Search results

1 – 10 of over 1000
Article
Publication date: 25 February 2014

Kathleen Sciarappa and Christine Y. Mason

– The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceived efficacy of a US-based national principal mentor training program.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the perceived efficacy of a US-based national principal mentor training program.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 370 protégés who received services from principal mentors in a national mentor internship program were invited to complete an electronic survey. Responses were obtained from 54 protégés.

Findings

The 54 respondents rated the mentor program highly, indicating that mentors were well prepared, good listeners, and instrumental in strengthening their instructional leadership.

Research limitations/implications

This study provides preliminary information on the perceived efficacy of the program. To more fully understand the needs of new principals and the value of varying mentor approaches, follow-up interviews, a research design that provides for data to be disaggregated by specific mentor trainers and dates/locations of training sessions, and comparative data from protégés supported by mentors prepared by other programs are needed.

Practical implications

Protégés reported high job satisfaction and recommended the program to others.

Originality/value

New principals reported that the principal mentoring was critical to their adjustment and success during their first year. This is the only known principal mentor program requiring a nine-month internship. The outcomes revealed the value of evaluating perceptions of protégés for continuous quality improvement.

Book part
Publication date: 28 June 2016

Paul Hanselman, Jeffrey Grigg, Sarah K. Bruch and Adam Gamoran

Staff turnover may have important consequences for the development of collective social resources based on trust, shared norms, and support among school professionals. We outline…

Abstract

Staff turnover may have important consequences for the development of collective social resources based on trust, shared norms, and support among school professionals. We outline the theoretical role-specific consequences of principal and teacher turnover for features of principal leadership and teacher community, and we test these ideas in repeated teacher survey data from a sample of 73 Los Angeles elementary schools. We find evidence that principal turnover fundamentally disrupts but does not systematically decrease relational qualities of principal leadership; negative changes for initially high social resource schools offset positive changes for initially low social resource schools, suggesting that relational instability “resets” the resources that develop in the relationships between leadership and teachers. Greater consistency in measures of teacher community in the face of teacher turnover implies that the social resources inhering in the relationships among teachers are more robust to instability.

Details

Family Environments, School Resources, and Educational Outcomes
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78441-627-0

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 May 2022

Sarah Guthery and Lauren P. Bailes

Hiring teachers is among principals' most critical work but what remains uncertain is the relationship between a principal's tenure in a school and the rate at which they hire…

1015

Abstract

Purpose

Hiring teachers is among principals' most critical work but what remains uncertain is the relationship between a principal's tenure in a school and the rate at which they hire teachers who will stay. Teacher retention and principal experience are key predictors of school stability. This study therefore investigates the influence of principal tenure on the retention rates of teachers they hire over time.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors followed 11,717 Texas principals from 1999 to 2017, and tracked the teachers they hired in each year of their tenure in a school to see if principals became more effective at hiring teachers who stay over time. The authors use regression with fixed effects and find that the longer a principal stayed in a school, the more effective they were at hiring teachers who stay to both three- and five-year benchmarks.

Findings

Principals hire significantly more teachers who persist after they have led their first school for five or more years; however, the average principal in Texas leaves a school after four years thus never realizing those gains. The authors' second main finding indicates that principals who enter an unstable school (less than 69% retention in the two years prior to the principal's arrival) and stay at least five consecutive years, can counteract prior instability.

Originality/value

This study provides initial evidence that principals establish a great deal of building-specific situational expertise that is not easily portable or applicable in a subsequent school placement.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 60 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 January 2018

Scott C. Bauer and Lori Silver

The purpose of this paper is to test the model first presented by Federici and Skaalvik (2012) involving the relationships among four attributes of principals’ work…

1701

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to test the model first presented by Federici and Skaalvik (2012) involving the relationships among four attributes of principals’ work: self-efficacy, burnout, job satisfaction, and intention to leave (persistence). The model is then extended to test the role of isolation as a precursor.

Design/methodology/approach

Path analysis is used to test the models, based on responses from an electronic survey of first-year principals in a southeastern US state, using established measures of each construct.

