An Examination of Principal Leadership Practices and School-level Variables in Connecticut Schools with Achievement Gains Above and Below the State's Average Performance Gain on State Assessments

An Examination of Principal Leadership Practices and School-level Variables in Connecticut Schools with Achievement Gains Above and Below the State's Average Performance Gain on State Assessments PDF Author: David R. Cormier
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Academic achievement
Languages : en
Pages : 268

Get Book Here

Book Description


Principal Leadership Attributes

Principal Leadership Attributes PDF Author: Linda A. Rudnick
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 126

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001, the most recent version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965), the role of the school principal has been expanded to include significant responsibilities for the instructional leadership of schools, ensuring that all children achieve to meet high standards, and that the needs of children with special learning challenges are met. At the core of the No Child Left Behind Act (2001) are a number of measures designed to drive broad gains in student achievement and to hold states and schools more accountable for student progress. Principals are expected to respond to accountability measures imposed by external constituents by acting as agents of change. Since the passage of the Act, standardized tests and assessment-based reforms have been widely implemented in the public school system in the United States. The intent of these reforms is to academically challenge all students to meet high standards, including English Language Learners (ELLs), and to ensure that attention and resources are given to these students to help them achieve their full potential. NCLB requires school districts to annually report the standardized test scores of student subgroups, including the ELLs. They are required by the law to meet targets set by their states for "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, or face sanctions. NCLB regulations stipulate that ELLs must be tested in mathematics beginning with the first round of state exams after the students enter a United States school, and in reading after they have been in a U.S. school for at least one year. This poses a tremendous challenge for teachers and for school principals, whose schools are publicly identified in the accountability system in New York State as meeting or failing to meet the target based on student achievement on these assessments. This quantitative study identified the attributes (beliefs and practices) of principals in New York State schools outside of New York City that contribute to ELLs' success as measured by their performance on state tests. The following areas were examined: visionary leadership, cultural and instructional leadership, school management and parent and community relations. Statistically significant results were found in ten areas of principal leadership in three of the five are as that were examined. In the area of cultural leadership, practicing shared leadership, creating a school climate that values diversity, professionally developing both ELL teachers and other staff working with ELLs on best practices, creating a climate of accountability for ELLs, and establishing and monitoring goals for ELL success emerged from the data as statistically significant. In the area of instructional leadership, collecting data on the ELLs early and visiting classrooms regularly to provide teachers substantial feedback on their instructional practices also emerged as statistically significant. Lastly, in the area of school management, taking a key role in the improvement of teaching and learning for ELLs, recruiting and retaining qualified and invested teaching staff, and acquiring resources to support ELL teaching were areas of principal leadership that surfaced as significant findings. The survey results gleaned from respondents provide direction to the field in ELL education and identify the specific areas of focus for school leaders in the development of a quality program that will yield desired results for this growing population of students in our schools.

Principals' Leadership Practices in the Context of State Assessments

Principals' Leadership Practices in the Context of State Assessments PDF Author: Marcia Ann Ulmer
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Principal as a Learning-leader

The Principal as a Learning-leader PDF Author: M. Scott Norton
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1610488075
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 173

Get Book Here

Book Description
Expanding a principal's formal education and training, The Principal as Learning-Leader is a administrator's guide to improving student achievement, showing practitioners how to focus on the individual academic performance of each and every student and to work with the school staff and community to develop a learning culture that supports student success. Norton and Kelly show current principals how to assess their present behaviors relative to learning leadership. Providing a clear definition of learning leadership and identifying successful practices most commonly implemented by true learning leaders, this book features the administrative tools and accountability strategies that will allow principals to create a culture of learning leadership among all school personnel, which is key to engaging students, and the community, in the learning process.

Principals and Student Achievement

Principals and Student Achievement PDF Author: Kathleen Cotton
Publisher: ASCD
ISBN: 087120827X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 122

Get Book Here

Book Description
What are the direct and indirect influences of principals on student achievement? How do successful principals motivate others? What kinds of relationships do they have with parents, students, and staff? Principals and Student Achievement identifies 26 essential traits and behaviors of effective principals to show how they achieve success as instructional leaders. Based on a review of 81 key research articles from the last 20 years, this concise book examines how certain practices can affect student achievement, including: * Communication and interaction * Classroom observation and feedback to teachers * Recognition of student and staff achievement * Dedication to a safe and orderly school environment * Support of professional development of staff * Role modeling The book also reviews differences in instructional leadership between elementary and secondary principals, male and female principals, principals in high- and low-socioeconomic-status schools, and more. We all know that principals are important to student success, but few people have pinpointed exactly how they make a positive difference. At a time when principals are being asked to do more for school reform and accountability, Principals and Student Achievement provides a valuable resource for identifying what it takes to be an effective principal and, in turn, an effective school.

