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Browsing by Subject "Professional"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    A study to determine the practices of high school principals and central office administrators who effectively foster continuous professional learning in high schools.
    (2009-12) Borchers, Bruce Todd
    The purpose of this study was to discover the ways that central office and school level leaders initiate and advance a culture of continuous professional learning in high schools. The conceptual framework for this study was built from a synthesis of literature related to professional learning and leadership for continuous improvement. Relying heavily on the five dimensions of professional learning communities advanced by Shirley Hord (2004), multiple descriptive research methods were used to investigate the leadership practices and development processes that resulted in a learning culture in two high schools. A survey (Oliver, Hipp, & Huffman, 2003) was given to all licensed staff in order to assess the perceptions about the leadership practices and development processes. Interviews were conducted with administrator and teacher leaders. Documents that archived the aspects of the development process also were sought and used in the data analysis. Findings revealed the following development strategies were employed by leaders in both school districts and high schools: (1) defining a reason for change, (2) aligning resources to the mission and vision, (3) engaging in shared decision-making that is accepted and practiced by all, (4) offering high quality professional development, (5) supporting and respecting teacher leaders, (6) creating structures for accountability and reflection, and (7) designating leaders to provide accurate and purposeful data on which to base instructional decisions. Each high school was able to create a culture of continuous professional learning by implementing these seven dimensions at critical periods during their journey. Further, a three-stage framework became apparent during data analysis that provides a chronological description of how the two high schools journeyed to create a culture of continuous improvement and professional learning. Specific implications for practice, policy and research are offered in the concluding sections of this thesis.
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    "That rich, rich quality of existence": mothers with professional careers talk about their experiences of flourishing.
    (2010-05) Andrews, Margaret
    This study uses data from the Changing Landscape of American Women study to explore whether and how mothers with professional careers experience a state of well-being known as flourishing. The Changing Landscape of American Women study is a USDA-approved multi-state research effort. Investigators are collecting data from Latina immigrants, farm and ranch women, and women with professional careers to explore how women's media may impact their ability to achieve work, family and personal satisfaction. The present paper looks at data from thirty-three mothers with professional careers who live and work in the greater Twin Cities area of Minnesota. The women each participated in one of five focus groups sessions to discuss the challenges and satisfactions of their busy lives. Analytic induction was used to code their comments according to operational definitions of symptoms of flourishing; then narrative analysis techniques were applied to distill their conversation to an overall expression of flourishing. The women reported in their own words that they do experience the state of flourishing. The results indicate that for the women who participated in the study, the biggest challenge to flourishing was living in a social context that was at odds with the realities of their lives as mothers with professional careers. Despite this challenge, the women explicitly expressed that they did experience the state of flourishing. For them, flourishing involved the internal characteristics of desiring to combine career and motherhood in their lives, and being realistic about what they could accomplish. Flourishing also involved having external resources that included a spouse they could rely on, a strong network of social support, and a good amount of flexibility in their lives. Practice implications include recommendations that counselors and educators work to help women who want to combine career and family understand the symptoms of flourishing and how other women have experienced them. Implications for employers who want to maximize the talent of their employees who are mothers with professional careers include explicitly acknowledging that many highly educated women want to have both a challenging career and a healthy family. Allowing these women the flexibility to map out a unique pattern for successfully combining the two domains in their lives will be important.