School Improvement

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of distributed leadership in Public Senior High Schools (SHS) with regard to school improvement. Using the Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Method design, 92 teachers and 4 head masters and 4 assistant head masters were randomly and census sampled. Three research questions were formulated and were analysed using simple percentages, mean and constant comparative thematic approach. The study revealed that generally head and assistant head masters and teachers recognize the practice of distributed leadership style in the SHS that is they perceive distributed leadership as a shared leadership where everyone is considered as a leader and given leadership opportunities. The findings further revealed that traditional and rigid leadership structure, lack of shared responsibility amongst teachers, leaders fear to involve teachers were the dominant challenges of distributed leadership in the study area. The study concluded that majority of...

This paper examines educational outcomes of students engaged in a statewide leadership development program in the state of Florida. Data from more than 25 schools representing a wide range of regional and demographic diversity are analyzed in this longitudinal multi-site embedded case study. Findings from this research point to benefits of
incorporating leadership development in the classroom. Furthermore, this study provides further evidence in support of the practice of assessing gains from leadership programs over several years, as the benefits of programmatic activities in educational environments take
time to fully develop. Practical significance of the findings and implications are discussed.

To what extent can heads use an inclusive values-led approach to school development in the face of pressures from Ofsted and their Local Authority to focus almost exclusively on attainment outcomes? We explore leadership of school improvement in a qualitative study of ten head teachers in the English county of " Preshire " , who worked with the 3 rd edition of the Index for Inclusion, , a guide to values led school improvement. We situate the study within a review of conflicting research advice about the characteristics of successful heads and how 'values', seen as motives for action, affect the recommendations from research. We found that the heads were able to use shared inclusive values to accomplish, with their staff, a degree of control over the way their schools are improved. To an extent they were able to resist extreme local pressures to engage in short term strategies to force up attainments. By making their inclusive values explicit they showed courage rather than compliance. To varying degrees they used 'the Index' to create inclusive, democratic and sustainable school improvement plans while conforming to Ofsted requirements. We consider the possibilities for more widespread implementation of school development led by inclusive values.

governance, neo-liberalism and participatory democracy iii The aim of the study is to analyse the role of democratic school governing bodies in promoting school improvement in four High Schools in Pimville and Klipspruit locations in Soweto. The study presents two arguments, one is theoretical and the other is methodological. Theoretically, there is no clear-cut relationship between democratic SGBs and school improvement. Methodologically, the relationship between SGBs and school improvement can best be understood based on a critical analysis that specifies the context within which democratic SGBs promote school improvement. Such an analysis reveals the complex nature of the school dynamics within which SGBs have to promote school improvement. The role of SGBs is mediated by various local and global socio-economic and political factors. This study articulates these factors as inputs, context, complexity and mediation. Consequently, understanding the nature of the role of SGBs in

The purpose of this study was to improve students' health awareness within a private school in Beirut, Lebanon through incorporating distributed leadership practices in the school health council. The study focused on "smoking and drug abuse" topic among the school health education topics. The study employed the action research methodology combining quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative data was derived from inquiry data using closed-ended questions of three questionnaires completed by 237 students and 33 teachers. Qualitative data was derived from artifacts, observation and inquiry data using school documents, journals, field notes, semi-structured interviews, conferencing and open-ended questions of the questionnaires. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS 16.0 while qualitative data was treated thematically. Findings indicated that implementing distributed leadership practices among school health council members at the researched school increased students' health education about smoking and drug dangers, where an improvement in students' knowledge and perceptions was noted.

Summary A drive for accountability in public administration throughout development agencies has been manifested in the adoption of tools of strategic planning and ex post evaluation. The result has been the adoption of a planning, implementation and evaluation tool known as the Logical Framework (LF). Previous training assistance in Project Cycle Management (PCM) provided to beneficiar- ies of PHARE assistance

This paper introduces student leadership and internal accountability mechanisms at a government primary school in Ethiopia. The network system (also known as 'one to five') is a means of sharing responsibility with students for supporting the academic learning, and regulating the behaviour, of their peers. Another practice, gim gima, is a forum for public critique, whereby students, teachers and others in the school community evaluate the conduct of their peers and leaders, with a view to identifying misconduct, learning from mistakes, and making future improvements. This paper draws from ethnographic research undertaken for my PhD research.

