Educational Administration and Supervision Commons^™

Community Context: Influence And Implications For School Leadership Preparation, Tamara Lipke, Holly Manaseri

School Leadership Review

Effective K-12 leaders remain a central concern for schools and communities of all types. The purpose of this research is to examine critically the literature on issues facing leaders in rural and urban settings and present a synthesis of cross-cutting themes. The authors reviewed the theoretical and empirical literature on K-12 leadership issues in rural settings and in urban settings published between 2013-2018 in ten journals. An examination of the similarities and differences facing leaders in these settings in the United States and a discussion of the implications for leadership preparation programs is provided. Future research directions to guide the …

The Perceptions Of Teacher Evaluation By Teachers And Campus Administrators In A Suburban Texas District, George P. Willey

School Leadership Review

The purpose of this research is to examine the perceptions of campus administrators and teachers of the new Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) in a suburban Texas school district. Historically, teacher evaluation systems have failed to reach the intended outcome of serving as a tool to improve teaching practices. When campus administrators and teachers perceive teacher evaluation as primarily a tool to document poor performers, the growth aspect of the evaluation process is not maximized. This research seeks to identify the perceptions of both campus administrators and teachers on the evaluation system. District leaders will be able to …

Conversational Leadership Behaviors Of Exemplary Unified School District Superintendents, Jacqueline A. Cardenas

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to describe the behaviors that exemplary unified school district superintendents practice to lead their organizations through conversation using Groysberg and Slind’s (2012b) 4 elements of conversational leadership: intimacy, interactivity, inclusion, and intentionality.

Methodology: This study utilized a qualitative phenomenological inquiry methodology to study the behaviors of 10 unified school district superintendents in Southern California. Semistructured interviews followed a peer researcher-developed guide and were used in conjunction with observations and artifacts to learn about the lived experiences and perspectives of conversational leadership. Data collection and analysis was facilitated by NVivo software to …

Teaching Basic Cryptography Concepts Using Braille And Large Print Manipulatives, Jason Martin

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The scope of this article is to describe the creation and implementation of specialized adaptations used in teaching the subject of basic cryptography to students who are visually impaired or blind. Included is an overview of events held for visually impaired and blind transition age youth in Alabama and the methods used to engage this population in the subject of computer science. Teaching strategies utilized for this unique demographic of students are discussed as they relate to the sample cryptography lessons used during the transition day events. The construction of three forms of adapted ciphers are described in addition to …

Making 3d Laser Cut Stratigraphic Audio-Responsive Tactile Templates, Michael A. Kolitsky

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

The geologic method of stratigraphy which studies the structure of the earth by making layers was employed with 3D laser cutting techniques to make more easily defined tactile regions in templates of cells, tissues and anatomic regions containing muscles and bones. Templates were made audio responsive by hand-drilling a small hole in a template and filling that hole with conductive electric paint. A finger touch to the template top side now carries a charge similar to an electric circuit to the template bottom side resting on the surface of an iPad or iPad Pro where an audio button produces audio …

Assessing The Impact Of Holocaust Education On Adolescents’ Civic Values: Experimental Evidence From Arkansas, Mathew Lee, Molly I. Beck

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

American adults overwhelmingly agree that the Holocaust should be taught in schools, yet few studies investigate the potential benefits of Holocaust education. We evaluate the impact of Holocaust education on several civic outcomes, including “upstander” efficacy (willingness to intervene on behalf of others), likelihood of exercising civil disobedience, empathy for the suffering of others, and tolerance of others with different values and lifestyles. We recruit students from two local high schools and randomize access to the Arkansas Holocaust Education Conference, where students have the chance to hear from a Holocaust survivor and to participate in breakout sessions with leading Holocaust …

A Good Investment: The Updated Productivity Of Public Charter Schools In Eight U.S. Cities, Corey Deangelis, Patrick J, Wolf, Larry Maloney, Jay May

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

In 2015-16, the United states spent over $660 billion on its public education system in hopes of providing children with greater opportunities to excel academically and to improve their life trajectories. While public education dollars have risen at a relatively fast pace historically, future challenges, including underfunded pension liabilities, suggest policymakers should economize wherever possible. Meanwhile, the number of public charter schools has increased exponentially. from 1991 to 2018, charter school legislation passed in 44 states and the nation’s capital, and student enrollment in charters increased to around 3.2 million. Since educational resources are limited, we examine which types of …

