Browsing by Author "Ruff, William G."

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American Indian English Language Learners: Misunderstood and under-served
(2016-09) Carjuzaa, Jioanna; Ruff, William G.
English Language Learners (ELLs) represent the fastest growing segment of pre-K-12 students in the United States. Currently, Montana has the highest percentage of ELLs who are American Indian/Alaska Native. Although there is tremendous linguistic diversity among students, more than 80% of ELLs in the US speak Spanish as their first language. This is not the case in Montana, where 80% of ELLs are American Indians who do not necessarily speak their heritage languages; yet, their academic English skills are inadequate to support content mastery. Students whose first language is an American Indian language and who are learning English as a second language (ESL) are easier to identify as ELLs. Students who do not speak a heritage language but have not acquired academic English proficiency are harder to identify. This unique group of ELLs had their English acquisition framed by parents/grandparents or guardians themselves who were ELLs who did not fully acquire Standard English and currently speak and model a non-standard or non-academically proficient variety of English. Recommendations for how to broaden policy perspectives to facilitate comprehensive educational support for the full range of culturally and linguistically diverse American Indians in all classrooms are highlighted.
Exploring the Relationship between School Growth Mindset and Organizational Learning Variables: Implications for Multicultural Education
(2016-12) Hanson, Janet; Bangert, Arthur; Ruff, William G.
According to school growth mindset theory a school’s organizational structure influences teachers’ beliefs in their collective ability to help all students grow and learn; including those from diverse cultural, religious, identity, and socioeconomic demographics. The implicit theory of growth mindset has been quantified for a school’s culture on the What’s My School Mindset scale. This exploratory study was an initial effort to examine the content validity of the school growth mindset construct using SPSS to perform correlation analysis with multicultural relevant, organizational learning variables from the literature that were shown to explain improved school outcomes. Regression analysis tested the hypothesis that the independent variables would explain variations in a school’s growth mindset mean. Data was collected from a random stratified sample of middle and high school teachers (n = 64) and administrators (n = 5) in a large northwestern state. Responses were collected on the 19-question Likert-style WMSM survey. The overarching research question was, Is there a relationship between principal openness to change, faculty openness to change, work locus of control, and a school growth mindset? The results revealed organizational learning variables significantly correlated with a growth mindset culture and explained significant variations in the WMSM mean. The results have positive implications for providing school administrators with a way to measure their school’s culture and to provide feedback to teachers that can challenge their beliefs and inform improvements in culturally responsive teaching practices.
Identity, heritage and achievement: Comparative case study of effective education in Indian country
(2014) Ruff, William G.
A comparative case study design sought to determine how effective schools on Indian Reservations infuse local epistemologies into leadership practices. The converging themes fit a Social Identity Theory model. The leader identity was deeply rooted in the community and the values of the school were beginning to reshape community norms.
Investigating the Relationship between School Level and a School Growth Mindset
(2016-12) Hanson, Janet; Ruff, William G.; Bangert, Arthur
This study explored the relationship between school level and the psychosocial construct of a growth mindset school culture. Data was collected on the What’s My School Mindset (WMSM) Survey from a stratified random sample of PK-12 faculty and administrators (n = 347) in 30 schools across a large northwestern state. The overarching research question was, “Is there a relationship between school level and a school’s growth mindset?” Results revealed a significant decrease in the WMSM mean between elementary school level and high school level participant self-reports. Therefore, the results of this study could be used to create opportunities for faculty dialogue and reflection to changes perspectives, inform future practice, provide realistic ways to implement change by using research-based evidence to challenge assumptions; and give sound reasons for new practices.
Leadership, quality, and school improvement: A reflection
(2008-08) Ruff, William G.
The author discussed the notion of leadership as instilling within individuals and infusing within a community the greater capacity for experiencing quality. The meaning of capacity and quality was deconstructed to provide clarity. Capacity was viewed as the potentiality of individuals to assume multiple roles, view events from different circumstances, and determine action from a variety of possible responses. The author defined quality as the close alignment of a mental model to the current reality of a situation. An argument was elaborated concluding that school leadership requires empowerment, but without the requirement for inquiry as well, quality remains unattainable.
Leading with Heart: Urban Elementary Principals as Advocates for Students
(2009) Rodríguez, Mariela A.; Murakami-Ramalho, Elizabeth; Ruff, William G.
Principals in urban settings serve elementary schools often densely populated with highly mobile, ethnically diverse, and economically disadvantaged students (Dworkin, Toenjes, Purser, & Sheikh-Hussin, 2000). Due to the changing landscape of increasing accountability issues required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001), principals must adjust the mission of the school community to meet legislative demands (Johnson, 2004). Elementary principals are now heavily invested in strategies to meet the increased expectations of raising students’ academic performance. It is important to understand how urban elementary school principals reconcile the tensions between accountability and equality for all students.
Measuring work conditions for teachers of American Indian students
(2008) Erickson, Joanne L.; Terhune, M. Neil; Ruff, William G.
