Educational leaders today are well versed in the complex and often overwhelming nature of their respective roles. The difficulty of educational leadership increases exponentially when implementing innovative practices like competency-based learning that challenge every aspect of the traditional structure and function of schools, thereby requiring a strategic change framework to ensure fidelity and sustainability of the implementation. The transformative autoethnography research design guided this study, for the purpose of uniquely highlighting one administrator's reflections and perspective when creating an innovation configuration map draft that could be used to support implementation of competency-based learning. The map draft was shared with current and former educators who provided feedback on their perspectives of the elements within the map and the usability of the map. The data reveal the importance of educational leaders using a reflexive process and aligning experience and expertise with the change leadership process. Findings also demonstrate how important it is for educational leaders, particularly campus administrators, to access, understand, and use research-based tools to support strategic change implementation. Themes that emerged were (1) the importance of clarity of purpose and audience in the creation of the map, and (2) the importance of honoring a collaborative process when creating a map. Future researchers could use this transformative autoethnographic research design and additional components of the concerns-based adoption model to study or implement a similar and a different innovation, as well as benefit from the personal and professional growth this method offers.

The literature related to the development of education in the middle grades and to the features associated with the implementation of the middle school concept provides a theoretical grounding for the development and testing of an Innovation Configuration map for the middle school concept. The description provided of the historical development of middle-grades education presents the context for recent research studies and ongoing policy debate. In addition, features of the middle school concept as described within the literature are identified and an overview of salient research findings related to these features is given. A synthesis and critical review of previous research methodologies and findings reveal the need for further research. The purpose of the instrument development and testing process was to identify critical features of the middle school concept implemented in the context of standards and accountability. The instrument development and testing process investigated the nature of the implementation of middle school concept features, recognizing that actual practices in schools may vary somewhat without the schools losing their identity as middle level schools. The principle product of the process was the development of a diagnostic tool that may be used in future research to identify acceptable forms of implementation of the middle level philosophy of education. The instrument development and testing process employed research methodology based on the Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) of Hall and Hord (2006). Specifically, an Innovation Configuration map was developed identifying components of the middle level philosophy of education and describing variations in implementation of the components. / Ed. D.