Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2016 Mentoring Pre- and in-Service School Leaders Through a Combined Principal Mentoring Model: A Case Study of the University of Illinois at Chicago Alicia Haller Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss Part of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons Recommended Citation Haller, Alicia, "Mentoring Pre- and in-Service School Leaders Through a Combined Principal Mentoring Model: A Case Study of the University of Illinois at Chicago" (2016). Dissertations. 2132. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/2132 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 2016 Alicia Haller LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO MENTORING PRE- AND IN-SERVICE SCHOOL LEADERS THROUGH A COMBINED PRINCIPAL MENTORING MODEL: A CASE STUDY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL POLICY STUDIES BY ALICIA HALLER CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2016 Copyright by Alicia Haller, 2016 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to light.” ― John Milton As with any challenge in life, one never succeeds alone. While this research study was not quite the Hell that Milton envisioned, the process was certainly long and hard. Fortunately, I had a wonderful support system to lead me up to the light. There are many people, without whom this dissertation would not have been possible. I would first like to thank the members of my dissertation committee from the Cultural and Educational Policy Studies, Administration and Supervision, and Higher Education programs at Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Noah Sobe, my program and dissertation chair, was instrumental in developing my understanding of how to structure a manageable research study that would not require an entire team of researchers and multiple years of data collection and analysis. For that I am eternally grateful. Dr. Michael Boyle’s practical understanding of principal preparation regulations was extremely valuable and afforded me an excellent sounding board throughout the study. Dr. John Dugan provided valuable insight on data analysis. He encouraged me to look beyond the framework to find what was missing. I greatly appreciate the members of my dissertation committee for their patience, honesty, and guidance throughout the process. I am also incredibly grateful for the support of my colleagues, Dr. Erika Hunt and Dr. Lisa Hood at the Center for the Study of Education Policy at Illinois State University. iii They are both brilliant policy analysts and researchers, but more importantly they are amazing women that I am blessed to call friends. I know it took me much longer to complete this research because of the work we did together, but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I have learned a great deal from working with you both, much of which is reflected in a variety of ways in this study. Through my work at the Center for the Study of Education Policy, I’ve had the great fortune to work with Dr. Joseph Pacha as well. It is not often that you encounter a retired faculty member willing to read an entire dissertation and provide substantive feedback. I am incredibly fortunately to have found the needle in a haystack. He not only read my whole dissertation, but multiple drafts of each section. He has been an amazing colleague and the best coach I could have ever asked for with this research. Thank you for giving up a few tee times to work with me. I owe you! Additionally, this research would never have been possible without the participation of the faculty and coaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago Urban Education Leadership Program. The work you do is a true service to the district and to the students in the City of Chicago. Thank you for answering my many questions and for valuing this topic. In particular, I’d like to acknowledge the contributions of Dr. Steve Tozer and Katonja Webb for helping me work through the UIC IRB process and for ensuring I had accurate and up to date data for the study. I was collaborating with them on multiple projects while simultaneously conducting this study. Not once did they deprioritize my work as a student, in order to advance our other projects. To me, that speaks volumes in terms of the value they place on student learning. iv Other scholars that contributed to my understanding of principal preparation and development included Dr. Matthew Clifford at the American Institutes for Research, Brad White at the Illinois Education Research Council, and the incredible partners involved in the Illinois Partnerships for Advancing Rigorous Training (IL-PART) project. Faculty from Illinois State University, North Central College, and Western Illinois University, along with District leaders from Bloomington, East Aurora, and Quincy, and staff from the Greeley Center for Catholic Education at Loyola University Chicago were vital thought partners during this study. You know who you are and I deeply value all the discussions we’ve had that highlighted for me the many and varied influences on program design and delivery. Your dedication to preparing and developing outstanding school leaders is an inspiration and I’m fortunate to have worked with each of you. Thank you also to my fellow CEPS doctoral students: Deb Baron, Sophia Rodriguez, and Landis Fryer for sharing your insights on the program and the dissertation process, and for letting me talk through the jumbled mess of ideas in my brain when I was stuck or frustrated. Your constant cheerleading and willingness to both discuss ideas and/or read piece of this study were a Godsend. Thank you for helping me see the pieces that I was blind to and for your faith in my ability to make sense of what was often unobservable nuances that when pieced together amount to something quite tangible. I would also like to thank my family and friends, most of whom were kind enough to have long ago given up on asking the proverbial question, “Are you done yet?”. Thank you to you all for the rides you provided my son that allowed me to keep writing when I was on a roll; the wonderful dinners, drinks, and nights out that helped me set aside my research and clear my head; the long phone calls and late night talks; and the kindness, v understanding, and forgiveness you’ve demonstrated during those times when it may have seemed like I wasn’t quite listening because my mind was elsewhere. Thank you also to my father, who provided a wonderful example of effective school leadership, spent countless hours describing his experiences, and supported me with boundless love. To my sister, Jenny, who had the patience of Job while assisting me in retrieving data I was sure I had lost, helping me figure out the many aspects of technology and formatting that were lost on me, and for being one of my biggest cheerleaders. Finally, and in many ways most importantly, thank you to my husband, Kenny, for your love and encouragement and for all the sacrifices you have made over the past 20 plus years that have allowed me to follow my passion. You are my hero. And, to my son, Ethan, for your perpetual optimism and for allowing me the greatest privilege in the world: being your mom. Your never-ending energy, happy demeanor, and constant stream of questions forced me to take many breaks, but also reminded me to enjoy the everyday splendor of your youth. I love you to the moon and back, now and forever. vi This work is dedicated to my mother, for her unwavering belief in my ability and her infectiously motivating spirit. May she rest in peace knowing I am finally finished. There is no one Truth. There is only one truth at a time. —Gina Frangello TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xvi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION TO PRINCIPAL MENTORING ........................... 1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of the Study ........................................................................................................ 1 Statement of the Problem ................................................................................................. 3 Primary Research Questions ............................................................................................ 7 Significance of the Study ................................................................................................. 8 Scope of the Study ......................................................................................................... 11 Limitations and Delimitations