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Assessing the Effectiveness of Networked Improvement Communities to Advance Improvement Science-Continuous Improvement Through Inquiry-Based Learning
No full textApproximately 75.0% of the students in a district in the Bronx, New York, failed to meet grade level state standards in mathematics The district leadership team had implemented numerous improvement efforts but saw little progress. Grounded in Lave and Wenger’s Social Learning Theory, adapting Wenger and Snyder’s Community of Practice research, and using Bryk et al.’s Improvement Science (IS) approach, researchers posited that training instructional leaders in equity focused IS through a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) would improve leadership and school improvement practices. A mixed-methods, multiple case research design used the IS Leadership Proficiency Survey for Education, interview data, exit tickets, and document review. Seven factors increased participation and learning in two NICs with ten participants: 1) consistent attendance, 2) organizational learning sessions, 3) community norms, 4) inquiry-based learning, 5) guided readings, 6) embedded learning activities, and 7) effective facilitation. The biggest increases in leadership practices were 1) using research to find solutions, 2) persisting through trial-and-error, and 3) redesigning structures and practices to improve student learning. The biggest increases in school improvement practices were 1) staff believing that all students can learn, 2) staff encouraging each other to take initiative, and 3) taking a student-centered approach. Two themes emerged from the qualitative analysis: 1) NICs effectively promote learning and practice of IS and 2) NICs support the development of a data lens. Meaningful change was seen in all four of Lave and Wenger’s essential components for learning: meaning, practice, community, and identity
The Impact of Central Office Leaders in Supporting Principals’ Inclusive Practices
No full textStudents With Disabilities (SWD) typically underperform compared to their non-disabled peers; these gaps are often widened by poverty, race or ethnicity, and English language proficiency. Principals are often unprepared to meet their learning needs. This mixed methods study took place in the Westford Central School District, a pseudonym, a high poverty (88.0%) district in New York State serving over 9,000 students who were 92.1% minority students, 42.5% English Language Learners, and 16.2% SWD. It explores the impact of 1) Principal Professional Learning Communities (PPLC) focused on increasing high-leverage leadership skills and 2) a data-driven principal-central office joint work to positively impact the learning climate and academic outcomes for SWD. The study used principal surveys, exit tickets, interviews, student and teacher school climate surveys, and STAR assessment data. The data showed that high-leverage leadership skills did not directly correlate to STAR assessment data or to student perceptions of climate. The data showed that high-leverage leadership skills correlated to teacher perceptions of climate by grade level band but not in aggregate. Principals gave themselves high scores for high-leverage leadership skills but nevertheless reported that the PPLC structure was very effective and valuable in increasing their leadership skills and knowledge about SWD. They also responded very positively to the joint work focusing on data conversations. Five themes emerged: 1) collaborative learning around best practices, 2) organization for learning, 3) participation in ongoing leadership networks, 4) learning leaders as reflective practitioners; and 5) data tailored central office professional support
Gendered City: Women’s Experiences in Urban Public Transportation
No full textMy thesis focuses on women’s experiences in New York’s subway system. It aims to highlight the ways in which women have – throughout history – grappled with public space with consistent feelings of fears, wariness, and safety. I unravel those experience in my thesis by pointing toward existing literature that contributes to women’s overall struggle with urban spaces and public transportation and use my field observations to explain patterns witnessed in a woman’s usage of public space compared with a man’s. I also observe structures – if any – that might help to curb the inherent feeling of fear and recommend policies to better the system overall
Leadership Actions and Organizational Practices to Improve Academic Progress for Students in Temporary Housing
