Browsing by Subject "School principals"
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Item A case analysis of principals' behavior in countering resistance to change in selected secondary schools(Texas Tech University, 1974-05) Mancill, James TNot availableItem A case study of cues principals use in teacher evaluation(Texas Tech University, 1984-12) Ketchum, Anna D HollowayNot availableItem A micropolitical perspective of strategic communication between a principal and teachers in a productive, innovative elementary school(Texas Tech University, 1996-12) Moore, Valerie VoglerThe purpose of this qualitative study was to focus on strategic communication between a principal and teachers in a productive, elementary school. The research questions were: What strategic communication does the principal at Walters Elementary School use when communicating to her teachers? and What strategic communication do teachers at Walters Elementary School use when communicating to their principal? Based on the findings of this study, I have three insights. First, strategic communication is the process through which micropolitical behaviors are implemented. Second, people have purposes behind their actions. Third, people respond to others' behaviors as if they are purposeful. Strategic communication between the teachers and principal in this school were found to fall into three categories. First, strategic communication was used to build or strengthen the relationship between the teachers and principal. This communication centered around ceremonial events, trust, respect, friendship, empathy, and humor. Second, strategic communication empowered teachers. This communication focused on training, money, support, extra work, involvement, and creativity. Third, strategic communication was used to relay expectations. Expectations centered around children, appraisals, the suggestion box, the basket, nonnegotiables, and praise. However, these three broad categories, relationships, empowerment, and expectations, were not mutually exclusive because I observed that people can use strategic communication to attempt to accomplish several goals simultaneously. This was a single-case study, and I recognize that different people may have different methods through which they strategically communicate their messages. This study describes how the principal and teachers at Walters Elementary School strategically communicated.Item A study of the process of importing a culture of success: the initiation stage of change(Texas Tech University, 1999-05) Leifeste, Kurtis FritzSchool Culture is an important factor in the improvement of student achievement. However, the literature on the improvement of school culture reports that the concept of culture is vague and where improvement is attempted, it may take from three to five years. The purpose of this study was to describe the process of importing a culture of success to a school in a short period of fime using the Four Cornerstones . The study was divided into two phases. Phase I described changes in perspectives and understandings of the Four Cornerstones and importing a culture as a result of a weeklong workshop. Phase II described how the principal of one school used the Four Cornerstones to import a culture of success during the Inifiafion stage of change. Eleven principals from three rural West Texas school districts participated in phase one. In phase two, one elementary principal from the workshop volunteered to participate. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, observation, documents, and focus groups. Analysis was performed using the constant comparafive method. This is a research design for mulfidata sources, where the analysis begins early in the study and is almost completed by the end of the data collection. The data from all sources were reviewed through line-by-line inspecfion. Specific quotes were taken from the data and recorded under emergent categories in each phase. In phase one, three categories emerged: (1) the principals' movement from descriptive to proactive; (2) principals motivating teachers to become promoters of student success; and (3) principals motivafing students to a belief in success. In phase two, two categories emerged: (1) changing the guard (new principal) and (2) emphasis on success. Findings were interpreted using the theory of symbolic interacfionism as a lens to gain insight to the reciprocal influence of the principal, staff, students, and community in inifiating change using the Four Cornerstones to import a culture of success. Interaction occurred that helped the all the above to view themselves differently and allow them to believe success would happen. The initiation stage of change was accomplished in a period of two and one half months.Item Development of an attitude scale for elementary principals about organizational culture and the role of the cultural leader(Texas Tech University, 1988-12) Ihinger, Beverly Jean WeldonThe purpose of this study was to develop a reliable attitude scale to measure the attitudes of elementary principals toward the concept of organizational culture and their role as cultural leader. The development of this attitude scale is perceived as an initial step in determining the behaviors which principals exhibit as cultural leader. The scale was developed in three phases. In phase one, a review of the business and educational research yielded a pool of 56 items which was reviewed by a panel of judges, with 38 items selected for field testing. In phase two, the experimental form of the scale narrowed to 3 5 items was distributed to 146 elementary principals in eight school districts within Texas, with 100 principals responding and 66 completing the test/retest versions of the scale. After an analysis of the data, three items were deleted from the scale and three new items written. The revised experimental version of the attitude scale was administered to 80 elementary principals in 19 school districts within Texas. Based on the analysis of data, three items were deleted from the final scale. The analysis of data to determine the reliability of the scale used measures of stability and internal consistency. The Pearson r correlation coefficient was used to calculate the test/retest correlation. A Cronbach alpha and split-half measures (Spearman Brown prophesy formula and Guttman split-half) were used as measures of internal consistency. The experimental test/retest yielded a correlation of .87. The Cronbach alpha was .82 and the Spearman Brown and Guttman split-half formulas were .88. The Cronbach alpha of the revised experimental test was .89 while the Spearman Brown and Guttman split-half formulas were .88. The attitude scale has demonstrated acceptable levels of reliability over the three test administrations to justify its use with elementary principals in Texas to measure the attitudes of these principals toward school culture and their role as cultural leader. Future research is needed to validate the instrument and broaden its application to other categories of administrators within and outside of Texas.Item Duties, required proficiencies, and backgrounds of secretaries to superintendents of selected Class AAAA and Class AAA public school systems in Texas.