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Mission Possible: Collaborative Practice Promoting Student Success
Get PDFEducators working with underserved populations of students seek strategies that promote student engagement and success. Relationship-focused, collaborative practices can provide a framework to promote student success. In this study, I evaluated the program Individualized Student Success Plans used in five charter high schools whose focus was working with underserved students. I surveyed and interviewed administrators, teachers, and support personnel about the implementation practices of the program. This research study yielded recommendations for the effective implementation of a schoolwide initiative to promote active student engagement through positive adult-to-student mentorship
Assessing the Relationship Between Mandatory Faculty Development for Online Career College Instructors and Transformative Learning
Get PDFOnline teaching and learning has become a primary focal point for higher education administrators. Institutions have focused their strategic plans to maximize opportunities to grow their campuses, through distance education. A consistent issue that has surfaced with distance education initiatives is teacher preparation for online education. The issue is further compounded in proprietary institutions that may have limited resources and guidance for structuring effective faculty development programs. It is beneficial for faculty program developers to implement adult learning concepts into their courses to improve the overall training transfer for instructors. Transformative learning is an adult learning theory that focuses on the transformation that learners experience when they acquire new information that enables them to critically reflect on their thinking and change their perspective. This qualitative research study focuses on the relationship between mandatory faculty development for proprietary online instructors and transformative learning. Through extensive data collection, including surveys and interviews, this study indicates that mandatory faculty development can produce transformative learning experiences for proprietary school instructors
STANDARDS-BASED GRADING MODEL: THE EFFECTIVENESS OF FEEDBACK IN DEVELOPING 21ST-CENTURY LEARNER ATTRIBUTES
No full textThe Common Core State Standards (CCSS) present clear academic expectations; however, research shows that students are still not well equipped with essential learning, literacy and life skills to succeed in school and the workplace. It is an uneasy task to prepare students for “lifelong learning and active citizenship” (Wagner, 2014, p. 14). There is an increasing need to provide objective, consistent, and meaningful feedback and a grading policy that focuses on student learning. This dissertation examines which feedback strategies in a Standards-Based Grading (SBG) environment from teachers’ perspectives are most effective in cultivating self-directed learners. The study evaluates the power and efficacy of feedback in developing the 21st-century learner attributes: thinking, action and life skills. The research also focuses on identifying a policy that will best support the district’s SBG practices and language by including the implementation of feedback guiding principles that address the advancement of students’ ability to self-monitor, self-assess, self-regulate, and self-reflect.
The participants in my research engaged in semi-structured interviews, observations, surveys and questionnaires, and reflective memos. Results revealed a need for changes in teaching and learning, assessment and measuring learning, and teacher development. Strategies and actions to accomplish the organizational change around the themes that emerged include: Design and implement a framework for 21st-century learning. Establish a clear framework for a comprehensive system of evaluating 21st-century skills. Build capacity through robust professional development for all teachers for designing and delivering best feedback practices
Reconciling Critical Theory and Spirituality in Educational Leadership
Get PDFThis paper showcases how spiritual engagement with critical awareness helps to bring about reforms at school being comprehensive, just, and inclusive as far as possible. It further looks for the reconciliation of spirituality and criticality so as to deconstruct deep seated leadership myths via dimensions of critical spirituality, namely critical self-reflection, deconstructive interpretation, performative creativity, transformative action, and relational self and autoethnography. Reconciling spirituality with critical perspective inspires to have a critical and holistic understanding of engaged spirituality and leadership theorising critical spirituality as an ontological and epistemic praxis to connect inner world to the outer social reality and materiality. It appears that adherence to spirituality through critical engagement helps to create a vibrant educational leadership space issuing a sense of optimism, utopian envisioning, challenging the taken for granted assumptions, and embracing spiritual diversity
Utility of the Motivation to Change Lifestyle and Health Behaviors for Dementia Risk Reduction Scale (MCLHB-DRR) Based on a North American Sample
Get PDFAs the population ages, the prevalence rates of dementia continue to increase. Without a cure or promising treatment for dementia, the best course of lowering the prevalence rates of dementia is through preventative measures. Through an electronic survey, the study utilized the MCLHB-DRR scale to determine whether (1) gender, age, educational background, and socioeconomic status will impact the motivational factors to change lifestyle and health behaviors to reduce the risk of developing dementia and (2) direct experiences with individuals that have a dementia diagnosis are likely to impact one\u27s motivational factors to change lifestyle and health behaviors to reduce the risk of developing dementia. In the final sample of 466, the analysis revealed several statistically significant relationships between demographic information and the MCLHB-DRR scale. Specifically, (1) males report greater susceptibility to dementia than females, while females perceive more significant barriers to change; (2) adults over the age of 40 perceive greater susceptibility to developing dementia, middle-aged adults perceive greater severity of dementia, older adults have the lowest barriers to change and younger adults have the lowest general health motivation; (3) those with a middle-range annual household income have greater perceived susceptibility and perceive more barriers to change; (4) those with a family history of dementia perceive greater susceptibility, severity, and cues to action; (5) individuals that have experience as a caregiver for someone with dementia perceived greater susceptibility and cues to action. The results imply significant demographic information that can be beneficial for clinicians to be aware of in order to educate patients on dementia prevention. Also, those with experiences of dementia show greater cues to action and have an increase in motivation for making changes to reduce the risk of developing dementia
