The face of America's schools is changing. An increasingly diverse and challenging population of students blends assorted ethnic backgrounds, varied approaches to learning, and different socio-economic backgrounds into one student body. Faced with the realities of environmental and educational stressors, some students may find the educational milieu difficult. One particular group of students who may fit this category are those placed at-risk of school failure. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, the latest government reform in education to affect our nation's schools, created additional pressures on educators and students alike. In this climate of increased testing and accountability, educators must be trained to work with today's students. Staff development is one method of assisting educators to become knowledgeable about the needs of students placed at-risk of school failure in the current reform era. Guiding issues for this study were the nature of staff development with regard to students placed at-risk of school failure in an era of educational reform as viewed through staff development. Guiding questions were how many staff development courses were aimed at meeting the needs of students placed at-risk of school failure and how much of this training was done relative to content-based staff development. Staff development offices were chosen because they are the conduits through which school district employees often gain substantial knowledge and training, and because of their importance in the field of training and professional development. The method used in this study was a content analysis of staff development course documents from the 100 largest school districts in the United States. The intent of this quantitative content analysis was to explore how school district staff development offices approach the task of educating their employees to work with a complex, diverse school population, often seen as at-risk of school failure. This study was important to the field of educational leadership because it provided essential and useful information, both for educators working with an increasingly diverse student population, especially students at-risk of school failure, and for district leaders whose task it is to provide staff development for those who teach our children. Quantitative analyses of the staff development course documents showed no relationship between school district size and number of courses with coded words; the total number of courses a school district offered was, however, a predictor for the total number of targeted courses. All but one of the school districts sampled had at least one course with a coded word. A qualitative analysis of the coding of the categories and indicators revealed that the coded words were applied broadly to the themes and patterns that emerged. School district staff development offices continue to play a positive role in the training of educators striving to meet the needs of a diverse student body in the 21st century. / Ed. D.

This dissertation study focused on three aspects of staff development in North Texas: 1) funding sources, 2) types of professional learning programs, and 3) teachers' views of the effectiveness of the funded programs. Qualitative data came from interviews with nine district administrators concerning funding sources and how those resources enhanced teacher skills. Quantitative data came from 1,277 responses from teachers regarding their background and perceptions about staff development. Data from interviews with district administrators were diagrammed to depict elements of funding staff development and to reveal how resources were used to plan, implement, and evaluate staff learning. An analysis of interview data revealed that availability of grants, property tax rates, and student enrollment affected how districts funded staff development. Administrators reported that districts funded professional learning that was planned according to academic initiatives, met the needs of adult learners, and adapted to the changing needs of school communities. Both administrators and practitioners reported that time was a lacking resource critical to developing staff knowledge. Practitioners reported that sufficient opportunity to collaborate with colleagues about learning initiatives was more valuable than teaching materials. Teacher questionnaires were analyzed for possible relationships between participant variables and responses concerning knowledge about funding constraints and professional development experiences. Data revealed that practitioner experience and graduate degrees were not related to teachers' use of knowledge about financial constraints to more efficiently implement learning from staff development. Participants did not perceive professional learning differently than peers. Most teachers connected professional learning with improved teaching practices but a small percent attributed student achievement to their professional learning. The majority of teachers considered collaborative learning settings to elicit more personal professional growth than other formats. The findings of the teacher questionnaire suggest that teaching practices could be impacted if participants gained more knowledge about district financial constraints when developing staff professionally. Therefore, future research about how districts share information concerning funding for professional learning is warranted.

The problem of this study was the identification of effective and efficient means of providing quality staff development for reading instruction within a school-district setting. The study investigated the comparative effectiveness of two staff development delivery systems measured by 1) a cognitive test of a school district's reading program and 2) an affective measure of teacher attitudes toward staff development. The sample was drawn from the teacher population of a large urban school district. The 46 subjects were elementary school teachers in grades K-5 randomly divided into two groups: Group A (videotape with a trained on-site facilitator) and Group B (face-to-face live presenter). Participants in the study received training using "The Fort Worth Reading Program," a staff development program designed by the researcher. In addition to the presentation of content information, which is the central component, the program features small group discussions, off-line activities, and question and answer periods. Both groups received the same treatment with the following exception. A central component to the Group A training was the presentation of content information in a videotape format. Group B did not view the videotape, but received the same information via live presenter. Two instruments developed by the researcher were used in the study: 1) The Teacher Staff Development Questionnaire, a Likert-type survey to obtain teacher attitudes toward staff development, and 2) The Cognitive Test of Reading Knowledge, an instrument designed to measure cognitive objectives of the district's reading program. A multivariate analysis of covariance revealed no statistically significant differences between the groups. It was concluded that elementary classroom teachers, regardless of their attitudes toward staff development, learn content material equally well with either of the two delivery systems explored in this study. Specific suggestions and recommendations for further studies are addressed and discussed. Examples of the measurement instruments are included.

