Doctor of Education / Department of Special Education / James Teagarden / Gerald Bailey / Finding qualified teachers is a growing concern to school districts nationwide. Special Education is one of those areas that is highly in need. Researchers have suggested the reason for these shortages is not recruitment of special education teachers, but the retention of special education teachers. The research has also shown that lack of effective building administrative support may be a critical factor in a teachers’ decision to stay or leave the field. This study was developed to determine what administrative behavior special education teachers value the most. Additionally, this study sought to find out if there were differences in the administrative behaviors that special education teachers value and what building administrators perceive to be of value. A survey was sent electronically to a random sample of convenience to 200 special education teachers and 200 building administrators in the state of Kansas; 276 surveys were returned. The survey collected data to determine the perceived value of administrative support behaviors by the special education teachers, and any differences of the perceived value of administrative supports by the building administrators. The survey items were categorized into four subgroups of administrative behaviors: emotional, environmental, technical, and instructional. The administrative behaviors of most value to the special education teachers were those that were emotional in nature. Respondents reported that the most valued support actions included providing praise and acknowledging that the teacher makes a difference, supporting the teacher in front of parents, and trusting the teacher’s judgment. Findings also indicated that there were statistically significant differences between what administrative supports special education teachers valued and what building administrators perceive to be of value to special education teachers, with the exception of the technical administrative support actions. These findings suggested that it would benefit school districts positively to implement strategies to evaluate the emotional support provided and desired by their special education teachers as one method to reduce special education teacher attrition. One way of ensuring administrators provide these supports is to hold them accountable, perhaps through policy change in the evaluation process. With recent legislation such as No Child Left Behind, mandating all students receive a quality education form qualified teachers despite the current shortage of special education teachers; administrators must implement strategies to reduce teacher attrition.

For many decades, school leadership has been conceptualized in a variety of ways attempting to identify the critical elements necessary for effective school leadership. The expertise required for today's schools appears to be different from that required in the past, particularly as school leaders are expected to initiate change and "restructure" in order to obtain new and improved educational results. Traditional managerial skills, once deemed appropriate and effective for school administration, are now being replaced by styles that focus on cooperation and consideration, community building, open communication, and involvement with others. These behaviors appear to be present in women as they demonstrate their effectiveness in leadership roles as principals and superintendents. This descriptive study offers an in-depth look at the administrative behavior of three women. It documents their experiences and perspectives as high school principals. The purpose of the study is to contribute to the growing body of research on female leaders necessary to challenge the existing theories on school administration, which are based on traditional business management theory and formulated using an androcentric conceptual framework. Naturalistic inquiry guided the present study, which employed qualitative research methodology. Participant observations, complemented by interviews and reflective conversations, provided the data for analysis using grounded theory. A computer software program Ethnograph (Qualis, 1998) facilitated the organization and analysis of data. Case narratives, case reports, and a cross-case analysis report three women's behavior in their role as high school principals. Major conclusions include: (a) Each principal demonstrated a unique style of administrative behavior which seemed effectively matched to the needs of the school organization; (b) Each principal demonstrated a strong set of collegial or relational behaviors that focused on building community in order to support the school programs; and (c) Each principal demonstrated an ethic of care informed by a sense of fairness and loyalty to the policies and procedures associated with their bureaucratic organizational environment. The ethic of care that guided each principal's style suggests that these principals exercise a kind of power associated more with "effective agency" than with "command and control" power typically associated with traditional leadership. Additional research is needed to document the female leadership experience in schools in order to challenge and transform current administrative theory; research is also needed to explore the notion of "effective agency" as power. Practitioners, researchers, and other interested educational professionals are invited to use the behaviors identified in this study to reflect upon their own styles, because changing our schools is inevitably bound up with changing ourselves. / Ph. D.