The research on high-poverty, high-performing schools, suggests instructional leadership is an essential component for principals to be effective school leaders. Unfortunately, in spite of themes in the research, and shifts in principal preparation initiatives, practice suggests principals struggle to hold to instructional priorities. Given the significant costs of education reform this challenge to prioritize instructional leadership needs to be understood, particularly in the area of leading the improvement of high-poverty, lower performing schools. The gap between research and practice, and the causes for these differences in principal leadership, were the subject of this study. Qualitative methods were used to study eight instructionally-centered principals in their schools to identify "how" they navigate the competing demands to focus on instructional priorities. Common themes emerged from the interview, observation, and calendar study data providing strategies for how these principals navigate demands to remain focused on instruction. Findings affirmed the research from effective school reform and school leadership research. Themes also emerged for practices aligned with the research on organizational leadership; for example, principals delegated purposefully, served as relatable "lead learners," and used data to create a sense of urgency and leverage improvements to instruction. Principals were also found to be "kid-centered" in their decision making. Most interesting in the themes that emerged; however, was the unanimous belief that all students can learn. Principals demonstrated evidence of self-efficacy about their leadership, and perhaps more importantly, the belief that the "locus of causality" for learning lies within the school and teachers. This set of beliefs appeared to drive their planning towards creating a data-centered environment in their schools. Implications for further research and principal professional development are discussed. / Educational Leadership

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Curriculum and Instruction / Paul Burden / Teachers’ ability to engage students is in influenced by teachers’ collective efficacy beliefs. Yet, empirical evidence on the relationship between the social persuasion variables of schools and teacher collective efficacy in student engagement is limited. This study was designed to answer the following research question: “To what extent do teachers’ perceptions of professional development opportunities (PPDO), school leadership (PSL), and school use of performance feedback (PPF) relate to teachers’ collective efficacy in student engagement (CESE)?” To explore the relationship between teacher collective efficacy in student engagement and the social persuasion variables of schools, extant data from 262 teachers in a large urban school district in the United States was supplied through the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project. Scaled scores of independent and dependent variables were used to examine the relationship between the independent variables (perception of professional development opportunities, school leadership, and the use of performance feedback), and the dependent variable (collective efficacy in student engagement). A multiple regression of social persuasion variables was conducted to examine the relationship between the variables and to determine which variable, if any, has the most influence on the dependent variable. The multiple regression analysis showed that a combination of the independent variables of PPDO and PSL could explain 37% of the variance in CESE. Analyses also showed that PPDO had the strongest relationship with CESE. The results reinforce information from the literature review regarding the research questions and hypotheses. The social persuasion variables of schools are correlated with collective efficacy in student engagement. Perceptions of the use performance feedback, professional development opportunities, and school leadership are all significantly correlated with collective efficacy in student engagement. Out of the three social persuasion variables analyzed, only perception of professional development opportunities and school leadership explain a significant amount of the variance in collective efficacy in student engagement.

本研究旨探討國民小學學校組織健康、學校組織學習與教師效能感之關係。研究方法為文獻分析與調查研究法。研究對象為臺北縣國民小學教師，共發出794份問卷，回收率85.39％，有效樣本共566份。問卷回收後分別以因素分析、信度分析、描述性統計、t考驗、單因子變異數分析、皮爾森積差相關、多元逐步迴歸分析以及結構方程模式分析等統計方法進行分析。根據研究結果與分析後歸納之研究結論如下： 壹、臺北縣國民小學教師知覺學校組織健康、學校組織學習與教師效能感之現況屬中等程度，仍有相當進步空間。 貳、不同背景因素的教師在學校組織健康、學校組織學習與教師效能感等整體及分向度的看法上有差異。 參、國民小學學校組織健康、學校組織學習與教師效能感之間彼此關係密切。 肆、國民小學學校組織健康與學校組織學習對整體教師效能感有顯著聯合預測力。 伍、國民小學學校組織健康、學校組織學習與教師效能感之間的結構關係佳。 最後，本研究依研究結果分別提出以下建議： 壹、對教育行政機關之建議 一、提倡學校組織健康概念，促進學校組織學習，以提升教師效能感。 二、強化教師職前培育與在職進修的「引導學生效能感」課程規劃。 三、發展教學輔導教師制度，充實教師專業知能。 四、因應地方需要，發展適當學校規模。 貳、對校長培育機構之建議 一、營造更健康的學校組織氣候，並建立良好學校公共關係。 二、奠定良好組織學習文化，強化學校組織學習動力。 三、塑造學校組織願景，強化學校知識管理策略，以提升教師效能感。 四、活化學校氣候與文化，試行教師輪調制度。 參、對校長之建議 一、瞭解不同校長培育機構之課程規劃，持續校長自我專業發展。 二、理解校長實踐學校績效管理之流程與作為，力求自我知行一致。 三、建置校長專業發展之知識分享平台，提升校長績效管理能力。 四、培養校長面對變革之自我因應能力，掌握學校多元之情境脈絡。 