 Purpose of the Book  The Natural Classroom Condition  What is Transformative Classroom Management  The Progression of the Book If we had the ability to observe every classroom at once, we would see classroom management practices that varied greatly. What we would also see would be that these practices result in dramatically different kinds of classroom outcomes. Some classrooms that we observed would be peaceful places, where others would feel hostile and unsafe. Some classrooms would have very intentional and efficient climates, while others would be characterized by accidental climates. In some classes there would be a high level of engagement, while others would be filled with boredom.

Education is important for it affords individuals the opportunity to fulfil their potential and contribute to society. However stark differences exist in the educational achievement levels between different social classes and documented research on the cause; the inter-connected problems which face these children and young people. However their social mobility, or the opportunities they will have, will be markedly affected by their social background. This could blight the poor, bright child, compared to the not so bright, richer counterpart.

The solution appears to reside within ‘social policies’ however the Great British Cabinet Office Strategy Unit accepted that by 2000, social mobility had not risen, despite various policies. A current policy example is the Academies Act (2010), which has been selected for analysis and evaluation in this essay. The author chose this policy as it presents a national school improvement option which contrasts against a current structural solution, under implementation for local primary schools.

In the last 20 years the Ethiopian education system has rapidly expanded, leading to a 500% increase in primary school enrolment. The Ministry of Education (MoE) has sought to address a perceived decline in educational quality through nationally-mandated programmes for school improvement and teachers’ professional development . Such programmes – imported on the advice of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Department for International Development (DfID) and other development partners – are implemented “mechanistically”, without adaptation for societal or organisational cultural contexts. This article reviews empirical research from the last decade, including “grey” literature, in the school improvement (SI) and school effectiveness research (SER) traditions to draw implications for primary school principals in Ethiopia.

The school improvement came into question that schools meet the educational needs has been
made to make it more effective, changing in parallel globalization. The purpose of school improvement
is to rise levels of student achievement and school environment to increase participation.
In this context, the basic aim of this study was to determine the ideas of the principals about
school improvement and what strategies they use in order to improve their schools. The research
was conducted with the principals of the primary schools in Karabağlar, a town in the province of
metropolitan area of Izmir. This study is a descriptive research that used qualitative data. The data
were collected through semi-structured questions from 37 principals and analyzed qualitatively.
Some of the results obtained in this study were as follows: According to the principals, on the top
of the list of the things to do to improve schools were “improving co-operation and communication”.
In the second place, there were “teacher development” and “meet the need for personnel”.
In third place there were “improving the physical conditions” and “provision of educational technologies
and increasing their use”. The first thing the principals do to improve their schools was
“increasing the number of the technological devices and the use of technology”. On the top of the
list of what the principals want to do but cannot do were “lack of financial allocations” and “lack
of financial sources”.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the provision of student leadership in private school settings in Lebanon. A survey involving 60 private schools, including 60 principals and 300 teachers was administered and analyzed for perceptions bear by the two groups on the effectiveness of the educational system supported in their schools in developing and nurturing student leadership skills. Data was analyzed using SPSS 18.0. Descriptive statistics were used to describe and summarize the properties of the mass of data collected from the respondents. Percentages were calculated per each item of the survey instrument. Results indicate that both groups of respondents displayed weak evaluation of the education systems offered by their own schools in terms of promoting student leadership. Thus, leading to the conclusion that the provision of student leadership is weak. The study offers research-based description of barriers confronting student leadership development in Lebanese private schools through the lens of both principals and teachers. Recommendations for both practice and future research are offered.

he thesis of this article is that, in view of the increasingly complex nature of change and in the light of insights from the complexity theory, managing educational change for school effectiveness and school improvement should shift from top-down to consensus-based decision-making models. The discussion uses the Primary School Management Development Project in Botswana as a case study. The complexity theory and current research are applied to critically analyse the project. In the final analysis, an all-inclusive bottom-up model of management of change, reform and innovation that encourages active interaction, collaboration, partnership, involvement and participation in educational development is recommended.

