Education Commons^™

Principals As Instructional Leaders: Supporting New Middle School Principals To Implement Systems Allowing For Instructional Leadership, Jason Kaiz

Dissertations

This study is a collection, interpretation, and, eventually, recommendations based on data collected through interviews with current middle school principals. The research questions examine how middle school principals can increase their effectiveness as an instructional leader within the building. The research begins by examining the factors contributing to the principal being an instructional leader and what systems can be implemented to support this goal. These systems should include the ability for principals to facilitate learning for staff, just as staff facilitate learning within their classroom. Policy implications and recommendations highlight the need to look at resources available for principals as …

The Culture Of Innovation In Seminaries And Institutes Of Religion: A Phenomenological Study, Griffin Dean Sorenson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the lived experiences of seminary principals in Seminaries and Institutes of Religion (S&I) as they have been called to innovate within an environment that may not support it. The central research question is What are the beliefs, attitudes, and desires of instructional leaders (seminary principals) in released-time seminary programs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding a call to innovate in a culture that may not support it? The theory guiding this study is Christensen’s disruptive innovation theory, as it outlines what is required to support innovation …

Learning From Post-Observation Conferences: Emerging Measures Of And Mechanisms To Improve Principals’ Feedback To Teachers, Alyson L. Lavigne, Shanena Allen, Shiquan Shao, Jorge Americo Acosta Feliz

Journal of Educational Supervision

As principals seek to strengthen their impact on teaching and learning, it is critical to understand how principals provide feedback to teachers about their instruction and the focus of those conversations. This study examined the content and quality of principals’ (N = 4) verbal feedback to teachers (N = 11) during post-observation conferences (N = 11) and teachers’ perceptions of that feedback. In post-observation conferences, principals emphasized students’ opportunities to learn and supportive classroom environment, but rarely provided feedback on curriculum sequencing, the balance of procedural and conceptual knowledge, and teachers’ review and feedback to students. The …

Distribution Of Instructional Leadership Roles Within A School Organization, Zora Wolfe, Kim-Kathie Knudsen, Abbie Mahaffey

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Educational leaders are tasked with many managerial responsibilities as well as instructional leadership roles. However, effective instructional leadership is a critical factor in improving student achievement. The purpose of this study was to explore how instructional leadership is distributed within a school organization, specifically examining the perceptions of district, building, and teacher leaders in relation to their roles in instructional leadership and the barriers to effective instructional leadership. Qualitative interviews were conducted with district office leaders, building leaders, and instructional coaches, and their responses to the questions were reviewed, categorized, and coded using Crewell’s Data Analysis Spiral (2011).

Data from …

Administrators' Capacity For Supporting Reform-Oriented Science Instruction: An Urban School District Case Study, Venicia Ferrell, Joanna K. Garner

Center for Educational Partnerships Publications

Secondary school administrators play a vital role as instructional leaders, but little is known about their knowledge of science practices and perceptions of strategies for supporting reform-oriented science instruction. This multiphase, mixed-methods Q-Methodology study explored administrators' perceptions of instructional leadership and, in particular, high-quality science instruction. After a concourse of 40 items was developed through a review of literature and an expert panel, n = 22 administrators from one urban school district completed a Q-sort and a post-sort questionnaire in which they commented on a lesson excerpt. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was used to assimilate the participants into …

The Facade Of Instructional Leadership – The Patterns And Priorities Of Principals In Guiding And Driving Effective Classroom Instructional Practices, Jerad Hyden

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The Façade of Instructional Leadership: The Patterns and Priorities of High School Principals in Guiding and Driving Effective Classroom Instructional Practices

Abstract

By Jerad Hyden

University of the Pacific 2023

Classroom walkthroughs are the consistent and systematic observation of instruction in the classroom, and despite research indicating classroom walkthroughs drive student achievement and promote learning, high school principals fail to implement effective classroom walkthroughs on a consistent basis, resulting in teachers not receiving enough guidance and support to improve instruction for student learners. The purpose of this study was to assist and empower high school principals as instructional leaders through …

