Characteristics Of Principals Research Articles

The Apprentice

Background: Nascent empirical research demonstrates the sizable impacts of principals on student achievement. More research is needed on the pathways to the principalship and how principals’ characteristics and training experiences influence their performance. Purpose: (1) To describe the characteristics of first-time principals and the schools that hire them and (2) to assess the extent to which the characteristics of early-career principals and the environments in which they previously worked are associated with changes in student achievement in the schools they lead. Setting: North Carolina public schools. Sample: All first-time principals (981 in total) from 2006-2007 through 2009-2010 and the students attending the schools where they serve. Data: Administrative data on students, school personnel (teachers, assistant principals, principals), and schools provided by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Research Methods: Covariate adjustment and fixed effects value-added models. Findings: We find that first-time principals are “homegrown”—hired from within the district. On average, first-time principals wait 5.12 years between completing formal principal preparation and assuming school leadership and spend 4.15 years as assistant principals in North Carolina public schools. Several principal characteristics, including holding a doctorate from an in-state private or out-of-state institution (negative) and serving as an assistant principal in a high–value-added school (positive), are significantly associated with student achievement gains. Conclusions: This study suggests that the effectiveness of early-career principals may be affected by the environment where they served as assistant principals. Further analyses are needed to better understand the attributes of meaningful assistant principal experiences.

Predicting the gap: perceptual congruence between American principals and their teachers’ ratings of leadership effectiveness

The aim of this study is to determine the extent to which principals’ self-ratings of leadership effectiveness coincide with their teachers’ perceptions of their leadership effectiveness. Furthermore, we explore several characteristics of teachers and principals in an attempt to identify the factors that may predict congruence in perceptions of leadership. This study draws from survey data of 76 principals and over 2100 teachers who completed parallel forms of a 72-item Learning-Centered Leadership survey (VAL-ED©) in the USA. Teacher and principal characteristics are incorporated into a multivariate regression analysis. Although there is zero difference in the overall sample, teachers and principals within any given school seldom share the same perspective. Principals’ self-efficacy was a strong predictor of principals rating themselves higher than the teachers. Interestingly, the more time a teacher spent with a principal, the less congruence they shared. This research has identified rather large disparities in perceptions of leadership between teachers and their principals. Such a gap suggests that teachers have information and perspectives on school leadership distinct from the principals’ information and perspectives. This research provides evidence that structured teacher feedback may provide a useful avenue for principals seeking additional perspectives on their leadership effectiveness.

The review of new evidence 5 years later: SAMHSA's National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) decided that NREPP should offer a second review option for interventions that have already been reviewed and included in the registry for 5 years. Principals from 135 such interventions were invited to participate in a second review, and an exploratory study of the Principals’ responses to this invitation was conducted. The study used a mixed-method approach, quantitatively describing characteristics of Principals and their interventions and qualitatively summarizing feedback from phone interviews with a convenience sample of Principals participating in a second review. Of the Principals invited, 21% accepted a second review, 24% were interested but unable or not ready to submit materials, and 56% did not accept or did not respond. Mental health treatment interventions were more likely to undergo a second review, and substance abuse treatment interventions were less likely. Similar percentages of interventions undergoing a second review had received funding from the National Institutes of Health (86%) and had been evaluated in a comparative effectiveness research study (79%). Overall ratings for interventions improved in each second review completed. The interviewed Principals perceived potentially lower ratings as the only risk in participating in a second review.

Personality and resilience characteristics of Greek primary school principals

The research reported here investigated the personality traits and resilience that a sample of Greek school principals displayed. It probed also for differences associated with sex, age and years of service in the current leadership position, as well as relationships between personality characteristics and resilience strengths. To investigate these matters we used the “The Big Five Inventory” and the “Leader Resilience Profile”. The survey involved almost all school principals in the Magnesia regional government unit in central Greece. Only some of the findings echoed information found in the extant literature; indeed, our results suggest that understandings about school principals that have been developed elsewhere should not be generalized to Greece without considerable caution.