Improvement Or Impediment

Improvement Or Impediment PDF Author: Susan Helen McKernan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description


General Achievement Trends

General Achievement Trends PDF Author: Center on Education Policy
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 18

Get Book Here

Book Description
This general achievement trends profile includes information that the Center on Education Policy (CEP) and the Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) obtained from states from fall 2008 through April 2009. Included herein are: (1) Bullet points summarizing key findings about achievement trends in that state at three performance levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced; (2) Background information about limitations of the state's test data and characteristics of the state's testing system, including major changes in its testing system; (3) Figures and tables with the percentages of students scoring at the proficient level and above for all years with comparable data since 1999 and for all grades tested under the No Child Left Behind Act; (4) Figures and tables with percentages of students performing at three achievement levels--basic, proficient, and advanced--for all years with comparable data and for grades 4, 8, and 10 (or adjacent grades, in the case of states that lack comparable trend data for these default grades); (5) Figures and tables with mean scale scores, standard deviations, and effect sizes for all years with comparable data and for the three grades analyzed in this study; and (6) Figures and tables with mean scale scores, standard deviations, and effect sizes for all years with comparable data and for the three grades analyzed in this study. Connecticut introduced a new test for grades 3-8 in 2006 and a new high school test in 2007, so only short trends can be discerned for the elementary and middle grades and no trends can be discerned for high school. In general, Connecticut students made gains across the board in math at the elementary and middle school levels. In reading, trends were mixed at the various achievement levels. Specific results include: (1) Since 2006, the percentage of students performing at the basic level and above decreased to a moderate-to-large extent in reading at the elementary level and increased slightly at the middle school level; in math, the percentage basic and above went up slightly at both the elementary and middle school levels; (2) The percentage of students scoring at the proficient level and above in reading declined at a moderate-to-large rate at the elementary level but increased slightly at the middle school level; in math, the percentage proficient rose slightly at the elementary level and at a moderate-to-large rate at the middle school level; and (3) In reading, there was a slight increase in the percentage of students reaching the advanced level at the elementary grade analyzed but a moderate-to-large decrease at the middle school grade analyzed; in math, the percentage of advanced students rose at a moderate-to-large rate at both the elementary and middle school levels. (Contains 6 figures and 6 tables.) [For "State Test Score Trends through 2007-08, Part I: Is the Emphasis on 'Proficiency' Shortchanging Higher- and Lower-Achieving Students?," see ED506121. For "State Test Score Trends through 2007-08. Part II: Is There a Plateau Effect in Test Scores?," see ED506122.].

The Science of Learning and Development

The Science of Learning and Development PDF Author: Pamela Cantor
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 100039977X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 245

Get Book Here

Book Description
This essential text unpacks major transformations in the study of learning and human development and provides evidence for how science can inform innovation in the design of settings, policies, practice, and research to enhance the life path, opportunity and prosperity of every child. The ideas presented provide researchers and educators with a rationale for focusing on the specific pathways and developmental patterns that may lead a specific child, with a specific family, school, and community, to prosper in school and in life. Expanding key published articles and expert commentary, the book explores a profound evolution in thinking that integrates findings from psychology with biology through sociology, education, law, and history with an emphasis on institutionalized inequities and disparate outcomes and how to address them. It points toward possible solutions through an understanding of and addressing the dynamic relations between a child and the contexts within which he or she lives, offering all researchers of human development and education a new way to understand and promote healthy development and learning for diverse, specific youth regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or history of adversity, challenge, or trauma. The book brings together scholars and practitioners from the biological/medical sciences, the social and behavioral sciences, educational science, and fields of law and social and educational policy. It provides an invaluable and unique resource for understanding the bases and status of the new science, and presents a roadmap for progress that will frame progress for at least the next decade and perhaps beyond.

