This multi-methods research project studies the main leadership practices from the perspectives of teachers in the recent process of curriculum reform and the extent to which these leadership practices motivated their commitment to change. It also investigates the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on their perceptions of these transformational school leadership practices in Shenyang, a northeast city of China. The first research question explored the transformational leadership model in Chinese school context. Key words relevant to transformational school leadership practices were identified from teachers’ survey answers using content analysis for formulating the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire. Additionally, the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire was formulated using principal component analysis. Subsequently, the organizational characteristics questionnaire, and the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire were validated using principal component analysis and reliability analysis for answering remaining two research questions. The second research question investigated the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment, and teacher’s age had significant relationships with teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’ factors such as age and grade teacher taught had moderate effects on different dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The third research question examined the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change. The results of linear regression showed that the effect of transformational school leadership was moderate when transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change were treated as a single variable. Four dimensions of transformational leadership practices together explained the moderate effects on the four dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change respectively, among which the effect of managing the instructional program was the most prominent. This study represents an original attempt to understand how Chinese teachers perceive transformational school leadership, the effects of organizational and personal factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership, and the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context. This research seeks to contribute to leadership development and school change practices in the Chinese school context.

This thesis examined what means a group of elementary school principals in multicultural communities used to support and imporve the language learning of English Language Learning (ELL)students. In this thesis, multicultural communities are defined as urban schools which have a majority of students whose mother tongue is not English. Although they are challenged to value and honour the diversity of their school communities, these principals must also ensure that their teachers meet the mandated rigors of the Ontario curriculum, and that the students attain desired levels of achievement as defined by the Ontario Ministry of Education. In an increasing number of schools in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) ELL students form a majority of the student population; yet this reality is barely acknowledged in provincial educational policy or in the professional education of Ontario's school principals. Nor has the educational research adequately addressed the challenges of educating ELL students over the past thirty-five years. The research literature on the characteristics, activities, and behaviour of effective school principals rarely mention their knowledge of other cultures and languages or their expertise related to ethnic and racial diversity. Semi-structured interviews were used to capture the responses of ten elementary school principals of multicultural school communities. The findings indicate that principals who were successful in leading multicultural school communities and improving the literacy achievement of ELL students had a deep understanding of literacy development; cultural needs of the community; and ESL issues. Although much of the leadership framework is similar to principalship in non-multicultural school communities, principals identified a number of leadership competencies that are particular to a diverse community. The findings have implications for the courses which prepare principals for these schools; the professional development of senior administrators; and the choice of personnel suitable for leadership roles in multicultural communities.

This multi-methods research project studies the main leadership practices from the perspectives of teachers in the recent process of curriculum reform and the extent to which these leadership practices motivated their commitment to change. It also investigates the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on their perceptions of these transformational school leadership practices in Shenyang, a northeast city of China. The first research question explored the transformational leadership model in Chinese school context. Key words relevant to transformational school leadership practices were identified from teachers’ survey answers using content analysis for formulating the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire. Additionally, the Chinese transformational school leadership questionnaire was formulated using principal component analysis. Subsequently, the organizational characteristics questionnaire, and the teachers’ commitment to change questionnaire were validated using principal component analysis and reliability analysis for answering remaining two research questions. The second research question investigated the effects of organizational and teachers’ factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that variables like culture, strategy, environment, and teacher’s age had significant relationships with teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. Culture, environment, strategy, structure, and teachers’ factors such as age and grade teacher taught had moderate effects on different dimensions of teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership. The third research question examined the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change. The results of linear regression showed that the effect of transformational school leadership was moderate when transformational school leadership and teachers’ commitment to change were treated as a single variable. Four dimensions of transformational leadership practices together explained the moderate effects on the four dimensions of teachers’ commitment to change respectively, among which the effect of managing the instructional program was the most prominent. This study represents an original attempt to understand how Chinese teachers perceive transformational school leadership, the effects of organizational and personal factors on teachers’ perception of transformational school leadership, and the effects of transformational school leadership on teachers’ commitment to change in the Chinese urban upper secondary school context. This research seeks to contribute to leadership development and school change practices in the Chinese school context.

