ERIC EJ969839: A Phenomenological Study of Professional Development Schools: How Principals Make Sense of Their Role

2010·0.29 MB·English

by  ERIC

A Phenomenological Study of Professional
Development Schools: How Principals Make
Sense of Their Role
Keith Tilford
ABSTRACT: Despite the significant number of universities that participate in Professional
Development School (PDS) collaborations, very little empirical research has been published on
theroleofthePDSprincipal.IfthePDSistobetheschoolofthefuture,itisimportanttohave
leaders prepared, either within educational leadership programs or supported through PDS
partnerships, to support creating a culture of professional learning. This type of preparation
mightrequireachangeinstructureandculturefromthetraditionalprincipalpreparationmodel.
In this qualitative study, the ways in which three Professional Development School principals
made sense of their roles were examined. Analysis identified sixassertions that characterize the
lifeworlds of the principals and their PDS roles. By studying and understanding how these
assertions reflect the ways principals made sense of their work, various stakeholders can use
these data to assist in the selection of quality candidates for PDS principal positions or schools
for partnership work.
Since the late 20th century when organizations of the school leader in this reform is critical.
liketheHolmesGroupproposedthecreationof Several studies have outlined the importance of
new institutions referred to as professional the principal as a leader of change within
development schools (PDSs), universities across schools. First, the National Commission on
theUnitedStateshaveenteredintopartnerships Teaching and America’s Future (1996) de-
with PK-12 schools in the hopes of improving scribed the position of principal using such
teacher education (The Holmes Group: 1985, terms as ‘‘gatekeeper,’’ highlighting the pivotal
1990, 1995). In 2002, Levine reported that role held by these school-based leaders in
approximately 30% of the National Council for implementing school reform. Additionally,
the Accreditation of Teacher Education Kersh and Mastal (1998) argued that the
(NCATE) colleges and universities identified principal is a key component in any collabora-
theirinstitutionsasbeinginvolvedinPDSwork. tive school reform effort. Also, Miles (1983)
Despite the significant number of universities found in his study that the principal is a critical
thatparticipateinPDScollaborations,verylittle ingredient in institutionalizing change at the
empirical research has been published on the school level.
roleofthePDSprincipal.IfthePDSistobethe The motivation behind the movement for
school of the future, it is important to have PDSs was the need to improve student achieve-
leaders prepared within educational leadership ment by creating better schools through better
programs to support such entities. This type of training of teachers. This required a new vision
preparation might require a change in structure of what it meant to be a school principal.
and culture from the traditional principal Lashway (2003) pointed out the challenges
preparation model. associated with preparing principals to lead in
Given that PDSs are an example of a way that placed a greater focus on student
educational innovation, understanding the role learning and student achievement.
60 School—University Partnerships Vol. 4,No. 2
A Phenomenological Study of Professional Development Schools 61
Beyond the need for increased emphasis on interviews in the series had a specific purpose.
student learning, these PDSs committed to The intent of the first interview was to collect
movement were also concerned with profession- background information on the interviewee.
al learning in the schools by and for prospective Called a focused-life history, the goal of this
teachers, practicing teachers, and principals. session was to put the participants’ experiences
The PDS standards created by the National into context and to have them tell about
Council for the Accreditation of Teacher themselves and the topic in the present.
Education (2006) outlined criteria that envi- Interview 2 was designed to determine the
sioned PDSs as schools focused on learning for contemporary experiences of the participant in
all, indicating the importance of establishing a detail. The goal of this session was to ask for
professional learning culture within schools. stories to elicit details. Finally, the purpose of
The impetus to create a professional learning Interview 3 was to obtain the participant’s
culture within PDSs, emerged about the same reflection on the meaning of their experience.
time that Barth (1990) wrote about the role the This session addressed the intellectual and
principal serves as the lead learner in a school. emotional connections between the partici-
Given the push to create professional learning pant’s work and life.
