Andrea is a Ph.D. candidate in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at the University of South Florida; a USF Berbecker Scholar and UCEA Jackson Scholar. She worked in Florida public schools for eleven years. As a graduate teaching and research assistant, Andrea has taught courses in educational leadership and English education. She continuously collaborates with senior USF faculty in educational leadership and higher education administration.
Andrea’s research interests focus on educational policy implementation and considers how school administrators/principals reconcile the contradictions that emerge in their work. More specifically, she questions their sensemaking practices – theoretical frameworks and methodologies. Andrea’s is also pursuing a certificate in qualitative methods. Andrea serves as a program representative on USF’s Graduate Council Policy & Fellowship Committee and College of Education Graduate Student Council. As an example, she recently shared her work in Poetic Inquiry at the USF’s 6th Interdisciplinary Symposium on Qualitative Methodologies and anticipates using it to inform her dissertation work.
Session Description
“Learning and Growing as a School Leader through the Practicum: Findings from the Investigating Educational Leadership Preparation Study“
In this initial session from the Investigating Educational Leadership Preparation Study, we share findings related to Master’s students’ growth in the two-semester, USF School Leadership Practicum. The findings are based on eleven (11) interviews with two cohorts of recent graduates.
The instrument’s first two questions are:
- Please describe a specific growth experience during the USF practicum from start to finish.
- Please discuss a specific growth experience that contributed to your development as a social justice leader.
A team of USF graduate doctoral student researchers managed the protocols, conducted, and transcribed the interviews. A research team made up of one USF faculty member and one graduate researcher coded these data using a deductive and inductive coding system. A major theme shared by practicum students in their interviews was the importance of alignment between academic knowledge, state-sanctioned knowledge, field experiences, mentorship, and school support.
When students described their growth, they discussed sequences of learning activities stretched over the complex landscape of professional practice in the Florida public schools. Powerful learning activities in the practicum tended to be aligned with USF Leadership Program content and values. They were said to be coherent with the State of Florida sanctioned knowledge that guided schools’ operations. Students described how school-level mentors supported these growth-oriented, learning experiences. At RISE, the Investigating Educational Leadership Preparation Study’s graduate researchers will begin the session with a brief discussion of data collection, transcription, and first-cycle coding. The session will continue with a deductive and inductive analysis of the transcripts.