Educational Leadership

Permanent URI for this collection

http://hdl.handle.net/10342/15

Browse

Now showing 1 - 20 of 335

Embargo
REIMAGINING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT IN DISTRICT DECISIONS: WITH STUDENT VOICE
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-25) Silversmith, Marla Lynn Crowder; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
Student voice is often missing when decisions are made in school districts. Culturally responsive researchers indicate that when students have voice in their daily schooling, they are more connected (Gay, 2018; Hammond, 2014; Ladson-Billings, 1994). Using Community Learning Exchange (CLE) methodology and Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR), a district administrator and alumnus worked with students and staff to fortify student voice to influence decisions in a K-8 school district. Through the power of shared stories, the students became teachers, and the teachers became students. Three major findings resulted: (1) More I Had To Know You, which meant that adults had a great deal to learn about what youth really thought and experienced; (2) Leave Your Power at the Door, meaning that adults should leave their power at the door when interacting with youth but use it after meetings to support youth; and More Than a Checked Box, meaning that youth wanted to be fully engaged; instead of answering surveys, they wanted more authentic input. The CLE format provided space for shared stories and experiences that resulted in the findings and an expanded framework for supporting student voice in district level decision-making. The new framework has implications to ensure that students and their voices are supported as authentic educational partners. In terms of wider application of the process for incorporating student voice, student demographics should be considered when district decisions are made and when districts seek educational partner input for consideration. Student voice, student stories, and the richness of their identities have the power to inform staff professional learning on the role of student voice in decisions.
Embargo
THE EFFECTS OF SECONDARY MATHEMATICS COURSES ON RURAL STUDENT COLLEGE CHOICE
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-27) Howard, Susan Hope; Educational Leadership
Participation in a rigorous high school mathematics curriculum plays a key role in both college choice and college completion. Rural students have lower access to advanced mathematics courses and enroll in college at lower rates despite having a higher rate of high school completion than their non-rural peers. This dissertation utilizes the Hossler and Gallagher (1987) model of college choice and the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) to further examine the relationship between rural high school mathematics and college choice. It was found that high school mathematics course work increased the probability of overall enrollment in college and of enrollment at a four-year institution. These results are important to higher educational leadership studies as they indicate the necessity for continued partnerships across the pipeline such as Math Pathways, The Launch Years, GEARUP, and Career and College Promise, which work to increase access to college for rural students.
Open Access
VOICES OF RESISTANCE: HOW WOMEN ANTIRACIST EDUCATIONAL LEADERS ADDRESS THE TENSIONS OF LEADING FOR RACIAL EQUITY
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-26) Pierce-Davis, Nicole A; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
The doctoral participatory action research study explored what we can learn from women who combine their female ontologies and epistemologies with the lived experiences of themselves and others toward improving racial equity outcomes in their educational communities. Women in leadership share stereotypically socialized characteristics with antiracist pedagogies as they focus on transformative, collectivist, and collaborative approaches. In this study, five American women school district leaders who identify as being or becoming antiracist leaders engaged in modified cycles of participatory action research and critical feminist ethnography. The study was designed to protect and amplify women's voice in the conversation about how to transform schools and districts for racial equity. The four findings are: Collective processes require power sharing; critical conditions for engagement and learning are ever-changing; women lead through gendered marginalization, and dynamic interplay is a necessary condition for equity. The findings better inform how we can support, validate, and learn from women educational antiracist leaders who draw on their lived experiences with equity to promote positive, antiracist social change.