cultures within schools and the key role a Participantswereselectedbasedoncriterion
principal plays in the process, it is imperative sampling, a kind of purposive sampling (Patton,
that new insights into the roles and responsibil- 2002). The selection of the three principals was
ities of PDS principals be explored. By under- purposeful in that their high level of participa-
standing the principal’s role more completely, a tion in the PDS partnership work and their
guide for current and future school leaders as interest in creating a culture of professional
well those who prepare them for those roles learning improved the possibility of producing
might be offered. The principal is a critical thick,richexplanations.Theinterviewswiththe
ingredient in all stages of PDS work (Foster, principal were audio-recorded and then tran-
Loving, & Shumate, 2000). To these ends, in scribed. The transcripts were analyzed to
this study the roles of three elementary PDS uncover emerging themes present in the work
principals committed to creating a learning of the three principals. Seidman’s (1998) basic
community similar to that advocated by the structure for creating profiles was used to
NCATE PDS standards were examined. transform the data into portraits (Lawrence-
Lightfoot&Davis,1997)throughtheprocessof
studying, reducing, and then analyzing. The
Methods studying phase occurred as the tapes were
transcribed independently. Each interview was
Given that the purpose of this research project listened to at least three times. The transcripts
wastounderstandthephenomenonofprincipal were then read and edited. Next, the most
leadership within one network of elementary relevant passages were marked and then studied
PDSs more fully, a phenomenological frame- to determine names for emerging themes.
work was used to investigate each principal in Finally, a cross-case analysis was conducted,
the study. Phenomenology is a research strategy studyingtheportraitsandthemesinthecontext
designed to find the essence and meaning of a of the literature on professional development
phenomenon (Patton, 2002). In this case, the schools and leadership, from which the six
phenomenon was principal leadership within a assertions emerged.
PDS.Aphenomenologicalresearchmethodwas Consistent with phenomenology, trustwor-
used to answer the research question, ‘‘How do thiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) in this study
principals make sense of their roles in a PDS?’’ was enhanced by maintaining an audit trail,
This qualitative interview study was conducted using member checks to clarify and correct the
using Seidman’s (1998) three interview protocol interview transcripts, and using member checks
for phenomenologicalstudies.Eachof thethree to confirm emerging themes.
62 KEITHTILFORD
Context program since its inception. The other two
principals were leaders in the schools that had
The principals in this study were the leaders in recently become PDSs, but were actively in-
three schools within a 10-school PDS network volved in the program both within and outside
affiliated with a research-intensive university in the context of their schools. A brief description
the southeastern United States. The university’s ofeachprincipalandhisorherbackgroundand
elementary education program was unified with context is provided in the following paragraphs.
its elementary special education program. The Pseudonyms are used for all principals, univer-
degree programwasfive years in length with the sity personnel, school staff, and schools.
fifth year being a master’s degree year. During
the last semester of their fourth year, students Brent
were placed in dyads for a 14-week pre-
internship. As pre-interns, the students were Brent is the principal of Countryside Elemen-
typically placed with one mentor teacher, tary School and at the time of the study had
spending time in the classroom four hours per served in that role for 15 years. This rural
day, four days per week. University personnel, school, located about 20 miles outside of a city
most often graduate assistants referred to as of approximately 100,000, serves students in
field advisors, supervised the pre-interns and grades three through five. There were approxi-
instructed them in seminar on the remaining mately 430 students in the school and 35
weekday for a period of two to three hours. teachers. Countryside Elementary School is
Students earned three hours of credit for the important to the community. Parents tend to
seminar and an additional three hours of credit be very supportive of the school and Brent.
for the four days of pre-internship work. Although the community is experiencing
Thestudywasconductedduringthesecond growth, parents and grandparents of many of
year of the program in which every elementary thechildrenatCountrysidewerestudentsatthe
education pre-intern from the university was school themselves.
placed in a PDS. The number of pre-intern Countryside Elementary School had been
dyads ranged from four to nine in each school. involved in the PDS partnership for sevenyears.
