Educational leaders have shared concerns of the shortage of qualified candidates applying for principal openings, particularly at challenging schools, such as turnaround schools (Gurley, Anast-May, and Lee, 2015; Kutash et al., 2010). The challenge of turning around a failing school makes it essential to study when and how successful turnaround principals adapt their leadership practices in their unique contexts. Kouzes and Posner (2017) studied leaders at all levels from a variety of organizations. Their research identified five common leadership practices. Good leaders model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart (Kouzes and Posner, 2017). The purpose of this study was to compare Kouzes and Posner's five leadership practices with what successful elementary school turnaround principals described as performing at their personal best. This research was conducted at a Mid-Atlantic school district, Riverdale Public Schools (pseudonym). Seven successful elementary school turnaround principals were interviewed. The leadership practices of these principals were compared to Kouzes and Posner's five leadership practices to determine where their leadership practices were consistent with what turnaround principals described as their personal best experiences. The information gained will contribute to the knowledge base of prioritizing essential leadership actions for turnaround leadership. / Doctor of Education / Being an elementary school principal is challenging work. Leaders have shared concerns of the shortage of qualified principals applying for schools that failed to meet state or national academic benchmarks (Gurley, Anast-May, & Lee, 2015; Kutash et al., 2010). The challenge of improving a failing school makes it important to study when and how successful principals lead in these situations. Kouzes and Posner (2017) studied leaders at all levels from a variety of organizations. Their research identified five common leadership practices. Good leaders model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart (Kouzes & Posner, 2017). This study compared Kouzes and Posner’s five leadership practices with what successful elementary school principals described as performing at their personal best. This research was conducted at a Mid-Atlantic school district, Riverdale Public Schools (pseudonym). Seven elementary school principals who were hired to lead a failing school were interviewed. The leadership practices of these principals were compared to Kouzes and Posner’s five leadership practices to determine where their leadership practices were consistent. The information gained from this research study will contribute to the knowledge base of prioritizing essential leadership actions for failing schools.

When George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation in 2002, each state sought to individually address the challenges of higher standards and more stringent accountability measures. While NCLB and state accountability programs are clear about the student performance results that schools are expected to achieve, they often do not provide schools with much guidance in terms of how to accomplish these objectives. Schools that fail to meet NCLB accountability standards in Virginia are at risk of a plethora of interventions. One of these sanctions is the installment of a turnaround principal to a low-performing school. The context of turnaround schools is a relatively new area of research and, as such, contains little by way of additive data on the subject. The purpose of this descriptive case study was to determine through principal interviews, teacher focus group interviews, observations and document review, whether the major instructional leadership practices identified in the research as impacting student achievement (setting direction, communication, curriculum and instruction, collaboration and shared leadership, family and community connections, and organizational structure) were evident in the practices of the turnaround principal. Findings of the study revealed that all of the major instructional practices identified in the research as impacting student achievement were evident in the practices of the turnaround principal. Two additional leadership practices were identified as a result of this study's findings. / Ph. D.

