A study of the perceived leadership ability of black high school principals

• Main Author: Smith, Jasmine Canady
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center 2007
• Subjects: Educational Leadership
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/2375; http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3675&context=dissertations

This study examined the same variables from, A Study of the Leadership Ability of Negro High School Principals (Hatch, 1964), in order to identify perceptions of effective leadership from principals and teachers concerning the behavior of principals. Teachers' and principals' perceptions of the leadership ability of black high school principals were investigated to determine the extent to which those perceptions varied according to their race, gender, educational level, and years of working with the principal. The participants in this mixed-method study consisted of 5 principals and 83 teachers from a large urban school district. For the purposes of this study, five principals and ten teachers were interviewed and surveyed, 73 teachers were surveyed only. The interview protocol and survey were based on research conducted by Marzano (2000) in which 17 leadership characteristics embedded in 40 leadership practices were identified. Both the interview protocol and survey addressed the leadership practices of principals. Data was gathered through the interviews was analyzed through the process of categorization in order to determine relationships and themes as it related to perceptions of principal leadership. The data gathered from the surveys were entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software for further analysis. The findings indicated that black principals are perceived as demonstrating effective leadership practices. Both teachers and principals shared views and opinions of the characteristics of effective and ineffective principals. Additionally, results indicated that race influences the leadership practices of principals in a positive fashion, beneficial to student achievement. There did not appear to be a significant relationship between teachers' perceptions principal leadership and teachers' gender, educational level, or years of working with the principal. However, teachers' perceptions of Black principals' leadership increased positively with the number of years of working with the principal.