Doctor of Education, Miami University, 2020, Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to gain an in depth understanding of transformational teacher leaders within the structure of a learning organization and how they narrated their experiences as leaders within that organizational structure. Although teacher leadership is woven into the frameworks of educational policy and school reform, there is a lack of research focused on understanding the experiences of transformational teacher leaders both individually and collectively in educational settings. This narrative study explored how five transformational teachers in formal leadership positions shared their experiences as leaders through the theoretical framework of role theory. The teacher leaders were encouraged to recount their experiences through a series of interviews and observations to develop an understanding of the role of the teacher within the learning organization. The role of teacher leader is explored through their relationships and interactions with peers, as well as the collective experiences and shared realities of transformational leaders within the organization. The themes assimilated and lessons learned from the collective narratives were the collective pathways to leadership; definition and evolution of leadership style; roles, boundaries and authority; collective struggles of leadership; and shared realities for future teacher leaders. The findings from this narrative study are crucial to help school administrators grasp how to engage, cultivate, and sustain current and future transformational teacher leaders.

Committee: Lucian Szlizewski (Committee Chair); Joel Malin (Committee Member); Sheri Leafgren (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership

EDD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

Scripted/narrowed curricula are tangled in the webs of school reforms and standardization. Teachers are experiencing a monumental challenge: the deprofessionalization of their roles as educators. I sought teachers' understandings of how scripted/narrowed curricula impact their curriculum autonomy, specifically, their professional responsibility and pedagogical artistry. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from K–12 public educators in Rhode Island using an adapted Curriculum Autonomy Survey and Curriculum Autonomy interviews. I analyzed the quantitative data using descriptive and inferential statistics, which provided a broader picture of the experiences of Rhode Island educators faced with teaching scripted/narrowed curricula, and a second group emerged: teachers who develop their own curricula. Interview questions asked teachers to reflect on their experiences with the curriculum. By coding and conducting thematic analysis, I analyzed the interview transcripts, and multiple themes emerged after the data proved consistent across the survey and interview. Teachers using scripted/narrowed curricula are experiencing a loss of their curriculum autonomy. Their professional responsibility is being challenged because they are no longer stakeholders in the curricular and pedagogical decisions or curriculum changes for their content areas. This lack of decision-making has led to questioning the equity of curricula and questioning the breadth and depth of subjects and topics in curricula. These educators are facing challenges to pedagogical artistry, meaning they cannot modify/accommodate student needs or create lessons to promote cultural and social learning opportunities, and they have felt a loss of creativity in building lessons to ensure students are learning skills to be citizens of the world.

Committee: Scott Courtney (Committee Chair) Subjects: Curricula; Curriculum Development; Education; Education History; Education Philosophy; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Educational Theory; Elementary Education; Higher Education

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of Dayton, 2019, Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study is to identify and explore teacher perceptions of the merit-pay plan after six years of implementation in the Innovative School District (ISD). This qualitative case study will add to the knowledge base and provide interested school leaders with information as they consider alternatives to traditional teacher compensation. This study will provide similar districts, administrators, and scholars with insight into teacher perceptions developed after a merit-pay system has first been put into place and then remained in place for six years. As other school district leadership teams work with their teachers and boards of education to consider and develop a merit-pay system, they may be able to avoid pitfalls in the process of implementation by knowing the perceptions teachers have about this approach. This knowledge can also be incorporated into the curriculum of applicable higher education programs. This study employed a single case study approach to gain an understanding of the perceptions held by elementary teachers in grades Pre-K, one through six through semi-structured interviews. This researcher recognizes that knowledge gained from this study is relative and not absolute, but it will use empirical evidence to generate plausible claims (Patton, 2002). This approach is aligned with Merriam's purpose for qualitative research, which is to achieve a deep understanding of how people perceive what they experience (Merriam, 2009). There were four major themes that emerged from this study. These included: A significant number of teachers in ISD do not have a solid understanding of the structure of the merit-pay program. Second, trust between the teachers and the principal are vital to the success of the merit-pay program. Third, ISD's merit-pay program has been successful with a majority of teachers stating that if they had the chance to return to a traditional salary schedule, they would remain on the merit-pay plan. The final and most su (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: David Dolph Ph.D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: Education Finance; Education History; Education Policy; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Elementary Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2015, College of Education

