College Connection

Among the first and most striking realizations was that although we "knew" we had high-performing students, we were at a loss to interpret and respond to anecdotal reports about some of our graduates struggling with college placement tests and first-year course work. Because we had not systematically analyzed the data, we had no way to determine how widespread and significant problems of preparedness might be for our grads

Mentoring as professional development

This issue of the Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning Journal includes research from scholars representing Australia, Canada, and the United States (Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, and North Carolina). The authors present research on teachers, university faculty members, and executives as mentors

Crossing the Suspension Bridge: Navigating the Road from School Suspension to College Success - How Some Students Have Overcome the Negative Implications of School Suspension to Bridge the Road to College

Annually in the US, three million K-12 students will be suspended or put out of school for disciplinary consequences. Urban schools have the most suspensions, but students with lower socioeconomic statuses are suspended more often in all schools. Last year, in North Carolina, African Americans made up 26% of the student population but accounted for 51% of the its suspensions. While much scholarship has attended to the harmful effects of suspension, little attention has been paid to students who achieve academic success despite suspension -- and what educators can do to support the academic success of students with a history of suspension. This research focused on students who have had a history of out of school suspension but have matriculated to higher education. The study focused on college students who have had a history of middle/high school suspension and have gone on to graduate high school and matriculate to higher education

Axes of Difference and Areas of Inquiry in Mentoring and Tutoring

Mentoring and tutoring are terms used to refer to a broad range of supports and learning experiences, and while the terms seem simple and straightforward, mentoring and tutoring are often complex processes, as illustrated in this edition’s articles

Possibilities for Future Leadership: Thoughts from an Academic Blogosphere Community

In this dialogic essay we present an extremely important subject—the future of educational leadership and education more broadly. Given the uncertainty over and anxiety about the future of K–12 education and higher education, our goal for this article is to have currency and importance. We forged a scholarly community to discuss mid-21st-century leadership and education. Our research blogosphere arose out of a blog series and qualitative analyses of the data collected, which support the arguments we make

Administrative Synergy: A professional learning community creates a sacred time for administrators’ joint problem solving in the Oakwood district

Critical friends is a reflection-oriented, collaborative problem-solving protocol that we had been using as part of our administrative professional learning community. Because our administrative team - composed of four district leaders and all four building principals - believed critical friends was such a valuable tool, we had all agreed to be there for one another whenever one of us needed an emergency help session, thus the impromptu meeting in Paul's office. [...]we spend the first 15 minutes just chatting - about anything related to our schools or the district

Innovative Use of Technology Media to Establish a Common Research Agenda in Educational Leadership

This study utilized innovative technologies to establish a common research agenda among senior and junior professors. The focus is the use of innovative technology-infused methodology by (1) individual blogging about leadership at midcentury to six prompts, (2) collaborative analysis of the six blog prompts and other comments posted at the NCPEA Talking Points Blog, and (3) utilizing other media to encourage the research habits of these junior professors and advance the study of educational leadership

Programs in Practice: Differentiated Instruction: Begin with Teachers!

In Oakwood City School District, differentiation is—and has been for a number of years—our primary academic goal. Perhaps it will not surprise you to learn that not all educators embraced the goal, as 35-year veteran Ron Givens [not his real name] exemplifies: “My knee-jerk reaction [to being required to differentiate instruction] was, ‘You can't make me.’ It was your standard, middle-aged, white guy rant.” Since then, not only has Ron oriented his instruction toward differentiation and integrated differentiation strategies into his instruction, but he also has led professional development for his peers on using online simulations as a way to differentiate. What led to this impressive transformation, and how can we bottle it and sell it?Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to Taylor & Francis's online edition of Kappa Delta Pi Record to view the following free supplemental resources: the Differentation Rubric; the Differentiation Choice Board; and the Professional Performance Plan for Phases I and II

Data-Based personnel decisions: Baker Middle’s Intensive Support List

Focused on the use of teacher evaluation data, this case was designed for use in two principal licensure courses, one on data literacy and the other on supervision and personnel. The principal of Baker Middle School has been instructed by the superintendent to use data from the state’s new teacher evaluation system to determine which teachers should be placed on the district’s Intensive Support List (ISL). Those on the list receive additional support but are subject to termination proceedings if they do not evidence sufficient growth. Students must analyze available data, identify which teachers should be on the ISL, and defend their decisions or alternatively craft an advocacy plan in objection to the ISL

Educator evaluation policy that incorporates EVAAS value-added measures: Undermined intentions and exacerbated inequities

In the United States, policies in forty states and D.C. incorporate student growth measures – estimates of student progress attributed to educators – into educator evaluation. The federal government positions such policies as levers for ensuring that more students are taught by effective teachers and that effective educators are more equitably distributed amongst schools. Because these policies are new, little is known about how educators respond to them. Mixed methods survey data from a large, diverse district in North Carolina, a state that incorporates value-added data into teacher evaluations, indicate that substantive, unintended effects may undermine the purposes for which these policies were developed. Results indicate that educators evaluated by value-added are generally opposed to its use. Those who have previously been evaluated by value-added have significantly more negative perceptions about the fairness and accuracy of value-added, are more opposed to its use in educator evaluation, and are more likely to perceive that it will not result in more equitable distribution of good educators across schools and that educators will avoid working with certain students because of value-added. Respondents perceived effects of the use of value-added for teacher accountability that fall within five themes: 1) Educators increasingly game the system and teach to the test, 2) Teachers increasingly leave the field, 3) Some educators seek to avoid working with certain students and at certain schools, 4) Educators feel an increase in stress, pressure, and anxiety, 5) Educator collaboration is decreasing, and competition is increasing. Based on findings, the author recommends five mid-course policy corrections