(Texas Tech University, 1970-08) Callaway, Leland Dwayne,Not availableItem Empowering principal leadership in democratic schools(Texas Tech University, 1995-05) Bastian, Kenneth H, JrExpanding on the work of Reitzug (1994), the primary purpose of this study is to provide empirical examples of empowering principal behavior that inform educational practice. Specifically, the behaviors that principals in democratic schools exhibit are ones which: (1) empower others to focus on school-wide issues; (2) model democratic decision-making for students; (3) focus on the purpose of public schools in a democratic society; (4) understand the leader's role as supporter and facilitator; and (5) internalize the change process. Both the empowerment literature and the literature on alternative conceptions of administrative leadership behavior are long on theory and short on empirical examples that inform practice. With theory-practice connections scarce, this study seeks to enrich the knowledge base by providing empirical examples of empowering principal behaviors, obstacles to empowerment, and principal stressors in democratic schools. The study was conducted from the interpretivist paradigm and used qualitative research methodology. Forty principals from democratic schools representing rural, urban and suburban settings were included in the sample. Fourteen principals were female and twenty-six were male. Schools included were 22 elementary, 10 middle, and 8 high schools from the following states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and Vermont. The data were collected through audiotaped entries made by principals throughout a typical day. Additionally, principal and faculty interviews and direct observations were made at ten schools. The researcher's fieldnotes were helpful to draw connections between observed behaviors and their relationship to the study's focus. Audiotaped entries by principals in addition to school observations and interviews were conducted over a two-year period. Results indicated the types of empowering principal behavior include: modeling inclusion and collaboration, serving the community, sharing the big picture, developing common beliefs about learning, increasing outside information, connecting teaching and learning, highlighting successes in teaching and learning, demonstrating a caring community, building trust through communication, facilitating change, and empowering student leaders. Obstacles to empowering behaviors which were identified are time, isolation, fear of risk-taking, communication, technology, connectedness, and powerlessness and frustration. Principal stressors that emerged include: time, listening, support, managing more with less, fiscal constraints, trusting others, technology, dialogue, critical study, students first, systemic reform, complaining without action, view of teachers, and refusal to participate.Item Examining the influence of principal leadership in urban, high-performing, high-poverty elementary schools(2011-05) Miranda, Angie; Olivárez, Rubén; Ovando, Martha N.; Pazey, Barbara; Gentry, Hilda; Claybon, KarenThis study considered the important role that principal leadership plays in the implementation of changes that are designed to close achievement gaps among student groups. A qualitative research approach and protocol was followed, and a multiple case study methodological approach was utilized. The data gathered consisted of interviews of three principals, three instructional coordinators, and three teacher leaders. A review of documents, artifacts, observations, field notes, and member check data were used to triangulate data. The data analysis applied the McRel Balanced Leadership conceptual framework and used three research questions to organize and guide the discussion and findings. These research questions are: (1) How did the principal implement research-based leadership responsibilities that led to the pursuit of high academic achievement for all students? (2) How did the principals implement a school-wide improvement framework that has resulted in sustained academic achievement growth for all students? (3) How did the principal implement the identified strategies that ensured high academic achievement among all student populations? Over the course of five months, data were gathered through individual interviews, observations, analysis of documents, and other artifacts. Several themes emerged as a result of data analysis. These included: (a) communicated ideals and beliefs, (b) challenged status quo, (c) culture of collaboration, (d) focus on learning, (e) data driven, (f) research based learning, (g) and curriculum alignment. The findings in the study suggest that the principals were instrumental in creating the conditions that helped the teachers build upon their collective capacity to support student success.Item Examining the transformational and distributive leadership styles of secondary principals: A mixed methods study(2012-05) Cooper, Gionet; Valle, Fernando; Siwatu, Kamau O.; Burley, Hansel E.Secondary school principals face numerous challenges in public education. Twenty first century leadership involves navigating state and federal accountability mandates, which has created a paradigm shift within the educational system. Secondary principals and educators alike are also faced with embracing the changing student demographics that will continue to grow throughout the 21st Century. Hodgskinson (2000) projects that by the year 