<p> This research addresses moral decision making and the experience of public school principals. It also explores the possible influence mentoring has on principals&rsquo; abilities to confront complex decisions when clear ethical choices do not exist. This study incorporates a survey methodology, exploring the relationship between principal mentoring programs and schemas of morality in principals&rsquo; decision making. I used the Defining Issues Test-2 (Bebeau &amp; Thoma, 2003; Rest &amp; Narvaez, 1998) as the quantitative measurement tool to assess moral reasoning in this study. The survey also included questions about mentoring experiences and principal demographics. The DIT-2 uses the following three moral schemas that Rest (1973) identified: Personal Interest Schema, Maintaining Norms Schema, and Postconventional Schema. Rest based the three schemas on Kohlberg&rsquo;s (1958) moral development theory, which provides a framework for understanding various levels of moral judgment. The first part of my research involves determining the moral schemas principals use when making moral judgments. Principals in various studies have not only identified a need to improve moral judgment, but also areas of improvement that would most benefit them (Dempster and Berry, 2003; Drago-Severson, 2012; Henry, 2010). As a result, the second part of my research explores how principal mentoring programs with an ethics component impact moral judgment in principals.</p>

<p> Principals who are able to develop a high level of trust and establish positive relationships with teachers in a given school have greater opportunities to increase student achievement. This study reviewed the leadership factors that can increase or decrease the level of trust between teachers and the principal in rural elementary schools. A mixed methods study allowed for the most thorough review and interpretation of the data. Quantitative data was gathered from surveys regarding trust level and leadership styles. The results from the quantitative data indicated significant differences in faculty trust in the principal and the leadership styles between two principals from the six studied. This provided two schools in which to conduct the qualitative research. Interviews were held with the principal and four teachers at each school. The interviews provided rich data for analysis regarding the factors that enhance or decrease the faculty trust in the principal. Four themes were found to impact the faculty trust: relationships, communication, interpersonal skills, and a direct style of leadership. Of equal value were the development of relationships and possessing good communication skills. Having the potential to greatly influence both relationships and communication was the interpersonal skills of the principal. A principal who used a direct style of leadership and watched too intently for the mistakes teachers make was determined to have a negative impact upon trust. It was demonstrated that trust takes time and consistency to develop, but it may be destroyed easily. All of this was evaluated within the unique environment of the rural elementary school. </p>

<p> The purpose of this research was to investigate how parental stress is related to student behavior and the impact of the family system on student behavior. Bronfenbrenner&rsquo;s (1994) ecological model was used as the theoretical framework with a focus on relationships within the family and direct links to student behaviors. The sample size (n) was small equaling 10 parents and 10 students. The study investigated two groups of parents and children, one group consisted of five students identified as typically developing students with behaviors and numerous office referrals of more than five visits per year. The second group of five students received special educational services and had medically diagnosed behavior disorders. This study used the Parent Stress Index (PSI-4) survey to measure parental pressures and the direct influences on the parent to gain insight into four main domains: Total Stress, Life Stress, Child Domain, and Parent Domain. Interviews of both parents and children offered insight to the social occurrence of behaviors and the relationship between the parent and child. The study revealed themes describing a relationship between parenting stress and child behavior that were representative of a bi-directional relationship between a parent and child reflective in the influence of one&rsquo;s direct environment within the family unit. This research adds to the body of literature looking at parenting stress and the effect on child behavior.</p>

<p> Inclusion is a federal education policy in the United States that challenges educational leaders. Despite U.S. federal laws requiring an inclusive education for students with disabilities (SWD), educators continue to struggle to implement inclusion. Some scholars argue that leadership is the key to inclusion, with most studies focused on principal leadership. Successful inclusive districts are rare, as are studies of these districts. The purpose of this in-depth case study was to describe and understand the leadership practices of SSSD (pseudonym), an inclusive (based on LRE .75% for three consecutive years) and effective district (based on district grades of As and Bs, state measures of student achievement) in Southeast Florida. Within SSSD, a purposeful sample of 31 participants was selected that included eight district leaders, three principals, 15 teachers, and five parents located at four sites and observed across three events over the span of one semester with multiple supporting documents analyzed.</p><p> Four findings describing district leadership practices emerged from the data analysis; 1) a shared inclusive mission, 2) collaborative efforts, 3) formal and informal professional development (PD), and 4) acknowledging and addressing challenges. The practices of district leaders found in this study resonate with other findings in the literature and contribute two of the new findings in this study: 1) the superintendent&rsquo;s attitudes, beliefs, and experiences as a special educator were described as key to her district&rsquo;s inclusive focus and success and extends previous research connecting principal leadership to school site inclusion; and 2) informal versus formal PD was more beneficial to teachers in building collective capacity for inclusive service delivery&mdash;marking a new distinction within related PD literature.</p><p> Recommendations to district leaders, policy makers, and scholars are included. The study concludes by encouraging educational leaders to cultivate a shared inclusive mission implemented through collaborative efforts. There is hope for inclusion, not only in theory, but in practice, mirroring the call of other district leadership studies of successful, systemic inclusion. </p>