Open Access
TEACHER LEADERSHIP IN PRACTICE: A PROGRAM EVALUATION OF OPPORTUNITY CULTURE IN A SMALL, RURAL NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL DISTRICT
(East Carolina University, 2023-05-01) Pittman, Charlene; Lewis, Travis; Educational Leadership
Providing students access to effective teachers is a challenge that school districts all over the nation face. Students from high poverty environments and rural settings have less access than their counterparts to effective teachers at disproportionate rates. This disproportionality may present as an insurmountable barrier for some youth in receiving a high quality education. However, consistent access to excellent teachers is beneficial in closing the equity gap and increasing long-term achievement among students from rural, high-poverty environments, as well as students of color. This study examined the challenges of a disproportionality in access to quality teachers for one of the most economically-distressed counties in North Carolina. Such challenges are of particular interest to the small, rural North Carolina school district upon which this study focused, as teachers are an important and necessary factor when striving for student achievement. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of Opportunity Culture on teacher instructional practices that may result in improved student academic achievement. Opportunity Culture is a coaching and support model that aims to extend the reach of its more effective teachers to more students and more colleagues within the school's normal operating budget. The teacher leaders referenced in this study are those who served in the role of a Multi-Classroom Leader (MCL). Using a mixed-methods approach, the researcher conducted a program evaluation of Opportunity Culture and its effects on teacher performance in two essential standards found within the NC Teacher Evaluation Instrument: Standard III - Teachers Know the Content That They Teach, and Standard IV - Teachers Facilitate Learning for Their Students. While the findings indicate that MCLs impact teacher instructional practices within Standard III and Standard IV, there is evidence that several prominent barriers pose a challenge in the continued effectiveness of MCLs. These barriers to the implementation Opportunity Culture and MCLs, along with recommendations for addressing each, are discussed.
Open Access
BUTTS, BOOKS, BUSES, AND BETTER INSTRUCTION: HOW A PRINCIPAL CAN DEVELOP ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS INTO EQUITY-CENTERED INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERS BY JUGGLING TASKS TOGETHER
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-21) Mudd, Timothy W; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
The study aimed to build the capacity of assistant principals to identify and support teachers in using equitable classroom practices. The Participatory Action Research (PAR) study in a rural North Carolina school district included a team of the principal and two assistant principals as co-practitioner researchers (CPR) to study how the principal could develop the knowledge and skills of the assistant principals to become equity-centered instructional leaders. Findings from the study reveal that principals can develop the knowledge and skills of assistant principals to become equity-centered instructional leaders by creating specific conditions and spaces, making the development of the assistant principal a priority, and juggling tasks with the assistant principal. Additionally, this study provides insight into how principals can intentionally work with assistant principals to simultaneously become better at conducting classroom observations, engaging teachers in post-observation coaching conversations, and ultimately becoming better equity-centered leaders. Throughout three inquiry cycles, the CPR group utilized the plan, do, study, act cycle of inquiry and pushed against the current practice of assistant principals' focus on "butts, books, and buses." In addition, we utilized Community Learning Exchange axioms and pedagogies (Guajardo et al., 2016), created Assistant Principal-Networked Improvement Communities (Bryk et al., 2015), engaged in classroom observations using the Calling-On Observation Tool, and engaged teachers in post-observation coaching conversations as we studied how a principal can help assistant principals become equity-centered instructional leaders.
Open Access
THE MISSING PIECE TO TEACHER INDUCTION: A FRAMEWORK FOR ADDING EQUITY-FOCUSED SUPPORT TO INDUCTION
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-21) Lassiter, John Russell; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
Teacher turnover rates in the nation are incredibly high, and college of education programs are experiencing declining enrollment. Combined, these two factors have led to staffing concerns in most states. A lack of highly qualified teachers threatens the quality of education historically hard-to-staff schools can provide their students. The first few years of teaching are vitally important to an educator's long-term success. Reimagining teacher induction is needed to help new teachers find success and overcome the pressures of teaching early in their career. A site-based induction process layered on top of traditional district induction can help new staff uncover their beliefs about teaching and learning while supporting the development of culturally responsive teaching methods. This layered support is a higher level of support beyond what the district can provide on its own. This qualitative research study uses participatory action research (PAR) informed by the principles of improvement science and Community Learning Exchange (CLE) axioms to engage a Co-Practitioner Researcher (CPR) team in building a site-based, equity-focused induction process that combines site-based support with the state-required district induction program. The findings of (1) communal learning space and (2) evolve to involve can help hard-to-staff schools in similar contexts support new teachers in reexamining long-held beliefs about teaching and learning while developing an understanding of the importance of culturally responsive teaching practices in schools. The study outlines practices used to establish a communal learning space where a Teacher Alliance Group (TAG) aids new teachers in improving their professional practices as all teachers gain knowledge of what it means to be a culturally responsive educator.
