Education Commons^™

Barriers That Exemplary Principals Have Overcome To Increase Parent Participation At The School Site, Sandra Quintanilla

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the barriers exemplary principals have overcome to increase parent involvement at their school sites. This study explored how principals develop strategies to overcome barriers impeding parent involvement. Using those strategies, principals enhance parent involvement at their school sites.

Methodology: A phenomenological qualitative study was conducted, consisting of interviews to collect data from elementary school principals who have successful parent involvement at their school sites. First, the principals were interviewed in 60 min sessions. The data collected were analyzed to understand individuals’ beliefs and motivation.

Findings: Data analysis revealed that …

Reflections Of Elementary Principals Leading Through Disruption And Crisis: An Exploration Of Pandemic Leadership, Nicole Renee Peterson

Dissertations

COVID-19 had a tremendous impact on schools across the globe. Educational leaders had to respond to executive orders quickly. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines focused on mandates regarding students’ and staff’s educational, health, and social-emotional needs. This study explored and described the experience and reflections of elementary principals and their staff members during this disruptive time in history.

This qualitative multiple case study involved the interviews of five elementary principals and staff focus groups from each of their buildings. The overarching research questions were: (a) How do principals describe, metacognitively process, and make meaning of their response …

A Qualitative Case Study: Exploring Elementary Principals’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of Teacher Leadership, Cathy De Leon

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative case study examined the perceptions of one principal and 10 teachers from a school district in the Rio Grande Valley regarding how leadership is distributed in their schools through the lens of distributed leadership. This study contributes to the small body of literature regarding teacher leadership to foster dialogue and potentially provide opportunities for teachers to take on leadership roles. Recently, the expectations for schools have increased to the extent that leaders are now expected to ensure all students are learning at prominent levels. Today’s public-school principals may benefit from the support of teacher leaders. Results of …

K-12 Principals And Special Education: A Study Of Mississippi Principals’ Knowledge Of Special Education Policies And Procedures, Jodi Cameron-Polk

Dissertations

This study sought to assess the knowledge of Mississippi K-12 public school principals and assistant principals in special education law, policies, and procedures concerning the six principles (i.e., zero reject, non-discriminatory evaluation, least restrictive environment, free appropriate public education, due process, and parent participation) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004. This study also sought to establish by which method (i.e., university coursework, administrative trainings, on-the-job experiences, self-taught research, or did not learn this) they acquired their knowledge of special education law, policies, and procedures. The researcher adapted Jesteadt’s survey tool to ascertain participants’ special education teaching …

A Phenomenological Study Of How Exemplary Elementary Principals Perceive The Five Practices Of The Infinite Mindset Inspire The Achievement Of Extraordinary Results, Jeff Heilig

Dissertations

Purpose. This phenomenological study aimed to explore and describe the perceived impact of the infinite mindset and its five essential practices on exemplary elementary principals to inspire the achievement of extraordinary results. A further purpose was to understand the organizational supports and barriers exemplary leaders perceive affect the development of an infinite mindset.

Methodology. This study explored and described the perceived impact of the infinite mindset on inspiring extraordinary results as perceived by exemplary elementary principals in south Los Angeles County. A thematic team of eight peer researchers and four faculty advisors collaboratively developed the semistructured interview protocol used in …

A Phenomenological Study Of The Lived Experiences Of African American Female Educators Becoming Urban School Principals, Tondra Bailey-Collins

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the problem of why there are so few African American women in urban school principal roles in comparison to other racial groups. African American educators have a significant impact on African American students. Additionally, the need for diversity is not exclusive to African American educators and children, but diverse staff overall impacts student achievement levels and improves equity in disciplinary practices. The purpose of this study was to understand the lived experiences of African American women who are currently or were previously urban school principals. Through the theoretical lenses of critical race theory and social inclusion theory, …

A Statewide Network’S Impact On School Leaders’ Self-Efficacy For Transformational School Change, Karen Perry

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

Changing educational practice is widely understood to be a challenging endeavor, even for experienced school leaders. Much of the research on school networks focuses on building teacher capacity for improving student performance, but less evidence exists relating to increasing school leaders’ self-efficacy, specifically for the purpose of transformational school change. Building on the body of research of school networks and leaders’ self-efficacy, this mixed methods participatory action research study investigates how a network, facilitated by university faculty, impacts the leadership self-efficacy of high school principals for the purpose of leading transformational school change. Self- efficacy is both malleable and essential …

How Principals Foster A Culture Of Student Voice, Anne Stewart Demott

Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences

Student voice is a key component of educational leadership, yet school leaders remain confounded about how to succinctly define student voice, how to offer opportunities for students that position them as decision-makers in their schools, and how to integrate student voice into their daily practice, much less transform school cultures into vibrant, student-centered communities of learning. The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of how high school principals define student voice, the opportunities they provide for student voice in their schools, and the strategies they implement to foster cultures of student voice.

