No cenário internacional, há uma tradição acadêmica de pesquisa sobre liderança na escola, as quais destacam o papel que a liderança exerce no processo de melhoria do desempenho escolar dos alunos. Na revisão da literatura, constatou-se que no Brasil, apesar da tradição internacional, são escassos os estudos sobre esse tema. Com essa perspectiva e usando como referência as pesquisas sobre escolas eficazes, propôs-se o presente estudo que tem como objetivo analisar como professores e alunos percebem o fenômeno da liderança e identificar os fatores que contribuem ou restringem o exercício da liderança nas escolas pesquisadas. Na forma de uma pesquisa qualitativa de natureza interpretativa, envolveu quatro escolas públicas estaduais de ensino médio, localizadas no município de Porto Alegre – RS. As informações foram coletadas através do método de entrevista em grupo focal e analisadas segundo a técnica de análise de conteúdo. O referencial teórico abordou a escola como organização, as mudanças na gestão pública que afetaram a gestão escolar, reviu a evolução histórica das teorias de liderança, e analisou as principais teorias sobre liderança nas escolas. As principais conclusões deste estudo indicam que não há um modelo único de liderança que seja compartilhado por professores e alunos; que há uma série de fatores, tanto internos como externos à escola que restringem o exercício de papéis de liderança; e que a gestão democrática da escola ainda é um objetivo a ser alcançado. Este estudo, além de consolidar uma vasta literatura sobre liderança na educação, contribuiu para o entendimento dos desafios para o exercício da liderança em escolas públicas. Supre também uma lacuna, já que as pesquisas prévias em escolas brasileiras não indicam qual é a compreensão que existe por parte dos professores e alunos sobre o fenômeno da liderança, tampouco abrangem os fatores que oportunizam ou limitam o seu exercício. Como recomendações finais, aponta a necessidade de maior qualificação e autonomia da gestão da escola e de sua responsabilização pelos resultados dos alunos e a necessidade dos professores chamarem para si a responsabilidade pelo desenvolvimento de seus alunos. / On the international scene, there is an academic tradition of research on school leadership, which emphasizes the role that leadership plays in the process of improving the performance of students. In reviewing the literature, we found that in Brazil, despite the international tradition, there are few studies on this topic. With this perspective, and with reference to research on effective schools, it was proposed this study, which aims to examine how teachers and students understand the phenomenon of leadership and identify factors that contribute to or restrict the exercise of leadership in the schools surveyed. In the form of a qualitative, interpretative study, the research involved four public high school schools, located in Porto Alegre - RS. Information was collected through the method of focus group interviews and analyzed using the technique of content analysis. The theoretical approach analyzed the school as an organization, the changes in public management that affected the school management, reviewed the historical evolution of theories of leadership, and analyzed the main theories of leadership in schools. Their main findings indicate that there is no single model of leadership that is shared by teachers and students, there are a number of factors, both internal and external to the school to limit the exercise of leadership roles, and the democratic management of the school still is a goal to be achieved. This study consolidate a vast literature on leadership in education, contributed to the understanding of the challenges for the exercise of leadership in public schools, and reduce a knowledge gap about leadership in public schools. Previous researches on school leadership in Brazil do not address the understanding that exists among teachers and students about the phenomenon of leadership, nor cover the factors that nurture or limit its use. As final recommendations, it was pointed out the need for greater skills and autonomy of school management and its accountability for student outcomes, and the need for teachers to call themselves the responsibility for developing their students.

