D.Ed. / Die doel met die navorsing was om te bepaal wat konstitueer produktiwiteit in Suid -Afrikaanse skole en in watter mate distriks - amptenare produktiwiteit in skole kan verbeter. Die historiese agtergrond en veranderinge in Suid-Afrika gekoppel aan die tekort van resente navorsing in die veld, het verdere navorsing genoodsaak, ten einde huidige tendense gekoppel aan produktiwiteit binne die Suid-Afrikaanse skool konteks sowel as die distrik te kon identifiseer. `n Literatuurstudie was onderneem ten einde agtergrond te verkry rakende produktiwiteit in skole en distrik se rol daarin. Die ontrafeling van verskeie aspekte rakende produktiwiteit in skoolverband en hoe distriksamptenare produktiwiteitsvlakke in skole kan verhoog was ook nagevors. Die literatuurstudie het die belangrikheid van die skoolbestuurder in sy/haar rol beklemtoon asook die rol van opvoeders in die verbetering van produktiwiteits vlakke in skole. Die literatuurstudie het ook verder die belangrikheid van distriks amptenare en hul ondersteunning in skole beklemtoon, wat aanleiding kan gee tot produktiwiteits verbetering in skole.

The Texas Education Agency (TEA) annually rates campuses and districts on how well they meet standards of student performance. Since the high standard is so difficult for campuses and districts to reach, educators continually seek ways to improve student performance. The effective schools process is research-based and has stood the test of time. Descriptive statistics were used in this study to identify practices within the effective schools correlates that exemplary campuses implement. Campuses with long-term exemplary ratings were identified using the TEA data base. Campus site-based teams were surveyed using the More Effective Schools Staff Survey. Data was collected on elementary and secondary campuses with homogenous, diverse, economically advantaged, and economically disadvantaged student populations. District instructional leaders for those campuses completed a District Instructional Leader Survey to determine what practices districts implement to support their exemplary campuses. Findings from this quantitative study revealed what effective schools practices were highly evident on these exemplary campuses, regardless of diversity, economic status, district size, community type, property wealth, or location within the state. Findings also revealed that district leaders provide direction and support in the areas of (a) professional development; (b) beliefs, mission, and goals; (c) curriculum; (d) instruction; (e) assessment; and (f) site-based decision making. The research data imply that campus or district administrators can improve the performance of their students if the identified practices are implemented.

The purpose of this 4-case study was to determine the significance of the effects of the recapture legislation in Texas upon the quality of schools as perceived by administrators in participating school districts, including those surrendering funds (Chapter 41) and those receiving funds (Chapter 42). The recapture provision requires districts above a designated level of property wealth to surrender excess funds to be appropriated to districts with property wealth below a designated level. The study solicited administrators’ perceptions in both district types as to whether the changes in funding have significantly affected the quality of their schools. Using University Scholastic League classifications as a guideline for size, 2 Chapter 41 districts, and 2 Chapter 42 districts, 1 small and 1 large of each type, were selected to participate. Variables included 5 indicators of schools quality that are repeatedly mentioned in literature concerning effective schools: curriculum, climate, leadership, facilities, and safety and security. A review of literature included the historical development of public school finance systems as well as studies of the effects of efforts to equalize funding upon both the financial health and academic performance of schools. A weak link or no link between funding systems and student performance or financial health was indicated. This study supported these conclusions with both Chapter 42 districts; however, there was a discrepancy between the perceptions of administrators in the two Chapter 41 districts, indicating a need for further study. The unique aspects of this study are that it solicited directly the perceptions of acting administrators and that it included administrators in districts receiving funds to determine how those funds are being used and whether they have a significant effect upon school quality.

The significance of this project was to incorporate specific tasks into a classroom setting that would be used to enhance retained student's self-regulatory efficacy. The interns hypothesized that group interventions could help children who were retained to increase their belief in themselves and their abilities.

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This study investigated the rationale behind a district superintendent's decision to hire a facilities manager to perform the facilities management function. Two main research questions guided this study: (a) If hiring a facilities manager is not an option, how can smaller school district superintendents maximize utilization of resources in facilities management? (b) What is the rationale behind a school district superintendent's decision to hire a facilities manager? In order to achieve this purpose, a qualitative approach was utilized to collect opinions and data from smaller school district superintendents. A group of school administrators, ten school district superintendents and one director of facilities planning participated in the interviews. The interviews conducted were a combination of one-on-one and a focus group interview. Triangulation, both data and methodological, was employed to validate raw interview data. All interviews were video and audio taped to record both spoken and non-verbal responses. The findings of the study indicate that the facilities management function or the n----- facilities manager position was viable and was growing into an even more important 0-------~ ' ~ function. The need for educating the school board of trustees, the final decision maker in a school district, was clearly expressed by the majority of the superintendents interviewed. The need for more awareness of the facilities management function on the part of the superintendents was also clearly stated. The superintendents recognize the need and the importance of the facilities management function. They also understand the benefits associated with the establishment of a fully integrated facilities management department in the school district. The interview results revealed that for smaller school districts, the school superintendents always think of the facilities manager function to be directly connected only to construction activities, thus, a cyclical need rather than an integral part of a centralized school district operation performing the nine major functional areas of facilities management as outlined by the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA).