Purpose -The main purpose of this study is to identify the successful leadership practices of head teachers for school improvement at secondary level in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach -The study was descriptive (survey type) in nature. It was conducted on a sample of 351 secondary school head teachers, 702 elementary and secondary school teachers working in the government secondary schools of Punjab province. Data were collected using a mixed-methods research design that included: review of related literature, documents indicating school achievements and student attainment, questionnaires and in-depth semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders including the head teachers, teachers, parents and students. The validity and reliability of the instruments was ensured through experts' opinions and pilot testing in mid-2007; the overall reliability was established at 0.923 alpha level. Findings -The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the head teachers of successful schools developed a common and shared school vision and promoted a culture of collaboration, support and trust. They empowered others to lead and distributed leadership responsibilities throughout the school; involved different stakeholders in the process of decision making; developed and maintained good relationships among different personnel of school community. They emphasised the professional development of teachers as well as themselves, and involved parents and community in the process of school improvement. Practical implications -The findings of this article may be useful for other countries of almost similar socio-economic status, to improve quality of teaching and learning at secondary level. Originality/value -The paper shows that policy makers, administrators, managers and head teachers at secondary school level may improve school performance by adopting effective strategies for school improvement in Pakistan.

The characteristics of effective schools have been identified in many studies by several methods. Student achievements, teacher satisfaction, lack of discipline problems and school output have been used as indicators of school effectiveness. The environment or school climate, which is characterized by the interpersonal relationship of the members of the school organization, has also been used as a measure of school effectiveness. The underlying notion is that the school is treated as an organization and as such it has its own personality just like individuals. We believe that this notion of school climate can help to explain or link characteristics of organizations with

Disproportionality plagues schools nationwide in special education placement, dropout, discipline referral, suspension, and expulsion rates. This study examined predictors of teacher referrals to school counselors for disruptive behavior in a sample of students selected from the Educational Longitudinal Study 2002 (National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.). Findings demonstrated that students’ race predicted English teacher referrals; students’ gender, previous disciplinary infractions, and teachers’ postsecondary expectations for students predicted English and math teacher referrals. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed.

This study provides an account of the agendas, participation and influence of management, teachers, students and parents at a primary school in Tigray, Ethiopia. A literature review revealed gaps in the knowledge of these stakeholders’ involvement in school leadership structures in the current national policy context. A broader review of the major traditions of school research informed the design of this ethnographic case study. Fieldwork at ‘Ketema School’ took place over an eight-month period in 2014, and involved participant observation, informant-led interviews, and the collection of institutional documents. Data collection focused on the meetings of various bodies, and the activities of a single class in Grade 6 and 7. Inductive analysis of the case data was supported by Atlas.ti.

The study reveals a convergence of understandings about the purposes and processes of the school consistent with the state-authorised model of schooling for national development. Structures and processes of surveillance and control incentivise and normalise compliance with government directives. These include positions of distributed leadership and mechanisms of mutual surveillance and internal accountability through which teachers and students share responsibility for supervising peers and colleagues. For example, the student leaders of the ‘one-to-five’ networks perform an academic support and behavioural control function in relation to their peers; and gim gima is a practice of public critique used for exposing misconduct. Meetings and other participative spaces enable members of the school community to share their views on conditions in school according to their interests and priorities; however, these forums are dominated by management agendas, and school-level decisions are restricted by a strong external policy context.

This study extends knowledge of school leadership practices in Ethiopia and informs wider debates around community participation, accountability and school autonomy in developing countries. Recommendations are made for sharing and strengthening democratic practices and for future research.

