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Signs of Change: The Role of Team Leadership and Culture in Science Education Reform

Gohn, A. Janelle
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1083173492

Abstract Details

2004, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Educational Leadership.
Sustained, widespread changes in educational practices have been elusive due to focus on positional and individual leaders and the conservative nature of school culture. Sustained, high quality professional development has been found to increase standards based science teaching in isolated classrooms, but leadership that distributes power and emphasizes relationships could create change throughout entire schools or districts. In Discovery’s Schoolwide Reform Initiative, school based teams of teachers and administrators created professional development plans to spread standards based science instruction throughout their school or district. Two leadership teams, one from an urban middle school and the other, a small suburban district, were selected for this study based on high student achievement and history of successful innovation. Symbolic interactionism was used to study relationships among team members. The interactions at team meetings and professional development activities were recorded over a two year period and coded for emergent themes related to the development of team culture and the spread of reform. The urban middle school team was derailed by overwhelming change. The school lost its critical mass of experienced teacher leaders as the project began. This loss, combined with budget cuts, changes in superintendents, and a district wide reorganization that forced the school to change from middle school to a junior/senior high school, virtually eliminated opportunities for team culture to develop or reform to spread. The small suburban district team developed trusting relationships and successfully implemented a professional development plan that increased standards-based science teaching, contributed to the development of a learning community and increased teacher leadership. The team culture included rituals and symbols that increased solidarity, differentiation of roles based on voluntarism, and a sense of shared responsibility. The team exemplified distributed leadership (Spillane, Halverson & Diamond, 2001) and the practice of the team leader and principal was consistent with transformative leadership (Burns, 1978; Foster, 1986) as power was distributed and new leaders emerged. Stability, voluntarism, trust, content expertise, district support and reduction of power differentials appear to facilitate the development of team leadership, which leads to the spread of reform. Urban schools need stability in order for team leadership to develop and reform to spread.
Nelda Cambron-McCabe Jane Butler Kahle (Advisor)
179 p.
team leadership; distributed leadership; transformative leadership; science education reform; change; relationship; intersubjective; symbolic interactionism; culture; symbols; ritual; trust; voluntarism; stability; professional development

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Gohn, A. J. (2004). Signs of Change: The Role of Team Leadership and Culture in Science Education Reform [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1083173492

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Gohn, A. Janelle. Signs of Change: The Role of Team Leadership and Culture in Science Education Reform. 2004. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1083173492.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Gohn, A. Janelle. "Signs of Change: The Role of Team Leadership and Culture in Science Education Reform." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2004. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1083173492

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1083173492
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© 2004, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.