A Comparison of Middle School Principals' Leadership Style in High-Performing and Low-Performing Schools in New York City

• Main Author: Jean, Rosarie P.
• Language: EN
• Published: Concordia University Chicago 2016
• Subjects: Educational leadership
• Online Access: http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10139321

<p> This quantitative research study investigated if there is a relationship between middle school principals&rsquo; leadership style in high-performing and low-performing schools in New York City. To address the problem and to answer the research question, a survey instrument adapted by Tomal (2007) was used to determine the principal&rsquo;s leadership style. The New York City Department of Accountability RPSG Research Data Department provided the student achievement data. Ten middle school principals, three from high-performing schools and seven from low-performing schools participated in the study. High-performing schools achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two consecutive years and low-performing schools did not make AYP for two consecutive years. Principals completed a 30-question leadership survey to determine their preferred style: abdicator, collaborator, compromiser, enforcer, and supporter. The principals&rsquo; leadership style was then matched to the school&rsquo;s Performance Index (PI) from the 2015 New York State English Language Arts and Mathematics assessment. An independent <i>t</i>-test was used to analyze the principal&rsquo;s response to the leadership survey. The data indicated that principals from high-performing and low-performing schools differ on 5 out of 30 statements on the leadership survey. However, due to the small sample size, the results are not statistically significant.</p>