Professional development in education is often a process focused on teachers' limitations. Teachers are rarely offered choices in professional development, nor are they asked to qualify the attributes of their professional development experiences they find most meaningful. This study situates the National Writing Project as a specific professional development program from which to consider teachers' beliefs and perceptions regarding their professional development experiences. The study begins with a broad view of professional development, then directs attention to the Writing Project as a professional development model. Ten teachers participated in individual and focus group interviews for the study. Interview data were collected and analyzed using a qualitative phenomenological approach to discern the features of the Writing Project that teachers value as a professional development experience. Results from this study include five essential elements of the Writing Project experience as reported by participants. Results show that the Writing Project builds teachers' instructional and pedagogical capacity, sponsors teachers' professional voice, breaks down isolationism, connects teachers to the writer within themselves, and attracts leaders while facilitating leadership in its members. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications researchers and educators may draw from the results.

This study focused on a middle school that, according to the website of its district, should be classified as Target Tech, which is the highest level of technology integration on the Texas School Technology and Readiness (STaR) chart. The middle school has failed to meet this goal in 3 out of 4 focus areas. This mixed method project study investigated how teachers at the school currently use technology to support their teaching and student learning, situations under which teachers would use more technology, and specific technology trainings teachers have taken. The theoretical framework for this project study, diffusion of innovation, was applied to the adoption of technology at the local campus. The research questions concerned teachers' beliefs in their competence in the technology standards, their self-reported technology integration, technology training needs, and the relationship between technology usage and hours of professional development received. Data for 48 participants were retrieved from the STaR results as well as the International Society for Technology in Education's National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) survey. Descriptive analysis of NETS-T data indicated an overall need for additional technology-based professional development. Pearson correlation results indicated a statistically significant relationship between teachers' self-reported technology usage and the amount of professional development taken. Results indicated a need for additional technology-based professional development for campus teachers to increase technology integration. This project study may yield positive social change by providing research data to the local district on teachers' technology competence and needed professional development to ultimately increase the level of technology integration and meet the STaR rating of the district.

This thesis is an account of praxis: it examines Playback conceptually, and portrays a programme of practical work exploring the experience of workplace audiences of five Playback Theatre performances, delivered from 2002-2005. The aim of the performances was to assist multi-disciplinary teams of staff in community health centres in Auckland New Zealand to communicate and work together with more understanding of each other. The thesis describes Playback as a way not only to elicit complex narratives which allow for diverse points of view to be expressed, but also as an aesthetic reworking of these narratives using action, music, dance, gesture and speech, in ways which have been influenced by 20th century avant-garde forms such as surrealism, dada, collage, jazz and poetry. Unlike some forms of theatre, Playback calls on elements of ritual and group method, in that it relies on audience members taking an active part in the performance by contributing narratives from their own lives. The thesis interrogates the notion of audience in theatre, using the words audience, spectator, spectactor, participant, public and polis, and specifically investigates two moments of the theatre as polis, in the French and Russian revolutions, when the potential of theatre to engage with the widest cross-section of the nation led to influential experiments and innovations in theatrical practice, each of which influenced the succeeding century. Some Playback discourse and practice is found to contain simplistic, even nostalgic, concepts of personal narrative, and the potential for performers’ interpretations in Playback to reinscribe social privilege is noted. In spite of its simple structure, Playback demands extremely complex skills from all the performers, not only the facilitator. In addition, the complex setting of the practical work encompasses both local NZ health initiatives and developments in global health. The work in each Healthcare Centre is described in a complete chapter: each containing details of the Centre and the Playback, seen through the findings of the patient focus groups, through comments made in interviews by the staff and through the researcher’s observation and experience. In all three Centres, existential and emancipatory metanarratives surfaced in the performances and in interviews. Professionalism was seen as meaning different things: at Ngākau it was a measure by which people were found to be unsatisfactory; at Oranga, it referred to applying the lessons of the Playback to one’s own practice; while at Pātaka, professionalism was evident in narratives of self care, dedication and seeking clarification and support from peers. While the study revealed limitations of Playback, it also pointed to some unique contributions this form of improvisational theatre can make to a programme of staff or group development. In particular, Playback can open up spaces, people and topics, for non-dogmatic, pluralistic, embodied thinking and reflection, leading people to more nuanced understandings of themselves and each other, and can even affect attitudes and behaviours.

