School divisions and principals are tasked with meeting state standards and federal annual measurable objectives (AMOs), as well as with closing the achievement gaps that exist in schools. To accomplish this mission, organizational learning, specifically the use of protocol-structured discussions, has become a fundamental component of school reform processes. Protocols to examine professional practice, engage in data-driven decision-making (DDDM), and look at student work have gained more notoriety as school reform strategies in K-12 education. The purpose of this single-case embedded common qualitative case study was to examine and describe how Uprising Elementary School (UES), in the mid-Atlantic part of the United States, made changes during the school reform process that benefited students from 2012 to 2015. Qualitative data were collected through interviews, focus groups, observations, document reviews, and reflexive notes. I used NVivo 11 Pro to store the data transcripts by creating specific nodes and the constant comparative analysis method to determine themes in the data collected. During triangulation, the multiple sources of data of data kept the qualitative data reliable and accurate. The six findings included: (a) organization of the staff into organizational learning structures created a uniform system of continuous improvement, (b) leadership was a key element influencing the overall success of UES, (c) protocols can be organized into a professional learning model to promote organizational learning, (d) the professional learning model had a profound impact on organizational learning and teacher leadership, (e) the implementation of protocols had a positive effect on school culture, and (f) the strategic implementation of protocol-structured discussions as a school reform strategy transformed learning. / Ed. D. / School-based leaders and teachers have the most difficult job in public education, as they are tasked with meeting federal and state standards by raising test scores. To accomplish this task, they are expected to find ways to meet the needs of all students by working collectively. One of the strategies schools are using as a school reform strategy is highly structured discussions using a specific protocol. The purpose of this case study was to examine and describe how one school made changes during the school reform process that benefited students from 2012 to 2015. This study involved an analysis of data from interviews and focus groups with administrators and teachers, as well as and observations with two collaborative learning teams (CLTs). The data collected from these sources provided a better understanding of the work that was being done at the school to affect professional learning and student achievement. Results indicated the success of the school was based on six findings: (a) organizing staff as a group to create one structure for continuous improvement, (b) leadership was a key element influencing the overall success of the school, (c) organizing protocols to create a model for professional learning, (d) the professional learning model had an impact on teacher leadership, (e) implementing protocols had a positive effect on school culture, and (f) implementing protocols as a school reform strategy changed learning. Further research is needed in the development of a strategic process to look at student work collectively to examine teaching practices as a school reform strategy.

The purpose of the study was to examine elements which affected students' team trust building in an online collaborative learning team and relationships among these elements. The setting of this study was a graduate-level online course on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) in which all course activities were conducted collaboratively through online communications. Data were collected from multiple sources including interviews which were audio taped, transcripts of students' self-reflective journals, transcripts of messages on the asynchronous web conferencing system, transcripts of messages on the synchronous web conferencing system, and the researcher's reflective journals. Data were analyzed using the coding procedures for developing grounded theory proposed by Strauss and Corbin (1998). Results of the data analysis indicated the influences of CSCL course context including the collaborative nature of the course and the heterogeneity of teams on students' team trust building. Results also indicated the dynamics of team trust building. Four different components of team trust building, which were initial team trust, contributors, dimensions, and consequences of team trust, influenced one another. Students’ initial team trust influenced the contributors to team trust which were students' competence, reliability, online communication, and caring. In addition, these contributors influenced the dimensions of team trust such as task performance trust and interpersonal trust. Once students built trust in their teams, they could develop collaborative knowledge building and a sense of community which were the consequences of team trust. The consequences of students’ team trust, in turn, influenced the contributors to team trust. Understanding the construct of team trust may help not only instructors in their design and guidance of successful online collaborative learning teams, but also students in various online collaborative learning teams. In addition, the results of this study may help instructors and researchers to consider carefully the issues in relation to online team trust building. / text