Browsing by Subject "School improvement"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3

"Doing data" : addressing capacity for data use through professional learning
(2011-05) Jimerson, Jo Beth; Wayman, Jeffrey C.; Reyes, Pedro; Holme, Jennifer J.; Olivarez, Ruben D.; Treisman, Philip U.; Pursch, Victoria
While school districts across the nation are pressed to make better and more frequent use of a range of educational data, they have few resources that help guide the process of improving educator capacity for data use. To date, there have been few efforts to examine the intersection of professional learning and data use to better guide efforts at improving educator data use capacity. In order to learn more about how school districts attempt to meet educator needs in terms of data-related learning, and how they use policies to approach this issue, I examined the intersection of data use and professional learning in three school districts. I used a qualitative case study methodology to examine these issues, and relied on interview data from n=110 individuals across the three districts, as well as document analysis in each district, to better understand the existing structures in each context and how those structures came to be. I also utilized random sampling for some focus groups, and used a peer nomination process for other focus groups, which allowed me to identify educators thought by their colleagues to be “exemplar” data users. I found that across the districts, educators at all levels articulated with remarkable consistency a range of skills and knowledge they said were essential to good data use. Also, educators were consistent in describing the kinds of professional learning structures they thought best supported their needs as learners. However, in most cases, district structures fell short of these ideals. The districts rarely codified expectations related to the structure of professional learning or to data-related skills and knowledge in formal policy, and planning related to data use tended to be fragmented among many departments and leaders. As a result, there were many assumptions that “someone else” or another department was providing support in terms of data-related professional learning, while many times data use-related learning simply fell between the cracks. Informed by existing research and the results of this study, I posited a model aimed at supporting policymakers as they engage in planning for data-related professional learning.
Implications for school accountability : the impact of the professional service provider on building leadership capacity
(2018-05) Rocha, Marisol; Olivárez,, Rubén D.; Cantu, Norma; Green, Terrance; Villerot, Annette
The role of the campus principal has presented enormous and escalating challenges with the ever-increasing demands of academic accountability coupled with public scrutiny in the era of accountability that only continues to heighten with the new accountability rating system. Expecting swift and dramatic improvements overnight, tensions within the improvement required (IR) school organization tend to be evident, as principals are ill-equipped to transform a campus under local and state mandates. Building organizational capacity in schools with exacerbated achievement gaps among diverse student groups requires effective principal leadership. This study examined the role of the external Professional Service Provider coach within the context of improving school achievement through principal and campus capacity building. The multiple-case qualitative study employed data collected through semi-structured interviews, documents related to the study, and field notes. Data were subjected to several levels of descriptive analysis, whereby the emerging categories became the basis for organization and conceptualization of the data. Findings identified that principals of schools identified as improvement required benefited from working with an external coach. All schools noted the value in the PSP working to grow not only their skillset, but rather, the skillset of the entire leadership team. This approach allowed for a greater amount of whole school buy in, as a wide scope of people were coached either directly by the PSP, or by a leader on the campus. The consistency in the data showed IR campuses were found without steady, school wide systems and lacked a sense of focus. With the PSP, leadership teams were able to narrow their focus and establish systems that would sustain the passage of time. While the difference in expertise level was addressed as a major factor when selecting a PSP, no one was aware on a clear plan for improving the training provided to these coaches. Data varied on the amount of support and knowledge that was provided by the district office. This study illuminated the need for principal coaching through the use of an experienced external coach to support the growth of an improvement required school toward academic success
Leadership in school improvement networks : social network analysis of principal ego-networks
(2021-05-06) O'Reilly, Sissi Dinh; Childs, Joshua; Green, Terrance L.; Jabbar, Huriya; Bixler, Richard P.; Meredith, Julie
This research seeks to understand and interpret how principals sustain school improvement programs with interorganizational networks after program dissolution and exogenous changes through the analysis of the development of culture, communication, and leadership behaviors in a network context using qualitative research methods and social network analysis of principal ego-networks. Social network theory is applied to analyze how principals sustain large-scale school-improvement and implement whole-school reform models that collaborate with outside organizations after disruptions have occurred in the school community, such as exogenous crises or funding dissipation. Key findings of these social network analyses show that principals engage their networks differently to sustain communications, maintain interactions, problem-solve, and lead school improvement when changes occur in the system or after program termination. This study contributes to the literature on school leadership and school reform by examining five principal ego-networks after the initial full school improvement implementation process, analyzing these different school improvement contexts using interorganizational networks, sharing potential institutional constraints and limitations of external partnerships after program end, and recommending approaches for sustainability or replication of school improvement implementation for future reform efforts.