03/13/2026
By Zakkiyya Witherspoon

The School of Education invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Brian Marques “Building Improvement Science Capacity Through Professional Learning Community Coaching: A Multilevel Approach to Attendance Improvement."

Candidate: Brian Marques
Degree: Doctoral- Ed.D. Leadership in Schooling
Defense Date: March 26, 2026
Time: 5 p.m.
Location: Via Zoom
Thesis/Dissertation Title: Building Improvement Science Capacity Through Professional Learning Community Coaching: A Multilevel Approach to Attendance Improvement

Dissertation Committee

  • Chair: Michelle Scribner, Ed.D., Clinical Professor, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Committee Member: Christina Whittlesey, Ph.D., Adjunct Faculty, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell
  • Committee Member: Kaitlyn Angulo, Ed.D., Adjunct Faculty, School of Education, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Abstract
In Big Public Schools (pseudonym), a large urban Massachusetts school district, chronic absenteeism has been nearly double the state rate for over a decade. More concerning, it has been even higher among historically marginalized student groups. Yet, the staff tasked with implementing a coherent districtwide initiative to address this opportunity gap lacked the requisite improvement design and implementation skills to boost student outcomes. Through a mixed-methods design, this dissertation-in-practice applies improvement science concepts to examine the effect of a professional learning community (PLC) coaching model with reflective dialogue protocols on the improvement design and implementation skills of frontline staff seeking to reduce chronic absenteeism among historically marginalized students. Although limited by a small sample size, short intervention period, and the potential for social desirability bias, a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle found statistically significant and compelling growth in multilevel implementers’ understanding and application of the architecture of improvement design. Manuscript 1 examines the problem from several vantage points using established theory and local needs assessments. Manuscript 2 refines the theory of improvement, pilots a school-level PLC, and, as the main focus, explores a PLC Coaching Model intervention with seven district-level staff. Manuscript 3 recommends actions for district decision-makers to scale the model, with potential transferability to novel settings.