Strategic Planning And Democracy, Jennifer Thomson

Bucknell: Occupied

Jennifer Thomson, assistant professor of History at Bucknell University, interviews Ellen Herman, associate professor of Geology at Bucknell, and two anonymous guests about the strategic planning process underway at Bucknell, 2018-2019. The group discusses the lack of transparency in the identification of priorities and the top-down approach to governance. Guests also identify labor issues and the feeling of being strategically beleaguered by meetings and electronic communication. They express concern over references to sustainability concepts, which are specific only to economic sustainability, and they analyzed the way the strategic plan addresses problems with the Greek system and its impact on student …

Perceptions Of Rural High School Professional School Counselors Regarding The Impact Of Strategies To Help At-Risk Learners Graduate, Beth Duvall Fleming

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to study the perceptions of school counselors regarding the impact of the school counseling program, interventions, and other strategies to help at-risk learners persist to graduate. A qualitative research design employing an interpretive phenomenological analysis methodology was used. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions allowed the respondents to share insights into the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of their individual experiences as school counselors. The results suggest students with various risk factors choose not to persist to graduate, transferring to homeschool or withdrawing from school as a dropout. Academic deficiency, severe misbehavior, poor attendance, and social …

Principal Self-Efficacy And Learning Organizations: Influencing School Improvement, Kristina A. Hesbol

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies: Faculty Scholarship

One key characteristic of high-performing schools is how they function organizationally, enabling them to enact reforms effectively and to deal with regular organizational ambiguity and chaos. The principal plays a pivotal role in developing a school culture that supports high-performing schools. This research studies the relationship between principal self-efficacy and a principal's perception of her school as a learning organization. We examined specific subcategories of learning organization attitudes and behaviors to determine whether principals consider distinct organizational behaviors a proxy for indicators of a learning organization, and whether that was related to their self-efficacy. The findings indicate that principals must …

An Examination Of How Middle School Principals Make Sense Of Their Role In Leading Standards Based Educational Reform, Barbara J. Maling Cas, Ma

Muskie School Dissertations

A dominant feature of the educational policy landscape has been the adoption and use of learning standards to design classroom instruction. As these efforts move forward, often without clear definition of the classroom practices that should be adopted, the role of the school principal is critical in interpreting the changes, and charting a course for the teachers in the building. This qualitative study, examines the sensemaking of four active middle school principals as they interpreted and led standards-based reform efforts in their buildings, using a novel theoretical framework based on prior research (Benford & Snow, 2000; Spillane, Reiser, & Reimer, …

John G. Kemeny And Dartmouth College: A Life, A College President And The Times Of The 1960s, 70s And 80s, Stephen Nelson

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Nebraska Transcript (University Of Nebraska College Of Law), Volume 52, Number 1, Spring 2019

Nebraska Transcript

1 Dean's Message

2 Faculty Notes

7 Law College-Political Science team awarded Inclusive Excellence Development Grant

8 Space Law Program takes students, staff on inaugural rural telecommunications tour

9 Community Legal Education Project teaches elementary students about law, Constitution

10 Law students organize Day of Civic Engagement

11 Gregory Moran, ’18, wins 2018 Employee Benefits Writing Competition

11 Nebraska Law's pro bono work earns national honors

12 Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Lohier visits as Cline Williams Jurist in Residence

13 Former US Solicitor General Donald Verrilli delivers Lane Lecture on the rule of law

14 Nebraska Law partners …

Walking The Talk: Embedding Standards-Based Grading In An Educational Leadership Course, Matt Townsley

Journal of Research Initiatives

The purpose of this paper is to provide a model for educational leadership faculty who aspire to walk the talk of effective feedback by embedding standards-based grading (SBG) in their courses. Rather than focusing on learning, points are the currency of K-12 classrooms across the country. Over 100 years of grading research suggests typical grading practices are subjective at best. Some schools are responding by implementing SBG, yet few articles describe how higher education embeds this philosophy in educator preparation coursework. In this essay, the author documents how to design assessments, align rubrics, and provide feedback to aspiring school leaders …

Performance Assessment Of Aspiring School Leaders Grounded In An Epistemology Of Practice: A Case Study, Jessica E. Charles, Rebecca Cheung, Kristin Rosekrans