Effects of Entrepreneurial Characteristic of Public and Private Tehran School Principals on Evaluation of Innovativeness

Abstract The Iran's Ministry of Education has started extensive efforts in order to enhance innovation in schools so that staff structure and planning as well as management and scheduling of cultural and educational capacity of schools are better aligned with the aforementioned objective. The goal of the present study is to investigate entrepreneurial Characteristics of educational managers and its effects on the innovativeness of school organization. In this study pragmatism; creativity, risk, challenge seeking and ambiguity tolerance are considered as characteristics of entrepreneurial Characteristics of school principals. Our research methodology is causal- comparative and the population includes 100 Tehran school principals during 2010-2011 educational years. In this study which investigates one main hypothesis and four sub-hypotheses, other characteristics such as gender, educational background of school principals and ownership status of schools) being private or state owned) are also examined. For data collection purposes, a Characteristics of Iranian Entrepreneurs Questionnaire with a reliability score of 0.94 and a questionnaire for measuring innovation are utilized. Our data analysis phase makes use of the Independent Samples T test as well as Pearson correlation coefficient. Our findings indicate that factors such as ownership status of schools and challenge seeking traits are significantly related to the innovativeness of school organizations. Therefore it is recommended to take steps toward increased decentralization of the educational system and greater consideration of organizational entrepreneurship in the body of education and training organization. Also it is suggested that having more flexible and dynamic planning allows for better capitalization on personal entrepreneurial characteristics of educational managers.

The Job Satisfaction of Special School Teachers according to the Leadership Characteristics of Principals in Special Schools for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

The Job Satisfaction of Special School Teachers according to the Leadership Characteristics of Principals in Special Schools for Students with Intellectual Disabilities

Research into the Characteristics of Effective High School Principals: A Case Study of Leadership Practices Used in the High School Setting

Research into the Characteristics of Effective High School Principals: A Case Study of Leadership Practices Used in the High School Setting

Correlation of Leadership with Professional Characteristics of Principals in Serbian Schools

The aim of this research is to connect leadership and pedagogical characteristics of school principals in Serbia. Techniques of interviewing and scaling, instruments in the form of questionnaire and attitude scale have been applied in this paper. Research sample included 75 principals and deputy principals. Data obtained are processed in statistical SPSS package (factor scores on extracted Promax dimensions, Pearson’s correlation and multiple regression analysis) and point to a statistically significant relationship between leadership and pedagogical characteristics of respondents

The Style of Solving Conflict Situations, Demonstration of Harmony in Work, and Compatibility Depending on Individual Psychological Characteristics of Secondary School Principals in Latvia

The Style of Solving Conflict Situations, Demonstration of Harmony in Work, and Compatibility Depending on Individual Psychological Characteristics of Secondary School Principals in Latvia

The village school context and principalship in Hong Kong: what do they contribute to leadership studies?

To enhance the cost effectiveness of primary schools, the government of Hong Kong imposed a regulation for operating primary one classes up to a minimum enrolment rate in 2003. This policy has forced a number of village schools to cease operation. During 2005–2006, 36 of them were involved in this enforcement, accounting for two-thirds of the total number of such schools, causing a possible extinction of them. This paper is part of a research project with the purpose of tracing the history and development of village schools in Hong Kong since the 1930s and 1940s. Adapting Bourdieu's concepts of habitus, capital and field, this paper examined the village school context of Hong Kong from a socio-historical perspective and examined how the context was related to leadership characteristics of village school principals. Related issues were also discussed. It is hoped that the study has suggested a direction for understanding principal leadership within different school contexts.

Relationship between Teacher Motivation and Transformational Leadership Characteristics of School Principals

The aim of the study was to determine the motivation levels of teachers working in primary school and the level of transformational leadership qualities of school principals based on the perceptions of teachers; and then the investigate of the relationship between teacher motivation and the transformational leadership qualities of school principals. The sample consists of 397 class teachers and subject matter teachers who were chosen randomly and work at the central boroughs of Ankara. As a result of the study, it was determined the motivation levels of teachers is “partly satisfied” whereas the transformational leadership characteristics level of school principals is “rarely.”At the end of the study, no meaningful relationship was found between the transformational leadership characteristics of school principals and the level of teacher motivation.

