Global research suggests that successful school principals are those who apply a judicious mix of instructional, distributed and transformational models of leadership. These approaches are explicitly advocated in the Malaysia Education Blueprint (MEB), the government’s main education reform document that was launched in 2013. The MEB sets out an ambitious plan for all schools to have high performing principals, and high performance is associated with these three models rather than the administrative leadership which is more common in Malaysian schools. The MEB suggests that the aspiration of placing high performing leaders in all schools can be achieved by improving and refining the selection process for new principals, and by requiring them to acquire the National Professional Qualification for Educational Leaders (NPQEL). The MEB also places a strong emphasis on instructional leadership as one of the more effective leadership approaches, which current and future principals should adopt. This thesis presents the findings from a mixed methods study designed to examine the leadership features and practices of principals deemed to be high performing, serving in selected schools in Malaysia. These principals are deemed high performing because they are recipients of two government awards, the Excellent Principals award and the New Deals award. The study examines the extent to which instructional, transformational and distributed leadership are practiced by the principals, drawing on the following data sources: interviews with three senior policymakers; documentary analysis of relevant policies and circulars and questionnaires filled in by 20 ‘high performing’ principals and their teachers. The data is further supplemented with interviews with six out the 20 high performing principals and their respective senior leadership team member and teachers. The findings suggest that principals who are deemed high performing in the selected Malaysian schools enact instructional leadership modestly compared to distributed leadership and transformational leadership. A tentative framework of core leadership practices enacted by principals who are deemed high performing, derived from the findings of this study, is presented at the end of this study.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University. / It is the purpose of this objective study, primarily to contribute specifically to what is known relative to the factors which aided or impeded the school-district-reorganization process in Massachusetts from the passage of the regional-school law in 1949 to January 25, 1956, and, incidentally, to contribute in a general way to all the problem areas of school-district reorganization.

This thesis investigates the history of two Liberal Studies curricula in Hong Kong: Advanced Supplementary Level Liberal Studies (ASL LS) and New Senior Secondary Liberal Studies (NSS LS), which were introduced under two successive academic structures. The former follows the English Britain academic structure, with five-year junior and senior secondary, two further secondary years for matriculation, and a three-year undergraduate higher education. The latter resembles the Chinese academic structure with three years' junior secondary, three years' senior secondary and four year of undergraduate higher education. ASL LS formed part of the matriculation education curriculum and lasted for two years under the old academic structure; NSS LS is a component of a three-year senior secondary education under the new academic structure. The shift of academic structures in Hong Kong took place between 2009 and 2012, during which transition period both academic structures existed in parallel. This research has two main purposes. The first is to examine the history of the two Liberal Studies curricula. The second is to find out the key factors shaping the two curricula. The results and findings are mainly based mainly on documentary analysis supplemented by interviews with men and women who played significant parts in shaping the Liberal Studies curriculum. This historical research identifies three key overlapping stages in the development of Liberal Studies. The first stage relates to the formation and implementation of the ASL LS from 1992 to 2012. The second stage, beginning in September 2001, covers the consultation over and implementation (up to August 2014) of NSS LS. The third and comparatively short stage covers September to December 2014. This was initiated by the 79 day 'Occupy Central' and the 'Umbrella' movements in support of universal suffrage for the Legislative Council Election in 2016 and Chief Executive Election in 2017. While the predominant view in the academic literature locates the origins of Liberal Studies in the Sino-British Joint Declaration of 1984, Legislative Council records show that ideas about liberal studies began to emerge as early as 1978. Factors shaping the Liberal Studies curriculum are also identified at international, regional and local levels. The Liberal Studies curricula is seen as resulting from the interplay of factors at all three levels, with local level factors played the decisive role.