The current educational environment is exerting considerable pressure on schools to raise the level of student achievement. There have been pressures placed on schools to be both more efficient and accountable in meeting the needs of each student. In Australia, this is evidenced through national student reporting system and the movement towards development of a national curriculum.

Aligned with the challenges of how to improve schools is the long term challenge of sustaining any improvement. The call for sustainability, which depends upon a school’s internal capacity to maintain and support the work of teachers, is gathering momentum and is achieved through capacity building and preparing teachers themselves to lead innovation and development. This supports the inference that, in focusing on learning, the significant role of leadership distribution is in generating and sustaining improvement in schools.

Sustaining school improvement requires engaging the leadership capacity of many staff members in the school. This is in contrast to the traditional view of leadership where only a few appointed people lead (or manage the work of those below them).
In developing leadership capacity, not only is there is anecdotal evidence that specific factors are necessary (eg time, trust, risk taking) but that the success is tied to the contributions and level of support given by the principal. Consequently fostering a positive teacher efficacy is foundational to building leadership capacity throughout the school.

With the Federal Government’s $14.7 billion package for schools to implement new building and refurbishments programs for their schools, it is imperative that the leadership within schools focus on providing, not only the physical learning spaces to support our students and teachers in becoming 21st century learners, but also on the essential pedagogy to effectively meet the needs of the new generation of learners.

This paper explains one school’s approach to implementing curriculum change to meet a growing conceptualisation of learning in the 21st century. Through a series of planned strategic events, it highlights the benefits of consultative practices and articulates the importance of engaging the role of distributive leadership as a key element for fostering school improvement.

This article explores the effects of implementing the classroom behavioral strategies that are commonly associated with the Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) system.  I will explore more deeply into some of the “positive” strategies that are recommended and included in PBIS trainings, some of the problems associated with the use of those strategies, and propose what I would considered to be healthier and more growth-promoting alternatives. I will also offer a useful roadmap that implies a pathway for schools to use to progress to the highest levels of their potential, and show why schools using PBIS tend be left stuck in the middle of the road when it comes to long-term growth and progress.

A kutatás fő kérdése, hogy a tudásalapú információs társadalom korában a megváltozott gazdasági, társadalmi kontextusban, a fokozódó elvárások körében hogyan tud eredményesen működni az iskola mint szervezet, hogyan tudja a tanulói eredményességet biztosítani. A dolgozat célja, hogy bizonyítsa, az iskolák kiemelkedően fontos szerepet töltenek be abban, hogy felkészítsék az egyént a tanulószervezetekben és a tanuló társadalomban való aktív és sikeres létre, azáltal, hogy ők maguk is tanulószervezetként működnek. A kutatási modell alapján a dolgozat a három dimenzióból (stratégia, szervezet, egyén) a stratégiai szintet vizsgálja, így a hipotézisek keretében azt próbálom bizonyítani, hogy a tanulói eredmények szempontjából sikeres  iskolák stratégiai dokumentumaikban megjelenítik a tanulási eredmények alapú gondolkozás, a professzionális tanulóközösségek, a tanulószervezetek jellemzőit és megjelennek a tudásmenedzsmentet támogató emberi erőforrás menedzsment gyakorlatok. A dolgozat kísérletet tesz egy Professzionális Tanulóiskola Audit elkészítésére.
Módszerek tekintetében a hipotézisek bizonyítására az iskolák stratégiai dokumentumainak (pedagógiai program, szervezeti és működési szabályzat és minőségbiztosítási terv) kvantitatív tartalomelemzését használom, melyet SPSS segítségével elemzek. Az Audit elkészítéséhez esettanulmányok feldolgozását és bemutatását, mérőeszköz fejlesztést és adaptálását, illetve egy közgazdasági modell bemutatását használom fel.
A statisztikai vizsgálatok alapján elmondható, hogy a tanulási eredmények alapú gondolkodás megjelenése a stratégiai dokumentumokban pozitív összefüggést mutat a tanulói eredményességgel. A vizsgált dokumentumokban összességében nagyon alacsony szinten jelenik meg a tanulószervezetiség és az emberi erőforrás menedzsment.  Az Audit tekintetében sikerült letenni az alapokat, melynek keretében a következő részek kerültek bele: tanulási eredmények alapú stratégiai tervezés, GLOBE szervezeti kultúra és vezetési stílus kérdőív, tanulószervezet és szervezeti tanulást mérő kérdőív iskolára adaptált verziója kiegészítve egy saját faktorral, iskola társadalmi hozzáadott értékének kimutatása.
A kutatás eredményei és az Audit alapjainak letétele a szakirodalom alapján releváns problémákra adott választ és megoldási kísérletet, figyelembe véve az iskolaeredményességi és fejlesztési kutatások tapasztalatait. A kutatás folytatásában lehetőség lesz egy komplex iskolai szervezetfejlesztési keretrendszer kialakítására.