Two school sites were combined into one Thestaffwasverystabledemonstratedbythefact
cohort.Thecohortstooktheirelementarysocial that Brent normally hired only one to two new
studies methods course and a reading course teachers a school year. With a minority rate of
together. These courses were held at one of the 38% and a free and reduced lunch rate of 54%,
two school sites when space was available. In Countryside was a diverse school. Countryside
some cases the seminar classes were not failedtomeetAYPduringthe2005–2006school
combined into cohorts, but instead were taught year, but was successful in meeting the federal
by the field advisor for each school’s group of standards in the 2006–2007 school year.
pre-interns. During the fall semester, four to six Brent moved from south Florida to attend
PDSsworkedwithpre-internsandinthespring, the university in the late 1960s. He began
this number rose to as many as 10 PDSs. The teaching in the early 1970s. During his 35 years
schools had been involved in the PDS work in education, he has taught at the elementary,
between two and seven years. middle and high school levels in four different
schools and has held positions at the district
office. He has been principal at Countryside
Participants Elementary for 15 years, the only school where
he has served in that capacity.
The three principals in this study were Brent,
Rachel, and Tanya. The principals were selected
Tanya
based on the time and level of participation of
their schools in the PDS program. One Tanya, the second principal in the study,
principal, Brent, had been involved with the relocated to central Florida after growing up
A Phenomenological Study of Professional Development Schools 63
and working for six years as a teacher and considered a large, urban school of over 800
assistant principal in California. During her 33 students. Prior to that, she served as a science
years in the district, Tanya served as an teacher for seven years, working in both
elementary classroom teacher, curriculum spe- suburban and rural middle schools all within
cialist, and principal at Benton Elementary and the same district.
then Parkway Elementary. Tanya served as
principal at Parkway Elementary School for
sevenyears.ParkwayhasparticipatedinthePDS Results
programfortwoyears.Duetoshiftinggrowthin
the city, the school which was previously The phenomenon explored in this study was
considered a suburban school is becoming principal leadership within a PDS; data analysis
increasingly diverse and is developing character- identified six assertions that characterize how
istics of an urban school. Parkway is located principals make sense of their PDS roles.
approximately three miles from the university.
Positioned at the corner of two busy streets, Assertion 1: When principals willingly
Parkway is surrounded by houses and located embrace the PDS work by seeing
close to a city park and nature trail. There is a connections between the PDS goals
large core of veteran teachers at Parkway, but in and their other leadership work, these
thepastseveralyearsTanyahashadtohiremore connections allow the PDS work to
than 10 teachers. There are more than 50 become ‘‘a part of’’ rather than ‘‘apart
teachers at Parkway. Demographically, the from’’ the beliefs, experiences, and
minority rate increased to 44% and the free goals that underlie their current lead-
and reduced lunch rate is at 43%. The PK-5 ership.
schoolservesnearly700students.Parkwayfailed
All three principals demonstrated through
to meet AYP during the 2005–2006 school year
their work the ways in which the PDS
butmet thefederalstandards in the2006–2007
school year. collaborative efforts were connected to their
school mission. Each principal has shaped the
partnership work into a form that assists them
Rachel
in reaching their intended school goals, ranging
The third principal in the study, Rachel, was in fromimprovedstudentlearning,toempowering
herfourthyearataPK-5ruralelementaryschool staff and fostering teacher leadership.
serving nearly 600 students. Rachel supervises Rachel’sconnectiontothegoalsof thePDS
42teachersatBentonElementarySchool.Inthe work is primarily founded in her initiative as
four years since she has been principal, the principal to improve the instructional skills of
school grades have gone from a C, to one B her teachers for the benefit of student learning.
followed by three A’s. Benton serves approxi- As the newest of the three principals, Rachel
mately600PK-5students.Theschool’sminority exerted great effort to change the culture of the
rate was 29% and the free and reduced lunch school to one that was more focused on
rate is 49%. The community of Benton is accountability. She used the partnership work
experiencing a great deal of growth which has notonlyasacatalysttoinitiatechanges,butalso
enabled Rachel to hire nearly one-fourth of the as a support system to guide her teachers
staff in just four years at the school. The rural through the process. After describing her past
school is located approximately 15 miles from experiences with interns as being disconnected
the university. Benton has been involved with from the school and its needs, with the
the PDS program for two years and met AYP elementary schools simply providing a ‘‘place’’
during the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 school for the teacher candidates and the occasional
years. Prior to this principalship, Rachel spent reward of ‘‘tuition waivers’’ for the classroom
four years as an assistant principal in what she teachers,Rachelsharedthestoryofwhatledher
64 KEITHTILFORD
to consider letting her school become a PDS school renewal. Serving as principal in a school
site. with an established culture, Brent was working
to build on the strengths of his teaching staff by
Butthiswasmore.Theywantedtohelpme
providing an atmosphere of continual profes-
with my school improvement efforts. They
sional development within the context of their
wanted to give me relationships with
day-to-day work.