Open Access
USING CREATIVE PRACTICES TO FOSTER ARTS INTEGRATION: SUPPORTING EXPERIENTIAL PEDAGOGY FOR TEACHERS
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-27) Ledo-Lane, Ann Margaret; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
Few educators receive experiential professional development and coaching that support them in articulating and nurturing their creative voices and mindsets. The purpose of the participatory action research (P AR) study was to examine how supporting the pedagogical experiences of three teachers in an arts integrated school influenced their professional identities as they transferred arts integrated practices to classrooms. The theory of action for the study was: If teachers engage in arts-based, creative practices, they can co-create and implement arts integrated instructional experiences for students. I used participatory action research methodology informed by activist research methodology to investigate how teachers' artistic experiences influenced their teaching. As a result of engaging in creative practices as adult learners, they expanded their capacities to design and implement arts integrated curricula that promoted equitable access and rigor. Two findings are: (1) Teachers who articulated their creative practices strengthened their teaching through self-power and being art forward in their thinking and practices; and (2) teachers who engaged in experiential learning re-imagined themselves as teachers who nurtured their creative mindsets, found joy in teaching, and transferred the creative practices to classrooms. The findings have implications for schools and teachers in expanding and deepening their capacities to change curricular and pedagogical practices to promote equity.
Open Access
We Choose Not To "Shut Up and Dribble": Listening to Student Voices in an Alternative Learning School
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-21) Windley, Debra; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
The purpose of the PAR study was to use students' experiences in an alternative learning school to better understand and strengthen African American male student learning. Because the students had academic setbacks, failed classes, and lost credits necessary for high school graduation, they were "pushed out" of the traditional high school to the district's alternative school where they are enrolled in an online credit recovery program. For students to succeed academically and graduate with a high school diploma, I used improvement science and community learning exchange processes to conduct a qualitative study to understand how we could better support students as they navigated the alternative setting. By listening to student experiences and ideas, we countered the perception that students in alternative education do not care about learning. Students wanted caring teachers who were highly trained to meet their academic needs and in-person learning with classes customized for small groups of students. As a result of the project and study, (1) students identified multiple benefits of the alternative setting and two major challenges -- online learning and instructional practices; (2) teachers were more strategic in meeting the needs of students; and (3) teachers changed how they thought about students as learners and selected instructional strategies identified by students to support them academically. As a result, the teachers and administrators were more effective. Incorporating student voice in decision-making is critical, particularly for students who are marginalized because they do not respond well to traditional school practices (O'Connor, 1997; Cook-Sather, 2002; 2018). The practices students identified belong in all schools; we need to respond to diverse learning styles to support students who find traditional methods challenging.
Open Access
INTRODUCING TRANSLANGUAGING PRACTICES IN AN INTERNATIONAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: THE CRITICAL ROLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL ASSISTANTS
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-21) Stinchcomb, Tyler; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
Language is the vehicle through which we express ourselves and interact with the people and places around us. Language shapes our identity within the varied communities in which we belong. Translanguaging is a concept that recognizes the importance of all languages and breaks down the political, social, and linguistic barriers to expression and learning through language. In this dissertation, working with a team of co-practitioner researchers at a school in Chiang Mai, Thailand, we reflected on our language experiences and our roles as educators in addressing how to best support multilingual learners in Kindergarten and Grade 1. I explored how the collaborative relationship of elementary school teachers can promote the development of multiple languages and negotiate the external pressures that impact language in schools. Two findings include: (1) Instructional assistants play a pivotal role in empowering multilingual language learners by creating safe spaces for learning that empowered students; and (2) Teachers and instructional assistants use emergent translanguaging practices that inform the school policy on language use. As co-teachers in multilingual language learning who used components of emergent translanguaging practices, the teachers recognized the value of leveraging each student's languages for learning. They designed and implemented instructional plans to respond to students' linguistic needs (García, 2009). The implications of this study include empowering multilingual learners to fully access the curriculum by providing them with opportunities to use their known languages for learning. Additionally, instructional assistants, who are often overlooked as classroom assets, can provide important instructional and linguistic expertise to multilingual learners by understanding the needs of multilingual learners and integrating language and instruction.
