Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons^™

Leadership, Change And The Future Of Community Colleges, Jim Riggs

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The mantra we continuously heard throughout the fall 2008 political campaigns was the need for change, a term that has become synonymous with a better future and the avenue to prosperity. Nowhere does the change narrative ring louder and truer than at the community college. Many of us who have spent our careers in community colleges realize that our institutions, like our local, state and federal governments, must undergo significant change in order to stay viable in the future. However, just like our government and political leaders, there is a very large gap between what community college leaders say they …

Evaluating The Impact Of The Beginning Teacher Induction Program On The Retention Rate Of Beginning Teachers, Monica Lynn Shepherd

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the Teacher Induction Program of a rural school system in North Carolina. The effects of mentor assignment, ongoing staff development, master teacher observation opportunities, structured reflection and self-assessment, and other support offered at the system level to beginning teachers on the retention rate of beginning teachers in the school system were analyzed.

The researcher determined 10 themes based on the objectives of the school system's Beginning Teacher Support Program: improving beginning teachers' skills and performance; supporting teacher morale; communications; collegiality; building a sense of professionalism and positive attitude; facilitating a smooth transition into the …

The Effects Of Teacher Stability On Third Grade Student Achievement As Measured By The North Carolina End-Of-Grade Tests In Reading And Mathematics, Juddson W. Starling

Education Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation was designed to examine the effects of teacher stability on student achievement as measured by the North Carolina End-of-Grade tests in reading and mathematics for third grade students. The perceptions of third grade teachers and elementary school principals concerning issues with teacher stability were also examined. Accountability for public schools in North Carolina has driven educators to find ways to increase student achievement. Teacher stability is a variable that can be controlled by educators in an attempt to increase student achievement.

The writer gathered test data from a target school district and analyzed test scores by the number …

Job Satisfaction Determinants Of Certificated Staff In The Xyz School District, Grant Edward Schmidt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Job satisfaction is closely related to motivation theory. Many factors influence human motivation. For example, employee performance is greatly influenced by the expectancy of what the job will provide, the employees attitude toward personal achievement and advancement, and their wish for harmony in the workplace (Bittel, 1990). The amount of opportunity people see in their jobs also has a direct relationship to their job performance (Hill, 1979). Motivation can be provided by allowing employees to participate in the goal-setting activities (Catt, 1989). Motivators, such as sick leave, medical/ dental plans, and holiday pay are best enjoyed by the employees when …

Leadership In The Bachelor Of Education: A Dialogue Between Student And Professor, Lauren Sacchetti, Jennifer Barnett

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

There are true leaders in education who have overcome the traditional ways of hierarchical thinking and have developed transformational and collaborative orientations. They accomplished this in spite of the fact that our school system does not support these foci. As part of the educational system, the Bachelor of Education program contributes little to the development of this type of leadership in its students.

Benefits Of Co-Teaching For Esl Classrooms, Jameelah Abdallah

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Co-teaching has recently become more popular in schools throughout the nation. It has been recognized to have several positive implications for teachers, including increased collegiality, cooperation and information exchange. Co-teaching lowers the student-teacher ratio and exposes the students to differentiated teaching methods. This supports evidence that indicates that students who learn in smaller groups both retain and achieve more in the classroom (Davis, 1993). While co-teaching is widely accepted in special education classrooms, it can also be very beneficial when teaching English to speakers of other languages. At the same time, it exposes English language learners to authentic language; it …

Race, Ethnicity, And Specialized Business Accreditation, Bonnie Garrity, Veronika Lengyel

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Black and Hispanic students are underrepresented at selective colleges and universities in the United States (Dickerson and Jacobs 2006; Niu et al. 2006). The colleges themselves also play a role by deciding which students are admitted. Since Black and Hispanic students have lower average SAT scores than White and Asian students (Davies and Guppy 1997) and Black students have lower average GMAT scores than White and Asian students (Cross and Slater 1998), heavy emphasis on these test scores in admissions decisions may limit the opportunities for Black and Hispanic students. However, the long-term implications of enrollment patterns and economic returns …

A National Study Of Community College Retention Rates Segmented By Institutional Degree Of Urbanization, Lee Waller, Tara Tietjen-Smith