This thesis critically examines constructions of cultural diversity and intercultural education in Greek-Cypriot primary schools. Since 2008 the Cyprus Ministry of Education has officially adopted the Europeanized rhetoric of intercultural education and inclusion as the most effective approach to the increasing diversity in schools. As part of the wider reform of the education system aiming at the creation of the ‘democratic’ and ‘humane’ school, a new curriculum was introduced in 2010 to promote equality of opportunity for access, participation and attainment. Drawing on relevant key theoretical ideas, this study has developed a theoretical framework of intercultural education to assist the critical examination of constructions of intercultural education in Greek-Cypriot primary schools. For the purposes of this study, three-month long critical ethnographic case studies of intercultural education were constructed in three urban Greek-Cypriot primary schools with different profiles. Rich data was generated through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with head teachers, teachers and teachers of Greek as an additional language. The study also engaged in non-participant lesson and school observations, developed participatory methods with children, and undertook semi-participant observations of pupils’ play during breaks and of extra-curricular activities. Relevant policy and school documents were also analysed. The findings of this study reveal that constructions of cultural diversity and intercultural education in Greek-Cypriot primary schools are characterized by contradictions, inconsistencies and a lack of theoretical understanding of issues related to cultural diversity and intercultural education. Different cultures and identities were constructed in different, though mainly, essentialist ways by teachers from the dominant cultural group. This study argues that the concept of cultural diversity needs to be treated with some caution, as it tends to homogenise non-dominant cultures and thus, it may obscure the complexities involved in engagement with and recognition of different Others. Key differences between the two mainstream schools and the ZEP (Zone of Educational Priority) school which participated in this study in terms of the degree of autonomy and financial support officially granted by the Ministry; the school leadership style and the head teacher’s construction of diversity and intercultural education; the composition of the pupil population; and the dominant institutional discourses about diversity affected the extent to which and the ways in which teachers exercised their agency in relation to intercultural education. Moreover, the teachers’ positioning in the Greek Cypriot society and the extent to which they had developed a political literacy and critical consciousness through their life and professional histories also affected their constructions of cultural diversity and intercultural education and the extent to which they perceived and exercised their role as agents of change. In turn, the ways in which cultural diversity and intercultural education were constructed in each class influenced the extent to which and the ways in which bilingual and/or bicultural children used their agency and negotiated their cultural positionings. The findings carry implications for policy and practice. The study highlights the need for a coherent theoretical framework of intercultural education to enable schools and teachers to develop a theoretically-grounded understanding of intercultural education and move beyond fragmented practices that leave structural inequalities and barriers to educational achievement unacknowledged and unaddressed.

No cenário internacional, há uma tradição acadêmica de pesquisa sobre liderança na escola, as quais destacam o papel que a liderança exerce no processo de melhoria do desempenho escolar dos alunos. Na revisão da literatura, constatou-se que no Brasil, apesar da tradição internacional, são escassos os estudos sobre esse tema. Com essa perspectiva e usando como referência as pesquisas sobre escolas eficazes, propôs-se o presente estudo que tem como objetivo analisar como professores e alunos percebem o fenômeno da liderança e identificar os fatores que contribuem ou restringem o exercício da liderança nas escolas pesquisadas. Na forma de uma pesquisa qualitativa de natureza interpretativa, envolveu quatro escolas públicas estaduais de ensino médio, localizadas no município de Porto Alegre – RS. As informações foram coletadas através do método de entrevista em grupo focal e analisadas segundo a técnica de análise de conteúdo. O referencial teórico abordou a escola como organização, as mudanças na gestão pública que afetaram a gestão escolar, reviu a evolução histórica das teorias de liderança, e analisou as principais teorias sobre liderança nas escolas. As principais conclusões deste estudo indicam que não há um modelo único de liderança que seja compartilhado por professores e alunos; que há uma série de fatores, tanto internos como externos à escola que restringem o exercício de papéis de liderança; e que a gestão democrática da escola ainda é um objetivo a ser alcançado. Este estudo, além de consolidar uma vasta literatura sobre liderança na educação, contribuiu para o entendimento dos desafios para o exercício da liderança em escolas públicas. Supre também uma lacuna, já que as pesquisas prévias em escolas brasileiras não indicam qual é a compreensão que existe por parte dos professores e alunos sobre o fenômeno da liderança, tampouco abrangem os fatores que oportunizam ou limitam o seu exercício. Como recomendações finais, aponta a necessidade de maior qualificação e autonomia da gestão da escola e de sua responsabilização pelos resultados dos alunos e a necessidade dos professores chamarem para si a responsabilidade pelo desenvolvimento de seus alunos. / On the international scene, there is an academic tradition of research on school leadership, which emphasizes the role that leadership plays in the process of improving the performance of students. In reviewing the literature, we found that in Brazil, despite the