The study uses a sequential …

Educational Leadership In Middle Schools: Informal Teacher Leaders, Mary Ann Luciano

Dissertations - ALL

Quality educational leadership has been shown to have a strong positive relationship with student achievement (Louis et al., 2010). Successful schools do not depend upon a single charismatic leader but on many individuals collaborating and using their collective leadership skills (Grissam et al., 2021; Jackson & Marriott, 2012; Ogawa & Bossert, 1995; Pounder et al., 1995). To attain excellent student success, a school must engage its full leadership capacity (Fullan, 2001; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2008; Klar & Brewer, 2013; Leithwood et al. 2004). This includes teachers. Teacher leadership, an elusive concept with various definitions, has received growing attention from scholars …

School Principals And Instructional Coaches: An Examination Of Their Working Relationships In Maine Schools, Theresa J. Gillis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

School principals are charged with being instructional leaders and yet they are tasked with obligations and face daily challenges that often make this an unrealistic expectation. According to the Maine Department of Education, 225 instructional coaches work in 53 Maine school districts. Instructional coaches provide feedback and support for teachers geared towards professional growth. This study will explore how instructional coaches and school principals can work together to support teaching and learning. While both school principals and instructional coaches “share the ultimate goal of effecting positive change” (Hall & Simeral, 2008, p. 23) their relationships may not always promote this …

The Essential Characteristics Of Coaching That Secondary Principals Perceive Support Effective Leadership At School Sites, Bryanna Norton

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this phenomenological study was to understand and describe the essential characteristics of coaching that secondary principals perceive to support effective leadership at school sites. An additional purpose of this study was to determine what strategies secondary principals recommend for improving coaching that supports effective leadership at school sites.

Methodology: This study adopted a phenomenological approach. The researcher analyzed the lived experiences of 11 secondary principals and identified any commonalities that existed among their interviews based on their perceived truths and perceptions of their lived experiences.

Findings: Analysis of interviews, observations, and artifacts from 11 high school …

Personnel Administrators’ Use Of The Interview Process As A Predictor Of Quality Principal Candidates: A Quantitative Survey Approach, Cynthia M. Fitzgerald

Theses and Dissertations

The hiring of qualified staff that believe in the vision and mission of the school in which they have applied can be seen as the most important and significant decision a school district can make. Poor hiring decisions can affect a school’s culture and climate for many years, as well as significantly impact the academic prowess of its students. Inadequate interview practices poorly vet job candidates resulting in a lack of performance in newly hired administrators, leaving schools vulnerable to mediocre teaching and low student achievement. The research looked to recognize the changing role of the school principal and to …

How Principals Influence, Facilitate, And Support Instructional Coaching Programs, Nadine Y. Norris

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative, multicase study examined how principals perceived the role of instructional coaches and how they facilitated, influenced, and supported teachers’ professional learning through the instructional coaching program. Including the researcher as a participant, 16 participants from three suburban school districts—including district-level administrators, principals, instructional coaches, and teachers—engaged in semistructured interviews. This study was framed by Desimone’s core conceptual framework for professional development and Spillane’s distributed leadership model. Data analysis revealed principals viewed instructional coaches as their partners in instructional leadership and professional learning facilitators. Principals facilitated and influenced the instructional coaching program by empowering teachers, promoting collaboration, and establishing …

Principals’ Perspectives Of Trust And Vulnerability In Leadership: A Grounded Theory Study, Megan Ostedgaard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Leadership is a challenging task and leading well requires interpersonal skills that inspire those they lead to follow them. The aim of this grounded theory study is to explore the experiences of educational leaders who thoughtfully engage in trust-building and express vulnerability in their leadership practices. This study explored how six principals at kindergarten through 12th grade schools experience trust and vulnerability as building leaders. Three research questions guided this study: how do leaders experience trust, how do leaders generate trust, and how do leaders experience vulnerability.

