Browsing by Subject "Educational Administration"
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Item A comparison of management and leadership skills critical to the principalship as perceived by superintendents in selected independent school districts in Texas(Texas A&M University, 2006-04-12) White, Katherine AliaThe purpose of this study was to determine which management and leadership behaviors selected superintendents perceived as critical to the position of principal. Differences were examined by gender as well as size of district. A secondary goal of this research was to raise awareness regarding gender inequity that exists in educational administration. The population of the study was all female superintendents in Texas (N=135) and randomly selected male superintendents (N=301). Data were disaggregated by gender and size of district. An e-mail was sent to each superintendent with a web address and an access code. A response rate of 66% was obtained for a sample size of 290 superintendents. The survey contained items on management and leadership skills from the Peterson Managerial Leadership Instrument (PMI) and the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) developed by Kouzes and Posner. Superintendents were asked to respond to the behaviors based on their envisioned best principal. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed for the total group and subgroups. Major research findings included: 1. An independent samples t-test on the PMI determined two behaviors that were significantly different (p< .05) and six behaviors that were significantly different (p<.01) between the means of female and male superintendents. 2. An independent samples t-test on the LPI determined four behaviors that were significantly different (p<.05) and one behavior that was significantly different (p<.01) between the means of female and male superintendents. 3. A post hoc Scheffe analysis on the PMI indicated four levels of perceived use on the managerial statements and six levels of perceived use on the leadership statements at the p< .05 level. Based on the findings of this study, researcher recommendations include: 1. The process of identifying the pool of applicants for the principalship needs to be examined for screening processes that block women and minorities from educational administration. 2. Principal appraisal instruments should be reviewed and weighted to correctly reflect management tasks against other administrative duties. 3. School districts need to investigate the use of personality and leadership instruments while developing a cohort of potential principals.Item Intercollegiate Athletics and Escalation of Commitment(2012-07-16) Bouchet, Frank AdrienThis dissertation provides an overview of the history of intercollegiate athletics through the lens of escalation of commitment theory, a framework that has been used primarily in business and public policy literature. The dissertation is comprised of three case studies that reflect the direction that different college or universities have chosen to take regarding their athletic programs. This dissertation explores the literature regarding escalation of commitment and its impact on college athletics. Contributing to the paper is a focus on the financial contributions colleges and universities continue to make in their athletic programs despite evidence that these resources are not being rewarded. The papers hypothesizes that both external and internal pressures play a key role in the investments that college and universities are making in their Division I athletic programs.