<p> This multi-case study seeks to understand the experiences of New York City and Washington, DC public charter school principals who have experienced leadership coaching, a component of leadership development, beyond their novice years. The research questions framing this study address how experienced public charter school principals describe the impact of leadership coaching practices on their leadership development, as well as how they describe their own leader identity construction through the process of coaching.</p><p> The education sector faces a shortage of highly skilled leaders in addition to a leadership retention crisis. Leadership coaching, used for decades in the business sector, is becoming more commonly practiced in the education sector as a way to support and develop school principals. Although research on leadership coaching for traditional public school principals has emerged over the past decade, there is a lack of research on leadership coaching for public charter school principals. In addition, the existing research on leadership coaching for public school principals is focused primarily on novice school principals. Thus, this study extends this body of research beyond traditional public school principals and novice principals to the experienced school principals in public charter schools in order to ensure that their perspectives and experiences of leadership coaching are incorporated into the literature.</p><p> Eight public charter school principals were selected for participation in the study, with data collected through interviews, documents, and artifacts shared by the participants. The findings of the study are presented within the following three main themes: the coaching process, the impact of coaching, and the principal leader identity construction. Interpretation of these findings highlights inconsistency between participants&rsquo; experience of the leadership coaching process and the literature as well as well as consistency with research on the impact of coaching. Furthermore, through artifact analysis and participant reflection, this research offers evidence that leadership coaching supports the process of leader identity construction, thus extending the literature on leadership coaching for school principals.</p>

<p> The influence of technology on society shows little sign of diminishing (Puybaraud, 2012). Increased capabilities and the affordability of technology devices have brought a resurgence of one-to-one device implementation in schools (Dawson, 2016). This qualitative study was designed to elicit the perceptions of administrators and teachers on one-to-one device implementation. Marc Prensky&rsquo;s (2001) premise that students are digital natives embedded in media and digital device-rich environments provided the conceptual framework for this study. Furthermore, Prensky (2001) proposed modern students learn, conceptualize, and respond differently than previous generations. The participants in this study represented six southwest Missouri school districts with student populations of 300-2,500 in grades 6-12 which underwent one-to-one device implementation within the last five years. Data were gathered from responses of eight teachers, 11 principals, and five superintendents. Perceptions of principals and teachers in school districts implementing one-to-one devices were gathered during the first phase of data collection. These data were transcribed and analyzed for key words and phrases, as well as common themes. Then, during the second phase of data collection, an electronic questionnaire instrument was used to gain feedback of participating superintendents. The following findings emerged from this study: appropriate time, importance of key personnel, shifts in teaching, and shifts in learning through the one-to-one implementation process.</p>

<p> In 2010, the state of Pennsylvania began the work of creating and adopting a state-wide principal effectiveness plan that mirrored the framework established for the evaluation of teachers. Backed by a series of assumptions about the power of an assessment or evaluation tool to increase the effectiveness of school leaders, a team of educators at the state level reviewed plans from numerous states and districts as well as the widely recognized VAL-ED school leadership evaluation plan to inform the creation of a plan tailored for Pennsylvania school leaders. </p><p> The growing focus on evaluation of school leaders was fueled in part by a disconnect between overwhelmingly positive principal evaluations and standardized state assessment scores for student achievement that indicate a disproportionate percentage of &ldquo;failing&rdquo; schools. A growing body of research has explored the influences of principal leadership on student performance as well as the theoretical frameworks for effective principal evaluation plans. Less prevalent was research on the influence of an evaluation plan to guide, change or improve the practices of school leaders. </p><p> In the 2012-13 school year, over 200 school district, charter schools, Career and Technology Centers, and intermediate units in Pennsylvania agreed to implement the Principal Effectiveness Plan (PEP), later called the Pennsylvania Framework for Leadership (PFL), for the possible evaluation of up to 1900 school leaders in over 1300 individual school sites. This research was designed specifically to study the influence of the pilot year of the Pennsylvania Framework for Leadership on a group of principals in secondary schools in Pennsylvania by exploring how the principals conceptualized the uses of the plan on their daily practices. </p><p> The study was designed to explore qualitative data gathered through 17 secondary principal interviews which were a representative sample targeted from the 117 secondary principals who completed the pilot process and were included in the data set of 484 principal reports submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education at the end of the pilot year. In addition, survey data from PDE were used to inform the construction of the interview protocol. Researcher journal and memos were also considered (Maxwell, 2005, p. 96, p. 110, Miles &amp; Huberman, 1994, p. 72).</p>

