<p> In this study, the perceptions of educational leaders of incentive pay programs, including Missouri's Career Ladder Program were examined. A mixed-methods design provided a process by which student achievement, professional development, and the retention of high quality and effective teachers were viewed through the lens of Marzano's (2003) Teacher Level Factors that influence student achievement. The population for the study consisted of educational leaders and educators in Missouri. The sample group was comprised of four public school superintendents, four professional development chairs, four leaders in professional education organizations, four Missouri public school board presidents, and approximately 83 Missouri public school teachers. Interviews and survey data were collected and analyzed. Four themes emerged from the study: the effectiveness of Missouri's Career Ladder Program as related to increasing student achievement, the effectiveness of incentive pay programs as related to increasing student achievement, the components of an effective professional development program, and motivation for teachers. Findings indicated positive perceptions of incentive pay programs, including Missouri's Career Ladder Program, which were thought to enhance professional development, the retention of high quality and effective teachers, and ultimately increased student achievement. Even though details of incentive pay programs vary greatly, teacher motivation and increased student achievement were consistent findings among participants. The perceptions of educators from this study may serve district and state educational leaders in future decision-making and implementation of incentive pay programs.</p>

<p> The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has begun the transition to the Missouri Educator Evaluation System devised of seven Essential Principles of Effective Evaluation. This study considered superintendents' perceptions of readiness levels for each essential principle in order to understand continued needs to assist the transition. A web-based survey was electronically sent to 92 superintendents in the Southwest Missouri region. Descriptive statistics methods of mode, mean (M), and frequency distributions were utilized, determining the two essential principles receiving readiness levels of developing processes and documents were differentiated levels of educator performance and use of measures of student growth. The other five essential principles, implemented with fidelity, were research-based, clear expectations; probationary period; meaningful feedback; evaluator training; and use of evaluation results. Contrasting readiness levels were discovered within many survey statements, implying these principles may not be implemented as consistently as perceived by the mode. These varied readiness levels within the survey statements confirmed the need for additional professional development within each essential principle except probationary periods and meaningful feedback; however, the research emphasized effective feedback was lacking in evaluation systems. Each district should review the feedback to confirm it is effective in promoting teacher growth. The lowest readiness level of incorporating measures of student growth determined by total mean (M) rank order needs the most attention with professional development and district planning for the developing of processes and documents for successful implementation.</p>

<p> Principal leadership is crucial to the success of a high school character education initiative. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory research was to identify the roles and effective practices that high school principals utilize in developing, implementing, and sustaining a high functioning character education program. Fourteen high school principals from around the country, representing different schools, were interviewed one-on-one through Skype, Google Hangout, or by telephone. Data were collected during these one-on-one semi-structured interviews and analyzed through three separate coding procedures: (a) open coding, (b) axial coding, and (c) selective coding. Open coding analyzed the concepts emerging from the interview data and relationships among the concepts were revealed. Six categories emerged from the data: (a) Cultural Engineer, (b) Plate Peddler, (c) Collaborative Leader, (d) Reflective Leader, (e) Moral Leader, and (f) Champion. Data were decontextualized and microanalyzed in relation to the categories through axial coding procedures. The axial coding process revealed interrelationships between the data that were not initially evident. Selective coding, the final stage of the coding process, was applied to the data and focused on a macroanalysis that was provided in an explanatory narrative. The narrative synthesized the relationships that emerged from the data around a core category&mdash;"Principal Leadership in a Character Education Program." The narrative report described the basis of the study's findings and explored the interrelationships between the categories. </p><p> The first finding from this study outlines the roles high school principals play in the phases of a character education initiative&mdash;development, implement, and sustainment. Throughout these three phases a high school principal plays a combination of the roles of: (a) Cultural Engineer, (b) Plate Peddler, (c) Collaborative Leader, (d) Reflective Leader, (e) Moral Leader, and (f) Champion. The second finding describes the various exceptional practices of principals in a high school character education initiative that are exercised during the three phases. The third finding reveals and describes a detailed timeline in developing, implementing, and sustaining a character education initiative. The timeline outlines the roles and exceptional practices that are utilized at the different phases to ensure the sustainability of the character education initiative.</p>