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore and conceptualize how teacher leaders are trained, developed, and supported both formally and informally to be effective in their roles. The study furthered examined teachers perceptions of the Ohio teacher leader endorsement and its' impact on them as teacher leaders. The study was conducted in an urban and suburban school district located in central Ohio. The eight teachers were selected to participate in the study because they held the Ohio teacher leader endorsement and work as teacher leaders in either a formal or informal role in their district. Five themes emerged from this study: (a) Formal training and support is essential for teacher leaders and can provide teachers with credibility among their colleagues, (b) Teacher leaders in both formal and informal roles are necessary to impact change in their organization, (c) Formal teacher leaders can lead from the classroom, (d) Informal support for teacher leaders, and (e) Stronger connections between statewide initiatives and the work of teacher leaders are necessary for educators to make sense out of the work of teacher leaders.

Committee: Judy Alston PhD (Committee Chair); Belinda Gimbert PhD (Committee Member); Ann Shelly PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Teacher Education

Doctor of Education, Ashland University, 2015, College of Education

This study explores whether teacher leaders within a professional development school will take on leadership responsibilities while they are in the midst of learning new district and state change initiatives through the documentation of the formation and implementation of a professional learning community (PLC) within a professional development school (PDS). An ethnographic case study was used to gather information about how 20 teachers within a school worked through change initiatives and collaborative practices. Teachers presented book study topics to colleagues on PLCs and implemented the studied work in their collaborative practices. A Lead Teacher Questionnaire gave teachers an opportunity to express their understanding around PLCs, collaborative practices, and professional development. Teachers completed a SWOT analysis to measure the effectiveness of the book study and presentations. This study reveals that too many initiatives presented to staff leads to issues around district initiatives and changes. District leadership teams are responsible for establishing trust with staff, offering immediate feedback around instructional practices, ensuring that initiatives are streamlined, and that the goals of the initiatives are clearly articulated to staff. Clearly articulated goals helps staff members to know and master expectations. The study participants reflected on their collaborative practices and realized that they need to trust one another to engage in collaborative practices that promote optimal growth and learning for all individuals.

Committee: Judy Alston PhD (Committee Chair); Ann Shelly PhD (Committee Member); James Olive PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2015, Judith Herb College of Education

This qualitative case study focused on the multifaceted issue of exploring science teacher leaders' understanding and addressing of issues of diversity and equity with peers through professional development. The purpose of the study was to highlight the opportunities and barriers to the addressing of issues of diversity and equity through the work of a community of teachers leaders in science professional development. To frame this study, the researcher drew from the interdisciplinary field of multicultural education, transformative learning, and teacher leadership. In drawing out the connections from these vast bodies of literature, the study speaks to the need of both, creating teacher leaders in science education who are capable of meeting the twin demands of excellence and equity, and also attending to the challenges in the professional learning continuums of teachers leaders and their peers towards addressing issues of diversity and equity in science education.

Committee: Lynne Hamer PhD (Committee Chair); Dale Snauwaert PhD (Committee Member); Charlene Czerniak PhD (Committee Member); Mark Templin Phd (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Leadership; Inservice Training; Multicultural Education; Science Education; Teacher Education

PHD, Kent State University, 2015, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Teaching, Learning and Curriculum Studies

There are numerous challenges faced by early childhood educators striving to think, speak and act democratically within the context of American public schools. Not least of which are the dogmatic thought traditions, mastery oriented discourses, and authoritarian structures of management that have become engrained into our cultures of curriculum. For a teacher of young children to engage in practices that are ethically consistent with the democratic rhetoric of their institutional mission statements, they must think, voice and act upon non-dogmatic and thus counter-cultural ideas. The focus of this research is to shed light upon the ethical commitments expressed through the truth telling stories of six public school early childhood teachers' who work with and against the grains of their cultures of curriculum. Structured by Pinar's (2012) notion of currere, a collective narrative was composed utilizing a critical bricolage methodology with six early childhood teachers' accounts, including my own. Simultaneously deconstructing mastery oriented discourses and reconstructing discourses of event, this research embraces an immediate empiricism that is more germane to the everyday life happenings of public school early childhood teachers in the United States. As such, a transactional process of knowing is employed for analyzing the teachers' narratives, which is put in dialogue with a democratic ontology and enacted through Alain Badiou's (2001) notion of ethical fidelity. Data analysis first underscored teachers' truth telling stories, which constituted their encounters with events that invoked them to think against the conventions of dogmatism and voice ideas that challenge dominant discourse. Situated within their cultures of curriculum, early childhood curriculum workers' truth telling narratives served as invocations for them to express their various stories of becoming subjects to truth processes. Expressed as “subjective universals”, teachers' reflections (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: James Henderson EdD (Committee Co-Chair); Martha Lash PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Frank Ryan PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Early Childhood Education; Education; Teacher Education; Teaching

