7289 research outputs found
Sort by
A Free and open source microgrid optimization tool: SAMA the solar alone Multi Objective Advisor
Get PDF
Applying Machine Learning in the Examination of Physical Activity and Engagement Among Commercial mHealth App Users
Get PDFThriving Schools: The Role of Middle Leadership During Change
Get PDFEuropean Academy (EA; a pseudonym) has recently become authorised as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, with full implementation of the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP), and Career-related Programme (CP) in addition to the Diploma Programme (DP) which has already been in place for 25 years. This Dissertation-in-Practice (DiP) presents a problem of practice (PoP) that addresses the sense of overwhelm associated with large scale change in schools and the approaches that mitigate cultural impact. This DiP is informed by EA’s legacy as an international school at the forefront of innovation which compels leadership to seek MYP implementation that is groundbreaking. Transformational and distributed leadership provide a foundation for the middle school principal in this DiP with Self-Determination Theory (SDT) providing direction to increase motivation. The urgency to maintain a positive school culture while fostering innovation clarifies the need to regenerate middle leadership and establish practices that are inclusive and generative. The 3-year action plan supports the change vision of the middle school principal: teams that are led by highly skilled middle leaders are more competent and connected, giving rise to innovative practice that sustains
Imagining the Possibilities: Co-creating School-wide Equity, Belonging, and Success
Get PDFAbstract
This Dissertation in Practice (DiP) seeks to address the growing opportunity gap adversely impacting marginalized students at an Albertan elementary school. Through a critical theoretical lens, this DiP interrogates the various systemic barriers, contextual factors, and educator biases that perpetuate and reinforce socially and academically stratified learning opportunities that restrict holistic student engagement, belonging, and success. Despite teachers’ desire to meet the needs of all students, increasing levels of student diversity and complexity are decreasing the effectiveness of the school’s traditional pedagogical practices and structures. Employing a blended transformative and compassionate leadership approach, critically educative possibilities towards deep cultural change and inclusive pedagogical practices are explored using key tenets of social cognitive theory. A continuous professional development framework is designed to leverage staff efficacy, agency, and responsibility at the individual and collective levels. Defined by a bias towards action, the change framework in this DiP involves the reconceptualization of leadership as an agentic process that prioritizes equity, empowerment, and inclusivity across the school actor spectrum, thus requiring the engagement of school staff, students, parents/guardians, district staff, and community members. In the proposed solution, capacity building for school leaders, teachers, and support staff is designed to span from ongoing professional collaborations to daily educative classroom teaching and learning experiences. Observational and enactive professional learning to redress instructional practices through iterative inquiry cycles will elevate the prioritization of efficacious, affirming, and empowering learning opportunities for all students.
Keywords: agency, efficacy, opportunity gap, equity, inclusivity, collective responsibilit
Building Bridges to Wellbeing: Using Trauma-Informed, Socially Just Practices to Foster Educator Capacity and Resilience to Promote Student Wellbeing
Get PDFIn contemporary North American society, youth mental health incidents of depression, anxiety, and loneliness, to name but a few, have worsened over time and pose significant challenges for educators to understand and address. Emergent demands for responsive school policies, procedures, and practices increasingly require educational leaders to be informed by complementary disciplines; i.e., psychology and health care, to more effectively integrate best practices into the field. As an example, trauma-informed principles and strategies are being used to conceptualize and account for negative mental health outcomes and conjointly guide planning for more effective responses in schools. In this way, understanding the impacts of trauma on youth, and in particular, youth from marginalized backgrounds and identities, supports an integrated approach to student social-emotional development. To take action, the Dissertation-in-Practice (DiP) explores the creation of a professional learning community (PLC) guided by a trauma-informed, social justice perspective to develop faculty capacity to support youth social-emotional development. This paper also provides for leadership agency and change through exploring guidance counsellor expertise and relational positionality to foster positive relationships within schools. Additionally, authentic and distributed leadership is developed as a focal point to contextualize change leadership and local conditions. This overall approach to change anchors anticipated outcomes such as increased school-wide collaborative processes and empowerment, strengthened relational supports, and trauma-informed policies and practices, and further contributes to the institutionalization and sustainability of desired outcomes
Supporting the Diverse Academic Needs of Students in an Ontario Independent School
Get PDFThis dissertation-in-practice delves into student success coaching at Parkview (pseudonym), noting gaps in support for diverse academic needs within the school’s strategic plan for a learner-driven ecosystem. Overwhelmed student success coaches struggle to aid all students, creating the need for change. The problem of practice is the lack of a comprehensive strategy at Parkview to support all students’ academic needs in a personalized learning environment. As such, this study aims to redefine roles, prioritize student needs, support inclusive classrooms, and shift mindsets toward strengths-based approaches for equitable academic success. This dissertation-in-practice utilizes a teacher instructional leadership approach from an ecological systems perspective as the leadership perspective that helps to frame the leadership vision for change. Parkview’s organizational structure is illustrated from a hierarchical perspective outlining the move to its current distributed leadership structure. Using the Organizational Change Readiness Belief questionnaire and Quinn’s competing values model, Parkview is assessed as moderately ready to change. Three solutions are proposed: a multi-tiered system of support, professional development, and collaborative planning, with collaborative planning emerging as the preferred solution. To help in implementing collaborative planning between teachers and student success coaches, a change implementation plan is created using Kotter’s eight-step model. It is then outlined how this plan will be communicated, monitored, and evaluated to all necessary parties so that it can be altered and adjusted to ensure that change is successful