Open Access
FILLING THE VOID: BUILDING AND SUSTAINING COHESIVE AND CONSISTENT INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-21) Scott, Hugh D., II; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
The focus of practice for the study was to build and sustain a cohesive and consistent instructional leadership team by supporting the growth and development of assistant principals as instructional leaders. This study took place in a mid-sized, high school setting in rural Eastern North Carolina. The study aimed to develop assistant principals' skills in diagnosing ineffective classroom practices and conducting consistent evidence-based observations. This provided more equitable outcomes for the school and all students involved. In a participatory action research (PAR) design, I worked closely with the assistant principals, who served as a group of co-practitioner researchers (CPR). Collectively, we learned to utilize common, observational tools and develop our inquiry-led conversation skills with teachers. The PAR focused on the development of the assistant principals' knowledge and skills with these instructional leadership activities over the course of the 18-month study. In the study, I conducted three cycles of inquiry in which the CPR members and I made improvements aligned with the PDSA model and Community Learning Exchange (CLE) processes. The CPR group continued to work together to develop their evidence-based observation skills and co-create strategies when working with teachers. Furthermore, the CPR group focused on developing these skills together and trusted in the learning experience that they would become better instructional leaders. With the assistant principals as my unit of analysis, I determined two major findings: Cultivating Better Practices and Fostering Collective Efficacy. In using stronger practices, the administrators co-developed collective efficacy for using more effective observation and post-observation practices. The study provides a blueprint for developing collaborative leadership through community learning exchanges and for how secondary principals can effectively support assistant principals. The administrators in the study gained more knowledge and confidence in their instructional practices, developed more trust with teachers, and ultimately, provided more equitable outcomes for the students in classrooms.
Open Access
CREATING A HOME: PROMOTING EQUITABLE ACADEMIC DISCOURSE BY ESTABLISHING TEACHER AGENCY AND CO-DESIGN
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-21) Britt, Lyndsay B; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
If students are to have an equitable opportunity to talk and communicate understandings, reasoning, and ideas, teachers need to use instructional practices that promote equitable academic discourse in the students' academic home - the school. Students need to feel and know they are challenged and supported to be their best, just like a school leader needs to challenge and support their teachers to ensure access and rigor in instruction. This qualitative participatory action research study was informed by activist research and community learning exchange (CLE) methodology and protocols. In collaboration with a team of co-practitioner researchers (CPR) composed of four teachers, the goal was to examine the extend to which teachers engaged in co-designing equitable academic discourse across content areas within an Early College setting. As a result of three cycles of inquiry, the findings indicate that a well-facilitated community of practice supported teacher agency for effective collaboration and co-design. The teachers were energized and recommitted to their role in providing strong instruction for teachers. When we coupled our conversations and co-design processes with evidence-based observations with post-observation conversations using evidence, teachers transferred their learning to substantial changes to practice. Over the course of the PAR project, we saw consistent implementation of equitable academic discourse protocols observed in practice. In practice contexts, other leaders and teachers can replicate the process we used to form trusting a community of practice in which teachers were willing to collaborate and deprivatize their teaching practices. In the research context, these finding complement and extend other research findings: Common tools support co-constructed teacher learning through social and material mediation (Ahn et al., 2021; Comell et al., 2022). Teachers need time to reflect, learn together, and co-design so they build a common language and processes for the goals they set (Woo and Henriksen, 2023).
Open Access
GREATER THAN THE PARTS: HOW SCHOOL LEADERS AND CENTRAL OFFICE ADMINISTRATORS BUILD COHERENCE AND TRUST
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-11) Chilcott, Gabriel; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
School districts are highly complex organizations. Leaders often feel frustrated by the failure of improvement efforts that are built with rational if-then structures when the intended goals are not met. During the design phase of this Participatory Action Research study, a group of Co-Practitioner Researchers (CPR) highlighted Trust and Coherence as essential considerations for leaders building innovative improvement plans. The Focus Of Practice (FOP) of this study is how school leaders and central office administrators build trust and coherence between and among each other and foster innovation. I designed collaborative gatherings using Improvement Science and Community Learning Exchange methodologies. The CPR from a Northern California public school district took part in three cycles of inquiry to explore Trust and Coherence. Over 18 months from 2021-2022, I designed activities and gathered data from Learning Exchanges, 1:1 Interviews, and Reflective Memos in order to answer the research questions developed to explore the FOP. Analysis of open and axial coding is at the heart of this dissertation and indicates that efforts to build trust and coherence are often thwarted by the churn of educator turnover and the gravity of the status quo. By exploring the relationship between school and central office leadership, the co-practitioners and I found actions that counter these adverse outcomes. Study findings show that school leaders at all levels can create outcomes that are Greater than the Parts by attending to building Trust and Coherence. Specifically, the co-practitioner researchers in this study found six Critical Levers that leaders can use to build Trust and Coherence between and among school leaders and central office administrators. The three Critical Levers for increasing Trust are Proximity, Support, and Vulnerability. Vision, Alignment, and Systems are the three Critical Levers for increasing Coherence. This study highlights these Critical Levers as key considerations that leaders can use to design improvement plans that increase Trust and Coherence between and among school leaders and central office administrators. The study findings have implications for leaders at all levels of educational organizations.
