Educational Leadership Commons^™

School Readiness Of First Grade Charter School Students: An Evaluation Of An Early Childhood Program, Dr Shandowlyon L. Hendricks-Williams

Dissertations

This program evaluation studied the effectiveness of an early childhood program as it relates to school readiness. The early childhood program of a charter school located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin had been operating for over thirty without an evaluation of its effectiveness. To examine the effectiveness of the early childhood program, seventy-two students were evaluated using a teacher-developed First Grade Readiness Checklist; the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) Test and Success for All (SFA) Assessment. School readiness, as a multifaceted construct, included five domains: academic, behavioral, emotional, social and self-help-skills.

The results of the survey indicate that the early childhood program …

How And Why Are Kindergarten Through Twelfth Grade Public School Teachers Using Social Media For Professional Development?, Sherry Kerr Huckaby

Theses and Dissertations

Social media has revolutionized technologies used today. While social media was originally developed for personal use, it has also permeated the professional world. Teachers are among those who are embracing social media for professional purposes. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to investigate how and why kindergarten through twelfth grade public school teachers were using social media for professional development. The participants were 78 teachers from a rural school district in the southeastern United States. All participants completed a social media questionnaire, and the researcher conducted fifteen individual interviews and a focus group interview for follow-up.

Data analysis …

Mooc Phenomenon: Building An Effective And Sustainable Program, Michelle M. Chan

All Theses And Dissertations

This qualitative case study examines critical processes of building an effective MOOC in the community college environment in support of workforce development education for those who are interested in exploring different careers or to improve upon existing skill sets and development/remedial education for incoming students. Five participants from community colleges were selected to participate in this study. They were identified as a purposive sample of community colleges that offer MOOCs and use different learning management systems that support MOOCs. Themes that emerged from interviews were: unanticipated global enrollment in MOOCs designed for local and regional audiences, challenges of designing and …

Embracing A Culture Of Evidence: A Phenomenological Study Of Faculty Experience Within A Transitioning Assessment Culture, Jennifer A. Galipeau

All Theses And Dissertations

This phenomenological study sought to give voice to the lived experiences of faculty within a transitioning assessment culture at an institution of higher education accredited by the New England Association of Colleges and Schools (NEASC). Current literature concerning outcomes assessment (OA) in higher education is highly focused on the need for campuses to foster a robust and pervasive culture around assessment, often termed a culture of evidence. The study site provided a unique opportunity to examine this phenomenon as it was at the mid-point of a multi-year initiative focused on transforming institutional assessment culture. During the study, full-time faculty at …

Improving Student Achievement Of Private School Students Receiving Title Services: A Positional And Dispositional Change Plan, Dr Shandowlyon L. Hendricks-Williams

Dissertations

This change plan examined the current competencies, conditions, culture and context of a for-profit education corporation which resulted in low student achievement, “As Is”. As a means of developing strategies and actions for change, the competencies, conditions, culture and context necessary to increase student achievement was explored “To Be”. A change plan was developed and implemented. The change plan addressed my personal immunities to change as well as strategies and actions needed to improve student achievement. Private school students receiving title services were assessed using the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test in May of 2014. The results of that …

A Case Study To Discover The Factors Impacting North Georgia School Leaders' Choices In Assignment Of Co-Teaching Partnerships, Donna Cherveny

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Assignment of co-teaching partnerships fails to be recognized fully in the current base of literature. Literature documents the impact of teachers on educational environments and student success, hiring choices of school leaders, and the implementation of co-teaching; however, literature is lacking at the junction of these topics. The purpose of this qualitative collective case study was to discover the factors that impact choices of North Georgia school leaders when assigning co-teaching partnerships. Participants included 13 school leaders from 7 North Georgia school districts who are responsible for assigning co-teaching partnerships. Results of the study demonstrate that personal characteristics, professional experiences, …

2016 Ijbe Front Matter, Tamra Connor

International Journal for Business Education

1. Editorial Board
2. President's Letter
3. SIEC-ISBE International

Examining The Existence And Importance Of Ten Skills For Successful School Leaders From Saudi Principals’ Perspectives, Khalifah Albalawi

Dissertations

In 2011, the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Saudi Arabia began reform of its educational system to improve school performance, especially student achievement. The MOE has realized the importance of developing school leadership to lead the process of change, focusing on principals as change agents. The new MOE vision, therefore, places principals at the center of education reform initiatives. As a result, principals are expected to enact different roles, and must improve their leadership capacities to successfully lead reform efforts. Specifically, the new expectations for principals include:

• Building a vision concentrated on student education and learning,
• Developing the process of …

Raising Expectations: Utilizing Research-Based Methods Linking Teacher Expectations And Student Achievement (Tesa_: A Change Leadership Plan, Jarita Rashe' Steward

Dissertations

This Change Leadership Plan details the progress of a pilot group of Kindergarten, third, fifth, and sixth grade teachers in a K-8, Title 1 School as they observed one another utilizing the expectations strategies from the Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement Program (TESA). In this second year of work, strategies from the previous year were reviewed, and new strategies were added as reinforcement. The pilot group observed their colleagues, discussed their observations, and reported what they noticed during the observations. This research also employed researcher observations. Data from all observations, research, discussions and interviews were charted. One of the most …

The Experiences Of Stakeholders In District-University Administrator Preparation Partnerships, Jacob Mckinley Wilson Iii

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Collaborative partnerships between school districts and universities focused on school leadership development are a part of a recent effort to provide the field of public education with leadership for the 21st century. The research clearly indicates that the demand for educational administrators far outweighs the number of available qualified candidates. This qualitative research proposal, influenced by the research tradition of phenomenology, was designed to examine an important but often overlooked component of the school district–university partnership process. The stakeholders, representatives from both the school district and the university involved in the partnership, are key to the successful development and implementation …

The Principal's Role; Distributed Leadership, Kathryn R. Hermann

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The role of the principal role has become very complex with the increased focus on accountability and student achievement. Principals can no longer do their jobs alone. Distributed leadership has been the subject of considerable educational research and discourse in recent years. This study explores how principals employ or do not employ distributed leadership with their staffs. The study found that the school principal plays a key role in supporting the school by communicating a common purpose, that distributed leadership is developed within a school climate built upon collaboration, the principal models leadership using tools and routines, and situational decision …

Principals’ Perspectives On The Professional Development Process And Its Outcomes, Sara Kathleen Moore

Dissertations

This study examined principals’ perspectives on the professional development process and its outcomes. Principals are in the best position to ensure a connection between research-based best practices and what actually happens in the classroom, but there is little research on how principals actually select professional development for their staff in the field. This study was conducted in a Midwestern state using data gathered from public elementary school principals in the form of a survey. The sample included all K-5 and K-8 elementary principals on record with the state department of education, with 242 principals responding. It examined how much control …

Student-Teacher Connection, Race, And Relationships To Academic Achievement, Timothy Brian Mabin Jr.

Dissertations

Urban, primarily minority and low-SES students continue to lag behind their suburban white non-low SES counterparts in terms of academic achievement. Some previous research suggests that strong bonds between teachers and students help such students succeed. This study therefore sought to investigate any relationships between student-teacher connection, race, and academic achievement.

Student perceptional data on student-teacher connections (i.e., a teacher caring about them) and student achievement data in the areas of math and reading from 3,359 high school students within a large urban Midwestern school district was examined. In addition, the race/ethnicity of both the students and teachers were examined …

Understanding Millennial, Generation X, And Baby Boomer Preferred Leadership Characteristics: Informing Today’S Leaders And Followers, Lee-Volker Cox

Dissertations

Purpose. This quantitative study’s purpose was to describe and determine the degree of difference and importance of leadership characteristics as perceived by Baby Boom, Generation X, and Millennial generational cohort followers in STEM-related U.S.-based or headquartered aerospace and computer organizations as measured by the Multigenerational Leadership Characteristics Questionnaire (MLCQ).

Methodology. This was a cross-sectional, nonexperimental, comparative and correlational quantitative, ex post facto study. A web-based MLCQ was developed after conducting an academic literature review. Participants used a 6-point Likert scale identifying the importance of 30 characteristics with 2 aggregation questions identifying the most and least important characteristics; 408 members of …

Living Out Faith: Reflections On Motivation For Academic Achievement And Career Choice, Felicia D. Richardson-Mcgee

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

It has often been said that conversations concerning religion, sex and politics should be avoided in most, if not all social settings. In general, it was believed that discussions on these topics could lead to very heated and argumentative debates as the participants openly expressed their views on these subjects. Increasingly, however, religion has become a popular discussion topic in many areas, such as politics, health and medicine, and even the business world. This is likely because religion, for many, is an important part of daily life. It shapes how individuals see themselves and others in the world and may …

