Educational Leadership Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

Elementary School Leadership, Climate, And Resilience During Covid-19: A Comparative Case Study Of Two Independent Schools, Nora C. Malone

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

The recent worldwide pandemic impacted educational systems on a global scale, forcing school leaders to reimagine educational structures as they faced the ongoing wounding of the unprecedented, shared trauma wrought by COVID-19. Mandated U.S. school closures in March of 2020 forced an immediate transition to distance learning and presented unforeseen academic and social challenges for students, educators, parents, and school leaders. As school campuses re-opened over the next year, the pandemic continued to present hardships. School leaders were tasked with developing systems to follow appropriate health and safety measures, develop systems to accommodate stakeholders’ individual health circumstances, and communicate school …

Responsive, Adaptive, And Future-Centred Leadership In Response To Crisis: Findings From Australia, Fiji, And New Zealand, Michelle Striepe, Pauline Thompson, Sylvia Robertson, Mohini Devi, David Gurr, Fiona Longmuir, Adam Taylor, Christine Cunningham

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruption to education and highlighted the importance of effective leadership during times of crisis. This paper considers the impact of the pandemic on school leaders in Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand. A secondary analysis of data from five interpretivist, qualitative studies was conducted. The aim of the study was to investigate the similarities and differences between the leaders’ experiences across school settings, states/provinces, and countries. Our findings place renewed importance on understanding the role of schools within the community and the vital role school leaders play in helping schools respond to volatile and dynamic …

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 …

Transformational Leadership And Organizational Citizenship Behavior Motives In Teachers, Jeremy Davis, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Suzanne B. Miller, Katherine Fallon

Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership

A principal’s leadership is a key part to the success of a school as their leadership guides both instructional and organizational outcomes. Teachers often work beyond their formal duties to see that all their students have their needs met. This is referred to as an Organizational Citizenship Behavior (i.e., 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 suburban school district completed a questionnaire based on their perceptions of their principal’s leadership …

Selection And Faith/Spiritual Formation Of Catholic Public School Lay Principals In Ghana, Joseph Domfeh-Boateng

Journal of Global Catholicism

While Catholic schools strive to maintain a particular identity, this is not easy when they operate as public schools. In most African countries where the Church operates large networks of Catholic schools, most Catholic schools are public schools, which provides funding but also leads to some constraints. This paper focuses on the issue of the selection and faith/spiritual formation of lay principals in Ghana’s Catholic public Schools. Issues are discussed and a few recommendations are made.

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 …

Servant Leadership Practices Of Principals: A Case Study, Bradley Benton Haga

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify practices of servant leadership styles of principals in selected rural school divisions in Southwestern, Virginia. The theories that guided this research were Robert Greenleaf’s (1970) servant leadership and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943). The central research question is: How do public school principals describe their servant leadership practices? The sub-questions include (a) what servant leadership practices are used with students? (b) what servant leadership practices are used with parents? (c) what servant leadership practices are used with faculty and staff? Participants were screened through purpose sampling by using the screening …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & 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 …

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

LMU 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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Principals’ Perceptions And Understandings Of Teacher Leadership, Anna Hart

Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership

No singular definition of teacher leadership (TL) exists in empirical literature or practice in the field. This lack of clarity has greatly impacted the implementation of TL in American schools. The purpose of this study qualitative case study was to investigate public school principals’ perceptions and understandings of TL in an effort to better inform continued efforts toward its ubiquitous application in American schools. Principals’ definitions of TL fell into three categories: action-based, quality-based, and role-based definitions. Principals’ recognition of the work of teacher leaders in schools fell into two parallel categories: action-based and role-based leadership. Findings reveal that many …

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

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development 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 …

Bullying Prevention And Mediation: The Role Of Values Education, Janine Brown, Boris Handal, Liz Mckenna, Sandra Lynch

eJournal of Catholic Education in Australasia

The growing incidence of bullying in schools calls for alternative prevention and mediation approaches in which values are integrated into current practices. This study explores educators’ and parents’ beliefs about the explicit application of a values-based approach to bullying intervention and mediation in Catholic schools. Individual and focus group interview among teachers, principals and parents were held in three Catholic primary schools in the Sydney Metropolitan area. The study also served to identify current anti-bullying practices employed as well as to examine specific values perceived to be relevant by parents and educator in preventing and solving bullying conflicts. Respondents showed …

The Effect Of School Tasks On Principals' And Assistant Principals’ Leadership Self-Efficacy, Torri Jackson, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Summer Pannell, Richard E. Cleveland, Suzanne B. Miller, Katherine Fallon

School Leadership Review

The pressure to lead schools effectively while fulfilling instructional leadership and school management tasks could impact school administrators’ perceptions of their leadership capabilities. The purpose of this quantitative, cross-sectional study was to identify the relationship between the varied tasks of school administrators as related to their leadership self-efficacy. Data were collected from 73 school administrators to ascertain leadership self-efficacy of principals and assistant principals based upon the completion of instructional leadership tasks and school management tasks. The major findings of the study indicated a positive, linear relationship between leadership self-efficacy and the instructional leadership tasks and school management tasks of …

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 …

Principals’ Management Of Library Resources And Teachers’ Lesson Preparation Practices In Secondary Schools: A Predictive Evaluation, Valentine Joseph Owan, Rosemary O. Osim Ph.D., Emanghe E. Emanghe Ph.D., Eyiene Ameh Ph.D., John Asuquo Ekpenyong

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The literature is predominated by studies seeking to clarify the extent of the availability, functionality, accessibility and/or utilisation of library materials in schools at various levels. The extent of principals' management of library resources and their contribution to the lesson preparation activities of teachers seems to have been under-researched. In bridging the gap, the current study was designed to assess the extent and contribution of principals’ management of library resources to teachers’ lesson preparation practices. Six specific objectives were of interest to the researchers. The quantitative research method, following the ex-post facto research design, was adopted. The stratified proportional random …

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 …

Infographic: Principal Demographics, Dominique Russell

Teacher infographics

The annual Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey collects information on the experiences of school leaders and their state of health and wellbeing. Part of the survey includes collecting demographic data on survey respondents. Here, we look at the age distribution of over 1800 respondents in 2020.