Since the "Nation at Risk" report, there has been a social microscope on the growing achievement gap and factors that contribute to the increasing lack of academic improvement from African American students. In the State of Texas, there are no publicized examples of at-risk schools that have traditionally been successful with African American students in mathematics. Therefore, there was a need to investigate researched-based strategies that promoted African American student achievement in mathematics. This study utilized surveys, interviews, focus groups, and data to determine why specific middle schools in the State of Texas were successful with African American student achievement in mathematics. Data was collected from selected schools with academically successful African American students. Pertinent information was gathered through the investigation of factors that fostered the success of African American students in mathematics. Organizational factors such as quality of leadership, positive school community structures, and instructional student leadership were examined to determine methods successful in motivating African American students to succeed in mathematics. Instructional factors such as teacher quality and teacher educational belief systems were also analyzed for components leading to successful performance of African American students in mathematics. The findings were that a progression of success factors must be present to ensure "exemplary" performance. Schools' ability to facilitate positive organizational factors, instructional factors, group processes, and faculty sponsorship was more likely to help African American students perform better than their marginal peers. Additional research at the high school level was recommended to investigate strategies proved to be effective in raising mathematical achievement of African American students at middle schools / text

The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe overarching themes that were significant in helping a selected elementary school reach the standards for School of Distinction status. A descriptive case study design was used to identify answers to the overall guiding research question and subordinate questions formulated from the review of literature. A carefully planned sequence of questions was developed for each set of participants aimed at getting a detailed description of the school. Data collection procedures consisted of interviews, classroom observations, and review of school documents. Participants consisted of the principal, nine teachers and nine students from grades, 3, 4, 5 and a total of three parents who have children in these grades. Data from this study were used to compare and analyze key words, phrases, and/or direct quotes in order to identify and describe emerging, overarching, and supporting themes from the following domains: principal's leadership, teacher involvement, class size, student achievement, and parental involvement. Based on literature reviews, these domains were considered to be characteristics that contributed to promoting high student achievement and successful schools. Findings provided supporting themes that were organized around the study's domains. The supporting themes emerged from data triangulation on each of the domains. Based on the data collected and analyzed, the following nine conclusions were identified as contributing to the school's success: (1) a successful school staff maintains an instructional focus; (2) in a successful school, communication occurs among all stakeholders; (3) collaboration among teachers, parents, and the principal occur often in schools; (4) a successful school has a class size below twenty students; (5) a variety of complimentary programs led to school success; (6) a successful school has strong parental involvement; (7) a successful school has a nurturing staff; (8) a successful school has a stable staff; and (9) students perceive a successful school differently than the adults. Implications and recommendations for practice are provided for consideration for school districts with similar demographics to this study. Finally, recommendations for further studies are provided. / Ed. D.

This capstone project was part of a group project completed by two principals in elementary schools and a principal coach in Hillsborough County, Florida. Each of the team members has a passion for the work of administrator and lead learner in a turnaround school. Through creating a culture of teacher leadership, especially in high poverty schools, we believe students will succeed. We were looking for what a high performing school culture would look like if teachers were leading the work through ongoing inquiry and personalized support. My individual focus was, how can district and school leaders support a culture where teachers are leading teachers? As a principal coach, I am responsible for supporting principals at all levels in the schools within my area. I am also responsible for creating professional learning experiences that will permeate into the schools where leaders will take action and where teachers are empowered to make decisions to address the needs of their students. Selected literature was reviewed that considers how to create a system of support for leaders (teachers, administrators) who are increasingly expected to lead more autonomously when they have traditionally been provided directives through district initiatives that emphasize accountability. Themes in the literature reviewed included: community re-norming, teaching/learning symbiosis, and leadership that is proactive and reflective (inquiring). Key findings in my area of focus included valuing professional community and supporting it; moving control of professional development from the district to schools; developing models to allocate time for professional development at the school level; clarifying school and district leaders’ roles in supporting teacher leadership; and assessing and prioritizing district initiatives to determine what is really needed at school sites ̶ particularly in turnaround schools.