There are established notions about the importance of distributed leadership in school leadership practice. Theory and research on this currently popular leadership model mostly emanate from western contexts, notably Australia, UK and the USA. It has been portrayed as an emergent model, with professionals choosing to initiate leadership in schools and classrooms. It is closely linked to teacher leadership, because distribution invariably involves teachers. This thesis focuses on leadership practice in selected secondary schools in Nigeria, from a distributed perspective. It is based on research in Edo state, using a multiple case study design. Nigeria has a centralised education system and schools tend to have a typical hierarchical structure. This raises the question about whether and how distributed leadership can operate in such a hierarchical context. The findings show that distribution occurs in the four case study schools but that it is largely allocative, rather than emergent, with school principals allocating tasks and, to a lesser extent, roles, to teachers and leaders. The case studies indicate that hierarchical distribution of school leadership can be accomplished through such allocative distributed leadership, with distribution occurring to those who occupy both formal and informal leadership roles. The research raises questions about the differences between this mode of distribution and established notions of delegation and explores this distinction. The thesis examines a globally significant leadership model and applies it to the under-published context of Nigerian secondary schools. The research is likely to be relevant to other centralised systems considering whether and how to adapt their leadership and management practice.

Transition into first-time headship is a challenge, as the new leader lets go of their former role as a teacher/deputy and at the same time prepares to adopt a new professional persona. This research explores the nature of transition as experienced by six deputies moving to be heads of independent schools which are new to them. It identifies what is distinctive about the experience and what can be learnt which may be of benefit to future generations of new headteachers and the schools they join. It focusses on the challenges inherent in making this transition, and the strategies these fledgling heads adopt as they navigate the process. Six research participants are tracked through the final months of their deputy headship and into the early months of their first headship. They simultaneously let go of their deputy role, paving the way for their successors in that role, while preparing to take on the professional responsibilities of the headteacher. Socialisation into this new role is reciprocal, as the new head affects, and is affected by, the school community they join. The new heads negotiate the tension, and attempt to find balance, between inheriting the role from their predecessor and inhabiting this role and making it their own. The time in between being appointed to headship and formally assuming the position offers these heads-elect the opportunity to begin to divest themselves of their deputy role and take on the mantle of the school leader. During this lead-in period these incoming heads devise strategies, access support, explore and experiment as they continue the process of formulating and articulating their conception of the head they hope to be, and begin their tentative steps towards realising that vision. In addition to data from semi-structured interviews, shadowing these deputies/new heads and discussion with those who worked most closely with them, and who knew them best, opened up a wider perspective on the two-way socialisation process and the nature of transition to headship.

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The purpose of this study was to determine how leadership practices impact student performance as perceived by principals and selected site-based decision making (SBDM) committee members of high schools in Region V Education Service Center (ESC), Texas. The study is one of four studies which examined perceived leadership practices of principals in the public school system in Southeast Texas. The other studies in this cohort focused on elementary principals, middle school principals and superintendents. This study compared the perceptions of high school principals and selected SBDM committee members regarding leadership practices and determined if selected demographic variables had an impact on the perceived leadership practices of the two identified groups. The investigation procedures for this study involved an analysis of the responses from principals and site-based decision making committee members to the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) developed by James Kouzes and Barry Posner (2003) which evaluates the use of five identified leadership practices. Student performance information for the 29 participating high school campuses was obtained from the Texas Education Agency Academic Excellence Indicator System. Findings indicate no linear relationship exists between perceived leadership practices of high school principals and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) performance. Further analysis revealed no statistical significance in the correlation of student academic success as measured by TAKS and the five leadership practices identified by Kouzes and Posner(2002); Inspire a Shared Vision, Model the Way, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, and Encourage the Heart. The data indicated that Region V high school principals embrace the leadership practices identified by Kouzes and Posner at least moderately (between the 30th and 69th percentile) and in some cases at a higher level (70th percentile or above). Also, the data revealed that, as a group, the high school principals rated themselves higher overall regarding perceived leadership in comparison to their observers. Further analysis of the data showed that the demographic variables of gender and ethnicity did not have an effect on survey responses of the study participants. After examining the differences between the LPI responses of principals and their observers regarding age and years of experience, it was evident that such demographic variables did not impact survey responses.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Lehigh University, 2000. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-175).