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

There is increasing interest in the field of leadership preparation about the opportunities that robust performance assessments may provide to capture and evaluate the complexity of school administrators’ work. Heretofore, the conversation about administrator performance assessment in leadership preparation has mainly centered on the development and impact of large statewide assessments that grow out of a Cartesian epistemology of individual knowledge possession, in which individuals must demonstrate mastery of a set of static knowledge and skills. We analyzed the characteristics of a performance assessment system that deliberately accounts for the organizational complexity of practice and knowledge generation in its design. …

Lessons Learned From Observing Teaching Practices: The Case Of Ghana, Corinne Brion, Paula A. Cordeiro

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for providing a quality education for all by 2030. In order to achieve the SDGs and improve educational outcomes globally, it is essential to understand what teaching strategies teachers use and to comprehend if students are learning. The purpose of this study is 1) to understand what teaching pedagogies Ghanaian teachers use in their Low-Fee Private Schools (LFPSs); and 2) to determine whether students stay on task. Using the Stallings Snapshot Observation instrument, the researchers observed 19 class periods in numerous grades in four schools. Findings reveal that the teachers used a combination of …

Review: ‘Culturally Responsive School Leadership’, Corinne Brion

Educational Leadership Faculty Publications

Context matters. These two words ring true everywhere, in every situation we find ourselves and for everything we do or say, but they have a particularly strong impact in American schools. Even though the fact that American schools have legally been desegregated since 1954, researchers such as Bolgatz (2005b); Delpit (1995); Lindsey, Robins and Terrell (2009); and (Singleton, 2014) argue that schools and classrooms are still largely segregated in a variety of ways. The majority of schools for example, lack contextually appropriate curriculum, do not promote diversity among students, teachers, and staff, and/or fail to engage all parents and community …

Integrated Student Services: Exploring Integration On Community College Student Success, Charles Michael Scheetz

All Theses And Dissertations

Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) have become like hospitals where there are multiple offices in centralized locations. One of the areas that need further study is how to integrate these services effectively and efficiently to service students. Healthcare has developed the triage model and IHEs are starting to bring this model into the educational settings. This qualitative study of a community college’s integrated student service model reviewed the impact of the model on student success of a specific student population. The overall problem was a lack of data about the impact of integrated student services on specific student population success. …

The Potential Of Rethinking The Teacher Observation And Evaluation Model, Cheryl L. Lang

All Theses And Dissertations

Today, across the United States of America, ongoing efforts are underway to transform the teacher evaluation system into a useful and manageable tool for improving teaching and learning in the classrooms. Currently, school districts in Maine are required to implement teacher observation and evaluation systems as a method of improving instructional practices in the classrooms. According to Mezirow’s adult learning theory, adults learn best when the learning fits into their frame of reference that has been long cultivated through maturity into adulthood, and they become invested in what they are learning. School districts have an opportunity to make teacher observations …

Improving The Rigor Of Online Education: Exploring Characteristics Of Faculty And Syllabi Within An Online Program Assessment Process, Brad J. Hamel

All NMU Master's Theses

As online course enrollments grow, overall perception of rigor still lags compared to that of traditional face-to-face education. The purpose of this research was to tie faculty and syllabi characteristics to the rigor of online courses. This study explored the relationship between faculty and syllabi characteristics and performance on an online entry-level course design quality assurance assessment (pass, pass with concern, or fail). A decision tree analysis was used to predict the relationship of the independent (faculty and syllabi characteristics) and the dependent (entry-level course design assessment) variables. Findings suggest that faculty rank and writing intensive are key characteristics predictive …

Characteristics Of Seventh-Grade Middle School Students Who Attended A Continuation High School, Rae Lynn Kit

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This study explored pre-existing quantitative data for 55 students when they were in the seventh grade who eventually attended a continuation high school years later. There were 101 students at a particular continuation high school, and this research explored pre-existing data looking solely at the students who were in the same district while they were in seventh grade. Attendance and grades from the pre-existing data in the district’s software system were analyzed using a descriptive methodology followed by a cluster analysis through SPSS. Attendance findings for the 55 students revealed that nine students (16%) were absent with a frequency of …

An Evidence-Based Faculty Development Program For Online Teaching In Higher Education, Ruth Chisum

All Theses And Dissertations

A critical component in the successful implementation of online education hinges on providing faculty development opportunities that promote the utilization of pedagogical best practices in online teaching. While such training programs are on the rise, institutions are no closer to a universal consensus on how to design and evaluate such efforts. Historically, the success of faculty development programs has been measured via post-completion satisfaction surveys, attendance counts, and faculty perceptions of the usefulness of the content immediately following a training event. However, such metrics rarely provide an accurate measurement of the true efficacy of training, which in the context of …