Risk has now become part of the common forensic vocabulary used in the new global culture to hold persons (such as principals) and institutions (such as schools) accountable. Thus, in a risk society (Giddens 2000; Beck1992), the nature of a principal's work is changing. Risk and its management have become integral parts of a principal's professional repertoire as the commonplace activities of schooling have become framed as risks to be managed. Tensions arise for school principals when external and internal pressures to measure performance threaten to overwhelm their responsibility for paying attention to the learning that is, or should be, occurring in their schools. A problem that emerges out of all this is the extent to which the nature and scope of contemporary accountability and audit regimes are underpinned by a negative logic that impacts directly on choices made by school leaders about the learning environment of their school. This dissertation addresses this problem by examining the impact of risk management on the nature of a principal's work and the implications of this impact for secondary school leadership. It does so through a series of nested publications and an empirical study, beginning with the testing of conceptual understandings through international and national journals, and moving to dissemination of key findings through professional journals and conference and workshop delivery. The strategy was one of moving from global feedback on a locally experienced problem, to national feedback and then to engagement with professional colleagues. This approach was chosen to verify the quality of the analysis and to target the dissemination of findings to professional colleagues, facilitating professional dialogue on the core issues both during and subsequent to the dissertation process, and, in so doing, contributing to improved professional practice of the principalship. The dissertation begins by addressing risk and its minimisation as a powerful rationality and organisational logic driving leadership practices in contemporary schools. It explores the impact of risk-consciousness on the work of school leaders with particular reference to the impact such risk-consciousness can have on their role in fostering a learning culture within schools. It then moves to examine how this risk-consciousness has fostered a new 'attentional economy' (Taylor, 2005) in which schools must be seen to perform, and to perform in ways that are measurable and rendered visible for all. Rationalities of risk now require principals as school managers to pay attention to, and require of others, the forensic work of making schools calculable (that is, auditable on pre-determined risk minimisation metrics). Such forensic work has its place in schools and, indeed, has improved professional practice in some areas, particularly related to student safety. The dissertation raises questions about the extent to which this calculability is becoming the dominant, even the only, leaderly imperative for school principals. The dissertation positions the school as a risk organisation, and the strengths and limitations of that positioning are carefully examined. Carol Dweck's (1999) work on performance and learning goals provides a basis for an empirical analysis of the demands of school leadership. This analysis reveals the dominance of performance goals and the struggle experienced by the author, a school leader, in maintaining a balance between learning and performance, between being a risk-taker and a risk-minimiser, between being both appropriately accountable and socially responsible. It provides further evidence for the view developed through the dissertation that the dominant and prevailing negative logic of risk can overwhelm broader ethical responsibilities. The author argues strongly that proactive engagement with risk management underpinned by a positive logic of risk and focused, not on the imposition of ever-increasing controls, but on refining and improving judgement, offers new and more promising possibilities. A model for risk management is then presented which has a robust, flexible and systematic approach to risk management built on informed trust in professional human judgement. Such an approach, it is argued, may not only make the school safer but it may also provide a greater capacity to respond to opportunities to dare and to grow. School leaders are encouraged to move beyond risk minimisation to an educative approach to risk management in the interests of a dynamic learning environment.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the managerial leadership styles of school principals for school effectiveness at secondary schools of the Dutywa Education District in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South. The literature review reflects theories concerning the managerial leadership styles of school principals for school effectiveness. In order to attain the aims and objectives of the study, the researcher used the qualitative research method, both in collecting and analyzing the data. The case study design was used to describe and access the phenomenon and the purposive sampling method was used to select (6) secondary school principals. An open ended interview schedule was used for the face-to-face in-depth interviews on the managerial leadership styles of school principals for school effectiveness at secondary schools of the Dutywa Education District. Themes were drawn from the responses of the participants and analysed. Some of the findings were: Democratic and participatory leadership styles were used by the school principals to achieve maximum co-operation from both experienced and beginning teachers and the learners in the schools. Laissez fair and autocratic styles of leadership appeared to be undesirable for the management of schools. For school principals’ effective management, they need to do proper planning, organising and scheduling of activities, assigning duties to teachers and delegating some of their work to competent teachers. The reasons for school principals’ ineffectiveness in this study were: favouritism, over-familiar relationships with some teachers, ignoring teachers’ personal problems, workload, lack of support and co-operation from teachers. Incorrect interpretation of educational policies were seen to lead to chaotic situations, poor performance of both teachers and learners, division between learners and teachers, a lack of unity between school stake-holders, poor job satisfaction and lack of trust and respect for the principals concerned. Factors contributing to principals’ incorrect interpretation of educational policies and execution of management roles were: negligence, lack of knowledge and ability to interpret educational policies, lack of proper induction programmes and training of principals and lack of support on policy matters from the Department of Education. Contributing factors resulting in barriers to principals’ ineffectiveness in the management of schools were: failure to give proper instructions to teachers and learners, failure to effectively use of available funds in the school, failure to implement all educational programmes in the school including co-curricular and extra mural activities, lack of experience, lack of support from both the Department of Education and the parents, lack of resources, high staff turnover, favourtisms and failure to hold teachers accountable for poor work done. Mechanisms deemed to overcome the factors leading to barriers to principals’ execution of their management roles at schools were: making the effort to be knowledgeable about educational policies, timely responses to problems in the school, regular consultation with stakeholders, employment of SGB teachers, taking direct supervision of instructions in classrooms and endeavoring to have good relations and gaining support from the SGB and the parents. The researcher made some recommendations on the managerial leadership styles of school principals for school effectiveness at secondary schools of the Dutywa Education District.

