A description of satisfactory principal leadership from the perspective of teachers

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Richard W. Miller (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Dwight F. Clark

Abstract: The purpose of this research was to develop a description of satisfactory principal leadership from the perspectives of teachers. A review of the literature defined leadership as "the ordering and structuring of human activity, in relation to an identified purpose, as a function of the specific situation". One thousand elementary and high school teachers evaluated the performances of their principals by using the NEA Building Level Administrator Evaluation Survey. This Survey identified ten schools (seven elementary and three high school) which had at least 60 percent of their faculty participating in the Survey. These schools contained 224 teachers who rated their principals' performances as satisfactory. These teachers then used the Leadership Behavior Description Questionnafre-Form XII (LBDQ-XII) to describe satisfactory principal leadership for their respective principals. Follow-up interviews with five teachers from each of the ten schools were done to review the LBDQ-XII results and to have the teachers verbalize their perceptions of satisfactory principal leadership. The LBDQ-XII results were subjected to an ANOVA, a Frequency Distribution, and Respondent Interviews. In the Frequency Distribution, 80 percent of the teachers "often" or "always" included the following LBDQ-XII factors in the description of principal leadership: Representation, Initiation of Structure, Tolerance of Freedom, and Role Assumption. Tolerance of Uncertainty and Consideration were included by at least 79 percent of the teachers as "occasionally" or "often" descriptions. In the interviews, teachers described satisfactory principal leadership in terms of instructional leadership, interpersonal relationships, patience, and consistency.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 1984
Subjects
School principals
Teacher-principal relationships
Leadership

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