1

HSIRB Proposal for Barb Johnson.doc

HSIRB Proposal Outline Requirements:

Abstract: The case study examines a K-5 school that has implemented four key recommended leadership practices (systematic supervision, comprehensive instruction, professional development, and knowledgeable leaders) that have impacted classroom instruction related to writing and has experienced success in its writing scores, even for at-risk students. It explores the connections between these leadership practices and the use of effective instructional practices in literacy (writers’ workshop, phonics, basals and trade books) in the classroom. Interviews of 14 teachers and 2 leaders will be conducted and school artifacts, including school improvement plans will be examined. Additional research could explore the impact of additional leadership practices on writing scores.

Purpose/Background: Since the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) was enacted in 2001, there is a greater focus on accountability for educators. The issue of low writing scores in particular has received a great deal of attention from state education officials, school boards and parents. Indeed in 2005, only 51.5% of third graders succeeded in passing the writing component of the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). Educators are seeking ways to engage and effectively instruct a generation of children reared in a rapidly changing world on forty-plus hours a week of media amusement, where writing plays no role (Daggett, 2001; Healy, 2005; Simpson, 2006). Students who do not engage with rigorous writing curriculum or instruction will not likely enter college or succeed in college (Marzano, 2003; Wagner, 2006; Wepner & Strickland, 2006). Since writing ability is essential to attaining a college degree, state policymakers utilize state test results like the MEAP scores as the means to hold leaders and classrooms accountable for helping students obtain writing skills (Canul, 2006). The perceived competency of schools, school districts, administrators and educators is therefore heavily based on such assessments (Cherry, 2006). In this climate, there is the call for research regarding effective leadership-influenced practices that impact classroom instruction and, in turn, student outcomes, particularly in the area of writing.

Subject Recruitment: The collection of data will start by identifying the pool of participants from the teachers who teach where there were improved writing scores and leadership-influenced practices that impacted classroom literacy instruction. The researcher will begin the process of participant selection by contacting the School Administrator to obtain that office’s assistance in the process. The administrator will be asked to produce the list of teachers who teach writing. The recruitment letter will be sent to these potential subjects inviting them to learn more about participating in the study. Those who are interested will be invited to learn more about the study on April 12 at 7:30 A.M. or 4:00 P.M. at the school and review the consent document before deciding whether or not to be interviewed. If the potential subject decides to participate and signs the consent, the interview could take place at that same time after the teacher has an opportunity to review the interview questions or at another agreed upon date. If the interview is to take place at a later date, the researcher will send a follow-up email to confirm the date, time and location of the interview as well as the questions that the researcher plans to ask each educator to answer and return prior to the interview.

Informed Consent Process: The researcher will take care to fulfill all the requirement of WesternMichiganUniversity’s Human Subject Review Board (HSRB). Prior to the interview with each educator, the researcher will read and review the consent document outlining what participation will involve. If he/she decides to participate he/she will sign a consent form permitting the session to be taped and transcribed verbatim for data analysis. Written consent will be obtained before a teacher is permitted to participate in the study. The researcher, to make sure that participants are protected, will adhere to this protocol of informed consent. This includes the researcher getting permission from the HSRB prior to beginning any process of collecting data.

Research Procedure: Various kinds of data will be collected for this case study. Because of the nature of the participants’ schedules as teachers engaged with students, interviews of the teachers and leaders will be scheduled at a time that is convenient for the educators. The interviews will take place in an office within the school building, with each session being audio taped to guarantee accuracy of records, permitting the researcher to focus on the teacher and his or her responses. The researcher and the educator equally will have the opportunity to review the written record at a later date to ensure accuracy and to permit any follow-up questions or comments by either the researcher or the participant. Professional development plans and data on how they were carried out will be gathered. Information as to how supervision was conducted will be collected and recorded. This will include documentation of professional development, secondary writing scores, school artifacts, the school improvement plan, and bulletin board displays. Writing scores will be included only in summary form so as not to reveal the identity of the students.

Methodology: The use of the case study approach within the qualitative tradition is appropriate for this study because all of the participants have had similar experiences producing successful writing students from the same school despite 59% of the students being at risk. The researcher will acknowledge and respond to ethical considerations in the research process, as well as follow appropriate methods of data collection and analysis to gain a deeper understanding of the experience of these educators and the factors influencing their students’ success in writing.

An important factor in the data-analysis portion of a qualitative study is that the researcher is the primary means of data collection. As a result, the researcher must make every attempt to limit the impact of any bias that may exist. The direct involvement of the researcher in the data collection and analysis is one of the key challenges of qualitative research, so steps must be taken to limit the impact. This will be accomplished through the process whereby the study participants are allowed to review and clarify transcripts from the interview and statements made during data collection.

