Volume 3 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal for K-12 Educational Research - Page 47

Journal of K-12 Educational Research 45 The District’s Leadership Cohort was redesigned into a two-year program with learning outcomes aligned with defined behaviors of instructional leadership and learning experiences designed with adult learning theories in mind to increase implementation and sustainability of the new learning. The first year of the Leadership Cohort focused on general leadership styles and capacities, along with behaviors associated with leading change, building trust, and conducting coaching conversations. The learning experiences in the second year of the Leadership Cohort extended to the four criteria of instructional leadership included in the PLDF. The structure of the Leadership Cohort program provided opportunities for participants to collaborate in a cohort model, participate in job-embedded experiences, and reflect on learning during the application process. Through active learning, participants engaged in meaningful experiences that required them to analyze, problem-solve, collaborate, and apply new learning during the learning process. Understanding that it is not about the learning but what one does with the learning, the Leadership Cohort was designed to provide participants with time to learn, practice, implement, and reflect on new learning in a collaborative and safe environment. The design and implementation of the two-year Leadership Cohort applied ongoing systematic inquiry aligned with identified goals to discover the most effective leadership practices that result in changes in teacher practices and improvements in student learning. Summary of Findings Research Question 1 (RQ1) Is there a change in perceptions of instructional leadership as a result of participating in the District’s Leadership Cohort? Quantitative data in the form of pre and post self-assessment scores were used to determine if there was a change in perceptions of instructional leadership as a result of participating in the District’s Leadership Cohort. A paired sample t -test revealed a statistically significant difference in the pre and post self-assessment scores for each of the four criteria of instructional leadership as outlined in the PLDF: (a) professional learning communities; (b) effective coaching and feedback; (c) alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and (d) monitoring data. The results showed a measurable change in perceptions of instructional leadership with the degree of change in all four criteria noted as very strong as indicated by the Cohen’s d value. The qualitative results gathered from the interview responses added further explanation to RQ1. Through an analysis of responses for each criterion, the current study discovered participants received clarity in definition and a deeper understanding of each of the four criteria of instructional leadership as a result of participating in the Leadership Cohort. Research Question 2 (RQ2) How do Leadership Cohort participants perceive the impact of participating in the Leadership Cohort on their behavior as a campus leader? Through the process of coding participants’ interview responses using NVivo 11, two major themes emerged: change in the leader’s actions and change in the leader’s mindset. Overwhelmingly, all seven participants indicated that both their mindset and their actions as a leader changed as a result of participating in the Leadership Cohort. Leadership Cohort participants expressed that the design of the Leadership Cohort, learning over a two-year period with job-embedded opportunities throughout, allowed them to practice new skills and then transition to application on real work. In the analysis of responses to determine the link between the perceived behavior changes and the four instructional leadership criteria, the researcher utilized matrix coding. The matrix coding analysis revealed a change in mindset occurred most often in the criterion of professional learning communities, with 100% of the participants expressing a change. A change in the leader’s actions occurred most often in the criterion of coaching and feedback, with 100% of the participants expressing a change in how they gave feedback after participating in the Leadership Cohort. Table 1 displays a summary of important findings of the current study by research question. Data might be meaningful in guiding instruction, utilizing data, and conducting conversations to improve instruction. Unrelated Themes