<p> This qualitative study was designed to discover what community college trustees believe are the most effective leadership attributes. Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees were asked to list in, order of importance, the most effective community college board of trustee leadership attributes. The research questions emphasized the importance of the leadership attributes that occur when board trustees must complete community college goals given the recent increased student enrollment, despite diminished college budgetary resources. The theoretical framework of Stogdill (1974) was used for trait theory, Hersey, Blanchard and Dewey (2012) for situational leadership, and Burns (1978) for transformational leadership. The study examined the issue of increased student enrollment coupled with decreased community colleges' annual budgets. The slowing economy and legislative spending affected the State of California's budget, creating a deficit and appropriations challenge. The budgetary shortfalls negatively affected academia and student development programs. People depend on the community college system to receive a college education, obtain an AA degree, transfer to a university, or enter the workforce. In the literature review, a brief history of California community colleges is provided to illustrate how institutions of higher education and governing boards were established. As a needs assessment tool, Dr. Schmieder-Ramirez's (2001) SPELIT power matrix was particularly useful for capturing the driving forces at work at community colleges. The SPELIT power matrix helped to structure the literature review by making intelligible the social, political, economic, legal, intercultural, and technological environments of the community college system.</p>

<p> This quantitative study was conducted to examine the primary components of school leadership for 21st-century skills and knowledge integration. With the passing of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students, teachers, and administrators, the need for administrative leadership within the realm of technology is continually evolving and growing. The NETS based survey required teachers from three varying sized school districts, who have implemented a 1:1 student device initiative, to answer statements, using a Likert scale, about themselves and their principal. Survey statement data results were revealed using a Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient formula, scatter plots, and regression studies to investigate relationships between a teacher's use of 21st-century teaching skills and knowledge and his/her principal's use of 21st-century leadership skills and knowledge. Additionally investigated were what 21st-century leadership practices appear to be associated with the use of 21st-century instructional practices to effectively support teacher and student learning. This research project harvested surprising results that addressed perceptions of effective practices, characteristics, and leadership styles from the front line of learning and teaching, teachers; and, which are relevant to new mandates in education and applicable to the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), also referred to as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards, for both teachers and administrators.</p>

<p>The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine teachers' perceptions of an association between principal leadership and their leadership competencies on a schools' culture. This paper explored teachers' perceptions of principal leadership and the health of the school culture. In a Southern California school district 835 teachers were e-mailed 2 surveys for a quantitative study, 68 participants completed the surveys. The first survey focused on teachers' perceptions of principal leadership competencies, which were identified in the literature. The other survey from Dr. Christopher Wagner (2006) focused on the health of the school culture. The survey included 4 teacher demographic variables: years of experience, gender, years at current school, and age. This study found a significant connection between teachers' perceptions of principal leadership and school culture using a Pearson correlation test. This study adds to the existing body of knowledge for education, and this paper focuses on teachers' perceptions of principal leadership.

<p> This qualitative study explored principals' leadership strategies and decision-making in literacy instruction. One-to-one interviews, a focus group, and a review of documents were the sources of data for the study. Themes emerging from the investigation were data-driven decision-making, asking essential questions, distributed leadership, modeling data use and literacy strategies, strategic communications, reflective leadership, focusing on instructional improvement and student achievement, structuring time to support literacy and use of data, and offering professional development opportunities. Findings from the study included principals not having an informed and consistent use of data instructional decision-making, and lacking training in literacy instruction. Recommendations for research include expanding the study to rural, charter, and private schools to ascertain principals' literacy instructional knowledge and data-driven decision-making that show high degrees of principal leadership across preK-12 schools.</p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to identify the key learning opportunities necessary to build teacher leadership, the most difficult barriers to overcome, and the most important facilitators as identified by teacher experts. This study also sought to determine the best approaches to implementation of identified learning opportunities, the most effective approaches for overcoming identified barriers, and the most effective approaches for implementing facilitators that support teacher leaders. Consistent with a Delphi method, the instruments used within this study collected perceptual data from an expert panel of high school teachers from Riverside County, California, through an electronic format within a 3-round process. The expert panel consisted of effective high school teacher leaders selected by their principals based on the 6 most prominent characteristics of effective teacher leaders. Findings showed that there are elements of professional learning opportunities that must be addressed for professional learning to take place. They include the opportunity for collaboration, practice, and practical application. Teachers must also feel that they have a voice in addressing current issues/needs. Findings from this study also indicate that it is essential to have an environment that includes a supportive administration and supportive colleagues and that the provision of time is essential for developing effective teacher leadership. According to the expert panel, to implement professional learning opportunities that develop effective teacher viii leadership, teachers must have the opportunity to collaborate, practice and apply newly learned information or instructional strategies, and have a voice in addressing current issues and site needs. Finally, developing effective teacher leadership is facilitated through a supportive environment. To develop effective teacher leadership, schools and districts must (a) restructure the school day to create time for teachers to interact, (b) provide teachers with information on teacher leadership, (c) bridge the disconnect that currently exists between what teachers and what administrators believe is needed, (d) provide professional learning for teachers and administrators to continue the development of a shared model of decision making, and (e) provide opportunities for teachers to participate in peer observation and debriefing, self-reflection, practicing teacher leadership skills, and mentoring and coaching colleagues.</p>

