The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between academic emphasis and executive leadership from the perspective of a California charter management organization (CMO) chief executive officer (CEO). Executive leaders in California CMOs have a unique perspective that needs investigated. They experience educational leadership differently depending upon their individual backgrounds, educational experiences, and the families they serve. This study seeks to understand the experiences of a specific group of executive leaders and how they define academic emphasis in their CMO. The theoretical framework used to interpret the research findings was instructional leadership. The framework effectively built a lens for the reader to conceptualize the research of this study. The theoretical framework worked to guide and frame interpretation of respondent data. The research served to inform the research questions, not answer them explicitly. The research used a qualitative case study design approach focused on the story of the lived experience from the individual. The design aspired to interpret meanings and experiences from responses to uncover deep and detailed understanding. A CMO CEO responded to semi-structured interview questions. The interview protocol consisted of various question types: open-ended questions, follow-up questions, and classification questions. As transformational and educational leadership collide in Dr. Viviane Robinson’s current instructional leadership framework, the capability that is not explicitly presented is the ability for school leaders to build capacity for equity consciousness in all teammates in their organization and/or school. The findings from this study suggested that a fourth leadership capability is emerging in Dr. Robinson’s framework. There is a critical need for organization and school leaders to be equipped with the skills to seed an equity consciousness across teammates and other stakeholders.

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The research on high-poverty, high-performing schools, suggests instructional leadership is an essential component for principals to be effective school leaders. Unfortunately, in spite of themes in the research, and shifts in principal preparation initiatives, practice suggests principals struggle to hold to instructional priorities. Given the significant costs of education reform this challenge to prioritize instructional leadership needs to be understood, particularly in the area of leading the improvement of high-poverty, lower performing schools. The gap between research and practice, and the causes for these differences in principal leadership, were the subject of this study. Qualitative methods were used to study eight instructionally-centered principals in their schools to identify "how" they navigate the competing demands to focus on instructional priorities. Common themes emerged from the interview, observation, and calendar study data providing strategies for how these principals navigate demands to remain focused on instruction. Findings affirmed the research from effective school reform and school leadership research. Themes also emerged for practices aligned with the research on organizational leadership; for example, principals delegated purposefully, served as relatable "lead learners," and used data to create a sense of urgency and leverage improvements to instruction. Principals were also found to be "kid-centered" in their decision making. Most interesting in the themes that emerged; however, was the unanimous belief that all students can learn. Principals demonstrated evidence of self-efficacy about their leadership, and perhaps more importantly, the belief that the "locus of causality" for learning lies within the school and teachers. This set of beliefs appeared to drive their planning towards creating a data-centered environment in their schools. Implications for further research and principal professional development are discussed. / Educational Leadership

Principals have an impact on the teaching and learning that takes place in their schools. This research focuses on principal involvement in professional development (PD) to meet policy requirements while developing principals' skills to meet their changing roles to serve as instructional leaders accountable for student academic performance. The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify the types of PD principals and principal supervisors find most beneficial in developing principals' instructional leadership skills along with the perceived benefits and challenges of participating in PD designed for the principalship role. The secondary purpose was to identify the impact principal PD may have on instructional leadership practices and student achievement. The two research questions were: What types of PD do principals and principal supervisors find most impactful to developing principals' instructional leadership skills? What are the perceived benefits and challenges of participating in virtual, hybrid, and in-person PD specifically designed for the principalship role? A demographic survey and one-on-one, semi-structured interviews were completed with five elementary school principals, four secondary school principals, and three principal supervisors from a rural and suburban school division in Virginia. Deductive coding was used to analyze the data from interviews to determine common themes, patterns, similarities, and differences. Nine findings were discovered, including principals engage in PD focused on instructional leadership skills and perceive that PD has improved instructional practices and student outcomes, principals find value in networking and choice in PD, time is a barrier to participating in PD, and principal supervisors select and support principal PD opportunities. The findings provide principals, principal supervisors, and providers of principal PD with guidance on how to design PD focused on developing instructional leadership skills. Practitioners can utilize the study to guide the design of effective PD sessions that leverage the benefits noted by study participants while overcoming the challenges. Division leaders may consider the findings when developing PD plans for principals based on the literature and perceptions of study participants. These practices will help ensure principals receive the timely, targeted PD they need to become instructional leaders with a positive impact on student achievement. / Doctor of Education / Principals have an impact on the teaching and learning that takes place in their schools. This research focuses on principal involvement in professional development (PD) to meet policy requirements while developing principals' skills to meet their changing roles to serve as instructional leaders accountable for student academic performance. The two research questions were: What types of PD do principals and principal supervisors find most impactful to developing principals' instructional leadership skills? What are the perceived benefits and challenges of participating in virtual, hybrid, and in-person PD specifically designed for the principalship role? One-on-one, semi-structured interviews with five elementary school principals, four secondary school principals, and three principal supervisors from a rural and suburban school division in Virginia were conducted. Findings including, principals engage in PD focused on instructional leadership skills and perceive that PD has improved instructional practices and student outcomes, principals find value in networking and choice in PD, time is a barrier to participating in PD, and principal supervisors select and support principal PD opportunities. The findings might guide how to design PD to focus on developing instructional leadership skills. Practitioners can utilize the findings to guide the design of effective PD sessions that leverage the benefits noted by study participants, while also working to overcome the challenges. Division leaders may consider the findings when developing PD plans for principals. These practices will help ensure principals receive the timely, targeted PD they need to become instructional leaders with a positive impact on student achievement.