Findings

First, the results show support for the model presented by Federici and Skaalvik, supporting their original hypotheses. Second, the authors show that isolation is an important predictor of all four constructs in the model, and that when included as an antecedent factor, isolation represents the most potent predictor of new principals’ intention to leave.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis involves a sample of new principals from a single setting, thus limiting generalizability. Additionally, the exclusive use of self-reported data in this study raises the possibility that the results are influenced by single-source bias.

Practical implications

The findings showing that isolation is a significant predictor of work outcomes, such as efficacy and satisfaction, and an important predictor of persistence suggest that scholars and practitioners alike need to consider ways to understand and mitigate the sources of isolation experienced by school leaders.

Originality/value

Isolation is largely neglected in empirical studies of principals’ work. This study adds to what is known and raises questions about the study of isolation experienced by school leaders.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 56 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 July 2021

Nirit Pariente and Dorit Tubin

This article explores the contribution of mentoring to the professional development of novice principals. Based on Abbott’s (1988) framework, the authors suggest that effective…

Abstract

Purpose

This article explores the contribution of mentoring to the professional development of novice principals. Based on Abbott’s (1988) framework, the authors suggest that effective mentoring depends on the extent it develops professional core knowledge, which includes the skills of diagnosis, intervention and inference that are heavily based on academic knowledge, practical experience, self-awareness and reflective ability.

Design/methodology/approach

An exploratory qualitative methodology was applied to discover principals’ perceptions of their mentoring. The authors interviewed 15 novice principals about their mentoring events and conducted a category-based analysis to find out how these events reflect contributions to their diagnosis, intervention and inference skills.

Findings

The study found that most of the mentoring events provided support for the intervention skill, while ignoring the skills of diagnosis and inference. We suggest that to develop novice principals professionally, mentors should place similar emphasis on all three skills.

Research limitations/implications

The small research population and its possible bias toward positive mentoring experience may present only part of the picture. Still, the data provided important insights into how mentoring supports (or not) professional skills development, even in the best cases. Using professional skills in a large sample survey of effective and less effective mentoring relationships would help to validate this framework.

Practical implications

First, the findings serve as a guideline for mentor training programs to help develop mentors’ ability to support all three professional skills. Second, the findings may help novice principals to evaluate their mentoring relationships and their contribution to developing professional core knowledge skills.

Originality/value

The professional skills framework adds to the principal mentoring literature by emphasizing the importance of diagnosis, intervention and inference skills, in addition to certain content and specific conditions.

Details

International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2046-6854

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 28 May 2019

Rinnelle Lee-Piggott

Often new principals approach their first appointments with a high expectation to make their mark by introducing changes that would lead to school improvement. However, these…

Abstract

Often new principals approach their first appointments with a high expectation to make their mark by introducing changes that would lead to school improvement. However, these expectations may be void of thoughts of how an inherited school culture may weigh on their emotions and upset their notions about principalship on a daily basis. Emerging from a multiple case study research design, in which a critical incident technique was the main source of data on new principals’ emotional experiences, the findings show that the new principals experienced predominantly negative emotions and wounding, often linked to pre-formed expectations of school members. Also, influenced by a need to protect their leadership authority, they selected which emotions to disclose versus which to suppress. These findings as drawn from a broader study conducted in Trinidad and Tobago imply a need for training and continuing professional development that would support aspirant and practising principals’ emotion regulation.

Details

Emotion Management and Feelings in Teaching and Educational Leadership
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78756-011-6

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 2 November 2023

Chen Schechter and Lior Halevi

Abstract

Details

Resilient Leadership
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83753-909-3

Article
Publication date: 11 November 2020

Bradley Davis and Erin Anderson

The authors demonstrate the usage of data visualization for conveying educational administration research, with a specific focus on differential principal turnover. They model…

Abstract

Purpose

The authors demonstrate the usage of data visualization for conveying educational administration research, with a specific focus on differential principal turnover. They model when and how principals move, over time, between six categories of turnover.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors construct several easy-to-interpret alluvial diagrams that reveal the patterns of differential turnover among 1,113 first-time Texas principals. Furthermore, the authors investigate how these patterns differ across educator characteristics (i.e. race and sex) and school contexts (i.e. school level and campus urbanicity).

