With the current trend toward revitalization of our schools, the importance of educational leadership is a recurring theme in the literature on education. General agreement is evident that effective educational leadership is essential. The leadership of the school principal has received particular focus, specifically the idea of "instructional leadership." / The objective of this study was to better understand the instructional leadership role of the principal. More specifically, the purpose of the study was to examine and better understand what elementary teachers believe to be important competencies from which principals must draw in order to carry out their responsibilities as instructional leaders. It was contended that teachers' opinions are essential to our understanding of what being an effective instructional leader entails. / Since this study sought to discover new knowledge concerning the principal's role as instructional leader, a naturalistic approach was employed in conducting the research. Unstructured interviews were the primary technique used in data collection. The sites were selected considering the variables of school system size, organizational structure, succession of leadership, and location (urban and rural). / Task and consideration were used as a framework to organize the competencies that emerged from the data, task referring to competencies needed to accomplish tasks and consideration to human needs of members of an organization. Ten task competencies emerged from the data: (1) knowledge/expertise, (2) accessibility, (3) evaluation of teaching, (4) purpose/direction, (5) monitoring, (6) quality enhancement/expectations, (7) communication, (8) decisiveness, (9) organization, (10) consistency. Consideration competencies included: (1) participation/consultation, (2) recognition--praise/reward, (3) support, and (4) fairness. / Findings indicated there is congruence among teachers concerning the concept "principal as instructional leader." Findings also indicated teachers have a real concern that the principal can and should function in the role of instructional leader, and they have definite opinions about what aspects of that leadership should entail. Findings further indicated that instructional leadership is a multi-dimensional behavior and that it is not context specific; even though each organization has unique features, the same kinds of competencies are required regardless of the organizational setting. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-12, Section: A, page: 3028. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76191 |
| Contributors | STRIPLIN, PATRICIA CARTER., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 217 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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