Open Access
They're Speaking Gender Identity, Agency, and Belonging in an International Middle School
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-17) Lappe, Gina; Militello, Matthew; Benham, Maenette; Educational Leadership
The purpose of the study was to better understand how international school middle school teachers can help cultivate a student's sense of belonging by creating a space for students to explore factors shaping their gender identity. The Participatory Action Research (PAR) study took place at an international school in South Korea that enrolls primarily local Korean students. A group of eight Grade 6 students volunteered as the study group. Through Community Learning Exchanges (CLEs), one-on-one and group interviews, and reflection activities the students identified factors that shaped their gendered identity and how it was expressed, or not, at school. Their stories revealed the following four findings: (1) The Influence of Context, (2) The Role of Relationships, (3) The Importance of Language and Culture, and (4) The Power of Elevating Student Voice. As a result of their participation in the PAR project they demonstrated increased agency, taking action to enact positive change in their community by designing and leading an advisory lesson for their peers, which focused on gender inclusion. The study findings indicate that educators can support students in cultivating a sense of belonging at school by elevating student voices within dialogue-driven spaces designed to explore topics of identity and agency at school. The study has implications for intentional school leaders and researchers interested in learning from students how to better honor diverse identities and support students to cultivate a strong sense of belonging at an international school.
Open Access
FINDING LEADERSHIP 정 (BELONGING): A CRITICAL RACE ETHNOGRAPHY OF ASIAN AMERICAN LEADERSHIP
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-11) Koh, Paul Joo Hyun; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
In a racialized America, Asian Americans are forced to be a model minority and remain perpetually foreign in one body (Kawai, 2005; Kim et al., 2011; Kim, 1999, Kim, 2011; Wu, 2014). This is a unique experience that is understudied. The study brought together 18 Asian American nonprofit and educational leaders from across the US to engage in convenings centering their experiences. Through community learning exchanges (CLEs) that were rooted in critical race ethnography (CRE) (Duncan, 2005; Woodson, 2019), CLE axioms (Guajardo et al., 2016), and elements of gracious space (Hughes, 2017), the study participants connected their experiences with the historical justice-oriented legacies of Asian American leaders. The process of this study resulted in emerging leadership tenets asserting another way to lead, away from the individualistic and instead through a collectivist lens rooted in the experiences of justice-oriented Asian American leaders of the past. The connection of the study participants' present day experiences as Asian American leaders with the demonstrated legacy of past Asian American leaders who pursued racial, social, and economic justice provides specific covenants of leadership that other researchers must consider in the theorizing and practice space of leadership research. The study contends that leadership is ultimately about love for community, our organizations, and ourselves.
Open Access
EDUCATORS FOR GENDER EQUITY: PROMOTING GENDER EQUITY IN AN INTERNATIONAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-13) McMahon, Shannon; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
Disparities, bias, and inequities persist between girls and boys as the result of gender inequities in schools (Sadker and Sadker, 1994). In this participatory action research (PAR) project, I investigated how educators and educational leaders promote gender equity in an international elementary school. The project took place in the elementary school at Escola American de Campinas (EAC) where I was the principal at the time of the project. I led the PAR project's co-practitioner research (CPR) group comprising five elementary educators through three cycles of inquiry. At the completion of the inquiry cycles, five themes emerged and were unanimously promoted by the CPR group as the project's findings: (1) gender is a learned construct; (2) girls miss out; (3) storytelling is a critical transformation tool; (4) crossing boundaries strengthens relationships and learning; and (5) the people closest to the issues are best suited to discover solutions. My use of the ecologies of knowing (Guajardo et al., 2016) in the design and implementation of the inquiry cycles and activities informed a progressive, thorough investigation centered on the initial insights derived at the level of self. It was at the level of self that profound connections regarding gender and subsequent learning were experienced and shared by the members of the CPR group. From the level of self, recognition and interaction with gender at the organization and community levels were identified and recommendations created to address gender and gender inequity in the elementary school at EAC. The process of coming to understand at the level of self, then using this knowledge and experience to inform work at organization and community levels is the basis for this PAR project's theory of change to promote gender equity in an international elementary school.
