This study explored, described and attempted to understand the process of change by examining the conversion to school-based management in two Western Canadian public school districts. The study sought to determine where, when, how and why the main actors and factors initiated and provided impetus to the change to school-based management. The emergence of these questions was based on a review of the literature on educational change, school improvement efforts and the change to decentralized decision-making. The literature indicates not only a need to explain the causes of change but also a need to determine ways to influence those causes, to change our planning processes and to produce better planners and implementers. A case study method was utilized with interviews of 43 persons to obtain their perceptions. The sample represented seven levels of district organizational structure: classroom teachers, school principals, central office staff, superintendent(s) , assistant/ associate superintendent(s), trustees, and local teachers' association representatives in each district. Other data sources included district documents and the researcher's field notes. The data were first analyzed descriptively by using Fullan's three phases of the change process: initiation, implementation, and continuation (including perceived outcomes) . A comparative analysis of the data was then undertaken between the two school districts. Finally, an interpretive analysis was undertaken in relation to the current literature on change in education. The main findings are the existence of the following: 1. two subphases of adoption (pre-adoption and formal adoption). Although the literature suggests possible subphases of adoption, this study acknowledges two such subphases. 2. two subphases of implementation (pre-implementation and formal implementation). As with adoption, the literature refers to the possible existence of subphases; however, this study identifies two such subphases. 3. three subphases of continuation (outcome determination processes or mechanisms, identification of outcomes and outcome review). The literature makes reference only to the broad phase of continuation with no reference to subphases. It is interesting to note that the study identifies three main sub-activities or subphases characterizing continuation. 4. four process change variables, each encompassing a number of interactive factors which guide the change process through the three broad phases of change. These process change variables are sources of the initiative, attributes of the initiative, support gathering and context. Again, the literature refers to the cause of change; however, it is interesting to note that certain variables work to influence the causes of change. 5. a management cycle which provided, within the context of continuation, a process for achieving desired school and/or district outcomes. Implicit in the cycle are critical elements for school improvement such as strategic planning, monitoring and review of progress (outcomes), budget planning and resource management. The literature identifies the importance of monitoring results (outcomes) and the importance of change; however, the existence of a cycle of such events during continuation appears novel. 6. a revised model of change in education which offers a modification to that of Fullan and others. This model serves to outline the influences contributing to the change process in general and leads to a revised model of change in education. A number of recommendations based on the findings and conclusions are made. Those addressed to practitioners suggest they should utilize a pilot test to determine the quality of the initiative and it should be held concurrently with preparation of district and school personnel, develop a "blueprint" and/or "template" (vision) for production of an initiative; and establish a management cycle for procuring data on the initiative' s performance in order to compare the outcomes to the original goals for change. The remaining recommendations are addressed to those who would do further research which confirms the change process variables and the clusters of factors associated with each. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to provide a content analysis of specific studies that involve sustainable information and communication technology (ICT) use in K-12 education in the U.S. The results from the content analysis were used to identify factors that may contribute to the sustainable implementation of technologies in K-12 instruction. Factors from specific studies from 2000 to 2018 that have implemented ICT in instruction for three years or more were analyzed. The findings from the analysis may be helpful in developing a conceptual framework listing possible sustainability factors for K-12 school districts using technology in instruction. The results may also be beneficial to educational policy makers, school administrators, and educational stakeholders.

No description available.

No description available.

The International Technology Education Association published Standards for Technological Literacy (STL) to assist technology educators in establishing curriculum to reflect technological literacy. Presently, the extent to which STL and the individual Standards are being used is not known. The problem of this study was to determine the extent to which Virginia secondary technology education teachers are implementing STL. A questionnaire was sent to 285 randomly selected Virginia secondary technology education teachers seeking information concerning their use of STL, their use of the individual Standards within STL, and their perceptions with regard to Rogers' five attributes of innovation. Frequencies and percentages were calculated to describe the population and the respondents' perception of implementation of the individual Standards with regard to Rogers' attributes of and innovation. A two way contingency table was used to evaluate the relationship between Rogers' attributes of innovation and the implementation of individual Standards. Twenty percent of the respondents use STL with varying percentages for each individual Standard. These identified relationships may be used to assist change agents in understanding respondents' perceptions and assisting them in further implementing STL in Virginia. / Ph. D.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Thesis advisor: Robert J. Starratt / This thesis is a descriptive and analytical study of the complete works of Michael Fullan as a scholar of educational change. Fullan is one of the foremost individuals who have helped established the field of educational change and who continues to push the field forward. This dissertation investigates, articulates and interrogates the intellectual and strategic contributions of Fullan in the scholarly field of educational change. This is a critical description and examination of the historical events and trends that influenced his research and to which he was responding. It provides insight into a significant area of practice and research in educational administration by looking at the development of a field through the intellectual contributions of one of its most important authorities. The main purpose is to highlight the development and cogency of Fullan's ideas in the field of educational change through an examination and exploration of his intellectual underpinnings. This study was grounded in the qualitative research tradition, particularly rooted in a conceptual framework of hermeneutics. The task was to search for an understanding rather than explanation and for interpretation rather than prediction. Thus, in this study the researcher was the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. Data was using collected various artifacts, namely: books, journal articles, scholarly papers, technical reports, conference papers, dissertations about Fullan, web-site reports and/or papers, newspaper articles and publicity material. More specifically, Fullan's writings were primarily accessed through various venues: the internet (especially his website: http://www.michaelfullan.ca/), college libraries and professors who use his books. One person-to-person interview was conducted to clarify. Data was critically analyzed and reported thematically and chronologically in order to position Fullan's works within those historical periods and to identify the development and evolution of his theory of change. Findings indicate several periods of education reform: innovation and diffusion, school effectiveness and school improvement, restructuring and reculturing, large-scale reform and post-standardization. Fullan's assessments of each period revealed that he has been more influential in the large-scale reform period than the others. Themes unfolding highlighted the importance of stakeholders (students, teachers, principals, parents and community, district administrators, consultants) and concepts (process, objective and subjective assumptions, moral purpose, relationships, knowledge, sustainability, complexity/chaos & evolutionary theories, systems, paradoxes, coherence and theory of action. Connections to key thinkers in sociology, educational change and mentors as well as Fullan' unique approach to the change process among various other change process models, definitions and perspectives were highlighted. Development and evolution of Fullan's theory of education is underscored by the influence of early mentors in sociology as well as decades of emphasis on certain critical issues within the literature: namely, the absence of the implementation perspective (1970s), meaning-making (1980s), capacity-building (1990s), systems-leading (2000s) and a more recent post-standardization era. Critical and positive commentaries on particular Fullan's works reveal multiple and often opposing values, assumptions and purposes of education that characterize scholar's experiences and advocacy. The paper concludes with a brief personal and critical reflection on Fullan's educational change literature highlighting strengths, weaknesses and the future challenges for scholars in the field. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration.