The purspose of this study is to investigate how teachers are working to individualize mathemathics education relative to high-performing students and how they define the therm individualization. According to the Swedish curriculum the teaching process should be based on the students prevoius knowledge and experiences. The teachers should in their preperation take every student in to consideration. To be able to investigate these subjets I prepared following questions: What does the concept of individualization in mathematics mean for the teachers? What does it mean to work with an individualized mathematics teaching? How does teachers individualizes teaching mathematics relative to high performing students? This study is based on a qualitative method with both interviews and observations. The theoratical approaches I have used refers to the term invidualization and how to implement an idvidualized education in matematics to stimulate high-performing students. The results of the study shows that invidualization is a complex concept and for the teachers it is about finding out the students level of development to be able to give them tasks at a level which is challenging. The high-performing student either gets more advanced tasks or get paired up with other high-performing students where they get to solve problems at a level which is challenging.

School attendance is a major component in the success of a student. School climate is a pivotal factor in why students come to school. The overarching goal of this research project was to determine why students at Hendersonville High School prefer to be absent and what they believe would motivate them to attend school regularly. In order to accomplish this task, quantitative and qualitative research questions were used. Quantitative 1. How do 9th grade students at Hendersonville High School rate items related to academic work and engagement on the HSSSE? 2. How do 9th grade students at Hendersonville High School rate items related to safety and engagement on the HSSSE? 3. How do 9th grade students at Hendersonville High School rate items related to environment and engagement on the HSSSE? Qualitative 1. What is the 9th grade attendance pattern at Hendersonville High School? 2. What are 9th grade students’ perceptions of academic work, safety and environment as they relate to absenteeism? Results of the study showed that teachers use limited method of instruction (lecture only), the student body is punished as a whole for individual actions, lack of art based learning, lack of technology and eating healthier. In the analysis of the focus group respondents survey data, common reasons for boredom included:(1) work not challenging enough, (2) material wasn’t interesting, (3) teaching method not interesting,and (4) half of all focus group respondents stated that a common reason for boredom was no interaction with teacher. Recommendations include the following: professional development opportunities for teachers, developing a new discipline policy for combating issues on an individual basis instead of punishing groups of people. Improving the curriculum to incorporate art based learning through grade levels, and introduce new classes and after school opportunities for students to participate in art based learning. Improve use of and accessibility to technology in the classroom and for individual student use. Improving school breakfast and lunch to include a healthier variety of foods to choose from.

Yes / The Workplace Futures Survey (WFS) – Playford and Salisbury is a longitudinal workplace survey implemented in Playford and Salisbury. The WFS is designed to capture in-depth information on a range of workplace issues and trends that will provide a comprehensive picture of the issues and challenges faced by employers in the region. This report focuses on Wave 3 of the WFS which was completed by 387 employers during October to November 2014. Results are compared with Wave 1, which was administered a year earlier (November 2013) to 451 employers and Wave 2 completed in May 2014 by 455 employers. The WFS includes a number of core questions on business sentiment, organisational performance along with vacancy and skill demand. Wave 2 also contained focus questions on the potential impact of the automotive closure, whereas Wave 3 explores establishment engagement with High Performance Workplace Practices (HPWP). / Department of State Development, South Australia

Title: Management of Key Account Relationships in SMEs: A Resource-Based View Authors: David Gedda & Simon JohanssonLevel: Master thesis, 30 hpKeywords: Relationship Marketing, Key Account, Key Account Management,Customer Relationship Management, SME, High-performing firms Background: Management of firms most valuable customers, the key accounts,are of great importance for firms in general. This is in particulartrue for SMEs which battles with notably constrained resources.The situation of SMEs poses careful consideration in how tomanage these relationships successfully. Research Question: What characterizes high-performing SMEs in terms of how theymanage their key account relationships? Purpose: The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of what characterises high-performing SMEs in terms of how theymanage the relationships with their key accounts. Method: A qualitative study with an abductive approach using a multiplecasestudy design was adopted. Semi-structured interviews wereconducted to collect primary data on eight Swedish SMEs in theB2B-context. Theoretical Framework: Theories about the resource-based view and relational capabilitiesare presented followed by theories about relationship marketingand its subsets KAM and CRM. The last part of the theory consistsof theories on relationship quality. Findings: In general, high-performing SMEs tend to have a more structuredapproach towards their management of their key accountrelationships. This is mainly shown through four characteristics:Clear categorization of key accounts, Senior responsibility for keyaccounts, Deep integration with key accounts and Systematicprocess towards their key accounts.

