Education Commons^™

Developing Comprehensive Indigenous Education Programs Through Meso Level Leadership To Promote Indigenous Student Success, Lynne Tomlinson

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Abstract

Annual reports to the B.C. Ministry of Education on Indigenous student progress in 2019/2020 indicated notable gaps in academic achievement, sense of belonging, and post-secondary transitions between non-Indigenous and Indigenous students. Meso level leaders are responsible for developing new programs and resources to support Indigenous student success. They do not yet have the skills and knowledge to address the gap that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) presents a collaborative inquiry approach to decolonize the K-12 system that promotes interwoven perspectives of Western and Indigenous epistemologies, pedagogies, and methodologies. A collaborative professional learning community …

Enhancing Cultural Awareness Policy And Pedagogy At A Bilingual Nursery School, Rola Touckly

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Globalization and migration have impacted the cultural demographics at educational settings worldwide. Families with young children relocating to new countries experience distress and a sense of cultural loss, in terms of language, beliefs, and values. Grounded in the social constructivist worldview, this organizational improvement plan proposes how to support cross-cultural kids and their families during the periods of transition and adaptation, at an international nursery school located in the Middle East. Influenced by the cross-cultural adaptation theory and a multidimensional ethical framework, the problem of practice addresses the need to develop a relevant policy and to enhance culturally responsive practices. …

Learning In A Community : An Investigation Of Mentor Inquiry Into Formative Assessment Practices, Erin Riley-Lepo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This qualitative, instrumental case study examined how a mentor inquiry community can serve as a space for mentors to articulate their knowledge and what about the inquiry community, its characteristics, might harm or help that development. Using Design-Based Research as the methodology, a mentor inquiry community, composed of three university-based mentors of preservice teachers and I engaged inquiry. Mentors showed their knowledge through their storytelling and problematizing each other’s work. The inquiry community was facilitated by shared symbolic language, and mentors’ off-task talk hindered the current work of the community but may have opened up new avenues of inquiry for …

Building Capacity For Deep Learning, Seonaid J. Davis

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Post COVID-19, gives school leaders the opportunity to build back a better school system focusing on the needs of students, preparing students to thrive in the 21^st century by shifting from teacher-centred to learner-centred pedagogy. Changing teachers’ attitudes, beliefs, and skills to make this shift requires new learning through creating an effective professional learning environment. This organizational improvement plan explores how to build teacher capacity for 21^st century learning at the Family of Independent Schools (a pseudonym) in Ontario through the creation of collaborative inquiry teams where teachers develop an individual and collective understanding of deep learning. Deep …

Building An Adaptive Culture Where Collaborative Teaching Teams Leverage Data To Improve Student Achievement And Wellbeing, Anand Mahadevan

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

This Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) seeks to open up the black box of classroom teaching to data informed collaborative inquiry by teachers for teachers using formative feedback as the model for instructional improvement. Teacher collective efficacy is developed through ongoing professional learning in collaborative teaching teams that use multiple measures of data to limit bias and improve equity of outcomes for students. Such a process is iterative, and the OIP envisions the combined use of adaptive leadership and distributed leadership approaches to support Kotter’s 8-step model for change implementation. The desired outcome is an adaptive and agile school culture where …

Examining Small-Group Discourse Through The Lens Of Students’ Beliefs About Mathematics And The Instructional Triangle, Jennifer Ericson

Doctoral Dissertations

Standards-based mathematics instruction [SBMI], with opportunities to engage in high-quality mathematical discourse about meaningful tasks, leads to increased student achievement. However, not all students participate in mathematical discourse with high-quality. Esmonde & Langer-Osuna (2013) found that students participate in discourse with various degrees of engagement based upon individual beliefs. Boaler (2006b) found that SBMI in a detracked setting improves students’ beliefs about mathematics. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to illustrate the phenomenon of incongruent written curricula commitments across grade bands in a school district by examining small-group discourse and students’ mathematical related beliefs. This study compared students’ …