肆、對後續相關研究之建議 分別就研究範圍、研究對象、研究變項、研究方法、研究工具以及統計方法等方面，對未來的研究提出建議 / This study is focus on investigating relations between organizational health, organizational learning and teacher efficacy in elementary schools. The research process combines literature review and questionnaire method. The elementary school teachers in Taipei County are the main survey subjects. In total, 794 questionnaires were distributed to the elementary school educators. In addition, the amount of return questionnaires stands for 85.39% of the total amount, which includes 566 questionnaires are valid. The data is analyzed through the statistics methods of factor analysis, reliability analysis, descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, multipack regression and SEM. The findings of the study are as follows: 1. The teachers in elementary schools of Taipei County show median level of perception in school organizational health, school organizational learning and teacher efficacy aspects. Thus, the level of perception could be improved. 2. The teachers with different background show different opinions in school organizational health, school organizational learning, and teacher efficacy aspects, no matter in the whole evaluation or in the divided examination. 3. The relations between school organizational health, school organizational learning, and teacher efficacy in elementary school are quite close. 4. The school organizational health and school organizational learning in elementary school show significant predictability to the whole teachers’ effectiveness. 5. The structure relations between school organizational health, school organizational learning, and teachers’ effectiveness are good. Furthermore, this study provides the following suggestions based on the above findings: I. The suggestions for educational administration i. Schools should advocate the concept of school organizational health, and promote school organizational learning, in order to improve teacher efficacy. ii. Teachers should be encouraged to take more the pre-work training and further education, which are related to how to inspire students’ effectiveness. iii. Schools should develop the supervisor system and further education program to improve teachers’ profession and skills. iv. Governments should depend up the needs of area to build up appropriate school scale. II. The suggestions for principle training institutions i. To build up a more healthy school organizational climate and develop good school public relationships. ii. To create the good organizational learning culture and strengthen schools organizational learning power. iii. To develop the school organizational vision and extend the strategy of school knowledge management, in order to promote teacher efficacy. iv. To implement the teacher rotational system, in order to encourage the active school climate and culture. III. The suggestions for principles i. To understand different programs of principle training institutions, in order to continue principles’ self-professional development. ii. To recognize the process of school management and how to meet to achievements; moreover, to realise these. iii. To build up the sharing platform of principle professional knowledge, in order to enlarge the ability of performance management. iv. To develop the ability to face changes, and handle the multiple aspects of schools. IV. The suggestions for further studies This study advises some implications on research scale, subjects, methods, tools, and statistics methods aspects, respectively; moreover, it provides some suggestions for future studies as well.

Recent research suggests that culturally responsive teaching (CRT) practices have the potential to increase student educational outcomes, as well as to reduce unnecessary or inappropriate placement referrals. Examination of the core components in CRT, teacher efficacy and cultural competence, is proposed to be a critical step to reduce unwarranted referrals of culturally and linguistically diverse students. However, there is limited empirical support for the relationship between CRT and instructional referrals, and even among existing studies there is inconsistency regarding the relation of these constructs. The purpose of this study is to examine teacher factors (i.e., teacher role, degree earned, years of teaching, ESL certification held, language proficiency and ethnicity) as a predictor of teacher competence, and the role these factors play in teachers’ referral decision making. To investigate these relationships, a national sample of elementary teachers (N = 258) completed a survey addressing their background, profession endorsements, sense of teaching efficiency, and the instructional decisions they would make in the scenarios presented. The results of this study revealed that teacher role (i.e., general, ESL or special educator) and ESL certification were important predictors of teacher competency. A statistically significant mean difference in teacher competency was found between teachers with and without ESL certification, indicating ESL certification as an important factor in deciding the level of teacher competency. Finally, teacher competency was found to improve teachers’ instructional decision making in scenarios in which the students displayed linguistic difficulties. The findings provide valuable insights to teacher training programs and other professional development entities regarding how to prepare educators to work more efficiently with ESL students.

