Courtney Preston

Implementation of a Coaching Program for School Principals: Evaluating Coaches’ Strategies and the Results

We present a multi-phase coaching model that was implemented to help principals improve their instructional leadership practices. We then discuss a rubric based on this coaching model that we used to evaluate coaches’ implementation of key model phases and to identify principals’ responses to the coaching. After presenting the leadership coaching model, we introduce the implementation rubrics, and then we present contrasting cases from our analyses that illustrate two principals’ varying responses to coaching. We discuss how their coaches differed in two key dimensions of implementation: dose and the quality of program delivery. We conclude with a discussion of how these findings can inform development of future educational leadership coaching programs and guide additional research to evaluate the impact of coaching.

University-Based Teacher Preparation and Middle Grades Teacher Effectiveness

For over two decades, there have been calls to assess the relationship of the features of teacher preparation programs to teacher effectiveness, to provide guidance for program improvement. At the middle grades level, theory suggests that coursework in educational psychology is particularly important for teacher effectiveness. Using 4 years of data from 15 middle grades teacher preparation programs, this study estimates the relationship of their structural features, that is required elements of coursework and fieldwork, to student achievement gains in math and English/Language Arts. Findings suggest that few requirements are positively associated with achievement gains.

Conceptualizing Essential Components of Effective High Schools

ABSTRACT Three decades of reform aimed at improving disadvantaged student achievement have not substantially narrowed achievement and graduation gaps. This article reviews the research around eight essential components of effective high schools emerging from a review of the effective schools and high school reform literature, and provides a framework for how these components are implemented and integrated. We submit that far-reaching high school improvement is rooted in these components: schools succeed because they are woven into the school’s organizational fabric to create internally consistent and mutually reinforcing reforms; their success is explained by more than the simple sum of their parts.

Language, Gender, and School-Leadership Labor Markets

ABSTRACT This study examines the extent to which male and female principal candidates use language to signal their perceived values specific to open positions in the field. We analyzed Wisconsin school-leader application data by gender, seeking to understand whether or not men and women present themselves differently through language in the initial application phase. Using an electronic linguistic analysis tool (Docuscope), we identified patterns in the writing samples from 2,061 applicants and applied critical discourse analysis to determine the role gender plays in candidates’ portrayals of themselves. This mixed-methods approach revealed that language use differs significantly between male and female applicants. Notably, linguistic variables common in female candidates’ writing tend to focus on elaborating ideas and using compare/contrast techniques to describe beliefs. Male applicants’ language is often more formal and relies heavily on passive voice. Our findings raise questions as to whether candidates may be selected because of an unconscious preference for language patterns commonly used by females or males.

Bringing Student Responsibility to Life: Avenues to Personalizing High Schools for Student Success.

ABSTRACT This study examines how school structures and policies shape school culture to ultimately influence student success in one urban high school. We develop a model that explains how caring and personalized connections between students and teachers, coupled with a focus on academic press and support, interact with teacher efficacy to influence student self-efficacy, student attachment to school, and ultimately greater student achievement. We collected data through focus group and individual interviews with students, teachers, and leaders, classroom observations, and school artifacts. Data were analyzed using the constant comparative method allowing for the emergence of important patterns. The data revealed several interrelated structures and processes that support teacher and student efficacy and ultimately instill in students a responsibility for their own learning. This case study highlights the need for administrators to develop buy-in from teachers around a cohesive vision in order for structural reforms to be effective.