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between principal self-efficacy and personal characteristics, school conditions, and professional preparation among a selected group of Texas, public school principals. The survey instrument included the Principal Self-Efficacy Scale (PSES) developed by Tschannen-Moran & Garies in 2004, and other items. The survey instrument was electronically distributed to a random sample of 965 Texas, public school principals. From that population, 289 principals completed the survey for a response rate of 30%. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for the analyses which included descriptive statistics, correlations, and analysis of variance. Additionally, factor analysis and reliability were calculated for the PSES. The factor structure and reliability found in this study closely mirrored the results of earlier investigations, providing further support for the reliability and validity of the PSES. Out of 12 variables examined in relation to principal self-efficacy, a statistically significant relationship was found for gender, years of teaching experience, level, SES, parental involvement, and student discipline. However, all six of the statistically significant variables had a small effect size indicating limited practical significance. The results of this study support the need for continued research of principal self-efficacy beliefs. Principal self-efficacy research may help explain the relationships between effective principals and effective schools.

The purpose of this study was to identify and investigate the specific superintendent leadership type and underlying factors that support significant student achievement gains in communities where misalignment with the McCarty-Ramsey model exists. Utilizing a mixedmethod research strategy, contributing school districts were identified through a survey developed by McCarty and Ramsey. This survey indicated that districts could show positive student achievement gains while exhibiting misalignment among these factors. While all four types of superintendent leadership style were revealed in the survey, a prevalent superintendent leadership types was associated with the misaligned districts showing significant academic growth. This study indicated the professional advisor or the professional advisor/decision maker superintendent had the greatest achievement results in misaligned districts. The second investigation phase involved school districts that met two criteria: misalignment with the McCarty-Ramsey model, and three years of significant student achievement gains, as measured by the California Academic Performance Indicator. Interviews were conducted with identified school board presidents and superintendents to reveal practices or initiatives promoting these results. The interview protocol consisted of a series of open-ended questions regarding effective leadership and programs. The second finding revealed the effective superintendent focuses efforts on five specific district leadership actions identified by researchers such as Waters and Marzano. More specifically, this study revealed two practices were present in top performing school districts. First, a narrow focus on non-negotiable instructional practices across the district, and frequent monitoring by the superintendent, site and district leadership teams including follow - up debriefings regarding implementation of district expectations. These findings have significance in districts dealing with challenges among the community power structures, board types or superintendent leadership. This research shows that regardless of the political challenges, budgetary issues, or relationship chaos that might exist in the district and community, the professional advisor superintendent who has established clear district wide instructional expectations and, who consistently ―inspects the instructional program has a significant, positive impact on student achievement.

