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Description
As schools across Arizona worked to meet NCLB's AYP requirement in 2010-2011, they were also labeled and sanctioned by AZ Learns. This phenomenological study focused on six effective high school principals in two Arizona school districts to ascertain how accountability policies impacted the principals' job responsibilities, autonomy, and ability to pursue social justice on their campuses. Interviews were conducted in three phases: superintendents, three principals from the superintendents' recommendations of effective school leaders, and three teachers from each school. In addition to analysis of individual principal leadership patterns, comparisons were made across districts, and from school to school within the same district. The goal of the study was to determine if and how principals were able to accomplish their goals for their school. The principals' leadership styles were examined through a Vortex Leadership Framework that posited principals at the center of a vortex of varying leadership roles, interests, and external forces, including accountability, autonomy, and limited resources. Key findings included (a) high school principals' responsibilities now include selling change to their staff, (b) principals' accountability is limited more by district constraints than by state or federal accountability, (c) principals must contend with rigid one-size fits all accountability standards that do not always meet the needs of their students, and (d) principals' autonomy is tied to their resources, including funding for staffing and programs.
ContributorsBatsell, Holly (Author) / Powers, Jeanne M. (Thesis advisor) / Mccarty, Teresa (Committee member) / Davey, Lynn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
In the U.S., when the government considers it necessary to intervene in familial relationships for the safety and welfare of a child, the federally mandated initial response is to seek to restore familial relationships through family and community support services. In certain situations, the state determines that children must be removed from their homes of origin for their safety and well-being. This results in these minors moving in with a relative, into a non-relative foster care home or into a congregate care facility until permanency can be established. When this happens, the length of time the minors will reside in these new environments is undetermined and future situations are unknown. It is imperative for the welfare of these youth that each placement provides quality care to meet all of their developmental needs throughout their time in the custody of the state. Adolescents in the foster system frequently experience placement instability. A connection has been established between negative developmental outcomes and a lack of stability for minors while they are in foster care. Youth who are emancipated exit the system without legal ties to anyone. Half or more have not graduated from high school or completed a GED. Many will experience unemployment, homelessness, substance addiction and/or incarceration. Because of these realities, this dissertation examines policies and procedures in the child welfare system that may contribute to the negative developmental outcomes of adolescents aging out of foster care. It seeks to answer the question, “How could improving the quality of care in group homes enable adolescents in state foster care custody to exit the system with positive developmental outcomes?”
ContributorsMicetic, Sue Frantz (Author) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis advisor) / Swadener, Beth B (Committee member) / Krysik, Judy L (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021