Rediscovering Deep Time: Sustainability And The Need To Re-Engage With Multiple Dimensions Of Time In Leadership Studies, Rian Satterwhite, Kate Sheridan, Whitney Mcintyre Miller

Education Faculty Articles and Research

The current article makes the case that increasing our comfort with and responsiveness to extended timescales—both the far future and past—is essential to leadership against the backdrop of wicked challenges that shape the current and future leadership landscape. We offer a loose structure of four dimensions of time—present, near, distant, and deep time—to help advance this work. We frequently fail in thinking about the broader impact of our leadership work for generations to come and to ground that work in our extended, collective history. In order to think about lasting leadership, and particularly when utilizing a framework of sustainability and …

The Nature Of Teacher Learning In Collaborative Data Teams, Robert Michaud

The Qualitative Report

As data teams have grown in popularity in recent years, they have been increasingly looked to by educational researchers because of the tantalizing prospect of combining teachers’ on the job professional development with increased and effective data use to drive instruction. Data teams have been increasingly implemented within schools by educational leaders attempting to take advantage of what teachers learn from each other in the context of a data team. Many conceptual models of data team function have been proposed, but few empirical studies have examined how teachers learn from collaborating with each other in a data team. This paper …

Teacher Understanding Of Curricular And Pedagogical Decision-Making Processes At An Urban Charter School, Rodolfo Cuevas Jr.

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study featured two research endeavors. The first was a narrative inquiry of six teachers at Weedpatch Charter School as they understood curricular and pedagogical decisionmaking. These teachers, along with the Weedpatch Charter School founder, participated in this study soon after the curriculum and instruction decision-making had undergone a democratization effort whereby a top-down administrative approach was replaced by a teacher-led effort. Ironically, WCS school leadership welcomed the latter effort, despite the antiteacher legacy of the charter movement, which has long featured “at will” employment and no collective bargaining. The second component of this study was critical discourse analysis …

Changing Mindsets: A Case Study Of A Community Of Practice Between Charter And Traditional Public School Leaders In The School Leaders Network, Manuel Nicolas Ponce Jr.

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the essential elements of a community of practice intended to increase communication and collaboration between traditional public and charter school leaders. Members of the Los Angeles Cohort of the School Leaders Network participated in this study.

This case study triangulated observation, interview, and document review data to identify the factors that were most beneficial to this particular community of practice. Drawing on the research of communities of practice, constructivism, and leadership theory, these factors were articulated into five domains with the hope that, with further research, this framework could influence the creation …

Perceptions Regarding The Use And Experience Of Information And Communication Technology From Female Students In A Catholic Middle School, Julio Cuauhtemoc Tellez

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Despite advancements in the search of equity, females still struggle to find acceptance in the field of information and communication technology. Research indicates that differences in perception of ability of ICT use begin to manifest in the middle school level. This mixed methods study explored the experiences and perceptions of 46 middle school females and males to expose possible influential factors about the use of ICT by females. The dissertation study occurred in two phases. The first phase involved a survey that was given to the entire middle school. Data from the survey provided participants for the second phase, which …

Engaging The Lived Realities Of Adult Immigrant English Language Learners: A Case Study Of Literacy For Consciousness, Todd Eckel

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative study had two goals. The first goal was to understand how a critical, non-formal, adult literacy program addresses the challenges and successes, which the students and volunteers identify at Amanecer Adult School. The second goal was to explore the perception of the student Spanish-speaking immigrants on the extent to which this program contributes to their second language acquisition and critical citizenship. These goals were examined through studying a local nonprofit organization, Amanecer Adult School, (AAS) that espouses critical literacy as its main goal. Using qualitative methodology and an inductive analysis approach to the data, the findings of the …

The Impact Of Catholic High School Education: Catholic High School Young Adult Alumnae Perception And Engagement In Social Justice Related Activities, Antony John Joseph Gaspar

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This mixed methods research investigated how young adult alumnae from a Catholic female high school perceive the impact of their high school service experience concerning their "beliefs" about the importance of service, current "engagement" in service, and their beliefs about and engagement with four Catholic Social Teaching principles (life and dignity, care for the poor, solidarity and common good, and rights and responsibilities) related to social justice.