international tradition, there are few studies on this topic. With this perspective, and with reference to research on effective schools, it was proposed this study, which aims to examine how teachers and students understand the phenomenon of leadership and identify factors that contribute to or restrict the exercise of leadership in the schools surveyed. In the form of a qualitative, interpretative study, the research involved four public high school schools, located in Porto Alegre - RS. Information was collected through the method of focus group interviews and analyzed using the technique of content analysis. The theoretical approach analyzed the school as an organization, the changes in public management that affected the school management, reviewed the historical evolution of theories of leadership, and analyzed the main theories of leadership in schools. Their main findings indicate that there is no single model of leadership that is shared by teachers and students, there are a number of factors, both internal and external to the school to limit the exercise of leadership roles, and the democratic management of the school still is a goal to be achieved. This study consolidate a vast literature on leadership in education, contributed to the understanding of the challenges for the exercise of leadership in public schools, and reduce a knowledge gap about leadership in public schools. Previous researches on school leadership in Brazil do not address the understanding that exists among teachers and students about the phenomenon of leadership, nor cover the factors that nurture or limit its use. As final recommendations, it was pointed out the need for greater skills and autonomy of school management and its accountability for student outcomes, and the need for teachers to call themselves the responsibility for developing their students.

No cenário internacional, há uma tradição acadêmica de pesquisa sobre liderança na escola, as quais destacam o papel que a liderança exerce no processo de melhoria do desempenho escolar dos alunos. Na revisão da literatura, constatou-se que no Brasil, apesar da tradição internacional, são escassos os estudos sobre esse tema. Com essa perspectiva e usando como referência as pesquisas sobre escolas eficazes, propôs-se o presente estudo que tem como objetivo analisar como professores e alunos percebem o fenômeno da liderança e identificar os fatores que contribuem ou restringem o exercício da liderança nas escolas pesquisadas. Na forma de uma pesquisa qualitativa de natureza interpretativa, envolveu quatro escolas públicas estaduais de ensino médio, localizadas no município de Porto Alegre – RS. As informações foram coletadas através do método de entrevista em grupo focal e analisadas segundo a técnica de análise de conteúdo. O referencial teórico abordou a escola como organização, as mudanças na gestão pública que afetaram a gestão escolar, reviu a evolução histórica das teorias de liderança, e analisou as principais teorias sobre liderança nas escolas. As principais conclusões deste estudo indicam que não há um modelo único de liderança que seja compartilhado por professores e alunos; que há uma série de fatores, tanto internos como externos à escola que restringem o exercício de papéis de liderança; e que a gestão democrática da escola ainda é um objetivo a ser alcançado. Este estudo, além de consolidar uma vasta literatura sobre liderança na educação, contribuiu para o entendimento dos desafios para o exercício da liderança em escolas públicas. Supre também uma lacuna, já que as pesquisas prévias em escolas brasileiras não indicam qual é a compreensão que existe por parte dos professores e alunos sobre o fenômeno da liderança, tampouco abrangem os fatores que oportunizam ou limitam o seu exercício. Como recomendações finais, aponta a necessidade de maior qualificação e autonomia da gestão da escola e de sua responsabilização pelos resultados dos alunos e a necessidade dos professores chamarem para si a responsabilidade pelo desenvolvimento de seus alunos. / On the international scene, there is an academic tradition of research on school leadership, which emphasizes the role that leadership plays in the process of improving the performance of students. In reviewing the literature, we found that in Brazil, despite the international tradition, there are few studies on this topic. With this perspective, and with reference to research on effective schools, it was proposed this study, which aims to examine how teachers and students understand the phenomenon of leadership and identify factors that contribute to or restrict the exercise of leadership in the schools surveyed. In the form of a qualitative, interpretative study, the research involved four public high school schools, located in Porto Alegre - RS. Information was collected through the method of focus group interviews and analyzed using the technique of content analysis. The theoretical approach analyzed the school as an organization, the changes in public management that affected the school management, reviewed the historical evolution of theories of leadership, and analyzed the main theories of leadership in schools. Their main findings indicate that there is no single model of leadership that is shared by teachers and students, there are a number of factors, both internal and external to the school to limit the exercise of leadership roles, and the democratic management of the school still is a goal to be achieved. This study consolidate a vast literature on leadership in education, contributed to the understanding of the challenges for the exercise of leadership in public schools, and reduce a knowledge gap about leadership in public schools. Previous researches on school leadership in Brazil do not address the understanding that exists among teachers and students about the phenomenon of leadership, nor cover the factors that nurture or limit its use. As final recommendations, it was pointed out the need for greater skills and autonomy of school management and its accountability for student outcomes, and the need for teachers to call themselves the responsibility for developing their students.

