This dissertation examines the structures needed to create a successful instructional coaching program to directly support teachers and students in the classroom. Districts spend billions of dollars each year developing research-based professional development opportunities for staff focused on increasing student learning (Knight, 2019; Moody,…

The Alhambra Elementary School District in Phoenix, Arizona, uses the Standards for Professional Learning to shape and guide their planning and professional learning design, and embeds them in meetings and learning opportunities for district-level directors, specialists, and coaches to ensure they integrate them throughout their work across the…

The purpose of this study was to examine professional learning practices of school districts that have included choice and differentiation in their approaches to professional learning, and to examine the impact educational leaders' knowledge of andragogy, or adult learning theory, may have had on program development. Andragogy is often ill-defined…

Despite federal policy and litigation, the continued placement of students with extensive support needs (ESN) in separate classes and schools continues across the United States. Since the enactment of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (1975), there has been a continuous stream of research regarding the positive effects of including…

If we as a nation want to create a more equitable educational system, then we must increase the number of racially diverse school leaders. Emerging research consistently shows that when we support and develop leaders of color, it yields increased student achievement outcomes. Yet little progress has been made over the past decade to increase the…

As instructional leaders who work closely with teachers within and across schools, elementary mathematics specialists (EMS) are positioned well to promote cohesive implementation of impactful pedagogy throughout school districts. However, EMS's work can be impeded if they do not have structured opportunities to collectively grapple with the…

Background/Context: This study contributes to our growing understanding of coaches' role in district reform by introducing instructional-coach teams as a potentially important concept for understanding coaching activities that support systemic reform. Prior research shows that instructional coaches leverage their position between the district…

Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) administrators at all levels, across different programs and departments, engage in coaching with a set of common goals and principles. The coaching is designed to not only help them grow professionally but also build their capacity to coach those they supervise, including teachers and staff. LAUSD's…

Coaching is an important component in multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) such as school-wide positive behavioral interventions and supports (SWPBIS), but little is known about which coaching activities are most related to sustained implementation of this school-wide framework. A survey was developed to examine the amount of receipt and…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the perceptions held by elementary level instruction coaches regarding the circumstances and occurrences perceived as being supports or barriers to instructional coaching implementation at the elementary level. The theoretical foundations of this study included the adult learning theory…

This paper explores how educational interventions impact the districts they are implemented in above and beyond their intended outcomes. We argue that such unplanned "ripple effects", in which program elements are recontextualized into other settings, are an important aspect of bringing educational interventions to scale. We analyze…

Many state education agencies provide supports for local education agencies (LEAs) that are implementing tiered frameworks or Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS). With a 61% response rate to an online survey, 35 LEA-level systems coaches identified what state-level supports were helpful in facilitating MTSS implementation. Responses highlighted…

This article examines a school district's effort to create a unified culture of mathematical excellence through which everyone would know what high-quality instruction should look like and how they would shift their practices to those that aligned with their vision. This is accomplished through their Mathematics Teaching Practices Inventory…

Schools experienced unprecedented disruptions to instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely driven by the abrupt transition to online learning in the spring of 2020. Often, this shift created a "black box" around remote learning and instruction. However, data generated by educational technology platforms can provide a window into…

This study examines my enactment as a leader in the Teacher Growth and Induction program at Los Angeles Unified School District. To provide a holistic examination of my leadership practice, I deconstruct my use of structure and andragogical moves in relation to a candidate teacher in the induction program. My action research question was as…