Elementary students continue to fall below proficiency levels in reading as measured by reading achievement tests (NAEP, 2019; Virginia Department of Education, 2021). In 2019, The Nation's Report Card disclosed that 37% of fourth-graders performed at or above the proficiency level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress reading assessment (NAEP, 2019). Data from these assessments show gaps exist between specific subgroups of students. These statistics present a national crisis in the reading skills of elementary students sitting in America's schools. The Wallace Foundation (2021) research indicates that principals influence student achievement data as measured by standardized tests, and the impact of an effective principal is almost as great as having an effective teacher. The purpose of this study was to identify the leadership practices of elementary turnaround principals whose schools' reading achievement scores increased under their leadership. A basic qualitative research design was used and the study was conducted in one suburban school division in central Virginia. Two principals and four teachers were interviewed using semi-structured interviews to identify the leadership practices the principals employed as the literacy leader in the school. Interviews were coded and analyzed to identify trends and themes shared by participants. This study's findings include four themes emerging from the principals' interviews and three themes emerging from the teachers' interviews. One major finding from 100% of participants included the use of Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to help build the professional knowledge of the teachers in understanding how to teach reading. An implication of this finding states that school leaders could develop the master schedule with established times for PLC meetings to occur during the school day. An additional finding from 100% of the participants included the principal's knowledge of the reading process as it allowed the principals to have constructive conversations with teachers around their reading instruction. An implication of this finding includes school leaders considering building their knowledge of the reading process by attending conferences or reading professional books. The data from this research study will contribute to the research of prioritizing principals' leadership actions for turnaround elementary schools. / Doctor of Education / Elementary students continue to read below proficiency levels. Student achievement data from standardized reading tests show the students sitting in America's schools are not meeting basic reading proficiency levels (NAEP, 2019; Virginia Department of Education, 2021); however, principals play a key role in their students' reading achievement levels in their schools. Research by The Wallace Foundation (2021) found "the effectiveness of the principal of the school is more important than the effectiveness of a single teacher" (p. xiv). Principals can have a positive impact on students' achievement in school. This research study investigated the leadership practices used by elementary principals to turn around their schools' reading achievement data. The study was designed to investigate the perceptions of principals and teachers on the leadership practices impacting the improvement of reading achievement scores in the school. A qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews was used to gather the perceptions of the principals and teachers in one suburban school division in Virginia. These data were collected and analyzed resulting in 10 findings and 10 implications. One finding in the Instructional Practices theme indicated that implementing professional learning communities helped build principals' and teachers' professional knowledge in teaching reading. An implication of this finding could be for school divisions to provide professional learning to teachers and administrators regarding how to implement professional learning communities. The findings from the research provide principals and school division leaders with a myriad of implications that could be used to change the trajectory of reading achievement scores in schools. One limitation of the study was the sample size of participants. A suggestion for future research would be to increase the sample size of the participants in the study.

Thesis advisor: Rebecca Lowenhaupt / This single case study examines how stakeholders of a local education agency (LEA) understand and implement state turnaround policy for its chronically underperforming schools. While there is ample research on how to improve chronically underperforming schools, that research becomes limited when looking at turnaround implementation actions that are in response to policy mandates. This qualitative study uses the theory frame of policy sense-making to identify how implementers come to understand turnaround policy and to explore how that sense-making impacts their implementation decisions. Focusing on school leaders as turnaround policy implementers, this research considers how school leaders come to understand their work of turning around a chronically underperforming school in the context of responding to policy mandates. Research findings, which emerged from Interviews, observations, and policy analysis, reveal that school leaders in this LEA are engaged in sense-making of turnaround policy and practice, which informs their decisions about how to implement turnaround. School leaders begin by asking questions about the policy requirements which center on decisions about how to organize staff and utilize resources. Yet, findings show that their sense-making goes beyond policy requirements to other areas of turnaround work. Namely, they also make sense of the data, which plays a prevalent role in turnaround in that it informs how school leaders diagnose the school's strengths and weaknesses. School leaders then consider the leadership practices that would effectively raise achievement in the school. Findings also show that how school leaders make sense of these areas is influenced by their communication with other stakeholders, their background knowledge and experience in turnaround, and the context of the school. These findings lead to the recommendations to increase communication that focuses on facilitation of sense-making, to communicate a transparent process about how decisions about resource distribution are made across the LEA, to build capacity around data analysis throughout the LEA, and to communicate a vision of turnaround leadership for the LEA. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Due to accountability measures put in place by No Child Left Behind (NCLB), many schools identified as failing by the legislation are implementing reform efforts. This qualitative case study examined the initiatives one school put in place in order to remove themselves from the NCLB list of failing schools. Additionally, this case study sought to discover evidence of the components of capacity building in one elementary school, Cottonwood Elementary in East Tennessee. The theoretical framework of the study is based on the five components of capacity building as defined by Newman, King, and Youngs (2000). The five components defined by the authors are: teacher knowledge, skills, and dispositions; program coherence; professional community; technical resources; and leadership. Data were collected using interviews, observations and documents. The findings related to the first research question posed in this study were examined through four initiatives created by the administration in an attempt to remove the school from the NCLB list. The administrative team and faculty at Cottonwood Elementary chose to focus on: behavior and the structure of the building, attendance, literacy through professional development, and on data and accountability. Additionally, evidence of each component of capacity building as defined by Newman et al. (2000) can be found at Cottonwood Elementary. After the data were analyzed an additional component of capacity building, internal accountability as defined by Elmore (2007) was found to exist.