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No. of bitstreams: 1 andersoncordovapena.pdf: 5114878 bytes, checksum: 9ca4ca0c36d0ef98f0294cd7b006dd50 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-10-28 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta tese apresenta uma pesquisa sobre liderança escolar com o objetivo de propor e validar um conceito, para esse fenômeno, no contexto de escolas da rede pública estadual mineira. Na primeira parte do trabalho, sob o referencial de três grandes conjuntos de áreas do conhecimento: i) Ciência Política e Sociologia; ii) Psicologia Organizacional e Administração, e; iii) Sociologia da Educação; propõe-se um conceito de liderança escolar sob quatro dimensões: Política, Relacional, Técnica e Pedagógica. A partir desse conceito e, tendo em vista os documentos oficiais da SEE/MG, em especial a Resolução SEE n°1812, de 22 de março de 2011, que regulamenta a certificação de competências para o diretor de escola, elaborou-se uma Matriz de Liderança Escolar. As habilidades dessa matriz deram origem a um questionário online, enviado por e-mail a todos os gestores das escolas estaduais de Minas Gerais. Na segunda parte do trabalho, as respostas de 1.486 diretores foram analisadas com base em metodologias quantitativas a fim de se construir, validar e interpretar escalas de liderança escolar. Em um estudo complementar correlacionaram-se, por meio de regressões lineares, os fatores de liderança escolar à proficiência dos alunos, tendo por base o SIMAVE/PROEB 2011. Nas análises percebeu-se a necessidade de ajuste do conceito inicialmente proposto, assim as dimensões Política e Relacional da liderança escolar agruparam-se no fator Comunicação, a dimensão Pedagógica, por sua vez, deu origem ao fator Foco na Aprendizagem. Uma parte da dimensão Técnica se agrupou no fator Práticas Administrativas, parte dessa mesma dimensão e da dimensão Relacional, agruparam-se no fator Atitudes Contrárias à Liderança. Os fatores Foco na Aprendizagem e Atitudes Contrárias aparecem vinculados à proficiência para o 5º e 9º anos do EF. O fator Atitudes Contrárias é o único presente no 3ºano do EM, em todas as séries esse fator prediz queda na proficiência. Na proposição final do conceito, entende-se a liderança escolar como um exercício de gestão democrática, coordenado pelo diretor e executado de forma compartilhada na escola. Seu objetivo é o incremento da qualidade da educação e a promoção da equidade. Para tanto são necessários: o permanente foco na aprendizagem, a adoção de ações de comunicação efetiva, de práticas administrativas eficientes e de atitudes positivas do diretor em relação à sua capacidade de liderança. / The thesis presents research on school leadership in order to propose and validate a concept for this phenomenon in the context of public schools in the state of Minas Gerais. In the first part of the work, under the framework of three major sets of knowledge areas: i) Political Sciences and Sociology, ii) Organizational Psychology and Administration, and iii) Sociology of Education, a concept of school leadership under four dimensions: political, relational, technical and pedagogical, is proposed. From this concept, and in view of the official documents of the SEE/MG, especially the ESS Resolution No. 1812, March 22, 2011, which regulates the certification of skills for school director, a Leadership School Matrix was drew up. From this matrix's skills, an online questionnaire was brought up and sent by e-mail to all managers in public schools of Minas Gerais. In the second part of the work, the responses from 1.486 school directors were analyzed based on quantitative methodologies in order to build, validate and interpret scales of school leadership. In a complementary study, through linear regressions, leading factors were correlated to students academic proficiency, based on the SIMAVE/PROEB 2011. In the analyzes, it was possible to realize the need to adjust the concept originally proposed, so the Politics and Relational school leadership dimensions were grouped in the Communication factor. The Pedagogical dimension brought up the Focus on Learning factor. A portion of the Technical dimension was grouped in the Administrative Practices factor. Part of the same dimension and Interpersonal dimension were grouped in Negative Attitudes factor. Focus on Learning and Negative Attitudes factors seem to be linked to proficiency for the EF 5th and 9th years. The Negative Attitudes factor is the only one present in the EM 3rd year, in all series this factor predicts drop in performance. In the final proposition of the concept, school leadership is here seen as a democratic management exercise, that should be coordinated and executed by the director in a collective way in schools. Its goal is to increase the quality of education and the promotion of equity. For achieving this, continuous focus on learning, adhesion of effective communication actions, efficient administrative practices and directors positive attitudes regarding their own leadership capabilities are necessary.