<p> The study focused on school discipline and climate while exploring differences in perceptions of students, teachers and administrators about school discipline in an urban middle school. The data shows that participants experienced and observed the application of multiple disciplinary practices that resulted in the issuance of student removal from the instructional environment. The use of prevention, intervention and responses to misbehavior are all analyzed. Recommendations for improvement include the implementation of restorative justice and social skills curriculum.</p>

<p> This dissertation examined the implementation of Response to Intervention (RtI) in two rural school districts in south central North Carolina. Federal legislation requiring an increase in school system accountability included the expectation for implementing differentiating levels of academic intervention for struggling students. Implementation structure and pragmatics differ from district to district as the process design remains with local education units. The filtering of federal legislative expectations to state-level administration and subsequently to school system and ultimately school site leadership is a long journey that can result in varied interpretations. The communication of methodology and expectations from district-level administration to school-level practitioners is crucial for effective implementation. Therefore, an understanding of and a focused vision for Response to Intervention implementation is essential throughout district and school leadership (Kratochwill, Valopiansky, Clements, &amp; Ball, 2007).</p><p> This dissertation explored the district-level to school-level facilitation of RtI implementation in two rural but very different districts in south central North Carolina, both identified to demonstrate stellar RtI implementation processes. Individual staff members were interviewed at the district and school-level (elementary, middle, and high) using a structured interview protocol to explore this process of implementation. The responses were then analyzed using a theme matrix. A consistent set of core strategies, practices, and beliefs were found in schools in the two districts, although facilitation of the expectations from district to school-level differed significantly and impacted the breadth and levels of implementation. Monitoring the fidelity of the process remained at the school level. The results reinforce the barriers that rural districts confront in complying with federal mandates.</p>

Abstract not available.

Abstract not available.

<p> Latina principals and assistant principals at the high school level have been overlooked in academic research. A review of literature is explored indicating how Latina, public high school assistant principals and principals are disproportionately underrepresented and face the double challenge of being a gender and an ethnic minority in the field of educational leadership. A qualitative study was conducted that begins with a statement of the problem, review of literature, and continues with a description of the research design, data collection, analysis of the data, discussion of findings, and concludes with the researcher&rsquo;s challenges. Phenomenology was the research methodology used to study four Latina assistant principals&rsquo; experiences and perceptions of barriers and support systems in relation to their career journey. Role congruity theory was used as a theoretical lens to explore the prejudices, discrimination, and career path barriers that female leaders encounter. Findings revealed that the four participants interviewed had similar experiences and perceptions concerning four main themes of motivation, challenges, support systems, and cultural identification; subthemes were also explored. Discussed is a new conceptual model which outlines the career stages of the participants. </p><p> Overall, the narrative data from the participants, the coded themes and subthemes, and the new conceptual model highlight that there are various barriers and support systems that impact Latina high school assistant principals&rsquo; career path experiences. Specifically, the challenges identified are institutional challenges in the form of poor educational leadership, prejudicial hiring practices, and internal challenges in the form of conflicts about family verses job obligations.</p>