Dissertation Defense: Scott Pyne

The College of Education has scheduled the final oral examination of Scott Pyne for the degree of Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership. The examination was held on Tuesday, October 27, 2026. The title of the dissertation is  Navigating AI Integration in K-12 Education: A Case Study of Policy and Practice in a Single Pennsylvania School District.
 

Artificial intelligence entered K-12 schools faster than the guidance available to the  leaders responsible for it. Districts write AI policy, but what students experience is the product of  everyone who handles that policy on its way to the classroom. This qualitative exploratory  single-case study examined how AI policy and direction set at the district level were interpreted  and enacted at the classroom level in a suburban Pennsylvania K-12 district that had positioned  itself as an early adopter. Embedded units of analysis at the district office, building leadership,  and classroom levels traced direction across organizational levels rather than within one. Data  included 17 semi-structured interviews, 45 leadership blog posts published between 2018 and  2026, board policy, district communication to families, and non-participant observation of two  professional development events. Analysis proceeded through hybrid thematic coding organized  by an integrated conceptual framework combining Fullan’s Change Theory and Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations Theory.