Date
11-2020
Department
School of Education
Degree
Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership (EdD)
Chair
Judy Shoemaker
Keywords
Distributed Leadership
Disciplines
Education | Educational Leadership
Recommended Citation
Ashworth, Darrell M., "A Nested-Case Study Investigating Distributed Leadership at the Middle School Level" (2020). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 2713.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/2713
Abstract
The purpose of this nested-case study was to discover the perceptions of middle school teachers regarding the influence of distributed leadership on the subject matter they teach in McCullough County, Tennessee. The central research question for the study was as follows: How do middle school teachers describe the aspects of distributed leadership they encounter? The theoretical framework for this study was distributed leadership theory. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 middle school teachers from five middle schools in McCullough County, Tennessee : 5 English teachers (ELA), 1 math teacher, 4 social studies teachers, and 4 science teachers. Additional data were collected from the observation of a faculty meeting, analysis of distributed leadership documentation that was generated by the state department of education, and entries in my journal. I transcribed and analyzed interview data thoroughly. An analysis of research journal records was performed to reveal common themes that emerged from the data. These themes, codes within those themes, and one outlier within the data are presented. Pseudonyms were assigned for each participant, each principal, each school, and for the county itself.