No full textThere’s an old adage, “Children are to be seen and not heard.” But what do you do in the case when students are not seen? They may not be seen due to absences, or they may not be seen due to flying under the radar, but if we believe that all students can learn, then all students must be seen as well as taught with consideration for all special circumstances. This study set out to look at my leadership actions and organizational practices as they impacted the academic progress of the unhoused student. The goal was to study the decisions that ensure that these students are seen, heard, and educated, with access to what they need to succeed in school. This case study chronicles the use of Improvement Science to tackle the problem of unhoused students not making adequate academic progress, beginning with a PDSA cycle for attendance. The students were paired with mentors to improve their attendance by building a relationship and a connection to the school. In the second PDSA cycle, teachers were taken through a series of professional development sessions to understand differentiated instruction for the advancement of unhoused students. This case study’s findings emphasize the importance of the entire school community collectively working towards improvement goals. Whether it’s the community working together to mentor chronically absent students or teachers collaboratively planning lessons for differentiated instruction, one thing is certain: collaboration is paramount for success. Leadership must make space for ownership, creativity, and teacher efficacy to rise to the surface
“(Don’t) Rock the Boat”: East Asian Women Psychologists’ Lived Experiences Navigating Perceived Discrimination
No full textUtilizing a qualitative phenomenological approach grounded in the intersectionality framework (Crenshaw, 1989) and Asian Critical Race Theory (Iftikar & Museus, 2018), this dissertation study investigated the lived experiences of navigating discrimination that East Asian women psychologists face in their clinical work. Thirteen women and one non-binary psychologists (and psychologists-in-training) of East Asian descent were interviewed with a constructivist-interpretivist research paradigm. The results demonstrated (a) the experiences of discrimination, (b) reactions to discriminatory encounters, (c) messages from training and personal upbringing related to navigating discrimination, and (d) suggestions for other East Asian women psychologists and training programs. Implications of these findings for practice, including recommendations for training programs to better support East Asian women psychologists and future research, are discussed
Adler, Lucille
No full textHer mother born in Poland and her father raised in Manhattan, Lucille Adler grew up in a two family house on Morris Avenue and 174 Street. She describes the neighborhood as 99% Jewish, with a few Black students in her public school. They would go shopping on 174 Street and she loved walking up and down to see all the shops. Her mother taught math at a Jewish school and her father had an insurance company. She envied the other girls whose mothers stayed at home, because she was a latchkey girl and would come home to an empty house after school.
Adler enjoyed riding bikes and as she got older spending time with her friends. During the summers she attended Jewish summer camps. Her family kept kosher and were more religious until the Depression, when they had to work on Saturdays. While she really enjoyed her time at PS 70, she has few fond memories of Wade Junior High School. In Taft she avoided cliques and loved to play tennis. While she met non-Jewish people in school, she never remembers any issues and went on believing the whole world was Jewish. Adler contrasts this with living in the South now, which she sees as much more cliquish and less friendly than her Bronx youth.
Adler describes that the expectations between her and her brother were very different, as he was incredibly smart, but she respected him for his brains and he respected her for her sports abilities. She credits the Depression with putting everyone in the same economic position and limiting competition between friends. Adler graduated from the LaSalle Institute in Manhattan, and shortly after married in 1952. After marrying, she and her husband moved to New Jersey.
Adler would return to the city to go to Broadway shows as she enjoyed in her youth, and to the Bronx to visit her mother and mother-in-law. The last time she went to the Bronx was in 1989, when her father passed away. Adler remembers the Bronx as a very safe environment where no one ever worried about walking or taking public transportation alone. She also regrets not continuing with the piano.