The aim of this study was to investigate the role played by principals and schools’ staff in transforming their schools into successful professional learning communities (PLCs). For this purpose, an extensive review of the literature of PLCs was conducted which constituted the base for the generation of a survey instrument consisting of three sections: section A requested participants to explore the role of principals and administrative staff about creating and sustaining PLCs in their schools; section B requested respondents to determine the role played by teachers in transforming their schools into successful PLCs; and section C requested them to identify the barriers to transforming schools into effective PLCs. The questionnaire was sent to 60 Lebanese private schools. The total sample consisted of 60 school principals (N=60) and 300 teachers (N=300). Data was analyzed using SPSS 18.0 for windows. Results indicate that the image provided by teachers about sustaining PLCs in schools was far away from the norms. Although the principals’ responses were not negative, they indicate that developing and supporting PLCs in schools should be further improved. Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research are suggested. The study also offers recommendations to help principals and staff creating and supporting successful PLCs in schools.

Since collaborative meeting time is so limited for most schools, it’s imperative that teams be judicious with how they manage these decisions and what they choose to focus on during collaborative work. One underused practice for maximizing collaborative planning is to focus a team’s discourse and work on one or two pivotal teaching segments for a specific research lesson. Pivotal segments are those anticipated moments or specific episodes within a lesson where teachers expect students to experience a key learning opportunity central to the lesson goal. Over a six-year period, research at one high school suggests that teachers who use pivotal segments report increased satisfaction with team planning, increased clarity about what they are teaching, better understanding of how their instructional choices affect student outcomes, and renewed commitment to the ongoing refinement of teaching and learning.

Link to Website: https://learningforward.org/publications/jsd/jsd-blog/jsd/2018/07/25/the-learning-professional-june-2018

The present study examines the possibility that teacher knowledge about learning may have an impact on the effectiveness of a school. Thirty-two secondary qualified teachers engaged in a professional development program that provided a framework for reflective study of the learning process, analysis of key aspects of learning in their classes, and identification of the implications for teaching. Changes in teacher effectiveness were monitored in several ways: (1) changes in the display of effective teacher behaviours consistent with a social-constructivist model of learning, (2) changes in perceived ability to facilitate learning in classes, and (3) changes in student performance. The findings support the prediction that involvement in a systematic exploration of the learning process, with teachers explicating their knowledge of learning, has an direct impact, on the display of effective teaching behaviours and on teachers' personal explicit theory of learning.

The purpose of this study was to investigate servant leadership within a sample of private schools in Beirut, Lebanon. For that purpose, 46 school principals and 276 teachers from 46 private schools in Beirut participated in the study. An adapted version of the Leadership Skills Inventory (LSI) (Hunter, 2004) was employed to assess the shape of the servant leadership skills of school principals through their own lens and through that of their teachers. Additionally, teachers and school principals responded to an open-ended question pertaining to servant leadership. The quantitative data thus collected was analyzed with the help of SPSS 21.0. Qualitative data generated through the open ended question was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results indicate that some school principals enjoyed attributes of servant leaders, despite the fact that the concept of servant leadership was unknown to the majority of the participant sample. Few participants, however, suggested explanations for the term, utilizing Christian and Islamic faith. Recommendations for practice and future research are proposed.