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The intent of this non-experimental correlational and comparative study was to determine the extent to which self-efficacy predicts student achievement as well as the differences between the self-efficacy beliefs of principals in turnaround and fully accredited schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in one urban Virginia school division. Principal leaders should be selected based on expertise related to their assigned school needs and challenges (Murphy, 2010a). Turnaround schools in the process of improvement present a distinct challenge and require individualized applications of effective leadership practices (Leithwood, Harris and Strauss, 2010). Principal self-efficacy is defined as, "...a judgment of his or her own capabilities to structure a particular course of action in order to produce desired outcomes in the school he or she leads" (Tschannen-Moran and Gareis, 2004, p. 573). Overall principal self-efficacy as well as efficacy for management, instructional leadership, and moral leadership were measured using the Principal Sense of Efficacy Scale (PSES) (Tschannen-Moran and Gareis, 2004). The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment results for reading and mathematics, specifically the overall school pass rates by subject, were used as indicators of student achievement. The researcher sought to examine the usefulness of measuring self-efficacy as a potential method for identifying and assigning principals to specific school contexts based on any relationships and differences revealed by the data. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to predict student achievement in reading and mathematics from overall principal self-efficacy and the three principal efficacy subscales while controlling for poverty. An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the self-efficacy of principals at turnaround and fully accredited schools. Analysis of the predictive relationship between principal self-efficacy and student achievement in reading and mathematics failed to reveal significant findings. Comparative analysis of the mean self-efficacy for turnaround and fully accredited school principals further failed to reveal statistically significant differences. Calculated effect size of the differences between the groups indicated a medium effect. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research were developed from the findings. / Ed. D. / The intent of this study was to determine the extent to which self-efficacy predicts student achievement as well as the differences between the self-efficacy beliefs of principals in turnaround and fully accredited schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in one urban Virginia school division. Principal self-efficacy is defined as, “…a judgment of his or her own capabilities to structure a particular course of action in order to produce desired outcomes in the school he or she leads” (Tschannen-Moran & Gareis, 2004, p. 573). Overall principal selfefficacy as well as efficacy for management, instructional leadership, and moral leadership were measured using the Principal Sense of Efficacy Scale (PSES) (Tschannen-Moran & Gareis, 2004). The Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment results for reading and mathematics, specifically the overall school pass rates by subject were used as indicators of student achievement. The researcher sought to examine the usefulness of measuring selfefficacy as a potential method for identifying and assigning principals to specific school contexts based on any relationships and differences revealed by the data. The data analysis failed to reveal any statistically significant findings for the research questions. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research were developed from the findings.

Increased metacognition, social-emotional growth, and career viability are all researched benefits of including the arts as part of core content instruction, with even greater impact for struggling students, English Language Learners, and students with special needs. Some turnaround schools that are federally funded School Improvement Grant (SIG) schools are beginning to implement an arts-rich method of school reform by teaching core content both through and in the arts. This approach is most often presented as a choice in the high-stakes testing environment of turnaround schools. Since teachers have the most direct impact on students, yet a relatively low amount of authorship in the way school reform is approached, their voice and experience is highlighted in this phenomenological study. The participants are from three public turnaround schools in the South. The researcher used traditional research methods layered with an arts-based research approach mirroring the techniques used in an arts-rich classroom. The researcher found that participants experienced their work as a vocational calling, used methods of engaged pedagogy, and experienced a number of roadblocks to their work. They swiftly moved through these roadblocks to create pathways leveraging the arts to change their curriculum and classroom contexts, applied the arts as an access point for content areas, and then experienced the use of an art-rich classroom as a contagious practice. Potential implications for this study include a scalable model for turnaround schools, investment in engaged pedagogical practice for turnaround schools, and increased agility for teachers to become curriculum bricoleurs.