The Professional Development Needs of School-Based Leadership in Preparation for a District-Wide One-to-One Initiative in a Large Urban School District

The purpose of this study was to determine the professional development needs of school-based leadership in preparation for a district-wide one-to-one initiative in a large urban school district. This study used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to answer the three research questions that drove the study. Research for this study was conducted in one of the top 20 largest school districts in the United States with over three hundred school leaders (principals and assistant principals) fully completing the Likert-Scale professional development survey (phase I) and six district leaders participated in follow-up semi-structured interviews (phase II) to discuss survey results and potential solutions to the needs that emerged. The results of the first phase of this study showed that the recruitment and retainment of public private partnerships, leading an online meeting, establishing long-term technology refresh plans, and updating school budgets as areas of professional development need for school leaders. In the second phase of the study, district leaders suggested that school districts in preparation for an one-to-one initiative should ensure that every school had a full-time instructional technology facilitator. District leaders also suggested that school districts should provide professional development to school leaders via blended learning models where school leaders would attend face-to-face trainings during summer break or on dedicated teacher workdays followed by extensive online follow-up trainings, and mandatory professional learning team participation.