<p> Independent school leaders are seeking opportunities to improve their organizations&rsquo; impact on mission (Collins, 2005; Mair &amp; Marti, 2006), respond to the new affordances and expectations driven by information and communications technologies (Christensen, Horn, &amp; Johnson, 2008; Cuban, 2013), and improve their financial sustainability (Baumol &amp; Bowen, 1966; Farkas, 2012; Ewert, 2013). The answer to similar challenges in other fields has been innovation (Christensen et al., 2008; Schumpeter, 1949). However, there is a gap in the research&mdash;an absence of a theory of practice for the work of identifying, enacting, and diffusing value-adding changes, or innovations, throughout independent K&ndash;12 schools. As a first step in developing such a theory of practice, this exploratory qualitative study focuses on independent school leaders identified by their peers as innovative and working at independent U.S. K&ndash;12 schools that have been defined as representative through the metrics of enrollment, tuition, endowment, and length of operations. Via a process of structured interviews, archival document review, member checks, and researcher writing, this study explores and seeks to understand these particular leaders&rsquo; perceptions, conceptualizations, and thinking about innovation, and their efforts in relation to the enactment of innovation in their particular school contexts. The major findings of this study are: (a) innovation is an under-theorized area of practice for leaders of independent schools; (b) the conceptualizations of innovation of Heads of independent schools are varied among individual leaders depending on several factors; (c) conceptualizations of innovation by Heads affect their approaches to innovation and leading innovation adoption; and (d) the field of independent schools lacks an approach to innovation that would help contain cost growth. The conclusion of this study is a call for a new theory of practice for independent school leaders regarding innovation, informed by theory from various fields and grounded in the experiences of leading practitioners.</p>

<p>Data use is proliferating in schools as a tool to inform instructional improvement. Teacher evaluation is increasingly viewed as an important data source and mechanism in this effort. This qualitative case study sought to examine how data generated from teacher evaluation and other teacher learning experiences worked in conjunction to improve practice. More specifically, this study examined the role of leadership in using data for the purpose of increasing teacher knowledge and skills. Spanning a four-month period, the study focused on eight English teachers, a principal, and two assistant principals in one high school involved in implementing a new teacher evaluation process and immersed in data use for the purpose of improving practice. Findings revealed that the principal was not well equipped to build the capacity of her staff to use data to examine their pedagogy in a way that would foster instructional innovation. Her efforts resulted in little more than minor tweaks to practice. Likewise, she did not have a clear approach to improving instruction. Her emphasis was on initiating multiple disconnected learning experiences that were not consistently aligned nor did they include an explanation of why and how these experiences would enhance instruction or an expectation for following through to ensure that new learning would take hold. Professional development was mostly delivered in a top-down fashion that resulted in the exclusion of teacher voice. Finally, the principal responded to external accountability demands by buffering her teachers from the cumbersome, unpleasant aspects of them, while simultaneously using them as leverage to pursue instructional improvement. Ultimately, despite good intentions, the principal was not well positioned to promote the use of data as a tool for teacher learning.

<p> Criticism of the public school system tends to be aimed squarely at teachers in the classroom (Karpinski, 2012). As school principals lead in this current educational climate, it is incumbent upon them to provide their teachers an environment that is conducive to job satisfaction, emphasizing teacher retention, and mitigating the deleterious effects of teacher turnover on students&rsquo; academic achievement. To understand the practices of the principal, this study investigated teachers&rsquo; perceptions of their principals&rsquo; practice, asking the following questions: What is the relationship between teachers&rsquo; perceptions of their principal&rsquo;s practice of building professional capital and teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction? What are the experiences of teachers in relation to their perception of their principal&rsquo;s practice of building professional capital and job satisfaction?</p><p> Research was conducted employing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods correlational study; utilizing a researcher-created on-line survey and semistructured interviews. The results of this study indicate that teachers&rsquo; job satisfaction is independent of principals&rsquo; practice of building professional capital. The quantitative findings found no correlation between teachers&rsquo; perceptions of their principal&rsquo;s practice of building professional capital and teacher job satisfaction. The qualitative data indicate that teachers attributed their job satisfaction to factors that are independent of their relationship with their principal; commitment to their students and colleagues and sense of purpose were cited as sources of job satisfaction.</p>