PHD, Kent State University, 0, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

The study aimed to identify the relationship between school leadership styles and communication styles from the perspective of teachers in midwestern suburban county schools district in Ohio. The study used the descriptive analytical methods to achieve its goals. It employed two questionnaires, the first, which was designed to measure leadership styles, consisted of (31) items while the second was designated to measure the communication methods, and it consisted of (7) items. The study was applied on a voluntary sample (n = 59) of teachers. Using the appropriate statistical tools, the study reached a number of conclusions: (a) A democratic style dominated among school principals, followed by a dictatorial style, and finally laissez-faire style, (b) oral communication was more prevalent, followed by communication through symbols, movements, and expressions, and (c)Statistically significant correlations were found between leadership styles and communication methods, but there was no correlation between laissez-faire style and communication through symbols, movements, and expressions. (d) there were no statistically significant differences at the level of significance (a≤0.05) in all study variables: gender, academic qualification, and year of experience.

Committee: Stephen Mitchell Professor (Advisor); Jason Schenker Professor (Committee Member); Aaron Mulrooney Professor (Committee Member); Derek Kingsley Doctor (Other) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership

EDD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Foundations, Leadership and Administration

Collective School Leaders are school administrators who embody collective leadership to equip and empower school stakeholders, particularly teacher-leaders. Collective School Leaders effectively harness the collective power of stakeholders to build and sustain multifaceted leadership that drives student outcomes. This narrative case study analyzes the working group discussions and semi-structured interview responses of Teach Plus participants. As a workplace initiative, Education Leadership Coaches and Teach Plus Teacher-Leader Fellows selected five essential competencies of collective school leadership: personal awareness, collaborative vision setting, distributed leadership, systems innovation, and equity advocacy. Participants in this Teach Plus case study recommend that school leaders who exhibit the five competencies of collective school leadership are poised to promote and expand teacher-leadership.

Committee: Natasha Levinson (Committee Chair) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Organizational Behavior; School Administration

Doctor of Education, University of Akron, 2005, Educational Administration

The purpose of this study was to examine a district literacy mentoring program through the lens of those participating as literacy mentors, teachers, and principals. A secondary purpose was to understand the perceived impact the program had on classroom practice and literacy achievement in the district. The site was one suburban school district in northeast Ohio which is comprised of five elementary schools. The mentor program was developed in response to a district need to increase professional development in literacy and to raise awareness of literacy issues. The study was guided by two research questions: 1) In what ways do mentors, teachers and principals characterize their experiences of participation in a literacy mentor program? and 2) What is the perceived impact of the literacy mentor program? Overall, participants characterized their experiences in the program as highly positive. A number of particular findings emerged as central to the program's success. First, the development of collaborative relationships at all levels was critical. Inherent in the development of those relationships was frequent communication over time that nurtured the emergence of a common vocabulary within buildings and among buildings and a sense of trust among the adults. Second, the importance of sustained opportunities for rigorous academic learning that occurred throughout the program, mostly through research-based “book studies,” was extremely important. A third finding of significance was that each group, teachers, principals and mentors, perceived the mentors' primary role differently. In fact, perception of the mentors' role appeared to be closely related to each group's role in the building. Teachers saw the literacy mentor's role from the perspective of what the mentor could do for them. Teachers noted the instructional role as prime. Principals also talked about the instructional role mentors played in the buildings. They saw it as prime, but coupled it with many comments (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Evangeline Newton (Advisor) Subjects: