Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation
8-2016
Document Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Ed. D.
Department
Educational Leadership, Evaluation and Organizational Development
Degree Program
Educational Leadership and Organizational Development, EDD
Committee Chair
Immekus, Jason
Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)
Ingle, William
Committee Member
Ingle, William
Committee Member
Munoz, Marco
Committee Member
Ansman, John
Author's Keywords
Quantitative; instruction; collaboration
Abstract
In 2009, there was a major instructional shift in the state of Kentucky. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were adopted and funding was provided to the state by Race to the Top in order to facilitate implementation of the CCSS (Kentucky Department Education, 2014c). Within this framework, teachers and administrators have had to re-examine the education of students and, specifically, administrators have had to rethink their approach to supporting teachers. To address these new standards, teachers and administrators had to restructure how students were taught. Implementing CCSS requires teachers to teach students differently than they did before. Two widely implemented strategies to support teachers were Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and Walk Throughs (WTs). This study examined the perceptions that teachers and administrators have about professional learning communities and walk throughs as supports to improve instructional strategies. The study was conducted in a large urban district in Kentucky. A cross-sectional survey design was used to measure teachers’ and administrators’ perception of instructional supports. Both the teacher and administrator surveys seek to measure the perceptions of PLC and WT supports. The surveys are similar in content but worded differently to suit the role of the participant. The findings suggested there was a significant difference between teacher and administrator perceptions on PLCs and WTs serving as instructional supports. Specifically, the largest difference between perceptions was in the survey subscale labeled Trust in Administrators. Teachers did not perceive administrators following through on commitments, providing feedback after a WT, or demonstrating knowledge of teaching and learning using the WT tool.
Recommended Citation
Ammerman, Kara Joan, "Common Core State Standards : elementary teacher perceptions of administrator supports with a focus on professional learning communities and walk throughs." (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 2543.
https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/2543
