Secondary Education Principals/Superintendents
OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate how professional development, specifically the professional development initiative, influenced principals’ and assistant principals’ self-perceived leadership behaviors. METHODOLOGY The population consisted of principals and assistant principals currently serving in school districts located in suburban counties of Region 1, Southeastern Pennsylvania. The sample consisted of 71 principals and assistant principals from 10 school districts (55% response rate). This sample included 29 women and 42 men. Two-thirds had doctorates and the rest master’s degrees. Years of experience as an administrator ranged from one-year experience to more than 20 years’ experience. The majority of respondents had 10 to 15 years’ experience in both years in administration and length of service as principal and assistant principal or assistant principal. The minority of respondents had 20 or more years’ experience in both years in administration and length of service as principal and assistant principal or assistant principal as assistant principal. The average number of hours of professional development initiative was 162, with 22 having 0-90 hours, 23 between 91-180 hours, 19 with 181-270 hours, and 7 with 271+ hours. Each principal completed the Leadership Practices Inventory.
KEY FINDINGS Enable was the leadership practice reported as engaged in most often by principals, followed by Encourage and Model, Challenge, and Inspire. A significant relationship was found between professional development hours and Inspire and Challenge, while the correlations were positive but not significant for the other three leadership practices. The author notes: It can be conclude with more Hours of PIL professional development, principals and assistant principals will be more compelled to display behaviors associated with the practices of Inspire a Shared Vision and Challenge the Process (p. 137).