Browsing by Subject "Principals"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Access and use of meaningful research through transformational leadership: a collective-case study of public school principals
    (Texas Tech University, 2007-08) Clinesmith, Cynthia; Klinker, JoAnn F.; Lesley, Mellinee; Walker, Bobbie
    Purpose: The transformational leader through contextual applications of learning influences student achievement. This study used the framework of transformational leadership (Leithwood, 2003) to examine principal access to research-based learning supporting leadership growth. Methodology: In a collective-case study, interviews with thirty public school principals revealed current leadership continuous learning experiences and the perceived availability of scholarly research. Using grounded theory analysis, the data findings evolved through a symbolic interactionist orientation. Findings: Four significant themes emerged: urgency, insecurity, community, and commitment. Principals engaged continuous learning, but demonstrated a desire for guidance toward identifying and accessing relevant quality research. Contrary to the more modernist principal assessment model, multiple paradigms of learning and application surfaced as essential to current principal access. Implications: Research informs practice when available in time efficient and contextually relevant formats. Tangible recommendations including continuous learning models and streamlined research dissemination offer guidance for the broader educational community to collaboratively support varied access formats for leadership growth.
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    Development of non-academic college-readiness skills: The roles of administrators, educators, and students
    (2013-05) Sadikova, Alime; Mendez-Morse, Sylvia; Valle, Fernando; Price, Margaret A.
    Students’ transition to college starts in high school and continues throughout their first year of college. College readiness is not only measured by high school grades and scores on standardized tests. Their college readiness also depends on their non-academic experiences, and this readiness should meet current college expectations and rigor. However, if high school administrators, counselors, and teachers fail to stay updated on frequently changing college culture, expectations, and requirements, high school students will not learn the non-academic skills that are equally crucial for academic college success. College administrators, advisors, and professors should also support college freshmen with helpful information about college life, encourage their immersion in that life, inform them about available resources, and, overall, help them become successful college graduates and adults. The purpose of this study is to identify the non-academic college readiness skills and knowledge that are essential for students to develop in high school so that they can apply to and succeed in a four-year college. The study will also investigate how educators, including secondary and postsecondary administrators, faculty, and staff, can help students develop these skills and knowledge. The qualitative methodology of this study uses a case study approach. The data will be collected through interviews, observations, and documents and records. The results will be interpreted in terms of Coleman’s social capital theory. Three high school students, a principal, a counselor, and a teacher, as well as three college students, a university program coordinator, an undergraduate advisor, and a professor, will be purposefully selected to participate in this study. The study intends to increase understanding of how high school seniors and college freshmen think about their college readiness: how they perceive and develop the non-academic skills that are crucial for college and how these skills affect their academic success. The study will also inform high school administrators, counselors, and teachers about what skills to develop in students while they are in high school so that they are better prepared socially and mentally for college. This study will also inform college administrators, undergraduate advisors, and professors who work with freshmen college students about how they can support freshmen to successfully transition into their new environment and become acclimated to college culture. Thus, this study intends to bring together the opinions, advice, and concerns of all the stakeholders in the college readiness process and suggest solutions regarding how to make that process successful for everyone.
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    Disrupting complacency in disadvantaged high school students : can principal and teacher pedagogical partnerships develop critical consciousness?
    (2010-08) Halx, Mark D.; Young, Michelle D.; Reyes, Pedro; Sharpe, J., Edwin R.; Gooden, Mark A.; De Lissovoy, Noah
    This study is an exploration of the possibility of pedagogical partnership between low socioeconomic public high school principals and their classroom teachers for the purpose of advancing critical thinking skills and critical consciousness development in their students. This study will explore the viability of these partnerships through the perspectives of associate superintendents, principals, and teachers. The exploration will seek to determine the participants’ willingness to partner pedagogically, their readiness to advance critical thinking and critical consciousness development in their students, and their perception of district and state policies that might help or stand in the way of such development.
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    Implementing effective school practices for secondary English language learners : implications for leaders
    (2013-05) Hester, Debra Cantu; Cantú, Norma V., 1954-
    In 1999, Texas Legislature mandated the Student Success Initiative to ensure all eighth grade students are on grade level in reading and mathematics. Although progress is evident, the achievement gap for English language learners remains. The purpose of this case study was to explore effective school practices that lead to closing the achievement gap. This qualitative study applies the two core functions of leadership for exercising influence and providing direction to answer the research question: How do the core functions of school leadership practices for implementing the Student Success Initiative requirements vary between English language learners and non-English language learners in high and low-performing middle schools? The comparison between the high-performing school and low-performing school brought forth key findings and identifies school practices for supporting secondary English language learners. The key findings for exercising influence on teachers were: 1) Effective school practices that influence teacher knowledge on how to identify students and their needs include: a) conducts a needs assessment.; b) analyze data; c) create differentiated ESL programs, d) place diverse groups of ELLs in differentiated ESL programs. 2) Effective school practices to influence teachers how to intervene include: a) accept teacher input and follow through on requests when planning interventions, b) target intervention needs; c) create differentiated interventions. 3) Effective school practices to influence teachers how to monitor include: a) analyze multiple types of data, b) measure student reading growth; c) measure student language proficiency, d) conduct walkthroughs to observe students. The key findings for providing direction to teachers established the following practices: 4) Effective school practices to provide direction to identify students and their needs include, a) develop and implement a school wide intervention plan, b) create a master schedule to implement differentiated ESL programs; c) model how to disaggregate data, d) develop and implement an individual plan for ELLs. 5) Effective school practices to provide direction to intervene include: a) assign ESL teacher to intervention groups, b) use data to drive intervention planning, c) measure growth in language and literacy, d) provide daily interventions, e) integrate language and literacy interventions in lessons. 6) Effective school practices to provide direction to teachers for monitoring include: a) measure growth of literacy and language development, b) triangulate multiple types of data, c) review intervention lessons during walkthroughs, e) provide daily interventions specific to student needs.