This dissertation reports on a qualitative study of school leadership with nine secondary-school headteachers (of maintained schools) or principals (of academy-type schools) in England. The project maps schooling provision and offers an empirical account of leaders’ identities and practices in neoliberal and neoconservative times. Informed by a critical policy-scholarship methodology, documentary data from primary and secondary sources supplement narrative and semi-structured interviews conducted over 18 months. The findings are reported in five journal articles and one book chapter. The first output maps school types through different lenses: legal status; curriculum; selection; types of academy; and school groupings. The mapping highlights the intersections between the reform agenda and historical diversity. I conceptualise the landscape holistically through locus of legitimacy and branding, arguing that diversification policies facilitate corporatised and religious interests. Second, I show how UTCs and studio schools construct children’s abilities as fixed and differentiable in terms of predicted economic value. They select, but the responsibility for this, following Bourdieu, is transferred discursively from the school through branding and habitus to the “consumers” where it is to be misrecognised as exercising ‘school choice’. Third, I typologise three effects on heads’ and principals’ agency and identities of a few elite multi-academy trust principals, or courtiers, who have won regional empires through expanding their academy chains to occupy the spaces opened up by the dismantling of LAs. Public-sector and school-leader identities and histories permit the promotion of their activities as “school led” and downplays their close relationship with central-state policy makers and private-sector networks. Fourth, I argue that corporatised leadership in schools in England is being promoted through new actors and new types of school. Corporatised leadership is characterised inter alia by the promotion of business interests and the adoption of business-derived leadership practices and identities. I use Bourdieu’s concept of field to explain the impact of business on educational leadership and the dissonance between leaders and led. Fifth, I argue with Gunter that school leaders are removing those who embody or vocalise alternative conceptualisations of educator by eradicating ‘inadequate’ teaching,and implementing the leader’s ‘vision’. We deploy Arendtian thinking to show how current models of school leadership enable totalitarian practices to become ordinary. Sixth, I develop Bourdieu’s concept of hysteresis through narratives from two heads to argue that rather than simply being an effect of change, hysteresis may be an actively sought outcome whereby the state intervenes to deprivilege welfarist headteachers and privilege corporatised principals through structurally facilitating their habitus and mandating its dispositions for the field. Collectively, these findings demonstrate how the diversification of provision in England and the demands of a performative, marketised regime have ontological and professional stakes for school leaders and for the led. Symbolic and economic capital is accruing to the capitalised, facilitated by corporate practices and corporate structural solutions through acquisitions and alliances. Resistance is possible, but a dissident habitus limits standing in the field. This hierarchisation is reflected in the relationship between school types and in how children are meant to self-select into that provision. This is a landscape constituted of positions, where pupils are expected to know their place and the purpose of education is to facilitate social segregation for economic efficiency.

