<p> The purpose of this study is to determine the levels of concern of Illinois principals regarding the adoption of an evaluation system modeled after Charlotte Danielson&rsquo;s Framework for Teaching. Principal demographics and involvement in the use of and professional development surrounding Charlotte Danielson&rsquo;s Framework for Teaching were studied for their impact on the concerns of principals. Finally, the concerns of principals were determined using both the Stages of Concern Questionnaire and the Open-Ended Statements of Concern. </p><p> The study used a quantitative research design to identify the levels of concern of principals in the adoption of a new innovation, Charlotte Danielson&rsquo;s Framework for Teaching as the basis for evaluating teaching practice. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to provide insight into principals&rsquo; concerns implementing Danielson&rsquo;s Framework. The target population was the 2960 K-12 public school principals in Illinois, excluding principals working for Chicago Public Schools. The online survey was completed by 313 principals. </p><p> The results of the study found that the implementation of Danielson&rsquo;s Framework for Teaching has raised concerns for principals including the amount of time, paperwork, and inability to perform other duties. In addition, gender and the average number of teacher evaluations per year influenced the concerns of principals. Finally, the variables studied included: years of experience using Danielson&rsquo;s Framework for Teaching, principal self-rating of knowledge of Danielson&rsquo;s Framework for Teaching, and the number of professional development activities also impacted principals&rsquo; concerns. Based on the results and the current literature, recommendations for educational practitioners and for future research were made.</p><p>

This study describes the experience of senior private sector leaders who have undertaken initiatives to have a catalytic and positive social impact in South Africa. This work is conceptualised as crossing boundaries to advance the common good. The study first looks at how business leaders can be effective in leading across boundaries to advance the common good. Then Public Integrative Leadership (Crosby and Bryson, 2010a) is compared to the initial findings to see if it adequately describes what it takes for these business leaders to be effective. The study is important because little is known about the boundary crossing leadership work that some late-career senior business leaders embark on. It also contributes to understanding the business-society nexus through the lens of leadership studies. Three relationships surface as crucial to manage including the relationship with government, one’s own company and multi-company partners. And these are influenced by the history and context. Managing them requires a number of capacities including high level interpersonal skills, historical insight, balancing identities and coalition building. Business leaders can draw on some of their experience in the private sector but need to learn some new capacities. Making money, therefore, is somewhat similar and somewhat different from making a difference. The Public Integrative Leadership concept adequately described some of the shared power realities and general tactics involved. The concept insufficiently accounted for elements of own-company buy-in, conflict management, historical dynamics and leader motivation. Some avenues for further developing the concept are highlighted. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / mngibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / MBA / Unrestricted

<p> Looking at education globally and identifying the role school leaders play in providing access to education, this research conceptualizes education utilizing a framework for school leadership that takes into account comparative and cultural understandings to teaching and learning. This stand-alone case study investigates the work of two women from North America who founded the first and only secondary school on Blue Cove Caye in Belize, Central America and their role as school leaders for social justice in providing equitable access to secondary education. Through the development of an innovative informal curriculum, these school leaders provide students with &lsquo;windows of opportunities&rsquo; designed to close the opportunity gap and prepare students to contribute to the island&rsquo;s eco-tourist economy.</p><p>

<p> Institutions of higher education are increasingly faced with global forces. Consequently, colleges and universities must internationalize in order to stay relevant when faced with global forces. One means by which post-secondary institutions are internationalizing is by offering students international service-learning experiences. During these experiences, students acquire intercultural competencies and a more in-depth understanding of the educational content delivered throughout their educational career. This qualitative phenomenological study explored the acquisition of intercultural competencies by twelve participants attending the University of Montana and Montana State University. Participants were interviewed, utilizing questions about the understanding of intercultural competencies, the acquisition of said competencies, institutional preparation for and follow-up of international service-learning experiences, and the impact of international service-learning experiences on subsequent coursework. The results of this study show that participants&rsquo; home institutions offered very little preparatory and follow-up intervention. Despite the lack of institutional intervention, participants acquired six intercultural competencies associated with this study and utilized self-guided reflection exercises to make sense of their shared experience after having returned to their home institution, which resulted in a more robust post-experience education. Additionally, participants re-evaluated professional and academic ambitions based on their exposure to social inequities and drastically different gender norms from those of their native cultures. The results of this study have implications for colleges and universities wishing to facilitate international service-learning opportunities for undergraduate students. Despite a lack of institutional interventions, participants were greatly impacted by their international service-learning experience, suggesting that the impacts might be more profound with additional institutional intervention.</p><p>