The effects of principal’s leadership style on support for innovation: evidence from Korean vocational high school change

A climate of innovation and principal leadership in schools are regarded as significant factors in successfully implementing school change or innovation. Nevertheless, the relationship between the school climate supportive of innovation and the principal’s leadership has rarely been addressed to determine whether schools successfully perform their intended change. In this vein, this study investigated the impacts of the principal’s leadership style on the teacher’s perceived school climate in terms of support for innovation. The participants were 981 full-time teachers in 32 public vocational high schools in South Korea. To examine the unobserved characteristics of schools and principals that promote a school climate supportive of innovation, both traditional multiple regression and HLM analyses were conducted and compared to the estimated effects of the principal’s leadership style as a predictor at both the teacher level and the group level. While the unobserved characteristics of school type and principals’ demographics were considered, results of the study revealed that the leadership style of the principal significantly affects how the teachers perceive the school climate in terms of support for innovation. More specifically, the findings of the study assert that principal’s leadership style as an Initiator or a Manger, rather than a Responder, can provide support for an organizational climate which enhances innovation in schools. Additionally, evaluating the government’s change initiative, the study illustrates that the government’s top-down mandate requiring schools to change was not related to the creation of a climate supportive of innovation in schools.

The Perils of Privatization: How the Characteristics of Principals Affected Tax Farming in the Roman Republic and Empire

The Perils of Privatization: How the Characteristics of Principals Affected Tax Farming in the Roman Republic and Empire

Introducing the Issue

Introducing the Issue Susanna Loeb (bio), Cecilia Rouse (bio), and Anthony Shorris (bio) Susanna Loeb Susanna Loeb is associate professor of education and director of the Institute for Research on Education Policy and Practice at Stanford University. Cecilia Rouse Cecilia Rouse is the Theodore A. Wells ’29 Professor of Economics and Public Affairs, director of the Education Research Section at Princeton University, and a senior editor of The Future of Children. Anthony Shorris Anthony Shorris is Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and former director of the Policy Research Institute for the Region at Princeton University. Notes 1. Cecilia Elena Rouse, "Inadequate Education: Consequences for the Labor Market," mimeo (Princeton University, September 2005). 2. Lisa Barrow and Cecilia Elena Rouse, "U.S. Elementary and Secondary Schools: Equalizing Opportunity or Replicating the Status Quo?" The Future of Children 16 (2006): 99-117. 3. Eric A. Hanushek, Steven G. Rivkin, and John J. Kain, "Teachers, Schools and Academic Achievement," Econometrica 73, no. 2 (2005): 417-58. Here, a "good teacher" is defined as one with an average value added that is one standard deviation greater than the average. This does not include knowledge depreciation. 4. Hamilton Lankford, Susanna Loeb, and James Wyckoff, "Teacher Sorting and the Plight of Urban Schools: A Descriptive Analysis," Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis 24, no. 1 (2002): 37-62. 5. This estimate comes from multiplying the average teacher salary from 2003-04 ($46,752 at http://www.nea.org/edstats/images/05rankings.pdf) by the number of teachers given above. 6. Thomas D. Snyder, Alexandra G. Tan, and Charlene M. Hoffman, Digest of Education Statistics 2005 (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, July 2006), table 28, downloaded from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d05/tables/dt05_028.asp?referer=list (October 26, 2006). 7. Susanna Loeb and Luke Miller, "State Teacher Policies: What Are They, What Are Their Effects, and What Are Their Implications for School Finance," Getting Down to Facts Report, unpublished (Stanford University, December 2006). 8. G. A. Strizek and others, Characteristics of Schools, Districts, Teachers, Principals, and School Libraries in the United States: 2003-04 Schools and Staffing Survey (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2006) http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006313.pdf 9. Bringing in effective administrators is likely to be even more helpful, but unfortunately this is a substantially more difficult undertaking, since administrator labor markets are no less complicated than teacher labor markets. [End Page 14] Copyright © 2007 The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and The Brookings Institution