expertise. Cozette (university professor and
PDS liaison) knew we were working on
Exposingteacherstoknowledge,profession-
writing so she introduced me to Marion
al development. ... you know, that’s really
Green, a university professor that was an
whatchangesschoolsandthat’swhatmakes
expert inwriting. She gave me a supervisor
good teachers want to come to places. I’ve
forthepre-internsthathadabackgroundin
got a pretty good staff here, you know. In
writing.Shequicklyconnectedwith,‘These
fact, I’ve got more teachers with advanced
arethingswecandofortheschool.Wecan
degrees, higher percentage in this school
helptheschool.’Andsheencouragedmeto than in the district. Actually, this Decem-
go backtoschoolandsoitwaslikewehad ber, I’ll have more teachers with specialist’s
shared goals. Everybody was talking about degrees than any school in the district, and
schoolimprovement.Yesitprovidedaplace notahigherpercentage,butmoreteachers.
for them to have pre-interns and interns, I’mnotpayinganythingmorethananybody
but they were all working on our school else. What attracts, in the era of a teacher
improvement efforts. Having a large group shortage...youknow,howdoIattractthe
meantallthoseextrasetsofhands.Wewere kind of teachers that we want here?
doing full inclusion and so extra sets of Everyone else wants them too. I can’t pay
handsinclassroomsarewonderful.Andby themanymore.We’realittlecountryschool
providing a larger group rather than just a out here in the middle of nowhere. I can’t
fewinterns,itgaveusthat.(Session2,Lines offer a lot of the things that, some of the
37–52) facilities, the other perks that other people
can. But what I think has helped me to
Rachel was able to envision how the PDS
attract the kind of teachers I want is the
partnership could be more productive than the
professional development opportunities
previous clinical model. Rachel made deliberate that excite the really good teachers and
and sustained efforts to match the PDS work so theteacherleaders,theopportunity...and
thatitsupportedthestatedschoolimprovement Icouldnotdothatwithouttheresourcesof
plan goals. Rachel clarified with university PDS the college. So if you look at what has
personnel the techniques and strategies that she helped this school develop over time, we
wereatonetimeacademicallyatthebottom
believed would establish the school culture she
ofthedistrictnumberofyearsagotowhere
envisioned. Rachel believed that small group
wearenow.There’salotoflittlethings,but
instruction, inclusion, and using data to guide
I think the critical factor to me, is one way
instructional decisions were areas in which her
or another, most of it comes back to the
ideas matched the university’s philosophy about
partnership I have with the college. It has
classroom instruction. By pushing her staff to
givenme resourcesthatI couldn’tget from
move toward these instructional techniques, the district. And the different kind of
Rachel was facilitating the creation of a school resources, the intellectual capital that exists
culture and classroom environment that was a overthere,butIthinkthat,kindofthestars
better fit for the types of placements the and the moon are beginning to align with
university desired for their pre-service teachers. what the Dean wants to do and some
different department chairs and all that. I
The goals of the university in many ways
think people are beginning to understand
mirrored Rachel’s goals for her school, allowing
the power for both sides. (Session 1, Lines
the PDS work to become an integral part of her
512–531)
role as the school’s leader.
Brent demonstrated his connection with The PDS partnership provided Brent with the
goals of the PDS through his beliefs about resources he needed for staff development.
A Phenomenological Study of Professional Development Schools 65
Althoughhedidreceiveresourcesintheformof visibleintheirrolesasprincipalsbeforethePDS
university graduate courses and other expert work, the collaboration with the university has
assistance, the core of the professional develop- provided more connection between their lived
ment was tied to the daily, school-based experiences and current roles as leaders. Beliefs
experiences with the interns and teacher about accountability, culture, and collaboration
inquiry. Brent believed it was important for surface in their work as PDS principals.
everyone involved in the PDS work to continue Rachel’s past experiences associated with
to grow and learn, including the university. The accountability have shaped the ways in which
PDS partnership was utilized by Brent in a way she implements the PDS work at Benton.
