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LEADERSHIP STRUCTURES THAT SUPPORT
Chapter III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Case study research is the in-depth study of instances of a phenomenon in its natural context and from the perspective of the participants involved in the phenomenon. (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003, p. 436)
This qualitative case study analysis was searching for themes that emerged from leadership structures that support a collaborative culture of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in a large high school in order to inform the creation of a guide entitled Leadership Structures that Support High-Functioning, Sustainable PLCs in High Schools: A School and District Leader?s Practical Guide. Qualitative research allowed me to deeply analyze the experience of
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The research questions that guided this investigation were:
What leadership structures at the school and district level best support teacher collective efficacy in secondary schools?
Who needs to be a part of the instructional leadership team in order to support Professional Learning Communities in secondary schools?
What activities of the instructional leadership team produce high-functioning Professional Learning Communities?
This chapter presents a comprehensive overview of methodology used in this study: research design, study participants, data collection and instruments, reliability and validity, data analysis, ethical concerns, and study limitations, followed by a brief summary.
Context
This case study provides an in-depth and rich description of School Site A. School Site A is a large high school in the Midwest area of the United States with 2,226 students. School Site A is located in a first-ring suburb of a large urban area. The school?s student demographics include: 10.5% Hispanic/Latino, 0.9% American Indian/Alaska Native, 14.5% Black/African American, 52.7% White, and 3.1% two or more races. The administrative staff is made up of one Principal Sheila, one Associate Principal Mike, two Assistant Principals: Monique and Becky and one Athletic Director. The staff at School Site A includes: 105.84 teachers, 2.00 Media Specialists, 16.20 other licensed professionals, 18.57 paraprofessionals, and 50.97 other staff, which includes
The purpose of this qualitative study was to develop a guide for school and district leaders entitled Leadership Structures That Support Professional Learning Communities in High Schools: A School and District Leader?s Practical Guide. This guide creates a practical leadership structure to support the creation of a culture that ensures PLCs and collaboration strongly exist in order to best support high levels of student and adult learning. This Guide comes at a time where many, many districts and high schools are struggling with the implementation of collaborative teams. DuFour has described this struggle as ?PLC Lite? where schools and districts have labeled themselves as PLCs without
A case study is an intensive type of research that involves a process in which detailed information is collected
A case study is “a method of analysis and a specific research design for examining a problem” (University of Southern California, 2010). It can be used to analyze a person, place, event, or other subjects in order to help discover mitigating issues, misconceptions, failures, trends, or recommendations (USC, 2010). Case studies will be used to gain a better understanding of situations and topics to help others make better policies, procedures, and decisions (USC, 2010).
The purpose of this paper is to critique a quantitative study and to present a critical analysis on its research findings. The paper will discuss the elements influencing believability and robustness of research, including writing style, research problem, literature review, conceptual framework, research question, hypothesis, study sample, methods, data analysis and results, and discussion of the relevance and future directions.
An in-depth study of a particular situation rather than a sweeping statistical survey. Case study research is a method that was used to narrow down a very broad field of research into one easily researchable topic.
Aside from the administrative duties, educational leadership involves soliciting the cooperation and working with teachers to improve the pedagogic processes in their schools. Furthermore, this will require team effort from all the stakeholders to achieve these goals and adherences to the school’s mission and vision.
Additionally, I empower and engage community members, stakeholders and parents through authentic transparency, integrity, empowerment and effective communication. I am accountable for insuring that instruction is personalized and that students are engaged in learning. I analyze reliable performance indicators and testing procedures to measure performance outcomes through integration of resources for multicultural sensitivity. I am mindful that my verbalized attitudes and feelings are vital to effective relationship-building with all stakeholders in the educational environment. The benefit that I will receive as a doctoral student in the HGSE program is fundamental for understanding how to become skilled at navigating around bureaucracy, red tape, and hierarchies in order to advocate for kids while keeping in mind policy, ethics, and legal parameters. My leadership experiences has transformed my view of relationship building and increased my understanding of how crucial effective communication is to successful instructional
Dr. Fremstad has been instrumental in the implementation of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) at West Fargo High School. She understands the power of teacher collaboration and has led the charge to train and monitor the program with fidelity. Jennifer has inspired educators to share student evidence of learning and extend intervention or enrichment learning opportunities based on the data. In addition, she advocates on the importance of frequent classroom visitations with her leadership team and establishes annual visitation goals to support teachers and
In the book, The Moral Imperative of School Leadership, the author, Michael Fullan, discusses how a school ran with moral imperative will benefit everyone involved. Fullan summarizes how principals who share the leadership role and work collectively with others find success. He lays out the ways to change the context of your campus, defines some barriers of school leadership, and how to make a difference at the individual level and at the school level. He also discusses how to make a difference beyond your campus, expanding to regionally and society. Lastly he demonstrates how a new direction and new context require the individual and system to work together towards successfully changing the culture of your campus.
Leadership in early years settings has traditionally been associated with the individual skills and personal qualities of the leader and nothing more. Recently, however, leadership is being viewed as not only the isolated activity of a single person, but instead the communal activities a variety of people who all contribute to a successful leadership outcome.
20). Without a clear understanding of expectations, followers will have a difficult time making sense of goals, anticipated outcomes, and success criteria. As evidenced in observation data, Mr. Smith, Director of Elementary Education, provided direction for school administration, teachers, and instructional leaders at central office. He outlined professional development plans for elementary leadership for the 2016-2017 school year, developed a roll-out plan for standards-based reporting K-5, coordinated next steps for observation data related to school improvement planning, and established expectations for reporting student growth in literacy on a quarterly basis. Evident in his dialogue with teachers, administrators, and central office staff was his ability to listen to those in the trenches at the school level. While outlining expectations, goals, and success criteria, Mr. Smith understood that building a sense of community was critical; this leads to the next task of leadership – creating
A case study is a simple tool researchers can use to gather data. Within the textbook, a case study is described as a detailed analysis of a selected individual over a span of time (Newman, 2011, sec. 3.2). Case studies can be quite useful because they are simple, easy to conduct, and require less involvement to achieve a result. Oftentimes, the researcher will observe an individual and record data over a specific amount of time.
3. As a principal how do you collaboratively involve the school community in creating and sustaining shared school values, vision, mission and goals?
Since then titles, such as instructional coach, academic coach. In some cases these titles have become interchangeable with department chair. However, little is known about the actual qualifications of the lead teachers and department chairs to provide other teachers with, what is deemed the weightiest of all leadership responsibilities, instructional leadership. DLT, Shared, and Collaborative leadership have become the current trend in leadership
A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a model that many schools have implemented in an effort to improve both teacher performance and collaboration. Through PLCs, teachers and administrators work together to improve instructional delivery and in turn, improve student academic performance (Mintzes, Marcum, Messerschmidt-Yates, & Mark, 2013). Three factors have been identified as necessary components for proper functioning of PLCs. These three factors are enabling school structures, collegial trust, and academic emphasis (Gray, Kruse, & Tarter, 2016). There are many potential positive effects which may result from implementing PLCs, including improved teacher perceptions towards student learning and