2025 the Hispanic and Asian population will represent 61% of the United States total population. The purpose of this study is to examine secondary principals and educators that serve as transformational and distributive leaders; further examining those that value, foster, and develop school communities to meet the educational needs of students and teachers. The study includes the administration of The Leadership Behavior Inventory Questionnaire to secondary teachers, assistant principals and principals. Purposefully selected participants contributed to the collection of qualitative data. This study utilizes an explanatory sequential mixed method design to chart transformative leadership in secondary schools.Item The principal as an instructional leader within the context of effective data use(2009-05) Deike, Mary Alice, 1948-; Wayman, Jeffrey C.The past decades have witnessed the evolution of the standards movement from a focus on basic graduation requirements to robust curriculum efforts, standardized testing, new standards for teacher qualifications, and emphasis on monitoring student learning. National attention on the performance of public schools has triggered a growing interest in data use as a means to change school practices to meet the demands for new standards. Both federal and state mandates and standards imposed on schools are intensifying the pressure to have all students learn at high levels. Leaders are being asked to work in different ways, using different tools. Education policy has shifted leadership expectations from an emphasis on management to one of accountability and responsibility for student academic performance. Using evidence to make decisions is the expectation for principals today. This study examined the principal as an instructional leader within the context of effective data use. The research investigated data principals use, barriers and facilitators they encounter when using data, and structures they create to promote data-informed instructional decisions. The case study employed a mixed-method approach, using quantitative and qualitative data for analysis. Data were collected through individual interviews, focus groups, and surveys. The framework for data analysis was the constant-comparative method guided by six recursive steps. Data were subjected to several levels of descriptive analysis, whereby the emerging categories become the basis for the organization and conceptualization of the data. Findings identified that data use among principals was fragmented within the district. Overall, there was no apparent sense of urgency regarding data use across most of the schools in the study. With the exception of a few schools, no systems or processes were in place for data use. If data use was embedded in the culture of the school, it was due to the skill of the individual principal and the structures he or she developed within the school to support data use. The variations in data use brought attention to the autonomy found in the loosely coupled organizational structure of schools in the study. Lack of a district-wide vision for data use allowed principals significant freedom in determining which data to use as well as how to use data. This study illuminated the need for a district-wide plan to guide the schools in data use as well as the need to develop a collaborative effort between the district office and schools to promote and support principals in an effort to become effective data users.Item Principal succession in Texas: Examination of motivation to leave a position among various groups of principals(2012-05) Matthew, Jadie; Klinker, JoAnn F.; Valle, Fernando; Lan, WilliamCurrent research clearly points to the unsettling effect that principal movement can have on both the campus which they have left and the campus to which they are going. The principal is the educational leader of the campus and sets a tone and environment which has great impact on the success or failure of the campus in achieving its goals. The purpose of this study is to examine the reasons principals leave their positions in such great numbers, to quantify these reasons, and to develop predictive algorithms that can yield insight into the likelihood a principal will leave a position. The study was conducted by surveying all of the principals in Texas who have ever left a principal position. 1,472 principals responded to the survey out of a total population of 6,050. Of these, 419 principals qualified for the study and 305 completed the survey that was the main research instrument. Principals indicated that job security and salary were both strongly associated with decisions to leave a position. Research also indicated that issues of autonomy and lack of support from supervisors played significant roles in a principal’s decision to seek a new position. However, only principals who left a position to move to a larger school showed a significant tendency to move again for the same reason.Item Principals' perceptions of their own professional development(2011-05) Galaviz, Pedro; Young, Michelle, D.; Yates, James; Sharpe, Edwin; Presley, Daniel; Warrick, PhilThe dramatic changes precipitated in public schools by state and federal demands for high-stakes testing have put America’s principals on the endangered list. These volatile conditions bring heightened attention to the effectiveness of principal professional development and its correlation to student achievement. Though years of research have been conducted in the area of effective professional development, few school organizations implement these practices (Guskey, 1995). This study surveyed campus principals in three Texas school districts to understand their perceptions of principal professional development in their local school districts. The primary research instrument was an online survey devoted to addressing principals’ perceptions of their own professional development within the areas of needs to facilitate school improvement, delivery methods for principal professional development, and their personal professional development experiences. Details regarding principal perceptions are presented with data gathered from the online survey. The research concluded with recommendations regarding principal professional development practices for school districts working to improve principal learning.Item Schools as professional