No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

School superintendents have been thrust into the complex world of technology leadership often armed with little technology related training or expertise. District and school leaders are often faced with purchase decisions of costly equipment and software with minimum knowledge of what impact it will have on their organization or specific knowledge of how it will be used to meet curriculum goals. With continued local, state, and federal support and rapid advances in technology, school superintendents are expected to provide leadership in this fast-changing arena. The purpose of this study was to define the role of the school superintendent as an effective technology leader in terms of knowledge, performances, and dispositions. The research questions guiding this study were: • What does a superintendent need to know about technology to be an effective technology leader? • What actions should be performed by a superintendent to be an effective technology leader? • What are indicators of a superintendent's disposition as an effective technology leader? The study was conducted using a three-round Delphi with an expert panel composed of 29 stakeholders with diverse perspectives in the area of school technology leadership. The findings in this study showed a group consensus on 27 knowledge items, 27 performance actions, and 35 dispositional indicators of school superintendents as effective technology leaders. The study contains criteria that may be useful in the development of technology related preparation practices for school superintendents. The findings may also be of interest to those concerned with professional development for superintendents or to those involved in the selection of superintendents for technology leadership positions. / Ed. D.

Policymakers have tried to link the principal to student outcomes, thus shifting the role of the principal from manager to instructional leader of the school. The significance of instructional leadership has increased especially since the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act in January of 2002. However, a common definition of instructional leadership is difficult to locate in the literature. In this three-round Delphi study, 24 Virginia Title I elementary school principals defined the concept of instructional leadership in terms of the knowledge, skills, and behaviors that practitioners believe school principals need to be an instructional leader in Virginia elementary schools. The research questions were: 1. What do elementary principals perceive to be the specific knowledge necessary to be an instructional leader? 2. What do elementary principals perceive to be the specific skills necessary to be an instructional leader? 3. What do elementary principals perceive to be the specific behaviors necessary to be an instructional leader? The use of Maykut and Morehouse's (1994) constant comparative method generated themes and categories from the sorted descriptors submitted by the Delphi participants. The Delphi themes generated were (a) principal instructional leadership awareness, (b) focus on teaching and learning, (c) engaging stakeholders, and (d) building for instructional capacity. The final themes and categories produced during the Delphi process were compared to Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe's (2008) five leadership dimensions. Results from Delphi III complemented Robinson et al.'s (2008) five leadership dimensions with the exception of Dimension 4: "promoting and participating in teacher learning and development" (p. 635). While Delphi participants provided descriptors supporting professional development, they did not emphasize instructional leadership participation with teachers in professional development opportunities. The final definition of instructional leadership which emerged in the study provided knowledge, skills, and behaviors that current and future practitioners may incorporate in their own leadership practices to influence student achievement. The instructional leadership definition may serve as a springboard to guide curriculum decisions in leadership preparation programs seeking to improve instructional leadership practices. The definition of instructional leadership may also be useful to policymakers seeking to implement legislation linking leadership to student achievement. / Ph. D.

The purpose of the study was to identify the components of an effective workplace mentorship. Twenty-five panelists participated in a three-round Delphi study to reach a consensus on these components. The panelists were (1) local school-site teachers and school-to-work coordinators, (2) community college school-to-work coordinators, (3) directors of tech-prep consortia, and representatives from (4) business and industry, (5) labor and management, (6) corporate rsearch, and (7) federal government. A two-round pilot study was conducted to test the initial open-ended questions for round 1 and to test the survey instrument developed for round 2. Feedback from the pilot study was used to develop the open-ended questionnaire instrument in round 1 and the Likert scale used in round 2 of the study. Criteria of an effective workplace mentorship were retained in both rounds 2 and 3 if 80% of the respondents rated them "important" or "very important." The study produced 93 criteria in five categories necessary for an effective workplace mentorship. The five categories were: (1) program structure; (2) recruitment, selection, and placement; (3) support activities; (4) program outcomes and evaluation; and (5) ethics. A sixth category, barriers and obstacles to an effective workplace mentorship, was included in the survey and contained four responses. These four responses were summarized along with the 93 criteria of an effective workplace mentorship. A checklist of criteria is included for the assessment of existing programs or to aid those implementing new programs. / Ed. D.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education