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

According to the Center for the Study of College Student Retention (2008), nearly 50% of students entering higher education will not earn a degree. Higher education institutions continually define and refine strategic initiatives to increase retention rates, often devoting countless hours and resources with minimal results. A recent report by the National Center for Education Statistics (Chen & Carroll, 2007) found that students enrolled part-time lagged significantly behind full-time peers in persistence in postsecondary degree completion. Stratton, O’Toole, and Wetzel (2007) stated that enrollment status alone does not account for lower retention rates among part-time students. These researchers found that …

Adaptive Leadership: Leadership Theory Or Theoretical Derivative?, Bill Cojocar

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Today’s public and private business leaders and leaders of our Armed Forces are faced with challenges that require leadership that is capable of tackling and solving complex problems and issues, with collective, collaborative, timely effective, and innovative solutions. This set of challenges requires leadership that spans the spectrum of leadership theories, traits, and stylistic approaches that is very adaptive, yet direct in nature. This type of leadership is defined as ‘adaptive leadership’ and is a style of leadership that is developing into a new theory of its own, evolving from situational, transformational, contingency, and complexity theories, as described by Nastanski, …

An Examination Of The Relationship Of A Tenure System To Enrollment Growth, Affordability, Retention Rates, And Graduation Rates In Texas Public Two-Year Colleges, Lee Waller, Jason Davis

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Austin (2006) and Chait (2002) indicate that most faculty prefer tenured to non-tenured positions. The presence of tenure track positions is often equated with institutional excellence and tenure designations are often associated with status. The promise of secure academic employment makes the tenured position the gold standard of the academy. This preference for tenure is not limited to university faculty. Jacoby (2005) found that most young, part-time community college faculty desire fulltime tenure track positions. Older faculty members were not as enthusiastic in regard to tenure. The academic culture at community colleges appears to be evolving an employment desirability hierarchy …

Background Checks And Fingerprinting In Public School Systems (Part Ii), Mindy Salmans

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

This is the second of a three part series of articles discussing background checks and fingerprinting in the K-12 public schools. The first article discussed background checks with the inclusion of fingerprinting—the benefits and limitations as well as the policies of 50 states and the District of Columbia. This article discusses effects of educator misconduct, complaints and accusations, consequences for abusers, state disciplinary action, cause for sanctions, and access to actions.

Challenges And Opportunities To Enhance The Clinical Reasoning Skills Of Medical Students: Lessons Learned From The Advanced Clinical Transactions Pilot Program, Latha Chandran, Frederick Schiavone, Maryam Navaie, John Chen

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Medical school faculty must foster high-quality patient care while simultaneously assessing the clinical skills and reasoning of students in order to promote their independent functioning in the clinical setting. A growing concern noted across medical faculty is that students may complete their undergraduate medical studies without sufficient understanding of how simple clinical tasks are done with real patients. These concerns have been validated by results from numerous studies that have reported many medical students express a lack of confidence and competence to critically evaluate patient needs based on data, a factor that has been linked to problems in performance and …

Data-Driven Decision Making: The Development And Validation Of An Instrument To Measure Principals’ Practices, Marcus Childress

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

From the perspective of preparing school administrators, principals need to learn to use and believe in factual data when they make their administrative decisions. In alignment with the NCLB, the revised Standards for Advanced Programs in Educational Leadership have more emphases placed on school administrators’ ability and knowledge in using data (Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC), 2002; National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), 2002). The ELCC/NCATE (2002) standards serve as school leadership preparation program standards and can be used as a cornerstone for the professional development of existing school administrators (Murphy & Shipman, 1998; Murphy, Yff, & …

Determining School District Organization In North Carolina, David Dunaway, Leigh Ausband, Do-Hong Kim

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The current study sought to answer the next question, “How are the organizational structures of North Carolina school districts determined?” We wanted to understand what factors influenced the organization of school district.

