RESEARCH PROPOSAL FOR EDD 902 Sherryl A. Anderson December 23, 2015

RESEARCH PROBLEMS  Student Achievement  What factors impact student achievement in elementary schools?  Classroom instruction is the most important factor that impacts student achievement.  Teachers influence the quality of instruction, set expectations for learning, and measure the level of understanding.  The principal as the instructional leader determines classroom curriculum, drives instruction, develops grade level teams and facilitates the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) process.,

LITERATURE REVIEW  The purpose of the study by Goddard, Goddard & Moran (2007), was to explore and determine if teacher collaboration improve schools  ). According to Ballard &Bates (2008), researchers reviewed data that identified external influences that impacted student achievement.

LITERATURE REVIEW  McGuigan and Hoy (2006), researchers tried to identify school factors that make a difference in student achievement and overcome the negative influence of low socioeconomic status  Gieselmann (2009), examined principals and other factors associated with student achievement in elementary schools as measured by the state assessment.

LITERATURE REVIEW  Brockmeier, Starr, Green, Pate & Leech (2013), conducted a study similar to Gieselmann (2009) to determine if principal tenure, principal stability, and principal educational experience along with school-level variables predicted student achievement in elementary schools.

RESEARCH QUESTION AND HYPOTHESIS 1.How does curriculum and instruction impact student achievement in elementary schools? Null Hypothesis`~ There is no relationship between curriculum and instruction and student achievement. 2.How does PLC”s improve student achievement in elementary schools? Null Hypothesis ~ There is no relationship between PLC’s and student achievement. 3. How does the leadership (principal) impact student achievement in elementary schools? Null Hypothesis ~ There is no relationship between leadership and student achievement..

RESEARCH DESIGN  The framework of this study is a Correlational Quantitative Research Design  According to Creswell (2015), correlational designs are procedures in quantitative research in which investigators measure the degree of association (or relation) between two or more variables using the statistical procedure of correlational analysis.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS  How does the principal (leadership) impact student achievement in elementary schools?” This research question explores the effects leadership has on improving student achievement. The practical approach was chosen for this empirical study on leadership impacting student achievement primarily.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS  Institutional Review Board, Spalding University and Jefferson County Public Schools.  Distribute Consent for Research Study permission at local school level for stakeholders; Principal, Administrators, Teachers, Students, Parents and Community Partners.  Conduct any pre-test interviews and administer pre-test to designated groups  Observe Professional Learning Communities (PLC), Classrooms and meetings  Collect and analyze RTI data and student work  Collect data for benchmark assessments.  Analyze the last three years of math and reading KPREP scores

TIMELINE  The research study timeline will begin in July 1 st through October of the following year. Kentucky Performance Rating Educational Progress (KPREP) test scores are included in data collection and the release date is October for previous school year.  Note: Proficiency data will be collected every six-weeks.

June August Institutional Review Board Parent and Student Consent Approval Letters September OctoberNovemberJanuaryFebruaryMarchMay Student Survey Interviews Pretest personal interview X Posttest X Personal Interview

Parent Surveys Pretest X Posttest X Teacher Surveys __________________ RTI Data (Weekly) Proficiency Test Score s (Every six-weeks) KPREP Scores Posttest X

REFERENCES  Ballard, K., & Bates, A. (2008). Making a Connection between Student Achievement, Teacher Accountability, and Quality Classroom Instruction. Qualitative Report, 13(4),  Brockmeier, L. L.,Starr, Starr, G., Green, R., Pate, J. L., & Leech, D. W. (2013). Principal and School-Level Effects on Elementary School Student Achievement. International Journal Of Educational Leadership Preparation, 8(1),  Creswell, J. W. (2015). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Pearson Education, Inc.  Gieselmann, S. (2009). Principals and School Factors that Impact Elementary School Student Achievement. Mid-Western Educational Researcher, 22(2), 16–22. 

REFERENCES  Goddard, Y. L., Goddard, R. D., & Tschannen-Moran, M. (2007). A Theoretical and Empirical Investigation of Teacher Collaboration for School Improvement and Student Achievement in Public Elementary Schools. Teachers College Record, 109(4),   Leithwood, K., Seashore Louis, K., Anderson, S., and Wahlstrom, K. (2004). How Leadership influences student learning. Retrieved from:  McGuigan, L., & Hoy, W. K. (2006). Principal Leadership: Creating a Culture of Academic Optimism to Improve Achievement for All Students. Leadership & Policy in Schools, 5(3), 203–229. 