Browsing by Subject "School reform"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

A case study to identify the management concepts and strategies used to improve student performance in a Texas urban public school district
(2009-08) Juárez, Antonio, Ed. D.; Olivárez, Rubén; Heilig, Julian V.; Anderson, Urton; Jones, Cathy; Rosales, Roxanne
Transformation is change—especially under challenging circumstances—that is significant, systematic, and sustained, resulting in high levels of achievement for all students in all settings (Caldwell, 2006). Urban education is the primary focus and target of the school reform movement. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) includes explicit requirements to ensure that students served by Title I are given the same opportunity achieve to high standards and are held to the same high expectations as all other students in each state. Urban public school superintendents confront social and economic challenges unique to urban districts and are under pressure to meet NCLB’s accountability standards and mandated policies. This study started with a broad question about effective urban public school superintendent management concepts and strategies. The study was designed and conducted to (a) identify the prevailing management concepts and strategies initiated by the superintendent to attain organizational clarity and effectiveness in improving student performance; (b) examine the degree to which the superintendent’s leadership and management concepts and strategies were understood, supported, and embraced by key members of the organization; and (c) examine how the management concepts and strategies used by the superintendent align with a business management concept that may be useful to district leaders and administrators seeking a concept or strategy to sustain organizational change. This researcher used a single-case study to examine the management concepts and strategies used by an urban public school district superintendent. This study was conducted in the largest urban public school system in Texas. The superintendent, 6 members of the district’s leadership team, and five principals were interviewed and answered online questionnaires. A board member was also interviewed. Finally, student achievement data were examined. The study found the superintendent implemented management leadership concepts and strategies that prevailed over the social and economic barriers faced by urban students. Use of these strategies increased and sustained student performance. Despite limitations, this study opens opportunities for further research in management leadership. Opportunities include further research within this urban district, outside the school district, or on each management leadership concept or strategy identified in this study.
The effect of the policy of reconstitution on student achievement in Texas
(2015-12) Cumpton, Gregory, 1972-; Lincove, Jane Arnold; King, Chris; Reyes, Pedro; Stolp, Chandler; Triesman, Uri
The failure of schools across the country to ensure students meet federal, state, and community standards continuously plagues the education system. More than a quarter of all schools in the nation failed to meet federal requirements in 2007, with 38% failing to do so in 2010. By 2011 that figure rose to nearly 50%. Failing schools ostensibly produce failing students who experience poorer outcomes than their peers including reduced earnings over their lifetime. A potential solution to failing schools is to reconstitute them. School reconstitution requires all staff at a failing school to reapply for their positions with the stated aim of improving student achievement. Started as a court-mandated desegregation action in San Francisco in 1983, school reconstitution quickly spread across the country in the 1990s. Incorporated into local and state accountability systems, scholars estimate thousands of schools reconstituted between 1983 and 2011. Despite its prevalence, information regarding how reconstitution began, spread, and made its way into Texas statute is scarce and theories related to why reconstitution should improve student performance lack cohesion. Even worse, little to no quantitative evidence demonstrates whether reconstitution improves student achievement. This dissertation takes advantage of a Texas law passed in 2003 mandating that schools failing to meet state standards for two years in a row must reconstitute. Estimated effects of reconstitution on student achievement apply state-wide student and school data between 2003 and 2011. Several methods, including regression discontinuity and student-level fixed-effects determine whether reconstitution improves student achievement and if developed theories explain this improvement. Discussion includes national, state, and local policy recommendations.
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.
Literacy teaching practices and school reform : an ethnographic study of teachers' relationship with reform
(2012-05) Zoch, Melody Jin Patterson; Mosley Wetzel, Melissa; Bomer, Randy; Maloch, Beth; Hoffman, James V; Schallert, Diane
This ethnographic study examines the relationship between teachers’ literacy teaching practices and the pressures created from large-scale reform and high-stakes testing. The participants were staff members at one elementary school that primarily serves Latino students, with a history of low-test scores. Primarily drawing on field notes of classroom observations and meetings as well as interview transcripts, this study demonstrates how testing infiltrated literacy teaching at the school and classroom level. Organizational decisions were made to support test preparation in 3rd-5th grades, but resulted in uneven support for teachers and students in the form of monetary resources and how support staff were used. In terms of bilingual education, informed decisions determined students’ language of instruction and testing, but otherwise received little attention. At the classroom level, test preparation infused daily literacy instruction despite a general consensus among teachers that teaching to the test was against their own beliefs. The subsequent literacy teaching practices resulted in narrow definitions of literacy reduced to disconnected skills in isolation without clear connections to meaningful uses of literacy. The ways in which test preparation affected the classroom life could be seen in the ways teachers organized their class schedules to accommodate test preparation, the specific strategies test-taking strategies they taught, and the use of assessments to track student progress and make instructional decisions. While teaching to the test presented challenges for their beliefs, a minority of teachers found ways to make their practices as theoretically defensible as possible while still supporting students with test preparation, such as through the use of high quality children’s literature. Some teachers also participated in conferences and organizations outside of the school as a way of extending their teaching and the curriculum. The findings from this study expand on what we know about teachers’ response to reform and testing because of their ability to respond with agency in a context that otherwise positions them as less-than-professionals. These teachers offer a heartening example of what we really need—proactive decision makers in the classroom who can navigate the demands of working in a high-stakes testing culture while still promoting quality literacy instruction.