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate identified variables satisfaction from select stakeholders to improve academic performance in a charter school. The researcher sought to understand the qualities of successful schools by examining the following variables: communication, curriculum, governance process, governance structure, instructional resources, maintenance of facility, school culture, school life, and quality of instruction. School administrators, teachers, parents, and community members were interviewed. A survey by AdvancED was used to determine satisfaction level of school practices. Standardized testing data were analyzed to inquire information on academic performance. The qualitative approach is one in which the investigator explores a bounded system (a case), or multiple bounded systems (cases), over time, through detailed,in-depth data collection involving multiple sources of information (e.g., observations, interviews, audiovisual material, and documents and reports), and reports a case description and case-based-theme (Creswell, 2009). The results in the study yielded successful practices and procedures schools can employ to increase academic achievement and reduce the likelihood of school closings based on academic performance. The research focused on a charter school that has been consistently exceeding district and state standardized test scores. The findings of the research can be used by school leaders, principals, school board members, and school districts to improve overall school effectiveness. The findings also provided a framework of research-based practices to meet the needs of all students. The school used in the study serves K through eighth-grade students and is a startup charter school. The school has 744 students and over 250 students on its waiting list. Nearby schools are all Title-1 schools with a high percentage of children from low-income families. The school demographics included a 99% African-American population. The findings of this study certainly added supporting research to the effective schools’ movement and replication for future charter schools. The results of the study produced themes that were apparent through the interviews, survey, and document analysis. High expectations, consistent communication, parental involvement, supportive environment, and purposeful engagement were the common themes that supported variables that affected the level of satisfaction of stakeholders in improving academic achievement.

<p> According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (2014), 74 percent of Wisconsin&rsquo;s teachers are women, while only 26 percent of Wisconsin&rsquo;s superintendents are women indicating a significant disparity among the educational ranks. Studies have claimed that women are obtaining their superintendent credentials at the same rate as men, yet in the state of Wisconsin, women account for a mere 22 percent of licensed candidates. Much of the previous literature identifies this problem and rationalizes it with the gender biases that have plagued women for centuries. </p><p> This study went beyond that and focused on women in the 26 percent who have overcome barriers and obstacles to their advancement and how they have managed to balance their work and family. This study was a narrative analysis of the personal and professional histories of female superintendents with children. Using qualitative methods through personal interviews of four women, this study addresses the need for role models for work-family balance for mothers who wish to pursue the superintendency. Probing questions were asked to identify what balance means for these women, how they balance their work and family, and what commonalities these women share in their personal and professional lives that relate to their career trajectories. </p><p> Catherine Hakim&rsquo;s Preference Theory was used to identify how these women characterize themselves as <i>home-centered, adaptive,</i> or <i>work-centered.</i> This theory was then applied to these women using the data obtained through their interviews in order to identify commonalities and themes among them as they relate to work-family balance. </p><p> This study did not dismiss the biases and perceptions of women leaders, but instead focused on how these women navigated these perceptions, and to inherently see the light at the end of the tunnel. This study confirmed that women have a choice in their career decisions, that balance is different for each woman and that stages of career and family play an impactful role in what balance looks like. Finally, this study identifies traits found to be common among the participants that have helped them to find their balance and describe what balance looks like for women superintendents.</p>

<p> The purpose of this research study was to determine K-12 school leaders&rsquo; concepts of ability and technology readiness. The Theories of Intelligence Scale (TIS) was used to analyze concepts of ability and the Technology Readiness Index (TRI) 2.0 was used to analyze the technology readiness of K-12 school leaders. Data from the two instruments were used to determine if there was any relationship between K-12 school leaders&rsquo; concept of ability and technology readiness. This analysis filled a blank spot in the research contributing to the literature on leadership, Mindset Theory (Dweck, 2006; Dweck, Chiu, &amp; Hong, 1995), and Technology Readiness (Lin &amp; Hsieh, 2012; Parasuraman, 2000). Furthermore it helped to determine the state of K-12 school leaders&rsquo; status as 21st century leaders. </p><p> The sample consisted of the school leaders of School District of Palm Beach County (SDPBC). This included 158 principals from 104 elementary, 31 middle, and 23 high schools. The researcher was a school district employee and therefore had access to the participants. </p><p> Each of the four null hypotheses were rejected as SDPBC school leaders scored significantly higher on the TIS (p&lt;.05) and TRI 2.0 (p&lt;.01), there was a significant (p&lt;.0125) positive relationship between TIS and the TRI 2.0, and that relationship was affected (p&lt;.05) by gender, race, and experience.</p>