Open Access
Kapwa (Shared Identity): Filipino American Perspectives and Responses to Educational Leadership
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-21) Caruz, Virgilio Villanueva; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
Representing the makeup of educational leaders and social structure, the understanding and practice of educational leadership in the United States have centered on Western leadership perspectives. Even with the changing demographics of its population, women and people of diverse backgrounds continue to be underrepresented in educational leadership's highest echelon. The purpose of this study is to enlist Filipino American educational leaders to identify, co-create, and apply their cultural assets to engage in alternative equitable leadership practices. In doing so, we hope to challenge and question the conventional approaches which have supported the ratification and marginalization of many indigenous children. This participatory action research (PAR) study aims to gain insight into the perspectives of Filipino Americans on how their cultural values, as assets, manifest in their personal and professional spaces to serve as an alternative way to lead in education. Examined were four central indigenous Filipino cultural values and the interconnectedness of these values to the Filipinos. Understanding these complex relationships of compromising values can give Filipinos validity of their ability to nurture relationships and provide those outside of the culture access to a model for establishing organizational unity. These findings contribute to empirical research and hold the potential to inform educational leadership practices and preparation, as well as processes designed for cultural development for Filipino Americans and others. These three findings include, first, the influence of family on the development of culture and career choices, how the effects of family and upbringing on Filipino American leaders' career choices, and the acquisition of cultural values form the foundation of their leadership styles. Second, the collectivist values of Filipinos have a profound effect on how Filipinos navigate professional spaces and how these values manifest themselves in how they lead schools. Finally, in the spirit of bayanihan (communal spirit), it is essential for underrepresented individuals to have affinity spaces where they can feel authentic, supported, and vulnerably safe. This research study aims to offer new knowledge and leadership perspectives to challenge the traditional school paradigm by employing the voices and narratives unique to minoritized groups like Filipino Americans.
Open Access
REIMAGINING TEACHER INDUCTION: A FRAMEWORK FOR AN ASSET-DRIVEN, EQUITY-BASED INDUCTION PROCESS THAT CULTIVATES KNOWLEDGE OF SELF, CONTEXT, AND PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-21) Mudd, Kelly Anne Shelton; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
The induction process for new and beginning teachers has the potential to transform how teachers experience themselves and their school and ultimately the impact they have on students. Schools, like Clark Hill Academy, within rural, historically marginalized communities face challenges of recruiting and supporting new teachers. By using a collaborative approach to regular meetings, paired with structured and consistent protocols, new and beginning teachers were able to uncover beliefs and values in their teaching and learning and that of the community context. Specific to the participatory action research study, participants systematically examined Clark Hill Academy's ability to promote equitable practices among new and beginning teachers through the induction process. Using qualitative research and analysis methods, we asserted that people and places were critical components to humanizing a teacher induction process. The data supported two findings. First, that teacher induction process must acknowledge and honor the wisdom of people. Second, teacher induction must understand and harness the power of place within the school and community context. The findings led to the consideration of implications on policy, practice and research. In design, facilitation and participation, policy and practices for teacher induction should reflect the values of people and place. Future researchers should consider the connections between the findings of this study and specific culturally responsive practices within the classroom.
