This three-article dissertation extends prior educational leadership research by analyzing the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) using three distinct methodologies: meta-narrative review, three-step latent class analysis, and four-fold cross-validation multilevel factor analysis. The first study employed a meta-narrative review of twenty-five years of quantitative educational leadership research based on SASS, integrating findings from over one hundred studies into a joint framework of instructional leadership and leadership for learning. The second study utilized three-step latent class analysis of the 2007-08 SASS administration and its companion 2008-09 Principal Follow-up Survey to identify two significantly different groups of exiting principals: "Satisfied" exiting principals and "Disaffected" exiting principals. The third study examined how individual teachers and teachers collectively have different perceptions of leadership for learning, using four-fold cross-validation multilevel factor analysis on the 2011-12 SASS administration to discover that individual teachers perceive leadership for learning as a collection of six factors while collectively teachers perceive leadership for learning as a collection of three factors that are non-isomorphic with the individual-level factors. Each of the three dissertation articles discusses implications for both theory and practice from each set of results.

<p> As if we live in two worlds, humans face a paradoxical situation. We have two fundamental and conflicting views of how to interpret and respond to reality. In the first and most dominant case we rely on objectively derived data describing the external world. In the second case, we have subjectively derived experience. The field of educational leadership has tended to polarize the two views giving preference to objectivity through strong advocacy of scientific methods, and short shrift to aesthetic methods with almost no effort to balance the two views. The purpose of this basic research is to seek a novel way of understanding the work of educational leadership using both objective and subjective orientations: leadership as both science and art. To observe the interactions between the objective and the subjective worlds, and to meaningfully communicate the findings the methodology needs to match data. The chosen methodology for this purpose is evocative narrative autoethnography, a method that focuses on the researcher (myself) as both instrument and site of study in order to investigate how I negotiate between my inner and outer world encounters. Putting this study in narrative form most closely matches the narrative structure of subjective experience, just as mathematical principals structure the material universe. Finally, I seek to produce a verisimilitude of experience so that the educational leader reading this study may have opportunity to vicariously experience the data and maintain the objective/subjective paradox in the reading. </p><p> Findings indicate clear evidence of the interplay of objective external conditions interacting with subjective internal conditions in a variety of circumstances. The truth of this condition is understood both intellectually as well as through embodied experience apprehended vicariously. The research has pointed to the value of seeing oneself within the context of the natural world. Balancing the external and internal worlds requires a recognition of the place of nature in our institutions and of the value of illusion as a way of understanding, coping with and enjoying reality.</p>

This qualitative study examined the career progression of African American women mid-level administrators in student affairs. A conceptual framework that integrated Career Advancement Factors (Coleman, 2002) and Black Feminist Thought (Collins, 2000) was used analyze the narratives of nine participants. The major findings of this study are that African American women mid-level administrators in student affairs are negotiating their careers by developing mentoring relationships, developing a professional skill set, earning a doctoral degree and navigating institutional politics. They believe their career progression has been impacted by their race and gender albeit in varying degrees. Race was perceived to be a factor by all women whereas gender was perceived to be more of a factor based on their student affairs area. Not all women were actively trying to move up to a senior-level administrative role and were content with their current position. There was a notable difference between the new mid-level administrators (5-10 years in student affairs) and the seasoned mid-level administrators (11 years or more). Seasoned mid-level administrators had a greater level of self-awareness that was used to make important decisions about the future of their career. These findings have implications for practice and for considerations for future research.

The purposes of this study were to conduct a formative evaluation in the third year of one district's implementation of a balanced literacy model to determine the degree of fidelity of implementation as well as to identify successes and challenges experienced by instructional staff. The evaluation model was designed from the constructivist paradigm using Scriven's (1991) goal-free evaluation as a framework. In conducting the evaluation, lesson plans were analyzed, classroom observations were conducted and interviews and focus groups were facilitated. The resulting qualitative data and descriptive statistics revealed implementation gaps and needs in the areas of writing and word study instruction as well as in the use of some resources. Participants identified the materials, release time for planning and increased collaboration as successes, and identified lack of time to plan and to teach, the scope and sequence of the curricula, writing and word study instruction, assessment and professional development as challenges. Leadership behaviors emerged from the evaluation as an important consideration when implementing initiatives; in the end, the literacy model's implementation evaluation served as the context from which leadership challenges at the school and district level emerged.

The purpose of this study was to examine both the motivators and the inhibitors that influence graduate education students' decisions to either pursue school building-level administration jobs or avoid applying for these positions. Across the country, educational administration programs are producing more than enough graduates to fill every principal or assistant principal position (Levine, 2005). Yet, many of the students completing these programs are not rushing to fill these vacancies. Therefore, this study provides insight on the students in the Educational Leadership Program at The College of William and Mary. The findings of this study may benefit colleges and universities that have similar programs. For this paper, Herzberg, Mausner, and Snyderman's motivation-hygiene theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, and Behling, Labovitz, and Gainer's job choice theory were three job satisfaction theories chosen for an in-depth examination by the researcher. Additionally, the researcher gathered data by using a focus group as well as a survey.;Keywords: educational administration students, job satisfaction, motivators and inhibitors.