Tertiary institutions, in striving towards achieving academic excellence, have realised the need for the professional development of human resources. Staff development thus now features in most institutions' strategic plans. In this study, which has as its context the M L Sultan Technikon, an attempt was made to develop and implement an evaluation programme for academic staff to determine relevant staff needs. Adopting a 'grass-roots' approach to staff evaluation, the evaluation programme was initiated and launched by the Staff Development Unit. Phase 1 of the programme was experimental and voluntary and consisted of student-feedback, a self-evaluation form and a head's evaluation form. Staff response to the programme and their input to a revised evaluation programme occurred as a result of meetings with staff, the administration of feedback questionnaires and a survey of all heads of department. One of the goals of the evaluation programme was to contribute to a relevant staff development programme based on academic staff needs, generated as a result of engaging in the self-evaluation, resulting in needs as indicated in staff's personal development plans. Although the evaluation programme was developed with formative intentions, it has been adapted by the Management for summative purposes, the outcomes of which are also focused upon in the study. / Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of Durban-Westville, 1991.

This thesis is an account of praxis: it examines Playback conceptually, and portrays a programme of practical work exploring the experience of workplace audiences of five Playback Theatre performances, delivered from 2002-2005. The aim of the performances was to assist multi-disciplinary teams of staff in community health centres in Auckland New Zealand to communicate and work together with more understanding of each other. The thesis describes Playback as a way not only to elicit complex narratives which allow for diverse points of view to be expressed, but also as an aesthetic reworking of these narratives using action, music, dance, gesture and speech, in ways which have been influenced by 20th century avant-garde forms such as surrealism, dada, collage, jazz and poetry. Unlike some forms of theatre, Playback calls on elements of ritual and group method, in that it relies on audience members taking an active part in the performance by contributing narratives from their own lives. The thesis interrogates the notion of audience in theatre, using the words audience, spectator, spectactor, participant, public and polis, and specifically investigates two moments of the theatre as polis, in the French and Russian revolutions, when the potential of theatre to engage with the widest cross-section of the nation led to influential experiments and innovations in theatrical practice, each of which influenced the succeeding century. Some Playback discourse and practice is found to contain simplistic, even nostalgic, concepts of personal narrative, and the potential for performers’ interpretations in Playback to reinscribe social privilege is noted. In spite of its simple structure, Playback demands extremely complex skills from all the performers, not only the facilitator. In addition, the complex setting of the practical work encompasses both local NZ health initiatives and developments in global health. The work in each Healthcare Centre is described in a complete chapter: each containing details of the Centre and the Playback, seen through the findings of the patient focus groups, through comments made in interviews by the staff and through the researcher’s observation and experience. In all three Centres, existential and emancipatory metanarratives surfaced in the performances and in interviews. Professionalism was seen as meaning different things: at Ngākau it was a measure by which people were found to be unsatisfactory; at Oranga, it referred to applying the lessons of the Playback to one’s own practice; while at Pātaka, professionalism was evident in narratives of self care, dedication and seeking clarification and support from peers. While the study revealed limitations of Playback, it also pointed to some unique contributions this form of improvisational theatre can make to a programme of staff or group development. In particular, Playback can open up spaces, people and topics, for non-dogmatic, pluralistic, embodied thinking and reflection, leading people to more nuanced understandings of themselves and each other, and can even affect attitudes and behaviours.

The thesis's main concerns are Trends in Leadership development. The aim of this thesis is to better understand leadership and to find out the differences between managers and leaders. The secondary aim of this thesis includes the understanding of development various leadership skills techniques. This thesis also includes survey of how students of University of Economics in Prague interpret leadership as a whole. First chapter focuses on trends in management, second chapter focuses on trends in leadership and leadership styles. Content of third chapter includes research of leadership development techniques. Fourth chapter sums the theses up and also includes the evaluation of undertaken research.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University / PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / This case study reports the results of an analysis of the implementation of a Madeline Hunter Instructional Theory Into Practice (ITIP)- based staff development program in a single elementary school. What were the effects of the implementation of a staff development program on teachers in this school and this school system over a 3 1/2 year period was the question pursued. / 2031-01-01