Date of Award

Spring 5-3-2024

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Open-Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

Advisor

Maria Frankland

Second Committee Member

Catharine Biddle

Third Committee Member

Esther A. Enright

Abstract

Elementary school personnel have both an ethical and legal responsibility to shift disciplinary practices away from exclusion and towards restoration. In order to face the adaptive challenge of increasing teacher self-efficacy around behavior management, a restorative mindset can be developed and maintained. The development of a restorative mindset among elementary school teachers has the potential to alter outcomes for the adults who care for students and for systems hoping to retain talented, invested teachers. The purpose of this study was to describe how elementary teachers come to hold a restorative mindset towards students, including the supervisory practices that support teachers in the development and retention of a restorative mindset. The conceptual framework includes supervisory practices focused on supporting internal and external factors that lead to a growth-oriented, restorative mindset stance. In research question one, I asked how elementary educators come to hold a restorative mindset toward students and in research question two, I asked what instructional supervisory practices support educators in developing and maintaining a restorative mindset. Phenomenological methodology was used to explore the way elementary teachers engaged in restorative practice leadership shifted their mindset from a generally fixed stance to a growth-oriented restorative stance. Interviews with six members of a restorative practices leadership team in a Maine public elementary school were purposely selected as the primary data source for the phenomenological study. Key findings from the study include transformative learning as seen by teacher persistence to stay curious about the identity and lived experiences of students, supervision focused on thought partners, and the impact of a school culture of support. The findings from this phenomenological study provide individual, school, and system-wide leaders with supervision points of interest that support professional growth and preservation at the teacher (staff) level, such that these individuals build and maintain restorative mindsets.

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