At the high school level teachers are often departmentalized by their content area and do not teach subjects outside of their specialties. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) introduced literacy standards across the curriculum requiring reading and writing instruction in all courses. The adoption not only affected traditional literacy teachers but also science, math, social studies, and career and technical education teachers who may have had little or no training or experience in teaching literacy to adolescents. These teachers, because of little training or experience in teaching literacy, may feel unprepared for the CCSS literacy shifts or inadequate in delivering literacy instruction. This study was designed to explore teacher perceived self-efficacy after the implementation of new literacy standards in Tennessee. The purpose of this study was to evaluate high school teachers’ perceptions with regard to self-efficacy and literacy instruction across the curriculum. Data were collected through online, voluntary surveys using Likert scaling and one open-ended response question. The sample included Tennessee high school teachers from 3 counties in Tennessee First Core Region 1 high schools who had taught math, science, social studies, career and technical education, or ELA. This study found no significant difference based on self-efficacy and content area, level of teaching experience, or gender. There was also no significant difference based on literacy efficacy and level of teaching experience or gender. There was a significant difference based on literacy efficacy and content area. ELA teachers were more significantly confident in teaching literacy than nonELA teachers.

Assessment scores indicated students with severe disabilities (SWSD) have not been performing to their maximum potential, which may lead to lower quality of life after graduation. Teacher efficacy has been shown to impact student achievement; thus, this study involved exploring the teacher efficacy of the teachers of SWSD. Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy, and Hoy's teacher efficacy conceptual framework guided this nonexperimental correlation study to investigate if levels of self-efficacy, years of overall teaching experience, and years of teaching experience with Grade 3 to 8 SWSD were predictors of student reading achievement in a New York City school district. Two open-ended questions were added to explore challenges teachers of SWSD encounter. Student New York State Alternate Assessment (NYSAA) scores were collected from all classroom teachers of students who participated in the 2014-2015 NYSAA at the study site. A regression analysis indicated no significant relationship between teachers' sense of efficacy and the achievement of SWSD in the area of literacy. TSES responses were triangulated using data from 2 open-ended questions, which revealed that teachers face specific challenges when educating students with severe disabilities. At the organizational level, changes to address the needs of teachers could be made to address the challenges found in this study. Positive social change will occur by helping to inform new policies that will reduce challenges indicated by teachers of SWSD and address the needs of teachers to improve the education of SWSD.

本研究主要目的在分析國小校長分布式領導、教師效能感與教師組織承諾之間的關係。採用問卷調查法，以臺北市地區之公立國小教師為研究對象，有效樣本為445份。問卷調查結果採用描述性統計、t考驗、變異數分析、皮爾森積差相關、逐步多元迴歸及結構方程模式等統計方式加以分析。 本研究得到下列結論： 一、目前臺北市國小教師對校長分布式領導的知覺情況屬中上程度。 二、目前臺北市國小教師對教師效能感的知覺情況屬中上程度。 三、目前臺北市國小教師對教師組織承諾的知覺情況屬中上程度。 四、教師因背景變項中「現任職務」的不同，在知覺校長分布式領導、教師效能感與教師組織承諾上有差異。 五、國小校長分布式領導、教師效能感與教師組織承諾兩兩之間具有正向的關聯。 六、國小校長分布式領導、教師效能感的分層構面，對教師組織承諾有正向的預測作用。 七、校長分布式領導可透過教師效能感，增強對教師組織承諾的正向預測力。 最後，根據研究結果提出建議，以供教育行政機關、學校及後續研究之參考。 / The intent of this study was to explore the relationship among principal’s distributed leadership, teacher efficacy and teachers’ organizational commitment in elementary schools. The questionnaire investigation method was employed, and there were 445 valid questionnaires collected from public elementary schools in Taipei City. The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson's product-moment correlation, stepwise multiple regression analysis and Structural Equation Modeling. The results were as follows: 1. The perceptions from the elementary school teachers about principal’s distributed leadership were quite well. 2. The perceptions from the elementary school teachers about teacher efficacy were quite well. 3. The perceptions from the elementary school teachers about teachers’ organizational commitment were quite well. 4. Incumbent duty had significant influences the perceptions of teachers about on principal’s distributed leadership, teacher efficacy and teachers’ organizational commitment. 5. There were significant correlations between principal’s distributed leadership and teacher efficacy as well as between teachers’ organizational commitment. 6. The sub-level of the distributed leadership and teacher efficacy could apparently predict the teachers’ organizational commitment. 7. Teacher efficacy had mediate effect on distributed leadership and influence positively teachers’ organizational commitment. According to the above conclusion, the research proposed relevant suggestions to be referenced by education administrative organizations, elementary schools , and future research.