This research draws data from young adult alumnae from a Catholic female single-sex high school in a metropolitan city of the United States. The data collection included a web-based survey (N=131), individual interview …

Women Principals Of Jewish Secular High Schools In Israel: Access And Progress, Dana Michelle Lebental

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative investigation focused on women high school principals at Jewish secular schools throughout Israel. Despite challenges, Israeli women have succeeded in obtaining over half of the principal positions at Jewish secular high schools, but the degree to which there is equal gender access to leadership roles in the school system remains unclear. This study examined whether there was clustering of women in high school principal positions in certain geographical areas, the process by which these women obtained principal positions, what obstacles the women overcame, and an analysis if respondents differed by district in terms of their career paths, career …

A Study Of Teacher-Buy-In And Grading Policy Reform In A Los Angeles Archdiocesan Catholic High School, Christian Martín De Larkin Ii

LMU Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Schools Of Education In A New Era Of Accountability: A Case Study Of An Annual Report Process Used To Advance A Professional Learning Community, Manuel A. Aceves

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Institutions of higher education are entering a new era, one where cost, value, and quality are at the front of mind. To proactively ensure long-term viability, institutions must operate differently. This qualitative case study examined how the St. Alexander University School of Education’s Annual Report Process impacted institutional decision-making. Additionally, the study explored how the Annual Report Process could facilitate learning and improvement for a school of education.

Using the Professional Learning Community model as the conceptual framework, document analysis, process analysis, and semi-structured interviews were used as the primary methods for data collection. Using pattern analysis, four themes emerged …

Latinas’ Access To Advanced Placement Courses: A Case Study Of A Catholic Female Single-Sex High School, Jennifer Maria Pérez Aguilar

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine Latinas’ access to Advanced Placement/ Honors courses in a Catholic female single-sex high school and to examine their experiences and perspectives when they are granted or denied access into an AP/Honors course. This study also aimed to explore how the Catholic single-sex high school is aligned with the Catholic, single-sex, and Advanced Placement advantage for Latina students who have been granted or denied access to an Advanced Placement/Honors course. The case study focused on one Catholic all-female high school in the Western United States and participants included Latina current students and …

The Significance Of National Association For The Education Of Young Children Accreditation In Elevating Quality Of Early Childhood Education: Administrators’, Teachers’, And Parents’ Beliefs About Accreditation And Its Process, Kristine Vardanyan

LMU Theses and Dissertations

The following is a doctoral dissertation that studied administrators’, teachers’, and parents’ perceptions and attitudes related to an early childhood center/preschool accreditation experience. A qualitative case study of one preschool center focused on the influence that the decision to pursue accreditation and implement the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) self-study process had on administrators, teachers, and parents. Interviews with administrators, teachers, and parents explored (a) issues that motivated the pursuit of NAEYC accreditation; (b) the NAEYC guidelines and their experience of the self-study and quality-improvement process; and (c) their perception of outcomes following accreditation. Current NAEYC …

Physics First: Impact On Sat Math Scores, Craig Earl Bouma

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Improving science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has become a national priority and the call to modernize secondary science has been heard. A Physics First (PF) program with the curriculum sequence of physics, chemistry, and biology (PCB) driven by inquiry- and project-based learning offers a viable alternative to the traditional curricular sequence (BCP) and methods of teaching, but requires more empirical evidence. This study determined impact of a PF program (PF-PCB) on math achievement (SAT math scores) after the first two cohorts of students completed the PF-PCB program at Matteo Ricci High School (MRHS) and provided more quantitative data …

Transformational Leadership: A Qualitative Study Of Rural Elementary Schools In Fresno County, Xavier Piña

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Principal leadership is crucial to improving school effectiveness and positively affecting organizational culture in the midst of expectations from education reform mandates. Principals who provide direction and exercise influence can inspire commitment from organizational members to attain shared goals. Rural school principals face unique obstacles and situations as documented in the research and literature. This qualitative research study aimed to provide insight as to the perceived impact of transformational leadership behaviors and characteristics on organizational culture. This study also provided insight as to the transformational leadership behaviors and characteristics perceived to positively affect organizational culture. The protocols, which included interviews, …

Examining The Reliability And Validity Of Adept And Celdt: Comparing Two Assessments Of Oral Language Proficiency For English Language Learners, Gina Chavez

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Few classroom measures of English language proficiency have been evaluated for reliability and validity. Researchers have examined the concurrent and predictive validity of an oral language test, titled A Developmental English Language Proficiency Test (ADEPT), and the relationship to the California English Language Development Test (CELDT) in the receptive/listening and expressive/speaking domains. Four years of retroactive data representing 392 student records were obtained from a local urban school district in Los Angeles County with a significant proportion of English language learners. After preparing the data file for analysis, data was analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) …