that worked to foster deeper collaboration Rachel expects to see student learning gains.
among his staff and with the university. Brent During her time as a classroom teacher, Rachel
has used the partnership with the university to shared her frustrations with the idea that ‘‘weak
assist him in facilitating growth in himself and teachers’’ were receiving positive yearly evalua-
his faculty. tions. She felt as though they were not being
Tanya worked continually to refocus the held accountable as teachers should be. This
PDS work at Parkway to ensure that it matched belief in holding teachers accountable surfaced
her primary goal for the school and its teachers; in her role as an assistant principal.
improving student learning. As a school leader,
I would say something that definitely
Tanyaspokeofalwaysbringingthefocusbackto
helped make me the principal I am today
student learning. Tanya believed the PDS
was from when I was an assistant principal
partnership held the potential to improve
in sitting through grievances and union
student learning, which led her to accept the
issues and mediation and I sat through
opportunity for her school to become a PDS
several that went all the way through to
site. Tanya shared how the partnership, accom- terminating an employee. Those were
panied with the influx of interns, impacted her difficultbutdefinitelylearningexperiences.
school. Itdefinitelymademeseetheimportanceof
dealingwithissues.Ihadworkedatschools
The family to me has just become larger.
when I was a teacher with administrators
You know the pre-interns become a part of
who did not tackle issues, who just went
that team. So definitely the family is larger.
about day-to-day, ‘Everything was happy,
Ithinkthereismoreemphasisonwhatthe
everybody’sfine,’justdidn’ttacklethestaff
student work looks like rather than what
memberthatwasineffectiveor...itwasjust
the teachers are doing. (Session 2, Lines
kind of turnyourhead. And that bothered
351–352)
me as an employee. ... I formed opinions
watching that. If I ever became an admin-
Tanya used her affiliation with the university
istrator, so that my great employees’
through the PDS work to provide her staff with
evaluations had weight to them, I would
learning opportunities to assist them in improv-
have to be willing to tackle issues and deal
ing their skills as classroom instructors. The
with the union and sit through the hard
PDS collaboration, including the inquiry work
meetings. (Session 1, Lines 286–297)
ofinternsandinterestedteachers,assistedTanya
in strengthening the focus on student work. Rachel’s principal in this situation took on the
challenges associated with ensuring teachers
Assertion 2: The lived experiences performed at an adequate level, often taking
valued by principals throughout their on the teachers’ union despite a lack of district
careerarecloselytiedtotheleadership support. When Rachel assumed the reins at
style they promote as PDS principals. Benton, she worked hard to hold her teachers
accountable, evenwhen the support she felt she
The past experiences of the three principals needed and deserved from the district was not
can clearly be pictured in how they operate as forthcoming. She had learned in her roles as a
PDSprincipals.Whiletheseexperiencesarealso teacherandasan assistantprincipalthatleaders
66 KEITHTILFORD
must hold teachers to a high standard in them every six weeks. And he would do
addition to differentiating the support she that, but in a very professional way. He
provides them. As a part of her emphasis on appeared to be very laid-back when he was
accountability, Rachel used the partnership to doing all of this, very relaxed. But I would
find out later, of course, that he was not.
improve the skills of her teachers to assist them
He was very intense inside, but his style
in reaching the high standards she has set for
outside was that he was very relaxed.
them. Rachel viewed the collaboration with the
(Member Check, Lines 67–80)
university as a resource to assist her in helping
her teachers achieve the high expectations she Tanya has repeated this strategy of using the
has set for them. Rachel used the collaboration expertise of other by delegating additional
as away to‘‘meet theteachers where theywere’’ leadership responsibilities to her CRT, behavior
and support their individual professional devel- resource teacher (BRT), and especially her team
opment needs. Her past experience as a teacher leaderssothattheymayassistherinhelpingthe
providedanunderstandingoftheimportanceof school reach its goals related to the fostering of
structuring professional growth around the student learning. Tanya used her collaboration
specific needs of individuals while still working with university personnel in the same manner,
to ensure that each faculty member was striving to keep the PDS work connected to
continuing to learn and develop. Even strong student learning. Tanya’s experiences as a
teachers need to continue to grow. teacher leader could be observed in the way
Tanya’s commitment to curriculum mani- shedistributedpowerandresponsibilitiestoher
fests in her role as a PDS principal. As a former staff in order to have a team approach to
curriculum resource teacher (CRT), Tanya improving student learning and school improve-
differed from many principals in the way she ment.