learning communities: the actions of the principal(2006) Pérez, Peter David; Thomas, MichaelItem Strategic communication and compliance gaining strategies of principals in restructuring schools(Texas Tech University, 1995-05) Vanderslice, Ronna JeanThe purpose of this study was to identify the communication strategies used by principals in restructuring schools and to determine which compliance gaining strategies were most preferred by teachers. The instrument used was a preference scale developed by the researcher. This instrument was similar to others used in the communication discipline which have proven both valid and reliable. To develop this instrument, principals in the identified schools were asked to audiotape interactions during one typical school day. These tapes were transcribed and categories of compliance gaining strategies were identified using categories from the literature that were applicable to schools and supported by the transcripts. Categories specific to schools were identified. An instrument consisting of 130 items was designed to determine the respondents' perceptions relating to the communication strategies. A total of 148 teachers from schools involved in restructuring participated in this study. All the hypotheses were tested by utilizing the nonparametric statistic chi-square. Significance for either accepting or rejecting each hypothesis was set at the .05 level. Variables examined included observed and preferred communication strategies, involvement in restructuring and preferred communication strategy, and gender and preferred communication strategy. Results indicated congruency between the observed and preferred strategies. Results also indicated that involvement is a factor m the communication strategies preferred. This study has shown teachers involved in school changes tend to prefer the following strategies: (a) Shared responsibility/Modeling; (b) Visibility; (c) Relationship building; (d) Networking; (e) Vision or Eye-on-the-goal; (f) Strategic listening; (g) Humor; and (h Shared problem-solving. Results indicated that some strategies were moderated by gender. Females tended to prefer the following communication strategies: (a) Shared responsibility/Modeling; (b) Visibility; (c) Relationship building; (d) Accessibility; (e) Strategic listening; (f) Direct request; (g) Humor; and (h) Give advice. Implications for further research were given.Item The Budgeting of the Superintendents' Time in Small Independent Accredited Schools in Texas(Texas Tech University, 1940-08) Edwards, David AllisonNot Available.Item The effects of conceptual tempo and learning styles on the reflective thinking and decision making of principals in a multimedia case simulation(Texas Tech University, 1999-12) White, David RutterMultimedia-based case simulation programs provide program users with case-based dilemmas of practice using multimedia and computer-based design elements. Case-based dilemmas provide individuals with an opportunity to bridge theory with practice. They allow individuals to develop reflective thinking and problem solving skills needed for effective decision making. Experiences gained from problems encountered in casebased dilemmas prove invaluable because they can be interfaced with individuals' knowledge bases and previous experiences (Kowalski, 1995). The design of the case simulation prototype program used in this study applies a "technology-integrated, case-based design to help school leaders better scrutinize the complex leadership challenges they face in the day-today managing and leading of schools" (Claudet, 1998b, p. 338) . The purpose of this study was to examine the technology-cognition connection of a multimedia-based case simulation program. The case simulation program was designed for principals and administrators. The effects of related cognitive styles on participants' knowledge application and specific decision-making tasks that occur during the case simulation process were examined. This study was conducted to determine if cognitive styles help predict the decision making task performances of case simulation participants and if appropriate experiential outcomes of the targeted users of the case simulation prototype program were attained.Item The improvement of college preparation programs at the graduate level for high school principals: based upon case analysis of problems encountered by principals in selected public high schools(Texas Tech University, 1965-08) Reeves, Bill ENot availableItem The improvement of college preparation programs in educational administration: based upon case analysis of problems encountered by superintendents in selected schools(Texas Tech University, 1964-08) Barnes, John W,Not availableItem The personal values of principals and the effectiveness of their schools(Texas Tech University, 1993-12) Strader, Robert J.The purpose of this study was to determine the personal values of principals and to compare the personal values of principals of effective schools with those of principals of ineffective schools. The Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) was used to determine effective schools, while Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS, 1990-91) percent of low-income data was used to control for variation in sets. The Rokeach Value Survey was used to measure the personal values of principals whose schools ranked in the top and bottom one-third of the state's TAAS scores. For each socio-economic category, the median ranking of each value on the RVS was computed for low and high TAAS schools, and these median ranks were compared between low and high TAAS schools using the Wilcoxon ranksum test. Hypotheses were developed based on Hodgkinson's value theory as it applied to the values listed in the Rokeach Value Survey. The results indicated that personal values of principals of effective schools differ from personal values of principals of ineffective schools. For instance, principals of effective schools rank "loyal" higher than principals of ineffective schools, while principals of ineffective schools rank "intellectual" higher than their counterparts of effective schools. They further indicated that certain values emerge in the principals of effective schools.Item The status of the assistant to the county superintendent in Texas(Texas Tech University, 1940-08) Bain, Ethel MNot available