A Phenomenological Study Of Principals’ Perceptions Of Instructional Leadership In The Context Of Mandated Teacher Evaluation, Gabrielle P. Delatte

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The literature on instructional leadership includes the practices in which principals can engage (Stein & Nelson, 2003) and discusses how the principal’s leadership practices can be mediated by the teacher observation tool within the teacher evaluation system (Spillane, Halverson, & Diamond, 2001). However, the literature includes less about how and why leaders enact those instructional leadership practices (Spillane et al., 2001; Spillane, 2006) and how the teacher evaluation tool might or might not be influencing that how and why. The purpose of this qualitative study is to produce a description of how principals perceive the instructional leadership they provide teachers …

Socioscientific Issues-Based Instruction: The Messier Side Of (Leading) Science Teaching, Savannah Graham, Mark Bloom, Sarah Quebec Fuentes, Jo Beth Jimerson

Journal of Educational Supervision

The present case centers on a socioscientific issues-based lesson taught by a preservice teacher (PST) in an AP Biology class. The PST designed and delivered a lesson on disease transmission and ways to avoid infection with connections to the COVID-19 pandemic mask mandates and vaccine reticence. The Principal received several emails from parents (positive and negative), citing the incorporation of political issues and critical race theory into the science lesson. With this framing, the case depicts how the Principal, PST, university supervisor, and cooperating teacher navigate the situation. The case highlights the role of school leader as instructional leader. In …

System-Level Leaders’ Local Control Of Teacher Supervision And Evaluation Under Every Student Succeeds Act, Douglas Wieczorek, Israel Aguilar, Ian M. Mette

Organization and School Leadership Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article investigates school system leaders’ influence and control over local teacher supervision and evaluation systems (TSES) guided by the United States’ (U.S.) Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Using qualitative, textual document analysis methods, we analyzed 50 states’ ESSA policies to determine the extent to which local education agencies have flexible TSES authority granted by state and federal guidelines. The study findings indicate that a majority of U.S. state-level policies mandate standardized TSES tools and processes at the local district level. In order to optimally meet students’ and teachers’ needs, we recommend that systems-level leaders prioritize community driven visions for …

Advancing A Democratic Pedagogy And Supervision Framework: An Illustrative Case Of Teacher Questioning In Secondary Mathematics Instruction, Esther A. Enright, Douglas Wieczorek

Journal of Educational Supervision

This article pushes back against the evalu-centric view of improvement (Hazi, 2018; 2020) in the supervision literature by advocating for a democratic pedagogy and supervision framework developed to support instructional supervision and evaluation dialogue between teachers and leaders. This democratized approach honors and centers the teacher’s expertise and learning as well as the leader’s in the observation, debrief, and reflection process. Through this decentering of expertise in the instructional supervision cycle, our goal is to build leaders’ and teachers’ mutual capacity to develop, implement, and sustain democratic instructional supervision cultures in classrooms and schools. Additionally, we illustrate our framework through …

But Are They Good Teachers? Examining Who Takes Up Teacher Leadership And How Their Instruction Differs From Their Peers, Peter D. Wiens, Jori S. Beck

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

Teacher leaders function in many roles in supporting school success including instructional leadership and supporting colleagues. This study draws upon the Status of the Social Studies Survey (Fitchett & Vanfossen, 2013) to examine the responses of 6,702 US-based middle and high school social studies teachers to understand the antecedents of teacher leadership and the instructional practices of these individuals compared to their peers. Survey responses indicate that the vast majority of social studies teachers report participating in some aspect of teacher leadership. Teacher leaders tend to be less experienced and have less educational attainment while employing more research-based instructional techniques.

