Education Commons^™

Leading With Heart: How Exemplary K-5 Principals Demonstrate Transformational Leadership Through Heart-Based Practices, Teresa Hubbard

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to describe how exemplary K-5 principals in Southern California lead from the heart using Mark Crowley’s (2011) 4 principles (building a highly engaged team, connecting on a personal level, maximizing employee potential and valuing and honoring achievements) to accomplish extraordinary results in their schools.

Methodology: This study utilized a qualitative phenomenological methodology to study the behaviors of elementary principals. This study, due to current Covid restrictions, included virtual one-on-one interviews that were held via the Zoom online platform. The data collected included audio and video recordings, written transcripts, and artifacts from school …

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 …

Performance Feedback: How Structure, Culture, And Agency Affects Feedback, Angelica Sleiman

Dissertations

Federal and state mandates have placed an added pressure on teachers to demonstrate “effective” instructional practices. These mandates also affect the role of a principal, as an evaluator of “effective” instructional strategies, and as an instructional leader who continuously needs to build teacher capacity to satisfy these mandates. Accountability mandates promise to improve students’ academic performance but they have lacked professional development that would provide the support teachers and principals need to achieve success. Feedback is arguably a valuable mechanism to build teacher capacity and respond to accountability pressures, however, the implementation of feedback and its consequences for teacher’s professional …

Perceptions Of Principal Leadership Skills In High-Achieving Elementary Schools, Sonya Lasyon Jackson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem addressed in this study was the inability of certain schools in a rural school district in Florida to achieve adequate yearly progress (AYP) in comparison to a neighboring school district where students consistently made AYP. Research has shown a positive relationship between student achievement and principal leadership skills. The purpose of this study was to identify patterns in elementary teachers' perceptions of their principals' leadership skills related to student achievement and elementary principals' perceptions of their own leadership practices and compare those perceptions. The conceptual framework for this qualitative case study design was instructional leadership. Twelve teachers of …

Importance Of Accommodating Elementary School Students With Learning Disabilities, Angelica R. Rivera

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This senior capstone examines the rationale why it is important to accommodate the students with learning disabilities at the elementary schools. Mainstreaming students with disabilities with those in regular general education classrooms remains a very important issue for principals and teachers. Through the use of literature review and interviews with a principal and a teacher from their respective schools in the Monterey County area, the results show that there is a gap between the services provided to students with learning disabilities.