School leaders’ noticing based on video of mathematics instruction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Julie M. Amador
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Instruction ◽  
School Leaders

Learning Opportunities about Teaching Mathematics: A Longitudinal Case Study of School Leaders’ Influence

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-44
Author(s):  
Jessica G. Rigby ◽  
Christine Andrews-Larson ◽  
I-Chien Chen
Keyword(s):  
Middle School ◽  
Standardized Tests ◽  
Mathematics Instruction ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Formal Learning ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
New Learning

Background/Context When new, rigorous standards are adopted, teachers often need to learn new content and new ways of teaching while concurrently attending to accountability demands. Both formal and informal school structures potentially enable this new learning, and school leaders likely influence the nature of these structures. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study We examine teachers’ learning opportunities in one school by asking the following research questions: (1) What is the nature of changes in teachers’ formal learning opportunities, as seen by changes in teachers’ workgroup conversations about mathematics instruction? (2) In what ways do school leaders shape the nature of instructional conversations, and thus formal learning opportunities, in teacher workgroups? (3) What is the nature of changes in teachers’ informal opportunities to learn, as seen by shifts in informal advice networks? Research Design This is a longitudinal case study using mixed methods: qualitative analysis of audio-recorded teacher workgroup meetings and quantitative analysis of informal social networks. Data Collection and Analysis This analysis is a part of a larger eight-year longitudinal study, the Middle-school Mathematics and the Institutional Setting of Teaching (MIST). Data used in this analysis were collected over a three-year period in one middle school that was working to improve mathematics instruction by focusing on teaching mathematics conceptually and building procedural fluency. Data used in this analysis include audio-recorded teacher workgroup meetings, informal social network surveys, interview transcripts, and student-level standardized test scores. Findings/Results We found that formally, school leaders shifted teachers’ workgroup conversations away from instructional matters to those of standardized tests. Informally, teachers stopped going to each other for instructional advice. Triangulating interview data confirmed that over time, pressure that teachers felt to do well on the standardized tests shifted their attention away from a conceptual approach to instruction and toward an emphasis on test preparation. Conclusions/Recommendations Our findings suggest that school leaders must be involved in new learning about standards and instruction to appropriately support teachers’ learning opportunities.

School Leaders’ Practice of the Ethics of Educational Leadership to Make Decisions

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-34
Author(s):  
Mohammed Assiri
Keyword(s):  
Educational Leadership ◽  
Mixed Methods Research ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Common Factors ◽  
Teaching Experience ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
School Year ◽  
Ethical Decisions

Abstract This study aimed to investigate the extent to which school leaders practice the ethics of educational leadership to make decisions. A mixed-methods research design was used in this study. The quantitative data of this study were obtained from the participation of 260 teachers, and the qualitative data of this study were collected from nine school leaders. The questionnaire and the semi-structured interview were used to collect the data. The study was conducted during the school year of 2017-2018. The study found that the overall extent to which school leaders practice the ethics of educational leadership to make decisions was classified as “always occurs". The findings showed that there were statistically significant differences between participants with different gender and school levels on the overall and all dimensions of the extent to which school leaders practice the ethics of educational leadership to make decisions, while there were not statistically significant differences between the groups of the participants with different teaching experience. The qualitative findings provided some common factors that influence school leaders’ practice to making ethical decisions. These factors were explained based on two concepts including management knowledge and leadership skills as well as the context of school's culture.

“State standards and IEP goals. A lot of TPT products.” What Early Childhood Educators Report Using to Plan Mathematics Instruction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Peltier ◽  
Tiffany K Peltier ◽  
Taylor Werthen ◽  
Andy Heuer
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Mathematics Instruction ◽  
State Standards ◽  
Early Childhood Educators ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Exceptional Children ◽  
What Works ◽  
What Works Clearinghouse

Access to high-quality resources is integral for educators to provide research-aligned mathematics instruction. Identifying the supplemental resources educators use to plan mathematics instruction can inform the ways researchers and organizations disseminate research-based practices. The goal of this study was to identify the frequency in which early childhood educators (i.e., pre-Kindergarten through third grade) reported using various resources to plan for mathematics instruction. Furthermore, we investigated whether differences were observed based on teacher factors (i.e., general or special education, route to certification, years of experience) and locale (i.e., rural, urban, suburban). We retained data from 917 teachers for data analysis. The three most frequently reported resources by educators were colleagues, Teachers Pay Teachers, and Google/Yahoo. The three least frequently reported resources were the typical outlets researchers use to reach teachers: What Works Clearinghouse, Teaching Exceptional Children, and Teaching Children Mathematics. General and special education teachers differed on their self-reported usage of five resources: colleagues, Google/Yahoo, teaching blogs, Teaching Exceptional Children, and the What Works Clearinghouse. Rural educators self-reported that they were less likely than suburban educators to use colleagues or specialists at the district to plan instruction. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Inducting School Leaders and Managers