A Qualitative Case Study Of Principal Supervisors’ Perceptions Of Equity-Based Instructional Leadership, Dontae Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Principal supervisors play a critical role in supporting school principals. However, historically, principal supervisors were ill prepared to address these challenges at either the district or school level. Since 2011, the role of the principal supervisors has been reexamined to provide better outcomes for students and increased support for principals. The development of equity-based instructional leadership practices was identified and therefore added to the tools focused on developing transformative, race-conscious, and culturally responsive educational leadership. The problem explored in this qualitative study is that little research has focused on the perceptions of principal supervisors to improve equitable practices in schools …

Towards A Theory Of Critical Consciousness: A New Direction For The Development Of Instructional And Supervisory Leaders, Shannon R. Waite

Journal of Educational Supervision

COVID-19 and the demand for racial justice caused the dark underbelly of white supremacy to be laid bare during 2020. These events call for a reexamination of the ontological and epistemological frameworks in academe and specifically within the field of educational leadership. The legacy of white supremacist ideology prevails as the existing and accepted ontological and epistemological perspectives of history offered in PreK-12 through post-secondary education. The political, economic, and social context highlights the need for instructional and supervisory leaders to be culturally responsive school leaders. This requires that programs preparing these leaders must grapple with and problematize the existing …

Building School Leader Capacity For Impact, Catherine L. Meyer-Looze, Rick Vandermolen

School Leadership Review

Effective school leaders focus on identifying the changes needed to improve student learning. However, school improvement is often reduced to a checklist of compliance activities, and, consequently, achievement gaps continue to stay the status quo, or even widen. This paper reports on a qualitative case study analyzing how professional learning was implemented by 17 school leaders within a northern Michigan intermediate school district. From 2016-2020, the authors conducted semi-structured interviews, administered a participant needs survey, and analyzed artifacts from a professional learning series for principals. The series, Building Leadership Capacity, was framed using Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, as well as …

The Intersection Of School-Based Leadership Practices And School Grades In The State Of Florida, Wendelynn A. Mcpherson

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental, quantitative study was to examine to what degree 12 self-reported leadership behaviors were associated with and predictive of school grades in the state of Florida. The study participant sample was exclusively comprised of educational leaders from elementary schools located in Florida. In this descriptive study, elementary principals were surveyed to determine the frequency of leadership behaviors (independent variable) and school grades (dependent variable). Two research questions and hypotheses were posed to address the study’s research problem. Research question one utilized a simple linear regression to assess the predictive variable of the overall leadership practices for …

The Need For More Educational Leadership Pedagogical Knowledge In Early Elementary, Megan Hallissey

Journal of Educational Leadership in Action

This exploratory, qualitative multiple-site case study examined how principals’ knowledge of early childhood learning, pedagogy, and practices (or lack of) influences their leadership decisions and assessment of teachers. Data collection included four different elementary school configurations and consisted of multiple data sources including the use of a video simulation. The twelve guidelines of Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) and the Professional Standards of Educational Leaders (PSEL) provided a framework for thematic analysis. The results of this study show principals have a limited understanding of early childhood pedagogy which influences their hiring decisions when filling teacher vacancies. Additionally, results indicate principals’ assessments …

Citizenship Education In Neoliberal Times, Elissar Gerges

The Dissertation in Practice at Western University

In pursuit of continuous rather than episodic change, this organizational improvement plan uses Kotter’s (2014) framework for organizational change, embedded within the PDSA cycle, to create a professional development community at the school. The school’s mission is focused on citizenship, but implementation is still an area of action. The compliance culture at the school and the dominant transactional leadership approach have influenced the enactment of the school’s mission throughout the various high school departments. Using a conceptual framework adapted from Hackman’s (2002) framework for building a collaborative environment, this improvement plan explores how a private school in Ontario can implement …

Principal Retention: The Perceptions Of Veteran Secondary Principals Who Remain In Their Roles As Instructional Leaders, Coletha Tucker Johnson

