Browsing by Subject "school leadership"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Connect [Fall 2013]
    (University of Minnesota: College of Education and Human Development, 2013-09) University of Minnesota: College of Education and Human Development
    Smart space: Investments with attention to design, technology, and accessibility are paying off. Never lose hope: Opening this fall, the Cicchetti Child and Family Laboratory brings groundbreaking work to Minnesota. The principal difference: The Minnesota Principals Academy has a new home and enhanced curriculum. Leadership, state by state: Effective school leadership varies based on deep political culture.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Subjectivity Within the Pre-Referral Intervention Process: The Difference Between Academic and Behavioral Interventions in an Urban Elementary School
    (2019-08) Turnbull, Malai
    This study concerns the factors influencing special education referral and identification rates including the phenomena surrounding disproportionate representation of students of color in special education, employing a single-site case study to investigate the pre-referral intervention process. This study found the pre-referral intervention process to be a complex framework of supports including Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), and Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) in coordination with the work of the intervention team members and stakeholders. Results suggested the team’s ability to implement pre-referral interventions was influenced by school conditions, teacher leaders, and the building principal. Results indicated a difference between academic and behavioral interventions, noting that academic interventions were interpreted as more objective, easier to identify, and more readily informed by student data. Behavioral interventions were based on subjective interpretation by staff members and required multiple steps. Behavioral interventions were influenced by non-school related factors including trauma, parents, and resources and school-related factors including school culture, structure, and the skillsets of staff, notably the ability to confront, interpret, and make sense of possible cultural and racial differences and biases. Implications of the study results concern the complexity and challenges of implementing pre-referral interventions and supporting student behavior through the pre-referral intervention process. Results illuminated the interconnectedness of school support systems and factors influencing the process such as organizational conditions, teacher leadership, and the role of the principal. The impact of partnerships with families and the ways in which educators confront possible bias in the work of identifying and addressing student behavior was notable. Recommendations are offered on organizational management and theory, school leadership, student behavior, interventions and support and continued research.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    “Yvypóra (being human)”: Land, community, and school leadership in rural Paraguay
    (2021-08) Ramos Vaesken, Diana Melissa
    School principals in rural Paraguay face several challenges in administering accessible and equitable educational opportunities to their students. The nationwide education reform effort in Paraguay has not been able to counteract challenges, perpetuating the disproportionate number of rural students dropping out, or being pushed out, of the education system. Moreover, education is often underfunded throughout the country and worsens in poor rural areas. This study provided insights into how these principals’ lived experiences shape their humanity and how this is linked to their school leadership practice. What I came to understand was how school principalship is also about “becoming human”, connected to land and community over time, and how these elements shape their leadership practice. I utilized life histories as the methodology to answer the research question. The concept of humanity is rooted in the Guarani understanding of the word yvypóra, a decolonizing epistemology to study school principals. To do so, I examine the life histories of five school principals in rural Paraguay. Through their narratives, I illustrate through life stories examples of the yvypóra of these five school principals of two agricultural schools in rural Paraguay. When I was analyzing their lived experiences, I identified that their way of being human was informed by their land and their community. Thus, I argue school principals are learners from the land and their community, shaping their humanity as the spirit of the land [yvypóra] to lead their agricultural schools in Paraguay. By having a decolonial approach, the conceptual framework of yvypóra expands how context matters in school leadership, thinking of how the context – land and community- informed their leadership practice in rural Paraguay. Keywords: school leadership; decoloniality; Guarani; agricultural schools; Latin America; Paraguay; narrative inquiry