The Lived Experiences Of Clinical Adjunct Dental Hygiene Faculty, Susan Lori Vogell

All Theses And Dissertations

Clinical education is an integral part of a dental hygiene student’s education. Clinical adjunct dental hygiene faculty primarily teach in the clinical setting. Clinical adjunct dental hygiene faculty are often hired for their clinical expertise and may lack teaching experience. The transition from clinical practice to academia raises concern about the adequacy of support and preparation clinical adjunct faculty receive as they begin their new role as educators. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological analysis was to explore clinical adjunct dental hygiene faculty members’ experiences of preparedness as they transitioned from clinical expert to novice educator. Six clinical adjunct dental …

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 …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Job-Related Experiences Of Early Career Catholic Elementary School Principals In The Mideastern Region Of The United States, Sarah Kerins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the job-related experiences of early career Catholic elementary school principals in the Mideastern region of the United States. Alderfer’s (1969) existence, relatedness, and growth theory provides a foundation to answer the central research question: How do early career Catholic elementary school principals in the Mideastern region of the United States describe their job-related experiences? Participants were purposefully selected from a population of Catholic elementary school principals employed within the Mideastern region of the United States who had completed one but not more than five years of service. Using a transcendental …

How Christian School Leadership Practices Impact The Creation Of A School Environment Where Spiritual Nurture Can Occur In Students: A Phenomenological Investigation, Deborah Hollis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand how Christian school leader practices impact the creation of a school environment where spiritual nurture can occur in students. Through criteria sampling from an open web search of ACSI Christian schools in Pennsylvania, selected participants were elementary and upper school principals, an assistant administrator, heads of school, and an assistant head of school. As one of the largest Christian education associations rooted in a biblical worldview, ACSI has developed the Christian School Leadership Framework (CSLF) which describes important competencies and behaviors for administrators and/or leaders of Christian schools. The theoretical framework …

Teacher Hiring And Placement At The Elementary School Level: The Challenges Of Implementing Strategic Human Resource Management Practices, Brittany Nicole Walker

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Decades of research emphasizes the importance of staffing schools with quality teachers, as this will have the largest impact on student achievement (Mason, Schroeder, 2010). With high teacher turnover rates in addition to shrinking qualified candidate pools, the hiring process holds great significance (Tooms, 2004). This case study explored how one school district hires and places elementary school teachers. This study follows a qualitative case study approach using documents and interviews as data collection methods. Recently, Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) has made the transition from business to educational literature. This study explored two concepts, including fit and flexibility from …

Networkings Role In The Informal Learning Of Elementary Principals, Joshua J. Ringling

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Formal learning is an important aspect for school principals in the era of federal and state accountability. These formal learning opportunities provide the conditions for leadership development and personal growth. Although formal learning has been a consistent focus of educational leadership research, informal learning has not. The purpose of this study was to use qualitative case study methodology to gain a better understanding of in depth Social Networking amongst school principals with varying levels of experience, as well as capturing the what and how of knowledge transfer amongst principals. This study found that a principal’s informal learning opportunities are just …

Principal Influence On Collective Efficacy: A Single Case Study Looking At Principal Efficacy Influence On An Elementary School Through The Perspective Of Teachers, Jennifer Anne Banks

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

This study explored ways in which self-efficacy beliefs and actions of a principal contributed to the shaping of school’s collective efficacy through teachers’ perceptions. A general qualitative methods approach was used. The study featured a single embedded case design highlighting one high-poverty school achieving state accreditation standards for student proficiency levels in English and math. The study population consisted of 14 elementary school teachers in a district in a state in the mid-Atlantic region. Data were collected through a survey, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group to answer the following research questions: (1) What experiences/elements were influential in developing the …

The Impact Of Male Gender Dissonance On Women’S Potential Eligibility For Advancement To K-12 Public School Superintendent, Mona Lee Montgomery

Dissertations

Purpose:The purpose of this phenomenological replication study was to discover what behaviors female administrators exhibit that may prompt male administrators with whom they work with in California public educationto demonstrate behaviors associated with gender dissonanceand to discover any impact these dissonant behaviors may have on women’s potential eligibility for advancement to the position of K-12 school superintendent.

Methodology:This qualitative phenomenological replication study explored the experiences of seven female and seven male K-12 public school superintendents in Orange, San Diego, and Riverside Counties in California. Respondents were selected based on delimiting criteria and a purposive criterion sampling method. …