The purpose of the present study was to investigate Preservice Teachers' (PT) reasons for teaching and their beliefs about teaching. Specific reasons of PTs for entering the teaching career, and typologies (clusters) of PTs based on their reasons for teaching were investigated. Further, across the clusters of PTs, their beliefs about teaching were examined, in the context of PTs' understanding of their goals to become teachers. Mixed methods were used for data collection: survey and interviews. Participants were undergraduate students enrolled in the EDF 4210 Educational Psychology and EDF 4430 Classroom Assessment courses for the Spring semester 2007. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, 215 participants completed a survey about PTs' demographic data, PTs' reasons for teaching and their beliefs about teaching. An initial quantitative analysis of participants' responses for the Reasons for Teaching Questionnaire (RTQ) was made using factor analysis and cluster analysis to establish groups/clusters of individuals displaying similar patterns regarding their reasons for teaching. For the second phase of the study, a selected number of participants (n=25) from the three clusters were recruited for an in-depth interview. The purpose of the interviews was to explore more deeply PTs' understanding of their goal to become a teacher, as well as similarities and differences across the clusters. Overall, the study results indicated a variety of reasons for teaching and beliefs about teaching expressed by PTs in their survey and interview responses. Survey results indicated six main categories of reasons (i.e., factors) as influential to PTs' career choices. These were reasons related to PTs' identity issues, reasons related to PTs' subject matter, reasons related to PTs' meaningful relationships, reasons related to the teaching job benefits, reasons related to PTs' holistic views of profession and reasons related to job opportunities through teaching. Three different clusters of PTs were obtained by conducting a cluster analysis, and specific reasons were found to be relevant for each cluster as related to their teaching career choices. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc tests, conducted to further explore the differences across clusters of PTs regarding their beliefs about schooling and beliefs about the teaching career, showed significant differences across the three clusters of PTs. The interview results provided more support to understanding the interplay among PTs' motivation and beliefs about teaching in the context of their understanding of the teaching goal development. A grounded theory model was developed to represent PTs' understanding of their teaching goal development as related to four major categories: Motivators, Beliefs, Context, and Strategies. Results from this study showed that PTs' understanding of their goal development was related to different types (or combination) of motivators for teaching, specific beliefs about the teaching career, all these applied to a specific context (i.e., past school experiences, emotions etc). How PTs perceived themselves as teachers, and how they perceived teaching represented a major influence in their career choices. Research from this area can bring a significant contribution to understanding PTs' beliefs in connection with their reasons for teaching as related to their attitudes toward teaching and their future professional practices. From this perspective, the issue of teacher education quality programs can be addressed, and stress the importance of studying PTs' views of teaching as related to their future instructional practices. Findings from such research may also bring a contribution to understanding motivational aspects for continuing teaching and job satisfaction, and indirectly may provide support to understanding various teacher attrition issues. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2008. / Date of Defense: November 5, 2007. / Motivation, Teacher Education, Beliefs / Includes bibliographical references. / Jeannine E. Turner, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stacey Rutledge, Outside Committee Member; Alysia Roehrig, Committee Member; John Keller, Committee Member.

"When educational systems have to decide on which critical areas the resources should be concentrated, a needs assessment study is useful. An adequate assessment of educational needs thus provides a solid foundation for planning and development. This paper discusses the theoretical aspects implied in the concept of 'needs assessment' and attempts to establish the components of a need assessment model. A Component Check-List is developed as a tool for analysing models of needs assessment. Nine models are analyzed and the paper concludes with a review of those models"--Abstract. / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Instructional Design and Development Program in partial fulfillment of the preliminary examination procedures for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy." / "May, 1974." / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 56-60).

<p> For over forty years, researchers, policymakers, and educational leaders have promoted computer technology use within schools to enhance teaching and learning (Culp, Honey, &amp; Mandinach, 2003; U.S. Department of Education, 2010). The effective schools literature of the 1980s suggested principals should be the instructional leader of the school building; however, school principals are often tasked with other administrative and managerial responsibilities diverting their attention from instructional technology (Lashway, 2002; Fullan 2014). Filling this gap requires a school leader who understands the importance of engaging learners with the technological advances of today&rsquo;s society. Partnering with the principal, the instructional technology leader can aid to improve the school&rsquo;s learning environment by influencing individual and institutional factors to support classroom technology use (Consortium for School Networking, 2009; International Society for Technology in Education, 2011). Unlike the role of the school principal, the instructional technology leader lacks authoritative power and instead relies on the ability to manage one&rsquo;s own emotions and attitudes as well as the emotions and attitudes of others (teachers), a process explored in emotional intelligence theory. </p><p> Using a blend of portraiture and narrative design methodology, this study explored the experiences of instructional technology leaders under the lens of emotional intelligence. The following question framed this study: How do instructional technology leaders perceive their own emotional intelligence (EI) and the role EI plays in the implementation and integration of instructional technology in the schools they serve?</p><p>

<p> This study explored the role of school superintendents and board of education trustees in closing the achievement gap, which can be defined as &ldquo;the disparity in academic performance between groups of students&rdquo; (Muhammad, 2015, p. 14). District leaders (superintendents and school boards) set the priorities in their school systems and have the power to promote or thwart educational equity (Skrla, McKenzie, &amp; Scheurich, 2009). The purpose of this qualitative study was to highlight effective practices of superintendents and school boards that have prioritized closing achievement gaps and have succeeded in narrowing them. This study involved four case studies and made use of interviews, observations, and document review. The data revealed that the most formidable challenges to closing achievement gaps were increasingly diverse student needs, stakeholders&rsquo; deficit-thinking about students, lack of family engagement, and financial obstacles. In order to overcome those challenges, the researcher found that superintendents used various strategies, including setting a vision for equity at the district level, using data to drive decision-making, hiring quality teachers and leaders, using district funds resourcefully, providing rigorous curricula for students, and creating innovative academic and non-academic programs for students. Although there is academic literature on the challenges that school superintendents face in closing achievement gaps and the strategies that they have used to overcome them, there is a lack of research on how superintendents and their school boards collaborate to narrow achievement gaps. The aim of this study was to address that gap in the literature. Data revealed that district leaders collaborated to narrow gaps by setting district visions, goals, and policies, sharing information, and partnering on the budgeting and hiring processes. </p><p>