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An Examination Of Early Childhood Leadership In Public Elementary Schools: A Mixed Methods Study, Wesam Alshahrani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As state-funded Pre-K programs in elementary schools continue to grow, elementary principals are increasingly responsible for supporting, supervising, and leading these programs. Therefore, examining elementary principals' early childhood leadership competencies and the factors influencing them may help understand and improve their experiences as early childhood education (ECE) leaders. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study examined the ECE leadership of Tennessee public elementary school principals in two phases.

In the quantitative phase, statewide surveys were used to collect data from 67 principals. The survey comprised 51 items assessing nine ECE leadership competencies, synthesized from statements of leading ECE and elementary education …

Pedagogies Of Possibility : A Study Reconceptualizing The Teacher's Role In A Reggio-Inspired Urban Preschool Classroom., Christina Louise Angleton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education is an innovative and often imitated “way of being” with young children (Rinaldi, 2006). Reggio-inspired teachers enact rich pedagogical stances in their work with young children. In North American contexts, the approach is frequently associated with wealthy, suburban communities. Adopting a feminist methodology, this dissertation explores the pedagogical moves one teacher made as she enacted the identity of a Reggio teacher in an urban preschool classroom. The theoretical framework guiding this study is grounded in feminist poststructural, postmodern, and decolonization scholarship, each of which inform a movement known as Reconceptualizing Early Childhood …