Date Approved

5-11-2001

Embargo Period

11-12-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ed.D. Doctor of Education

Department

Educational Leadership

College

College of Education

Advisor

Edward H. White, Jr., Ph.D.

Committee Member 1

James Coaxum, III, Ph.D.

Committee Member 2

Carolynn Hamlet, Ph.D.

Keywords

conflict, bullying, impulse control, behavior

Subject(s)

Social skills--Study and teaching (Elementary)

Disciplines

Educational Administration and Supervision | Elementary Education

Abstract

An implementation of a prosocial skills program was conducted in the Middle Township School District's K-2 Elementary #1 School, Cape May Court House, New Jersey. Three time periods of the implementation are discussed. The first time period, running from January 1994 to 1998, describes the historical events leading up to the participants desire to implement a social skills program. The second time period, running from January 1998 to December 1998 describes the period when the social skills program was discussed and piloted. During this pilot period, members became discouraged. They felt the program wasn’t giving them the results they wanted.

At this point, the administration defined the staff concerns as follows: The children in Middle Township’s Elementary School, which serves grades kindergarten through second, foiled to demonstrate the social skills that help them become better learners and citizens (Archives, Organizational Scan, 1999). The third time period includes the discussion of the problem statement through the first full year of the schoolwide implementation of the prosocial skills program. This time period is the major focus of this qualitative case study. It covers the timeframe from February 1999 when the administration defined the problem to June 2000.

During the February 1999 to June 2000 time period ethnographic data was collected using a variety of data gathering techniques. They included a field note journal, collection of archives, a collection of stories, a photograph album, audiotapes, videotapes, semi-structured interview results, and two participant observer journals. This data was used to answer four research questions. They were:

1. How have the behavioral aspects of my leadership theory influenced the change process? 2. What staff/student behavioral changes were evidenced as the result of the implementation of the prosocial skills program? 3. Were the change processes used effective in accomplishing the desired outcomes? 4. What cultural evidence indicates that the implementation of this program moved the organization toward a second order change?

From this study, I concluded that many of the leadership behaviors and change techniques the literature upholds as necessary characteristics and skills for leading successful change are indeed necessary and effective attributes. I found modeling, commitment, courage, risk taking, planning, listening, leading with a sense of morale code, and use of reflective practice to be powerful attributes that contributed to the successful implementation of the prosocial skills program at Elementary #1 school to the extent that the school’s culture shifted.

Change processes such as examining the school’s readiness for change, planning, establishing a vision and values statement, creating monitoring teams, building on existing cultural aspects, celebrating small steps toward realizing the vision, and allowing participants input for decision making were crucial change elements that contributed to leading this change effectively.

I discovered one noteworthy leadership aspect that I now believe is essential to leading successful change that is only briefly mentioned in the literature. It is care of self In addition, studying myself through reflective practice using techniques promoted in the literature, slowly changed me. I used a field note journal as my resource to engage in personal reflection. These self-understandings that gradually modified, altered, or changed me, occurred in an integrated fashion. A new leader emerged. I sustained many of my old properties, altering some, and adding new ones.

Download

Share

COinS