From Student to Scholar: Transforming a
Dissertation into Publication

Dr. Jennifer L. Hindman is a 2004 graduate of the EPPL K-12 General Administration Doctoral Program. She is the co-author of a recently published book titled, The Teacher Quality Index: A Protocol for Teacher Selection, written with Dr. James H. Stronge, Heritage Professor at William and Mary. The book grew out of her dissertation research, and was done in collaboration with Dr. Stronge’s research on the qualities of effective teachers. This is a wonderful example of students and faculty working together to produce cutting edge scholarship in education. Jenny is building a successful consulting practice.

What is the Teacher Quality Index (TQI)?

The Teacher Quality Index is an interview method designed to help administrators ask the right questions to hire superior teachers. There are many things that go into being a great teacher from knowledge and skills to personality. Many interviewers tend to focus on how the applicants relate to them or personality aspects and ask questions focused on instructional delivery and classroom management. I designed the interview questions to help assess those qualities and learn more about the applicant in the interview on other qualities associated with effective teachers including, assessment, planning, and prior experiences. Additionally, TQI incorporates research and best practices about what works in interview in terms of how questions are asked and evaluated.

Why is the TQI Important?

I first saw a need for the TQI as a science lead teacher earlier in my career. I noticed among my three new teacher colleagues three very different levels of success. I began to wonder about the interview process and what could have caused such a large variation between these teachers. My study found that 73% administrators surveyed had never had a training session on how to interview.

A good predictor of future performance is past performance. TQI is designed to strengthen the interview process by asking applicants about what they did as opposed to what they would do. The interview protocol is designed specifically for teachers and can include different probe questions so that interviews can be tailored to the candidate. I hope TQI will help administrators hire the best teachers now and in the future. I also plan in the future to develop a similar interview protocol for administrators.

I had some experience publishing from my work as a student and previous articles from my dissertation. Dr. Brenda Williams encouraged me to rewrite a paper done in her planning class for publication. Until that point, I never thought about myself as a potential author.  I was encouraged by
Dr. Stronge to publish my dissertation findings and through his support and track record as an established author, the dissertation became a book. Transforming my dissertation into a book was a process of reassembling my five chapters into a more readable format. The book is designed for practitioners, and it took two years to get to press. With the publication of this book I now have five publications growing out of my dissertation research.

Advice for Emerging Scholars

This is a great example of students publishing with faculty. I encourage students to work closely with faculty as they go through the dissertation process. Hopefully, the relationship will transform from a formal relationship of teacher-student to working together. I also encourage students to publish as much as they can. Think about publishing papers from class that might have application for practitioners. If it is a more technical paper, then working with faculty member to publish in a more scholarly journal might be appropriate. I want to remind students that there are many ways to get published; it does not always have to be a referred journal. State and regional journals can be great places to start.