AERA Leadership for School Improvement Special Interest Group (SIG #101)

2024 Dissertation of the Year Award

The Leadership for School Improvement (LSI) SIG invites submissions of Ph.D. and Ed.D. dissertations successfully completed between December 1, 2023 and November 30, 2024 for the 2024 Dissertation of the Year Award. The award will be presented at the LSI SIG Business Meeting at the 2025 AERA Annual Meeting and the award recipient will also receive a check for $500.

Submission Procedures:

Step 1: (1) An executive summary of the dissertation and (2) a copy of the full dissertation should be submitted in electronic form to the Dissertation of the Year Award Chair, Dr. Elizabeth Zumpe at elizabeth.a.zumpe-1@ou.edu by January 15, 2025.

• The executive summary should succinctly address the study’s purpose, research methods, findings, and implications for research and practice.
• The executive summary should be a maximum of 10 double-spaced pages excluding references and appendices and adhere to APA 6th or 7th edition formatting.
• The executive summary should not identify the author or the institution where the dissertation was completed.
• The full dissertation should not identify the author or the institution where the dissertation was completed.

Step 2: An email verifying successful completion of the dissertation should be sent by the dissertation chairperson to the Dissertation of the Year Award Chair, Dr. Elizabeth Zumpe, at elizabeth.a.zumpe-1@ou.edu

Step 3: Finalists will receive notification of the results by February 12, 2025. The Committee reserves the right to forego selection of a recipient if no entries are deemed suitable for the award.

Step 4: The award recipient is invited to attend the Business Meeting of the Leadership for School Improvement SIG at the 2025 AERA Annual Meeting, where the award will be formally presented.

Evaluation Criteria:

To be considered for the LSI SIG Dissertation of the Year Award, dissertations must:

1. Be submitted by an LSI SIG member, a student of an LSI SIG member, or a graduate student LSI SIG member
2. Align with the LSI SIG mission (see below)
3. Seek to address significant research question(s) situated within the context of school leadership and school improvement
4. Have a clearly articulated and appropriate conceptual framework
5. Use rigorous and appropriate research methods
6. Relate significant findings
7. Discuss the contribution of the findings to research and practice
8. Be well-written

LSI SIG Mission

To examine how leadership exercised by teachers, principals, and superintendents influences instructional capacity resulting in improved student outcomes and how policy guides this collaborative effort

Recent Award Recipients:

2023: Meagan Richard, Emancipatory School Leadership in Educational Market Contexts Ph.D., University of Illinois Chicago Advisor, Shelby Cosner

2022: Megan Griffard, Principal Leadership as a Moderator of Teacher Turnover Following Natural Hazard Exposure Ph.D., The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Advisor, Lora Cohen-Vogel

2021: Joonkil Ahn, Leadership for Learning and Teacher Self-Efficacy as the Antecedents of Teacher Collaboration, Instructional Quality, Intended Turnover, and Equitable Teaching Practice Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign Advisor, Anjalé Welton

2020: Maxwell Yurkofsky, When Reason Confronts Uncertainty: Continuous Improvement, Technical Ceremonies, and the Changing Structure of American Schools Ed.D., Harvard University Advisor, Jal D. Mehta

2019: Bryan VanGronigen, An Examination of the Structures, Functions, and Perceived Effectiveness of School Leadership Teams in Underperforming High Schools Ph.D., University of Virginia Advisor, Dan Duke

2018: Mary Bussman, Peer Equity Coaching to Increase Cultural Responsiveness in Teaching and Leading Ph.D., University of Minnesota- Twin Cities Advisor, Karen Seashore Louis

2017: Kathryn Wiley, Unfulfilled Promises: Equity & School Discipline Practices in an Innovation School Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder Advisor, Michele Moses

2016: Romy DeCristofaro, A Multi-Case Study Reflection within Collaborative Teacher Inquiry Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago Advisor, Shelby Cosner

2015: Elizabeth Leisy Stosich, Learning to Teach to the Common Core State Standards: Examining the Role of Teachers’ Collaboration, Principals’ Leadership, and Professional Development Ed.D., Harvard University Advisor, Susan Moore Johnson

2014: Doug Wieczorek, A Repeated, Cross-sectional Analysis of Principals' Professional Development and Instructional Leadership Behaviors in the First Decade of the Educational Accountability Era Ph.D., Syracuse University Advisor, George Theoharis

2013: Emily Palmer, Talking about Race: Overcoming fear in the process of change Ph.D., University of Minnesota Advisor, Karen Seashore Louis

2012: Angela Urick, To what extent do typologies of school leaders across the U.S. predict teacher attrition? A multilevel latent class analysis of principals and teachers  Ed.D., University of Texas at San Antonio  Advisor, Alex Bowers 

2011: Kerri J. Tobin, Identifying Best Practices for Homeless Students  Ph.D., Vanderbilt University  Advisor, Joseph Murphy