Popular thought supports the notion that faculty expectations of technical college administrators appear to be linked to the success or failure of an institution at accomplishing its mission. These expectations provide the basis for the development of relationships that foster the growth of technical training and thus the growth of a skilled workforce. Faculty members in technical colleges are responsible for training individuals to meet business and industry needs. Administrators are responsible for efficiently achieving the institution's mission of workforce development. Unknown faculty expectations may inhibit the ability of administrators to achieve the institution's mission in an efficient manner. This project is an exploratory qualitative study of faculty expectations of technical college administrators in a high performing environment. The result of this study increases the administrators' understanding of expectations associated with their role and facilitates the development of an effective workforce training agenda. Five major themes related to expectations of administrator roles emerged from participant interviews: student-, community-, faculty-, administrative-, and attributes-oriented roles as necessary for achieving outcomes in a high performing technical college environment. Study findings reveal major differences in faculty expectations and institutional expectations of the role of technical college administrators. The necessity for reconciliation of these differences in expectations is examined as it relates to the success of high performing institutions. Potential contributions of this study to post-secondary technical and community colleges are numerous. Through the use of Mintzberg's Taxonomy of Managerial Roles (Mintzberg, 1973) as a conceptual framework and actual accounts of eleven technical viii college faculty members, this study seeks to contribute to the training/development of technical and community college administrators, provide a summary of faculty expectations of technical college administrators, identify professional development opportunities to assist faculty in clarification of administrator roles, provide insight into the behaviors deemed necessary for campus administrators to be considered successful, increase faculty job satisfaction and improve morale by providing an opportunity for communication and feedback, and provide insight to current and future leadership development programs and processes.

Researchers have observed that effective leaders are essential to achieving and sustaining high student achievement in disadvantaged poor rural areas. Poor leadership may negatively influence the academic performance of students. The poor performance of students in disadvantaged rural areas has been a continuous concern for Catholic educators in Nigeria. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the leadership practices that a rural Catholic school principal implemented to improve the academic standards in a disadvantaged environment in Nigeria. This qualitative case study sought to explore the practices of a principal in a Catholic school in the Diocese of Auchi that have improved student performance significantly in a disadvantaged rural area. Leithwood and Riehl's core leadership practices framework served as a conceptual basis for understanding the leadership practices of an effective school principal. The collection of data was through semistructured interviews with 12 participants (principal, 6 teachers, and 5 parents), a focus group with 5 teachers, field notes from direct observations, and documents from the school. Data analysis was thematic and flexible as guided by an interpretative framework. The findings suggest that Catholic school principals in disadvantaged areas need to set direction, have professional development for teachers, focus on the teaching and learning, and create an enabling climate with a positive culture, building Catholic character, good relationships, and stakeholders' collaboration. This study may contribute to positive social change in building best leadership practices in helping students learn in the midst of poverty, sustaining and improving student academic achievement.

The Department of Defense's (DoD's) budgetary and personnel challenges are affecting readiness, thus encouraging the use of effective teams to improve efficiency. This qualitative, descriptive case study examined how public sector DoD members experienced characteristics of high-performing teams (HPTs), defined by their members' shared sense of purpose, interdependent commitment, and exceptional team effectiveness. The documentation of these experiences may aid other DoD teams seeking to improve performance. Lewin and Sherif's theories on group dynamics, Johnson and Johnson's theory on groups, Katzenbach and Smith's theory of HPTs, and Edmondson's work on teams comprised the theoretical framework. Thirty-nine public sector DoD members provided responses to semistructured questions that were developed to seek insights into DoD members' team experiences and practices. Data were analyzed and categorized based on codes derived from the literature. Emergent themes from participant responses confirmed that public sector DoD team members experienced some characteristics of HPTs. Study participants perceived that these teams made positive organizational impacts, but transferring knowledge about these teams' best practices was inconsistent. These findings may contribute to positive social change by improving awareness among DoD practitioners about related HPT benefits and practices; informing public policy makers and practitioners about the value of HPTs in increasing financial and operational efficiencies; improving managerial quality and team experiences; encouraging innovation, openness, and action; and fostering an high-quality DoD workforce exemplifying long-term commitment to excellence and continuous improvement.