One issue that continues to impact higher education is students entering college without the skills and dispositions necessary for success at the postsecondary level. While instructors and educational leaders and often pay significant attention to addressing students’ lack of the prerequisite content knowledge in mathematics, reading, and writing, students are often also in need of information and skills for strategic learning. With the current emphasis on student retention and completion, institutions are using high-impact interventions, such as first-year seminar courses, to equip students with these attributes early on in their academic careers. This study examined the relationship between participation in a compulsory first-year experience course and students’ skill, will, and self-regulation using regression methods. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education. / Spring Semester 2019. / January 31, 2019. / first-year experience, first-year seminar, self-regulation, skill, will / Includes bibliographical references. / Toby Park, Professor Directing Dissertation; Elizabeth M. Jakubowski, University Representative; Patrice Iatarola, Committee Member; Linda Schrader, Committee Member; Robert A. Schwartz, Committee Member.

As distance learning opportunities foster a wide array for online mentoring, program administrators are in need of research supporting the successful development and management of such efforts. This qualitative research examined the leadership perspectives, skills, and strategies involved in developing and administering an online support program (also referred to as electronic mentoring) designed to help beginning teachers transition into the profession and improve their retention (National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, 2003). The population was comprised of all known programs established to date in the United States. Interviews were conducted of 28 program administrators representing 20 online programs for new teachers. Data were collected via interviews and triangulated with multiple artifacts. Consistent with practices by Strauss and Corbin (2007), data were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding to identify, organize, and relate categories and themes. Through this analysis process, the core category, "The Leadership Role in Online Support Programs for Beginning Teachers," emerged and was based upon the interrelationships among five subcategories: (a) needs and benefits of participants, (b) program development, (c) professional development, (d) technology considerations, and (e) leadership strategies. The grounded theory resulting from these findings concluded that, successful administrators need to develop a detailed plan for online programs, weighing necessary program components including (a) an educationally diverse program team; (b) early establishment of program goals; (c) reliable methods of assessment of outcomes using constant formative evaluation; (d) a secure, reliable, non-evaluative environment; (e) training in effective online communications and relationship building; and (f) a value-added experience for participants. The leadership role of online support programs for beginning teachers requires administrators to have an in-depth understanding of the developmental needs of new teachers in concert with principles of adult learning theory and means of maximizing professional development. Of greater import than technology skills were the ability to effectively communicate online and manage in a collaborative, facilitative, ever-changing environment. Future studies should examine requirements for participants' online engagement, comparative technology for online support systems, roles adopted by facilitators, and methods of assessment of program effectiveness.

A large body of literature regarding professional development and its effects on teaching and student achievement and learning has emerged over the last decade. There are many teachers who either have limited access to professional development activities or who have access and choose not to take part in professional development activities. This qualitative study employed a phenomenological tradition in describing the "lived experiences" of participants involved in the implementation of new curriculum. Fourteen teachers and seven principals were purposefully selected to be part of this study in a rural school jurisdiction in southern Alberta. Through a qualitative analysis, this study shared teachers' perceptions as they described the role professional development plays in enhancing teacher efficacy and changing teaching practices in the implementation of new curriculum. Data were collected during face-to-face, semi-structured interviews, and the analysis of data revealed six topics: the need for change, professional development and curriculum implementation, professional development and teaching practices, professional development and teacher efficacy, professional development and student learning and motivation. Major findings from this study concluded that teacher participants recognize PD as the common thread that motivates teachers, improves their sense of efficacy, assists them in successful curriculum implementation, heightens their awareness of the need to improve teaching practices and the need to become student-centered and improve student learning. Principal participants concurred with teacher participants, and recognize the role leaders play in motivating teachers to become actively engaged in professional learning activities. Professional development plays a key role in providing teachers with knowledge and skills to hone their teaching practices, to rejuvenate them, and to improve student learning. It also assists teachers in successfully implementing new curricula. As teachers become aware of the need to change teaching practices in order to improve teacher efficacy, professional development provides opportunities to gain confidence and heighten their sense of personal efficacy.

<p> The main purpose of this study is the examination of how, an equitable distribution of educational resources would factor in as a contributor to more favorable economic growth of Sri Lanka. If the better facilities, and additional educational resources, offered to urban communities are extended to the rural sector that will increase human productivity, leading in turn, to macro-economic growth and economic development. I have derived and tabulated pertinent statistical data so as to answer the research questions entailed by my inquiry. That has been followed by the conclusions and recommendations sections. Qualitative methods were used to interview rural communities with the aim of analyzing their concerns, anxieties and trepidations from a variety of perspectives involving politics, economics, psychology, sociology and culture. A detailed description of inequitable educational resource distribution among rural communities is included in the document which shows the negative impacts to the macro-economic growth of short-sighted and irrational practices. Thereafter, the study has focused on the lack of leadership characteristics of Sri Lankan political policy makers.</p>

<p> This qualitative study explored the personal factors that promote the adoption of acceleration among community college mathematics faculty as well as the departmental and institutional relationships that support this adoption. Interviews with nine early adopters of acceleration revealed diversity in their educational backgrounds and career paths into community college teaching. This diversity may enhance the ability of faculty to view the mathematics curriculum as evolving, enabling them to investigate alternatives to the traditional developmental math curriculum such as acceleration. Study participants also demonstrated highly developed pedagogical content knowledge and noted the importance of participation in a community of practice in supporting their acceleration work. Participants used implementation strategies aligned with their departmental culture and identified ways the institution could support their adoption efforts. Recommendations outline strategies for faculty and institutional leaders interested in promoting the adoption of acceleration on their campuses.</p>