The evolution of an instructional coordinator's role: Action research for school improvemen

As the practitioner in this action research study, I aim to improve my practice, the understanding of my practice, and the situations where that practice takes place. The story of research is told through several phases of public policy and two cycles of action research. This dissertation analyzes my role as an instructional supervisor in an urban desegregated middle school for gifted students. Data are collected on the perspectives of the urban policy makers, the teachers in the middle school, and the instructional supervisor. Relevant literature is woven throughout the analysis of data.;My model of instructional supervision is derived from Carl Glickman's theory of developmental supervision. I began this study in 1994 focusing on the support and assistance I provided teachers in an urban magnet middle school. My initial research question proposed group development as a better process than clinical supervision for supporting and assisting the forty-two teachers.;The primary unit of analysis in the first two years of this action research study was a weekly group meeting. I collected minutes from over eight hundred meetings during the first two years. At the end of the 1995-96 school year, my analysis of the data indicated that my support and assistance to teachers should not be limited to small groups; I also needed to assist teachers as individuals and as a whole staff.;I revised my research question by proposing action research as a method of integrating the needs of teachers as individuals, teachers in small groups, and teachers as a whole staff. However, during the 1996-97 school year, the mandated district-level initiatives significantly influenced my analysis. As a result, I developed my theory of simultaneous school improvement--a blending of the needs of the local school with the needs of the larger milieu.