A growing body of research supports the idea that large-scale school reform efforts often fail to create sustained change within the public school sector. When implementing deep organizational change, both novice and veteran educators are challenged to learn new skills, reexamine their instructional practice and content knowledge, and re-shape their underlying beliefs and values about schools. This qualitative study explored principals’ perceptions of their leadership roles in the school system. Data collection was done through a series of three interviews with three elementary school principals in Central Florida. In addition to their perceptions, it also studied factors that may influence their perceptions, including revised curriculum standards, new teacher evaluation models, and state assessments mandates. The findings of this research considered the demographic, educational, and professional background of each participant as well as the school to which they are assigned. It also examined the principals’ self-reported responsiveness to current educational reform mandates and their perceptions of areas of leadership strength and weakness with their teachers and staff at their school.

The Florida Department of Education revised the Common Core State Standards into what are now known as the Florida Standards in February 2014, approving 99 revisions to the original standards that were accepted in 2010 (Dunkelberger, 2014). The purpose of this research was to identify current teachers# attitudes towards the new Language Arts Florida Standards (LAFS), specifically regarding teachers# perceptions of text complexity and close reading as enacted in the reading curriculum. Additionally, this study will attempt to identify how teachers# attitudes impact their implementation of the new standards. This research used a self-administered survey to collect the teacher perceptions of the LAFS in six different categories. The sample entailed the participation of 21 practicing teachers from the Central Florida area. The survey revealed that, although teachers don't necessarily dislike the construction of the standards, they feel that they are not knowledgeable in some integral areas of the LAFS, such as text complexity and close reading. The implications of the results are discussed, and some improvements for the future of the LAFS are given.

Educators are challenged with meeting the academic needs of students, particularly in the subject area of reading. School districts purchase tools such as Achieve3000 to help students improve their proficiency in reading; however, implementation of such interventions has not been explored from the educators' perspective. This study explored 3rd grade reading teachers' views on Achieve3000 as a tool for improving reading proficiency and preparedness for the Florida State Standards English Language Arts assessment. The conceptual framework included the theory of social validity and current research as it related to differentiated instruction. This study utilized a basic qualitative approach to answer these key research questions. The participants included 6 3rd grade reading teachers from 3 Florida schools. Individual face-to-face interviews and a focus group interview session were conducted to answer the research questions. Data were analyzed via open, axial, and selective coding to generate the themes. The findings revealed the 3rd grade reading teachers believed that Achieve3000 can be considered a reliable method for improving reading and preparing students for the reading portion of the Florida Standards Assessment. The findings of this study can positively affect social change by providing educators with an increased repertoire of instructional tools to assist them in meeting the needs of all learners, as well as to prepare students for a technology driven world.