. The social work profession is grounded in a code of ethics committed to the advancement of social justice for all and draws from a rich history of critical theorizing and evidence-based practice to further this goal. These features of the profession ideally position SSWs to serve as leaders and partners in the school mission, particularly at a time when the need for …

Building Stem Teacher Capacity At A South American International School, Daniel Yamasaki

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Although originating in the United States, STEM education has gained acceptance worldwide as an inquiry-based, interdisciplinary approach engaging students in active learning. Despite the ubiquity of STEM—science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, schools face challenges in providing professional development for teachers. This dissertation addresses a lack of adequate professional development to support STEM implementation at an international school in South America. Based on a constructivist assumption that teachers’ beliefs, cultures, and experiences mediate their learning, a mentoring program was selected as the most viable solution strategy. Mentoring provides a pathway for mentees to enact new strategies with their mentor’s support promoting …

School Leadership That Impacts Student Achievement In Blue Ribbon Schools In The Rio Grande Valley Of Texas, Sonya Y. Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to determine the leadership actions, behaviors, and practices of effective school leaders in Blue Ribbon Schools in South Texas who resulted in the schools receiving the distinction by the U. S. Department of Education of being a Blue Ribbon School. Data were collected through a series of interviews with principals and teachers from the selected sample of Blue Ribbon Schools in the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas. The interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using inductive coding to determine themes.

Reducing Employee Burnout: The Role Of Organizations, Aixa E. Evenson

Leadership Education Capstones

Organizations experience high rates of burnout amongst their staff. Whether it be team productivity, staff deadline completion pace, work engagement, staff turnover rates, or other relevant areas of a leader’s team, burnout has shown to cause a significant decrease in satisfaction and functionality in a staffer’s workplace (Maslach & Leiter, 2016). The purpose of this study was to identify the organization’s role in supporting their leaders to reduce staff burnout. Theories that support this study are the Job-Demands Resource Theory, the Conservation of Resources Theory, and the Valuation Theory of Organizational Change. Each of these theories present a need for …

Discipleship And Leadership: The Correlation Between Discipleship And Servant, Transformational, And Shared Leadership In The Marketplace, Daniel E. Gifford

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative correlational study explored the intersection of Christians in leadership positions who are not in full-time ministerial positions and the transformational nature of discipleship. It focused on determining if a correlation exists between a marketplace Christian leader’s involvement in a discipleship relationship and exhibiting characteristics of servant, transformational, or shared leadership in the marketplace. It did this by examining the concept of discipleship as currently practiced in today’s environment, comparing it with similar terms and practices prevalent in the literature, such as spiritual formation, mentoring, and coaching. It also reviewed three specific leadership styles, arguing that servant, transformational, and …

Teacher Perceptions Of Transformational Leadership Practices In Urban Charter Middle Schools, Michelle Anderson

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Abstract

Schools today are facing unprecedented demands for school accountability and student achievement. Effective school leadership is recognized as a critical component for overall school success. Consequently, researchers have extensively explored school leadership and identified transformational leadership as an appropriate style for schools (Leithwood, 1992; Hallinger & Heck, 1996; and Jantzi & Leithwood, 1996). According to Burns (1978), transformational leadership is a process in which “leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation.” Transformational leadership is defined as an approach designed to cause change in individuals and social systems. This study explores …

Personal Reflections On Supervision As Instructional Leadership: From Whence It Came And To Where Shall It Go?, Jeffrey Glanz

Journal of Educational Supervision

The field of supervision has perennially struggled to define itself and, hence, find a niche within the larger field of education and, more narrowly, even within the field of instructional leadership. A sort of an odd, almost contradictory state exists, one in which precludes, in my opinion, the field of supervision from gaining traction as a field, but also, perhaps more importantly, as an influential practice in schools. Books on supervision seem popular, but only in title. In others words, publishers, for instance, prefer the word "supervision" as part of the title of books they publish on the subject, whereas …

Leadership Styles Of Doctor Of Physical Therapy Program Directors, Dawn Sunshine Brown

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Commission on Accreditation of Physical Therapy Education requires Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program directors to have the necessary academic and professional qualifications to lead their programs, but many directors lack awareness of their leadership styles. The purpose of this quantitative descriptive correlational study was to examine the leadership styles of current DPT program directors within the United States, analyze the relationship between DPT program directors’ self-perceptions of their leadership style and effectiveness, and understand a relationship between leadership styles with race and ethnicity.Methods: Data were collected using the 45-item Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X Short Leader Form developed by …