The Leadership Strategies of High School Principals in Relationship to Organizational Structure

Secondary Education    Principals/Superintendents

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TITLE: The Leadership Strategies of High School Principals in Relationship to Organizational Structure
 
RESEARCHER: Alois John Meier
College of Education
University of Nebraska
Unpublished doctoral dissertation: July 2007

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between organizational dimensions and leadership practices of high school principals as perceived by teachers.

METHODOLOGY
The sample involved 260 high school teachers from 10 Nebraska Class III secondary schools with similar demographics, and 50 percent responded by completing the Leadership Practices Inventory and the School Assessment Survey (Firestone & Wilson, 1985). The typical respondent was female (51%), led by a principal with more experience (52%), with 12 years of teaching experience, and taught multiple grade levels (91%).

KEY FINDINGS
Teachers whose principals had more experience perceived their principals as engaging more frequently in each of the five leadership practices than did teachers with principals who had less experience. For the organizational domains of Facilitative Leadership, Vertical Communication, and Teaching Behavior all five leadership practices were significantly correlated. An inverse correlation was found for each leadership practice and the organizational domain of Staff Conflict. Centralization in Classroom Instruction was significantly correlated with Model, Inspire, Challenge, and Encourage but not Enable. No significant correlations were found for any of the leadership practices and the domains of Centralization in Curriculum and Resources, Horizontal Communication, and Student Discipline.