<p>The purpose of this mixed-methods study is to explore leadership characteristics dual language school principals possess to effectively lead a dual language program. The research seeks to identify specific leadership characteristics and qualities necessary for a principal to effectively lead a dual language school compared to the leadership characteristics required to lead a traditional/monolingual school. The researcher examined the perceptions of leadership responsibilities with dual language teachers in an urban school district in southern Washington. This research study was compared with a similar study completed with monolingual teachers in an urban school district in western Wisconsin. The researcher used an electronic survey, via Qualtrics, to gather demographic information and determine the rank order perceptions of the 21 leadership responsibilities according to dual language teachers. A total of 17 teachers participated in the research study. The highest rated leadership responsibility among the dual language teachers was Communication and the lowest rated leadership responsibility was Contingent Rewards. The researcher also implemented a collective case study design to accumulate and analyze data regarding the leadership characteristics of two dual language school principals, via semi-structured interviews. A recommendation from this study is that several of the 21 leadership responsibilities are more applicable to increasing student achievement in dual language classrooms compared to monolingual classrooms. </p>

Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / In today’s educational landscape many school environments alienate students as they often are not responsive to their cultural and linguistic needs. Culturally Responsive School Leadership (CRSL) is a high leverage strategy that helps meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students by guiding school leaders towards fostering a climate of belonging. While much of the CRSL literature centers around building-level leadership, a gap exists in better understanding district leader efforts to foster a climate of belonging. As part of a larger qualitative study of district leadership practices that foster equity, the purpose of this individual case study was to explore how district leaders in a large Northeast school district foster a climate of belonging. Interview data from ten district leaders as well as an examination of public and local documents provided data for analysis using CRSL as a conceptual framework. Findings indicate that while the district was engaging in some individual CRSL practices by working to promote culturally responsive school environments and engaging students, parents, and local contexts, a systematic and strategic approach to fostering a climate of belonging was absent. Recommendations include developing a district-level, deliberate approach to fostering a climate of belonging, conducting a detailed equity audit, and instituting a comprehensive CRSL professional development plan for building-level leaders. Keywords: Leadership, Equity, Culturally Responsive School Leadership, Climate of Belonging / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

Thesis advisor: Vincent Cho / Demographic shifts in American society and public schools have increased the urgency among educators and other stakeholders to ensure educational equity and excellence are a reality for all students (Brown, 2007; Dean, 2002; Gay, 2000; Johnson, 2007). One very notable shift in the United States has been the dramatic enrollment increase of English Learner (EL) students. Supporting ELs’ achievement on standardized testing and increasing their graduation rates have been particular challenges, the meeting of which has required school districts to think differently. Culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) has been one solution, through the application of which districts can focus on teacher preparation, culturally responsive curricula, school inclusiveness and the engagement of students and parents in community contexts. This study is part of a larger study that examined leadership practices that foster equity, included twenty semi-structured interviews of district leaders, school leaders, and teachers. Findings from this study indicate that school leaders have enacted and supported culturally responsive behaviors to educate ELs and suggest how leaders might employ CRSL behaviors for the dual purpose of supporting ELs’ achievement on standardized testing and increasing their graduation rates. / Thesis (EdD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.