Written transcripts will be stored in a locked filing cabinet in the office of the researcher for one year following the completion of the study. The written transcripts will be stored on the campus of WesternMichiganUniversity for at least three years.

The audio transcripts will be destroyed once the transcription process has been completed and a written record is produced and the participant is confident that the written transcript accurately reflects her comments during the interview.

Results will be disseminated through a dissertation prepared by Barb Johnson. A PowerPoint presentation will be developed and shared with the dissertation committee during the oral defense.

Risks and Costs: The audio transcripts will be destroyed once the transcription process has been completed and a written record is produced and the participant is confident that the written transcript accurately reflects her comments during the interview. There are no other known risks/discomforts associated with participating in this study.

Benefits of the Research: There are several expected benefits from participating in this study. Results of this study can serve to further the understanding of leaders and teachers in the studied elementary school and provide a clear indication of the leadership practices and classroom instruction upon which to focus their attention in order to further maximize writing ability. It will also provide leaders and teachers in similar facilities some insight into the leadership practices and classroom instruction they may wish to investigate for the purposes of inspiring greater writing success. Furthermore, because some of the leadership practices and classroom instruction is relevant to all subjects, leaders, teachers and policy makers throughout the field will gain insight into potential practices they may wish to consider when addressing successful instruction in other subjects.

Confidentiality of Data: Steps will be taken to protect each subject’s identity. This involves the use of pseudonyms for each participant such as “Teacher 1,” “Teacher 2,” and so on. Gender and grade level will not be identified. Each teacher will be educated about the fact that he or she is free to depart from the study at any point, and an explanation of the data collection and storage process will be provided. The transcripts will be taken straight to the researcher’s home each day and locked in a secure office. Upon conclusion of the study, the data will be stored on a CD and transported from the school to WMU via the researcher. Federal regulations require that data be maintained in a locked file in the Primary Investigator’s office or in the University Archive for at least three years after the study closes.

Appendices:

Requesting Participation Letter

Dear Teacher,

My name is Barb Johnson and I am the principal of BrownElementary School in Byron Center, Michigan. I am writing to ask if you are interested in learning more about participating in a qualitative research study on leadership-influenced practices that impact classroom instruction related to writing. In addition to my administrative duties, I am also a doctoral student at WesternMichiganUniversity. This is part of the requirements for a doctoral degree in Educational Leadership.

Participating in this study will include:

An interview conversation that should last approximately 60-90 minutes and that will be conducted before or after school hours in a private location in your school building. Prior to this conversation, I will submit the interview questions to you and request your responses in advance that I might review them. This conversation will be recorded by a tape recorder, and I will also be taking written notes. If needed, a follow up meeting may occur which will allow me to check for the accuracy of my notes and to ask any follow up questions I had after reviewing the transcripts of our first meeting.

Participation in this study is completely voluntary and there is no penalty for not participating or for withdrawing from the study. If you agree to participate in this study, your identity will be kept strictly confidential. Your name and school will not appear in the study. Your stories will be referenced by a pseudo name. All transcripts will be kept on a CD-ROM in a secured office in the researcher’s home.

If you are interested in learning more about participating, please contact me by replying by email to or by mail to 2370 Gatetree Lane, SE Grand Rapids, MI 49546. Or you may feel free to contact me by phone at (616) 285-9843. On April 12 at 7:30 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. you will have the opportunity to learn more about the study and review the consent document before deciding whether or not to be interviewed.

Sincerely,

Barb Johnson

Consent Document

Department of Educational Leadership, Research, and Technology

Dr. Louann Bierlein Palmer, Principal Investigator

Barb Johnson, Student Investigator

Leadership-Influenced Practices that Impact Classroom Instruction Related to Writing:

A Case Study of a Successful Elementary School

You are invited to participate in a study examining “Leadership-Influenced Practices that Impact Classroom Instruction Related to Writing: A Case Study of a SuccessfulElementary School.” This study is being conducted by Barb Johnson, Principal of Brown Elementary School, and a doctoral student in the Education Leadership doctoral program at WesternMichiganUniversity, under the supervision of Dr. Louann Bierlein Palmer, her dissertation committee chair.

The following information is being provided for you to determine if you wish to participate in this study. In addition, you are free to decide not to participate in this research or to withdraw at anytime without affecting your relationship with the researchers or WesternMichiganUniversity.

The purpose of this study is to examine the leadership-influenced practices that impact classroom instruction related to writing. If you decide to participate you will be asked to participate in an interview lasting between 60-90 minutes with a possible follow-up interview if needed for clarification. To help in your preparation, you will be given four questions for you to reflect upon prior to the interview. These interviews will be audio recorded to ensure the accuracy of the collected information and all interviews will be transcribed into transcripts that you will be able to review and edit. You would be able to ask the interviewer to turn off the audio recording equipment at anytime during the interview.