Effects Of Case-Based Learning On Preservice Secondary Teachers’ Multicultural Attitudes: A Mixed Methods Study, Kathryn Lee, Emily Summers, Rubén Garza

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

As our society changes, so must our teacher education practices. In the past decade, the Southwestern U.S. has been transforming into a majority minority region (U.S. Census Bureau 2005), which must in turn reframe the underpinnings of teacher education in this area of our country. As teacher educators, we have known that many preservice teachers lagged in their preparedness to teach students who are culturally, ethnically, and linguistically different from themselves. Teacher education increasingly is being criticized as having inabilities to instruct teacher candidates in ways that produce greater K-12 student learning; diversity awareness will be a cornerstone if we …

Emergence Of Strategic Human Resource Management Historical Perspective, Nadeem Malik

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Organization today, by necessity have become more focused on exploiting sources of competitive advantage in the face of rapid environmental, technological and global economic changes. According to Pfeffer (1994:14), as other sources of competitive success have become less important, what remains a crucial, differentiating factor is the organization, its employees and how they work. Additionally, he states that the current recognition among strategic management researchers is that sustained competitive advantage arises more from a firms internal resource endowments and resource deployments particularly its human capital that are imperfectly imitable than from a firm’s product market position. These “people” issues used …

Employment Patterns And Job Satisfaction Of Foreign-Born Science And Engineering Doctorate Recipients In The United States, Ketevan Mamiseishvili, Jill Hermsen

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Science and engineering fields are important to a nation’s economy, especially in the areas of innovation and technology development (Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, 2007). The demand for scientists and engineers is increasing globally, making it more difficult for organizations to attract and retain qualified professionals in these fields as schools and industries compete on a global level for top talent (Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy, 2005). It is not surprising, then, that academia and industry are increasing their focus on the science and engineering workforce. Indeed, a recent National Academies report stated that “identifying the …

Empowering Faculty To Facilitate Distance Education, Jane Arenas, Henry Gray, Paulette Hamner

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Traditional education has undergone major changes over the past decade. Higher education has evolved from brick and mortar to virtual campuses. Technological advancements in communication have changed the way information is presented. The manner in which students learn has also evolved. Educational leaders must also evolve to meet the needs of both students and faculty because, faculty members struggle with changing curricula, non-traditional learning environments and new technology. They need their leaders to assist them with the transitions (Tjosvold 2006). This paper attempts to provide a research-based framework through which educational leaders might empower faculty to better meet the mission, …

Leading Assessment: From Faculty Reluctance To Faculty Engagement, Don Haviland

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Assessing college student learning consumes substantial energy, driven or encouraged by accrediting bodies, the Federal and state governments, and other stakeholders. One might think, for these reasons as well as the longevity assessment has displayed as a movement, that it would be celebrating its many successes in transforming higher education.

Surviving The First Years: A Principals Guide For Implementing A Quality Special Education Program, Lisa Bertrand, Ruth Roberts, Margaret Dalton

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

In today’s schools, building level administrators are faced with a variety of challenges as they strive to provide leadership that promotes successful learning experiences for all students. Promoting the success of all students is also the foundation of current federal legislation with the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) mandates as well as the Individual with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Answering the call of these directives and the goal for all students to experience success, building level principals must have fundamental knowledge of special education programs and services. However, research indicates that principal preparation course work may not target special education …

The Case For Growing Our Own, Teri Walseth

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

At any given time, there are literally hundreds of institutions recruiting academic deans to fill vacant positions. On November 23, 2008, higheredjobs.com listed 331 dean searches nationwide. Given that staggering number and the fact that the average tenure of deans is five years, this is a trend that is likely to continue (ASHE-ERIC 2001). Why is this, and more importantly, what can be done about it?

The Perceptions Of Female School Leaders Of The Obstacles And Enablers That Affected Their Career Paths To Educational Administration, Linda Noel-Batiste

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

n 1909 Ella Flagg Young, the first female superintendent of Chicago Public Schools, predicted that more women than men would be at the helm of most twentieth century school systems. Young’s prediction emanated from a belief, held by other influential leaders of her time, that teaching was a woman’s natural vocation, for it advanced a woman’s maternal instincts of caretaking and nurturing. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, her prediction has not been fulfilled. Almost a hundred years after Young’s prediction, less than five percent of public school superintendents are women and less than twenty-seven percent of public …

Web-Based Course Content: An Emerging Consideration For Authenticity From A Learner Perspective, Laurie Bedford

