Leadership Profiles of Elementary Music Educators in an Urban Connecticut School District

Secondary Education    Teachers

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TITLE: Leadership Profiles of Elementary Music Educators in an Urban Connecticut School District
 
RESEARCHER: David J. Metzger
School of Education
University of Bridgeport (Connecticut)
Unpublished doctoral dissertation: February 2011

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to identify a leadership profile of elementary music educators in an urban district in Connecticut.

METHODOLOGY
From the universe of educators, the population consisted of 30 music educators who taught preschool through seniors in high school. The invited sample consisted of 17 elementary general and string educators including this researcher in an urban district in Southwestern Connecticut (100% response rate). Participants completed the Leadership Practices Inventory. Among the music educators were 10 women and one male, while there were three females and four males among the string educators.

KEY FINDINGS
The most frequently engaged in leadership practice was Encourage, followed by Model, Enable and Challenge, and then Inspire. The average scores for string educators were systematically lower than those for general music educators. The following behavioral statements were ranked as important among the group: praising people, celebrating accomplishments, giving team support for contributions, setting a personal example, following through on commitment, being clear about personal leadership philosophy, developing cooperative relationships, actively listening, and treating others with respect.

The author concludes: “These findings suggest the music educator demonstrated leadership skills worthy of administrative functions” (p. 97).