Cailen O'Shea
About Cailen
Dr. O’Shea’s research interests focus on school transformation and equitable instructional leadership. Specifically, he looks at ways educational leaders can enhance instruction for all students. He utilizes both critical quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Previously, Dr. O’Shea served as a behavior interventionist, 5th-grade teacher, and instructional technology coach in Title I schools in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Contributions
Publications
Explores which factors influence teachers’ individual and team innovativeness, examining five categories: teacher preparedness, professional development, professional practices, empowerment, and self-efficacy. Results show that all factors except professional development significantly affect innovativeness, though their impacts vary between individual and team outcomes.
Examines how three Indigenous educational leaders are forced to balance Eurocentric district mandates and white fragility with the strengths and conditions of the Indigenous students and communities they serve.
Explores the ongoing challenges in urban Indigenous education and emphasizes how curriculum can be used to promote culturally responsive practices. Proposes an integrated curriculum model that incorporates Indigenous knowledge systems and addresses community and family concerns.
Examines how distributed leadership influences teachers’ use of innovative teaching practices. Finds that schools with stronger distributed leadership tend to have teachers who use more innovative methods, such as cognitively engaging instruction and enhanced curricular activities.