Abstract
<p style="text-align:justify">Time management for educational leaders has remained highly relevant to scholars, policymakers and practitioners. We analyzed survey responses from 98 public high school principals to examine the congruency between average total hours they worked per week against the sum total of the average hours worked per week in each of five distinct categories of leadership tasks. The observed congruence was 0.32, while Cohen’s kappa coefficient was 0.10. Female principals tended to underreport, and male principals tended to overreport, total work time. Principals with doctorate degrees exhibited higher congruence than those without, and overreporting was inversely related to highest degree. Principals in charge of large teaching staffs were more likely than their counterparts to be congruent and less likely to overreport total work time. Self-report appears to be an inaccurate method to measure time use among high school principals. If time use is a key component of the quality of principal leadership, more detailed and robust techniques for collecting time use data should be utilized in future studies.</p>
Highlights
The Dimensions of School Leadership Study (DSLS) examined leadership practices and characteristics of public high school principals working under a variety of geographic, demographic, and social contexts in the state of Missouri (Ongaga et al, 2020)
We analyzed survey responses from 98 public high school principals to examine the congruency between average total hours they worked per week against the sum total of the average hours worked per week in each of five distinct categories of leadership tasks
If time use is a key component of the quality of principal leadership, more detailed and robust techniques for collecting time use data should be utilized in future studies
Summary
The Dimensions of School Leadership Study (DSLS) examined leadership practices and characteristics of public high school principals working under a variety of geographic, demographic, and social contexts in the state of Missouri (Ongaga et al, 2020). Studies on how principals spend their time (e.g., Grissom et al, 2010; Horng et al, 2010) have shown that they rarely measure up to this ideal. Multiple researchers have found that principals spend minimal amounts of time on instructional leadership activities (Grissom et al, 2015; Horng et al, 2010; May & Supovitz, 2011; May et al, 2012; Murphy, 1990; Murphy et al, 2007). In the review of the literature, we present a variety of methods utilized in educational leadership research to quantify principals’ time use, each with its own pros and cons
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
