Critical Issues Facing School Principals

The purpose of this study was to further extend research initially conducted in 2003 pertaining to the critical issues K-12 principals address on a daily basis. The study involved surveying school principals within the state of Mississippi to discover the critical issues they identified, the significance level of these issues, and the rationale behind the top ranked critical issue as identified by each principal. Findings indicated several changes in rank order of the issues, but accountability was once again noted as the most critical issue. A chi-square and Cramer’s V treatments suggested no statistically significant relationship between the independent variables, gender, age, school level, administrative experience, education system and highest degree, and the dependent variable, critical issue. Moreover, data indicated school safety was considered less critical than several other issues

Considerations of Distance Education Integration: A Qualitative Study

As higher education institutions determine whether or not to initiate or expand distance education offerings, there are many considerations and levels of decision making that need to be measured. This study investigated the role of key administrators at the departmental chair and dean levels in expanding distance education offerings. Findings of this study included faculty and student considerations, resources and external support, and integration costs of distance education offerings as major considerations within distance education decision making. Furthermore, the need for realistic timelines, planning for the associated costs of distance education offerings, and current tenure and promotion policies are discussed. The findings of the study provide insight into the planning, preparation, development, and implementation stages of distance education offerings

Principal Preparation Programs: Perceptions Of High School Principals

There has been an abundance of research documenting perceived deficiencies in traditional principal preparation programs, but little field data have been collected. As such, the authors of this study sought to assess the satisfaction of practitioners, high school principals, with their preparation programs. Questionnaires were received from 374 participants located at schools within four southeastern states. Using descriptive and inferential statistics, data were generated and analyzed illustrating frequency of response, means, and standard deviation from 13 key questions relating to the principalship. Findings included apparent content with preparation programs in all areas of responsibility identified with the exception of preparation for addressing the needs of special populations. These findings could be of importance to universities as they reorganize principal preparation curriculum to be more connected to K-12 issues

Preparing Administrators To Serve Diverse Populations Of Students With Learning Challenges

The notion of integrating a curriculum is more than connecting pieces so that students can see the bigger design—in effective curriculum integration models, knowledge is meaningfully related and connects in such a way that it is relevant to other areas of learning as well as to real life (Morris, 2003). This work details the integrated efforts of two university departments, The Department of Educational Leadership and Research (ELR) and The Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education (CISE), to restructure a school administrators’ preparation program to better prepare leadership candidates for meeting the challenges of student diversity relative to P-12 students with learning disabilities. This university was located in the southern region of the United States in a state with significant levels of students from diverse populations with special learning needs.  A modified action research model was used as the conceptual framework to accomplish this undertaking

Connecting Research And Practice In An Educational Leadership Program

N/

Connecting Technology with Student Achievement: The Use of Technology by Blue Ribbon School Principals

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions and technology usage of K-12 school principals of Blue Ribbon Schools to identify technological characteristics of successful school leaders. Items on the questionnaire were aligned with the International Society of Technology Education National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for School Administrators. The researchers sent questionnaires to 500 principals throughout the United States with a return rate of nearly 37%. Pearson and Spearman correlations were conducted to determine the level of agreement with NETS-A Standards of Blue Ribbon School Principals and if there was a relationship between use of technology and NETS-A Standards. Independent-sample t-tests were also conducted to determine if the levels of agreement with NETS-A Standards differed by gender. Results of this study indicated that there is evidence to support high levels of agreement of Blue Ribbon School Principals with the NETS-A Standards with females reporting higher levels of agreement then males, and the need for professional development to support technology integration

Fostering Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Improve Student Learning

The purpose of this study was to compare the impact on student learning of those enrolled in courses where instructors participated in collegial coaching and peer mentoring. A nonequivalent group design methodology was employed along with an analysis of variance to analyze data. Findings indicated higher mastery levels of student learning outcomes, higher levels of perceived critical thinking and collaboration by students, statistical significance in critical thinking constructs, higher levels of persistence, and more A's and B's and fewer D's and F's in courses where faculty members were mentored as compared to courses where faculty members were not

Using a Common Pedagogy across Multiple Disciplines to Improve Student Learning

This study includes findings from a university-wide instructional improvement project conducted across multiple disciplines in undergraduate and graduate courses. The project was constructed around a common pedagogy, Michaelsen's Team-Based Learning [1]. The purpose of the project was to improve several outcomes based on the constructs of critical thinking, collaboration, engagement and persistence. Data indicated a positive impact on each of these outcomes with a number of statistically significant findings.<br><br>[1] Michaelsen, L. K., Knight, A. B., & Fink, L. D. (2004). Team-Based Learning: A transformative use of small groups in college teaching. Sterling, VA: Stylus

AIM: An Integrated Approach to Organizational Improvement

This concept paper is based on the new problem-solving model of Blended Leadership called Alloy Improvement Model (AIM). This model consists of an integration of change theory, leadership theory, and democratic principles and practices to form a comprehensive problem-solving strategy for organizational leaders. The utilization of AIM will assist leaders in moving from problems to solutions while engaging stakeholders in a comprehensive, efficient, inclusive, informative, integrated and transparent process

Critical Thinking and Collaboration: A Strategy to Enhance Student Learning

In numerous studies relative to collaboration and critical thinking, an instructional strategy called Team- Based Learning has proven to be an effective approach to teaching and learning. Team-Based Learning utilizes a specific sequence of individual work, group work and immediate feedback to create a motivational framework in which students increasingly hold each other accountable for coming to class prepared and contributing to discussion. Using an action research conceptual model diffusion of innovation theory, the process of P-20 quality enhancement using Team-Based Learning is examined