Date of Award

Spring 6-12-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

Erin Anderson

Second Advisor

Jayson Richardson

Third Advisor

Kristina Hesbol

Fourth Advisor

Marc Guerrero

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Case study, Educational leadership, Organizational change, Portrait of a Graduate, Systems thinking

Abstract

This qualitative single-case study investigates the organizational journey of navigating the complexities of systemic transformation. In 2021, Silver Peak School District (SPSD; a pseudonym), a rural educational organization in the western United States, implemented a graduate competency framework known as Portrait of a Graduate. This study analyzed the experiences of teachers, instructional coaches, and principals with the explicit Portrait policies, practices, and resource flows of five learning structures—graduate competencies (in SPSD, this is analogous to Portrait), deeper learning, agency, performance assessment, and teaching culture—in a district in the messy middle of Portrait adoption. By focusing on a district situated in the messy middle, this exploratory study addressed a critical gap in the literature; without case studies of sites in the messy middle of a deeper learning transformation, it is highly likely that education, given its history, will continue to be stalwart in its firm resistance to change. Consequently, the research was guided by the following primary question: What is the organizational experience of a rural district in the Western United States as it implements graduate competencies and deeper learning structures as defined by The Next Gen Nine? (U.K. Next Gen Center, n.d.) To obtain this information, survey data were collected and Zoom interviews were conducted with school leaders, instructional coaches, and teachers from across one district. To triangulate the findings, the analysis also included district- and school-level document analysis.

The study identified three primary findings: emerging pockets signal readiness for deeper systems change, parallel systems produce structural incoherence, and depth of ownership determines depth of transformation. Based on these findings, the research offers several key recommendations. First, existing bright spots should be utilized as ripe coherence footholds to actualize deeper, long-term systems change. Second, systemic structural coherence requires a user-centered redesign that integrates instruction, assessment, and accountability into a unified, coherent next gen learning model. Finally, organizations should adopt a systems-thinking, human-centered approach to transformation by prioritizing the development of distributed leadership and fostering broad educator ownership.

Copyright Date

6-2026

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Kathleen J. Campbell

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

340 pgs

File Size

5.1 MB

Download



Share

COinS