<p> This descriptive research study was conducted to determine the state of perceived teacher morale and student academic performance as measured by fourth-grade reading and math scores among four elementary schools defined by the servant leadership score of each principal in this Florida elementary school district. While related research from other geographical areas was identified and published, the aim of this study was to describe the current state of these variables in the southeastern United States. Four elementary principals and 153 elementary teachers participated in this study. The Revised Servant Leadership Profile 360 survey (RSLP 360) was used to obtain the principals' perceptions of servant leadership based on the criteria from the survey to categorize the four schools as servant or non-servant leadership-led schools, and the Purdue Teacher Opinionaire survey (PTO) was used to collect the teachers' perceptions of morale. Fourth-grade Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) scores in mathematics and reading were retrieved from the Florida Department of Education database and used as the third variable in this study. The intent of this research was not to define relationships between servant leadership, teacher morale, and student test scores, but to describe the extent to which these variables existed based on the perceptions of the survey participants and state test scores for this school district in Florida. The results from this study may be used for future research and practices to further examine the active and potential status of servant leadership, teacher morale, and student academic performance outcomes in PreK-12 education.</p><p> <i>Keywords:</i> servant leadership, teacher morale, student performance outcomes, public education</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the leadership practices of presidents and the organizational culture of Christian colleges and universities. The leadership practices of presidents were measured utilizing the Leadership Practices Inventory-Self (LPI-S) and the Leadership Practices Inventory-Observer (LPI-O). The spiritual leadership practices (a combination of spiritual gifts and leadership behaviors) of presidents were measured utilizing the Spiritual Leadership Practices-President (SLP-P) and the Spiritual Leadership Practices-Employee (SLP-E) scales. Organizational culture types were assessed utilizing the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI). The target population for this study was the presidents of the 115 member institutions of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) in the United States. Participants in this study consisted of the presidents and a random sample of administrators, faculty members, and administrative staff members from each participating institution. Out of the 115 presidents and institutions in the target population, 35 responded that they could not participate due to various reasons. This situation left a convenient sample of 80 presidents and institutions. A total of 32 Presidential Questionnaires were completed and returned to the researcher for a response rate of 40%. A total of 56 of 96 Employee Questionnaires were completed and returned to the researcher for a response rate of 58.33%. Results from the statistical analysis of the data and hypotheses revealed statistically significant positive relationships between the leadership practices Model the Way (MTW), Inspire a Shared Vision (ISV), Challenge the Process (CTP), Enable Others to Act (EOA), Encourage the Heart (ETH) and the Clan organizational culture type. Results also revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between the leadership practice Challenge the Process (CTP) and the Adhocracy organizational culture type. In addition, results revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between the Spiritual Leadership Practices-Employee (SLP-E) scale and the Clan organizational culture type. Thus, there is a relationship between the leadership practices of presidents and the organizational culture of Christian colleges and universities.</p>

<p> The dissertation, "Perceptions Of The Leadership Practices Of Principals In A High Performing School District," explores the understandings of leadership practices from the perspective of parents, teachers, and principals in one high performing school district. The study addressed the leadership practices deemed important by the stakeholder groups, the external factors that influence the leadership practices, and the amount of time the practices require. The study revealed that the three stakeholder groups agree on six specific practices as being very important to school leadership in the district. In addition, external factors focused on relationships between stakeholder groups were found to have impact on the leadership practices. The principals also perceived three specific practices as taking much time and attention.</p>

<p> The purpose of this qualitative ethnographic research was to study the culture and experiences of coaches who practice the blended coaching model through the lens of transformational leadership. The study strived to discover the coaches' perceptions regarding their coachees' skills in each of the 10 domains of transformational leadership and sought to understand which domains were impacted the most as a result of participating in the coaching process. This qualitative study was designed from an ethnographic perspective. It included focus group and one-on-one interviews, and observations of coach meetings and trainings. Artifacts were collected to provide a rich understanding of the coaches' culture. As a tool to fill the gap in information gathered through the interviews and observations, coaches completed the Transformational Leadership Skills Inventory regarding the leadership skills of their respective coachees. The findings revealed that coaches who utilized the blended coaching model supported their coachees' development of many of the transformational leadership skills. The coaches focused primarily on personal and interpersonal skills, communication, and collaboration skills. Coaches viewed that communication skill development was most impacted by coaching and that anticipating obstacles was the skill area in which the coaches provided the most coaching. Based on the findings, the researcher concluded that coaches who utilize the blended coaching model tend to support the development of transformational leadership skills in their coachees and emphasize the development of personal and interpersonal skills, communication skills, and collaboration skills. Coaches who practice the blended coaching model also support their coachees' relationship-building skills. It appears that coaches focus their coaching on the situational needs of the coachee. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended that to ensure school leaders develop the transformational leadership skills needed to lead 21st-century schools, funding for leadership coaching is prioritized, coaches are provided to support all school leaders, consortiums of districts form professional learning community groups to help coaches deepen coaching skills and transformational leadership development skills, and coaches receive up-to-date professional development in current critical issues facing school leaders.</p>