Student participation in school decision-making and reform processes has taken inspiration from reconceptualisations of childhood. Advocates for student voice argue for the repositioning of children and young people in relation to adults in schools. This article works with data from a multi-sited case study of three primary schools and students’, teachers’ and school leaders’ accounts of their student voice practices. We consider the relationships between students in student voice activities in primary schools, and the possibilities and ambivalences of representative students ‘speaking for’ other students. We integrate recent insights from moves beyond voice in childhood studies, and from the turn to listening in cultural studies, and raise questions for students, teachers and researchers who seek to encourage student voice in primary schooling.

This study of 778 principals in a midwestern state examines the relationship between principal self-efficacy and the principal’s perception of their school as a learning organization, framed by Senge’s five disciplines (2000). Data analysis focuses on the cognitive processing of the principal’s own ability to improve schools, relative to her perception of the school’s ability to improve learning. The article concludes with a discussion of the results, with important implications for leadership preparation programs and school districts. They suggest that principal self-efficacy and the principal’s view of the school’s organizational efficacy impacts principal and school performance. Principal self-efficacy is an important (and unexamined) aspect of student and school improvement.

This PowerPoint presentation lays out the ASSC School Effectiveness Roadmap. All schools can be placed on this roadmap that represents any schools function level by its orientation. The roadmap can predict the levels of achievement, school climate and common practices at any school. Research from over 300 schools has confirmed the model.
In the process of school improvement, it is critical that a school knows where it is on the roadmap and also where it is intending to go. Without a roadmap how can a school improvement process move confidently toward a better place?

This study ascertained the principals' provision of incentive for secondary schools' improvement in Oyo State. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested. The descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 8,701 which comprised 969 principals and 7,732 teachers in public secondary school principals in Oyo State. Proportionate Stratified sampling technique was used to draw 871 respondents made up of 97 principals and 774 teachers. Two versions of a 19 item researchers' developed instrument titled ''Principals' Incentive Practices for Schools' Improvement Questionnaire (PIPSIQI)'' and ''Principals' Incentives Practices for Schools Improvement Questionnaire (PIPSIQII)'' were used for data collection. Mean rates and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed among others that principals and teachers agreed that involving staff in decision making process to enhance their commitment in implementing the instructional programme, prompt attention to teachers on-the-job problems, praising teachers for excellent performance, assigning responsibility with commensurate authority to give teachers opportunity to demonstrate their skills and maintaining mutual relationship among others are teachers' incentive practices provided by secondary school principals in Oyo State. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that there is need for State Ministry of Education to regularly organize interactive workshops that include both principals and teachers for working out modalities for improvement on provision of incentives for teachers. Conclusions were drawn and other recommendations were made.

This article considers the nature of professional development, how it occurs in individuals, and how educational leaders and managers can facilitate professional development for the purpose of school improvement. Social theories of learning provide compelling explanations of the conditions through which professional development occurs in and among individuals within a community of practice. Research into professional learning communities suggests ways forward for educational leaders and managers to foster environments in which individual and organisational learning is optimised through collaboration and shared leadership.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the degree private school principals in Greater Beirut Area served as instructional leaders. 202 principals participated in this study through the completion of the Instructional Leadership Behavior of School Hallingers’ framework of instructional leadership. Data was analyzed using SPSS Principals (ILBSP) developed by researchers based on 22.0 for windows.  Results indicate that the relationships of school leadership with instruction and learning were weak. Recommendations for future studies and practice are offered.

