Book Description

The problem on which this study focused was the need to organize and implement effective leadership meetings that led to improved professional collaboration. The purpose was to evaluate the use of a protocol in organizing and implementing such meetings. The research questions were framed around the four levels of the Kirkpatrick (1996) evaluation model: 1. What are the reactions of the leadership team members to the protocol as a professional-development tool? 2. What skills and knowledge related to organizing and implementing effective leadership meetings will the leadership team members learn as a result of using the protocol as a professional-development tool? 3. Will leadership team members routinely and consistently apply the new skills and knowledge related to organizing and implementing effective leadership team meetings in their meetings? 4. What result will learning the protocol have on participants' judgments about organizing and implementing effective leadership meetings? An 11-member leadership team participated in two professional-development training sessions and one simulation to improve their understanding of how to organize and implement effective leadership meetings. Prior to any staff development, the team was administered the Professional Learning Community Assessment (Huffman & Hipp, 2003). The first training session addressed the basic look and sound of professional collaboration and was evaluated using the Professional Development Evaluation Survey (Steele, 2007). The second training involved the use and purpose of the protocol. Reflective journals were kept and rubric analyses conducted throughout the study to monitor the effectiveness of the protocol during leadership meetings. Additional data were gathered at the conclusion of the study with the readministration of the Professional Learning Community Assessment (Huffman & Hipp, 2003). This was an effort to determine the impact of using the protocol to organize and implement effective leadership meetings. As anticipated, the leadership team experienced overall success in organizing and implementing an effective leadership meeting by using the specific protocol. Twelve appendixes are included: (1) Leadership Areas; (2) Professional Learning Community Assessment; (3) Professional Development Evaluation Survey; (4) Permission to Use Survey; (5) Rubric for Elements of an Effective Collaborative Group; (6) Guidelines for Journal Entries; (7) Agenda for Session 1; (8) Agenda for Session 2; (9) Simulation Exercise; (10) Protocol for Professional Development; (11) Effectiveness of Professional-Development Workshop; and (12) Summary of Calculations for Pretest and Posttest Surveys. (Contains 10 tables.) [Ed.D. Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University.].