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    The influence of leadership coaching as perceived by secondary school principals of title I campuses in Texas
    (2012-05) Greenwalt, Michael Wayne; Gooden, Mark A.; Ovando, Martha N.; Cantu, Norma V.; Garza, Ruben; Pringle, Pat
    While various systems of support and professional development are in place for teachers, there remains a distinct void when it comes to these same opportunities for beginning and especially, experienced principals. An emerging form of assistance for campus principals is leadership coaching: a confidential relationship between a professional coach and principal focused on capacity building and the provision of time and support for the school leader to thoughtfully reflect, plan, problem solve, and establish and achieve significant goals. Leadership coaching is an investment in campus principals, which seems to fill an immediate need for them to experience relevant, ongoing, job-embedded, and individualized professional development. This multiple-case qualitative study, using a grounded theory approach, was framed by the research questions: What are the experiences of middle and high school principals participating in leadership coaching and what benefits result from principal participation in leadership coaching? Through the constant comparative analysis of individual and collective data obtained through semi-structured interviews, observations, and documental evidence of principals participating in leadership coaching, principals’ perceptions of their leadership coaching experience and any benefits were revealed. Overall, findings suggested that participation in leadership coaching was perceived positively and led to principals taking time to pause from their stressful roles and responsibilities to reflect and plan. Principals described factors that accounted for initially connecting with their coaches, such as client readiness and the coach’s experience, as well as the conditions established by the coach that helped build and sustain a healthy coaching relationship: safety, flexibility, action-orientation, and skillful guidance. Additionally, principals reported personal, professional, and organizational benefits resulting from leadership coaching. Personal benefits included better self-care, reduced isolation, increased self-confidence, and heightened self-awareness. On a professional level, coaching resulted in the generation of plans/ideas, improved communication, individualized professional development, and an enhanced sense of efficacy. And finally, organizational benefits were identified in areas of staffing, solutions, student performance, and the extension of coaching to others.
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    Spirituality in the Praxis of Educational Leadership: Four public school principals� perspectives on leading through spirituality
    (Texas Tech University, 2009-05) Ramirez, Lisa Ruiz; Mendez-Morse, Sylvia; Johnson, Margaret; Price, Margaret A.
    The purpose of this exploratory case study was to identify the role of spirituality in the work of four public school principals. The study investigated the evidence of spirituality in the principals� work as it related to eight key principles presented in Houston and Sokolow�s (2006), The Spiritual Dimension of Leadership. Research Questions 1. How do educators come to be public school principals leading through spirituality? 2. What are the lived work experiences of principals that provide evidence of spirituality as they relate to eight spiritual principles? 3. How do principals understand the meaning of spirituality in their work? Research Theoretical Framework The research questions explored the role of spirituality in the work of four public school principals through a qualitative methodology. Specifically, the research project employed an exploratory case study approach. The case study was not actually a data-gathering technique, but rather a methodological approach that incorporated a number of data-gathering measures (Hamsel, Dufour, & Fortin, 1993). The scientific benefit of the case study method lies in its ability to open the way for discoveries (Shaughnessy & Zechmeister, 1990). The use of the case study strategy allowed for exploration of multiple views of reality in a personal format (Merriam, 1998). The conceptual framework that guided this study included research from educational leadership and spirituality as it related to the eight key principles to leading more effectively presented in The Spiritual Dimension of Leadership (Houston, & Sokolow, S.L., 2006). Research Methods Purposive sampling was used to select the principals for this study. The participants studied were comprised of four public school principals nominated by colleagues. This qualitative case study utilized three different qualitative data collection methods: (1) three interviews, (2) one focus group, and (3) document gathering. Dolbeare and Shuman (1982) designed a series of three interviews that were used to frame the interviews used in this study. The first interview established the context of the participants� history with principalship and spirituality. The second interview allowed participants to reconstruct the details of their experience in leading through spirituality within the context in which those experiences occurred and as those experiences related to the eight spiritual principles. Finally, the third interview encouraged the participants to reflect on the meaning of spirituality in their work. Denzin and Lincoln (1994, p.365) state that Merton et al. coined the term "focus group" in 1956 to apply to a situation in which the interviewer asks group members very specific questions about a topic after considerable research has already been completed. Kreuger defined a focus group as a "carefully planned discussion designed to obtain perceptions in a defined area of interest in a permissive, non-threatening environment" (1988, p.18). The focus group for this study was conducted after all four participants had completed their three interviews. The focus group was tape recorded and transcribed verbatim. Other documents in the form of an electronic journal, written journal or artifacts were also obtained from each participant. The researcher provided several journal prompts that were explicitly based on spiritual principles from which the participants chose three to write on. The participants were not restricted by the prompts