The Perils of Privatization

Almost all premodern states and empires used privatized tax collection. Roman history is a good research site for the study of tax farming because it provides ample variation on its extent and effectiveness while controlling for many other factors. Tax farming began in the early Republic, was expanded but became more exploitative in the late Republic, and then was abolished for some types of taxes and was more centrally controlled for others in the Empire. We use a sociological version of agency theory to explain these changes. In addition to well-known causes of the use and effectiveness of tax farming, such as the size of the empire, the level of development of communications technologies, and the type of tax collected, we show that a major determinant in the Roman case was the characteristics of principals, a function of the form of the state. Differences between the Republic and the Empire can be traced to differences between the senate, which ruled in the former, and the emperors, who ruled in the latter. The perils of privatization in the late Republic were mainly caused by characteristics of the principals, especially the fact that the Roman senate was a multiple principal with a “revolving-door” relationship with the agents it was supposed to control, and were exacerbated by direct senatorial investment in tax farms.

An ideal `type'? — the characteristics of effective school principals as perceived by aspiring principals both from within education and those from an alternate career path

An ideal `type'? — the characteristics of effective school principals as perceived by aspiring principals both from within education and those from an alternate career path

Teachers' Perceptions of Principals' Instructional Leadership and Implications

Little research has examined leadership behaviors that have direct effects on teachers and classroom instruction. In this study, over 800 public elementary, middle, and high schools in diverse regions of the United States described the everyday characteristics (e.g., strategies, behaviors, attitudes, and goals) of principals practicing exemplary instructional leadership. Inductive analysis of the data generated two major themes comprising 11 strategies that enhanced teachers' classroom instruction. The first theme, talking with teachers to promote reflection, included making suggestions, giving feedback, modeling, using inquiry and soliciting advice/opinions, and praising. The second theme, promoting professional growth, included emphasizing the study of teaching and learning; supporting collaboration; developing coaching relationships; encouraging and supporting redesign of programs; applying the principles of adult learning, growth, and development to staff development programs; and implementing action research to inform instructional decision making. The effective instructional leader's approach to instruction was found to be dialogic, inquiry-oriented, inclusive, and pedagogically sound.

Effective instructional leadership

Few studies have directly examined teachers’ perspectives on principals’ everyday instructional leadership characteristics and the impacts of those characteristics on teachers. In this study, over 800 American teachers responded to an open‐ended questionnaire by identifying and describing characteristics of principals that enhanced their classroom instruction and what impacts those characteristics had on them. The data revealed two themes (and 11 strategies) of effective instructional leadership: talking with teachers to promote reflection and promoting professional growth.

Principals’ Instructional Leadership and Teacher Development: Teachers’ Perspectives

In recent years, reflective, collaborative, inquiry-oriented approaches to supervision of teachers and teacher development have been discussed in the professional literature. However, few published studies have directly examined teachers’perspectives on principals’everyday instructional leadership characteristics and the impact of those characteristics on teachers. This article describes the everyday strategies of principals practicing exemplary instructional leadership and how these principals influenced teachers. The data were drawn from a qualitative study of more than 800 teachers in the southeastern, midwestern, and northwestern United States. An open-ended questionnaire was designed to provide teachers with the opportunity to identify and describe in detail the characteristics of principals that enhanced their classroom instruction and what impact those characteristics had on them. Inductive analyses of the data generated two major themes comprising 11 strategies, which were used to construct the Reflection-Growth (RG) model of instructional leadership. This article emphasizes those strategies and the meanings teachers identified with them.

Researching the Characteristics of Effective Primary School Principals in Cyprus

This article reports on a study which sought to identify the characteristics and behaviours of effective primary school principals in Cyprus. Forty-nine principals were identified by a panel of inspectors from the Ministry as excellent in their jobs. The researcher spent between 10 and 15 hours with each of these principals. Preliminary findings from the interview data he collected indicate that effective principals in Cyprus: (1) have a great love and ambition for their profession; (2) have pride in the national heritage and traditions of their country; (3) are deep thinkers and constant learners; (4) are good administrators; (5) will often take risks by opposing the will of the Ministry; and, (6) are good managers of time.