In this study, the researcher aimed to investigate and explore the instructional leadership role of the high school head in creating a culture of teaching and learning (COTL), with specific reference to high schools in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. In an attempt to realise that end, a qualitative approach drawing from ethnographic studies was used to collect data. Therefore, the research instruments included qualitative observations, individual and focus group interviews and document analysis. The participants included five high school heads, ten heads of departments (HODs), ten assistant teachers, and twenty five parents. These were drawn from the five high schools selected for the study. The main findings of the study are that a model for effective instructional leadership aimed at creating a culture of teaching and learning (COTL) consists of long-term and short-term dimensions. The long-term instructional leadership dimension comprises: visioning, communication of the school vision, value management, professional development of staff, and empowerment. The short-term instructional leadership dimension comprises of characteristics of the instructional leader, characteristics of the followers and characteristics of the situation. Characteristics of the instructional leader include his or her perception of stakeholders, task or people orientation, personality, knowledge and experience, value system and trust in followers. Characteristics of the followers include their readiness to take responsibility, motivation to excel, knowledge and experience. Characteristics of the situation include the school climate and culture, relationships among members of the school community, structuring of tasks, availability of human and material resources, and the use of incentives. The effective application of the instructional leadership model for effective practice by the high school head as the instructional leader in creating a culture of teaching and learning (COTL) takes into account both the long-term and short-term dimensions of effective instructional leadership in order to achieve meaningful educational change. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)

The challenge facing principals currently is to revisit their role to improve external examination results in the Republic of South Africa. Almost all schools in the Free State, in particular those in rural areas such as the Thabo Mofutsanyana Education District; the Xhariep Education District; part of the Motheo Education District (e.g. Botshabelo and Thaba-Nchu) and most urban areas, such as the Lejweleputswa Education District and the Fezile Dabi Education District, have schools which have had poor examination results for the past 20 years. To answer the challenges currently facing principals in the Free State, this research used a qualitative research framework and methodology to articulate research questions and arrive at constructive and instructive models to reveal and close the gaps between performing and underperforming secondary schools in the province. A particular group of principals was chosen, influenced by the performance and underperformance of their schools in the various education districts in the province. Research findings from unstructured interviews with doctoral candidates, and research on China, Finland and Singapore’s education systems with special reference to instructional leadership were conducted. The doctoral candidates’ ideas were confirmed by practical unstructured interviews with Sekgutlong and Beacon high school principals who visited Singapore with the MEC of the Free State Department of Education. In plenary and parallel encounters with principals of secondary schools in the Free State, it emerged that rote learning is prevalent in the Free State secondary schools. Therefore, was resolved by the majority of the principals that critical postmodern instructional leadership should be recommended as an instructional methodology to usher in critical thinking, innovation, creativity and self-reliance in Free State education. In addition, this will close the gap between performing and underperforming secondary schools. Finally, grounded postmodern instructional leadership as a leadership strategy will assist a contemporary secondary school learner’s generation to cope with the academic requirements of tertiary education. / Curriculum and Instructional Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

In this study, the researcher aimed to investigate and explore the instructional leadership role of the high school head in creating a culture of teaching and learning (COTL), with specific reference to high schools in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. In an attempt to realise that end, a qualitative approach drawing from ethnographic studies was used to collect data. Therefore, the research instruments included qualitative observations, individual and focus group interviews and document analysis. The participants included five high school heads, ten heads of departments (HODs), ten assistant teachers, and twenty five parents. These were drawn from the five high schools selected for the study. The main findings of the study are that a model for effective instructional leadership aimed at creating a culture of teaching and learning (COTL) consists of long-term and short-term dimensions. The long-term instructional leadership dimension comprises: visioning, communication of the school vision, value management, professional development of staff, and empowerment. The short-term instructional leadership dimension comprises of characteristics of the instructional leader, characteristics of the followers and characteristics of the situation. Characteristics of the instructional leader include his or her perception of stakeholders, task or people orientation, personality, knowledge and experience, value system and trust in followers. Characteristics of the followers include their readiness to take responsibility, motivation to excel, knowledge and experience. Characteristics of the situation include the school climate and culture, relationships among members of the school community, structuring of tasks, availability of human and material resources, and the use of incentives. The effective application of the instructional leadership model for effective practice by the high school head as the instructional leader in creating a culture of teaching and learning (COTL) takes into account both the long-term and short-term dimensions of effective instructional leadership in order to achieve meaningful educational change. / Educational Leadership and Management / D. Ed. (Education Management)