<p> The Common Core Math Standards are more rigorous than previous state standards and represent a large shift in both content and pedagogy across the grade levels. With the pressure on principals to implement the more rigorous Common Core Math Standards and to ultimately raise student achievement, it is important to look at the role of the principal as instructional leader in facilitating standards implementation. This quantitative study explored the leadership actions of middle level principals in implementing the Common Core Math Standards and how those actions related to improvement in math instruction and student achievement as measured by the change in the percentage of students scoring at or above proficiency for the building on the New York State Common Core Mathematics Tests from 2013 to 2015. The researcher used an electronic survey to ask middle level principals across New York State, with the exclusion of non-public schools and schools in the five large city districts, about their actions to support the implementation of the Common Core Math Standards, to assess and respond to their teachers&rsquo; implementation of the Common Core Math Standards, and to support the ongoing growth of their math teachers in general. From the responses, middle level principals demonstrated a trend for a deeper level of involvement with actions that required a more organizational or managerial leadership role than with actions that required the principal to act in more of an instructional leadership capacity. This study also found a statistically significant positive correlation between the actions middle level principals utilized to support their staff in the implementation of the Common Core Math Standards and student achievement. From the results of this study, the researcher recommends more comprehensive structures and supports to help increase the capacity of principals and districts to be able to navigate this significant shift in instruction required by the Common Core Math Standards. Skilled leadership is an important part of guiding staff learning and improving instruction and as Cotton (2003) found, &ldquo;studies have shown that principals who are knowledgeable about and actively involved with their school&rsquo;s instructional program have higher-achieving students than principals who manage only the non-instructional aspects of their schools&rdquo; (p. 25).</p>

<p> In the field of education, effective transformational leadership traits apply more to non-military educational institutions (Kindergarten through 12th Grade schools, colleges, and universities) than to military settings. Within military academic environments, the topic of the implementation of exemplary leadership practices by civilian educators and its potential influence on school change has been understudied. The military and civilian perspectives on what constitutes effective leadership have often been at odds and civilian academic leaders and their followers (faculty) tend to differ in their perceptions of effective leadership. In this particular study, the researcher investigated and explained the perceptual impact of five leadership practices, established by James Kouzes and Barry Posner (1995, 2007), at the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC) on the Central Coast of California in the United States. The participants were a sample of civilian educators (leaders and constituents) representing six distinctive foreign language basic course schools within DLIFLC. The mixed methods design used in the study included a survey instrument, the Leadership Practices Inventory, or LPI, and a one-on-one interview or a written questionnaire containing the same interview questions. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were run on the quantitative survey data and they yielded particular statistically significant results (where p &lt;.05). Likewise, several distinctive themes emerged from the subsequent qualitative and mixed methods analyses. Findings suggest that civilian educators should be able to implement organizational changes within a strict military educational setting if they openly collaborated with one another and with their military counterparts to promote desired leadership practices that generate and sustain effective educational change.</p>

<p>Abstract A Study of School Board & Superintendent Relations: Strategies for Building Trust in the Mistrustful Context of K-12 Public Education By Kelly Dawn Bowers Doctor of Education University of California, Berkeley Professor Heinrich Mintrop, Chair As illuminated in my study, which is only a small subset of the larger public education governance system, the mounting political pressure that school boards and superintendents face does not seem to be diminishing. It is well documented that boards under fire from constituents often make the superintendent the scapegoat, which undermines trust and threatens their strength of relationship with an uneven power dynamic. Whether attributed to general dissatisfaction with American governance which leaves superintendents subject to the political whims and winds of school boards (Lutz & Iannaccone, 1978); their increasingly limited sphere of influence in an era of high stakes external accountability (Howell, 2005), or the acute pressures of the politics of personalism (Feuerstein & Opfer, 1998), the odds of forming solid, trusting relational bonds are stacked against them. Over the past few decades, there has been a growing movement in many fields and industries, including public education, to develop new, collaborative models and approaches to managing and governing, as an alternative to more adversarial, bureaucratic and top-down methods (Ansell & Gash, 2008). With this move away from competitive toward collaborative governance, relationship building at all levels has taken on new importance. In this case study, I examined the conflict-ridden relationship dynamic and tense micropolitical climate inherited by two superintendents and boards, within a general context of distrust directed toward public education and elected officials, which is further exacerbated by negative interactions with their immediate predecessors. Using Bryk and Schneider?s (2002) concept of relational trust which was developed in other public school system settings, as an ideal measure, I was able to gather evidence of substantive change in the tenor and positive quality of the board/superintendent relationship over time. My findings highlighted two newly hired superintendents who took stock of their somewhat damaged and mistrustful board/ superintendent relationship status upon entry and strategically cultivated relational trust with their respective school boards, as substantiated by increased and genuine displays of mutual respect, personal regard, integrity and competence in their public and private interactions. My findings indicated that a board/superintendent relationship is not static but malleable, and with concentrated focus and customized strategic intervention by a new superintendent, a previously damaged governance team relationship can be repaired and trust restored. Even in a high-trust situation, however, my conclusions divulged cautionary implications, as a board and superintendent that become too close, too trusting in the public?s perception or reality, risk becoming insular or out of touch with the larger constituency they represent and serve.