An Examination of Principal Leadership Behaviors and Their Effect on School Improvement

An Examination of Principal Leadership Behaviors and Their Effect on School Improvement PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Educational leadership
Languages : en
Pages : 156

Get Book Here

Book Description
Schools benefit from principals who can empower, motivate, and support stakeholders in providing high quality learning opportunities and accepting responsibility for improved academic results. Nurturing this sense of professional competence and accountability is difficult, often requiring fundamental changes to the learning culture of a school. A growing body of evidence underscores a significant and positive relationship between principal leadership and student learning and achievement. In-depth study of a principal's leadership, within the context of a highly challenged, high-performing elementary school helped to deepen the understanding of specific instructional and/or transformational behaviors and practices that instigated and sustained organizational change efforts where they were needed most. This qualitative study sought to understand how the principal of a high-achieving urban elementary school facilitated and managed fundamental changes in the schools learning culture. The study investigated one urban elementary school's efforts to implement a structured, school-wide educational reform focused on improving learning results for all students at the school. The researcher examined the reforms through case study methods, employing critical incidents interview techniques, individual and focus interviews, observations of key reform-focused meetings and activities, and analysis of various relevant artifacts. Focus groups with teachers, individual interviews with the principal and 12 additional stakeholders from across the school, observations, and document analysis comprised the main sources of data in this study. The researcher used constant comparative method to analyze the data gathered and determine emerging categories, themes, and patterns. Findings suggest how the principal of a now high-achieving urban elementary school reinvented her role as principal, instituted new norms of collaboration, ensured universally high expectations for all, and provided data-informed, job-embedded professional development, as means to overcome obstacles and improve student outcomes and achievement. Now more than ever, urban principals are challenged to understand and apply these key leadership behaviors and practices in order to build productive learning cultures for teachers and students at their schools.

Principal Leadership and Student Achievement

Principal Leadership and Student Achievement PDF Author: Janet A. Munger
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781541082939
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 342

Get Book Here

Book Description
PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT...RESEARCH IN NEW JERSEY URBAN HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICTS By Dr. Janet A. Munger WITHOUT LEADERSHIP, THERE IS NO SUCCESS My research clearly demonstrates positively and significantly that principal leadership effectiveness relates to school productivity: student achievement, school retention rate and educational continuance rate. The manner in which the school principal influences student achievement is determined. The link between the internal school structure and the external school environment is established. It has been determined from reviewing current research that limited attention has been paid to the methodology of collecting research data. Reviews of research since the 1950s and 1960s have charted intellectual progress. From national and international reviews, it has been brought to light that there exists the tendency in research publications to omit pertinent information pertaining to the rationale of the study; methods of data collection; the extraction of data; its evaluation and analysis; and the explanation of how this has impacted the interpretation of the research findings. As evidenced, improvement is needed in setting research studies within conceptual frameworks and in applying proper analytical procedures in examining combinations of variables. Explanatory Framework My research is set within an explanatory framework. It is based on theory and the desire to increase our understanding of school process. Proper analytical procedures are employed in examining sets of variables. The rationale of the study; methods of data collection; extraction of data; lengthy descriptions and interpretations of how this has impacted its interpretation are presented in my research study in great detail. It is supported by my real-life experiences from over 40 years in educational administration and teaching. Organizational Leadership: Importance Its presentation of the historical development of the literature from 1900 provides a rich background study in the field of organizational leadership. The strength of the data collection procedures, data extraction methodology, analytical methods employed, and research findings serve as a model for future researchers and graduate students of leadership effectiveness and school productivity. It is a syllabus for graduate study in educational administration and school leadership. It is needed in the professional development training of school principals, school leaders, and teachers. It is imperative that these research determinations are employed by educators and administrators alike if we are to increase our understanding of leadership effectiveness and school productivity, inclusive of student achievement. Those variables determined to contribute to leadership effectiveness as it relates to school productivity, culled from hundreds of research studies, are subsumed within my research manuscript. Those effective school leader determinations, compiled from the study of hundreds of research studies over the past century and the expenditure of millions of dollars are found in this manuscript--my doctoral research study. The relationship between leadership effectiveness and school productivity is established. It is strong, positive, and significant. Those factors contributing to the differences in leadership effectiveness and school productivity are summarized, analyzed, and discussed in great detail. Higher Education is a multi-million-dollar industry in consulting services. The cost of customizing leadership development programs from top business schools can cost $150,000 per person. This Leadership Research Will Serve to Fill This Need in Our Global Economy.