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:46:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissFDTS.pdf: 3954092 bytes, checksum: a7d3c33070e69f75ad31211d9583e87d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2004-08-30 / The objective of this study was to implement and evaluate the effects of a workshop for English language teachers in how to plan teaching strategies based on a functional analysis of the student s performance. An underlying supposition was that teaching centered on student needs could result in academic and social inclusion for students as a by product of learning achievement. The workshop was taught in two modules, the first to supply a conceptual base on learning differences and special educational needs and the second to supply a conceptual base and teach functional analysis skills. The researcher made a functional analysis of the data from observation of classes taught by participants before the workshop. The analysis focused on the repeated errors made by students, the conditions which may have produced their occurrence and possible alternatives to change these conditions. In some cases, changes were implemented and their effect was successful in students overcoming errors. Participants were seven teachers in a private English language school. Two instruments to evaluate sense of efficacy as a teacher (TES) and sense of responsibility for student achievement (RSA), were applied before and after the second workshop module. Interviews with the teachers were conducted one year after the conclusion of the workshop. The results of the standard instruments showed that teachers presented intermediate or elevated levels of sense of teacher efficacy and responsibility for student achievement at the beginning of the study, most probably due to the established standards and constant supervision of their teaching. Significant change was not observed in the final scores at the end of the workshop. In accordance with the interviews, two participants related improvement in performance for students who presented learning difficulties, as a result of using new teaching strategies based on a functional analysis of student performance. The limitations of the workshop are discussed, particularly in terms of its brief duration and the necessity for a longer period for teaching practice, to maximize the effects on teacher practice. The necessity for evaluation instruments which focus more directly on the skills targeted by the training were also discussed. / O estudo teve como objetivo implementar e avaliar os efeitos de uma oficina, conduzida com professores de língua inglesa, visando habilitá-los a fazer planejamento de ensino com base em uma análise funcional do desempenho do aluno. A suposição subjacente era a de que o ensino centrado nas necessidades do aluno pode resultar em inclusão social e acadêmica, como decorrência do sucesso na aprendizagem. A oficina foi ministrada em dois módulos, um para fornecer bases conceituais sobre diferenças e necessidades especiais de ensino e outro para fornecer bases conceituais e instalar habilidades em análise funcional. A análise funcional foi conduzida a partir de dados de observação de aulas dos participantes, realizada pela pesquisadora, antes do início da oficina. A análise focalizou erros cometidos repetidamente pelos alunos, as condições que poderiam estar promovendo sua ocorrência e o levantamento de alternativas para alterar essas condições. Em alguns casos, foram implementadas mudanças e verificados os seus efeitos na superação dos erros. Participaram da oficina sete professores de uma escola privada de ensino de inglês. Antes e depois do segundo módulo de ensino, foram aplicados dois instrumentos para avaliar o Senso de Eficácia como Professor (TES) e o senso de Responsabilidade pelo desempenho do aluno (RSA). Além disso, os professores foram entrevistados um ano após a conclusão da oficina. Os resultados dos dois instrumentos padronizados mostraram que no início do estudo os professores apresentavam níveis intermediários ou elevados de senso de eficácia e senso de responsabilidade pelo desempenho do aluno, provavelmente em função das exigências e do monitoramento da eficácia do ensino que ministravam. Não foram observadas mudanças significativas nos escores ao final da oficina. De acordo com as entrevistas, dois dos participantes relataram melhoras no desempenho de alunos que apresentavam dificuldades de aprendizagem, como resultado da análise funcional e do emprego de novas estratégias de ensino. Foram discutidos os limites da oficina, especialmente a curta duração e a necessidade de expandir o trabalho prático, para maximizar os efeitos sobre a prática do professor. Discutiu-se, também, a necessidade de instrumentos de avaliação que focalizem mais diretamente as habilidades que foram alvo do treinamento.

Doctor of Philosophy / Curriculum and Instruction Programs / F. Todd Goodson / Professional development of in-service teachers continues to increase, but not all programs are successful in promoting teacher learning and student improvement. This qualitative study offers an examination of how one professional development program, The National Writing Project, with its teachers-teaching-teachers model is making a difference. The National Writing Project is one of the longest running, most cost-efficient, and most successful professional development programs in education. The purpose of this study was to identify factors influencing teacher transformation. Five areas were addressed: (1) the identification of transformation factors; (2) the relationship of personal literacy as it affects professional change; (3) being a member of a learning community and how it affects personal learning; (4) being a member of a learning community and how it affects professional learning; and (5) the role of spirituality in transformation. The setting was the National Writing Project's Invitational Summer Institute as it examined how fellows, first time participants, perceived their learning. Participants were from 17 different writing project sites across the United States. Data collection involved three distinct sources: (1) selection of participant and rationale provided by site directors of writing project sites; (2) audio-taped long interviews of each participant; and, (3) a follow-up focus group conducted in an electronic discussion board. The findings highlighted an interweaving of five factors influencing teacher transformation: (1) identification and application of knowledge for self and students; (2) reflection of learning and practice; (3) collaboration; (4) active and on-going involvement; and, (5) supportive and safe environment. When these five transformative factors are designed and implemented in the professional development of teacher in-service, teachers are provided an opportunity to personally learn which leads to professional learning and improved instruction for student learning. Excerpts from each data collection, recommendations for future research, and appendices to replicate the study are provided.

