This research examines what educational administrators can do to help secondary teachers effectively use data to inform their instruction and improve their practice. This qualitative study focused on the interviews of principals and teachers in 14 secondary schools that have used data to improve their school's accountability measures markedly in…

The purpose of this mixed methods, longitudinal Improvement Science study was to examine the conditions that influence teacher capacity to engage in continuous improvement using data to guide curriculum and instructional changes. This study took place during the global COVID-19 pandemic. We Can Do It Academy, a pseudonym, was a designated priority…

This basic qualitative research study examined teacher perceptions of characteristics of effective instructional leadership. The purpose of the study was to determine what instructional leadership styles teachers identified as having the most impact on improving their own instructional skills. Previous research on instructional leadership has…

With consistent pressure and an elevated sense of accountability for student achievement, campus principals need to maximize their resources and focus their leadership on academic areas that achieve the most success from students. Leading instructional coaches to engage teachers in the activities that teachers and principals view as most impactful…

The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to uncover effective professional development activities organized by elementary school principals and used to foster and support teachers with the instruction of self-determination skills along with any barriers principals encountered in their efforts to support teacher instruction. This study was…

School principals' roles have evolved from mere managers to instructional leaders as a result of education reform policies. Today's school leaders must be capable of efficiently leading, motivating, and managing staff; managing the school's day-to-day operations; selecting and implementing rigorous curricula; and monitoring instruction and…

Principals implement a variety of strategies to improve the quality of instruction within their school buildings. These strategies can range from teacher development to professional learning communities to teacher evaluation systems to various ways to provide feedback to teachers on the quality of instruction. Working in our nation's schools to…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how leadership practices and attitudes affect teacher connectedness. A single research question guided the study: From the perspective of teachers and principals, what practices and attitudes of school leadership can help teachers to become better connected to their schools? Researchers have…

The notion that teacher quality impacts student achievement is widely accepted. How to best define, measure, and improve teacher quality continues to be debated by teacher unions and state legislators. Teacher evaluation studies have focused on isolated elements of the system. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the current…

One of the common comprehensively researched topics is instructional leadership because instructional leadership has been correlated to teacher improvement and happiness, student accomplishment, and school improvement. Investigating the influence of instructional leadership of elementary principals on elementary teacher efficacy in Mississippi was…

Using an embedded, single-case study design, the current study examined factors that make a teacher more likely to act upon feedback given about instruction. Specifically, the study explored the nature of the feedback process used to provide teachers with feedback about instruction, a principal's ability to connect a vision for improvement with…

The purpose of this study was to identify considerations that influenced teachers' implementation of principals' evaluative feedback to improve instructional practices. The research question for this study was: What considerations contribute to teachers' applications of principals' evaluative feedback? Participants in this qualitative study…

Federal and state mandates have placed an added pressure on teachers to demonstrate "effective" instructional practices. These mandates also affect the role of a principal, as an evaluator of "effective" instructional strategies, and as an instructional leader who continuously needs to build teacher capacity to satisfy these…

Although school improvement plans (SIPs) are common in American school systems, they are widely viewed as compliance documents that have little connection to the daily work of improving teaching and learning. In this capstone, I describe and reflect on my experiences as a resident in the Cambridge (MA) Public Schools. My goal was to build…

Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year the North Carolina State Board of Education (SBE) mandated the use of the North Carolina Teacher Evaluation Process (Evaluation Process) for use in all public school systems in the state to conduct teacher observations and evaluations. The Evaluation Process replaced the Teacher Performance Appraisal…