Abstract Warren, Thomas Perrine

ABSTRACT WARREN, THOMAS PERRINE. Early College High School Philosophy and Policy: How Q-Methodology Reveals Form, Process, and Leadership. (Under the direction of Dr. Matthew Militello, co-chair, and Dr. Lance Fusarelli, co-chair). This two phase mixed methods study examined how national to local Early College High School (ECH or ECHS) philosophy and policy shaped the form, process, and leadership of three local ECHs. Phase One interviewees included leaders of national and state-level ECH-related organizations and school leaders from three local ECHs. In Phase Two of the study, Q-Methodology was used to determine how administrators and teachers from three local ECHs perceived their educational form and process to function. Phase One of the research included eight semi-structured interviews of organization leaders from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Jobs for the Future, The North Carolina New Schools Project, and ECH administrators from three local ECHs. The questionnaire used in Phase One of the study was generated by the principal investigator, with open-ended questions drawn from an extensive review of the professional literature on ECHs serving as a knowledge base. Data from Phase One interviews was used to link Phases One and Two of the study by serving as a background and contextual source of information for the natural concourse set of statements sorted in the second Q-Methodology phase of the study. Phase Two of the study utilized Q-Methodology to determine four model Q-Sorts that provided snapshots of ECH process as reported by 40 participants of administrators and teachers from three local ECHs. Phase Two participants sorted 40 items of a natural concourse set of statements derived from findings of the Phase One interviews and literature review. The set of natural concourse statements was member checked by Phase One interviewees and the leaders of the participant ECHs prior to use. The four model Q-Sorts were named The Tutor, The Mentor, ECH Core Values, and Popular Secondary Instruction. The names were derived from the positively valued natural concourse item statements that embodied the essences of the four solution model factor array. In this mixed-method design structure, the findings from the qualitative Phase One interviews and the quantitative Q-Methodology model sorts complemented each other in providing multiple perspectives on how ECH philosophy and policy shape the form, process, and leadership of three local ECHs around the Triangle Region of North Carolina. Study findings and discussion addressed: the alignment between national, state-, and local-level ECH-related organizations and local ECH process; a contemporary secondary reform model that serves traditionally underrepresented higher education demographic subgroups, i.e., progeny of first-time aspiring college attendee families; an educational reform model and process that reaches, supports, and promotes secondary and post-secondary academic attainment on the part of underrepresented higher education demographic subgroups; and four viewpoints for understanding the successful educational philosophy, policy, structure, process, and leadership of ECHs at the local level. The study augments the growing dissertation-strata body of research on ECHs, and is the first to examine local ECH process with Q-Methodology. © Copyright 2012 by Thomas Perrine Warren All Rights Reserved Early College High School Philosophy and Policy – How Q-Methodology Reveals Form, Process, and Leadership by Thomas Perrine Warren A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Educational Research and Policy Analysis Raleigh, North Carolina 2012 APPROVED BY: _______________________________ ______________________________ Dr. Matthew Militello Dr. Lance Fusarelli Committee Co-Chair Committee Co-Chair ________________________________ ________________________________ Dr. Ken Brinson, Jr. Dr. Jessica Decuir-Gunby ii DEDICATION In loving memory of and tribute to Dr. William Thomas Warren, Ph.D. February 21, 1944 – September 2, 2007 iii BIOGRAPHY Tom is a product of the public and private education systems in the United States. He attended public schools in New York and Colorado, and private high school in North Carolina. Tom graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor of Arts in Literary Theory and Aesthetics in 1996. He worked in the private sector in his 20s after college, leveraging a Spanish fluency to work as an operations manager for a multi-national import/export company. In 2000, Tom desired a more personally rewarding career change. He relocated back to North Carolina to be closer to his family and to begin a second career in education. During this time, Tom worked yearly contracts with school districts, drawing on his liberal arts background to instruct in subjects such as English, Language Arts, and ESL at the K-12 levels, while taking university courses working on teaching certification and applying to teaching colleges and universities. He was accepted to North Carolina State University’s College of Education in 2004, and graduated with a Master’s of Science in Middle Grades Language Arts in 2006. Tom’s thesis researched the intersection of Middle Grades Language Arts instruction and emerging digital narrative technologies. Tom taught 7th grade for a year after finishing his master’s, and was accepted to North Carolina State University’s Ph.D. program in Educational Research and Policy Analysis in 2008. After completing his Ph.D., Tom intends to find work where opportunity arises in any of a few professions: as an aspiring professor at a College of Education in a research intensive university setting; as a research specialist at a local, state, or federal government iv agency; or as a research specialist at a non-profit or private organization conducting education or social science research. Tom’s research interests vary across a diverse spectrum of subjects. They include: public school reform; 21st Century work skills and degree attainment; the intersection of technology and education; gifted students; foreign-language acquisition and bilingual instruction; issues of social justice; and emerging models and reforms in education. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS At major crossroads of accomplishments in life it is appropriate to honor those who have influenced one along the journey. The list of important people in my life who have influenced me to attain my doctorate can be traced back to years when I was much younger. I remember few of the educators who assisted my primary and junior-high school aged development. Standing at the threshold of re-entering the education profession with a terminal degree in the field, I consider what immeasurable positive impact they must have had on my development then, and since. When I consider the many events in my years of formal education, I am fascinated by the interplay educators must have had in the positive support afforded to me by them and my family, in order for me to develop the requisite skills necessary to attain standard academic achievements. I have always liked school, and many of my friends and family in recent years have wondered if I would ever shed the skin of a perennial graduate student. In reflection, my Ph.D. has required as many years to complete as my undergraduate work. I am certain that the preparation and skill development it has afforded me will be put to good use in the coming years. Completing my Ph.D. in education represents a pinnacle accomplishment for me, one that carries with it implications for career-development, employment, issues of stability for starting and raising a family, and what I can give back to the world that has given me so much. The confluence of people that have influenced me positively to this point deserve recognition. vi I am grateful to my mother and father, Christine H. and Dr. William T. Warren, who provided me every opportunity for success and support that they could in my lifetime. I only wish that my father could be here today to witness and to share in my accomplishment. God’s plan did not include his being able to share in the celebration of my doctoral degree; however I know that somewhere, somehow, he is very pleased, if even in my own mind. I am grateful to my wife, Catherine Burke Warren, without whose support in the last few years since we dated and married, I would never have been able to accomplish my Ph.D.. It should be no surprise that her love, patience, and support have sustained my persistence to complete the degree during many moments along the way. I am grateful to the professors, teachers, coaches, and workforce role-models that have helped me to develop the drive and skill sets necessary to arrive at this crossroads in life. You know who you are, but an incomplete list would include the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Militello, Dr. Fusarelli, Dr. Brinson, and Dr. Decuir-Gunby. To those mentioned, and to those whom space prohibits their listing here, I thank you. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................

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