Educational Leadership & Policy Studies Dissertations

The role of school principals has changed from being managers to instructional leaders. As a result, many principals do not feel prepared to lead under these conditions, in which some leave their campuses within the first five-years of service. Despite school districts implementing educational reforms to attract and retain principals, turnover persists and is more pervasive in secondary settings when compared to elementary campuses. This study explored the perceptions of six veteran secondary principals (five-years or more at their campus) from two Texas school districts and whether self-confidence in their abilities or self-efficacy impacted their effectiveness as instructional leaders, thus …

A Qualitative Study Exploring State School Leaders' Work With Teachers In Argentina, Eliana Belén Camargo

Theses - ALL

Principals' influence on teachers' practices is the second factor, after classroom instruction, that most impact student learning and success. In Argentina state schools serve 70% of the students, therefore, state school leaders play a key role in the K-12 education of the country. The present study explored the experiences of six Argentinian state school administrators (principals and assistant principals) about their role in working with teachers. This qualitative study examined the following question: How do Argentinian state school administrators experience their role in working with and leading teachers? A qualitative, phenomenological research approach and two of the most prominent educational …

A Qualitative Study Exploring State School Leaders' Work With Teachers In Argentina, Eliana Belén Camargo

Theses - ALL

Principals’ influence on teachers’ practices is the second factor, after classroom instruction, that most impact student learning and success. In Argentina state schools serve 70% of the students, therefore, state school leaders play a key role in the K-12 education of the country. The present study explored the experiences of six Argentinian state school administrators (principals and assistant principals) about their role in working with teachers. This qualitative study examined the following question: How do Argentinian state school administrators experience their role in working with and leading teachers? A qualitative, phenomenological research approach and two of the most prominent educational …

Instructional Leadership Practices: Teachers Perceptions Of A Rural School Principal In Fiji, Govinda I. Lingam, Narsamma Lingam, Sunil K. Singh

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which teachers perceive their principal to be effectively exhibiting an instructional leadership role. Data for the study were collected from teachers (N=24) in a rural secondary school in Fiji using the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) developed and advocated by Hallinger (1990). In addition to Likert scale items, the questionnaire included open-ended questions to gain deeper insights into teachers’ ratings of each item. Analyses of the data revealed that ratings for the principal were the highest for communicating school goals to students and protecting instructional time while supervision …

Principals’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of Content-Specific Instructional Feedback, Shernore S. Prince

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The research problem for this basic qualitative study was that principals were not consistently providing content-specific feedback to support teachers’ instructional practices. This problem was important because principals, as instructional leaders, are responsible for giving feedback to teachers to support teachers’ instructional practices. The purpose of this study was to investigate principals’ and teachers’ perceptions of content-specific feedback. Danielson’s framework for teaching was the conceptual framework that linked the concepts and variables in this study. The research questions addressed how principals perceived that they provided content-specific feedback to support teachers’ instructional practice, and how teachers perceived principals as providing content-specific …

Teacher Development In Promising School Turnaround Efforts, Andrew Swanson

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The study was developed to examine the teacher development efforts utilized by leaders of lowperforming schools that had shown promising gains in student achievement. A researchercreated quantitative survey sent to school leaders in one state was utilized to analyze the perceived use and effectiveness of various teacher development efforts in supporting student achievement gains at their schools. Overall, the results showed school leaders focused heavily on teacher development to support their school turnaround efforts and that teacher development was effective in improving student achievement. Classroom walk-throughs were found to be an integral strategy in school turnaround and the results also …

The Effects Of Data-Driven Instructional Leadership On Student Achievement, Hayward Mark Chandler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Instructional leadership is key in reaching educational goals for students. Data-driven instructional leadership leveraged to improve teachers’ instructional practices provides opportunities for teachers to reflect, collaborate, and improve instructional practice. Data-driven leadership has been studied, but achievement results have not been a common topic. It is of value to understand the aspects of school leadership with causal nexus to student outcomes and what actions by leaders are associated with positive student outcomes. This study examined the achievement scores of four groups of schools (N= 81) in the state of New Mexico. The treatment groups leveraged data-driven practices, while the control …

