Date

4-2018

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Jennifer Courduff

Keywords

administrator perception, distributed leadership, instructional coach, instructional leadership, professional learning, school librarian

Disciplines

Educational Administration and Supervision | Educational Leadership | Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration | Library and Information Science

Abstract

The purpose of this collective case study was to develop an understanding of why California K-12 public school administrators distribute instructional leadership responsibilities to either instructional coaches or teacher librarians and how the two roles compare within the context of the implementation of the California Common Core State Standards in ELA/Literacy. The study addressed the following research questions: Why do administrators select instructional coaches/teacher librarians to help them provide instructional leadership? How do administrators and instructional coaches/teacher librarians work together to provide professional learning within daily instructional practice? How do administrators evaluate the effectiveness of the instructional coaches’/teacher librarians’ instructional leadership roles? Participants were district administrators who oversee the population, site administrators who directly supervise site-based instructional coaches or teacher librarians, and the corresponding instructional coaches and teacher librarians. Data were collected from multiple sources, including documents, interviews, observations, and focus groups with participants. Within-case and cross-case analyses were conducted to develop a naturalistic generalization of what was learned about how the coach and teacher librarian contributed to instructional leadership. Results demonstrated that administrators’ personal values influence their decisions to select and utilize instructional coaches or teacher librarians to provide instructional leadership. Instructional coaches are considered to be extensions of administrators as instructional leaders in ELA while teacher librarians are considered to be resources that can be called upon to provide occasional instructional support in ELA.

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