Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Language Education, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-05, Section: A, page: 1853. Adviser: Larry Mikulecky. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed Jan. 12, 2008)."

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Harvard University, 2006. / (UMI)AAI3244757. Adviser: Jessica Hoffmann Davis. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-12, Section: A, page: 4417.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4576. Adviser: Peter K. Kuchinke. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 170-190) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2762. Adviser: Peter Kuchinke. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-133) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Northern Illinois University, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3272166. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2764. Adviser: Amy Rose.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 2002. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 63-02, Section: B, page: 1015. Chair: Andrew R. Eisen. Available also in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Instructional Systems Technology, 2005. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-04, Section: A, page: 1329. Adviser: Thomas Schwen. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed Nov. 9, 2006)."

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4066. Adviser: Angela Benson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-128) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4334. Adviser: William R. McKinney. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 217-229) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

With close to 50 million children attending 98,000 public schools in the United States, the public school classroom continues to be an essential locus of change that, if improved at scale, could increase educational and life outcomes of many young people. Improved student learning requires an improved instructional core and school leaders are essential drivers of this improvement across a complex system of classrooms. The systematic study and codification of the behaviors, practices, and habits of “positively deviant” leaders–i.e. leaders who have consistently developed strategies to improve student learning despite facing similar challenges as others in similar circumstances–can help school and system leaders observe, create, and implement scalable effective practice. In this capstone, I describe a strategy to integrate design thinking and positive deviance to develop a desirable, viable, and feasible strategy to enable effective system-level instructional leadership practices to scale across a diverse educational system. Through my analysis of a strategic project I led at Relay Graduate School of Education, I explore the implications of these findings for my site, the sector, and for myself as a leader.