Please do not hesitate to ask questions about the study before participating or while the research is taking place. I will be happy to share the results with you at the completion of the study. Ensuring the confidentiality of data is the norm in research. Your name or school name will not be used in the dissertation dissemination process; rather it will only be known to the researcher. Pseudonyms will be used for participants (i.e. Teacher 1, Teacher 2, and so on) and general terms will be used in reporting results (i.e. “Five of the teachers commented…;” “Two teachers reported that…;” etc.).

Written transcripts will be stored in a locked filing cabinet in the office of the researcher upon each completion and for one year following the completion of the study. The transcripts will be transported directly by the researcher and stored on the campus of WesternMichiganUniversity for at least three years.

The audio transcripts will be destroyed once the transcription process has been completed and a written record is produced and you are confident that the written transcript accurately reflects your comments during the interview. There are no other known risks/discomforts associated with participating in this study.

There are several expected benefits from participating in this study. Results of this study can serve to further the understanding of leaders and teachers at The school and provide a clear indication of the leadership practices and classroom instruction upon which to focus your attention in order to further maximize writing ability. It will also provide leaders and teachers in similar facilities some insight into the leadership practices and classroom instruction they may wish to investigate for the purposes of inspiring greater writing success. Furthermore, because some of the leadership practices and classroom instruction is relevant to all subjects, leaders, teachers and policy makers throughout the field will gain insight into potential practices they may wish to consider when addressing successful instruction in other subjects.

If you have any questions about this study, please contact Barb Johnson, the student investigator at (616) 878-6200 (office) or (616) 890-5040 (cell) or via email at . You may also contact the Chair, The Western Michigan University Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (269) 387-8293 or via email at , or the Vice President for Research (269) 387-8298 if any questions or issues arise during the course of the study.

This consent document has been approved for use by the researcher for one year by the Human Subjects Institutional Review Board (HSIRB) as indicated by the stamped date and signature of the board chair in the upper right corner. Do not participate in the study if the stamped date is older than one year.

A signed copy of this consent form will be given to you for your records.

______

Participant Date

Consent obtained by: ______

Interviewer/Student Investigator

______

Date

Interview Protocol

Project: Leadership-Influenced Practices that Impact Classroom Instruction Related to Writing: A Case Study of a Successful Elementary School

Time of interview:______

Date of interview:______

Location:______

Interviewer:______

Interviewee:______

Thank you for consenting to participate in this study. I would like to record the interview so the study can be as accurate as possible. You may request that the tape recorder be turned off at any point of the interview.

Questions that the subjects will be asked include:

1. Within your elementary school that has experienced significant increases in its students’ writing scores (including at-risk student subpopulations), to what extentand how do you believe the following leadership-influencedpractices influenced those results:

  1. Regarding systematic supervision of your principal and literacy specialist:
  • How does your principal and literacy specialist influence the school reaction to change?
  • Who encourages you to participate in researched instructional practices?
  • What impact does your principal or literacy specialist have on the learning culture of your school or district?
  • There are colleagues who participate in professional development opportunities and return to the classroom to implement their new learning and are met with lack of support. Please describe your experiences of being supported or unsupported by your school’s leadership.
  1. Regarding the comprehensive curriculum of the Grade Level Content Expectations:
  • What are the ways you learn about curriculum, i.e. GLCEs?
  • How do you implement the curriculum as defined by the GLCEs?
  • Generally, why do you adhere to the GLCEs?
  • Does your district have the GLCEs attached to its school improvement plan? If so, what role did you play in creating this plan?
  1. Regarding supported professional development of curriculum, instruction, and assessment:
  • What is your main purpose in participating in a professional development opportunity?
  • What are the usual types of professional development you participate in? How often do you attend professional development activities?
  • What professional development activity was most useful/helpful to you? What did you learn from the experience? What about the activity made it helpful?
  • Have you experienced any frustrations when implementing new knowledge? If so, how did you respond to them?
  1. Regarding your leaders’ knowledge of curriculum, instruction and assessment?
  • When you want to discuss what you have learned from a professional development opportunity, with whom do you talk to at your school?
  • Besides the formal professional development events, how often do you talk with other people in your school about improving teaching? With whom? In what setting? What do you talk about?
  • How would you describe your school’s leadership in promoting your participation in professional development?
  • Who would you identify as your learning coach, if you have one?

2. Within your elementary school that has attempted to implement various leadership-influenced practices, what key barriers were encountered regarding: