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Browsing by Author "Flowers, Natasha"
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Item THE POWER OF THE COMMUNITY IN TEACHING AND LEARNING(Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, 2011-04-08) Aguilera, Israel; Flowers, NatashaThe purpose of this research project is to expand our knowledge about the connection between education and the community where the students live. The Project School in Indianapolis and the Elementary Teacher Education program established a partnership, which aims to attain valuable results for students and teachers. One of the goals for this project is to provide students enrolled in M320: Diversity and Learning the opportunity to develop a broad and constant interaction with one local school. We want students and faculty at IUPUI to have a better understanding about the community and the school where we teach and learn. As a result of this research project, faculty and the Project School staff should enhance their comprehension of student diversity, teachers’ efficiency, and student achievement. Part of the plan is to interview members of the community who live close to the Project School. The answers obtained from these semistructured interviews will show the type of relationship that exists between the school and community centers, relatives, and businesses. After initial interviews, student interns will also conduct a community assessment. Through this research project, students will be knowledgeable on education issues, such as culture, equality, and family, but they will also learn from what students do outside of class. This project is in its early stages, but we hope to conduct interviews before the fall semester and integrate preliminary data within the Teacher Education curriculum.Item What Makes a Leader: Examining How Search Committees Conceptualize, Measure, and Evaluate Leadership(2020-12) Wilson, Shawn M.; Palmer, Megan; Hundley, Stephen; Flowers, Natasha; Scribner, SamanthaThe purpose of this research was to investigate the social and cultural constructions of leadership and how search committee members evaluate candidates for leadership positions. Moreover, how they conceptualize, measure, and evaluate leadership potential of candidates. To explore this issue, the following research questioned were answered: How do members of an executive search committee construct their views of leadership?; In what ways do the individual, social, and cultural constructions of leadership held by search committee members influence behaviors and outcomes of a search committee? In this study, I investigated how members of a search committee constructed their views of leadership and in turn how this influenced the search process for an executive leader. In order to explore this issue, this study is approached through the constructivism paradigm and informed by critical inquiry, using case study methodology. I followed one executive search process from the charge meeting until the committee made its recommendation to the hiring authority. The unit analyzed in this search employed a leadership competency model and tools which mapped to this model, in an effort to mitigate the influence of bias. I used semi-structured interviews with committee members to understand their views on leadership. I supplemented interviews with observations and document analysis as means of collecting data for the study. Three findings emerged through data analysis: the role of background and identity on views of leadership, the influence of personal and societal constructions of leadership on individual behaviors and search outcomes, and the application or utility of using a leadership competency model. Through my findings, I demonstrated how individual’s background and identity shaped their perceptions of what it meant to be a leader. Additionally, how they rated and talked about candidates matched their individual views about leadership rather than the leadership competency model they were asked to use. More specifically, analysis illuminated that minoritized search committee members had drastically different beliefs about leadership and experiences serving on the search committee. I concluded the study by outlining implications for policy, future practice, and future research, including offering a conceptual framework and tools for an equity-minded search process.