This thesis makes a conceptual contribution to the field of school leadership studies with a descriptive and analytical representation of the current practice and development of leaders in English Primary schools. The aim of the research is to investigate the development of nineteen school leaders, nesting their own vivid descriptions of their leadership development within a professional researcher enquiry for new knowledge and understanding. An extensive literature review locates the argument in a historical and cultural context, directed by the first research question: ‘What are the knowledge claims about the changes to school leadership and management in the policy and research literature in the last twenty-five years?’ The second research question asks: ‘What are the knowledge claims of the practice of school leadership in Primary schools as found in the official and research literature?’ Findings from the literature provide knowledge of the official expectations and advice given to school leaders in the implementation of their work. The literature also provides knowledge of leadership practice associated with issues of power, micro-politics, social and moral frames used by leaders as social agents in interpreting their leadership. Research questions three and four direct the field-research asking: ‘How are leadership roles practised and developed in Primary schools?’ and ‘What are the empirical findings that build knowledge of Primary school leadership practice and development?’ A case-study methodology structured the field-work, with qualitative research conducted in four Primary schools in North-West England during one academic year, 2008-2009. The empirical data for the case was primarily collected from nineteen members of four Senior Leadership Teams (SLT) through semi-structured interviews and observations of SLT meetings. The analysis of the full research findings is presented in an original construction of leadership, conceptualised as the PIVOT. This framework presents the key findings as integrated factors in a holistic frame around a central point, the PIVOT of leadership, which is explained as the Purpose, the Identity, the Values, the Options and the Trust, presenting wider issues for educational leadership decisions. The final research question five asks: ‘What recommendations can be made for policy and practice regarding school leadership development in Primary schools?’ Findings from the case-study make a contribution to knowledge about current school leadership practice and development, explained as a holistic, integrated approach underpinned by a wider, educative rationale, identified in the PIVOT framework. This raises issues for policy-makers and school practitioners in the development of Primary school leaders as educational leaders and provides a resource for further research enquiry by academic researchers with an interest in developing Primary school leaders.

Background: Research on rural educational leadership is often overlooked in educational research, specifically within the context of homegrown leaders, or leaders who have been lifelong residents in the districts where they were students, teachers, and now lead as principal. Rural districts face many challenges that differ from urban districts. Looking at how these homegrown leaders use transformational leadership to overcome these challenges can assist principal preparation programs in preparing administrators to lead in rural districts as well as policymakers as they look at policies and funding that impact rural districts. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to address the following research questions: 1) How do these participants identify themselves as educational leaders? 2) How do these rural principals, identified as transformational leaders, use transformational leadership to contend with challenges unique to rural districts? 3) Do the principals’ prior experience and personal history within a school district influence transformational leadership practices, such as building trust, maintaining a positive school culture, and enacting change? If so, how? Setting: Research for this study took place in two rural school districts in neighboring Midwestern states. The communities the participants in this study reside in are over 100 miles apart, yet both the school districts and towns share similar characteristics. These districts are housed in farming communities with a population between 1,500 and 1,800 residents. The demographics of both districts are very similar consisting of over 97% white students, with the town’s population matching that of the school. The similarities are also present in the physical description of the school sites and collaboration with neighboring districts. Both of these districts consist of one large building housing all students, and superintendent on the same campus, and share resources such as staff, transportation, and athletic and academic programs with neighboring districts. Participants: The two school principals in this study were chosen due to similar characteristics of being homegrown leaders who both reside in similar rural districts and communities in neighboring states. In addition to having similar contexts, the participants in this study share many similarities as well. Both are male and have lived in the district where they were former students, teachers, and coaches prior to becoming the school principal. In addition, both of the principals in this study were chosen via convenience sampling due to prior experience of the researcher within both of these communities and their qualifications of being homegrown leaders. Research Design: This is a qualitative case study analyzing two cases with two participants. Data Collection and Analysis: Data collected for this qualitative case study include multiple interviews with both participants; observations