Because of the complexity of the phenomenon being studied, a qualitative methodology was adopted for the study. The research was anchored in the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism. Interviews formed the chief data collection method. Eleven secondary school principals from Shanghai were selected through a form of purposive sampling. The study aimed to derive categories, typologies and theoretical models from the data to help explain the realities of the Chinese principalship. / Further interpretation across the major categories and initial typology exposed a set of tensions which captured some of the basic dynamics of the principalship in China. A dominant subtext across these tensions was the multiple accountabilities confronting the principals. The study found that the principals placed unquestionable emphasis on upward accountability. Among the various stakeholders, superiors and the higher level government departments and officials were regarded as the most important audience. Finally a set of five propositions was proposed as a way to capture succinctly the major features of the role of the principalship in China. / The context within which the research was conducted was one full of uncertainty and constant change. As a result of systemic and sustained reform efforts to restructure education, principals are caught between the often contradictory forces generated by educational imperatives, market forces, political hegemony and managerial complexity. It would be naive to believe that Mainland China is immune to the universalising tendency of educational reform. However, without careful study we are unsure whether Chinese principals are faced with similar dilemmas, paradoxes, and difficulties as their Western counterparts. There is thus a need to conduct more contextually sensitive research to unveil the intricacies of the role played by Chinese principals in the change context and to delve into the meanings they attach to their work. / The research findings were integrated into a framework comprised of three major categories, namely, stage, unwritten libretto and performance. The school constituted the most important stage that enabled and constrained their principalship. School status was found to be the most important influence in that it framed the role set within which each principal was situated. Despite the influence exerted by each principal's immediate context, a number of commoalities were identified when the eleven cases were pulled together. These common issues, defined as unwritten libretto in the study, included maintaining guanxi with the government, ensuring internal harmony within the organisation and the need to win resources. The knowledge of these rules was found to be indispensible to a principal in China and formed the instinctive grounds upon which they based their actions. Influenced by both the stage---where they were, and the unwritten libretto---their knowledge about how to be a principal in China, principal performance varied. An initial typology was constructed comprised of four types of principals. These types were Leading Actors, Supporting Actors, Opportunists and Marginal Actors. / The research has implications for the knowledge base of school principalship. It stretches this base beyond its current near-exclusive grounding in Western theory and provides some empirical understandings about the principalship in China. The development of a list of propositions also serves as a starting point to explicate the meanings of 'leadership' in the context of Chinese schools. The research findings also have substantial implications for principal development in China. Some suggestions are provided for program providers that may help to make the development programs more effective. / This study investigates how Chinese school principals perceive and enact their roles. Given that there is a conceptual crevice in our understanding of the Chinese principalship, the study intends to add a much needed dimension to the Anglo-American dominant leadership discourse. / Qian, Haiyan. / Adviser: Allan Walker. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 71-01, Section: A, page: 0045. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-258). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Sociology)) -- University of Limpopo, 2004 / Refer to the document

Doctor of Education / This case study looks at the impact of closing an urban secondary school. It considers the experiences of the students, the staff and the parents. It does not argue with the decision to close the school but concentrates on the experience for those most closely involved. The thesis is guided by the main research question which is: “What is the impact of school closure on the various elements of a school community and is there a way to close a school and minimise this impact?” Supplementary questions seek to describe how the closure was undertaken and what factors can be identified which helped ease the transition for those involved. While seeking to develop theory grounded in the research the findings have also been informed by theory associated with grief, place attachment, emotion in the workplace and change. Unpublished primary documents such as transcripts of group interviews, responses to written questionnaires and minutes of meetings are the basic sources of data for this thesis. The researcher was an active participant in the closure and well known to all respondents. The thesis concludes that although keeping the school open for the final year was of benefit to the morale and adjustment of staff it was probably less beneficial for the students involved. It suggests that with proper counselling support and identification of the closure as a critical incident, a quick closure would help student learning outcomes and prevent teacher de-skilling. It also confirms the importance of a school, or probably any institution, in the emotional life of those associated with it. Note: The students in this study range in age from 13 to 18 years of age in Years 7 through to 12.