In this study, we begin by understanding the background to the problem and …

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 …

Principal Professional Learning: Exploring Personal And Contextual Barriers And Facilitators Of Change, Jennifer M. Shepard

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Principals are regularly expected to navigate and lead in contexts of complex change. While professional learning is often seen as a key lever for change, there is minimal research regarding principal professional learning in change contexts and even fewer studies making explicit connections between professional learning and change. This qualitative multi-case study of four principals actively engaged in a district designed and facilitated yearlong professional learning program explores the experiences of principals within the program and identifies critical connection points between professional learning and change. Through a series of semi-structured interviews and document analyses, findings emerged indicating that principals had …

Experiencing Intellectually Stimulating K-12 Principal Actions: A Phenomenological Study, John Parham

Ed.D. Dissertations

K-12 principals are held increasingly accountable for school success, yet their direct impact on students is negligible. Principals must thus work to positively impact their teachers in order to indirectly impact student achievement. Transformational leaders are able to utilize intellectual stimulation in order to impact those who work under them. The data for this study was collected through qualitative means, with eight K-12 teachers, representing two school districts in East Tennessee, participating. The findings in this study indicated that principals were able to provide intellectually stimulating experiences for teachers without having to bring in outside resources or even add extra …

A Principal's Plc: Supporting The Development Of Professional Learning Communities Through The Lens Of A School Leader, Allison Beth Stein

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Introduction: Supportive principals are essential to the successful development of professional learning communities in schools, and student achievement is also significantly impacted by school leadership. The purpose of this qualitative research study was to examine principals’ actions, beliefs, and perspectives related to the development of professional learning communities in a suburban school district north of Chicago.Methods: Research participants included nine building principals from the target school district. Each principal was interviewed individually for approximately eighty minutes. An open coding method was used to flexibly identify common themes or concepts. Multiple coding cycles were used to further refine patterns and improve …

More Than Just Lip Service: A Phenomenological Study Of Urban Public Charter School Leaders Of Color In Los Angeles, Korey S. Hlaudy

LMU/LLS Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about how school leaders of color implement social justice leadership praxis within the urban public charter school context, especially amid a global pandemic and heightened racial injustice. This study aimed to better understand the phenomenon of being a social justice leader of color, specifically examining how these leaders implemented practices and policies aimed to minimize the marginalizing conditions within their school communities. The dissertation study was qualitative in nature and utilized a phenomenological framework to provide an in depth understanding of the policies, practices, and mindsets of nine school leaders of color (eight principals and one assistant …

Educational Transformational Leadership And Teacher Organizational Citizenship Behavior Motives, Jeremy T. Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A principal’s leadership is a key part to the success of a school as their leadership guides both instructional and organizational leadership. Teachers often work beyond their formal duties to see that all of their students have their needs met including academic, social, and physical. The performance of such behaviors is referred to as Organizational Citizenship Behavior, which is when followers display behaviors that benefit the organization or its members beyond their current job requirements. This study investigated the relationship between principal’s transformational leadership and teachers’ Organizational Citizenship Behaviors and related motivating factors. Participants from a single suburban school district …

Making It To The Next Grade: How Elementary School Principals Make Sense Of Grade Retention Policies For English Learners, Lynmara Colón

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Critical approaches to policy suggest that policy, even in the most apparently democratic polity or institution, codifies and extends the interests of those who disproportionately wield power (Levinson et al., 2009). While many people are involved in conversations and decisionmaking processes related to the implementation of grade retention or promotion policies, the final decision is made at the school level. Critics of grade retention, meanwhile, also warn that retained students may be harmed by stigmatization, reduced expectations for their academic performance on the part of teachers and parents, and the challenges of adjusting to a new peer group (Schwerdt et …

Supporting The Integration Of Internationally Educated Teachers To Foster Equitable Schools, Nadine Trépanier-Bisson

The Dissertation-in-Practice at Western University

Within a change process grounded in constructivist and transformative worldviews, internationally educated teachers (IETs), an underemployed group in the education sector, can support equity efforts in Ontario schools. The Organizational Improvement Plan (OIP) presents an overview of the organizational and environmental factors that contribute to the necessity for change and which influence the change process. A new way of supporting equity work in schools is proposed through a dual change process intended to bring change at the principal organization (meso) and in schools (micro). Kotter’s (2012) eight-stage process is embedded within Cawsey et al.’s (2016) change path model to support …

Understanding A Familial Mentorship Model In Cultivation Of Leaders Who Serve, Herald Chip Johnson

Dissertations

This study was designed to explore a lineage of leadership enacted through mentoring from individuals with respected reputations for excellence in leadership. Using a narrative inquiry approach, I explored how I used knowledge gained from past mentors to inform future leadership actions and decisions based on the examples through their leadership. An exploration of leadership models uncovered the interconnectivity among the life of the mentor, the lessons passed on to the mentee, and the manner in which the story is told. Resonant leadership, transformative leadership, and servant leadership theory provided the theoretical framework used to analyze in-depth interviews in which …