Role Enactment And Types Of Feedback: The Influence Of Leadership Content Knowledge On Instructional Leadership Efforts, Sarah Quebec Fuentes, Jo Beth Jimerson

Journal of Educational Supervision

Instructional leadership is a primary task of school leaders, but this work may be complicated when leaders and teachers do not share content area or grade level expertise. Work around leadership content knowledge (LCK) acknowledges that school leaders cannot know everything about teaching in the content areas, but suggests leaders can work to bridge this divide. Still, little is known about how leaders’ LCK intersects with their efforts to support improvements in teaching and learning. The purpose of this study was to explore ways in which LCK facilitates or, in its absence, hinders instructional leadership efforts. Thirty-one teachers and school …

Discipline-Culture And Instructional Practices: An Integrated Leader's Role, Joe L. Griffin

Dissertations

The goal of this study was to identify the extent to which integrated leadership is present in schools, according to secondary teachers. Second, the study sought to measure the discipline-culture of schools. Discipline-culture is defined as the way discipline is administered daily in a school and how it contributes to the instructional practices that teacher’s use. Finally, integrated leadership, coined by Marks and Printy (2003), was examined relative to discipline-culture and instructional practices with this study. Leadership has been studied in multiple countries across various grade levels, but integrated leadership's influence on discipline-culture and instructional practices has not been researched. …

Transcending Compromise: Principal Practices Predicting Teacher Effectiveness And Teacher Morale, David George Grant

CGU Theses & Dissertations

Two leadership styles have dominated the literature- instructional leadership and transformational leadership. No study could be found quantitatively integrating principal practices from these styles in ways that simultaneously predicted teacher effectiveness and teacher morale. Therefore, this study sought to better understand the complex relationships between principal practices, teacher effectiveness and teacher morale. First, this study synthesized meta analyses of principal effects for studies produced between 1978-2008 and presented a unique empirically grounded integration framework summarizing principal effects for student achievement and teacher morale. Second, the study used this framework to explore four research questions. An online survey was utilized to …

Principal Leadership And Student Academic Achievement, Brigitte Karin Manns

Education Dissertations

This case study is an analysis of the relationship between principal leadership and student academic achievement. This research is based upon two dominant leadership theories from the past four decades, namely transformational leadership, which has been studied extensively by Bernard Bass and Bruce Avolio among others, and instructional leadership, which has been researched most notably by Philip Hallinger and colleagues. More recently, several researchers have proposed that transformational leadership and instructional leadership may be related to increases in student learning when used simultaneously by a school leader. This case study is an examination of the leadership style of a principal …

Designing Our Principal Pipeline From A Job-Embedded Residency, Dusty L. Palmer, Irma L. Almager, Fernando Valle

School Leadership Review

This qualitative case study explores the impact of job-embedded principal preparation residency programs through the lens of a school district’s administrator.  The school-university partnership provided an innovative way to prepare aspiring school leaders.  The job-embedded structure provided an authentic, contextual base experience where aspiring principals served as interns over a 15-month period in their current school district.  The praxis of the study positions principal interns to impact teacher growth and improve student achievement during their job-embedded placement.  Overall, the school district invested in its own teachers and are now leading their campuses in a principalship  role.

Principals As Instructional Leaders: An Embedded Descriptive Case Study Of One Rural School's Effort To Improve Student Outcomes Through Reading Plus, Joshua W. Tremont, Nathan R. Templeton

School Leadership Review

The purpose of this descriptive embedded case study is to address a reading literacy problem at a rural school district through a principal’s instructional leadership and to determine whether student outcomes improved. Campus principals are tasked with the responsibility of ensuring every student receives high-quality instruction that aligns with research-driven best practices by implementing current interim assessment cycles to track classroom trends and determine appropriate interventions (Texas Administrative Code [TAC §149.2001.]). However, the manner in which the principal influences student achievement varies based on leader capacity and school setting. While leadership in rural settings is as diverse as the community …