The purpose of this study was to re-validate the Quality of Teacher Work Life Survey (QTWLS) with a population of 404 teachers in Montana schools with predominant American Indian student enrollments; and to describe the job-related stress and satisfaction of those teachers. Factor analysis showed nine satisfaction and eight stress factors with this population compared to eleven satisfaction and 10 stress factors in Pelsma, Richard, and Harrington’s (1989) original study with primarily Caucasian teachers and students. Knowledge of these results on the QTWLS could lead to interventions that contribute to an improved work life for teachers of American Indian students and increased learning among the students.
Reconciling leadership paradigms: Authenticity as practiced by American Indian school leaders
(2015-01) Henderson, David; Carjuzaa, Jioanna; Ruff, William G.
This phenomenological study examined the complexity American Indian K-12 school leaders face on reservations in Montana, USA The study described how these leaders have to reconcile their Westernized educational leadership training with their traditional ways of knowing, living, and leading. Three major themes emerged that enabled these leaders to address racism in their schools and create spaces that were more conducive to the practice of culturally responsive pedagogy. The study highlights how leaders reconcile cultural clashes and confront racism by using identity, relationality, and re-normed practices.
Redefining and decolonizing philanthropy in American Indian communities
(2016) Carjuzaa, Jioanna; Ruff, William G.; Henderson, David
This review article critically analyzed patterns of American Indian philanthropy that persist in Montana to determine the meaning of doing with people as opposed to doing to or doing for people. We contextualized successful and innovative educational philanthropic efforts in Montana, a rural state in northwestern United States, by describing both the challenges and successes when American Indians and non-Natives collaborate. The basis of this review comes from a content analysis of information distributed by philanthropic foundations and organizations that serve American Indian communities in Montana and is framed by existing literature on philanthropy which includes writings by American Indian educators and social justice activists as well as social science research. Regarding author positionality, we are non-Native academics who have more than 50 years combined experience working with and learning from American Indian community members. The review explored how American Indian and non-Native philanthropic organizations have worked with American Indian communities to support decolonizing projects that facilitate Indigenous nation-building. Our recommendations highlight an acceptance that Westernized definitions of philanthropy are not universal and cultural humility is essential to the success of projects that enhance American Indian sovereignty.
Social justice leadership for American Indian sovereignty: A model for principal preparation
(2015-12) Henderson, David; Ruff, William G.; Carjuzaa, Jioanna
The Indian Leadership Education and Development project (ILEAD) at Little Bighorn Tribal College and Montana State University did not begin with an intentional focus on social justice; this article tracks the evolution of the program to becoming a model for indigenously sensitive/culturally responsive preparation for K-12 school leaders. Beginning with a U.S. Department of Education grant in 2006 and after three iterations, the program has trained over 70 American Indian school administrators serving Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wyoming. Despite the program's success in preparing school leaders for historically underserved reservations and other schools across Indian country, the program has not achieved success without significant transformation from a dominant society, western academy, typical educational leadership program to becoming a program sensitive to Indigenous ways of being/ knowing but actually honoring and recognizing how these American Indian ontologies/epistemologies made the program stronger for all students - Indian and non-Indian.
A Validation Study of the What’s My School Mindset? Survey
(2016-12) Hanson, Janet; Bangert, Arthur; Ruff, William G.
The What’s My School Mindset? (WMSM) survey is purported to operationalize teachers’ beliefs of their school’s ability to help all children learn and grow. In today’s data driven educational climate it is important to select a reliable instrument for collecting teacher perceptions about their school culture. Accurate data is necessary to support development of realistic continuous improvement goals and to measure progress toward those goals. This study collected teacher and administrator responses (n = 348) from a stratified random sample of 31 PK-12 public schools in a large northwestern state. A split-half exploratory factor analysis (n = 178) was used to identify a proposed factor structure model. The proposed model was tested using the second half confirmatory factor analysis sample (n = 174) and confirmed the model revealing school mindset is a second order, unidimensional factor with three subfactors. The results of this study are useful for school leaders and researchers who seek to use the What’s My School Mindset? scale to measure growth mindset within a school’s culture. Accurately interpreting the measurement of one’s school culture can increase administrator effectiveness and provide a foundation for opening realistic dialogues with teachers about their self-reported beliefs. A useful discussion of the background of school growth mindset, development of the What’s My School Mindset? instrument, and theoretical framework of learning organization theory is provided.
When western epistemology and an indigenous worldview meet: Culturally responsive assessment in practice
(2010) Carjuzaa, Jioanna; Ruff, William G.
There exists a natural tension between standards-based assessment and a multicultural perspective of assessment. The purpose of this paper was to examine issues of culturally-sensitive assessment, specifically within the context of preparing a female American Indian doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership. How does an instructor with a Western worldview fairly evaluate a research topic proposal written from an Indigenous paradigm? A case study design bounded by a single assignment and the instructor’s reflections of that assignment provided the context for examination. When the instructor and the student operate from different worldviews, there is a mismatch in expectations. Criteria for evaluating a student’s understanding from an alternative perspective need to be explored.