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Hussein Noure Elahi
Keyword(s):  
School Leaders

Unspoken Grammar of Place: Anti-Blackness as a Spatial Imaginary in Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 105268462199276
Author(s):  
DeMarcus A. Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
School Leaders ◽  
School Community ◽  
Holistic Healing ◽  
Music Preferences ◽  
Spatial Logic ◽  
Black Bodies ◽  
Cultural Forms ◽  
Black Populations ◽  
K 12 ◽  
Black Language

This article builds from scholarship on anti-Blackness in education and spatial imaginaries in geography to theorize an anti-Black spatial imaginary as the prevailing spatial logic that has shaped the configuration and character of American social intuitions, including K-12 schools. As a spatial imaginary, anti-Blackness is circulated through discourses, images, and texts that tell a story of Blackness as a problem, non-human, and placeless. Anchored by the assumption that Black populations are spatially illegitimate, the anti-Black spatial imaginary marks Black bodies as undesirable and therefore extractable from spaces and places that have been envisioned for their exclusion. I consider schools as sites spatialized terror where the exhibitions of terror consist of forcing students to observe other Black bodies being forcibly removed from the classroom and school community; constant rejection of Black language, traditions, music preferences, and other cultural forms of expression; the obliteration of Black names and identities. I offer ways that school leaders can unsettle the anti-Black spatial imaginary to transform schools as sites of holistic healing and possibilities.

Somali Immigrant Mothers’ Experiences of School Engagement: Implications for School Leaders

2021 ◽  
pp. 0013161X2110335
Author(s):  
Nimo M. Abdi
Keyword(s):  
School Engagement ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Parental Knowledge ◽  
School Structure ◽  
Immigrant Mothers ◽  
Coloniality Of Gender ◽  
Gender Based ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Somali Immigrant ◽  
Mothers Experiences

Purpose: This critical phenomenology study examines the experiences of Somali mothers’ involvement with an urban school in London, United Kingdom. Specifically, the study explores Somali mothers’ experiences and responses in navigating the coloniality of gender discourses imbedded in school structure and culture. The research questions that guided the study concerned the gender-based tools that Somali mothers use to navigate the school structure and culture and how school leaders can recognize and tap into parental knowledge and ways of being to serve these communities. Methods: This study is based on the stories of five Somali immigrant mothers. Data collection included focus groups, field memos, site observations, and school archival data. Data were analyzed through hermeneutic interpretation of whole-part-whole. Findings: Somali mothers use three important elements—identity, resistance, and traditions—to respond to coloniality of gender in school as they negotiate tensions between the Somali conception of motherhood and western notions of gender. The findings emphasize the practices rooted in Indigenous Somali culture and gender roles as assets. Implications: This research argues that the matripotent leadership practices of Somali mothers can inform theory, practice, and policy, as these practices offer a more collective and humanizing approach to leadership centered in ideals connected to a non-Western conception of motherhood, gender, and gender dynamics.

Centering “Grace”: Challenging Anti-Blackness in Schooling Through Motherwork

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 142-157
Author(s):  
Terri N. Watson ◽  
Gwendolyn S. Baxley
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Black Children ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black Girls ◽  
Racial Biases ◽  
Black Girlhood ◽  
Patricia Hill Collins ◽  
Educational Advocacy

Anti-Blackness is global and present in every facet of society, including education. In this article, we examine the challenges Black girls encounter in schools throughout the United States. Guided by select research centered on Black women in their roles as mothers, activists and school leaders, we assert that sociologist Patricia Hill Collins’ concept of Motherwork should be an essential component in reframing the praxis of school leadership and in helping school leaders to rethink policies, practices, and ideologies that are anti-Black and antithetical to Blackness and Black girlhood. While most research aimed to improve the schooling experiences of Black children focuses on teacher and school leader (mis)perceptions and systemic racial biases, few studies build on the care and efficacy personified by Black women school leaders. We argue that the educational advocacy of Black women on behalf of Black children is vital to culturally responsive school leadership that combats anti-Blackness and honors Black girlhood. We conclude with implications for school leaders and those concerned with the educational experiences of Black children, namely Black girls.

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