<p> Over the past several decades, there has been a great deal of discussion on the creation and maintenance of affirmative action programs for under-represented students in higher education. There is ample literature of the development of these programs, the role of state and federal agencies, and the ultimate resulting diversification of American institutions of higher education. This exploratory study seeks to improve our understanding of how access to higher education is perceived and experienced by African American students attending college in the 21^st century. </p><p> The exploratory study is a case study with a phenomenological perspective involving students entering college, K-12 and higher education administrators, and experts in the field of higher education. The researcher utilized individual interviews, group interviews, reflections, and a review of archival data and relevant theories. The study demonstrates how African American students (a) perceive and experience higher education, (b) develop a sense of agency and identity that impacts how they believe themselves to be perceived by their community, and (c) utilize that sense of agency and identity to influence college selection, as well as (d) how their academic and social transition to college is influenced by education officials and community. </p><p> Students in this study had a challenging transition to higher education. They had attended a predominantly African American high school that was highly focused on supporting student access to college. However, the students were not prepared to experience a diverse campus for the first time without the individualized attention they had received in their high school. </p><p> This study demonstrates that access and persistence within higher education is highly influenced by the support students received within their academic, social, and familial communities. It also indicates the significant financial pressure of affording higher education, a stressor throughout the college experience of these students.</p>

<p>This embedded, multiple-case study was conducted to investigate perceptions of academic optimism and transformational leadership behaviors in two schools implementing personalized mastery educational paradigms. Personalized mastery educational paradigms require that students demonstrate mastery of established standards prior to moving onto more complicated concepts. This model represents a dramatic departure from traditional models of education where student progress through the curriculum is primarily determined by seat time. Teacher perceptions of academic optimism have been shown to have a positive effect on student achievement (Hoy, Tarter, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006) and transformational leadership behaviors have been linked to second-order change required for successful implementation of new educational models (Leithwood & Jantzi, 2006). Academic Optimism and Transformational Leadership were examined in two schools at different stages of implementing a personalized mastery model of education. The case is bound by the system of personalized mastery education, bound by place in terms of one school in Wyoming and one in Montana, and bound by time during February and April of 2014. This research was framed by the following central question: How do teachers at two high schools at different stages of implementing personalized mastery learning describe their perceptions of transformational leadership, academic optimism, and the organizational change process? The School Academic Optimism Scale (SAOS) (Hoy, 2005) was used to assess teachers' perceptions of Academic Optimism and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) (Avolio & Bass, 2004) was used to assess their perceptions of Transformational Leadership. In addition, semi-structured teacher interviews were conducted to obtain a richer and deeper understanding of perceptions related to academic optimism and transformational leadership during the organizational change process. Finally, a critical incident analysis was performed on principal journal entries describing principal perceptions of transformational leadership behaviors and teacher academic optimism during the organizational change process. Findings suggest increased perceptions of academic optimism and transformational leadership behaviors within both schools. Additionally, teachers in the school where the personal mastery model was implemented over a longer period of time suggested the school was recultured to accept this new educational model and felt a greater sense of collective leadership.

<p>The performance-based model of education has been proven successful in a number of schools across the United States and the world. The majority of the students and teachers who are currently operating in innovative performance-based programs have been exposed to the traditional model of education for the bulk of their educational lives, and are in a unique position to judge the efficacy of the system. In an earlier pilot study, there was a significant difference in the perspective of the students and teachers in favor of the performance-based system, which could eventually lead to the adoption of the model on a larger scale in future years. The purpose of this embedded, multiple-case study was to analyze how students and teachers operating in two educational programs that had implemented the performance-based model perceived their own levels of engagement and optimism, and how the teachers judged the leadership that helped put the system in place. The case is bound by the system of performance-based education, bound by place in terms of one school in California and one in Montana, and bound by time in that the analysis of the participant data is from the early months of 2014. This research was framed by the following central question: How do teachers and students who operate in a performance- based educational system describe academic optimism, student engagement, and transformational leadership behaviors of their principals? Three primary sources of data were used: individual interviews, student and teacher surveys, and achievement documentation. Analysis and triangulation of the data identified key issues and painted a rich picture of academic success in this innovative model.