This article reports the findings from a study that compared states of ‘teacher readiness’ with the learning performance of students. The central proposition is that high states of ‘teacher readiness’ in a school would be an indicator of improvement in whole of school student learning. This proposition is based on research evidence implicating the teacher in student learning outcome success and the key role played by school leaders. As an adjunct to this proposition we also sought to compare ICSEA values and funding levels per school in an attempt to identify other improvement considerations. The findings of this study indicate that high levels of ‘teacher readiness’, as defined by the ACE approach, are associated with effective teaching and improvement in student outcomes. The study also drew attention to the idea that ACE focused leadership within a school has more impact on student achievement outcomes than external factors, such as school funding or even the socio-educational po...

A central premise in the literature on leadership highlights its central role in organizational change. In light of the strength of this conceptual association, it is striking to note the paucity of large-scale empirical studies that have investigated how leadership impacts performance improvement in organizations over time. Indeed evidence-based conclusions concerning the impact of leadership on organizational change are drawn largely from case studies and crosssectional surveys. Neither approach satisfies the design requirements for studying the contribution of leadership to performance improvement in organizations. This paper tests a longitudinal, multilevel model of change in distributed leadership, school improvement capacity, and student performance over a four-year period. The results suggest that change in distributed leadership and organizational capacity for improvement make significant contributions to growth in student learning in reading and math.

This qualitative study of teachers in three low-performing elementary schools in Chicago reveals that transformational leadership behaviors were important to teacher motivation, affecting whether they believed that they could improve student performance as the accountability policy required. The findings suggest that principal leadership is critical to turning around low-performing schools. Implications include developing policies to hire principals with proven track records and increasing the capacity of current principals to ensure that they are able to support and motivate teachers in low-performing schools.

For the 21st century educator the delivery of learning is not solely centred on the attainment of knowledge and skills. They define the needs of the learner and focus on the pedagogies needed to foster 21st century learning and readiness for college and careers. Once defined, the choice of curricula, learning experiences, types of assessments and teaching strategies are planned. Al Yasat Private School in Abu Dhabi, is one example of a successful twenty-first century school. In this paper, the authors describe the elements of this exemplary K-8 school, outlining how a purpose built learning environment can activate twenty-first century student learning. International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change. www.ijicc.net Volume 3, Issue 1, May, 2017 88 In a move away from the traditional school concept where students work in rows and on their own, Al Yasat was built on the foundations of a 21st century learning premise, opening up opportunities for an integrated learning approach. Students working with students in personalised learning spaces opens the door for teachers to transform their teaching, tailoring instruction to students' individual needs and interests. Students use new tools to learn content at their own pace and taking ownership of their learning in the process. Al Yasat is building a culture of personalized real world learning opportunities for success after high school in college and careers. Through the use of various staff observations, surveys and interviews evaluating the link between improved pedagogical approaches and the use of the new learning environments key findings emerged. Supporting an invigorated coaching, mentoring and feedback loop has seen growth in the organisational learning throughout the school.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine highly detailed "low-inference" transcripts (LITs) of peer coaching conversations, drawn from two public US high schools located in New York City, to explore the kinds of interactions that led peers to be more reflective about their instructional practice. Design/methodology/approach -Using the constant-comparative method of analysis, highly detailed LITs of peer coaching conversations were analyzed to identify instances where peers had what the researchers identified as an "Aha!" moment, where the peer's prior belief or opinion about their instruction and/or planning shifted. Subsequent re-coding identified specific strategies that caused the shift. Findings -Three kinds of interactions were identified as leading to an "Aha!," all of which involved a thoughtful and strategic use of the LITs during the coaching conversation. Conversely, findings suggested that passive use of the transcripts was less successful. Research limitations/implications -Future research should explore the nature and staying power of the shifts in peer thinking, and the extent to which these shifts lead to instructional changes and improved student performance. Practical implications -LITs are a promising tool for instructional coaching. The evidence suggests when in the hands of a skilled coach the transcripts can shift teachers' thinking in ways that are likely to improve instructional practice and thus student outcomes. Originality/value -This study highlights the value of pairing strategic and thoughtful peer coaching with highly detailed LITs, and identifies specific kinds of interactions that lead to shifts in thinking about instruction.