In 2003, California's Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) program had 145 programs throughout the state, organized into five clusters. The purpose of this study was to investigate how selected BTSA programs addressed BTSA Standard #3 (collaboration) for teacher induction. Five research questions were addressed. Twenty-six representative programs comprised the study sample. A questionnaire was developed by the researcher based on review of prior research in collaboration. Nineteen factors related to successful collaboration were identified. They were sorted in to six components of similar factors. A minimum of three questions were designed and field-tested for each component for a questionnaire. The questionnaire was returned by thirty respondents: twenty-one district-based BTSA directors and fifteen representatives of higher education institutions. Findings were conclusive. All programs were described by both sub-samples as successful. All six components and nineteen factors identified through the research literature were present in all programs. No additional components were identified in any program. While a prior successful working history with the collaborating partners and ongoing regular communication emerged as the most frequently named reason for success, all six components were identified as important for success. The most frequently identified problem was with the turnover of representatives of the higher education institutions and with the related difficulty of maintaining effective communications through the life of the program. Reward structures within higher education that do not support collaborative work with schools was named as the primary perceived reason for the pervasive pattern. The inability of higher education institutions to respond quickly to conditions of rapid change was also named as a related issue. Federal and state programs that fund targeted projects but allow flexibility in implementation were found to be successful. Future research should be done on the interrelationships of the components of collaboration, on modification of the reward systems of institutions of higher education; and on the development of federal and state policies that continue to support funding of local, flexible solutions to issues of school change.

Although many school districts provide inservice professional development to build the capacities of novice principals, some of these supports are proving inadequate in recruiting or retaining qualified leaders. Research on capacity development for novice principals is scarce, yields mixed results, and employs methodology which has invited participant response bias. Reflecting the school level, gender, and Title I experience of novice principals within a large school district in the mid-Western United States, a sample of 24 novice principals respond to semi-structured interview questions. Iterations of transcription coding, member-checking, and analysis yield findings that help school districts better understand the capacity development process of novice principals studied. Novice principals in this study identify facing managerial problems more than instructional or student-related demands. While addressing various demands they face, novice principals draw less on their knowledge or skillsets, but rely much more on their dispositional capacities. In citing sources that developed their capacities to meet these various professional demands, principals ascribe professional sources only slightly more than personal sources in having built their capacities. Further inspection reveals that the sources of capacity development are not as influential as the types of capacity-building through which administrators learn: regardless if the capacity source came from their personal lives or professional careers, principals ascribe their capacities being built primarily from experiential learning, and the constructed learning from passively observing competent models. This preference of certain types of capacity development greatly influence how new principals learn, and has greater effect over capacity development than the source of that capacity, or where the capacity gained that capacity. This held true even when considering all types of demands to which administrators apply these capacities. A principals job requires skillsets beyond instructional leadership alone. This is especially true as districts embrace an emerging conceptualization of school leadership that posits a principals influence on student learning is greatest when applied through intentional, learning-driven organizational management. In focusing solely on principal skillset and knowledge development during trainings, districts neglect the capacity domain that principals utilize most often in addressing demands, which is also the capacity domain through which their knowledge and skills are operationalized: their dispositions. Knowing that principals ascribe certain types of capacity building as the key factor in their development rather than the sources of their capacities, school districts can better embrace, systematize, and leverage these types of capacity development. Such adjustments will more directly and effectively target the capacity development of novice principals, enabling them to address the professional demands they face.

Teacher retention rates are staggeringly low across the United States. Nearly 20% of public school teachers leave their position from one year to the next, a majority of schools have a turnover rate of 50% every three years, and over 50% of teachers leave the education field within the first five years of employment. This retention problem impacts all type of public school systems—urban, suburban, and rural school districts. This study examined teacher retention in elementary and secondary schools in three rural school districts in eastern Kentucky. Review of district and school documents about teacher retention informed the selection of participants. School districts and specific schools in rural eastern Kentucky with higher retention rates than the average teacher retention of public schools in Kentucky were study sites. Data were collected through individual interviews with superintendents and principals and through focus-group interviews with teachers to gain their perspectives about what influenced the higher teacher retention. Analysis of data identified themes for high teacher retention. The findings suggest that a strong familial school culture among teachers and with school administrators positively impacts teacher retention. High teacher retention is also influenced by Appalachian culture and teachers' desires to contribute to the local community beyond the school building and have a positive impact on the future of the local community’s youth.

The job of the local school superintendent is one of the most difficult chief executive undertakings in America today. Of the nation’s roughly 14,000 traditional public school superintendents, a mere 1,984 are women, according to the U. S. Department of Education. Yet, nationally over 75% of all K-12 educators are women. The purpose of this explorative quantitative study is to analyze the demographic profiles of public school districts in four of the nation’s largest states – California, Michigan, New York, and Texas - to see if there is a pattern of district types and sizes that women lead. Then the study will compare those districts that women lead to those that men lead. The districts were identified using the following variables: locale of districts, the size of the districts, diversity of student population, and poverty level. Looking through the lens of Bourdieu’s social reproduction theory, this study sought to show that resources and institutions are reproduced, or passed on, to those sharing similar social capital. Chi-square with cross-tabulations was conducted to determine if certain district characteristics would allow one to infer the gender of the superintendent leading that district. Additionally, a binominal logistic regression was used to see if there was a relationship between the district types and the gender of the superintendent. The results of the study identified that there was no relationship between the locales of the districts and the gender of the superintendents, but female superintendents were more prevalent in smaller districts with high diversity and high poverty.