viewed the partnership activities. While many Brent’shistoryrelated toschoolcultureand
principals would consider the additional work teacherleadershipplayedasignificantroleinhis
associated with hosting pre-service teachers as a PDS work with the university. As a pre-service
negative, Tanya’s past work as a CRT, which teacher, Brent saw how culture could negatively
required her to seek additional assistance from impact the ability of teachers to meet the needs
outside sources, led her to view the pre-service of the children in the school. Having clinical
teachers as a resource that could help her experiences and student teaching in high
teachers in their goal to improve student schoolsbeforeandduringdesegregationallowed
achievement. Also, Tanya shared in the inter- him to see how school culture can contribute to
views how her first principal enlisted his staff to ordistract from the success of the students.The
take on leadership roles in the school. adultsinthebuildingsetthetonefortheschool
culture.
Hewasagoodadministrator.Infacthewas
a great administrator because he knew how You’vegotabunchofpoorcountrykidsup
to use other people’s expertise. When he here. You’ve got a bunch of poor country
put me in the curriculum job, he would kidsinMarshallCounty.Kidsarenotreally
makemostofmyassignmentsworkingwith that much different anywhere. Even at
kindergarten, first, and second grade. Carlise [economically advantaged school]
When he had a problem teacher in first where I was, it was just different cultures.
grade, which was the one that he assigned You see what’s different. Kids aren’t really
metobecauseheknewthatIhadthat area that much different from one place to
of expertise. So he would delegate those another. But what theyencounter and how
kinds of responsibilities to me. ... He was theyrespondtotheirenvironmentIthinkis
very good at delegating and empowering. I what makes them act different. (Session 3,
did learn that you empower people from Lines 268–273)
him because he was very good at that. And
thenhewouldholdthemaccountable.You While completing his student teaching in a
can’t just empower without checking on recently desegregated school, Brent was exposed
A Phenomenological Study of Professional Development Schools 67
to the challenges associated with blending the whowerehalf-timeassistantprincipals,half-
staffs of the white and black high schools. timeteachers.Butagain,wewereteams.We
started out initially to be multi-age teams
The same kind of rift we saw between the butitkindofchangedbackintogradelevel
students, we saw in the faculty. There was teams by the time I got there. We were
the blackfacultywhohad all been assigned allowed to manage and were kind of
there. They, for the most part, did not required to manage most of the day-to-day
communicate. They were an older group. I operations of our team. We would meet
was 20-something so they might have been usually once every week or two weeks.
40. But it seemed to be largely a predom- WhenIbecameteamleader,wewouldtalk
inantly older, white group of faculty who about what we were doing to make sure
had been there forever and then an older were all on the same page so that the sixth
group of black faculty who had been at
gradeisn’tdoingsomethingthatisgoingto
Carver or wherever they had been forever.
createproblemsforeighthgrade.Occasion-
They did not communicate. They did not
ally, we would have curriculum kind of
acknowledge one another. Again, the black
meetings across grade levels. (Session 3,
teachers did not want to be there, white
Lines 350–362)
teachers did not want them there. Both
their whole life and career had been upset Collaboration and teacher empowerment were
and everybody kind of knew it. (Session 1, demonstrated, in varying degrees, at the schools
357–364) whereBrenttaught.Theleadershipmodelsused
by the principals of these schools were incorpo-
While being exposed to this toxic culture that
rated into Brent’s principal leadership style.
existedbetweenseasonedfaculty,Brentwasable
As a result of these experiences, Brent’s
to build relationships and becomepartof a sub-
efforts as a PDS principalaredirectlyconnected
culture of newer teachers who did not have
to his beliefs about the importance of teacher
strong connections to the segregated schools.
leadership and collegial school cultures. Brent
This experience is apparent in Brent’s role as a
seeks to connect the PDS work and his beliefs
PDSprincipal.Heworkstobuildacollaborative
by providing his staff with professional develop-
environment where every member of the school
ment opportunities that focus on improving
staff is valued and appreciated. Significant
their skills as teacher leaders.