Essential Components to an Effective Instructional Coaching Program
No full textTo build collective capacity within organizations, schools and districts across the world have implemented coaching as an effective method for systemic reform. Many schools invest a great deal of time and money in professional learning for instructional coaching. With these investments comes the responsibility to design systems and processes with the greatest potential to improve organizations, classroom instruction, and ultimately, student achievement. Implementing an instructional coaching program with coaches to support our new teachers will lead us to achieving our efforts toward building collective capacity in our school
An Analysis of Early Career Educator Experiences and the Impact of Teacher Recruitment Initiatives, Induction Programs, and Retention Efforts in One School District
Get PDFThe K-12 public education system faces a teacher shortage dilemma of unprecedented proportions. At the onset of the school year, out-of-field teachers, underqualified teachers, or long-term substitutes often fill instructional vacancies, causing many students to begin the school year with uncertainty. Recruiting, training, and retaining highly qualified teachers is critical to student success. The purpose of this study was to analyze early career educator experiences and the impact of teacher recruitment initiatives, induction programs, and retention efforts in one school district, explore common practices in recruitment, induction, and retention in other school districts, and develop strategies and actions to mitigate the teacher shortage. The context of this inquiry was a mid-sized public school district in the United States. The methodology included surveys and interviews with district personnel, current early career educators, and former early career educators who left the profession in their first three years of teaching. My study included qualitative data that measured the efficacy of support systems in place for current and former early career educators, as well as the contributing factors that caused the former early career educators to leave the profession. I used these data to propose solutions to increase the efficacy of teacher support initiatives and keep quality teachers in the classroom
The Impact of Organizational Climate on Organizational Creativity in Educational Institutions
Get PDFThe present study aimed to investigate the impact of organizational climate on organizational creativity based on the perceptions of teachers employed in secondary education institutions. The study sample included 275 teachers assigned with the cluster sampling method. “Organizational Creativity Scale” and “School Climate Scale” were employed to collect the study data. Descriptive and hierarchical regression analyses were used to analyze the study data. The study findings demonstrated that organizational climate affects organizational creativity and sub-dimensions. It was found that organizational climate affects administrative creativity the most and individual creativity the least. Organizational climate dimensions that affected organizational creativity were leadership and interaction, and sincerity. Organizational climate dimensions that affected individual creativity were democracy and commitment to school, achievement factors, and conflict. The organizational climate dimension that affected administrative creativity was leadership and interaction. Organizational climate dimensions that affected social creativity were leadership and interaction, and sincerity
Impact of School-Based Mentorship Programs for Students with Disabilities
Get PDFMentorship in secondary schools can affect the course of students’ academic and personal life trajectories. Human association based on trust is the paste that connects students’ academic and individual lives and helps them sort out their fates. The purpose of my study was to determine how strong mentoring relationships between adults and children at risk for social and academic failure have been associated with improvements in academic performance, school attendance, and self-image. My study explored the efficacy of the development and implementation of one specific school-based mentoring program for students with disabilities. Through this study, I endeavored to demonstrate the merits and difficulties of a school-based mentoring program for students with behavioral disabilities
Impact of Immigration Parent-Child Separation Policies on Children’s Attachment Experiences
Get PDFThis critical literature review (CRP) project explores the consequences of child-parent separation by deportation laws. Considering the number of Latinx immigrant families immigrating to the United States, this review focused on how the unexpected separation by deportation impacted immigrant families and how these separations affect their children’s development, attachment style, and overall well-being. The review explored the short- and long-term consequences for immigrant children and their families, including children who are U.S.-born and remain in the country without their parents. Results from the review indicate an extensive and significant impact on attachment style and overall developmental impairments. The unexpected separation of immigrant children from their parents appears to be associated with avoidant attachment styles, anxious-ambivalent attachment styles, low- performance at school, medical conditions, relational problems, mental health conditions, and family disintegration. Findings are presented in terms of theoretical and practical implications and directions for future investigations. Recommendations for clinicians are also included based on the review of the literature