<p> <b>Purpose.</b> The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto design research study was to determine the impact of a teacher leadership professional development academy on teacher leaders&rsquo; use of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership behaviors as measured by the Leadership Practices Inventory. </p><p> <b>Methodology</b>. The research was a quantitative ex post facto design. </p><p> <b>Findings.</b> The results of the analysis revealed a significant difference in teacher leadership behaviors before and after participation in a transformational leadership professional development academy. </p><p> <b>Conclusions.</b> This study responded to the call to provide teachers, administrators, districts, policymakers, and researchers new insights on transformational teacher leadership, which was deemed important to assist and develop teachers to lead or co- lead through this time of great change in education. Understanding the difference in leadership scores before and after participation in a teacher leadership professional development academy could assist teachers, administrators, districts, policymakers, and researchers to develop and set expectations for transformational teacher leadership professional development. </p><p> <b>Recommendations.</b> Provide teacher leaders, administrators, superintendents, and pre- service teachers with transformational leadership development on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. Provide opportunities for 360-degree feedback with the use of the Leadership Practices Inventory in conjunction with the use of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. </p><p>

D.Comm. / In the South African context leading multinational companies within mining, automotive, financial and other sectors are faced with the complexity of: uncertain political policies, fluid market dynamics, and market follower status in global relations. In addition, emerging markets are directly affected by capital and structural adjustments in first world economies, as currency flows direct to safe-haven markets under uncertainty. Thus, additional complexities of: currency fluctuations, energy cost increases, implied inflationary spikes, and pending recession become a reality, and have an enormous impact on how organisations manage within the unforeseen complexity that this brings to the local economy. As complex environmental factors beyond organisational boundaries and management’s ability to predict and control, start impacting on an organisation’s material capital flows, this uncertainty will drive leadership to review their current worldview. This researcher argues that this new worldview must be a shift away from a Newtonian-Cartesian paradigm, that through its cause-and-effect scientific base has modelled the world and its structures around a rigid linear approach, that cannot cope within the complexities exerted on the system. It is suggested therefore, by the researcher that the shift in leadership thinking should be towards a different paradigm, built on complexity based models using quantum Einsteinian-Quantum physics as a metaphor. The impact of this shift in paradigm, towards an Einsteinian-Quantum worldview, has an has an implicative effect for organisations in terms of; mental models, subsequent organisational design, the values that support this, the leadership behaviours that are a response to these value sets and the resultant directional quantum leap outcome within a multi-dimensional range of examples including; material (financial), social and spiritual capital aspects of the organisation. This research set out to review the paradigm shift between the Newtonian-Cartesian and Einsteinian-Quantum worldviews with respect to leadership within a South African context.

<p> The literature on childhood learning has shown that numerous factors lead to student achievement. A student must access personal resources to successfully navigate their educational and social world. This study sought to determine if intervention promotes students&rsquo; social, emotional, and behavioral self-regulation, as well as implications for readiness to learn. The study&rsquo;s sample was comprised of 75 kindergarten students in a general education public school setting that received 90 minutes of intervention weekly in their natural classroom environment. The 10-week intervention consisted of direct instruction within the classroom for 30 minutes twice weekly by the teacher and researcher, with three 10-minute &lsquo;check-in&rsquo; periods throughout the week to provide feedback and reinforcement. Several qualitative and quantitative tools were used to analyze the impact of the intervention, including the Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener (SAEBRS), teacher surveys, a post-intervention teacher focus group, home program, researcher&rsquo;s observations, and parent reports. The major findings included a statistically significant difference between pre- and post-test results following intervention. Consistency and teacher support were reported as contributing factors. Teachers, parents, and students indicated that the researcher&rsquo;s lessons and intermittent reinforcement made a significant impact on the positive outcome of the intervention program. The results showed that students demonstrated the use of tools and terminology related to self-regulation in their school and home environments. Additional analysis suggested that three quantitatively identified &ldquo;at risk&rdquo; students, who consistently participated in the home program, were no longer in the at risk range, following intervention. Based on the Grounded Theory Framework, unique components of an effective self-regulation program emerged to provide implications for practice and further research recommendations. </p><p>

