Browsing by Subject "Student Performance"
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Item Effective leadership characteristics for student performance as perceived by high-performing Texas high school principals: a Delphi study(Texas A&M University, 2007-09-17) Young, David EarleThe purpose of this study was to identify leadership characteristics of highperforming Texas high school principals that positively affect student performance. A secondary purpose of the study was to determine the degree of agreement between conceptualizations of leadership presented in existing research and those of successful practitioners. A Delphi panel of sixteen high school principals participated in the study. Over the course of three rounds, the members of the expert panel provided feedback to both the researcher and other members of the panel as to which leadership characteristics they felt were of critical importance to student success. The characteristics presented in the questionnaire were based upon a sound theoretical framework resulting from a thorough review of existing research. At the completion of Round Three, it was decided that consensus had been reached among the members of the panel and the data collection period was ended. Each of the questionnaires used in the study, as well as the relevant statistical analysis and frequency distributions, can be found in the appendices of this document. The major findings of the study affirm the importance of leadership and its positive impact on student achievement. First, there seems to be agreement between the body of research on leadership and the viewpoint of successful practitioners as to which leadership characteristics are essential for student success. Second, vision for goal achievement, response to diversity, and ethical practice head the list of critical leadership attributes for high school principals. Third, leadership characteristics presented in the literature base are, at least in the opinion of the high-performing high school principals involved in this study, comprehensive and are not missing any major components for student success. The conclusions and recommendations of this study could affect the performance of high school principals?????? leadership in school improvement. Its major significance can be found in its potential effect on the daily practice of individuals currently serving as school leaders, the professional growth plans of practicing administrators, and the components and focus of principal preparation programs.Item Student performance and leadership practices of selected elementary school principals: a cohort study(Texas A&M University, 2007-09-17) Arnold, Stacey RaeSchool leadership provides a critical bridge between student success initiatives and their impact on students in Texas schools. This study, which was one of four cohort studies conducted concurrently in Region V Education Service Center (ESC), Texas, examined the relationship between student performance, as measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS), and leadership practices of elementary school principals in Region V ESC schools. The investigation procedures for this study involved an analysis of the responses from principals and site-based decision making (SBDM) committee members from their respective campuses to the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) developed by Kouzes and Posner (2003) which evaluates the use of five identified leadership practices: Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. Student performance information for the participating elementary campuses was obtained from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System database. This study found no linear relationship between perceived leadership practices of elementary principals and the academic success of students as measured by the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). However, a relationship between these variables is strongly supported by the literature. The data were an indication that Region V elementary principals embrace the leadership practices identified by Kouzes and Posner at least moderately (between the 30th and 69th percentile) or at a higher level (70th percentile or above). As a group, the principals in this study rated themselves higher overall in regard to perceived leadership practices than did their observers, but only significantly higher on three of the five individual practices. Principals and their observers agreed that the practice Enable Others to Act was the most frequently noted followed by the practices Model the Way and Encourage the Heart. The practices with the least reported frequency were Challenge the Process and Inspire a Shared Vision. Further analysis of the data showed that the demographic variables of gender, ethnicity, age, and years of experience in the field of education did not have an effect on survey responses of the study participants.Item The Puzzle of Discipline: An Examination of African American Disproportionality in School Discipline and Student Performance(2012-07-16) Butler, Bettie RayThe intent of this study was to systematically investigate the relationship between African American disproportionality in school discipline which is the overrepresentation of students for exclusionary discipline practices (i.e., out-of-school suspensions and/or expulsions) - and student performance. Utilizing official disciplinary records and performance data obtained from the Colorado Department of Education and a single urban school district within the same state, a series of quantitative analyses that included correlations and logistic and multiple regressions, were conducted to determine how out-of-school suspensions and expulsions impact African American students. The premise upon which the present study is based relies heavily on the tenets of Critical Race Theory as it applies to education, which in part asserts that American schools are permeated by racism and that White privilege is used to preserve school inequities through the use of stratification. Given this, it is argued that out-of-school suspensions and expulsions have been used, or rather misused, to perpetuate the disproportionate exclusion of African American students from the classroom for relatively minor offenses; which in some ways, can explain why this group typically suffers from poor student performance. This dissertation was guided by two separate, yet interrelated studies, which posed the following research questions where the first study asks; What factors are important in predicting the likelihood of being suspended and/or expelled from school? and Are suspensions and race correlated? Here, the interest is in exploring the influence of race, class, gender and other possible demographic characteristics, such as school level and behavior role, on exclusionary discipline practices. The second study asks; How does the overrepresentation of African American students for exclusionary sanctions impact student performance? The interest, here, is in identifying the relationship between school suspensions and/or expulsions and its impact on the dropout rate, graduation rate, and performance on high stakes tests. This dissertation study produces two findings that are not only unprecedented; they are cutting-edge and provocative. First, female and elementary students were found to be more likely to face suspension and/or expulsion in comparison to male and secondary students, respectively. Second, by increasing the number of suspended and expelled African American students, school districts improved their overall student performance on high stakes tests. With the contribution of these findings, a paradigmic shift in research and discourse on disproportionality in school discipline is both fitting and warranted.