in school and community events; observations at staff, parent, and student meetings; district handbooks and information collected from the district website and state reporting agencies, including demographics, free and reduced lunch status, number of staff, per pupil funding, assessment scores, and school improvement plans. Open and axial coding is used to analyze data. Member checks, triangulation of data, memos, and peer review are used to help ensure validity. Findings: The findings of this study reveal that being a rural, homegrown, transformational leader is a strength to overcome rural challenges. These principals’ prior history and relationships within the district and community, as well as the deep understanding and background knowledge they have of the values and culture of the district and community, allow them an easier time building and maintaining trust and relationships, creating a positive school culture, and enacting change. Additionally, their understanding of the challenges of rural districts based on their prior knowledge as a student and teacher have given them foresight to help them better understand and manage the challenges they encounter specific to rural districts. Conclusions: This study demonstrates how transformational leadership assists rural principals in managing challenges specific to rural districts. Additionally, it adds to the literature addressing the challenges rural districts encounter from first hand experiences of two principals who have lived in their respective districts their whole lives. This study provides insight to principal preparation programs, especially those training principals in states with a high percentage of rural districts, regarding how transformational leadership can assist rural principals in managing the challenges they will encounter in a rural district. This study is also beneficial to rural superintendents as they look to hire new principals.

Thesis advisor: Patrick Proctor / This study aimed to explore middle leadership from a single K-12 district. To accomplish this, an exploratory, embedded single case study (Yin, 2018) was utilized. The district was the case while one elementary, middle, and high school were embedded “sub-units” in the case. A principal, middle leader, and 2 middle leader colleagues further represented each school. This method was employed in order to illuminate how middle leadership was experienced through multiple perspectives and contexts but within the same district. This dissertation also took a narrative approach, beginning in understanding the conditions that led to the creation of middle leadership roles, to the selection, conceptualization, and evaluations of middle leaders. Then, middle leaders were asked about how the district can further support their roles. Results indicated that external (standardized tests, changes in standards or curriculum) and internal (desire for district consistency and cohesion) and factors influenced the creation of middle leadership positions. Middle leaders were selected based on their teaching and leadership experiences. However, conceptualization of middle leaders in the district extended beyond teaching. In addition to teaching, middle leaders were also conceptualized as strategic planners, people with good interpersonal and communication skills, managers, coaches, and evaluators. Evaluation of middle leaders were based on state-based evaluation frameworks for teachers or administrators that showcased a misalignment of responsibility and evaluation processes. To support their roles in the district, middle leaders suggested a combination of internal and external support. Internally, they suggested the creation of a within-district, middle leader-specific professional learning community in order to have opportunities to share best practices and collectively think about problems and solutions. Externally, they would also appreciate the district’s support in attending formal professional development such as courses or certification programs. These results indicate that there is a need for middle leadership-specific classes, programs, and evaluation frameworks and that middle leaders would also benefit greatly in the creation of mentorship programs or professional learning communities. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / This qualitative case study, part of a larger group study about how leaders support marginalized student populations in a Massachusetts school district, explored how leaders develop and maintain cultural awareness and self-reflection for themselves and for their teachers. The study asked: 1) How, if at all, does the leader develop and maintain critical self-reflection to support marginalized populations? And 2) What leadership practices does the leader enact, if at all, to engage teachers in cultural awareness and self-reflection? Data was gathered and analyzed from 20 semi-structured interviews, including the superintendent, two assistant superintendents, director of bilingual education, two secondary level principals, two elementary level principals, and 12 teachers, and document reviews. Findings indicate that almost all of the leader participants exhibited cultural awareness and reflectiveness which was attributed to either feeling marginalized themselves, or through childhood and professional experiences. Leaders utilized a variety of leadership practices to maintain their awareness, engage in self-reflection, and create more equitable environments for marginalized students, but these practices were not consistent, embedded, or persistent. Implications of this study reveal that district and school leadership practices to enact cultural awareness and self-reflection of leaders and teachers are critical to effectively address inequities and to support marginalized students. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.