本研究旨在瞭解目前臺北市國民中學校長空間領導、學校組織變革與教師效能的現況，以探討國中教師知覺校長空間領導、學校組織變革與教師效能之差異情形，俾以瞭解三個變項間之關聯 ，並採問卷調查法以臺北市公立國民中學教師為母群體，共發出828份問卷，回收721 份問卷，回收率為 87.1%，有效問卷共588 份，可用率為71.0%，以描述性統計、t 考 驗、單因子變異數分析、皮爾森積差相關、迴歸分析、以及結構方程模式等統計分析，並據分析結果作成以下結論： 一、臺北市國民中學校長空間領導達到中高程度表現，在「融入課程教學」層面的表現最佳，而「使用者共同參與」仍有精進空間。 二、臺北市國民中學學校組織變革達到中高程度，以「教育科技創新」層面認同度最高，而「組織文化」層面得分數較低。 三、臺北市國民中學教師效能達到高程度表現，以「教學策略效能」層面的表現最佳，「引導學生效能」之知覺程度較低。 四、臺北市國民中學教師在不同背景變項中( 男性、教師兼主任者、學校規模13-24班、校齡21-40年 )，在知覺校長空間領導行為上顯著較高。 五、臺北市國民中學教師在不同背景變項中( 男性、教師兼主任者 )，在知覺學校組織變革上顯著較高。 六、臺北市國民中學教師在不同背景變項中( 男性、師範院校、教師兼主任者)，在知覺教師效能上顯著較高。 七、國民中學校長空間領導、學校組織變革與教師效能具有顯著正相關。 八、校長空間領導與學校組織變革對教師效能有預測力。 九、臺北市國民中學校長空間領導、學校組織變革與教師效能具有良好的適配度，且學校組織變革在校長空間領導與教師效能間扮演完全中介，故國民中學校長空間領導可透過學校組織變革對教師效能產生正向的間接影響。 本研究依研究結果提出建議，以供教育行政機關、學校決策以及未來研究參考。 / The purpose of this study was to understand the relationship among Junior High School Principals' Space Leadership, School Organizational Change and Teacher Efficacy in Taipei City. To investigate the perceptions of junior high school teachers on the correlations among the three variables mentioned above. We employed questionnaire survey to investigate the subjects included public junior high school teachers in Taipei City. With the census-taking, we retrieved 721 from 828 questionnaires. The response rate of the questionnaire was 87% with the usable rate was 71% from 588 usable ones. The collected data was analyzed by using the statistical methods of descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson product-moment correlation, regression analysis and structural equation modeling. According to the results, these conclusions were reached statistically as follows. 1. The performance of principals’ space leadership was above average in the junior high school schools.“Curriculum Integration ” was the best among the four dimensions of the junior high school principals’ space leadership in Taipei City, and there was advancement on the situation about “User Participation” remained. 2. The performance of school organizational change reached a medium-high level in the junior high schools. The dimensions of “innovation of educational technology ” was the highest among all, and lower scores on “organizational culture”. 3. Teachers in the junior high schools evaluated the school “teacher efficacy ”as high. The score was highest in the dimension of "efficacy for instructional strategies" and the lowest in the dimension of “efficacy for student engagement.” 4. Male teachers, teachers serving as directors, teachers in schools with the size of 13-24 classes, and school age between 21 and 40 years had higher evaluations on their practice of space leadership with regard to principals. 5. Male teachers and teachers serving as directors had higher evaluations on school organizational change. 6. Male teachers, teachers serving as directors, and teachers graduating from normal schools had higher evaluations on teacher efficacy. 7. The relationship among principals’ space leadership, school organizational change and teacher efficacy was positively correlated. 8. The principals’ space leadership showed significant predictability on school organizational change and teacher efficacy, particularly in the dimension of “Curriculum Integration ”and “ core competencies of members”. 9. The structural equation model showed the well goodness-of-fit among principals’ space leadership, school organizational change and teacher efficacy. The results revealed that school organizational change fully mediated, and had positive indirect effect on principals' space leadership and teacher efficacy. Suggestions had been made out from the results of this study for the reference of the education authority, decision-making of school administration, and further research.