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

More organizations and instructors are incorporating authentic learning strategies into the instructional paradigm of the classroom. One advantage of this ideology is that the diversity of individual learners can be capitalized upon through a dialogue consisting of multiple perspectives. In these contemporary classrooms, the curriculum becomes a more fluid, personal entity based on experience, prior knowledge and individual expertise (Bedford, Wiebe, and Tschida, 2008). At the same time, a plethora of information which draws upon multiple perspectives is also more readily available and accessible though electronic venues—primarily via the Internet. The abundance of available information provides opportunities for learners to …

Why South Korean Universities Have Low International Rankings, Paul Jambor

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Although South Korea has the 14th largest economy in the world with a total GDP of $971,100,000,000 (CIA, 2007:8) and with a per capita GDP of $24,800 (CIA, 2007:8), having received a Global Competitiveness Index ranking of 11th place for the years 2007-2008 (GCI, 2007-2008), and a literacy rate of 97.9% for 15 year olds (CIA, 2007:5) with the country being ranked first in reading, fourth in mathematics and sixth in science proficiency, for the same age group, by The Programme for International Student Assessment – 2006 (PISA, 2006:47,53 & 20), the country can by no means boast about the …

Table Of Contents - Winter 2009, Fort Hays State University College Of Education

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Academic Leadership Journal Winter 2009 table of contents

A Dynamic Systems View On Leadership, Talent, And Intelligence, Wolf Kozel

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

A key question concerning leadership is whether leaders are born or made. Research has shown that although genetic temperament may play a role, environment is a large factor (Ceci, 1996). A determinist point-of-view may consider that if something exists, then it can be measured and organizations would be foolish not to use tests to assess talent and leadership. In contrast, however, a dynamic systems view of leadership would contend that the variables that determine leadership are numerous, interacting, with small differences sometimes resulting in great changes.

Developing And Leading The Quality Enhancement Planning Committee, L. Waller, Cristal Joslin, Calvin Green

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Quality enhancement in higher education is rapidly emerging as a major national and international issue. Rahman (2005) identifies an international movement to promote quality enhancement through “accreditation councils, degree program standardization, quality enhancement cells, quality faculty, and curriculum review.” According to Rahman, the movement is intended to develop “a vision for the higher education system with quality, equity, and efficiency.” Rahman also points out that the United States faces the need to evaluate the validity and quality of accreditation processes in light of the increase in dot-com universities and diploma mills. El-Khawas (1998) indicates that world-wide attention has shifted to …

Educational Leadership: The Relationship Between Spirituality And Leadership Practices, Gerra Perkins, Nelda Wellman, Wendell Wellman

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Throughout American history, schools and educational leaders have been in the spotlight because of the eminent task of preparing the young of our nation for competition within a global economy and the marketplace of ideas. Educational leaders have moved through the stages of management, industrial efficiency, and cultural leadership finally concluding that school management requires more than efficiency and organization (Brickham, 1996). With the advent of tough-minded management and the realization of the difference between a leader and a manager, combined with an increase in the high school dropout rate, awareness developed that something was not working in American Schools …

Analysis Of Resources Management In Primary Schools In Delta State, Nigeria, Enamiroro Oghuvbu

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

The State Primary Education Board is in charge of the management of primary education, especially the human resources. The board is in charge of management needs for human resources to be provided and deployed. She is greatly concerned with the, planning, monitoring and control to facilities the achievement of the objectives of primary education. The is involved in the process of achieving the objectives of primary education through efficient use of the resources and the planning, organization, co- ordination, direction and control of the activities of teaching and non- teaching staff in primary schools.

A 360° View Of Non-Traditional University Presidents, Daryl Delabbio, Louann Palmer

Academic Leadership: The Online Journal (2003-2012)

Institutions of higher learning continue to face many challenges, from declining revenues and increased costs (Fain, 2008) to lack of confidence in their ability to meet the needs of the students and the society they serve (Smith, 2004). At the center of the institution is its CEO: the president. It is in this office and at this person that the buck stops. It is here where decisions are made that will affect the institution and all of its constituencies. As the literal and symbolic leader, the vitality of a given institution is dependent upon the effectiveness of its president (Rhodes, …