efforts are made to include new faculty in the
family as well as to encourage and value their
Assertion3:Beingopenandwillingto
knowledge and possible future contributions to
change is important for principals if
the school.
thePDSworkisgoingtobeintegrated
In his role as a classroom teacher at several
into the culture of the school.
elementary and middle schools, Brent was
exposed to principal leadership that fostered
All three PDS principals were willing to
and often relied on teacher leadership.
make changes in themselves or their school to
At Greenberg (middle school) it was the facilitate the partnership work. An openness to
same kindof thing [asatBalchand Carlise change is important in PDS collaborative work.
Elementary Schools]. We were expected to Once again, each of these principals was
be leaders. We were taught that we were somewhat atypical in how they were willing to
leaders but also that what was different
embrace change. In some way, the principals
there was the school was organized more
madesomechangeinthecultureoftheirschool
democratically. Again, this is the late
or in their personal practice as a result of the
seventies,earlyeighties, mid-seventies when
PDS work.
itstarted.Buttheschoolwasbuilt,thiswas
Rachelencouragedherstafftogrowintheir
theearlymiddleschoolmovement,undera
very different kind of organizational struc- teachingskillsandtoembracenewinstructional
ture. There was still a lot of talk about methods. From the moment she assumed
differentiated staffing with some people leadership at Benton Elementary, Rachel
68 KEITHTILFORD
pushed for change and often found herself children’s learning than being in one
battling to eliminate or improve upon school classroom... But you can influence a lot
traditions. morepeopleandIthinkespeciallymakean
impact on children’s learning. And the
Because you are in the school, [culture]
same thing again, leaving the curriculum
really affects everyone in the building, new
resourcejob,youlead...ImeanmyCRTis
staffcomingon,it’saconstant,it’sabattle.
definitely a leader. She is an academic
As an administrator you try to create a
leader.Butsheleadswithoutauthority.She
positive climate. Whenyou have oftenvery
leads through expertise. I guess that the
veteran teachers who are resistant to
curriculumresourceteacher,peoplelookat
change, who want it to be ‘traditional,’
them...thatwasmyfeeling,thatyoudidn’t
they want to hang on to the traditions that
have the authority to make changes with
sometimes are not always positive for kids.
teachers.Youcertainlydidn’tdothehiring,
That is definitely something I have had to
you didn’t do evaluations. You would have
face here at Benton. When I got here, the
to lead through expertise. (Session 1, Lines
averageteachingexperiencewas26years...
42–51)
theaverage.Ihadmany30plus.Andthere
were a lot of traditions in place that had
Tanya, as the leader of the school, has molded
passed their time, in my opinion. This
the partnership with the university in away that
school was a low ‘‘C’’ school, dropping
complements her goals for Parkway. She has
rapidlytoa‘‘D’’andoneofthethingsthat
was brought out in the interview [for the combined her ‘‘official’’ role with her expertise
principal position at Benton] was ‘How are to incorporate changes for the school through
yougoingtochangetheschool?’Ihaddone the PDS work.
the research to know a lot of things that
Despite the fact that Brent was the most
neededtohappen.Ithinkthatispartofthe
experienced principal, he was very open to the
reason I got the job because they thought
idea of change. He shared his views on change
thatIcould doit. (Session1, Lines 85-101)
in the context of growth and renewal.
In addition to insisting on change at Benton
andprovidingsupportthroughthePDSworkto Ithink therehas to be asense of continual
change. I mean you don’t want the wheels
makeithappen,Rachelisalsoconcentrating on
falling off,youdon’t wantto bereactingto
herowngrowthbyreturningtotheuniversityto
crises.Butifyoudon’thavesomethingnew
pursue a doctoral degree. In addition to taking
to do or something you are trying to tweak
on these responsibilities, Rachel has assumed
or something you are trying to fix,
more roles as a result of her work with the
something you are trying to start new then
university such as seminar instructor and
the school becomes flat. When you start
conference presenter. Rachel has used the PDS
trying to replicate what you did last year,
partnership to assist her in her work toward
because it is easy and predictable, then the
improving the school.
school kind of loses its life, at least for me.
