You will develop a focused inquiry project based on a problem or issue of instructional leadership practice in your home school or district. Plans for the inquiry project will begin during the first year of the program in the context of the action research course. The inquiry may be carried out independently, in collaboration with teaching peers at your school, or in collaboration with another instructional leader in your cohort.
The report and public presentation of the inquiry project will offer you the opportunity to share your exploration of a puzzling problem of practice from your professional work. It will also provide evidence of your mastery of core concepts presented in the Research Inquiry strand, as well as concepts, theories, and practices presented from the other three strands of the program.
The faculty and advisors will support you in the development of your project, review completed project reports and public presentations, evaluate them and provide feedback to you. Approval, following successful completion of the report and presentation and a program learning synthesis paper, will constitute the final requirement for graduation.
To view handouts from previous years' Capstone Projects, please click below.
2018 Cohort
Ainsley Goodrich: Interventions for Struggling Math Learners
Carly Hancock: The ABCs of Culturally Relevant Teaching and Learning: Acceptance, Building Relationships, and Continued Coaching
Danielle Virata: Exploring Teachers’ Preferred Feedback: The Use of Feedback Profiles in Coaching
Jacob Elmore: Implementing Teacher-Driven Professional Learning Communities: A School Case Study
Jacquie Tilden: Building and Implementing a New Teacher Coaching Program at a Progressive Independent Middle School
Jenna Armstrong: Development of Instructional Practice in Village Health Worker Training at the Comprehensive Rural Health Project in Jamkhed, India
Paul Verschueren: Authenticating Assessment
Ryan Sharnbroich: Queering the [Q]urriculum: Making Space for Fringe Identities in a Middle School
Vinu Vijayakumar: The Effects of Active Learning in Elementary Literacy: Focus on Grammar
2017 Cohort
Amanda Mattocks: Measuring Distributed Teacher Leadership Networks in a High School Using Social Network Theory
Cathy Hamblet: The Impact of Teacher Inquiry and Cognitively Guided Instruction On Fifth Grade Children’s Math Thinking
Erika Klein: Developing a Culturally Responsive Lens: Diversifying Read-Aloud Texts in an Elementary School Setting
Lindsay Wood: Coaching Collaboratively: A Layered Approach to Professional Development for Coaches
Megan Randow: Laying the Foundation: Attempting to Develop School Culture to Encourage Instructional Growth
Quinn Avery: Strengthening Our School’s Parent-Teacher Partnership
Samantha Arce: Exploring Parent and Teacher Perceptions of Family Engagement
Victoria Finney: Increasing Collegiality and Effectiveness Among Teachers During Staff Meetings
2016 Cohort
Natalee Daniels: Content Language Objectives: Pathway to Student Agency for English Language Learners
Sarah Donohue: Collaboration in Action: Investigating the Role of School Culture, Group Interactions and Individual Mindsets
Maryclaire Ellis: Supporting Professional Development of Middle School Mathematics Teachers: The Effect of a Mathematics Coach on Fostering Teacher Growth
Janel Hershey: Investigating the Implementation of Professional Development Structures and the Influence They Have on the Deprivatization of Practice
Lane Lopus: Courageous Conversations About Race: Laying Narrative Groundwork in a Suburban High School
Kendall Paine: The Residency Model and Its Impact on Teacher Development: A Seattle-Based Study
Sarah Schiesz: Investigating Factors that Influence the Productivity and Collegiality of Professional Learning Communities
Andrea Slack: The Power of Professional Learning: Using PLCs to Enhance Accessibility of Instruction for English Learners
Kristen Tollefsen: In Support of New Teachers: Creating a Formal, District-Wide Induction Program
2015 Cohort
Sarah Condreay: Professional Development Cycles at Sumas Elementary
Heather McLyman: Using Principal’s Cabinet to Implement a District’s Vision of Professional Learning Communities
Kate McMullen: Entering the Woods of Teacher Leadership
Shayna Medved: Implementing a Teacher Mentorship Program in a Private Early Childhood School: An Action Research Project
Dulce Reyna-Gonzales: Supporting School-Wide Reading Goals: The Challenges of Peer Observations and Teacher Collaboration at a Public Elementary School
Kirsten Rooks: Coaching for Ambitious Science Teaching: Experiences of a Beginning Coach
