Principal Instructional Leadership Behavior as Perceived by Teachers and Principals at New York State Recognized and Non-Recognized Middle Schools

BRENDAN J. LYONS Seton Hall University Principal Instructional Leadership Behavior, as Perceived by Teachers and Principals, at New York State Recognized and Non-Recognized Middle Schools (Dr. Mary Ruzicka, Advisor) The purpose of this study was to determine which of the 10 leadership functions contained in the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS), as identified by Hallinger (1983), are demonstrated by principals at New York State Department of Education recognized gap closing and high achieving middle schools, as compared to principals at non-recognized schools. The 10 leadership functions are subgroups that are a consolidation of 50 distinct behaviors. The survey was administered to teachers and principals at demographically similar New York State middle schools. 15 principals and 174 teachers participated in the study, which took place in the fall Of 2009. As a subsidiary question, the study also sought to determine if there would be a significant difference in principal and teacher perceptions of the principals' instructional leadership behavior. Descriptive statistics were used to identify which individual behaviors and leadership functions were being demonstrated frequently. Although principals from both cohorts perceived that they were frequently demonstrating 3 to 4 out of 10 of these leadership functions, the teachers as a group only indicated that one function was being demonstrated. The data also indicated that, on average, principals of recognized schools are demonstrating the leadership behaviors measured in the PlMRS more frequently than principals of non-recognized schools. Although teachers, on average, indicated that there were fewer overall behaviors being demonstrated frequently, they were in agreement with their respective principals' data, in that they also perceived that principals of recognized schools demonstrated these behaviors more frequently. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also utilized to determine if there would be statistically significant differences in the mean scores between cohorts and within cohorts between principals and teachers. There were statistically significant differences in the mean scores for some items, but not for the majority. The ANOVA output for principals and teachers from recognized schools indicated that, based on pc.05, there were statistically significant differences in the means for seven questions. The ANOVA output for principals and teachers in non-recognized schools indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in means for only one question. INDEX WORDS: Instructional Leadership, Principal Leadership, Educational Leadership, Middle School Leadership, Perceptions of Leadership DEDICATION I dedicate this work to my family. First and foremost, my wife Diane has shown me unwavering support and patience in my career and education, and has been a wonderful mother to our three children, often in my absence. Bailey, Kevin and Emily have shown me love and support throughout this long and winding process, and I hope that it has helped them to understand that education provides choices in life. I would also like to dedicate this endeavor to my parents, John and Sharon, for their unconditional support and guidance, and for instilling in me the importance of hard work and the value of education. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank Dr. Mary Ruzicka, my mentor and advisor, for her support and belief in me throughout this process. Her knowledge, patience and words of encouragement were invaluable. I would also be remiss, if I did not thank Dr. James Caulfield, fellow Irishman and sage leader, for seeing my potential when he accepted me into the Executive Ed. D. program. I would next like to thank Dr. Christine Lowden, colleague and reader, for sharing with me her experiences at Seton Hall, and for encouraging me to go for it when I first contemplated working on my doctorate. She has been a consistent source of support, guidance, and humor during the past few years. In addition, I would like to thank Dr. Edward Sullivan for his support and guidance, and for being a wonderful principal for my three children. Lastly, I would like to thank the members of Cohort XI for their camaraderie and for being a family away from home. Veni, vidi, vici!