Open Access
LISTEN, REFLECT, ACT: A PARTICIPATORY ACTION RESEARCH STUDY TO SUPPORT FIRST-GENERATION EARLY COLLEGE STUDENTS USING STORYTELLING
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-20) Cox, Krystal Lane; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
First-generation early college high school students have many needs when they walk into a classroom; therefore, determining how to help them achieve academic success is critical. This participatory action research study examined how teachers learned to listen, reflect, and act on students' stories to form relationships with students, which permitted teachers to become warm demanders. I analyzed data collected from community learning exchanges, interviews, reflective memos, meeting notes, and storytelling protocols over 18 months. I used an iterative coding and analysis process to determine trends and confirm conclusions. I verified the three findings through triangulation of the data and member checks. First, teachers needed to empower students to share their personal stories to support teachers in formulating relationships with their students. Teachers utilized protocols to help students reveal their stories. Next, teachers needed to engage students' stories by reflecting upon what they learned and determining the place and space where the information should impact learning. Finally, teachers needed to enhance student experiences by utilizing the information learned about the students from their stories to act and provide culturally responsive experiences for students. The study highlighted how cultivating student-teacher relationships was not a skill every teacher knew how to create professionally. As a result, implications for practice, policy, and research support why teachers need professional learning to cultivate these skills, policies to allow the protected time to build relationships, and research to further this work for teachers and students.
Open Access
REPOSITIONING OUR THINKING: USING CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES TO INCREASE EQUITABLE ACCESS TO RIGOROUS INSTRUCTION.
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-17) Dupree, Leon R; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
A teacher's work is to enhance their knowledge and skills of effective teaching while making sure that every students needs are met through their teaching practices. The Participatory Action Research (PAR) study examined the extent to which teachers changed their practices by engaging in culturally responsive practices with a Co-Practitioner Researcher (CPR) team and transferring those practices to the classroom. I formed a Co-Practitioner Researcher (CPR) team of four teachers and an instructional coach and facilitated the co-creation of a learning environment in which we could engage in dialogue and co-generate culturally responsive pedagogical practices that address rigor in the classroom. Using the methodology of participatory action research and focusing on the community learning exchange axioms, the CPR team engaged in the three inquiry cycles. By purposefully working in collaborative structures to identify effective strategies and components of rigor, using community learning exchange pedagogies, and cultivating an appropriate learning environment, the CPR team co-created an observational tool that identified rigor in their teaching practices. These findings are based on evidence from a three-cycle inquiry process in which we constructed meaning from the data.: (1) Teachers require appropriate learning conditions that foster their development as adult learners.; (2) creating rigorous instruction for students is a developmental process for teachers, and (3) teachers transfer their learning to practice when they have opportunities for peer dialogue and input on observation processes. As a team, we engaged as a community of practice committed to engaging in collaborative activities, discussions about the classroom, and being active practitioners to transfer practice to the classroom. The important application is the methods we used for meeting and learning together about the critical work of focusing on rigor in middle school classrooms.
Open Access
ISLANDS OF INNOVATION: EXAMINING THE NEXUS BETWEEN CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE RELATIONSHIPS AND COGNITIVELY DEMANDING ACADEMIC DISCOURSE
(East Carolina University, 2023-04-21) Moon, Michael W; Militello, Matthew; Educational Leadership
The purpose of the study was to examine the extent to which participants built meaningful culturally and linguistically responsive (CLR) relationships with students and to what extent those same participants engaged in cognitively demanding academic discourse with their students. The participatory action research (PAR) study took place in a rural middle school in eastern North Carolina serving approximately 550 students in grades 6-8 over a period of two academic years from Fall 2021 to Fall 2022. The co-practitioner researcher (CPR) team comprised four eighth-grade teachers and the school principal as lead researcher. The CPR team met biweekly as an Equity-Centered Networked Improvement Community (EC-NIC) (Bryk et al., 2015) and engaged in three cycles of inquiry using Community Learning Exchange methodology and pedagogy (Guajardo et al., 2016) to develop their knowledge, skills, and dispositions as warm demanders (Delpit, 2012; Kleinfeld, 1975; Ladson-Billings, 2009; Ware, 2006) in support of equitable, cognitively demanding academic discourse (Resnick et al., 2015; Vygotsky, 1978; Zwiers, 2007). The findings from the PAR study revealed: (1) Participants demonstrated high empathy but inconsistently high expectations; (2) when a teacher is a warm demander, cognitively demanding academic discourse is much more likely to occur; and (3) teachers created islands of innovation (Fullan, 2001) or pockets of success to develop culturally responsive relationships with students and develop discourse opportunities. The study has implications for principals, teachers, and other school leaders to develop school-wide systems of support to improve their internal capacity for facilitating EC-NICs to cultivate CLR relationships and cognitively demanding academic discourse.