Dissertation
ADVOCATING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH A DECISION-MAKING PROCESS TO SELECT A SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL THAT BETTER MEETS THE NEEDS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
Doctor of Education (EdD), Washington State University
01/2013
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/5064
Abstract
This study is a design-based research study, grounded in advocacy action research that investigates the change process. The researcher led a leadership team as they explored services to best meet the needs of English language learners in a highly diverse school district. Its purpose was to promote social justice through a decision-making process and select an optimal service delivery model for all students, especially English language learners, and to further clarify and develop a district-wide decision-making model for large-scale decision making.
The leadership team consisted of five key participants. Kurt Lewin's unfreezing and changing phases served as the lens for leading the participants through researching services and programming for English language learners. The leadership team also reflected on their experiences throughout the process.
Themes emerged under each stage of Lewin's change theory, which explored participant's processes that led to the successful completion of the unfreezing and changing phase. Under unfreezing two themes were identified: denial and resistance and awareness and acknowledgement. Two themes were also identified from the changing phase. The first of these is acceptance and knowledge, and the second theme for changing is action and change, under which an action plan was developed and to be implemented district-wide. These themes provided a detailed explanation of the leadership teams lived experiences.
Further data analysis revealed three overarching themes across the study, indicating how participates came to the decision to provide a more equitable service delivery model; how social justice impacted their decision making, and the creation of a district wide model for decision making. This was seen through three themes: (a) equity for the process, (b) yes, we can do better, and (c) data-driven decision-making.
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Details
- Title
- ADVOCATING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH A DECISION-MAKING PROCESS TO SELECT A SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL THAT BETTER MEETS THE NEEDS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS
- Creators
- Sarah Gardiner
- Contributors
- Michele Acker-Hocevar (Advisor)Danny Talbot (Committee Member)Gordon Gates (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Educational Leadership, Sport Studies, and Educational/Counseling Psychology, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Education (EdD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 155
- Identifiers
- 99900581847601842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation