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The Alabama Promise To Improve Student Achievement: A Phenomenological Study Of Torchbearer Principals, Stacey P. Gill

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STACEY P. GILL EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP ABSTRACT This study examined leadership characteristics from the perspective of urban school leaders in high-poverty and high-achieving schools in the state of Alabama in order to better understand their relationship to student achievement. Principals were selected from three school sites in three urban school districts located in central and southern Alabama. The study's theoretical framework was drawn from change theory, transformational leadership, instructional leadership, and the effective schools movement. A phenomenological approach was used to understand the essence of the phenomenon, in this instance, urban school leaders' and teachers' perceptions of Torchbearer leadership characteristics, was …