Measuring teacher effectiveness through meaningful evaluation : how can reform models apply to general education and special education teachers?
(2014-12) Sledge, Ann Stewart; Olivárez, Rubén
While teacher quality is recognized as a critical component in school reform, and the pursuit of new teacher evaluation systems has gained national attention, the question of whether proposed teacher assessment models meet the needs of special education teachers has gone largely unnoticed. Current efforts to design teacher evaluation processes that accurately distinguish between effective and ineffective teachers must take into account the difficulties of using new, innovative evaluation systems to appraise teachers who serve students with disabilities. Important differences in the roles, expertise, and circumstances in which special education teachers carry out their responsibilities result in challenges related to the use of observation protocols in evaluating instructional practices, obtaining valid measures of student progress, and understanding the relevance of teacher credentials (i.e., degrees earned and certification) in the special education setting. Through this qualitative research dissertation, the researcher sought to gain insight into the perceptions and experiences of special education teachers and administrators to better understand (a) the relationship between teacher evaluation and teacher effectiveness; (b) the ways in which educators approach the challenges of applying teacher evaluation systems for special education teachers; and (c) the ways in which teacher evaluation processes support the professional growth and development of special education teachers.
A statistical analysis of the effects of project-based learning on student high school and college outcomes
(2015-05) Craig, Tara Theresa; Marshall, Jill Ann; Azevedo , Flavio; Beretvas, Susan N; Marder, Michael; Riegle-Crumb, Catherine
This dissertation research study is an analysis of the effects of project-based learning on a cohort of high school students’ achievement on mathematics and science standardized tests and graduation rates. The study also investigates college enrollment and first year grade point averages (GPA) for students taught solely through project-based instructional methods in high school. In the 21st century, STEM fields dominate our work force, but there is a decline in interest and persistence towards these fields that can be traced back to high school achievement in mathematics. The people that are choosing and prepared for STEM majors and careers are not representative of the US population, as they are lacking ethnic and gender diversity. The underlying premise is that inquiry-based teaching practices engage and motivate students leading to increased learning; however this premise is not currently fully supported with empirical research. This research compares students that attended a high school that teaches all courses through project-based learning with a matched control group of students. I first analyzed the demographic makeup of students that chose to apply to Manor New Tech, a STEM-focused, PBL school. Then, I developed multiple linear regression models that allowed me to determine that students attending the PBL school performed as well as the control group on math standardized exams and significantly better on one of the science standardized exams. Further analysis showed that ethnic and gender achievement gaps on the standardized assessments were maintained when students attended the PBL school. Similarly, students that attended the PBL school as likely to graduate high school. Comparing the PBL school with a more affluent school that also teaches all courses through PBL showed that graduates from the PBL school of focus in this research were significantly more likely to enroll in 2-year institutions of higher education and just as likely to enroll in 4-year and private institutions in Texas as the more affluent school. Finding that attendance at MNTH does not harm students’ standardized test performance or graduation rates could imply that being taught through PBL does not enhance high school and college outcomes. It could also imply that students taught at the PBL school, MNTH, are not experiencing authentic PBL, or conversely that students attending the comparison school, MHS, are receiving instruction through project-based methods as well. Lastly, the standardized assessments used to measure achievement may not be sensitive to some higher order skill development that may occur when taught through inquiry-based methods. Future research plans are to create new achievement measures that will capture more robust learning than traditional standardized tests. Using these instruments, further analysis of difference in students’ performance when they are taught through inquiry methods will be conducted.
Stress and burnout of principals who lead historically underperforming schools
(2022-05-05) Wilson, Angel S.; Reyes, Pedro, 1954-; DeMatthews, David; Cruz, Paul; Adams, Felicia
Principals face high levels of insistent stress in the workplace. Consistent with the research, major principal stressors include the inability to control the day (Grady, 2004; Whan & Thomas, 1996), managing the needs and traumas of others (DeMatthews et al., 2019; Sprang et al., 2011), responding to pressures to perform with high stakes testing accountability (Boyland, 2011; Combs et al., 2009), balancing managerial duties (Catano & Stronge, 2006; Hallinger, 2003), and leading instructionally (Barkman, 2015; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005; Mahfouz, 2020). Aside from the teacher, the principal is one of the most influential factors for student academic outcomes and optimal success. Given the current academic state of many historically underperforming schools, there is a high demand for rapid, sustainable change on top of the already strained workload of the principal. Consequently, research trends reveal that principal turnover rates are exponentially high in chronically underperforming campuses (Armenta & Reno, 1997; Pounder & Merrill, 2011). With a growing number of exiting principals, specifically in turnaround schools, there is a dire need to retain and support principals. Principal effectiveness significantly impacts student achievement; therefore, it is critical for the field to understand best practices to sustain the role. This study examined the impact of stress and burnout on principals who lead historically underperforming schools. This study expanded on current research by identifying major stressors that principals face in the workplace and best practices for stress management. This study provided contributions to the literature by discovering the meaningful role that leadership teams play in helping the school principal to manage stress and burnout. This study also uncovered new principal stressors related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings of this study suggest that district leadership, secondary trauma, and state accountability pressures contribute significantly to the stress level of the principal. Findings indicate that principals can effectively mitigate stress and burnout through daily personal commitments. And finally, this study provides recommendations to school districts on how to best support the mental health and wellbeing of principals through strategic planning, redefining the principal supervisor role, and prioritization of social emotional competencies for principal professional development.