as they were able to submit their own. The participants were also encouraged to contribute additional entries to the journal if they felt so inclined. The document data consisted of excerpts from journal submissions, drawings, and letters that both recorded and preserved the participants� voice. Once the data were gathered, the researcher stored, managed, interpreted, abstracted, and discovered themes in the data by coding. Due to the large amount of data that was gathered, a variety of tools were used for the actual analysis. The researcher followed a standard set of analytic activities recommended by Berg (2001) arranged in a general order of sequence for the data analysis. The researcher used the N6 (NUD*IST 6) software to assist with the coding and analysis of all data. Data analysis for this study was conducted simultaneously with data collection, data interpretation, and narrative reporting writing. In analyzing and describing a case, the researcher constructed each case within its own setting. The setting for all cases was broadly conceptualized in public schools; however the researcher narrowed the description of the physical location and the demographics of each site to provide the context of each participants� work site. The case description contains the facts about the case through this narrative description. The final step in the analysis took place when the researcher attempted to make sense of the data and provided an interpretation of data. Generalizations were expressed in terms of theories and constructs that exist in the literature but were also framed by the researcher�s personal views. Findings The findings of this study of the role of spirituality in the work of four public school principals indicate that for these four principals the definition of spirituality was heavily impacted by the shaping elements of their early lives. The shaping elements that emerged were family dynamics, school experiences, personal dispositions, pivotal life events and primary influences. All four principals were able to provide vivid, pertinent lived work experiences as they related to the eight spiritual principles. Of the eight principles discussed, the principle of openness emerged as being the most critical: the key to each of their individual leadership styles was heavily contingent on in-depth self reflection, self- awareness and relationship-with-self in order to then build functional relationships with all members of their school community including students, parents, staff, and colleagues. True to the principle of holistic perspective, each principle was viewed as a part of the whole and was deemed necessary and crucial to the continued leadership of each principal. The meaning of leading through spirituality varied with each participant as each participant had connected their spirituality to different sources; however, many common themes did arise from the purpose of leading through spirituality. One key theme was the recognition, development and utilization of a spiritual filter. All participants used a spiritual filter as a basis for decision-making and as an informed framework for their leadership. The negative effects of leading through spirituality ranged from misunderstanding and stereotyping of leading through spirituality, attacks on leadership style, increased vulnerability, isolation, and overwhelming self-imposed pressure. The positive effects of leading through spirituality ranged from obtainment of strength, courage, wisdom, stability, and an increase in the communication skills of listening and speaking through relationship building. Additionally, the participants viewed as a positive effect, the overall implications leading through spirituality has had on the school community and on school curriculum. All participants expressed a strong desire to be connected to other principals leading through spirituality as they viewed it as necessary in order to continue working in schools and being able to survive their self.
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    The hidden roles of the school librarian
    (2017-04-14) Novotny, Rebecca Maria; Polnick, Barbara; Lesesne, Teri; Perry, Karin; Lunenburg, Frederick
    Purpose The purpose of this mixed methods study was to define the roles of school librarians as perceived by librarians and principals in regard to the ALA/AASL Standards for the Initial Preparation of School Librarians (2010). This study was designed to explore the perceptions of librarians and principals on the role of the librarian in the school and library. The views of librarians and principals were explored on how the library enhances student achievement. Method A mixed methods approach was used to learn the perceptions of the librarians and principals on the role of the librarian. The study was conducted in a school district in Texas. All of the principals and librarians in the district were invited to participate. The survey was sent to 57 librarians and 23 principals. The data was collected using a survey that was administered through the online tool SurveyMonkey. The survey consisted of twenty-one questions that were a combination of Likert scale and open-ended questions. Findings The librarians rated their library programs as good, but with room for improvement under the standards. When the librarians were asked to define their roles in their own words, they defined themselves as librarians, teachers, leaders, and managers. When asked how they believed that their principals view the role of the librarian, many thought that they were viewed as clerks and support staff. Some of the librarians stated that their principals saw them as teachers and literacy leaders. The librarians felt that their library programs enhance student achievement, but that more support would allow them to enhance student learning even more. The principals rated their library programs and librarians as excellent under the standards. When asked to define the role of the librarian in their own words, the principals called them literacy advocates, cheerleaders, team players. When the principals were asked to define the role of the librarian in the school, they stated teacher, leader, and literacy advocate. The principals felt that the library enhanced student achievement, and the librarians support student learning by encouraging reading as well as teaching skills that reinforce what is learned in the classroom.
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