Thesis advisor: Raquel Muniz / Traditionally, district leaders are the initiators of large-scale reform efforts including the establishment of social emotional learning (SEL) initiatives. However, school-based leaders also bear the responsibility of implementing the programs and practices associated with such district-wide initiatives. While there is a significant body of research on strategies leaders can use during the implementation process, as well as the content of those strategies that enable sensemaking, there is little information about what district and school leaders should do to ensure successful implementation of social emotional learning (SEL) initiatives. Further, no research to date has focused on the manner in which district leaders support school-based leaders as they make sense of a district-wide focus on SEL, and how such a focus on SEL shapes school-based leadership practices. This study is part of a larger qualitative case study about leadership practices that model SEL competencies for adults or, promote the social and emotional learning for teachers and other staff, and the way those leadership practices shape a district and its schools in a Massachusetts public school district. The purpose of this individual study was to examine, through the lens of sensemaking, how district leaders supported school-based leaders as they made sense of a district-wide focus on SEL, how a district-wide focus on SEL shaped school-based leadership practices, and which school-based leadership practices, if any, modeled SEL competencies. Findings indicate that district leaders supported school-based leaders’ sensemaking by articulating a clear mission and goals, providing structures that fostered collaboration, and supporting professional development. However, the school-based leaders’ sensemaking could be deepened through greater opportunities to share their learning through collaboration. School-based leaders acknowledged that a district-wide focus on SEL shaped their leadership practices, namely that SEL serves as the foundation from which they lead. More specifically, all respondents mentioned leadership practices associated with the competencies of social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Implications suggest successful implementation of district-wide SEL initiatives relies on district leaders creating and supporting interactions that will support school-based leaders’ sensemaking of a district-wide focus on SEL. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

This study aimed to provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the Systems Coaching Survey (SCS). Systems coaching is an approach to building capacity among groups of educators to drive educational reform efforts by employing seven interdependent sets of skills (interpersonal communication, data-based problem solving, team facilitation, content knowledge dissemination, leadership, professional learning, evaluation). The SCS was designed to measure educators’ skills to facilitate implementation of a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS). The 41-item survey was piloted nationally in the spring of 2017 by 1,060 educators across 180 schools in six U.S. states who had responsibilities for facilitating MTSS practices in their schools. This study used multilevel confirmatory factor analysis to examine the construct validity and reliability of the tool at the educator and school levels. Results indicated support for seven factors at the educator level representing the seven systems coaching skill sets, and one between-level factor labeled School Context. Congeneric reliability estimates were in the acceptable to high ranges. Implications for future research on the SCS and use of the tool in practice are discussed.

The imprint of spiritual African and Africentric educational leadership is deeply entwined in the struggle over education and educational spaces. Despite this robust and contentious history, research pertaining specifically to spiritual African and Africentric educational leaders is noticeably miniscule within the field of educational leadership. This discrepancy is alarming when one considers how spiritual African and Africentric leaders have been actively involved in shaping the nature and quality of education within various contexts. This dissertation explores the conceptions and experiences of spiritual African and Africentric leaders and the function of spirituality within leaders’ practices toward social justice. Based on qualitative interviews with 10 school- and community-based participants, this research deliberately centres the perspectives of individuals who proclaim the spiritual as a natural and transformative force within their personal and professional lives. Furthermore, the present research study offers an informed understanding of African and Africentric spiritualities within the context of educational leadership for social justice and outlines the meanings, influences and tensions which participants believe to entwine the task of leading. The practice of spiritual African and Africentric leadership arises in opposition to the threat of racialization and against barriers which restrict a more inclusive understanding of education. Narratives construct leadership for social justice as an indigenous and embattled endeavour imbued with tensions, risks and prohibition. Spiritual African and Africentric leaders understand and experience their practice beyond the rudiments of functionality as leaders respectfully enter into the arena of leadership with a concern towards instituting individual, communal and systemic change. Leadership endeavours contest marginalization, initiate inclusive engagement and strategically reconstruct education within a more democratically just space. Moreover, participants depict spiritual African and Africentric leadership as a hopeful and relationally influential undertaking.

The imprint of spiritual African and Africentric educational leadership is deeply entwined in the struggle over education and educational spaces. Despite this robust and contentious history, research pertaining specifically to spiritual African and Africentric educational leaders is noticeably miniscule within the field of educational leadership. This discrepancy is alarming when one considers how spiritual African and Africentric leaders have been actively involved in shaping the nature and quality of education within various contexts. This dissertation explores the conceptions and experiences of spiritual African and Africentric leaders and the function of spirituality within leaders’ practices toward social justice. Based on qualitative interviews with 10 school- and community-based participants, this research deliberately centres the perspectives of individuals who proclaim the spiritual as a natural and transformative force within their personal and professional lives. Furthermore, the present research study offers an informed understanding of African and Africentric spiritualities within the context of educational leadership for social justice and outlines the meanings, influences and tensions which participants believe to entwine the task of leading. The practice of spiritual African and Africentric leadership arises in opposition to the threat of racialization and against barriers which restrict a more inclusive understanding of education. Narratives construct leadership for social justice as an indigenous and embattled endeavour imbued with tensions, risks and prohibition. Spiritual African and Africentric leaders understand and experience their practice beyond the rudiments of functionality as leaders respectfully enter into the arena of leadership with a concern towards instituting individual, communal and systemic change. Leadership endeavours contest marginalization, initiate inclusive engagement and strategically reconstruct education within a more democratically just space. Moreover, participants depict spiritual African and Africentric leadership as a hopeful and relationally influential undertaking.