<p> Preparing more students for success in college, career, and civic life is of critical importance, particularly for traditionally underserved students. Improvement science represents promising ideas and practices for how to achieve greater outcomes for students, particularly at scale. In this dissertation, two projects were undertaken related to college, career, and civic readiness, one to reduce chronic absenteeism and the other to increase Cal Grant award rates. Using improvement science methodology, chronic absenteeism was reduced by up to 85% across three schools and Cal Grant award rates increased from 35% to 46% across five high schools. These projects were written up according to guidelines for reporting on improvement projects taken from healthcare. </p><p>

<p> The purpose of this study was to determine and analyze evidence of connection between an outperforming nontraditional urban school and minority students&rsquo; high academic achievement. The factors examined were instructional practices, leadership practices and school culture.</p><p> An outperforming nontraditional urban high school was selected based on four criteria: a consecutive graduation rate above the California state average for the last three years, an A-G completion rate above the California state average, a drop-out rate below California state average and a consecutive passing rate for the school&rsquo;s California High School Exit Exam above the California state average for last three years.</p><p> This qualitative study examined organizational practices that narrow the achievement gap at an outperforming nontraditional urban school. Identified in the study are the efforts to address the achievement gap along with the impact the achievement gap had among diverse populations and the solutions to these issues. The study analyzed high school completion rates, various test scores, and A-G course completion to determine outperforming criteria. Data were collected via surveys, staff interviews, document analysis, and classroom and campus observations. The data were triangulated to identify organizational practices that narrow the achievement gap through the lens of instructional practices, leadership practices, and school culture. </p><p> The results of the study addressed the following research questions: (1) what instructional practices exist in outperforming nontraditional schools; (2) what leadership practices exist in outperforming nontraditional urban schools that address the achievement gap; and (3) what is the school culture in outperforming nontraditional urban schools. The study used qualitative methods because the researcher needed to identify ways in which the information was interconnected and the manners in which the three focal points interacted with one another. The study revealed that outperforming nontraditional schools pay special attention to creating a culture that is student centered, where every stakeholder takes into account how any instructional, cultural, and leadership decision will impact the academic outcome of students. In addition, outperforming nontraditional urban schools have sustainable and consistent systems of communication for all stakeholders; a relevant and timely system for offering appropriate professional development for their educators, and a culture that fully supports a career and college ready mentality, where every stake holder has identified themselves as a long-life learner.</p><p>

<p> Report cards and standards-based assessing, grading and reporting continue to be relevant topics of focus for educators. This qualitative study is based on a problem of practice in a school district in northern Illinois that recently implemented standards-based report cards (SBRCs). This study developed while I was a principal of an elementary school during initial implementation of SBRCs. This dissertation expanded from the initial focus on understanding parental perspectives of SBRCs to better understanding the communicative value of SBRCs and professional development that could help parents and teachers. </p><p> The research question that informed this qualitative study is: How do parents perceive the strengths and weaknesses of SBRCs? The parents in this study provided insight about strengths and challenges of SBRCs and explained why different teacher communication during the SBRC process provided them with a more comprehensive understanding of their child&rsquo;s academic performance in school. Effective implementation of SBRCs should maximize comprehensive communication throughout the entire process to enhance parent understanding. Findings from this study can be used by school districts to focus their efforts, knowledge, and professional development on standards-based assessing, grading and reporting that will directly impact the teaching, learning, assessing and communicating in schools.</p><p>