Keywords:
Poland, the Great Depression, Morris Avenue, 174 Street, Wade Junior High School, Taft High School, the South, kosher, safet
Heatwaves in the Arctic: Their Effects on Northern Alaska
No full textImages of polar ice caps melting and news of global sea levels rising have dominated the media’s coverage of climate change during the past three to four decades. Focusing on these broad-scale impacts without further context does not adequately explain the complexities of what is currently happening in the Arctic and SubArctic Regions. This paper examines why changes to natural cycles like sea ice melt and permafrost thaw are posing significant threats to both human and non-human life. Shifts from the natural pattern of warming and melting in the Arctic, caused by external, human-induced pressures, have thrown these cycles into patterns of positive feedback. The paper looks into how sea ice melt and permafrost thaw work as positive feedback loops that are adversely impacting northern Alaskan lands and people. Chapter One details the most up-to-date data on the state of global warming and quantitative analyses of sea ice melt, permafrost thaw, and their impacts on Alaskan communities, using past and projected trends. Chapter Two outlines the environmental history of the Alaskan Arctic and its inhabitants, including past and once-projected warming and cooling patterns. Chapter Three explains what the Arctic’s fate may mean for the rest of the world in terms of economic and other human losses. Chapter Four presents the political implications of Arctic warming as well as perspectives from current and emerging activists that aim to address the effects of warming in the Alaskan Arctic. Chapter Five offers my own thoughts on policy recommendations to address Arctic heatwaves and discusses how halting or reversing the spin of positive feedback loops in the Arctic could possibly be achieved
Community School Principals: Advancing Equity Through Social Justice Leadership Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textThe purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to understand how principals who lead community schools in New York City make sense of their work and their lived experiences in advancing social justice for their students and school communities particularly during this COVID-19 pandemic. Community schools, by virtue of their design and mission, have, based on early research, responded effectively to the challenges of the pandemic on their students, families and communities. Research shows that minority and poor students continue to face conditions that undermine their academic achievement. The researcher used the lens of social justice leadership theory to guide the examination of those marginalized in society, as well as the social justice leaders who serve them. The significance of this study was in the continuing achievement gap between students of color and their white counterparts particularly in urban areas. Despite the education reforms implemented over the years, the achievement gap persists. For this study, 12 New York City principals leading elementary community schools were recruited to participate in a purposeful manner. This study sought to understand how principals with their social justice mindset, exercised their leadership during this COVID-19 pandemic to meet the needs of their students, families. They stressed the importance of creating meaningful partnerships to bring additional resources to their schools, which aligned with their social justice agendas, enabling them to serve their communities at high levels. This study’s findings make the need for additional community schools and social justice-driven leaders clear
Worked Example Instruction of Decomposition Strategies in Two-Digit Multiplication Problem Solving
No full textThe application of decomposition strategies (i.e., associative or distributive strategies) in two-digit multiplication problem solving supports algebraic thinking skills essential for later complex mathematical skills like solving algebra problems. Use of such strategies is also associated with improved accuracy and speed in mathematical problem solving. In this multiple-baseline single-case design study, eight fourth- and fifth-grade students were individually taught to use associative and distributive decomposition strategies to solve two-digit multiplication problems through worked examples and explicit instruction. Problem-solving speed, accuracy, and solution methods were monitored throughout baseline and instructional phases. Seven participants applied the associative and distributive decomposition strategies independently during the first instructional session and one began doing so in the fifth session. Accuracy on timed probes increased overall in the instructional phase but was unrelated to decomposition use. Three of eight participants applied decomposition strategies to solve problems on the timed probes and only one of those showed an increase in accuracy corresponding to their initial use of those strategies. Similarly, no clear impact of strategy use was found on problem-solving speed. However, high automaticity for multiplication facts appeared to be associated with decomposition strategy use. High automaticity was observed for all three participants that applied decomposition strategies to probe problems, whereas only one of five that did not apply the strategies to the probes demonstrated high automaticity. Moreover, the participants who applied decomposition strategies on the probes demonstrated effective use of the problems’ structures to form multiples of 10 and generate high-automaticity intermediate computations
The Shared Traumatic Reality of COVID-19 in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Lived Experiences of New York City Psychologists
No full textThis study sought to understand the shared traumatic reality of COVID-19 on the psychodynamic psychotherapy process through phenomenological, qualitative interviews with NYC therapists. Fourteen psychologists were interviewed. Participants’ experiences were organized along major themes: (a) omnipresence of COVID-19 in therapy, (b) remote therapy creating a new window into patients’ lives, (c) frame intrusions increase unwitting therapist self-disclosure, (d) new avenues for patient transference and fantasy, (e) challenges navigating the disembodiment of remote therapy, (f) therapist feeling cared for and humanized by patients, (g) challenges navigating countertransference, (h) a flattened play space and increased concrete interventions, and (i) increased therapist self-disclosure. Minor themes included: (a) increased sociopolitical focus in therapy, (b) confronting patients’ disavowal of COVID-19, (c) ethics and therapist ‘misdemeanors,’ in a new frame (d) therapist subjectivity: stress, uncertainty, and attunement, (e) existential concerns and questioning responsibility to practice (f) increased focus on health advocacy, and (g) equalized and less formal therapeutic interactions. Limitations of the study, avenues for future research, and clinical implications are discussed