Findings

Half of all first-time principals turn over within two years. Most principals who stay in leadership roles leave the district where they were first entered the principalship. Men are promoted more and women turn over less. In a connected finding, the authors conclude that elementary principals turn over less, and middle and high school principals are promoted more often. Principals of color are demoted more often than White principals. Urban school principals exit the system at a greater rate than rural principals.

Originality/value

The significance of this study lies in its direct response to two problems facing the administrator turnover knowledge base – a lack of methodological accessibility and the underutilization of data visualization. The authors’ is the first study to contain visualization of differential turnover outcomes over time. Second, the authors’ study provides a blueprint for data visualization that not only creates new knowledge but also speaks to a wider variety of education stakeholders by presenting complex data in a visual format.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 59 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 June 2020

Sabre Cherkowski, Benjamin Kutsyuruba and Keith Walker

The purpose of this multiyear research study is to examine leadership in K-12 schools using a positive organizational perspective to understand how to foster, support and…

1536

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this multiyear research study is to examine leadership in K-12 schools using a positive organizational perspective to understand how to foster, support and encourage flourishing in schools. In this article, the authors describe the lived experiences of a small group of principals and vice-principals in K-12 schools describing how they have experienced flourishing in their work.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was carried out using a qualitative, phenomenological approach to examine the lived, concrete and situated experiences of a small sample of school administrators (N = 9) in two school districts in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Data were collected through individual interviews that were designed to be appreciative in nature. These lasted between 60 and 90 min, were recorded and transcribed. The interview data were deductively and inductively analyzed and arranged into themes that demonstrate the key components of positive leadership for flourishing in schools, derived from these participants' experiences.

Findings

Building on and extending their findings that school administrators feel a sense of flourishing when they focus on their work from the values of purpose, passion and play, the authors found that a fourth value, presence, was important for these participants to experience well-being at work. Principals’ sense of well-being was strongly related to the notion of balance in their work and life, which helped them address potential stress and ill-being. Findings suggest that a strengths-based, positive approach to school leadership offers an alternative perspective for supporting and encouraging well-being at work.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations of this research include the small sample size and the appreciative focus with which the data were collected that meant that participants were providing their experiences from a positive perspective. This article offers a complementary perspective for researching well-being in schools, from a positive, strengths-based approach to examining the work of administrators.

Practical implications

The authors offer insights into the work of school leaders from an appreciative, strengths-based perspective on understandings and practices that may be useful to principals and vice-principals who wish to enhance their workplace well-being. The authors suggest that administrators can learn to craft their work in ways that highlight existing well-being conditions toward amplifying and sustaining well-being. Working from four animating values for flourishing seemed to promote well-being for this small sample of administrators within the existing challenges and complexities of their work.

Originality/value

This article offers examples of lived experiences of principal and vice-principal well-being that highlight what happens when school leaders attend to their work from a positive, appreciative, strength-based perspective. This research perspective is an additional source of knowledge about well-being in schools complementing the existing research on well-being from a stress management and reduction perspective.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 58 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 May 2013

Page A. Smith and W. Sean Kearney

The purpose of this study is to examine the relative impact of achievement press on student success in elementary schools in the Southwestern USA.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the relative impact of achievement press on student success in elementary schools in the Southwestern USA.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from individual teacher assessments and student achievement tests are collected and aggregated at the campus level. Hierarchical linear modeling is utilized to calculate the Intra Class Correlation (ICC), then campus level scores for achievement press (along with control variables) are regressed on school success indicators in order to determine the relative impact of achievement press on various levels of school attainment.

Findings

The results of these analyses demonstrate that achievement press made a statistically significant independent contribution to school success, both near term (one year) and longitudinally (over three years).

Research limitations/implications

Via the use of a reliable and valid diagnostic tool, this investigation adds to the extant literature on school climate, achievement, and school effectiveness.

Practical implications

This study provides important information for educational leaders interested in improving both school climate and student achievement. Practical concerns about socioeconomic status and administrator longevity are also addressed.

Originality/value

This research validates the usefulness of achievement press as a concise multi‐level school climate measure. To that end, this study both demonstrates that achievement press makes an impact on school level success and adds to a growing body of literature connecting specific campus climate variables directly to student achievement.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 27 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 1000