Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / Thesis advisor: Diana C. Pullin / This study explored the role of professional learning communities for district leadership implementing large-scale technology initiatives such as 1:1 implementations (one computing device for every student). The existing literature regarding technology leadership is limited, as is literature on how districts use existing collaborative structures such as professional learning communities (PLCs) to implement technology initiatives. This study examined how superintendents and their leadership teams expect educator collaboration and whether and how they connect these expectations to large-scale technology implementation. Specifically, the concept of professional learning communities (PLCs) and their constructs were studied as collaborative mechanisms designed to support educators implementing large-scale technology initiatives. This qualitative study employs a multiple case study method to explore how the use of collaborative structures supported large-scale technology implementation in five school districts. These respondents and their stories detail a unique moment in educational leadership as increasing numbers of districts seek to implement such large-scale initiatives in school systems. Study results highlight how superintendents use leadership planning and implementation teams to serve as PLCs at the district level. This study confirms that the collaborative constructs of the PLC do serve to assist in the implementation of large-scale technology implementations in school systems, but largely at the central office strategic planning level. Superintendents utilize these collaborative structures for personal learning as they design implementation but do not scale up such structures for use by all educators across the implementation or system. Recommendations are made for use of collaborative structures to create technology educator learning ecologies across school systems. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Twomey / Thesis advisor: James Marini / This qualitative case study focused on a Response to Intervention (RTI) literacy initiative in a suburban elementary school near an urban area in New England. The initiative incorporated professional development about RTI and implementation of components of an RTI model. The participant-researcher analyzed teachers' feedback regarding the professional development and the RTI model, as the initiative developed, with a specific focus on the teachers' perceptions about the impact of the initiative on the school's capacity to effectively instruct urban students of color who are participants in a voluntary desegregation program. The professional development about RTI incorporated three features which are recommended for professional learning communities: content which is research-based, process which includes reflection and dialogue, and context which is job-embedded. The RTI model utilized the "problem-solving" approach, and incorporated progress-monitoring and interventions. The findings from the study indicated that the combination of three elements (sustained professional development about RTI, implementation of RTI in the school setting, and conversations and questions about addressing the needs of urban students of color) resulted in increased teacher confidence in their ability to provide effective instruction to this population of students. Further, the interaction of these three elements resulted in identification of next steps which the teachers believe will specifically address these students' needs. However, several teachers questioned whether RTI was adequate to address the complex issues of students of color in a voluntary desegregation program. They recognized that they needed more information about effective instructional strategies to match the learning profiles of this population of students. Combining the results of this case study with the recommendations of the professional literature about culturally responsive teaching, it appears that Response to Intervention has the potential to address the learning needs of urban students of color, but only if practitioners incorporate some basic principles of culturally responsive teaching. Integrating the results of this study with the professional literature about Response to Intervention, culturally responsive teaching, and effective professional development, the participant-researcher recommends that policymakers and educators should consider incorporating culturally responsive teaching into their RTI models in order to truly make RTI effective for addressing the achievement gap. Further, the researcher recommends that schools should provide sustained professional development (with content based upon research, process which includes reflection and dialogue, and context which is job-embedded) to increase teachers' understanding about Response to Intervention and about culturally responsive teaching. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2009. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Administration.

Thesis advisor: Lauri Johnson / District leadership has been found to have a measurable effect on student achievement by creating conditions within which teachers and administrators frame their daily work with children. The superintendent is uniquely poised to build the needed infrastructure of support and assure its alignment with the philosophy and mission of the district and, in turn, with the work of the school. By attending to the habits and conditions that allow a staff to work as a unit, superintendents are able to contribute to the development of a community of professional learners within and among district schools. This qualitative case study analyzed district leadership practices that support ongoing teacher growth in a Massachusetts school district by examining the work of the superintendent and the impact of his leadership on the ongoing development of a community of professional learners at the district and school level. Data included interviews with teachers and administrators, artifact analyses, and observations of district meetings. Findings reveal the superintendent's use of a PLC process to model and provide support to school-level leaders by encouraging broad-based participation in the skillful work of leadership; establishing a clear vision which resulted in program coherence; fostering a system of inquiry-based accountability that informed decision making and practice; and nurturing organizational relationships that involved high district engagement and low bureaucratization which supported school-based collaborative teacher growth. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Collaborative action was undertaken in response to the continued criticisms of formal coach education. It is strongly felt that we can no longer merely criticise what is not happening in terms of coach learning, but a key requirement now is to demonstrate other options. In the UK up to 80% of coaches are volunteers who reach out to around eight million people involved in sport. This valuable workforce is largely forgotten and the bureaucratic structures which oversee formal coach education are merely concerned with quotas and income generation. A fundamental problem with formal coach education is the way in which learning is decontextualized and a knowledge deficit remains. Coaching is multifarious and complex and we need to consider better ways in terms of how we prepare people for this. The Coach Learning and Development (CLAD) programme was devised and implemented in October 2013 to May 2014 at a community rugby club in Wiltshire. Over this 8 month period a range of strategies for coach learning were integrated into CLAD to evidence methods which benefitted the transition of knowledge(s). The theoretical endeavours of Basil Bernstein are introduced to SCR for the first time, particularly the ‘pedagogical device’ to understand, theorise and develop insight into the type of educational contexts that can better support the learning of volunteer coaches. Findings suggest that CLAD as collaborative action learning was successful in transforming coaches to engage with more positive and contemporary forms of coaching pedagogy. Namely ‘game based pedagogies’ argued to be theoretically underpinned by the ‘constraints based approach’. Empirical insights are given in the hope that this can spur further methodological enquiries that move beyond the mere criticism of coach education. SCR needs research endeavours that shift beyond the ‘bricolage’ where knowledge is transferred into the real world to influence real change. Therefore, the findings also draw on the pivotal features of CLAD to not only support more value laden research commitments, but to inform policy developments and practice that can re-configure more successful outcomes for coach education and coaches.

