Portfolio Presentation

1. Portfolio Presentation Carrie McDermott Cohort 10B St. John’s University Doctoral Program in Administrative Leadership and Supervision

2. My Metaphor Inspiration and Innovation Children are one third of our population and all of our future! -Promotion of Child Health • My metaphor is inspiration and innovation... both are at the crux of the Administrative Leadership Program at St. John’s University. • As a Doctoral student at St. John’s University, I have learned from professors, colleagues, and past graduates. The education system in the United States was founded on democratic values and has evolved over time. As educators we are faced with turbulence because of legislative initiatives, political ideologies, and a faltering economy. • Each of the professors shed a different scope of light on the field of education because their strengths differed. We were able to view education from a variety of perspectives and each broadened our view of how to identify, approach, and understand the aspects of educational leadership.

3. Portfolio Structure Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. -Viktor E. Frankl

4. Dissertation Research A Case Study of How Four Presumed 21stCentury Schools Engage Students and Adults in Work. • What instructional pattern, 21st Century-oriented constructivist or 20th Century-oriented technical, do teacher leaders report as being predominant in the instructional system in the school? • What patterns of organization, 21st Century-oriented constructivist collaborative/inclusive or 20th Century-oriented traditional, are predominant in the school? • What patterns of governance, 21st Century-oriented constructivist collaborative inclusive or 20th Century-oriented traditional, are predominant in the school?

5. Dr. Frank Smith • The Advocacy Design Center (ADC) model utilizes a constructivist approach to identifying learning communities using a qualitative approach. • This approach utilizes 29 questions to guide the examination in the areas of instruction, organization, governance, and accountability (IOGA).

6. Thomas Popkewitz • Identifies three distinct cultures evident in school communities: Technical, Illusory, and Constructivist. These cultures are discernable through consultation of these central research questions: • What does it mean to know? • What does it mean to work? • What is the nature of authority?

7. Adria Steinberg • Steinberg developed 18 questions to determine if project-based learning addresses the crucial elements of authenticity, rigor, applied learning, active exploration, adult relationships, and assessment practices. • Steinberg exploresstudent work and emphasizes the use of technology and interesting topics to hook students and help them realize there is a connection to the real world.

8. Conceptual Framework The work of Adria Steinberg (1998), Frank L. Smith (1991), The Partnership for 21st Century Schools (2002), and Thomas Popkewitz (1982) will be used to develop a conceptual framework to analyze the findings of the study.

9. Significance of Study • A review of the literature reveals that very few studies about 21st century skills in school districts, as well as an analysis of the leadership directing these skills, have been performed on Long Island. • Examining these types of schools can be a difficult task because of the relatively new nature of 21st century skills in education. Additionally, this study is unique because this researcher is attempting to combine a well-established constructivist framework in the Advocacy Design Model (Smith, 1990) with the contemporary notion of 21st century skills preparation. • Understanding what may be classified as 21st century skills, which schools are currently subscribing to these skills, and what the characteristics of leadership are in these schools will be assets to administrators, communities, and future researchers.

10. Thank You! • The faculty here at St. John’s University have been an indelible motivating force behind my success throughout this program; without their unflagging support, my achievement would not have been possible. You all hold a special place in my heart! • Cohort 10B… So many stories to tell and so many laughs to remember… together we forged lasting friendships and I am so grateful to you, my family. I will always remember the support, understanding, inside jokes, closing the door because it is way too noise for us, our long lunches , and of course the visuals that Sean always managed to create in under five minutes.