Alternative education as defined by Sable, Plotts, and Mitchell (2010), is "a public school that addresses needs of students that typically cannot be met at in a regular school" (p. C-1). In many public alternative schools, the individuals chosen as leaders are licensed, certified school principals. Research focusing on alternative education is emerging yet, there is limited research directly devoted to alternative school leadership (Price, 2010). With the knowledge that students attending alternative schools have needs that cannot be met in traditional school settings, what specializations can leadership preparation programs and school division sponsored professional development offer to prepare secondary alternative school principals for alternative school leadership?
Utilizing a phenomenological qualitative-based research design, secondary alternative school principals across the Commonwealth of Virginia were asked to participate in a study which employed semi-structured surveys to explore their perceptions of leadership preparation programs, division level professional development, and the impact of specialized training on leadership.
The results of the study indicated that secondary alternative school principals in the Commonwealth of Virginia perceive that specialized leadership preparation is needed to effectively lead alternative schools and they were not adequately prepared by their leadership preparation programs to lead alternative schools. / Ed. D. / Alternative education as defined by Sable, Plotts, and Mitchell (2010), is “a public school that addresses needs of students that typically cannot be met at in a regular school” (C-1). In many public alternative schools, the individual chosen as leader is a licensed, certified school principal. Research focusing on alternative education is emerging, yet there is limited research directly devoted to alternative school leadership (Price, 2010). This dissertation studied alternative school principals’ views of leadership preparation, division-level professional development, and the impact of specialized training on alternative school leadership. Views of professional development needs for effective management of programs educating students categorized as at-risk of dropping out of school were also discussed.
The research study discussed utilized a phenomenological qualitative-based research design, semi-structured interviews conducted to capture views of secondary alternative school principals regarding leadership preparation, professional development, and the impact of specialized training on leadership of alternative schools. Data were obtained that provided an optimal level of secondary principals’ views about what specialized training secondary school principals considered essential to effectively prepare them to lead alternative schools. Also, previous leadership experiences essential for effective alternative education environment management was part of the study. Lastly, leadership training and/or professional development necessary for individuals new to the area of secondary alternative education to be successful leaders of alternative schools was studied.
The results of the study gives insight to secondary alternative principal views of leadership program preparation, district oriented professional development, and the impact of specialized training on leadership.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/85222 |
| Date | 11 April 2017 |
| Creators | Ferebee-Johns, Fontaine Monique |
| Contributors | Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Price, Ted S., Cash, Carol S., Shepherd, Marie N., Kelly, Michael D. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
Page generated in 0.0025 seconds