Understanding Principals’ Knowledge Of Special Education, Whitney G. Schexnider

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The percentage of students identified as eligible to receive special education services in the United States has grown from 8.3% in the 1976-77 school year to 14% during the 2018-19 school year (Hussar et al., 2020). Given this level of growth and the myriad of levels of support principals provide for students with disabilities, one would assume that principal preparation programs have adjusted their curriculum to ensure future school administrators are prepared to support every student, including those with disabilities. The purpose of this research study is to better understand how current school administrators learned special education-related information for their …

Covid-19 School Closures: Professional And Personal Impacts On Building Principals, Paula R. Dawson, Alicia M. Nosworthy

Ed.D. Dissertations in Practice

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a global impact resulting in an altered reality for educational systems around the world. The mandate by the governor of Washington State to close all school buildings produced immediate and significant impacts to the educational systems throughout the state, which resulted in professional and personal challenges for building leaders. The researchers, two school administrators at different levels in separate districts, had a unique “front row seat” to the challenges being faced by educators in the region and across the state. Based on this positionality and the current reality, the overarching question of this study focused …

The Role Of School Principals In Fostering The Teamwork Success In Al Ain Schools From Teachers’ Percpective, Afra Mohammed Al Shamsi

Theses

The aim of the present study is to investigate the role of principals in fostering teamwork success. This study explained the leadership practices in fostering teamwork as perceived by teachers. Notably, the teamwork and its importance are neglected most of the time. Additionally, very little work was found in context of UAE. A sample of 334 public school teachers from Al Ain completed the online survey about their satisfaction about teamwork rates, their views regarding principals fostering teamwork, as well as recommendations and suggestions that could promote teamwork among school teachers. Descriptive statistics is adopted to analyze the quantitative items …

Relationship Between Servant Leadership Style And Teacher Job Satisfaction And Retention, Morgan Stamschror

Counselor Education Capstones

Effective school leaders are vital to the success of a school. The leadership style of a school leader, specifically principals, affects teacher satisfaction and retention. Servant leadership is a well-known leadership style in the business and organizational psychology field but has applications in the education setting as well. This report discusses how principals can be servant-leaders by putting others first and themselves second. As a result, teacher job satisfaction and retention are affected. Therefore, it is important for educators to learn how principals can most effectively lead teachers and other support staff. Training and professional development opportunities are essential for …

Principal Pipeline Development In Ghana: A Look At Komenda Edina Eguafo Abriem (Keea) District In The Central Region, Eunice A. Turkson

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

There is no doubt that principals’ roles are important in setting the direction for successful schools, however, current knowledge on the best ways to prepare and develop highly qualified and effective school leaders is sparse (Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, Meyerson, Orr, & Cohen, 2007; Mendels, 2012). As such, the recognition of the importance of school leaders in teaching and learning coupled with a growing shortage of high-quality leaders in American schools, increased the interest in leadership development as a major reform strategy (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007). The investment of tremendous amount of time and resources on school leadership therefore help them to …

Exploring Actions Toward Supporting English Language Learners In A Rural Remote Secondary Setting, Annamarie Valdez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ESL students make a small population in rural, remote secondary schools. One ESL student can have a profound impact on the academic measures taken on state accountability tests. The gap between an ESL student’s achievement and that of native English-speaking peers is disproportionate. The actions of principals and campus leaders directly impact the teacher’s ability to support English language learners’ (ELL) ESL needs. A problem exists on what principals and campus leaders can do to help ESL students’ needs in a rural, remote secondary setting. The purpose of this exploratory single case study was to identify the actions campus leaders …

The Relationship Between Hiring Type And Principal Retention: Comparing Georgia Public School Principals, Belinda Sloan

Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership Dissertations

Abstract

School principals’ have a significant impact on student achievement and positive educational outcomes (Beteille et al., 2012; Branch et al., 2013; Miller, 2009; Miller, 2013; Supovitz et al., 2010). There are concerns regarding the high turnover rate and shortage of applicants for school leadership positions currently within the United States (Beteille et al., 2012; Burkhauser et al., 2012; Burkhauser, 2015; Jensen, 2014; Whitaker, 2003). According to research, high poverty schools are significantly impacted by this current state of affairs (Beteille et al., 2012; Miller, 2013). This quantitative research study aimed to contribute to the body of literature regarding principal …