Tanya’s move from the classroom, to
(Session 1, Lines 98-103)
curriculum resource teacher, and then to the
principalship were motivated by her goal of There were several examples of how the PDS
improving instruction for the benefit of the partnership has altered Brent’s role as a
students. Understanding the challenges and principal. Brent has changed by integrating
barriers associated with change, Tanya posi- inquiry into the professional development
tionedherselftoserveinrolesthatprovidedher
evaluation process at Countryside. Brent actual-
with increased opportunities to positively influ-
ly ended up taking on responsibilities that
ence the experiences provided to school chil-
encouraged change outside of his school. Also,
dren.
he has also become more involved with the
I could have more of an influence over university by presenting at state and national
what was happening in the classroom, over conferences.
A Phenomenological Study of Professional Development Schools 69
Assertion 4: Principals can enter at work better with two extra sets of hands,
multiple career points and with a and that maybe more individual needs
variety of school conditions by adopt- could be met.’ So their gains may grow.
ing either a developing, integrating, or Sotheirinterestwaspiquedfromthat.And
thenwhentheysawitforonesemester,they
culminating stance on the PDS work.
definitely bought into it. (Session 2, Lines
96-110)
The participants in this study were at
different points in their careers as principals. The PDS work at Benton is connected to
Rachelhadhadlessthanfiveyearsintheroleas Rachel’s work toward developing a school
principal. Tanya, after many years as a CRT,was culture of accountability that embraces small
finishing her 10th year as a principal, and her group instruction and inclusion. Notonly is the
seventh year in a rapidly changing school partnership developing through the PDS expe-
context. Brent, after 15 years as a principal, rience,butRachelandherstaffarealsocreating
wasleadinginasmall,stableschool.Despitethe a new school culture and honing their teaching
differences in their experiences and time as and leadership skills.
administrators, each principal utilized the Tanya’s work with the PDS could be
partnership to enhance their work as principals. described as integrating as she is incorporating
Rachel entered the PDS partnership as a the PDS work into her current approach to
novice principal. She is an example of a PDS leadership. Tanya works to meld her school
principal at the developing level, just learning her mission of focusing on the student achievement
craft. Rachel used the PDS work to assist her in with the PDS work. Besides using the partner-
her own professional growth as well as the ship to strengthen the focus on student work,
growth of her staff. Despite their concerns over Tanya also viewed the PDS partnership as a way
previousbadexperienceswithuniversityinterns, to influence the university to create what she
Rachel had Cozette, the university liaison, believes would be a stronger teacher education
explain the program to her teachers. Rachel program.
was willingto consider participation in the PDS
I think I saw the collaboration as being a
program because of her commitment to change
way to influence ... I mean, my belief that
and school improvement. Rachel saw the
these folks needed more of a lengthy
potential in the partnership to assist her
experience in the same setting. ... To me,
teachers in meeting her expectations.
ifyouhavethesepeoplelonger,there,it’sa
two-way collaboration. It is not just the
When I came I was very data-driven, had
university, because the pre-interns, the
been trained that way from my assistant
interns are collaborating with the teacher
principalposition.AndsoIbroughtthatin
and the teacher is also collaborating and
to, that it was going to be a part of every
looking at student work and inquiry. So to
weeklookingatdata,lookingatgainsatthe
me that was the appeal to do this. (Session
end of the year, ‘Who gained, who didn’t,
2, Lines 49–67)
why?’ having all that kind of discussion.
And so because of my pressure of account- While Tanya saw the benefits of inquiry, she
ability, they didn’t want to turn over their selected and molded inquiry and staff develop-
classroomtointernsbecausetheyneededto
ment opportunities connected with the PDS
be assured that they got gains. So that I
partnership to ensure they were integrated with
think, the combination of bad experiences
the mission of improving student learning.
plus my pressure on them for accountabil-
Brent, the participant with the most
ity, they didn’t want any part of interns.
experience as a principal, took a stance of
AndsoIthinkthatthemodelhadchanged
culmination regarding the PDS work. Brent is
and that we were pushing small-group
instruction. And having the pair of pre- using the partnership work to further define
interns, the teachers could see, ‘Okay himself as a principal and to foster his
maybe this small-group instruction could professional growth. He used the PDS work in