Articles

Quantitative Research Methods Training in Education Leadership and Administration Preparation Programs as Disciplined Inquiry for Building School Improvement Capacity

Bowers, Alex J.

The quantitative research methods course is a staple of graduate programs in education leadership and administration. Historically, these courses serve to train aspiring district and school leaders in fundamental statistical research topics. This article argues for programs to focus as well in these courses on helping aspiring leaders develop skills as practitioner-scholars, including deepening their practice around data analytics, providing opportunities to read and evaluate peer-reviewed research, analyzing data using current methods, and applying findings to facilitate building evidence-based improvement cycles in their schools. Additional data leadership training should be offered for the practicing administrator, educational quantitative analyst, research specialist and district data scientist.

KEYWORDS: Quantitative Methods, Statistical Analysis, Educational Administration, School Administration, Leadership, College Programs, Doctoral Programs, Graduate Study, Methods Courses, Methods Research, Data Analytics, Data Science, Design-based research, Continuous Improvement

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Also Published In

Title
Journal of Research on Leadership Education
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/1942775116659462

More About This Work

Academic Units
Education Leadership
Published Here
June 20, 2017

Notes

This document is a pre-print of this manuscript, published in the Journal of Research on Leadership Education. Citation:
Bowers, A.J. (2017) Quantitative Research Methods Training in Education Leadership and Administration Preparation Programs as Disciplined Inquiry for Building School Improvement Capacity. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 12(1), p.72-96. http://doi.org/10.1177/1942775116659462