This study analyzed all published research articles examining the relationship between professional community efforts (plc) (used here as a broader category than, but inclusive of, Professional Learning Communities or PLCs) and student academic achievement (SAA) that reported primary research findings published before January 1, 2015. This study specifically identified primary, quantitative studies of SAA that in context are plc, but which may or may not be labeled as such, that were published before January 1, 2015. Analyses examined how many studies of plc and SAA were of a descriptive, correlational, causal comparative, quasi-experimental,or experimental design type, evaluated the internal validity of their findings, and assessed the generalizability of each study based on normative expectations of implementation and study design type. Each of the 57 studies meeting the inclusion criteria were evaluated using a Design and Quality of Implementation Matrix. Findings indicated that none of 57 primary research efforts examining plc and SAA exhibited acceptable levels of generalizability. For articles demonstrating high design and implementation scores, threats to external validity are presented and discussed. Recommendations are provided for improving the generalizability of research in plc.

The purpose of this case study was to examine teachers’ perceptions of what factors are most influential to the successful integration of technology. In the Junior High with the highest technology usage in a preexisting statewide technology initiative, data were collected from six teachers and one administrator through interviews and observations. Teachers primarily highlighted factors related to support and product functionality as influential. This study also examines factors such as change management, learning environment, and student motivation to understand the relationship of these factors to teacher perceptions of factors that influence technology integration. Though many influential factors emerged that all seemed highly interrelated, the most common theme that emerged across all factors was that letting teachers show each other how to use the technology to make life easier and improve learning for students may result in higher levels of technology integration.

This thesis recounts the history of the Portland Learning Community, an experimental institution of higher education founded in 1970 by a group consisting mostly of former faculty and students at Reed College. The Learning Community was funded by the Carnegie Corporation and affiliated with Antioch College.

The Advanced Placement program allows high school students who pass an end of course Advanced Placement exam to receive college credit for college level courses completed during high school. The problem addressed by this project study is that, in the school under study, there is low enrollment in Advanced Placement classes even though many students qualify for these courses. Using a case study research design and collecting qualitative data, this study examined the influence parents have on student course selection. This study followed the theories of Epstein which indicate that involved parents positively influence their children's academic achievement. The research questions centered on the level of parental involvement in their child's course selections and their knowledge of Advanced Placement courses. Parents identified ways the school could help them be more aware of student academic choices available to their children. Data for these questions was gathered from 9 face-to-face interviews and 1telephone interview. An analysis schema, including theme coding and trend analyzing of the data, answered the questions and revealed the parents had no knowledge of the Advanced Placement courses, and they need direct communication from the school. The research led to the development of a Parental Learning Community. The project emanating from this study is a 3-part workshop. In part 1, parents learn how important their involvement is in their child's academic success. Part 2 informs parents about Advanced Placement classes. Part 3 obtains parent commitment to join the Parental Learning Community and keep it active. Positive social change may include increasing graduation rates, identifying ways schools can better support parental involvement, and preparing graduates for successful post-secondary education.

U.S. educational leaders struggle with declining mathematics achievement among students as compared to other countries. The problem for this study was low standardized mathematics scores in one district in a major city in the Southwestern United States. The purpose of this sequential explanatory mixed method project study was to analyze the effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLCs) on the mathematics critical thinking pedagogy among teachers in 2 elementary schools. The conceptual framework focused on work by Olivier, Hipp, Huffman, and Hord on the efficacy of PLCs for improving teacher pedagogy. Research questions addressed in this study were designed to explore teachers' perceptions of PLCs according to Olivier, Hipp, and Huffman's 6 professional learning characteristics for improving math critical thinking pedagogy, as well as the efficacy of the structure of the PLCs. Data were obtained via open-ended interviews and focus groups, and employed descriptive analysis using grounded theory where conceptual categories emerged from the survey data. Likert scale data were also gathered via a survey, which was triangulated to form conclusions regarding the research questions. Key findings indicate that teachers perceive PLCs positively; however, they indicated the need for more time and administrative support for mathematics PLCs. The project that resulted from this research is a PLC professional development session that guides schools' mathematics PLCs and addresses critical thinking pedagogy and the need for school and district support for mathematics PLCs. Social change may result by improving teachers' mathematics critical thinking pedagogy and giving students mathematics instruction needed to compete in a global economy.

This study addressed a prevalence of low achievement in science courses in an urban school district in Georgia. National leaders and educators have identified the improvement of science proficiency as critical to the future of American industry. The purpose of this study was to examine parent involvement in this school district and its contribution to the academic achievement of successful science students. Social capital theory guided this study by suggesting that students achieve best when investments are made into their academic and social development. A collective case study qualitative research design was used to interview 9 parent participants at 2 elementary schools whose children scored in the exceeds category on the Science CRCT. The research questions focused on what these parents did at home to support their children's academic achievement. Data were collected using a semi-structured interview protocol and analyzed through the categorical aggregation of transcribed interviews. Key findings revealed that the parents invested time and resources in 3 practices: communicating high expectations, supporting and developing key skills, and communicating with teachers. These findings contribute to social change at both the local and community level by creating a starting point for teachers, principals, and district leaders to reexamine the value of parent input in the educational process, and by providing data to support the revision of current parent involvement policies. Possibilities for further study building upon the findings of this study may focus on student perceptions of their parents' parenting as it relates to their science achievement.